Evoke and Pithing Needle

[Tog]

I had this come up in a game I played recently on MWS. I know that the CIP ability of the cards with evoke is triggered ability. But is the evoke casting cost on one of these cards an activated ability? I'm leaning towards no because there's no ":" but I want to be sure.

For example, I have a Shriekmaw in hand. There is a Pithing Needle on the board naming Shriekmaw. If it indeed works as how my opponent describes it, I won't be able to evoke Shriekmaw in to play but I will be able to hard cast it.

Thank in advance,
~Tog

[Sanguine Voyeur]

Evoke is an alternate way of playing things. Pithing Needle doesn't stop you from playing spells, so yes you could play it.

Meddling Mage, on the other hand, can stop you.