Exclusive M15 Spoiler Card

[Graham]

Our official spoiler card for M15, and it's right up Paul's alley. The artifacts will walk!!

[Psithief]

It's a pale imitation of Tezzeret, yay!

Paul's favourite planeswalker abilities are Tezzeret's, yes?

[fightchess]

I feel like the flavour text was written with Paul in mind.

[tamaness]

I like the card, but the templating is really clumsy. Apparently they've gone back to "base power and toughness" after 15 years.

[Valentari]

My fiancee brought up a very good question about this. If you Ensoul an artifact on the turn it comes into play, does it have summoning sickness?

[steric hindrance]

My fiancee brought up a very good question about this. If you Ensoul an artifact on the turn it comes into play, does it have summoning sickness?

I would assume so, since you haven't controlled it continuously since your last upkeep.

[Graham]

I like the card, but the templating is really clumsy. Apparently they've gone back to "base power and toughness" after 15 years.

Is it clumsy? I think it's more clear.

[Psithief]

I like the card, but the templating is really clumsy. Apparently they've gone back to "base power and toughness" after 15 years.

Is it clumsy? I think it's more clear.

As you can see with Nissa, Worldwaker, this template change doesn't apply to planeswalkers. There's not enough room and they're mythic rare, not uncommon.

[Omnicrat]

just making sure I understand correctly,does the 5/5 prowler's helm have its equipment ability applied to itself or not? Do non creature artifacts retain their abilities?

[phlip]

just making sure I understand correctly,does the 5/5 prowler's helm have its equipment ability applied to itself or not?

No. Prowler's Helm, for instance, says that the equipped creature can't be blocked except by Walls... it doesn't say that Prowler's Helm itself can't be blocked. And so, an ensouled Helm can be blocked as normal.

Do non creature artifacts retain their abilities?

Yes, with one major exception - equipment can no longer be equipped, and if you ensoul an equipment that is already equipped, it will fall off. Creatures are not allowed to be attached to other things, and there are rules to prevent it from happening, and stop it if it does happen.

Also worth noting that if your noncreature artifact has a tap ability, then you'll be able to use it the turn it comes into play before you ensoul it, but if you ensoul it on the turn it comes down, you'll no longer be able to use that ability due to summoning sickness. So if your plan is "play a Mox, tap it for mana, and then ensoul it" then you're good, but if your plan is "play a Mox, ensoul it, then tap it for mana later this turn" then you're out of luck.

It also interacts interestingly with the activated abilities on the Keyrunes, but I doubt that will ever come up... ensouling a Keyrune doesn't seem like a thing that will happen often.

As for the new "base power and toughness" wording... I imagine that's just to clear up confusion in the layers if you ensoul an artifact creature that already has auras or +1/+1 counters or something on it. Especially right after a block where a major mechanic involved a lot of auras that among other things pumped power and toughness. But there's always been that confusion of "if I bestow onto my guy, and then ensoul it, that resets it back to 5/5, right?" which isn't how it works... and putting the word "base" in there is a clue that there's something more going on here.

[AdmiralMemo]

It also interacts interestingly with the activated abilities on the Keyrunes, but I doubt that will ever come up... ensouling a Keyrune doesn't seem like a thing that will happen often.

Now I'm personally curious what that interaction is. It's likely only to come up on Azorius, Dimir, Izzet, and Simic anyway, if at all.

Let's use Azorius as the example. I am assuming that Ensoul Artifact will not affect the fact that it becomes a blue and white Bird creature with flying. The question is where in the layers the static and activated abilities get placed, as well as whether the activation or the enchantment hit the Keyrune first. I am assuming that if the ability was activated, then it was enchanted, it'd be a 5/5 Flying UW Bird creature due to timestamps. However, if it was enchanted first, then the ability was activated, would it be a 2/2 Flying UW Bird creature? Or would layers get involved and the static effect would override the activated ability to keep it a 5/5?

[phlip]

I am assuming that if the ability was activated, then it was enchanted, it'd be a 5/5 Flying UW Bird creature due to timestamps. However, if it was enchanted first, then the ability was activated, would it be a 2/2 Flying UW Bird creature?

This is correct. Both of the abilities set the power/toughness to specific values, so which one wins is down to timestamps.

If you ensoul an activated, say, Azorius Keyrune, you get a 5/5 UW Bird artifact creature with flying. Once the activated ability wears off at end of turn, or if you ensoul an unactivated keyrune, you get a 5/5 colourless non-Bird artifact creature on the ground. If you activate it after ensouling, you get a 2/2 UW bird artifact creature with flying, that returns to being a 5/5 colourless etc at eot.

[JayBlanc]

My fiancee brought up a very good question about this. If you Ensoul an artifact on the turn it comes into play, does it have summoning sickness?

From the Judge rulings, "A noncreature permanent that turns into a creature is subject to the "summoning sickness" rule: It can only attack, and its {T} abilities can only be activated, if its controller has continuously controlled that permanent since the beginning of his or her most recent turn."

Note: 'that permanent' not 'that creature'. For instance, if you play a mana rock on your turn then Ensoul it, you can't tap it for mana. But if you played the mana rock your last turn, then Ensoul it on your next turn, you can still tap it for mana. This ruling probably also bites a lot of people using things that turn lands into mans, because tapping land is actually an ability of that permanent, and is why you should really keep lands you played this turn separate from the rest.

[AdmiralMemo]

Either that, or use them and then "man them up" (if the "manning up" isn't an "until end of turn" thing)