Yesterday, we got the spoiler for \[\[Silverquill, the Disputant\]\] and it brings back the mechanic Casualty letting you sacrifice creatures to make copies of spells ([CR 702.153a](https://yawgatog.com/resources/magic-rules/#R702153)) and last time we had a Legendary Creature with Casualty was \[\[Anhelo, the Painter\]\] and I saw a lot of confusion with people wanting to (after buffing his power) sacrifice Anhelo to his own Casualty in order to copy a spell, usually this was for a game winning play like a \[\[Torment of Hailfire\]\] or an \[\[Exsanguinate\]\], but you won't get copies from this. So, I've made this updated video with Silverquill to hopefully prevent some of this confusion, but I know that videos are not for everyone so here is the written reason why this doesn't work.

TLDR/TLDW = You can sacrifice Silverquill to the spell with Casualty, no problem there, but due to how the steps to casting spells works, when we get to the part where the Casualty would make the copy of the spell it will no longer have it to do so.

Okay, now for the more detailed answer.

When you cast a spell in Magic, there are multiple steps you go through in a specific order to do so before the spell is considered cast. CR 601.2h is the step in which you pay all of those costs. This would include mana payments like for the Mana Cost in the top right of the card which is probably the most common one, but also additional costs like multikicker on cards like \[\[Everflowing Chalice\]\] or other payments like paying life, discarding cards, or a very common one we see on \[\[Harrow\]\] for sacrificing permanents.

Then, in CR 601.2i is when the game says, "okay, you did all the steps A-H, so now this spell is considered cast" and this is the problem with sacrificing the Casualty giving creature, Casualty isn't just a Static Ability but is also a Triggered Ability for "**When you cast this spell**, if a casualty cost was paid for it, copy it..." so if you sacrifice the creature granting it Casualty in the process of casting, but before it is actually cast, then it won't have this Triggered Ability at that stage.

Now in the title I mention that you "probably" don't want to do this, due to the no copy result, but if you're in a game and someone is trying to cast an \[\[Imprisoned in the Moon\]\], \[\[Song of the Dryads\]\], \[\[Darksteel Mutation\]\] type of 'removal' on your Silverquill Commander and you don't have a way to answer that, or maybe they're trying to steal it with a control effect, then you can use some random instant in hand, cast it, sacrifice your Silverquill to the Casualty, not get the copy made but at least you can now send your Commander to the Command Zone to stop from getting shut down or whatever.

Also, interesting note, the Arena devs have added in a warning for trying to do this on there, link to one of the devs sharing that: [https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/1s9u1dh/comment/odr5rws/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/1s9u1dh/comment/odr5rws/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)

Careful with the new Silverquill, the Disputant as you can sacrifice it to its own Casualty that it gives, but you're probably not going to want to.