On Intrinsic Abilities

| Simon Matthee

(Originally published on 2026-08-20; last reviewed on 2026-08-20; last updated on 2026-08-20)

The Secrets of Strixhaven update introduced intrinsic abilities for Sagas. On the initial readthrough for my update bulletin, I noticed some issues with the design of these specific abilities, but the concept of intrinsic abilities seemed so straightforward that I didn’t give it a second thought.

This belief lasted right until I started typing the first sentence for that section of the bulletin; at that point, I realized that I had never seriously pondered how intrinsic abilities work, or read anything about that topic. One thing led to another and after crawling out of the rabbit hole, I had another eight thousand words on my hands. Enough material for a separate article, and the topic makes sense as a stand-alone article.

So, here is my attempt at developing a proper rules set for intrinsic abilities.

All questions, no answers

The Comprehensive Rules (CR) have little to say about intrinsic abilities: the phrase appears seven times and each occurrence just states that a specific kind of object “has the intrinsic ability [ability].” But what does “intrinsic” mean? When does an object gain or lose such an ability? Is “intrinsic” a quality of an ability that can be identified by the rules—or is an intrinsic ability, once gained, indistinguishable from “regular” abilities? How do intrinsic abilities fit into the layer system?

The Comprehensive Rules contain no explicit answers, but an analysis of existing intrinsic abilities and relevant continuous effects yields a passable solution.

To solve issues I identified with the Secrets of Strixhaven update, I developed a couple of rules amendments. The ones relevant for this article are:

  • The two intrinsic abilities for Sagas with read ahead should be combined into one.
  • The criteria for intrinsic Saga abilities should include having one or more chapter abilities.
  • Rule 305.7 should remove all abilities of a land, including intrinsic abilities.

Besides solving the issues related to Sagas and their initial lore counters, these amendments also help with the rules for intrinsic abilities. I will point out whenever the differences between the actual Comprehensive Rules and my amendments become relevant.

General considerations

Before the Secrets of Strixhaven update, the Comprehensive Rules defined four intrinsic abilities:

  • An object with a basic land type has the intrinsic ability “{T}: Add [mana symbol].” [CR 305.6]
  • A planeswalker has the intrinsic ability “This permanent enters with a number of loyalty counters on it equal to its printed loyalty number.” [CR 306.5b]
  • A battle has the intrinsic ability “This permanent enters with a number of defense counters on it equal to its printed defense number.” [CR 310.4b]
  • A Siege has the intrinsic ability “When the last defense counter is removed from this permanent, exile it, then you may cast it transformed without paying its mana cost.” [CR 310.12b]

In each case, an object needs to have a specific card type or subtype to gain the associated intrinsic ability. Three of the abilities are restricted to permanents, while the intrinsic mana ability applies to objects in any zone (and outside the game).

With the Secrets of Strixhaven update, there are two more intrinsic abilities—three with the Comprehensive Rules as written. Unlike their predecessors, these intrinsic abilities also require the object to have or not have a specific ability (i.e. read ahead). As one might expect, this complicates matters slightly.

In the most basic scenario, where no continuous effects or other rules are involved, it does indeed suffice to say that an object “has the intrinsic ability [ability].” If Alex controls Dryad Arbor, that permanent has a mana ability which Alex may activate. If Gideon Blackblade enters the battlefield under Alex’s control, Gideon has an intrinsic ability and enters the battlefield with four loyalty counters on it. The questions I asked at the start do not matter yet.

Let’s add Humility to the scenario. If Alex controls Humility and Dryad Arbor, it should be unsurprising that Dryad Arbor has no mana abilities. Likewise, if Alex controls Humility and Gideon Blackblade enters the battlefield under Alex’s control during her turn, the effect of Humility’s ability removes Gideon’s intrinsic ability and Gideon enters the battlefield with no loyalty counters on it.

This simple scenario reveals the following point: for intrinsic abilities to interact intuitively with ability-removing effects, they cannot be applied to an object after its characteristic values have been determined (i.e. after layer 7). They need to be applied at an earlier point in the layer system.

Since the intrinsic abilities are all tied to a card type or subtype, this earlier point might be after type-changing effects have been applied and an object’s types are final (i.e. after layer 4). This approach is also too simple, even without the Saga-specific abilities:

Alex controls Ashaya, Soul of the Wild with a +1/+1 counter on it and Blood Moon. If Gideon Blackblade enters the battlefield under Alex’s control during her turn, then the effect of Blood Moon’s ability applies to Gideon and removes all its abilities. As a result, Gideon should enter the battlefield with no loyalty counters on it. (Note that without an amendment to rule 305.7, Gideon would lose all abilities except for its intrinsic ability and still enter the battlefield with loyalty counters.)

