Jess Dunks

Eldritch Millenial. Magic Rules Architect at Wizards. I answer rules questions online, but my tweets are not rules documents.

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

Hey there, followers! While I do answer work questions on this account, it is still my personal twitter account. I will aggressively block people who are rude to others in my mentions, so please be nice!

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

Hey all, I finally made an account over on Bluesky. If you want to follow me there, here’s the link: https://t.co/HO4v9udYxy

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

@JackLayers Yes, you’re getting that right. It still enters with one lore counter. #WotCstaff

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

@TheElk801 They don’t have to attack together, but they do have to be different creatures. #WotCstaff

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

@ScottHevel It will lose the ability, so you can’t activate it. However, if you’ve already activated it before Blood Moon entered, it will continue to use to be an artifact creature (in addition to being a Mountain land) until the effect ends at end of turn.

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

Blood Moon's effect turns Urza's Saga into a Mountain, and this causes it to lose all of its chapter abilities (but it keeps any granted abilities it has already gained) and has "T: Add {R}." It stays on the battlefield, but won't get a lore counter each turn.
#WotCstaff

[Geoff Wallace @thelastgod51]

@Dunkatog Could you please detail the new way Blood moon and Urza's saga interact? Lotta talk on this one.

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

@ScottHevel Blood Moon removes all other land subtypes and replaces them with Mountain. It doesn’t add the basic supertype or remove any existing card types (like artifact or creature) that it has. #WotCstaff

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

@t3dy From a strictly rules-oriented perspective, a granted ability is itself a thing, and there isn't any text attached to it. If a creature gains flying, it doesn't have the word "flying" printed on it, but it has an ability. #WotCstaff

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

@t3dy I think you've got the idea. Although, technically, it *is* a characteristic of the permanent on the battlefield, it's a different characteristic from its rules text.

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

@t3dy Sorry, I think I'm misunderstanding. Rules text and abilities are related but separate concepts. 109.3 lists them as separate kinds of characteristics. Similar to an effect changing a creature's power, an effect adding an ability doesn't change text on the card. #WotCstaff

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

@t3dy Those quotes are not from the rules mentioned, and appear to me to be completely made up. The rules you're looking for are 113.1a, which draws the clear distinction you're asking about, and 305.7, which explains that abilities from other effects won't be lost.
#WotCstaff

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

Here's the full release notes, for that and more info on FIN cards and Mechanics:
https://t.co/R1PQNOoe5L
#WotCstaff

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

The FIN Release Notes (link in reply) announced that the Saga rules are changing a bit. This is solely for cases where a Saga somehow has zero chapter abilities. It won't be sacrificed immediately; it stays on the battlefield but stops getting lore counters each turn. #WotCstaff

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

@Giz_One_ No, a player shouldn't get an emblem in that case. #WotCstaff

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

@R0b0am Hmm... that does seem inconsistent. I'll have to investigate that.

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

@cetiberiojr Assuming that player can afford the total cost of the ability that many times, yes. It’s a legal, though unusual, play.
#WotCstaff

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

@solysg Yes it is. The -1/-1 counters can’t be placed on your creature, so moving all the counters isn’t possible. The last ability offers The Ozolith offers a choice and, per the rule you mentioned, you can’t choose an option that’s illegal or impossible. #WotCstaff

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

@HanweirGarrison That ruling doesn’t really make sense to me and I believe it’s an error. I wouldn’t expect Hushbringer to prevent either Syr Konrad’s ability or our new Dragon friend’s ability from triggering. #WotCstaff

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

@chookiemon Not to disappoint too much but. As much as possible, we tried to avoid creating them.

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

Saga creatures! Given a lot of underlying complexity, these were a spooky idea, and it was tempting to say "no, we can't do that." For rules, though, I'd rather say "Try that for a bit; let's see if it's fun. If it is, we'll figure out how it works." It turns out they're very fun

[Magic: The Gathering @wizards_magic]

#MTGxFINALFANTASY “Summons” are Enchantment Creature Sagas, as seen here with Shiva from FINAL FANTASY X!

They allow you to utilize their powerful abilities before finishing in a blaze of glory with an ultimate ability.

[Jess Dunks @Dunkatog]

@Rob63925548 That’s really a design question rather than a rules question, but I do remember that possibility being discussed pretty early in design.