Bishop of binding
Asked by Bushmonkey 5 years ago
Hi. If Bishop of Binding exiles a Crackling Drake and there's 5 instants/sorcery in opponents graveyard and 3 instants/sorcerys in my graveyard, what is the +X+X bonus???
Is it's 5,3 or 0??
Cheers
Rhadamanthus says... #2
It depends on who owns the Drake. It's not clear who owns and/or controls the cards in your example. The ability that defines Crackling Drake's power is a special kind of ability that constantly updates itself no matter where the card is. If your opponent owns the Drake then the answer is 5. If you own the Drake then the answer is 3.
For a permanent on the battlefield or a spell on the stack, any "you/your" in its rules text is talking to the permanent/spell's controller. For cards in any other zone (in your example: exile), the rules text is talking to the card's owner.
November 8, 2018 2:36 p.m. Edited.
Bushmonkey says... #3
My bad. Thanks for moving it
I had a match at an FNM and we didn't know what the value would be. We assumed because it's exile and the card didn't have an attack value printed it was 0
November 9, 2018 3:28 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #4
If you have a question during an event, always ask a judge to help you sort it out. Every sanctioned event has to have a judge assigned to it. If the tournament organizer didn't specify one when the event started then they're the default judge.
Caerwyn says... Accepted answer #1
First, for future reference, there is a Rules Q&A section for questions about rules, cards, or card interactions. I've taken the liberty of moving your thread over there.
Unlike the regular forums sections, you can "Mark as Answer" a post once the question has been resolved, which keeps the forums a bit more organized, and also provides helpful information for anyone else with the same question.
The bonus will be +5/+5. Let's look at why:
Bishop of Binding only looks at the power of the card as things stand in the exile zone. If you exile a 2/2 with 10 +1/+1 counters, the counters will disappear when exiled, and you'll only get the +2/+2.
Crackling Drake, however, is different. It's "power is equal to" ability is a "Characteristic-defining Ability" defined by Rule 604.3 and its subpart, 604.3a (reproduced below). Characteristic-defining Abilities function in all zones (as well as outside the game).
In this case, Crackling Drake's power will be defined by the number of instant and sorcery cards in its owner's graveyard, even though it is in exile. Just because you're the one applying the Bishop of Binding effect does not mean you own/control the Crackling Drake, so it will look to its owner's graveyard.
604.3. Some static abilities are characteristic-defining abilities. A characteristic-defining ability conveys information about an object’s characteristics that would normally be found elsewhere on that object (such as in its mana cost, type line, or power/toughness box) or overrides information found elsewhere on that object. Characteristic-defining abilities function in all zones. They also function outside the game.
604.3a A static ability is a characteristic-defining ability if it meets the following criteria: (1) It defines an object’s colors, subtypes, power, or toughness; (2) it is printed on the card it affects, it was granted to the token it affects by the effect that created the token, or it was acquired by the object it affects as the result of a copy effect or text-changing effect; (3) it does not directly affect the characteristics of any other objects; (4) it is not an ability that an object grants to itself; and (5) it does not set the values of such characteristics only if certain conditions are met.
November 8, 2018 2:35 p.m. Edited.