How Does Mutate Work in Magic?
Mutate is a keyword ability in Magic: The Gathering that allows a creature card to be cast as a mutating creature spell, merging it with another creature on the battlefield to create a more powerful creature with stacking abilities. The resulting creature has the power, toughness, name, creature type, and color of the top creature, but inherits abilities from all creatures in the stack, making it a formidable force on the battlefield.
Understanding Mutate Mechanics
To fully grasp how mutate works, it’s essential to understand its underlying mechanics and how it interacts with other Magic: The Gathering rules and concepts.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What Happens When You Mutate a Creature?
When you mutate a creature, it merges with another creature on the battlefield, creating a new, more powerful creature with stacking abilities.
2. Do Mutated Creatures Keep Creature Types?
The creature type of a mutated creature is defined by the card on top of the stack, but it inherits abilities from all creatures in the stack.
3. Does Mutate Trigger the First Time?
Yes, mutate triggers the first time a creature is mutated, even if it’s a vanilla creature.
4. What Happens When You Blink a Mutated Creature?
When a mutated creature is blinked (exiled and then returned to the battlefield), it separates into its individual components, and each creature enters the battlefield as a separate object.
5. How Many Times Can You Mutate a Creature?
You can mutate a creature multiple times, creating a taller stack of abilities and making it increasingly powerful.
6. What is the Difference Between a Continuous Effect and an Effect That Lasts Until the End of the Turn?
A continuous effect is an effect that applies indefinitely, while an effect that lasts until the end of the turn is a temporary effect that expires at the end of the turn.
7. What Happens if a Mutated Creature Dies?
If a mutated creature dies, all its components go to the graveyard, and any abilities that trigger when a creature dies will trigger only once.
8. Can You Mutate the Same Creature Twice?
Yes, you can mutate the same creature multiple times, creating an increasingly powerful creature with stacking abilities.
9. Do Mutated Creatures Have Summoning Sickness?
A mutated creature is not affected by summoning sickness as long as the base creature wasn’t affected by it.
10. Does Flickering Give Summoning Sickness?
Yes, flickering a creature can cause summoning sickness, as the creature is temporarily removed from the battlefield and then returned.
11. What Happens if You Mutate a Planeswalker?
If you mutate a planeswalker, it will retain its planeswalker type and gain abilities from the mutated creature, but these abilities may not be relevant.
12. Is Mutate Good in Magic: The Gathering?
Mutate is a very powerful keyword ability that can single-handedly win the game if not addressed, as it allows for the creation of increasingly powerful creatures with stacking abilities.
13. What is the Legend Rule in Mutate?
The legend rule does not apply to mutated creatures in the same way as regular creatures, as a legendary creature can be mutated under another creature without conflicting with other copies of itself.
14. What Happens if You Copy a Mutate Creature Spell?
When you copy a mutate creature spell, the copy resolves first, granting a single instance of the mutate trigger, and then the original spell resolves, triggering its own mutate effect.
15. What Happens if You Return a Mutated Creature to Its Owner’s Hand?
When a mutated creature is returned to its owner’s hand, all cards that make up the mutated creature are returned to the hand, and the mutation is undone.