Mindlink Mech crewed by an animated land
Asked by Chaospyke 2 weeks ago
Mindlink Mech is crewed by an animated Mishra's Factory.
A ruling on Mindlink states: If a player crews Mindlink Mech with a nonlegendary permanent that is not normally a creature or Vehicle, the resulting permanent Mindlink Mech becomes is a 0/0 artifact creature and will usually be put into its owner's graveyard. This is because a copy effect can't set the power and toughness of a permanent if being a creature isn't part of that permanent's copiable characteristics. The crew effect is then applied after the copy effect, and it becomes a creature with no defined power or toughness, so both are set to 0. (2022-02-18)
Is this ruling correct? If it is then cards like Anikthea, Hand of Erebos and Brenard, Ginger Sculptor don't work. Or is there a difference between Mindlink Mech and those cards.
Rhadamanthus says... #2
I agree with Neotrup that the ruling note feels incorrect. The rules-as-written in the CR don't seem to say what the rulings note states about how the P/T characteristic is treated.
Neotrup says... Accepted answer #1
I do believe the ruling is wrong, but it's not entirely clear. The reason Mindlink Mech is different from the other examples is that the copy it becomes is not a creature. Anikthea, Hand of Erebos can set the power and toughness of the copy because it explicitly states that the copy is a creature. Mindlink Mech only states that it's a Vehicle artifact in addition to it's other types. So when it becomes a copy of Mishra's Factory the copy effect makes it an Artifact Land - Vehicle. The reason it's still a creature is that it is still crewed, and if you somehow turn a Mishra's Factory into a creature using a crew ability it will in fact be a 0/0. The issue is, this should also apply to if it becomes a copy of a vehicle, because vehicles can't have power/toughness unless they're crewed, exactly like every other non-creature permanent, so there isn't really a reason to treat them differently in this case.
208.3. A noncreature permanent has no power or toughness, even if it's a card with a power and toughness printed on it (such as a Vehicle). A noncreature object not on the battlefield has power or toughness only if it has a power and toughness printed on it.
The reason to say a vehicle would still be a 4/3 is the next subrule, but it should apply to any permanent (including a land). The reason it might not apply would be that it's discussing power/toughness setting effects (Layer 7) rather than copy effects (Layer 1), but as it doesn't explicitly say such, I believe it would still apply and make the Artifact Land a 4/3.
208.3a If an effect would be created that sets the base power and/or toughness of a noncreature permanent, or otherwise modifies its power and/or toughness, that effect is created even though it doesn’t do anything unless that permanent becomes a creature.
December 2, 2024 12:28 p.m.