Minklink mech and Enduring Glimmers
Asked by Chaospyke 1 year ago
I have a Mindlink Mech and it dies while copying an Enduring Curiosity. When the Mindlink mech comes back, can it still be crewed and will die from 0/0 stats?
And to fill in a bit I missed here, yes, any time it is an artifact again, the Vehicle subtype returns.
November 30, 2024 10:22 p.m.
Checking back on this, wouldn't Mindlink Mech still be an enchantment in addition to its other types, as being an enchantment is not part of its copiable traits, right?
Like if a Clever Impersonator entered as a copy of the reanimated Mindlink Mech, the Clever Impersonator should just be an Artifact Vehicle.
December 10, 2024 4:12 p.m.
It seems to me that when the Mech dies, it would come back to the board, but just be its original self again.
I'm thinking that the copycat effect would happen and trigger the command to send it back to the board when it dies, but that the copycat effect would not accompany the Mech back to the battlefield, in the same way that counters do not come back with a creature.
Am I crazy?
December 10, 2025 6:41 a.m.
vic Being an enchantment is an effect of the triggered ability that's bringing it back. It's the same as, for example, Abuelo's Awakening bringing a creature back as a 1/1 Spirit (in addition to its other types) with flying.
This is covered in the Gatherer rulings for Enduring Curiosity: If a nontoken permanent that's a copy of Enduring Curiosity dies while it's a creature, it will return to the battlefield as an enchantment when its last ability resolves. It won't have any card types other than enchantment. (2024-09-20)
December 14, 2025 10:50 p.m.
Polaris Right, but that's dealing with the way it comes back. I could tell from the verbiage that upon return it's only an enchantment and not a creature.
I just wasn't sure about whether it was both of them when you first cast it, simply because it has both written on it. I didn't see anything in Gatherer that made it clear to me that it's only a creature and not an enchantment at that time.
Polaris says... Accepted answer #1
This is a weird one, but here you go. TL;DR: No. It'll crew fine. Why this is gets strange.
When Mindlink Mech returns, it'll be an Enchantment. It loses the Vehicle subtype since it's not an artifact, per rule 205.1a: If an object's card type is removed, the subtypes correlated with that card type will remain if they are also the subtypes of a card type the object currently has; otherwise, they are also removed for the entire time the object's card type is removed. It will retain the 4/3 printed in its text box, though this won't do anything while it's not a creature.
Where this gets weird is if you crew it. The first wrinkle is that crew abilities read "this Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn," which could be problematic since it's not a Vehicle. However, the version of the ability in the comprehensive rules reads thus: "Crew N" means "Tap any number of other untapped creatures you control with total power N or greater: This permanent becomes an artifact creature until end of turn." (rule 702.122a) So the crew ability still works.
When you do, the crew ability's type-changing effect takes precedence over Enduring Curiosity's type-changing effect due to the newer timestamp. But it gets weirder. Becoming an artifact creature is a specific exception to types being overwritten, per rule 205.1b: Some effects state that an object become an "artifact creature"; these effects also allow the object to retain all of its prior card types and subtypes.
So: when the crew ability resolves, Mindlink Mech will go from being an Enchantment with no power and toughness to an Artifact Enchantment Creature - Vehicle that's a 4/3. Then its "first becomes crewed" triggered ability will resolve and it'll become a copy of target creature and its type line will change to that creature's type line plus Artifact and Vehicle (and it'll remain 4/3 with flying). It will most likely lose the Enchantment type. Then at the end of the turn, both the crew and copy effects will expire, and it will return to being an Enchantment with no subtypes.
November 30, 2024 10:21 p.m.