Lazav becomes monstrous, but can he do it again?
Asked by Zacoly 11 years ago
I have Lazav, Dimir Mastermind on the board. An opponent's Fleecemane Lion enters the grave. I make Lazav a copy of it and activate it's monstrous effect. Colossus of Akros enters the grave, If I make Lazav, Dimir Mastermind a copy of that "card" can he become monstrous again? Or is he "still monstrous"?
shawnzeedyk says... #2
so when is the Lazav, Dimir Mastermind becomes copy of Colossus of Akros is it a 11/11 OR A 21/21 OR could you monstrous to get more counters.....? jw
October 5, 2013 4:40 a.m.
shawnzeedyk says... #3
what if you triggered the monstrous then at instant speed changed the creature could you pay 5 mana to do Fleecemane Lion then have it become Colossus of Akros with the trigger on the stack.....?
October 5, 2013 4:45 a.m.
Lazav, Dimir Mastermind becomes a copy of the creature card in the graveyard. If that card is no longer in the graveyard when Lazav's ability resolves, use the characteristics of that card as it last existed in the graveyard. Notably, copy effects that applied to the creature card when it was on the battlefield won't be copied by Lazav. For example, if a Clone is put into an opponent's graveyard from the battlefield and you use Lazav's ability, it will become 0/0. It won't become a copy of whatever Clone was copying.
So 1st : monstruosity is NOT copied from the original monster.
2nd : Monstrous isn't an ability that a creature has. It's just something true about that creature. If the creature stops being a creature or loses its abilities, it will continue to be monstrous.
So if it becomes monstrous, even if its abilities change, its still something true about the creature. So the trigger text of the new card will apply.
October 5, 2013 5:48 a.m.
So it would be an 11/11 with trample in your example. And you could not activate monstrosity again.
October 5, 2013 5:49 a.m.
Er...not quite.
It would be a 10/10 named Lazav, Dimir Mastermind, which had a +1/+1 counter on it, had defender, was monstrous, had trample and could attack as though it didn't have defender.
It could use monstrous again as much as it wanted, but when the ability resolved after he paid the activation cost, it would see that it was already monstrous and so do nothing.
October 5, 2013 6:52 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #8
Devonin is correct.
Monstrous is simply true or not true about a permanent.
Also, the activated monstrosity ability is worded such that you can activate the ability, but the effect only happens if the creature is not already monstrous.
October 5, 2013 1:06 p.m.
I'm confused? Doesn't Lavaz stop being whatever it was last when it copies a new target?
October 6, 2013 5:26 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #11
@Alx: Yes, but Lazav, Dimir Mastermind is still the same permanent. It loses some characteristics and gains others, but monstrous is not one of those characteristics. It's simply true about an object. The only way to revert a monstrous permanent is to cause it to change zones.
Devonin says... #1
Monstrous is a thing that is true about a creature or not. Once it is monstrous, it stays that way. You will gain the Colossus's ability, and could even pay the activation cost, but when it resolves it will see that it is already monstrous and not do anything.
October 4, 2013 11:58 p.m.