If you blink Ajani Unyielding, will its ultimate affect itself?
Asked by chosenone124 7 years ago
Suppose I have an Ajani Unyielding with 10 loyalty counters. I ultimate him. In response, I cast Flicker on it.
Panzerforge says... Accepted answer #2
Yes, the ability is referencing only the Planeswalker creating the emblem.
The new Ajani would not be the source of the ability, so it would see the new Ajani as legal.
If it said "Each other non-Ajani Planeswalker" that would be different.
March 24, 2017 3:30 a.m.
VraskaTheCursed says... #3
yes, Panzerforge is correct. When a card refers to itself in some way (i.e. either referencing all "other" creatures, permanents, etc., or by name) it is referring to the copy of itself that is on the field (or stack) at the time. Therefore, blinking ajani in response to the ultimate trigger would make the game see him as a legal target for his ult, since he has reentered the battlefield as essentially another copy of himself (illustrated by the fact that he enters with 4 loyalty, not 1).
March 24, 2017 6:26 a.m.
Just as a note, Flicker is a Sorcery, so you couldn't normally cast it in response to Ajani's ability.
@Raging_Squiggle: That's not correct. Cards referring to "itself" (even by abstraction, such as "other") are talking about that specific object. Abilities have little no memory of objects accross zones (the exceptions being things like Commander-ness, which are imposed by the format rules, not the card itself) and will use card names, subtypes or the like as identifiers if that's what's intended (which deliberately isn't used here). As Panzerforge's answer describes, since the flickered Ajani is a new object, the ability won't mind putting counters on it.
@Panzerforge: For your last example, the ability would likely read "Each non-Ajani Planeswalker", as there's no need to add the "other" qualifier. Not that it matters... :)
March 24, 2017 6:28 a.m.
@VraskaTheCursed: The ability is not targetted. In fact, if it were, it wouldn't work the way the questioner intends :)
March 24, 2017 6:30 a.m.
VraskaTheCursed says... #6
@BlueScope true, the ability doesn't target. What I meant with my terrible wording is that the ability would work since the ajani is a "legal" recipient of the counters because he just re entered from exile
March 24, 2017 7:07 a.m.
chosenone124 says... #7
Awesome, so if I can flicker this guy at instant speed I can double ult him.
Raging_Squiggle says... #1
No. His ability still states "other" planeswalkers. His ability won't affect himself even if he becomes a new entity by way of flickering.
March 24, 2017 2:21 a.m.