Can Vehicles Crew Themselves? The Surprising Truth About Animated Artifacts

The short answer is: no, Vehicles cannot crew themselves under the current rules of the game. While a loophole once existed that allowed animated Vehicles to, in essence, “self-crew,” a specific rule change eliminated this possibility. This article delves into the mechanics behind Vehicles, their crew abilities, and the history of this intriguing, albeit short-lived, interaction. Prepare for a deep dive into the intricate rules governing these artifact creatures and discover why they need external assistance to join the fray.

Unveiling the Mechanics of Vehicles

Vehicles are a unique type of artifact card that represent cars, tanks, boats, and other conveyances. In their base state, they sit on the battlefield as inert artifacts. To transform them into powerful attacking or blocking creatures, you must activate their Crew ability.

The Crew Ability Explained

The Crew ability is an activated ability that requires you to tap a certain number of creatures you control with a combined power equal to or greater than the Vehicle’s crew cost. Once activated, the Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until the end of the turn, with specified power and toughness. Critically, activating the Crew ability does not tap the Vehicle itself.

The History of the “Self-Crewing” Loophole

Early iterations of the Vehicle rules contained an interesting ambiguity. Before a particular rules change, animated Vehicles could potentially crew themselves.

The old logic went as follows:

1. An effect, such as from the card Skilled Animator, turns a Vehicle into an artifact creature.
2. Since the Vehicle is now a creature, it can be tapped to pay the cost of a Crew ability.
3. Theoretically, if the Vehicle’s power was high enough to meet its own crew cost, it could tap itself to become a creature, effectively “self-crewing.”

This interaction, though technically within the rules at the time, was deemed unintuitive and potentially problematic. It allowed for situations where a Vehicle could become a creature without any external support, which went against the intended design of the mechanic.

The One-Word Change That Ended Self-Crewing

To eliminate the “self-crewing” loophole, the rules were subtly altered. The change likely involved clarifying that you can tap “other creatures” or creatures you control that were not being animated via that Vehicle’s effect. This seemingly minor tweak completely shut down the possibility of a Vehicle crewing itself. The rules change now mandate the player to tap a creature separate from that Vehicle’s own crewing to bring the vehicle to life, and have it attack or block.

The reasoning behind this change was to ensure that Vehicles remained reliant on other creatures. The design intended for them to be team players, relying on other creatures to join the fight. Self-crewing undermined this design goal. The subtle change was well-received and solidified the intended interaction between Vehicles and their crew.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About Vehicles

Here are fifteen frequently asked questions about Vehicles, covering a range of topics from crewing costs to summoning sickness:

1. Can a Vehicle crew another Vehicle? Yes, you can use crewed Vehicles to crew other Vehicles. These Vehicle chains were common when trying to crew cards like Heart of Kiran that had a high crew cost relative to the power of creatures in the format.

2. Can you crew a Vehicle at any time? You can crew a Vehicle any time you have priority. You can crew it in your beginning of combat step, after you’ve declared attackers in the declare attackers step (but you won’t be able to attack with it since you’ve passed that point), after blockers are declared, or in your end of combat step.

3. Can Vehicles defend without crew? No. A Vehicle is not a creature if its Crew ability has not been activated this turn, and no other effects have turned it into one. You CAN Crew at instant speed in order to block with it, but otherwise no.

4. Do you have to crew a Vehicle every turn? Once you’ve crewed your Vehicle, it becomes an artifact creature with the power and toughness specified on the card until end of turn. You’ll need to crew a Vehicle every turn you wish to use it, so make sure you have some untapped creatures around.

5. How many times can you crew a Vehicle? You can activate a Vehicle’s crew ability as many times as you are able to pay the cost though each additional time will usually have no real effect.

6. Can you crew a Vehicle with less power than the crew cost? No. When crewing a Vehicle, tap any number of creatures whose total power is greater than (or equal to) the Vehicle’s crew cost. Let’s take Mindlink Mech as an example: Mindlink Mech has a crew cost of 1, this means you can tap any number of creatures whose power is at least one.

7. Do Vehicles tap when attacking? No longer being a creature is not relevant: if a Vehicle attacks and doesn’t have vigilance, it gets tapped and stays tapped when it stops being a creature until there’s a reason for it to untap.

8. Can you tap Vehicles to crew? You can crew a tapped or untapped Vehicle. You cannot “bring it into combat” as a tapped creature cannot attack or block. Crewing the Vehicle won’t untap the Vehicle.

9. Do Vehicles have summoning sickness? Yes, sadly, they do. When a Vehicle crews to become an artifact creature it acts no different than if an effect like Skilled Animator‘s was used. It becomes a creature and is subject to the summoning sickness rules just like any other creature.

10. Can you crew during blockers? No. Blockers are all declared at once. If you want the creatures to block, by the time they tap to crew the Vehicle, you can’t declare more blockers. If you want to crew the Vehicle, the creatures will be tapped before you declare blockers so they can’t block.

11. Can you crew Vehicles at instant speed? Yes but it must be crewed before the declare blockers step. You can crew Vehicles at instant speed, so as long as you can pay the crew the answer is yes. You may not, however, declare blockers with both the crewed creatures and the Vehicle, since they are tapped before you begin to declare blockers.

12. Can you tap an uncrewed Vehicle? Because the crew ability doesn’t use the tap symbol, you can tap any untapped creature you control, even one that just entered the battlefield. You can even tap an animated Vehicle to crew a Vehicle. Crew evolved from a “location” mechanic, originally envisioned for Ixalan.

13. Can you crew with 0 power? For the Crew ability, per the rules, you can technically tap zero creatures of power N or greater.

14. Can a 0 power creature crew a Vehicle? No, you can’t. Crew(N) you tap creatures with total power (N)or more to crew the vehicle. You can’t activate the crew ability with less than enough resources.

15. Do Vehicles become creatures when crewed? Vehicle is an artifact type, not a creature type. A Vehicle that’s crewed won’t have any creature type. However, because it retains its artifact type, it will be an Artifact Creature – Vehicle.

Vehicles, Rules, and the Spirit of the Game

The saga of the “self-crewing” Vehicle is a testament to the dynamic nature of the rules and the constant refinement that ensures fairness and intuitive gameplay. While the interaction was brief, it highlights the importance of precise language and the dedication to upholding the spirit of the game. By clarifying the rules, the game designers reinforced the intended purpose of Vehicles, emphasizing their reliance on other creatures for activation and participation in combat.

To learn more about game design and the theory behind engaging gameplay, consider exploring the resources available at the Games Learning Society or at GamesLearningSociety.org.