Stolen creatures and equipments - death rules
Asked by Swebb87 3 years ago
My opponent gained control of my Armix, Filigree Thrasher which had a Maul of the Skyclaves attached to it. I killed the Armix, Filigree Thrasher which I know goes to my graveyard when it dies. What happens to the Maul??
Yeah sorry I should have been clearer. I knew that I still controlled the artifact. But do I get it back straight away when the creature dies or does it stay on my opponents battlefield until I can pay to re-equip it ?
February 22, 2021 6:29 p.m.
Yeah, while an Equipment doesn't fall off if the creature changes controllers, they took control of the creature, not the Equipment. It'll only stay on that creature until you move it somewhere. For the same reason, if the Equipment were Shadowspear or some other Equipment that had activated abilities of its own, your opponent wouldn't be able to use any of them because they don't control the Equipment. They only get to use abilities your Equipment grants to the equipped creature.
To answer your follow-up question, the Equipment never leaves your battlefield. It's attached to a creature you don't control, but it's always on "your" battlefield. You can use any of its abilities (again, see Shadowspear example) and if the equipped creature leaves play it will be on your side of the battlefield. Controlling it and having it be on your side of the battlefield are synonymous.
In a similar way, an Aura like Cage of Hands is on your side and you can activate its return ability (your opponent can't) even though you'll typically be attaching it to one of their creatures.
February 22, 2021 6:35 p.m.
Some more points of clarification, because you do control it even while it's attached to a creature your opponent controls, if you have an effect that counts your artifacts (like Welding Sparks ) it sees the equipment.
If you're asking whether you get it back immediately to trigger it's ETB and equip it for free, it never leaves the battlefield, so it never comes back and triggers, you'll need to pay to equip it.
For some equipment, they have abilities that care about the controller of the equipment, not the controller of the creature. This is for simplicity since those should be the same person, but it can create interesting situations with a stolen creature. For instance, if you're Armix, Filigree Thrasher was equipped with Sword of Body and Mind instead, when it hit's you you'll mill 10 (as you were the one who was hit) and create a 2/2 green wolf token (as you control the sword). If it was equipped with Argentum Armor , you'd destroy target permanent when it attacks, you could even destroy Armix to keep it from hitting you!
February 22, 2021 8:16 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #5
This may seem pedantic, but there is only a single battlefield. Each player puts their permanents on the battlefield in front of themselves to represent who controls what, but there is only a single game zone. When the creature dies, the equipment remains on the battlefield, and since it is no longer attached to anything it should be in front of its controller to most accurately represent the game state.
The fact that the battlefield is a single zone also helps to understand why casting a Mind Control on an opponent's Mulldrifter will not draw you any cards.
Gidgetimer says... #1
You still control the Maul. As a matter of fact, you never didn't control the Maul and could equip it to another creature you control on your turn even if Amix was alive.
February 22, 2021 6:17 p.m.