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| Format | Legality |
| 1v1 Commander | Legal |
| Alchemy | Legal |
| Archenemy | Legal |
| Arena | Legal |
| Block Constructed | Legal |
| Canadian Highlander | Legal |
| Casual | Legal |
| Commander / EDH | Legal |
| Commander: Rule 0 | Legal |
| Custom | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Freeform | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Highlander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Historic Brawl | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Leviathan | Legal |
| Limited | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Planar Constructed | Legal |
| Planechase | Legal |
| Quest Magic | Legal |
| Tiny Leaders | Legal |
| Vanguard | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
Grell Philosopher
Creature — Horror
Aberrant Tinkering — When Grell Philosopher enters the battlefield and at the beginning of your upkeep, each Horror you control gains all activated abilities of target artifact an opponent controls until end of turn. You may spend blue mana as though it were mana of any colour to activate those abilities.
Rhadamanthus on Chosen creature types and copys …
4 months ago
The Pillar of Origins that you gave to your opponent will still have the "Horror" choice you made earlier but the mana from the ability granted by Grell Philosopher will be unusable because that instance of the ability didn't get a creature type defined for it.
Pillar of Origins' abilities are a special kind of ability called "linked abilities". The general form of linked abilities (there are several variations) are one ability that defines some values and another ability that uses the values from the first one to determine the results of its own effect. If something gains the ability that does stuff but doesn't gain the ability that defines the values (or gains it in a way that doesn't let the values get defined) then the values are undefined. Depending on exactly what the ability that does stuff does, it will either be unable to do anything or will only be able to do something very limited and probably not useful, as in your example.
Whoodini on Chosen creature types and copys …
4 months ago
Let's say I play Pillar of Origins and choose Horror ... I then flip up Coveted Falcon and grant my opponent control of Pillar of Origins (is horror still chosen after the exchange?) I now play Grell Philosopher and choose Pillar of Origins can I now tap my horrors for mana only Usable for the chosen creature type? Or will the mana be unusable due to no creature type being chosen by that specific permanent?
UltimateRoxas40 on
The Horror ... THE HORROR!
2 years ago
How about Grell Philosopher? I actually took that out of my deck to slot in my own Roaming Throne. I never really got a good use out of it. Turning some of the Horrors into Sol Ring's is cool, but I'd rather attack with them to get good Mill targets for our Captain.
Rhadamanthus on Grell Phillosopher with vehicles and …
3 years ago
FalconForce: Since it's clear you got a satisfactory answer to your question and there don't seem to be any more follow-ups or corrections to be made, I marked it as the "Accepted answer" so this topic can move out of the list of unanswered questions. In the future you can take care of this yourself using the "Mark as Answer" button on the response that you feel best answers your question.
One side note: You mention getting blinks from the particular situation you describe above and I want to make sure one thing is clear. Grell Philosopher's ability only looks at the activated abilities of the targeted artifact, which are specifically abilities in the form of "[Cost] : [Effect]". Only the Crew ability on Golden Argosy is an activated ability (you can see the required format in the reminder text). The other ability is a triggered ability (a triggered ability always starts with "when/whenever/at") and Grell Philosopher won't interact with that.
FalconForce on Grell Phillosopher with vehicles and …
3 years ago
How does Grell Philosopher interact with vehicles or reconfigure? for example say an opponent has Golden Argosy or Ogre-Head Helm.
Will this attach the philosopher as a piece of equipment that has no effect? (At least, other than protecting it from board wipes) Or will it allow you to sacrifice either itself or the creature it's attached to?
Will Grell allow itself to be crewed even though it won't change? So as to enable free taps or blinks.
Xlp on
Captain N'Ghathrod horror tribe mill
4 years ago
thefiresoflurve I took out Grell Philosopher and Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar because grell relied on an opp having an artifact and graz was only one draw per battle I only added Omniscience because jank love and Planar Bridge to search Bolas's Citadel and Omniscience
thefiresoflurve on
Captain N'Ghathrod horror tribe mill
4 years ago
A few things you could consider cutting: As Foretold - this really works much better in decks that have more instants/counterspells, since it works on other people's turns as well. Additionally, the odds of getting this card out + having it survive long enough to be useful make it just not worth it. I've seen it played at my table and it's impact is considerably lower than something like Rhystic Study, which would make a great replacement.
Similarly, Omniscience and Planar Bridge seem too expensive to really justify using.
Grell Philosopher and Grazilaxx, Illithid Scholar would be good replacements - Philosopher to turn your creatures into ramp/tech, and Grazilax for some more draw.