Gaddock Teeg and Natural Order

[Valtrix]

A friend posed me a question yesterday:

"Can a Gaddock Teeg be sacrificed to Natural Order?"

These are the relevant rules I've found:
601.2g The player pays the total cost in any order.
601.2h Once the steps described in 601.2a-g are completed, the spell becomes cast.

This would leave me to believe that you can, since the casting only happens after costs are paid, so Teeg would no longer be in play if he was sacrificed. However, the rules makes sense, but the interaction seems strange, so I thought I would ask.

[Julian23]

You can't announce the spell. The sacrifice of Gaddock happens long after initially announcing the spell.

[Valtrix]

But:

601.2. To cast a spell is to take it from the zone it's in (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Casting a spell follows the steps listed below, in order. If, at any point during the casting of a spell, a player is unable to comply with any of the steps listed below, the casting of the spell is illegal; the game returns to the moment before that spell started to be cast (see rule 714, "Handling Illegal Actions"). Announcements and payments can't be altered after they've been made.
601.2a The player announces that he or she is casting the spell.
601.2g The player pays the total cost in any order. (This is where the sacrifice happens)
601.2h Once the steps described in 601.2a-g are completed, the spell becomes cast. Any abilities that trigger when a spell is cast or put onto the stack trigger at this time.

So then announcing the spell is only part of the process of casting the spell. I don't know if Teeg stops the process of casting a spell or only a spell reaching that state of being cast. Or perhaps I'm missing a clause somewhere else that prevents this.

[cdr]

You cannot even begin to cast it, much less get all the way to paying costs. Why can't you? That's what Gaddock Teeg says.


Noncreature spells with converted mana cost 4 or greater can't be cast.

[dorsch]

601.5. A player can’t begin to cast a spell that’s prohibited from being cast.

[Valtrix]

I guess my question was just with 601.2h, because it only says there that a spell is "cast," even though 601.2 describes the process of casting. I didn't know if the cast Teeg refers to would refer to the whole process of casting a spell or if it would only check in 601.2h when the spell is officially "cast."

EDIT: Thanks dorsch, that's what I was looking for. I guess that's what I get for looking up rules at work and being lazy ;)

[Julian23]

Well, to be "cast" you first have to "be cast". Gaddock prevents the procedure of casting a spell thus a spell can never be "cast" as a result.