While I was creating cards for a Pokemon themed set, I stumbled upon a few things I'm not too sure of. If anybody could clear these up, it would be great.
The first question is whether it's possible to make a creature lose all abilities without changing its power and toughness. Every card that exists seems to set the power and toughness of the creature to a certain number. I'm trying to replicate Cofagrigus' Mummy ability as "Whenever a creature deals damage to ~, it loses all other abilities and gains this ability (this effect lasts indefinitely)." Alternatively, I could just base it on Permeating Mass since it's very similar.
The second question is whether an Emblem can be tapped. One of the cards I made created an Emblem that read "T: Copy target activated ability you control if it isn't a mana ability." I'm also not really sure if you control abilities or what the correct wording on something like this would even be.
A big reason why effects that make creatures lose abilities also set a power and toughness is because there are creatures that have characteristic-defining abilities that define their power and toughness (e.g. Mortivore.) If an effect only removed the ability, it would leave the creature with an undefined power and toughness. The rules are capable of handling that (undefined values are treated as 0, so the creature would become 0/0 and die immediately) but the interaction isn't obvious and could lead to feel-bad situations, hence a tendency to avoid it.
You should be able to get away with this sort of effect in a custom set without much trouble if you're not also including P/T defining CDAs.
"...lose all abilities other than characteristic-defining abilities", and yes, that does sound like a recipe for confusion despite being perfectly rules-compliant.
Characteristic-defining ability are well defined within the rules so technically you can remove all noncharacteristic-defining abilities. It might confuse players but the rules can handle it well enough.
These types of questions are normally asked in the Custom Card Ruling subforum of the Custom Card forum in Creativity. The normal magic rules area is for actual cards and abilities, though I don't know if its actually against the rules to post your questions here.
I'm a former judge (lapsed), who keeps up to date on rules and policy. Keep in mind that judges' answers aren't necessarily more valid than those of people who aren't judges; what matters is we can quote the rules to back up our answers. When in doubt, ask for such quotes.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
The first question is whether it's possible to make a creature lose all abilities without changing its power and toughness. Every card that exists seems to set the power and toughness of the creature to a certain number. I'm trying to replicate Cofagrigus' Mummy ability as "Whenever a creature deals damage to ~, it loses all other abilities and gains this ability (this effect lasts indefinitely)." Alternatively, I could just base it on Permeating Mass since it's very similar.
The second question is whether an Emblem can be tapped. One of the cards I made created an Emblem that read "T: Copy target activated ability you control if it isn't a mana ability." I'm also not really sure if you control abilities or what the correct wording on something like this would even be.
An emblem cannot be tapped. Only a permanent on the battlefield can be tapped and Emblems are in the command zone.
You should be able to get away with this sort of effect in a custom set without much trouble if you're not also including P/T defining CDAs.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
These types of questions are normally asked in the Custom Card Ruling subforum of the Custom Card forum in Creativity. The normal magic rules area is for actual cards and abilities, though I don't know if its actually against the rules to post your questions here.