Curious to know what would happen in this situation...
Say I have ornithopter on the battlefield, bring in skilled animator to make it a 5/5, then enchant the animator with metamorphic alteration choosing the now 5/5 thopter. What happens here? Does the animator become a 5/5 flying with no other abilities or simply a 0/2 flying since the overwritten p/t isn't copiable? The game object (animator) hasn't left the battlefield, so I'm assuming the thopter wouldn't revert back to its original p/t. However, if the modified animator (now a thopter with no etb) leaves the battlefield as a thopter, will the delayed trigger still fire off reverting the first thopter back to a 0/2, or is that contingent on the object leaving the battlefield still having the ability which created the trigger as it leaves.
Similarly, if a non-creature (non-legendary) artifact is turned into a 5/5 by the animator and subsequently chosen as the creature to copy when the animator is then enchanted by the alteration, will the animator be a 5/5 creature with whatever abilities that artifact has, or will the animator become an "unanimated" (non-creature) copy of the artifact which it's copying?
In both cases, assuming Metamorphic Alteration is attached to Ornithopter, the permanent will—
be a copy of the creature chosen with Metamorphic Alteration (that is, have that creature's copiable values) (layer 1; C.R. 613.1a, 706.2),
be an artifact creature in addition to its other types (layer 4; C.R. 613.1d, 205.1b), and
have base power and toughness 5/5 (layer 7b; C.R. 613.1g, 613.3b)
(C.R. 613.6). When a permanent becomes a copy of something, that doesn't affect any other non-copy effects affecting that permanent (such as that of Skilled Animator) (C.R. 706.4).
The Skilled Animator effect lasts "...for as long as Skilled Animator remains on the battlefield"; this indicates a duration, not a delayed triggered ability (C.R. 613.2a; review C.R. 603.7; compare with Animate Dead), that indicates how long that effect lasts. Thus, that effect doesn't necessarily end when Skilled Animator loses the ability that generated that effect, but rather when Skilled Animator leaves the battlefield (C.R. 613.2a), and once that effect ends, Ornithopter will no longer benefit from that effect — this doesn't end other effects that could change Ornithopter's characteristics, such as that of Metamorphic Alteration.
Also, leaves-the-battlefield abilities (such as Mycoid Shepherd's ability) care about the state of the game just before the event of leaving the battlefield (C.R. 603.6c, 603.10a, 603.10, 700.4). Thus, for example, Mycoid Shepherd's ability will trigger if "you control" Ornithopter and Ornithopter's power is 5 or greater by the time it dies.
I think, peteroupc has misread part of the question, or maybe I'm misreading his answer. But the Skilled Animator enchanted by Metamorphic Alteration with Ornithopter chosen as the creature to copy, will just be a 0/2 flying Ornithopter, the change of base power/toughness is not copied, since it happens in a later layer and isn't part of the copiably values of the 'thopter.
Say I have ornithopter on the battlefield, bring in skilled animator to make it a 5/5, then enchant the animator with metamorphic alteration choosing the now 5/5 thopter. What happens here? Does the animator become a 5/5 flying with no other abilities or simply a 0/2 flying since the overwritten p/t isn't copiable? The game object (animator) hasn't left the battlefield, so I'm assuming the thopter wouldn't revert back to its original p/t. However, if the modified animator (now a thopter with no etb) leaves the battlefield as a thopter, will the delayed trigger still fire off reverting the first thopter back to a 0/2, or is that contingent on the object leaving the battlefield still having the ability which created the trigger as it leaves.
Similarly, if a non-creature (non-legendary) artifact is turned into a 5/5 by the animator and subsequently chosen as the creature to copy when the animator is then enchanted by the alteration, will the animator be a 5/5 creature with whatever abilities that artifact has, or will the animator become an "unanimated" (non-creature) copy of the artifact which it's copying?
Thanks
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage
The Skilled Animator effect lasts "...for as long as Skilled Animator remains on the battlefield"; this indicates a duration, not a delayed triggered ability (C.R. 613.2a; review C.R. 603.7; compare with Animate Dead), that indicates how long that effect lasts. Thus, that effect doesn't necessarily end when Skilled Animator loses the ability that generated that effect, but rather when Skilled Animator leaves the battlefield (C.R. 613.2a), and once that effect ends, Ornithopter will no longer benefit from that effect — this doesn't end other effects that could change Ornithopter's characteristics, such as that of Metamorphic Alteration.
Also, leaves-the-battlefield abilities (such as Mycoid Shepherd's ability) care about the state of the game just before the event of leaving the battlefield (C.R. 603.6c, 603.10a, 603.10, 700.4). Thus, for example, Mycoid Shepherd's ability will trigger if "you control" Ornithopter and Ornithopter's power is 5 or greater by the time it dies.
EDIT: Correction after comment 3 was posted.
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