About Necrotic Ooze.
Asked by Ben9Breaker 14 years ago
I am curious as to how Necrotic Ooze takes on abilities of creatures in the graveyard and what limitations there are on this.
On this I have two questions.
1) If I had discarded a Protean Hydra to the graveyard, would Necrotic Ooze take on it's ability to prevent damage to itself despite the fact that you assumably cannot remove +1/+1 counters from it?
2) if there is a level creature in the graveyard, say student-of-warefare, would Necrotic Ooze assume doublestrike? or would it not gain any abilities from student-of-warefare?
xeratheenigma says... #2
to elaborate on question 2 you would get the student's "level up" ability but nothing else (this goes for all other levelers as well) this is because if you notice to left of each ability granted by "level up" is the word level followed by one or two numbers those numbers determine how many level counters are needed to use the ability to right and those numbers are actually a static ability and since necrotic ooze does not gain static abilities it is unable to use any activated abilities that are granted for having level counters on it
so you can "level up" necrotic ooze but there is no point because it doesnt gain ANY abilities for having level counters.
October 9, 2010 5:34 a.m.
Activated abilities are those abilities that require a cost to trigger an effect.
so one such card in a grave that could possibly work is Spikeshot Goblin .
Lifelink, trample, infect, wither, etc. are static abilities
Triggered abilities are those which trigger when a certain condition is met.
So With that in mind, xeratheenigma is quite right.
Look at cards that have activated abilities that can help you (espicially black)
October 9, 2010 5:35 a.m.
Just a clarification - to identify an activated ability :
112.3b Activated abilities have a cost and an effect. They are written as "[Cost]: [Effect.] [Activation instructions (if any).]" A player may activate such an ability whenever he or she has priority. Doing so puts it on the stack, where it remains until it's countered, it resolves, or it otherwise leaves the stack. See rule 602, "Activating Activated Abilities."
(you basically look for the colon)
Remember to check the oracle text of cards you have a question on (in the Gatherer) - this is considered the actual text on the card and anything that was an activated ability that didnt follow this format has been changed.
October 9, 2010 9:54 a.m.
RE: Question 2
As said previously, the Necrotic Ooze doesn't gain anything from Student of Warfare except Level Up. However, if a Kazandu Tuskcaller is in the graveyard and Necrotic Ooze has 2 level counters it, the ooze has Level Up and "Tap: Put a 3/3 green Elephant creature token onto the battlefield."
October 9, 2010 3:14 p.m.
xeratheenigma says... #6
the ooze would not ggain the token ability because it will not gain the static ability required to use it
The official rules for the level up ability are as follows:
702.84. Level up
702.84a Level up is an activated ability. "Level up [cost]" means "[Cost]: Put a level counter on this permanent. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery."
702.84b Each card printed with a level up ability is known as a leveler card. It has a nonstandard layout and includes two level symbols that are themselves keyword abilities. See rule 710, "Leveler Cards."
The official rules for levelers are as follows:
- Leveler Cards
710.1. Each leveler card has a striated text box and three power/toughness boxes. The text box of a leveler card contains two level symbols.
710.2. A level symbol is a keyword ability that represents a static ability. The level symbol includes either a range of numbers, indicated here as "N1-N2," or a single number followed by a plus sign, indicated here as "N3+." Any abilities printed within the same text box striation as a level symbol are part of its static ability. The same is true of the power/toughness box printed within that striation, indicated here as "[P/T]."
710.2a "LEVEL N1-N2 [Abilities] [P/T]" means "As long as this creature has at least N1 level counters on it, but no more than N2 level counters on it, it's [P/T] and has [abilities]."
710.2b "LEVEL N3+ [Abilities] [P/T]" means "As long as this creature has N3 or more level counters on it, it's [P/T] and has [abilities]."
710.3. The text box striations have no game significance other than clearly demarcating which abilities and which power/toughness box are associated with which level symbol. Leveler cards each contain only one text box.
710.4. Any ability a leveler card has that isnt preceded by a level symbol is treated normally. In particular, each leveler permanent has its level up ability (see rule 702.84) at all times; it may be activated regardless of how many level counters are on that permanent.
710.5. If the number of level counters on a leveler creature is less than N1 (the first number printed in its LEVEL N1-N2 symbol), it has the power and toughness denoted by its uppermost power/toughness box.
710.6. In every zone other than the battlefield, a leveler card has the power and toughness denoted by its uppermost power/toughness box.
October 9, 2010 3:46 p.m.
i think for the sake of fun, the ooze with level counters on it should get the activated abilities of the levelers in the graveyard. THat way, we can get Null Champion in the yard, along with Kazandu Tuskcaller and enjoy a 4/3 regenerating tuskcaller! and cast Time of Heroes for even more fun! (actually, I suppose time of heroes would work in the current rules, as it doesn't actually require the creature to BE a certain level, just to have a level counter on it)
xeratheenigma says... Accepted answer #1
for question 1 the answer is no because necrotic ooze only gains activated abilities and protean hydra's ability is a triggered ability
as for question 2 necrotic ooze would not gain doublestrike or first because they are not activated abilities but static abilities (static abilities are abilities that are always active such as flying, trample, and etc.)
October 9, 2010 4:49 a.m.