To achieve this outcome, intrinsic abilities cannot simply be added after layer 4. Doing so would give Gideon the intrinsic planeswalker ability right back, since Gideon is still a planeswalker after applying the effect of Blood Moon’s ability.

Adding intrinsic abilities somewhere before layer 4 takes care of the intrinsic planeswalker ability, but Gideon should also gain an intrinsic mana ability each time a type-changing effect is applied in this scenario. In the end, Gideon should have the intrinsic ability “{T}: Add {R}” and no other abilities.

Point the second: If an object’s unmodified characteristic values qualify for an intrinsic ability, the object must gain that ability before type-changing effects are applied.

Point three: There is no singular point at which to apply intrinsic abilities. Many effects that change an object’s characteristic values may cause it to gain or lose intrinsic abilities.

That last point should not be surprising, but to spell it out anyway: if an effect changes an object’s characteristic values in such a way that they no longer match a specific intrinsic ability, the object should lose that ability. For example, if Swift Reconfiguration becomes attached to Temple Garden, the type-changing effect removes the two basic land types and Temple Garden should lose its two intrinsic mana abilities.

Point four: To be able to remove an intrinsic ability from an object that no longer meets its criteria, the ability must be identifiable as “intrinsic.” Thus, an intrinsic ability remains “intrinsic” while part of an object’s characteristic values and can be identified as such.

Conversely, an effect may change an object’s characteristic values such that they qualify for a new intrinsic ability. For example, if Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Temple Garden are on the battlefield, the type-changing effect of Urborg’s ability causes Temple Garden to gain a third mana ability.

This approach should not be too broad though. Going back to the scenario with Humility and Dryad Arbor, with the ability-removing effect applied, Dryad Arbor has no abilities; it is still a Forest tough, so based purely on its characteristic values, it would still qualify for an intrinsic mana ability.

Point five: An effect that changes an object’s characteristic values should only cause a re-evaluation of its intrinsic abilities if the characteristic values are changed in a relevant way. Additionally, only specific intrinsic abilities should be re-evaluated.

With “re-evaluation,” I mean removing the intrinsic ability if the object does not meet its criteria, or granting it the intrinsic ability if the object meets the criteria.

What is “relevant”? That must be determined by analyzing all the possible effects that may apply to objects; hopefully, a pattern emerges that translates to a set of simple rules.

Last but not least, an object should not end up with multiple instances of the same intrinsic ability. Which may be as simple as having a rule outright state that an object cannot have multiple instances of such an ability.

Now to go through the layer system and categorize all the relevant effects.

Manipulation of intrinsic abilities in layers 1–3

Before the first layer, there are characteristic values derived from a card’s printed text to consider (or for an object not represented by a card, the values it was created with). Those values may qualify the object for one or more intrinsic abilities. Applying the abilities at this point seems sensible: if there are no effects involved, the object has all the abilities it should have; if effects change the values in a relevant way, the intrinsic abilities can be changed at the same time.

Layer 1: Modifications of copiable values

Four things need to be considered here: classic copy effects, merged permanents, Primal Plasma and similar cards, and face-down permanents.

Copy effects are quite simple, as they give an object a complete set of characteristic values. These new values overwrite the old ones both mechanically and conceptionally—the object’s “identity” is defined entirely by the new values. This should include intrinsic abilities: the copy effect overwrites any (intrinsic) abilities the object has and replaces them with the (intrinsic) ones copied from the template object.

For example, if a copy effect causes Dryad Arbor to become a copy of Watery Grave, the copy effect overwrites the Forest land type and the associated intrinsic mana ability and replaces them with the Island and Swamp land types and the two associated mana abilities.

A re-evaluation of all the object’s intrinsic abilities is still necessary though, since the abilities copied onto the object may not be correct if the copy effect modifies the copied values in a relevant way.

For example, if Imposter Mech enters the battlefield as a copy of Dryad Arbor, the copy effect copies the Forest land type and the associated mana ability from Dryad Arbor, then modifies these values by replacing Forest with artifact and Vehicle before applying them to Imposter Mech. The result of just the copy effect is that Imposter Mech is a Vehicle artifact with the intrinsic ability “{T}: Add {G}.”

