Unequip/Unattach
Asked by Colten_Lee 10 years ago
So, I'm pretty sure you can but just checking. Can you unequip/unattach equipment from a creature??
If so, at what time can you do it?
Evidence?
Equipment only becomes unattached to anything if the thing it is currently attached to leaves the battlefield, or gains protection from artifacts etc. Otherwise, once equipped, you can only equip to other creatures. "Unequip" doesn't exist.
January 8, 2015 10:26 a.m.
hyperlocke says... #3
As said above, there's nothing in the rules about "unequipping". The only way to unattach an equipment is by equipping it to another creature. In most cases, you can do that every time you could cast a sorcery.
Rules relating to Equipment:
301.5.
301.5. Some artifacts have the subtype Equipment. An Equipment can be attached to a creature. It cant legally be attached to an object that isnt a creature.
301.5a The creature an Equipment is attached to is called the equipped creature. The Equipment is attached to, or equips, that creature.
301.5b An Equipment is cast and enters the battlefield just like any other artifact. An Equipment doesnt enter the battlefield attached to a creature. The equip keyword ability attaches the Equipment to a creature you control (see rule 702.6, Equip). Control of the creature matters only when the equip ability is activated and when it resolves. Spells and other abilities may also attach an Equipment to a creature. If an effect attempts to attach an Equipment to an object that cant be equipped by it, the Equipment doesnt move.
301.5c An Equipment thats also a creature cant equip a creature. An Equipment that loses the subtype Equipment cant equip a creature. An Equipment cant equip itself. An Equipment that equips an illegal or nonexistent permanent becomes unattached from that permanent but remains on the battlefield. (This is a state-based action. See rule 704.)
301.5d An Equipments controller is separate from the equipped creatures controller; the two need not be the same. Changing control of the creature doesnt change control of the Equipment, and vice versa. Only the Equipments controller can activate its abilities. However, if the Equipment grants an ability to the equipped creature (with gains or has), the equipped creatures controller is the only one who can activate that ability.
702.6. Equip
702.6a Equip is an activated ability of Equipment cards. Equip [cost] means [Cost]: Attach this permanent to target creature you control. Activate this ability only any time you could cast a sorcery.
702.6b For more information about Equipment, see rule 301, Artifacts.
702.6c If a permanent has multiple instances of equip, any of its equip abilities may be activated.
January 8, 2015 10:30 a.m.
Colten_Lee says... #4
Okay. Totally new to me. I always thought you could unequip. So you can only move it by equipping to a new creature, or by making the current one illegal?
January 8, 2015 11:52 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #5
Yes. And remember that equipment don't target anything as permanents (only the equip ability has targets), so giving the equipped creature shroud or something like that won't work. You'd have to give it protection or cause it to stop being a creature.
There are also some abilities that allow you to attach an equipment directly to a creature (see Brass Squire).
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #1
No. The Equip ability, as explained in reminder text on many (but not all) equipment cards, can be used to attach an equipment to a creature. Nothing in the rules about Equip say it can be used to "unattach" the equipment, so there's nothing to quote.
January 8, 2015 10:09 a.m.