no because you cannot fulfill the SA its like if you deck and try to use Jepthaths SA it just doesn't work
I think the way it's worded, you could get away with it, hence the "play as". EBJ doesn't have a specific cost-benefit ability, just a "do this, and you may do this too if you want" kind of thing. The "Play As" makes it crystal clear though. Jephtah's SA makes it clear you have to discard a card if you want to use the rest of the SA, not so in EBJ's case, IMO.