This does not seem like the correct outcome to me: as a nonland permanent, Imposter Mech should not have an intrinsic mana ability. To correct this outcome, Imposter Mech’s intrinsic abilities must be re-evaluated afterward.

This scenario also requires going back to the paragraph on pre-layer-1 characteristic values and making a slight adjustment. The part about “applying the abilities” should be “re-evaluating all abilities,” since copy effects may also affect those pre-layer values.

For example, if the effect of Dino DNA’s second ability creates a token that’s a copy of Dryad Arbor, the token’s defined characteristic values include the intrinsic ability copied from Dryad Arbor, but not the Forest land type. A re-evaluation must be made to remove the intrinsic ability.

Next are merged permanents, which in practice means the effect created by a resolving mutating creature spell merging with a permanent.

If the mutating creature spell becomes the permanent’s topmost component, the effect sets the permanent’s types to those of the new component, but allows it to retain all its old abilities. This may cause the mutated permanent to no longer meet the criteria of its intrinsic abilities.

For example, if Alex resolves Vulpikeet and merges it with Dryad Arbor, putting Vulpikeet on top, the result of the “mutate effect” itself would be a Fox Bird creature with the intrinsic ability “{T}: Add {G}.” As before, this does not seem like the correct outcome and should cause a complete re-evaluation.

If the mutating creature spell becomes the bottommost component, it contributes its abilities to the resulting permanent, which makes no difference in practice; a re-evaluation can be performed, but won’t change the permanent’s intrinsic abilities.

A card with mutate that also meets the criteria for an intrinsic ability remains theoretical for now. However, if such a card were the topmost component of a mutated permanent, the re-evaluation I already defined for a new topmost component should ensure that the permanent ends up with the correct intrinsic abilities. (Even more theoretically, the other components might have abilities that prevented the permanent from meeting the intrinsic ability’s criteria; that too would be handled by the re-evaluation.)

If that same hypothetical card became the bottommost component, the “mutate effect” would add only the component’s “printed” abilities, but not any intrinsic abilities. (The Comprehensive Rules are notoriously vague on the details of merged permanents, but I tend toward the card itself not having any intrinsic abilities while it is a component of the merged permanent.) If the added abilities made the permanent eligible for an intrinsic ability, it should gain that ability though. Again, a re-evaluation following the “mutate effect” would lead to the correct outcome.

So, while most scenarios with mutated permanents are only theoretical, they all require or at least allow a complete re-evaluation after the “mutate effect,” which makes for a simple rule.

Next are replacement effects like that of Primal Plasma’s enters-the-battlefield ability. While most of these effects include setting the affected object’s card type, I am unaware of a scenario where such an effect could apply to an object with an intrinsic ability. Still, if that were to happen, the changes made to the object’s characteristic values should cause a re-evaluation of its intrinsic abilities, adding or removing abilities as appropriate.

Finally, there are changes due to a permanent’s face-down status. These are like copy effects in that they overwrite all of a permanent’s characteristic values, giving it a whole new “identity.” After that identity change, intrinsic abilities should be completely re-evaluated (in case the permanent is face down due to the effect of Yedora, Grave Gardener’s ability).

Layer 2: Control-changing effects

While control of an object may become relevant in higher layers, control-changing effects themselves do not change an object’s qualities in a relevant way.

Layer 3: Text-changing effects

These effects become relevant in several ways, as text-changing effects can change the values of almost every characteristic. Notably, a text-changing effect cannot overwrite an object’s intrinsic abilities on its own, since those are not derived from the object’s rules text. (A subsequent re-evaluation might though.)

In practice, the only relevant effects are those that replace all instances of one basic land type with another and those that change an object’s full text.

The former replace the basic land type in both the object’s rules text and the text of its subtypes, which amounts to changing the object’s land types.

For example, if Dryad Arbor is affected by Mind Bend’s effect for which Alex chose to replace “Forest” with “Swamp,” then the immediate result of Mind Bend’s effect is that Dryad Arbor is a Swamp land with the intrinsic ability “{T}: Add {G}.” Its intrinsic abilities should be re-evaluated to align them with Dryad Arbor’s new land type.

If a text-changing effect sets an object’s full text, it overwrites almost all the object’s characteristic values; one exception are abilities not derived from the object’s rules text, such as intrinsic abilities. Still, this is another case of giving the object a new “identity,” and any intrinsic abilities should be based on the new characteristic values.

