If two opposite effects exist which one takes precedence?
Asked by veritas723 10 years ago
Sorry if this is a basic question, but i'm wondering, say a card has some sort of static affect. and then another card might seem to be the opposite of that, what determines which of these effects governs play?
like, say player 1 casts an enchantment that says, players can't search their library, then player two plays an enchantment that says... search your library whenever XYZ happens.
does the first card effect stand? or get overwritten? could player 2 search his library if the card he/she played triggers?
say i have a creature, that lets me play with the top card of my library revealed, and may play instants if that's what's on top. ...but then say, a card is cast that says i can't cast spells? could i still cast the revealed card because it fits the rules/conditions of my creature?
Epochalyptik says... #2
Because this question is a bit general, it's also worth discussing effects that are contradictory without explicitly defining a "can't."
For example, Reliquary Tower and Null Profusion.
In this case, we have two continuous effects that mandate different things but don't produce any "can't" stipulations.
To find out which effect takes precedence, we need to know the order in which they were created. Because these effects are both tied to static abilities on permanents, the order will depend on when those permanents entered the battlefield.
If Reliquary Tower entered the battlefield first, then its ability has the older timestamp and is applied first. Then, Null Profusion's ability is applied and overwrites Reliquary Tower's effect.
The opposite is true if Null Profusion has the older timestamp.
Additionally, there are cases in which multiple effects change a creature's P/T in different ways. For example, Giant Growth and Turn to Frog change P/T differently. This article on layers explains how to handle these effects.
GoblinsInc says... Accepted answer #1
101.2. When a rule or effect allows or directs something to happen, and another effect states that it can't happen, the "can't" effect takes precedence.Example: If one effect reads "You may play an additional land this turn" and another reads "You can't play land cards this turn," the effect that precludes you from playing lands wins.
March 3, 2015 7:05 p.m.