How does "Mutate" interact with "Level Up" Cards?

Asked by Pinnedzoz 4 years ago

I have Hexdrinker on the field. I "Mutate" on the next turn with Otrimi, the Ever-Playful, putting Otrimi, the Ever-Playful on top.

As the game proceeds and I level up Hexdrinker for the onboard abilities; How is Otrimi, the Ever-Playful P/T affected? Or to be more clear, is the P/T equal to Otrimi or equal to the level of Hexdrinker?

What I know:

  • 702.86a "Level up" is an activated ability.

  • 710.2 A level symbol is a keyword ability that represents a static ability...... 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....

"MTGgamepedia" - "Mutate"

  • The resulting merged creature has all of the characteristics of the topmost card or token, and it also has all abilities from its other cards and tokens.

Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1

As long as the merged creature has 0-2 level counters, it will use Otrimi's P/T and be a 6/6. If it has 3-7 level counters it will be a 4/4 instead, and if it has 8 or more level counters it will be a 6/6.

The important part of the leveler rules for your question is the following:

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 has base power and toughness [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 has base power and toughness [P/T] and has [abilities]."

That means when the merged creature gets enough level counters, the P/T setting effect from the level ability will start to apply and overwrite the base P/T of the top card of the merged pile.

April 15, 2020 8:42 a.m.

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