For example, if Summon: Shiva is the top card of Alex’s graveyard as Volrath’s Shapeshifter enters the battlefield under her control, the text-changing effect of the ability of Volrath’s Shapeshifter gives it the full text of Summon: Shiva. The direct result of the effect is that Volrath’s Shapeshifter is a Saga with three chapter abilities, but with neither of the intrinsic Saga abilities; to rectify this, a re-evaluation should be performed.

In another example, Alex controls Volrath’s Shapeshifter and Dryad Arbor. She resolves Exchange of Words’s ability with Volrath’s Shapeshifter and Dryad Arbor as the targets while she has no cards in her graveyard. Applying the effect created by that ability causes Volrath’s Shapeshifter to have no rules text and no abilities, while Dryad Arbor has the printed rules text of Volrath’s Shapeshifter, the abilities derived from that rules text, and the intrinsic ability “{T}: Add {G}.” Dryad Arbor is still a Forest land, so the intrinsic ability is the desired outcome. Later, Bear Cub becomes the top card of Alex’s graveyard. One of Dryad Arbor’s new abilities generates a text-changing effect which gives Dryad Arbor the full text of Bear Cub; with that effect applied, Dryad Arbor is a Bear creature with no rules text and no abilities other than the intrinsic ability “{T}: Add {G}.” To make Dryad Arbor’s intrinsic abilities match its new “identity,” a re-evaluation should be performed.

Text-changing effects may set an object’s characteristic values in other ways, such as by changing its name, but those have no practical consequences for existing intrinsic abilities. The effect of Exchange of Words’s ability can influence a Saga’s intrinsic ability, but not in a way that matters.

For example, if Summon: Shiva and Founding the Third Path are affected by that effect, the direct result is that each Saga has the other’s printed rules text and the abilities derived from that rules text, but each still has its “natural” intrinsic ability. Re-evaluating both Sagas’ intrinsic abilities corrects this, even if the specific abilities don’t matter to Sagas already on the battlefield.

As in layer 1, should some other kind of text-changing effect ever become relevant in the future, the best choice seems to be a follow-up re-evaluation.

Between layers 3 and 4

With three layers done, an interesting pattern emerges. After applying an effect, a re-evaluation of all intrinsic abilities is either required or does not matter—meaning that simply re-evaluating after each effect is a valid approach.

In other words, each time an effect sets an object’s characteristic values, the new values (and only these values) should determine the object’s intrinsic abilities. Whether the effect makes a meaningful change to the characteristic values is irrelevant—if it doesn’t, the new values lead to the same result as the old ones; if the change is meaningful, the new values should take precedence and the old values (and intrinsic abilities) be ignored.

As a direct result, within layers 1–3, an object’s intrinsic abilities and other characteristic values are always aligned: if the object meets an intrinsic ability’s criteria, it has that ability; if it does not meet those criteria, it does not have that ability.

Since no intrinsic ability has an effect that applies in layers 1–3, a further simplification can be made: perform a single evaluation, after layer 3. That’s it. Before that, no (re-)evaluation is required, since each effect is either irrelevant or obsoletes every (re-)evaluation made before it.

(As a positive side effect, the awkward copying of intrinsic abilities goes away, as they are not part of an object’s copiable values anymore. Intrinsic abilities are only part of an object’s characteristic values in layers 4 and up.)

This outcome is perhaps not so surprising if one considers the nature of those three layers. All of them perform rather “low-level” changes upon which the higher layers build. Copy effects and text-changing effects change the values of multiple characteristics at once, or even all of them, drastically altering the affected objects’ appearance; meanwhile, effects from layers 4 and up only change one characteristic at a time. Copy effects and text-changing effects, together with control-changing effects, form the part of the layer system that yields an object’s “base values,” for lack of a better name.

Manipulation of intrinsic abilities in layers 4–7

Layer 4: Type-changing effects

This is where things get more complicated, because characteristic values and intrinsic abilities may diverge. Thanks to Blood Moon and similar cards.

The most prominent example are Blood Moon and Urza’s Saga. After layer 3, Urza’s Saga is a Saga enchantment and has the intrinsic ability for Sagas without read ahead; intrinsic abilities and other characteristic values are aligned. Applying the effect of Blood Moon’s ability means that the land type of Urza’s Saga changes from Urza’s to Mountain, it loses all abilities (including intrinsic abilities), and it gains the intrinsic ability “{T}: Add {R}” [CR 305.7]. (Second reminder that rule 305.7 needs to be amended for this.)

