Necrotic Ooze + Olivia Voldaren

Asked by Kjartan 8 years ago

Cards in mtg has a tendency to be worded "fx, Olivia deals damage/as long as you control Olivia" rather "Than this creature deals 1 damage/as long as you control this creature".

I assume that if Olivia Voldaren is in my grave, and I control Necrotic Ooze I can take control of vamps for as long as I control the ooze, I just need confirmation on this, since it is worded so strangely.

Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1

When a card uses its own name in its rules text, it means "this object right here". If a card with a different name somehow gains that ability, it will also retain the "this object" meaning. Your understanding of how Necrotic Ooze and Olivia Voldaren interact is correct.

January 2, 2016 10:41 a.m.

Mr.Scoops says... #2

But wouldn't it resolve and be immediately returned to the opponent as he doesn't control Olivia Voldaren and as the ability states, it checks for owner ship of Olivia Voldaren and since it would be in the graveyard that check would come back "No"..

January 2, 2016 1:44 p.m.

Kjartan says... #3

Mr.Scoops - Rhadamanthus is right, I found the ruling.

If an activated ability of a card in a graveyard references the card it's printed on by name, treat Necrotic Ooze's version of that ability as though it referenced Necrotic Ooze by name instead. For example, if Cudgel Troll (which says ": Regenerate Cudgel Troll") is in a graveyard, Necrotic Ooze has the ability ": Regenerate Necrotic Ooze."

January 2, 2016 2:08 p.m.

Mr.Scoops says... #4

Cool, that's definitely not a bad card interaction at all. Could you cite the rule with ref number please?

January 2, 2016 2:26 p.m.

Kjartan says... #5

I don't know its ref number, I found it on gatherer under the card itself.

January 2, 2016 2:32 p.m.

Rhadamanthus says... #6

Here's the relevant Comprehensive Rules entry, along with one of the Examples given for it:

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.

January 3, 2016 12:02 p.m.

Mr.Scoops says... #7

Thanks Rhadamanthus, I appreciate the citation! I always like reading the actual ruling for the card!

January 3, 2016 12:39 p.m.

This discussion has been closed