What counts as an ability?
Asked by 203995014 11 years ago
This other day, I was reading about the M14 rule changes and read that Humility didn't stop permanents from being indestructible because indestructibility wasn't an ability (before M14) but rather just something true about a permanent.
Previously, I thought that being indestructible was a keyword but after reading that it made me question what an ability really was.
What actually counts as an ability? I know activated abilities and triggered abilities count but would abilities such as Gaddock Teeg or Thalia, Guardian of Thraben 's ability be affected by cards such as Sudden Spoiling ?
Epochalyptik says... #2
An ability is either static, triggered, or activated.
Activated abilities are always written "[cost]: [effect]" and must contain a colon to separate the two.
Triggered abilities always begin with at, when, or whenever.
Static abilities just state something true about the game.
Gaddock Teeg has two static abilities. So does Thalia, Guardian of Thraben . Both would lose these abilities to Sudden Spoiling .
July 11, 2013 9:44 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #3
Also, indestructible will become a keyword ability in M14.
July 11, 2013 9:44 p.m.
So does that mean that being indestructible (pre-m14 rules) actually is an ability and I fucked up with my reading skills?
July 11, 2013 9:46 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... Accepted answer #5
Well, the old wording of indestructible (see Avacyn, Angel of Hope ) used to write out "~ is indestructible." Now, it's a single keyword that replaces that phrase. Both iterations are static abilities.
July 11, 2013 9:54 p.m.
Absinthman says... #6
What this change is about can be shown on the following example.
Currently, when Frontline Medic
's batallion triggers, it makes all your creatures indestructible, not in the manner of giving them the "indestructible" ability, but rather by temporarily changing the game mechanics. This means, that even if someone Turn / Burn
s one of your creatures after the batallion has resolved, the Turn part does not make the creature "destructible" again. After the change though, the Medic's text will most likely read "...creatures you control gain indestructible until end of turn." This way, indestructibility will now be granted as an ability, and will be removed by Turn.
July 11, 2013 10:02 p.m.
Absinthman says... #7
However, you mustn't confuse the above with the case when something has "XXX is indestructible." printed on it. Such case represents a static ability and Turn will remove it too. The difference is when indestructibility is granted by other source.
July 11, 2013 10:04 p.m.
What about power and toughness, if the number is a formula e.g. Dauntless Dourbark power and toughness are each number of forests you control plus number of treefolk you control, is that an ability that would be lost (making it zero toughness and die)? I always thought of abilities as just keywords plus activated/triggered but it sounds like any text from people's comments here.
October 12, 2016 3:04 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #9
@orranis: This question is over three years old. In the future, please ask a new question instead of replying to an old one.
Dauntless Dourbark's first ability is a characteristic-defining ability, which is a form of static ability. Effects that remove abilities will remove CDAs just like they'll remove activated or triggered abilities.
Generally, effects that remove abilities of creatures will also set those creatures' power and toughness to a specific value in part to make up for removing CDAs that set P/T.
203995014 says... #1
Sorry, Previously thought indestructible was an ABILITY.
July 11, 2013 9:35 p.m.