The effect’s direct result is that Urza’s Saga is a Saga enchantment without read ahead, but it does not have the associated intrinsic ability. Under my proposed amendment, the intrinsic abilities would also require chapter abilities, so intrinsic abilities and other characteristic values would still match. Under the actual rules, intrinsic abilities and other characteristic values are misaligned.

In this case, that is actually the desired outcome: Urza’s Saga enters the battlefield with no lore counters on it. The major point of the Secrets of Strixhaven update was to enable this kind of interaction, even if it failed to achieve its goal.

Even under my amended rules, a misalignment can still happen with the other intrinsic abilities, whose criteria do not include abilities. See the example with Blood Moon and Gideon earlier on.

So, a complete re-evaluation directly after the effect of Blood Moon’s ability is out of the question. In addition, any subsequent steps need to take that prior effect into account, meaning that a complete re-evaluation of intrinsic abilities cannot happen in any of the remaining layers.

(From a technical perspective, the effect of Blood Moon’s ability and the effects from previous layers also show a clear difference in the way they modify the affected objects’ characteristic values: all effects so far have overwritten the complete set of characteristics, including intrinsic abilities (e.g. copy effects), or have overwritten only the non-intrinsic parts, leaving the intrinsic abilities intact (e.g. the effect of Mind Bend). Effects such as that of Blood Moon’s ability can overwrite the intrinsic abilities while leaving the non-intrinsic parts intact.)

What other kinds of type-changing effects are there? In practice, there are effects that set a basic land type in addition to an object’s existing types, e.g. Prismatic Omen, and there are effects that set card types and subtypes other than basic land types, e.g. One with the Stars.

Unlike the effect of Blood Moon’s ability, neither kind removes intrinsic abilities directly, making them more like the effects of earlier layers. Still, the possibility of an earlier Blood Moon-style effect prevents a complete re-evaluation.

For example, if Blood Moon, Prismatic Omen, and Urza’s Saga entered the battlefield under Alex’s control in this order, Urza’s Saga should enter the battlefield with five intrinsic mana abilities, but with none of the intrinsic abilities associated with Sagas. Therefore, after applying the effect of Prismatic Omen’s ability, only intrinsic mana abilities should be re-evaluated and other intrinsic abilities be ignored. (Third reminder about rule 305.7.)

Alex then attaches One with the Stars to Urza’s Saga. Applying the effect of that Aura’s ability effectively removes the land card type and the five basic land types from Urza’s Saga, leaving it a Saga enchantment with five intrinsic mana abilities. Those mana abilities should also be removed, while the intrinsic abilities associated with Sagas should remain unchanged.

There are no type-changing effects that set an object’s card type to planeswalker or battle, or its subtype to Saga or Siege, which is hardly surprising. On their own, those types are not functional: they require additional abilities (e.g. chapter abilities), properties (e.g. being double-faced), and/or characteristics/counters (e.g. loyalty) to do anything useful. An effect that turns a permanent into a functional planeswalker, Saga, or battle would require a lot of words for not much gain, making it unlikely that Wizards of the Coast will ever print such a card. Still, new intrinsic abilities may be introduced in the future, and a bit of future-proofing never hurts.

Essentially, such effects should follow the same rules as the existing ones: if a type-changing effect sets an object’s card type or subtype, the object should gain each intrinsic ability associated with that card type or subtype, provided it meets any additional criteria; if a type-changing effect removes a card type or subtype, the object should lose each intrinsic ability associated with that card type or subtype. In both cases, other intrinsic abilities should be left as is.

So, if an object becomes a planeswalker, a Saga, a battle, or one of the five basic land types due to a type-changing effect, it gains the associated intrinsic ability provided it meets that ability’s other criteria. This should hold true even if the object already had that card type or subtype.

For example, if Urza’s Saga were affected by the effect of Blood Moon’s ability and by an additional effect that set its types to a Saga enchantment, it should (re)gain an intrinsic ability due to that effect. (Under my amended rules, Urza’s Saga would gain no ability, because it still lacked its chapter abilities.)

Notably, this preliminary rule applies only to type-changing effects that change relevant types. Generalizing this rule to type-changing effects that change any relevant characteristic would be incorrect.

