Newbie Magic the gathering question?

[Jake1]

Just started playing magic and am not sure about the rulings of return ___ to its owner's hand.

Eg. can say when I play Lantern Spirit (U: Return Lantern Spirit to its owner's hand), and my opponent uses cancel, can I pay U and return Lantern Spirit back to my hand? If not and it goes to my graveyard, can I still pay U to return it to my hand?

Also can any player use this ability? Does this mean my opponent can pay U to return it to my hand to avoid being attacked? Then basically what's the use of this ability? Is it to evade from being blocked or being targeted by spells??

Thanks!

 

[eddiek]

Unless otherwise stated, an activated ability of a permanent can only be activated by the player who controls it.

Furthermore, activated abilities only function when the card is a permanent that is on the battlefield, unless the ability only makes sense in another game zone. See a card like Faerie Macabre, for example. Faerie Macabre has an activated ability that requires discarding the card itself as a cost; clearly this activated ability can only be activated when that card is in your hand.

In the case of Lantern Spirit's activated ability, the ability makes sense when it's on the battlefield. Therefore, without any specific instruction to the contrary, the ability works ONLY when it is on the battlefield. To be specific, the ability does not work when Lantern Spirit exists as a spell on the stack nor does it work when it's in your graveyard.

The utility of the ability is to be able to bounce it safely back to your hand when it's facing death, or if there is some advantage for you to cast a spell over and over again.

 

[Peter]

Lantern Spirit has an activated ability and activated abilities can only be used while the permanent is on the battlefield (unless the card says otherwise, Reassembling Skeleton for example). The purpose of Lantern Spirit is to block with it then bounce it so it doesnt die then play it again. It is a very good blocker and can dodge spells as well like this.

Only the controller of the permanent can use its activated abilities unless the card specifically says so (Knight of the Holy Nimbus for instance).