Is Aura swap an attach mechanic?
Asked by legendofa 4 weeks ago
More Future Sight Weirdness. The card Arcanum Wings allows you to "exchange" it with another aura from your hand. Is this considered attaching the new aura, for effects like Bramble Elemental?
701.3a To attach an Aura, Equipment, or Fortification to an object or player means to take it from where it currently is and put it onto that object or player.
Rulings: ...the Aura with aura swap is put into your hand and the chosen Aura is put onto the battlefield attached to that permanent.
The parallel I'm looking at is a creature entering "tapped and attacking" that was never declared as an attacker, and doesn't get "whenever a creature attacks" triggers. If I aura swap an Aura onto Bramble Elemental, does its trigger go off? Does the new aura become attached, or does it simply enter in a state of attachedness?
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #2
That works. "Becoming" Q just means first something wasn't Q and then it was. Auras always enter the battlefield attached to something immediately and are considered to have become attached to the object for the purposes of effects that care about it. It's how cards like Bramble Elemental and Eriette, the Beguiler are able to work at all:
303.4. Some enchantments have the subtype “Aura.” An Aura enters the battlefield attached to an object or player. What an Aura can be attached to is defined by its enchant keyword ability (see rule 702.5, “Enchant”). Other effects can limit what a permanent can be enchanted by.
The reason for the particular distinction around creatures declared as attackers vs. creatures put directly onto the battlefield attacking comes from the detailed rules for declaring attackers. Handling attack triggers is the last step of the special action of declaring attackers in the Declare Attackers step of combat.
508.1. First, the active player declares attackers. This turn-based action doesn’t use the stack. To declare attackers, the active player follows the steps below, in order...
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508.1m Any abilities that trigger on attackers being declared trigger.
April 1, 2024 5:36 p.m.
Rhadamanthus Once again, thanks for the detailed response!
legendofa says... #1
Bramble Elemental might not be the best example. Let's take the new Eriette, the Beguiler.
April 1, 2024 2:42 p.m.