For example, Alex controls Opalescence, Ashaya, Soul of the Wild with a +1/+1 counter on it, and Blood Moon. If Founding the Third Path enters the battlefield under Alex’s control, the effect of Blood Moon’s ability applies to it; that effect removes all abilities, including read ahead and the intrinsic ability associated with having read ahead. (Fourth reminder about rule 305.7.)

Under the actual rules, Founding the Third Path is now eligible for the other intrinsic ability, based on its new characteristic values. Granting it that ability would lead to some interesting results though: Founding the Third Path would enter the battlefield with no chapter abilities and without read ahead, but with a single lore counter on it; under the same conditions, Urza’s Saga would enter the battlefield with no chapter abilities, without read ahead, and with zero lore counters on it.

This does not seem like the intended outcome. So, while the effect of Blood Moon’s ability may have changed a relevant characteristic of Founding the Third Path, it did not change the right one.

This concludes layer 4.

Layer 5: Color-changing effects

Like layer 2, this layer holds nothing of interest.

Layer 6: Adding and removing abilities

Naturally, this layer is relevant to intrinsic abilities.

Before the Secrets of Strixhaven update, this layer was much simpler, since intrinsic abilities had only card types or subtypes as their criteria. As such, ability-adding effects could be ignored entirely, and ability-removing effects removed any intrinsic abilities for good.

The new intrinsic abilities also check a Saga’s abilities for read ahead, with one looking for its presence and one looking for its absence.

In practice, there are two kinds of effects to consider: effects that remove a permanent’s abilities and effects that grant a permanent the read ahead ability.

Handling effects that remove a permanent’s abilities remains simple, since everything said about the ability-removing part of Blood Moon-style effects should also apply here:

First, after removing an intrinsic ability from a permanent, if that ability does not depend on the permanent having a specific ability, the permanent still meets that intrinsic ability’s criteria. However, re-applying that ability would clash with the nature of the ability-removing effect and be quite unintuitive, so no re-evaluation should take place.

Second, if the effect removes the abilities of a Saga with read ahead, that Saga becomes a Saga without read ahead; its characteristic values have changed in a relevant way and it is now eligible for another intrinsic ability, but the Saga should not gain that ability. So, no re-evaluation should take place. (Under my amended rules, the intrinsic abilities would require chapter abilities, which the Saga has lost along with read ahead. Thus, the Saga would not be eligible for either ability; this would simplify the situation a bit.)

In both cases, no re-evaluation regarding any intrinsic ability should be done after applying the ability-removing effect.

Handling an effect that grants a Saga the read ahead ability should also be simple. If the Saga had no abilities before, it should gain the corresponding intrinsic ability under the actual rules, but not under my amended rules. If the Saga had the regular intrinsic ability before (and thus its chapter abilities), it should lose that ability and gain the other one under both sets of rules. If the Saga already had read ahead, nothing should change under either rules set.

In all three cases, performing a re-evaluation of the intrinsic Saga abilities after a Saga gains read ahead leads to the correct outcome, no matter the rules set.

With the two existing kinds of effects done, what hypothetical effects might one day exist?

An effect might remove only intrinsic abilities while leaving all other abilities intact. At a guess, this should remove most intrinsic abilities, but not those tied to the presence of a specific ability; a Saga with read ahead, for example, should have the associated intrinsic ability in the end. I expect that achieving this outcome would require a specific exception in the rules, and I do not see much potential in such an effect; therefore, I will ignore it.

An effect might remove chapter abilities but leave intrinsic abilities and read ahead intact. Under my amended rules, an affected Saga would lose any intrinsic Saga ability it has, while under the actual rules, the Saga would keep its intrinsic abilities. I do not see much potential in such an effect either, but it should be easier to implement: the effect could be classified as an ability-changing effect that changes a relevant ability (the same as the existing effect that grants a Saga read ahead).

The candidate that has the most potential for me would be an effect that removes only the read ahead ability; the likely design goal of such an effect would be to turn Sagas with read ahead into “regular” Sagas. In that case, a Saga that loses only read ahead should lose the corresponding intrinsic ability and gain the other ability. This effect could be treated identically to the previous one: it’s an ability-changing effect that changes a relevant ability.

There are more things to consider about ability-adding effects, which I discuss in a later section. Before that, a brief look at layer 7 and a recap.

Layer 7: Power- and/or toughness-changing effects

This layer holds nothing of interest. None of the intrinsic abilities rely on specific power and/or toughness values (which makes sense, given the structure of the layer system) and effects in this layer cannot manipulate types or abilities.

