So, after reading the recent Q&A ruling on
Soulflayer, a couple friends and I had a chat, trying to reason out the classification of the ability and how it works. We eventually came to the consensus that the cards do not need to remain in exile for
Soulflayer to have it's abilities, and mostly agreed then that it was a linked ability after reviewing the section on linked abilities
I'm honestly stumped now after reading that this is not a linked ability, and was hoping you could explain to me why it lacks that classification.
The point that has me stuck on it being linked is 607.2a and 607.2b
607.2a If an object has an activated or triggered ability printed on it that instructs a player to exile
one or more cards and an ability printed on it that refers either to “the exiled cards”
or to cards
“exiled with ,” these abilities are linked. The second ability refers only to cards in
the exile zone that were put there as a result of an instruction to exile them in the first ability.
607.2b If an object has an ability printed
on it that generates a replacement effect which causes one
or more cards to be exiled and an ability printed on it that refers either to “the exiled cards” or to
cards “exiled with ,” these abilities are linked. The second ability refers only
to
cards in the exile zone that were put there as a direct result of a replacement event caused by the
first ability. See rule 614, “Replacement Effects.”I'm not oblivious to the last lines of both these rules, stating that it's refering to the cards that are in the exile zone, but aside from that it seems to fit the bill so to speak.
soulflayer