#copy effects

[magicjudge]

Hello! What happens if I control Lynde, cheerful tormentor and a Mirrormade copying a curse, and Mirrormade is destroyed? Does it come back? If it does and I make it into a copy of a curse, do I have to attach it to me?

Mirrormade was a Curse as it left the battlefield, and so it will trigger Lynde's ability to return. When it returns to the battlefield, you get to choose anything* you like for it to copy. If that artifact or enchantment isn't a Curse or other Aura with Enchant player, then it will just enter the battlefield unattached. If it is a copy of a Curse or other player enchantment, then it has to enter attached to you.

[magicjudge]

If my opponent is using the Dark Depths & Thespian's Stage combo, am I able to respond to the "When Dark Depths has no ice counters" trigger with a Stip Mine or Boseju and prevent them from making the token?

Related question, if I have a Stifle, can I counter the ability to make the token after they have sacrificed both their lands?

Thank you!

For those who don't know the combo, I'll explain it step by step:

The first step is to activate Thespian's Stage to copy Dark Depths. When this ability resolves, Thespian's Stage becomes a copy of Dark Depths, but one without any ice counters on it (since it didn't enter the battlefield as a copy of Dark Depths).

Before any triggers go on the stack, the game checks state-based actions and sees that a player controls two legendary permanents with the same name. To rectify this, they put one of them into their graveyard. (In order for the combo to work, the original Dark Depths must be the card sent to the graveyard here.)

Now we put the Stage/Depths's "no ice counters" trigger on the stack. This is a relatively normal trigger and can be responded to with abilities like Strip Mine to destroy the land. Countering the trigger with Stifle won't do anything productive, however, since the state trigger for no ice counters will just trigger again once the first iteration of the trigger leaves the stack.

When the trigger goes to resolve, the Stage/Depths will be sacrificed (if it's on the battlefield still). If it was sacrificed this way, then the Marit Lage token will be created. This is all a single trigger with no opportunity to respond to anything between the sacrifice of the land and the creation of the token. (If the ability was worded "When you do, ..." rather than "If you do, ...", it would create a new trigger for the rest of the effect, but Dark Depths well pre-dates that templating technology.)

The net result here is that both lands are in the graveyard and a Marit Lage token has been created. The interaction points during the process are limited due to Dark Depth's ability being both able to re-trigger if countered and being only a single trigger, leaving no way to stop it once both lands are in the graveyard.

Of course you can always just bounce or exile the token...

[magicjudge]

I'm curious if this is a glitch in mtg arena or some layers thing I'll not understanding. I have Vulpikeet on the field. Opponent casts Frogify on it which makes my creature a 1/1 with no abilities. I later try to cast Gemrazer via mutate onto Vulpikeet to use the Gemrazer Mutate trigger to remove Frogify. But, the new mutation is still just a 1/1 with no abilities and Frogify remains. I thought creatures could still gain ability after losing them and Gemrazer having later timestamp would help.

That interaction is working as intended.

While it’s true that effects that add and remove abilities apply in timestamp order, mutate doesn’t work by giving abilities and the like, but rather by changing the copiable characteristics of the mutated creature. Since mutate is a copy effect, it applies earlier than Frogify’s effect and so any ability that would be gained by the creature is stripped away by Frogify before it can be relevant.

[magicjudge]

If i have a Volrath, The Shapestealer mutated with Creature A and then activate Volrath's ability, would Volrath become a copy of creature B with creature A's abilities or simply become a copy of creature B?

Just a copy of creature B. The effects of Mutate apply in the same layer as normal copy effects, so whichever effect is newer will win out. Making a mutated creature into a copy of something else will just make it a copy of that thing without its mutations. In the case of Volrath, he’ll go back to normal in the cleanup step (complete with mutations).

[magicjudge]

Hi! So I have Guardian Project on the battlefield, along with a creature, Paradise Druid. No cards on any graveyard, no other creatures on the battlefield. I cast Spark Double, targeting the Druid. Will Guardian Project trigger? Thanks!

No, it won’t.

Spark Double will enter the battlefield as a Paradise Druid in every way, including its name. Since it has the same name as another creature you control, Guardian Project’s secondary condition won’t be satisfied and it won’t trigger.

[magicjudge]

Something gets the activated ability from Lazav, the Multifarious like Necrotic Ooze. And activate it to copy something else. Is the "except it's name is" changed by the moment Necrotic Ooze got the ability normally if such a card name is like that it gets updated, or is Lazav, the Multifarious fixed there?

Lazav, the Multifarious has a new template for these sorts of effects. Previously, the copy effect would ignore the characteristics that are excepted this way, but now they just overwrite those values with the listed value.

What this means for Necrotic Ooze et al. is that instead of keeping their original name as they would before, they now become named Lazav, the Multifarious (or whatever other name is tied to the ability). This is, of course, a problem if you already control a Lazav.

[magicjudge]

Hello! Correct me if I got something wrong. If Essence of the Wild is on the battlefield, and I cast Genesis Hydra, I do get to dig for a permanent, and after that, the Hydra enters the battlefield as a copy of Essence without any counters. The same would happen if Essence of the Wild is the permanent I choose to put on the battlefield with the hydra as it would enter the battlefield first right?

It'll just be a copy of Essence of the Wild.

While both Genesis Hydra's counter ability and Essence of the Wild's copy ability want to modify how Genesis Hydra enters the battlefield, you have to apply the copy effect first before you can apply any other replacement effects. Once Essence's ability has been applied to the Hydra, it no longer has its counter ability and thus that ability can no longer happen.

[magicjudge]

Saheeli, the Gifted and Brudiclad, Telchor Engineer. I have 4 1/1 servos from Saheeli from previous turns. I use her -7 ability to create duplicates. I come to my combat phase with Brudiclad out, I use his second ability to make all tokens the 1/1 servos. Do the copies from Saheeli still get exiled at the next end step?

Yes, you still have to exile the tokens that were created by Saheeli’s ability.

The delayed trigger only cares that those permanents were created by Saheeli’s ability, not what they happen to be at the moment of the trigger resolving. There’s no way to save them with Brudiclad’s illusions.