The system so far

Here is what I determined so far:

  • An object may gain and/or lose intrinsic abilities at multiple points in the layer system.
  • If an object gains an intrinsic ability, that ability has the “intrinsic” quality and rules can refer to that quality.
  • An object cannot have multiple instances of the same intrinsic ability.
  • An object’s intrinsic abilities and its other characteristic values can match or they can be mismatched.
    • Most of the time, an object’s intrinsic abilities and its other characteristic values match.
    • If an effect causes the object to lose its abilities, intrinsic abilities and other characteristic values may no longer match: the object may lack an intrinsic ability despite meeting its criteria.
    • The other mismatch, where an object has an intrinsic ability without meeting its criteria, should never happen.
  • Layers 1–3:
    • Each effect is either irrelevant for intrinsic abilities or it invalidates any prior determination of them.
    • No intrinsic ability generates an effect that would apply in layers 1–3.
    • A very simple solution presents itself: make the first determination of intrinsic abilities after layer 3 and before layer 4. Within layers 1–3, there are no intrinsic abilities.
  • Layer 4:
    • After a type-changing effect sets the card type or subtype of an object, re-evaluate any intrinsic ability tied to that card type or subtype.
    • After a type-changing effect removes a card type or subtype from an object, remove any intrinsic ability tied to that card type or subtype.
    • A type-changing effect that sets a basic land type also removes all intrinsic abilities. (Fifth reminder about amending rule 305.7.)
  • Layer 6:
    • After an ability-adding effect grants an object an ability, re-evaluate any intrinsic ability tied to that ability.
    • After an ability-removing effect removes a specific ability (rather than removing all abilities), re-evaluate any intrinsic ability tied to that ability.

That doesn’t seem too bad. Time to make it more complicated.

Gaining abilities of other objects

The part about intrinsic abilities being recognizable as such and the part that restricts an object to no more than one instance of each ability need some refinement. Specifically, these things should hold true only when the rules grant those abilities. If an ability-adding effect adds them, the granted abilities should be treated as normal, non-intrinsic abilities.

For example, if Alex controls Mairsil, the Pretender and she owns four Dryad Arbors in exile with cage counters on them, Mairsil should have four instances of “{T}: Add {G}.” Each instance could be activated once each turn, allowing Alex to produce up to four {G} each turn (provided she can also untap Mairsil).

If Alex also controls Ashaya, Soul of the Wild, Mairsil should have five instances of the mana ability. One instance should be an intrinsic ability tied to Mairsil’s Forest land type and could be activated multiple times each turn; the other four should not be intrinsic abilities and could be activated only once each turn.

So, with this kind of ability-adding effect, an object can gain the intrinsic abilities of another object without meeting the criteria of those abilities. And of course, the object should get to keep those abilities, rather than losing them immediately. Otherwise, cards like Mirran Safehouse or Steward of the Harvest would behave quite unintuitively.

So, trying to maintain the granted abilities’ intrinsicness would require exceptions for practically everything where intrinsicness matters. The simpler solution is to declare abilities granted by an ability-adding effect as non-intrinsic.

This also makes some sense conceptually: an object is supposed to gain predefined intrinsic abilities for its (more or less) inherent characteristic values, via game rules. Cards like Mairsil, on the other hand, do not rely on gifts from the rules; they use effects to acquire whatever abilities they can find.

The obvious follow-up question is: are there other effects that might distribute intrinsic abilities to other objects? Of course there are.

Text-changing effects, thankfully, are safe. Intrinsic abilities are not derived from rules text and thus cannot be (directly) overwritten, exchanged, removed, or otherwise be affected by text-changing effects.

Copy effects can copy abilities that are not derived from rules text, provided the abilities are part of an object’s copiable values. Which makes most copy effects safe, because in my system, intrinsic abilities are introduced only after layer 3 and as such should never be part of any copiable values.

Enter Sakashima of a Thousand Faces.

Many copy effects add a specific ability to the copied values before applying them to the copy. This unique copy effect takes whatever abilities a specific object (i.e. Sakashima) may have, and adds them to the copy’s new values. Since those abilities are not copied, the effect is not restricted to just abilities found in Sakashima’s copiable values—any ability is fair game, no matter the layer in which it gets added to Sakashima’s abilities.

