The Battlefield

Bloom Tender
Freed from the Real
AI DraftFeb 26, 2026

Bloom Tender + Freed from the Real

Overview
If Freed from the Real enchants a Bloom Tender, the controller of Freed may pay Freed’s {U} costs to tap or untap the enchanted Bloom Tender (only the Aura’s controller may activate the Aura’s abilities) (Ruling [2018-03-16]). Bloom Tender’s "{T}: ... add mana" is a mana ability that only Bloom Tender’s controller can activate; that mana ability resolves immediately and doesn’t use the stack , and tapping a permanent "for mana" specifically means activating a mana ability with {T} on that permanent .
Step 1
Freed from the Real is attached to Bloom Tender and the two permanents exist on the battlefield; Freed’s controller and Bloom Tender’s controller may be different players .
Step 2
If Freed’s controller pays {U} to activate Freed’s "{U}: Tap enchanted creature" ability, that activation is Freed’s activated ability (it is not Bloom Tender’s ability) and it can be activated only by Freed’s controller .
Step 3
Because Freed’s tap/untap abilities do not meet the criteria to be mana abilities, they are ordinary activated abilities (they go on the stack and can be responded to) rather than mana abilities .
Step 4
When Freed’s tap ability resolves it simply changes Bloom Tender’s tapped status to tapped; this is not the same as "tapping for mana," which specifically requires activating the creature’s mana ability that includes {T} .
Step 5
Bloom Tender’s "{T}: For each color among permanents you control, add one mana of that color" meets the criteria of a mana ability and is a mana ability that only Bloom Tender’s controller can activate .
Step 6
When Bloom Tender’s controller activates Bloom Tender’s {T} mana ability, it resolves immediately without using the stack, producing mana based on the colors among permanents that Bloom Tender’s controller controls .
Step 7
If Freed’s controller keeps Bloom Tender tapped using Freed, Bloom Tender’s controller cannot activate the creature’s {T} mana ability while it is tapped; if Freed’s controller untaps it (via Freed’s untap ability), Bloom Tender’s controller can then activate the mana ability if they have priority .
Resolution
The controller of Freed from the Real can activate Freed’s {U}: Tap enchanted creature and {U}: Untap enchanted creature abilities even if they don’t control Bloom Tender (see and Ruling [2018-03-16]). However, that controller cannot activate Bloom Tender’s {T}: Vivid — ... ability to produce mana; only Bloom Tender’s controller may activate that mana ability (, ). Using Freed to tap Bloom Tender is not the same as "tapping for mana" because it does not activate Bloom Tender’s mana ability . Also note that Bloom Tender can’t produce colorless mana even if colorless permanents are present (Ruling [2008-08-01]).
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