From MTG Salvation Wiki
Cumulative upkeep is a keyword ability on permanents that requires the permanent's controller to pay an increasing cost during each of his or her turns to keep the permanent in play. With the changing of its Oracle Text, the first card with cumulative upkeep was Cyclone from Arabian Nights. All tournament-legal cards with cumulative upkeep printed on them started in Ice Age and ended in Weatherlight. When Coldsnap came out it added 23 more cards with cumulative upkeep.
From the Comprehensive Rules:
- 502.13. Cumulative Upkeep
- 502.13a Cumulative upkeep is a triggered ability that imposes an increasing cost on a permanent. “Cumulative upkeep [cost]” means “At the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on this permanent, then sacrifice this permanent unless you pay [cost] for each age counter on it.”
- 502.13b If a permanent has multiple instances of cumulative upkeep, each triggers separately. However, the age counters are not linked to any particular ability; each cumulative upkeep ability will count the total number of age counters on the permanent at the time that ability resolves.
- Example
A creature has two instances of “Cumulative upkeep—Pay 1 life.” The creature currently has no counters but both cumulative upkeep abilities trigger. When the first ability resolves, the controller adds a counter and then chooses to pay 1 life. When the second ability resolves, the controller adds another counter and then chooses to pay an additional 2 life.
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[edit] Rulings
- Paying the cumulative upkeep cost is always optional. You can simply let the permanent be sacrificed instead of paying.
- You can't make a partial payment.
