Looking for payoff cards for non-creature permanents becoming a creature.
Modern Deck Help forum
Posted on March 11, 2025, 12:24 a.m. by keizerbuns
I want to build a vehicle deck and I'm wondering if there are any cards that trigger or benefit in any way from a non-creature permanent becoming a creature. Specifically I'm looking for a payoff for whenever I crew a vehicle.
Does anyone know of any cards that get a payoff from crewing a vehicle/turning a non-creature into a creature?
Thanks in advance!
keizerbuns says... #3
Thanks for the reply Sliverguy420. I would only be running the payoff as a 1 or 2 of anyways, just for a little added spice more than anything since I really only play casually.
Do you know how best to word it to search for that? I've tried searching on both gatherer and scryfall using the phrase "When becomes creature" but that was way too vague and gave me over 500 results.
March 11, 2025 1 a.m.
wallisface says... #4
I don't think there are any cards that care about a card changing type, so I don't think you'll have any luck there.
There will be cards that care about being crewed, but that ability will be on the vehicle itself.
There will also be creatures that care about being tapped (notably recently, from Duskmourn) - seeing as you're creatures will need to tap to crew the vehicles, there could be some useful synergy there, and probably your best-bet at looking for a payoff.
If you have a decklist feel free to chuck it up and get some feedback! My gut feeling is that even if your deck is a "vehicle deck", you probably want to be fairly light on actual vehicles
March 11, 2025 1:14 a.m.
Sliverguy420 says... #5
in scryfall i searched modern legal cards with the exact text "becomes a creature" and there were 2 results, neither of which do what you're looking for.
March 11, 2025 1:19 a.m.
FormOverFunction says... #6
You might benefit more from untap effects, as the vehicles are not creatures at that point. I think something like Smoke or Meekstone may be more what you’re thinking of..? Speaking of untapping, as I usually forget about mentioning it, I think Paralyze offers you the opportunity to untap something when it isn’t going to otherwise. It’s expensive (four) and can only happen in your upkeep (not untap phase) but I have been meaning to mention it for over a year. I hope this makes sense, I haven’t had any coffee at this point.
March 11, 2025 9:24 a.m.
Sliverguy420 says... #7
FormOverFunction: those cards aren't modern legal, and i think you were thinking of a different card when you mentioned Paralyze.
March 11, 2025 12:17 p.m.
FormOverFunction says... #8
Oh duh. I’m sorry - my post wasn’t even close on this one!!
March 11, 2025 5:20 p.m.
I'm not sure how competitive you are looking to go with the deck but a few options to look at are:
Wylie Duke, Atiin Hero is probably one of the better creatures to help crew cards since it can replace itself with a new card right away by crewing and then generate more value over time.
Some of the creatures with the Inspired ability like Disciple of Deceit and King Macar, the Gold-Cursed can also net you value, but at a slower pace.
Grimoire Thief is kind of a weird and janky option. It's an unreliable counterspell effect but also gives you the option to slowly exile an opponent's library just by crewing.
Unctus, Grand Metatect is kind of a lord for vehicles and helps you dig through your library. It also synergizes well with the shark pirates from Aetherdrift.
Immersturm Predator can be instant-speed graveyard removal when there is a vehicle available for it to crew.
There are variety of other creatures with "Whenever this creature becomes tapped" effects that you can look up.
Sliverguy420 says... #2
i don't think there's any cards that trigger from a card changing it's type, but you can check scryfall. the space in the deck would be pretty limited anyway. with vehicles, you're already running an above-average number of "creatures", then you need room for removal.
March 11, 2025 12:50 a.m.