Can Trait Doctoring affect basic lands?
Asked by cklise 12 years ago
Simply put, can the new (and mostly useless) Trait Doctoring affect basic lands? I know that basic lands have done away with text for some time, so I imagine it can't.
Heya, Epochalyptik or whoever else can answer it. I have a followup question. How would that impact the guildgates? They are dual land types, so is their ability to add seperate mana colors also dependant on the land types, or do they just have independent abilities like the shock lands?
April 29, 2013 3:12 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #3
Guildgates have no basic land types. Their mana abilities are not inherent; they come only from what is printed on them. Trait Doctoring will not do anything to them.
April 29, 2013 3:16 p.m.
Oh, yeah, huh. For some reason I thought they had actual land types and not just Gate. Silly me, and thank you! :3
April 29, 2013 3:17 p.m.
If they had basic land types they might be playable outside limited.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #1
Trait Doctoring can change the basic land type of a land. For example, you can change a swamp into an island. You can't change the text of the mana ability not because the mana ability is not written (it's an implicit quality of the card), but because the mana ability doesn't use a color word in its wording.
However, changing the basic land type of a land will remove the old mana ability and add a new mana ability corresponding to the new basic land type. BLTs confer to cards the inherent mana abilities associated with them.
April 29, 2013 12:23 p.m.