Lazav the Multifarious and Copying cards
Asked by marikrizu 5 years ago
So to hit this off, there are two interaction with the new Lazav that I have seen many people talk about, but they are contradictions of each other in terms how their abilities work. First one is if you had Lazav copy Phage. If he copies Phage then he gains the ability to instantly kill the opponent. The other is if he copies Death’s Shadow. This one is seen as he’ll become a 13/13 for one mana.
Now since Lazav keeps his own name, does that mean Phages’ ability will not work as it refers to Phage connecting, and Death’s Shadow’s ability not work making him the 13/13, or is it the other way around? Will he be able to connect as a Phage copy but then still be affected by the -x/-x of Death’s Shadow?
Again, I have seen people talk about both but one or the other has to work, Lazav cannot become a 13/13 and be able to connect with Phage. Their abilities will contradict the reasoning why the other works.
Rhadamanthus explained it well.
It’s also covered in the comprehensive rules under:
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201.4b If an ability of an object refers to that object by name, and an object with a different name gains that ability, each instance of the first name in the gained ability that refers to the first object by name should be treated as the second name.
Example: Quicksilver Elemental says, in part, “: Quicksilver Elemental gains all activated abilities of target creature until end of turn.” If it gains an ability that says “: Regenerate Cudgel Troll,” activating that ability will regenerate Quicksilver Elemental, not the Cudgel Troll it gained the ability from.
Example: Glacial Ray is an instant with splice onto Arcane that says “Glacial Ray deals 2 damage to any target.” If it’s spliced onto a Kodama's Reach, that Kodama’s Reach deals 2 damage to the target.
Example: Dimir Doppelganger says “: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. Dimir Doppelganger becomes a copy of that card and gains this ability.” Dimir Doppelganger’s ability is activated targeting a Runeclaw Bear card. The Doppelganger becomes a copy of Runeclaw Bear and gains an ability that should be treated as saying “: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. Runeclaw Bear becomes a copy of that card and gains this ability.”
Just incase it gets disputed while playing with others.
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1
The Lazav, the Multifarious that copies Phage the Untouchable will be able to kill players and the one that copies Death's Shadow will get -X/-X where X is its controller's life total.
When a card uses its own name in one of its abilities (without also saying something like "cards named NN") it means "this object, right here". If a second card with a different name gains that ability, it will keep the "this object" meaning and the second card will refer to itself, not the first card.
In your examples, this means
September 18, 2018 9:43 p.m.