Celestial Dawn under an opponent's control in EDH

Asked by alexthegreat38 10 years ago

Hi, I know this question has been asked before, but I am curious about the technicalities of the answer.

I have a commander deck where Zedruu the Greathearted is the commander. If I use her ability to donate a Celestial Dawn to an opponent, what happens?

All the answers I've seen state that it means the opponent can only spend mana as colorless mana. However, the text of the card says "nonland cards you own that aren't in play...are white." Doesn't this mean that it makes my opponent's commander white as well, enabling them to play all their spells as usual? Or am I misunderstanding the concept of "color identity" within Commander/EDH?

Thanks for your time, hope to hear a good explanation.

Drilnoth says... Accepted answer #1

A commander's color identity is locked in at the start of the game, regardless of anything which happens during the game. Basically, color and color identity are two different things, and Celestial Dawn only impacts the former.

October 11, 2014 7:41 p.m.

alexthegreat38 says... #2

Okay, I suppose that makes sense -- it's just a really odd concept. We've been playing it that way, and my one friend already hates me for it! XD

October 11, 2014 7:45 p.m.