Volrath Shapestealer and Enduring Glimmers
Asked by Chaospyke 7 months ago
Volrath, the Shapestealer
dies as a copy of Enduring Vitality. It returns to the battlefield as an enchantment. Will Volrath's activated ability allow it to become a creature again?
Rhadamanthus says... #2
It will just be an enchantment, not a creature, though it will have the copied creature's other abilities plus Volrath's copy abilility.
When there are multiple effects modifying an object's characteristics, the game uses a system of "Layers" to determine the final result. Volrath's copy effect applies in Layer 1, but the type-changing effect from Enduring Vitality's ability applies in Layer 4. Layers are applied in order, so even though Volrath's copy effect would make it into an exact copy of a creature, including type, Enduring Vitality's type-changing effect is applied later and Volrath ends up not being a creature.
613.1. The values of an object’s characteristics are determined by starting with the actual object. For a card, that means the values of the characteristics printed on that card. For a token or a copy of a spell or card, that means the values of the characteristics defined by the effect that created it. Then all applicable continuous effects are applied in a series of layers in the following order:
613.1a Layer 1: Rules and effects that modify copiable values are applied.
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613.1d Layer 4: Type-changing effects are applied. These include effects that change an object’s card type, subtype, and/or supertype.
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March 25, 2025 8:56 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #3
Since there don't seem to be any more corrections or follow-ups on this, I have changed the "Accepted answer" to the more accurate one so it will be clear to anyone else in the future who happens to have a question like this and finds this in their search results.
March 31, 2025 10:07 a.m.
I unfortunately forgot about this, but I see two conflicting answers.
@Rhadamanthus: I would ask if the time stamp of the abilities matters here.
July 12, 2025 1:27 a.m.
Rhadamanthus says... Accepted answer #5
Timestamp matters for effects that apply in the same layer but these effects apply in different layers.
To elaborate a bit on my first explanation: Volrath will just be Volrath when it returns to the battlefield, but the effect from Enduring Vitality's ability that brought it back makes it a non-creature enchantment. This type-changing effect applies in Layer 4. If you activate Volrath's second ability to turn it into a copy of something, that copy effect will apply in Layer 1. However, the type-changing effect mentioned earlier still exists and will still be applied in Layer 4, ultimately making it a non-creature. If you were able to use some other effect to turn it into a creature, then it would be a 7/5 copy of whatever it was, since that's the P/T established by Volrath's copy effect.
Gidgetimer says... #1
Yes. When a permanent is copied the copy is exactly the copied permanent with any changes made by the copy effect. The ability in question does not change the types of the copied permanent, just the P/T, so enchantment Volrath will once again be a creature.
March 24, 2025 8:04 p.m.