Freed from the Real + Incubation Druid

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Overview

Freed from the Real’s controller may pay to tap or to untap an Incubation Druid that Freed enchants, because an Aura’s controller can activate that Aura’s abilities [303.4e] (see Ruling [2018-03-16]). Those activations do not themselves activate the Druid’s mana ability; only the Druid’s controller can activate the Druid’s ability, and that ability requires tapping the creature as part of its activation cost and is subject to the restriction on abilities with the tap symbol [302.6].

The StackRules & CitationsDetails & Edge Cases

Step 1

Freed from the Real is attached to Incubation Druid and its controller may activate Freed’s : Tap enchanted creature or Freed’s : Untap enchanted creature because only the Aura’s controller can activate the Aura’s abilities [303.4e] and Ruling [2018-03-16].

Step 2

Activating Freed’s tap effect physically changes the Druid’s tapped/untapped status but does not pay the Druid’s activation cost or otherwise count as the Druid’s controller activating its mana ability; the Druid’s ability can only be activated by the Druid’s controller and requires that controller to tap the creature as part of the cost [302.6].

Step 3

If the Druid is summoning-sick (entered battlefield this turn), its controller cannot activate its ability because of the tap-symbol restriction in [302.6], even if Freed’s controller untaps the creature for them.

Step 4

If the Druid’s controller is allowed to activate the ability (not summoning-sick and the creature is untapped), they may do so by tapping the creature as part of the activation; once activated the mana ability resolves immediately and can’t be put on the stack or responded to in the usual way (see [605.4a] for the immediate-resolution principle for mana abilities).

Step 5

Because Freed’s controller can also tap the creature with Freed in response to other actions when they have priority, Freed’s controller can deny the Druid’s controller the opportunity to activate the Druid’s ability by keeping the creature tapped between priority windows (subject to normal priority rules).

Step 6

If the Druid gets a +1/+1 counter (for example via Adapt), its ability will produce three mana when the Druid’s controller activates it; Freed’s tapping/untapping still only changes the tapped state and does not change who may activate the ability or who chooses the mana type.

Resolution

Freed from the Real’s controller can repeatedly tap or untap the enchanted Incubation Druid by paying for Freed’s abilities (only the Aura’s controller may activate them) (Ruling [2018-03-16]; [303.4e]). That does not let the Freed controller use the Druid’s : Add ... ability. The Druid’s controller alone may activate that ability, and only when they can legally pay its costs (including tapping the creature as part of the activation and meeting the requirement in [302.6]). Mana abilities resolve immediately when activated and can’t be put on the stack to be responded to (see [605.4a] for the immediate-resolution principle for mana abilities).