If A Legendary Creature is printed in 2 different names, can they still co-exist?
Asked by Tortuous_TG18 8 years ago
I was wondering because I was imagining a glorious combo with Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius and Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind, but was shot down by my older brother, who claimed they had the same name but different titles, so the recent cast stays on the field and the older cast would be put into the grave. Is this true???
TheFoilAjani says... #2
Just to clarify, you can have two of the "same" legendary creature on the field at the same time as long as their name is not exactly the same.
(First response is correct, just the "Yes" was a little misleading)
July 22, 2016 7:16 p.m. Edited.
Gidgetimer says... Accepted answer #3
704.5k If a player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners graveyards. This is called the legend rule.
When it says "same name" it means exact English name. Archangel Avacyn Flip, Avacyn, Angel of Hope, and Avacyn, Guardian Angel can all three be on the battlefield under a single person's control. An English language Avacyn, Angel of Hope and a Japanese language Avacyn, Angel of Hope can not. Of course two English language Avacyn, Angel of Hope can't be either.
July 22, 2016 8:56 p.m.
TheRedMage says... #4
Your brother's mistake might have originated from the fact that planeswalkers work more or less the way he is saying. Basically the planeswalker uniqueness rule claims that if a player controls two planeswalkers with the same subtype (as opposed of with the same name, which is how legendary permanents work) then that player puts all but one of them in their graveyard.
A planeswalker's subtype is usually the character's name. Sarkhan the Mad and Sarkhan Unbroken both have the planeswalker subtype "Sarkhan", and, as such, if you control both of them one will go to the graveyard.
However, this is a different rule than the one controlling legendary permanents. As the previous posters have stated, even if two legendary creature cards depict the same character, they can both be on the battlefield as long as the full english name of the card is not exactly the same.
July 23, 2016 7:43 a.m.
Tortuous_TG18 says... #5
Thank you Gidgetimer Will proceed to rub in face of brother lol
canterlotguardian says... #1
Yes. As long as the name is not exactly the same, it is perfectly acceptable.
Also this really should have gone in the Rules Q&A section.
July 22, 2016 6:31 p.m.