Mairsil the Pretender and self-referential graveyard effects
Asked by VD_D 6 years ago
I'm assuming this does work (since self-referential cards do work):
Mairsil, the Pretender has exiled Reassembling Skeleton and Reassembling Skeleton has a cage counter on it. Therefore, if Mairsil, the Pretender is sent to grave, he can use the in-grave effect to resurrect himself?
VraskaTheCursed says... Accepted answer #2
It does not work because while you are correct about copied ability referencing himself, Mairsil's second clause - that he has the abilities of all cards in exile - is a static ability, meaning it only has an effect when Mairsil is on the battlefield.
TL;DR: No, it doesn't work, cuz Mairsil's ability is static. He has no extra activated abilities when he's in the grave.
August 15, 2017 9:50 a.m.
Some static abilities do work from the grave, such as Wonder's ability, but they only do so because they explicitly state that they do so.
August 15, 2017 11:38 p.m.
VraskaTheCursed says... #4
Right, it's gotta say that it works from the grave, but otherwise no
August 16, 2017 8:51 a.m.
So I'm trying to understand why this doesn't work. Especially since abilities like cycling or flying on cards always on the cards regardless of zone. The way this is worded is similar to ghostfire, and less like myr welder or necrodic ooze which both have zone clauses attached to them. It looks like a characteristic ability to me... But please explain why it isn't.
August 23, 2017 6 p.m.
If you need a specific explanation:
Reassembling Skeleton's effect can be read as: I have this effect that costs which I can use in the graveyard. By implication, this is only an effect that I can use in the graveyard.
Mairsil, the Pretender's effect can be read as: I have this effect which grants me the activated abilities of creatures with cage counters on them. Nevertheless, this is a static ability that grants me these activated abilities. If Mairsil, the Pretender is moved to the graveyard, the activated abilities granted by his own effect cease to work. Think of it this way: Iona, Shield of Emeria's static effect stops working when she leaves the battlefield, right? The exact same applies to Mairsil - if he is moved from the battlefield, he loses all the activated abilities because he is in a zone where static effects are illegal, i.e. don't exist.
Raging_Squiggle says... #1
No, because unless explicitly stated in the ability otherwise, the static ability only functions while the creature is on the battlefield.
August 15, 2017 9:10 a.m.