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Rules Q&A » Post: Polymorphist's Jest and Elspeth Emblem

Polymorphist's Jest and Elspeth Emblem

Sept. 19, 2014 08:41:18 AM

Jeff Jeakins
Judge (Uncertified)

Canada - Eastern Provinces

Polymorphist's Jest and Elspeth Emblem

Could someone explain this interaction for me?

Adrian has Elspeth's emblem in play (your creatures have +2/+0 and flying). Adrian attacks with his 5 Elspeth creature tokens.

Naomi casts Polymorphist's Jest

Do they become 3/1 frogs without flying?

Thanks

Sept. 19, 2014 06:11:01 PM

Scott Marshall
Forum Moderator
Judge (Level 4 (Judge Foundry)), Hall of Fame

USA - Southwest

Polymorphist's Jest and Elspeth Emblem

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Sept. 20, 2014 05:07:28 PM

Daniel Kitachewsky
Judge (Uncertified)

France

Polymorphist's Jest and Elspeth Emblem

The tokens become 3/3s without flying. (Elspeth, Sun's Champions's emblem gives your creatures +2/+2, not +2/+0.)

When dealing with effects that adds or removes abilities, you apply those effects in timestamp order, which at the basic level means the order those effects became relevant, from oldest to most recent. Adrian received the emblem first, which means that the flying the emblem grants gets wiped out by the more recent Jest.

Effects that modify power and/or toughness are applied in a separate, later layer, and are more complicated, because they're divided into sublayers based on what they're doing, and you apply all effects within each sublayer before moving on to the next. Effects that set power and/or toughness to a specific value (like the Jest) are applied in a lower layer and thus before effects that boost or reduce those values without setting them to anything specific (like the emblem). This means that regardless of the order in which they happen, you will always apply the “make it 1/1” effect from Polymorphist's Jest before applying the “give it +2/+2” effect from Elspeth's emblem.

Daniel Kitachewsky
L4, Paris, France
Rules NetRep