Question about Clockwork Avian?
Asked by TN1000th 8 years ago
So I'm building an artifact creature deck that's based primarily around Arcbound creatures and Clockwork creatures. The basic premise is that I'm synergising the counter powers of the creature cards and using Bioshift to beef up my monster cards, while using protection cards.
I was showing this deck to my friends and they said it was really good, but I had a bit of an unresolved debate about Clockwork Avian.
"Variable Colorless, Tap: Put up to X +1/+0 counters on Clockwork Avian. This ability can't cause the total number of +1/+0 counters on Clockwork Avian to be greater than four. Activate this ability only during your upkeep."
We can't figure out if this mans that A:
You can't use this ability to put your creauter up to +5/+0.....
OR
You can't put more than four counters on this card. Period.
We can't find any rules clarification for this, and if it is that you can't put more than four counters than it's counterproductive to my strategy.
Any thoughts?
And this probably should have been in the Q&A section.
February 23, 2016 2:06 a.m.
http404error says... #3
This belongs in Rules Q&A.
Anyways, the text says it quite clearly. "This ability can't cause..." Ergo, other abilities can add as many counters as they want. One of the Gatherer rulings explains how that particular effect works; note that it refers only to that ability resolving. It's not a static effect of any kind.
(edit: oops, I've been beaten to it)
February 23, 2016 2:07 a.m. Edited.
Raging_Squiggle says... #5
In the future, please link all cards in your description as it helps us to answer your question. Clockwork Avian.
To reiterate what has been said, at any given time, Clockwork Avian can have no more than 4 +1/+0 counters on it. This does not mean you only have 4 of them to work with ever.
You are certainly allowed to put more +1/+0 counters on it if the Avian has fewer than 4 counters on it.
February 23, 2016 2:37 a.m.
Sorry I'm new to this site. I saw the phrase "Be specific about your deck", and misinterpreted. Thanks for the advice, in spite of the mistake though.
February 23, 2016 2:48 a.m.
Raging_Squiggle says... #7
no worries. Here is a link for formatting/comment tips. For a quick tutorial, when linking a card, surround the name with double brackets:
[ [elvish mystic] ] becomes Elvish Mystic (Don't include the spaces between the brackets).
Also, if your question has been successfully answered and you don't have additional inquiries, don't forget to select an answer to remove your question from the list. :)
-Orvos- says... Accepted answer #1
Clockwork Avian's activated ability can never make it so there are more than 4 +1/+0 counters on him. Meaning you can add them up to 4 but if you have 4 or more the ability wont put any counters on. You could have any number of any kind of counters on him its just the ability that wont add more past 4. So go ahead and put those 4 +1/+0 counters on him and then proliferate or bioshift more stuff onto him.
February 23, 2016 2:05 a.m.