Aura control - who can activate abilities?

Asked by GLBoxingGlove 13 years ago

Since you can cast an Aura enchantment on any creature, what happens when you plan one on an opponent's creature?

If it has an Activated Ability, can I (the owner) activate it, or since the Aura is on the opponent's creature, do they gain control of all abilities on the card?

example: Utopia Vow since it says creature has ability, I'd guess it they could use it since it effectively adding that text to the creature. (Want to use this as a potential Green "Pacifism" but giving opponent additional mana might not be good.)

compared to Firebreathing where it is just a cost to activate it and not "creature has". So if I played it on a teammate's creature, only I could boost it.

Siegfried says... Accepted answer #1

It comes down to whether the source of the ability is the enchantment or the creature it's enchanting. Auras like Flowstone Embrace and Firebreathing have their abilities as activated abilities with them as the source, meaning that only the controller of the Aura will be able to activate the ability. If the Aura instead grants an ability to the creature it's enchanting (Splinter Twin , Predatory Urge , Psionic Gift ) then the activated ability is instead on the creature, and whoever controls it will be able to activate it.

August 14, 2011 10:21 a.m.