Why are dual colored gods from Born of the Gods text for devotion interpreted as "in any combination" rather than both?
Asked by Mews 7 years ago
Take Xenagos, God of Revels it says "As long as your devotion to red and green is less than seven, Xenagos isn't a creature."
but everyone seems to interpret it like Xenagos, the Reveler "+1: Add X mana in any combination of Red and/or Green to your mana pool, where X is the number of creatures you control."
The creature Xenagos says both colors are needed but instead people seem to understand it as "As long as your devotion to red and/or green in any combination is less than seven, Xenagos isn't a creature."
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #2
Basically the card is formatted to say "As long as your devotion to [Thing] is less than seven" where [Thing] is "red and green".
If they wanted it to require that both your devotion to red, and your devotion to green separately, it would be worded "as long as your devotion to red or your devotion to green is less than seven"
September 12, 2017 2:55 a.m. Edited.
Sorry if i wasn't clear in my original explanation let me put it more simply: Would Xenagos, God of Revels require BOTH red AND green to be greater than seven for Xenagos to be a creature or can it be mixed with both to be equal/greater than seven and why?
September 12, 2017 3:21 p.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... Accepted answer #4
It's pretty much as I explained earlier, it requires any combination, hybrids only counting for one. The reason is because "red and green" is the thing you're looking for devotion for, you're not looking separately for your devotion to red and your devotion to green. Besides even that, the card condition is that it's not a creature when it's less than 7, so even interpreted as separate devotions, you would only need to match one for him to be a creature, because they would have to both be below 7 for him to not be a creature.
If that's not satisfactory, then simply the fact that the rule Gidgetimer quoted says so, it is so.
September 12, 2017 3:25 p.m.
Rhadamanthus says... #5
It's the sum of all red, green, and red/green symbols, as explained in the rule quoted in Gidgetimer's initial reply.
For example, if you control some number of permanents that collectively have in their mana costs, Xenagos, God of Revels will be a creature.
Gidgetimer says... #1
Because that is literally exactly how the rule for devotion defines it.
700.5. A players devotion to [color] is equal to the number of mana symbols of that color among the mana costs of permanents that player controls. A players devotion to [color 1] and [color 2] is equal to the number of mana symbols among the mana costs of permanents that player controls that are [color 1], [color 2], or both colors.
September 12, 2017 2:40 a.m.