How does Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief interact with mutate?
Asked by johndubs 2 years ago
Hello, I have a deck that uses Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief with auras and sorceries/instants, which should work with her main ability. However, cards with "mutate" are confusing. The mutate ability says when you ""cast" the mutate card, put it below/under, etc." Ivy COPIES spells that target other creatures. So does that mean the cards cast with mutate onto other creatures and COPIED by Ivy will just be creatures on the battlefield but NOT mutated with Ivy? Or will they actually mutate her? Thanks!
Gidgetimer says... Accepted answer #1
Copying a spell copies all choices made for the spell, including alternate/additional costs. Mutate is an alternate cost. Mutating creature spells merge with the target, if the target is still valid, when resolving. The copy will mutate onto Ivy.
707.10. To copy a spell, activated ability, or triggered ability means to put a copy of it onto the stack; a copy of a spell isn’t cast and a copy of an activated ability isn’t activated. A copy of a spell or ability copies both the characteristics of the spell or ability and all decisions made for it, including modes, targets, the value of X, and additional or alternative costs. (See rule 601, “Casting Spells.”) Choices that are normally made on resolution are not copied. If an effect of the copy refers to objects used to pay its costs, it uses the objects used to pay the costs of the original spell or ability. A copy of a spell is owned by the player under whose control it was put on the stack. A copy of a spell or ability is controlled by the player under whose control it was put on the stack. A copy of a spell is itself a spell, even though it has no spell card associated with it. A copy of an ability is itself an ability.
702.140a Mutate appears on some creature cards. It represents a static ability that functions while the spell with mutate is on the stack. “Mutate [cost]” means “You may pay [cost] rather than pay this spell’s mana cost. If you do, it becomes a mutating creature spell and targets a non-Human creature with the same owner as this spell.” Casting a spell using its mutate ability follows the rules for paying alternative costs (see 601.2b and 601.2f–h).
702.140c As a mutating creature spell resolves, if its target is legal, it doesn’t enter the battlefield. Rather, it merges with the target creature and becomes one object represented by more than one card or token (see rule 726, “Merging with Permanents”). The spell’s controller chooses whether the spell is put on top of the creature or on the bottom. The resulting permanent is a mutated permanent.
February 25, 2023 7:38 p.m.