For example, if Alex controls Levitation and Bear Cub as Sakashima enters the battlefield under her control, Alex can choose to have Sakashima enter the battlefield as a copy of Bear Cub, except that Sakashima also has Sakashima’s other abilities. Which, under rule 614.12 are the one concerning the “legend rule,” partner, and flying. Once on the battlefield, with all effects applied, Sakashima would then have two instances of flying, one as part of its copiable values, and the other from the ability-adding effect of Levitation’s ability. And if Levitation leaves the battlefield, Sakashima still has one instance of flying.

(Another consequence of the copy effect’s unique wording is that Sakashima can accumulate an arbitrary number of abilities if another Sakashima is already on the battlefield. The new Sakashima can repeatedly copy the old one and each time gain another instance of each of its abilities. And while five hundred instances of flying are not particularly powerful, five hundred instances of riot certainly are.)

This quirk allows Sakashima to transport abilities from higher layers into layer 1, so to speak. What if one of those abilities is an intrinsic ability, say from the effect of Ashaya, Soul of the Wild’s ability? Should the ability that is now part of Sakashima’s copiable values be an intrinsic ability? If so, a number of follow-up questions arise. Does Sakashima keep that ability or is it removed by a re-evaluation? When is it removed? And if it stays, Sakashima should presumably not gain a second instance of that intrinsic ability when applying the effect of Ashaya’s ability in layer 4.

(Another solution would be to give Sakashima an erratum, such that the copy effect adds not “Sakashima’s other abilities,” but “The ‘legend rule’ doesn’t apply to permanents you control.” A functional erratum, to be sure, but one that preserves what I think is the card’s intended functionality. Then again, if that were the intended functionality, Wizards of the Coast would have used the proposed wording from the beginning, rather than creating this rogue. Also, such errata are kind of a cop-out from my perspective.)

Personally, I prefer to treat this ability as intrinsic and thus subject to the model developed above. While the copy effect combines elements of a copy effect with an ability-adding effect, it ultimately is a copy effect and applied in layer 1. In scenarios like the one with Imposter Mech, acquiring an intrinsic ability via a copy effect does not work out if the copy’s new values do not support the ability. Sakashima’s case feels similar enough.

Now, how or when should this intrinsic ability be removed from Sakashima’s characteristic values?

Option one would be a re-evaluation after the effect, but how to write an elegant rule that captures only Sakashima? Approaching this from the other side, a rule that performs a re-evaluation after each (copy) effect would be simple enough to write, but result in many unnecessary checks.

Option two would be to leave the rules as is, so that the check after layer 3 takes care of the ability. As a side effect, the intrinsic ability would be part of Sakashima’s characteristic values for the rest of layers 1–3, so other copy effects could copy that intrinsic ability. Those abilities would also be removed by the post-layer-3 re-evaluation, so everything still leads to the same outcomes; however, copying abilities for no ultimate purpose is something my model tries to avoid.

The option I like best is to not acquire the ability in the first place: if the effect ignores Sakashima’s intrinsic abilities when determining the list of “Sakashima’s other abilities,” the problem solves itself. The copy effect does not grant Sakashima any intrinsic abilities, so nothing needs to be re-evaluated and layers 1–3 stay free of intrinsic abilities.

I admit there are several viable solutions for this issue, and a stronger focus on the “ability gaining” aspect might move an ability into non-intrinsic territory. I just prefer to keep intrinsic abilities away from layers 1–3.

So, the two points coming out of this section are as follows:

  • If an ability-adding effect grants one or more abilities to one or more objects based on the abilities of some (other) object, the granted abilities are not intrinsic, even if the corresponding abilities of the source object are.
  • If any other kind of effect adds to or sets the abilities of an object based on the abilities of some (other) object, intrinsic abilities among those abilities are ignored. The same is true if the effect defines the characteristic values of a token.

(That last sentence is for The Book of Vile Darkness. Currently, the only intrinsic ability that is a triggered ability exists only on the battlefield, but better safe than sorry.)

Miscellaneous improvements

Two last things before writing out the rules for intrinsic abilities.

First, the pre-Secrets of Strixhaven abilities were all created before Magic: The Gathering Foundations introduced the current guidelines for self-references in card text. The text of these intrinsic abilities should be updated to match the guidelines.

Second, my proposed amendment of adding chapter abilities to the criteria of intrinsic Saga abilities allows for a further simplification: combining both abilities into one. Any Saga with chapter abilities would have the same intrinsic ability along the lines of “As this Saga enters, if it has read ahead, choose a number between one and this Saga’s final chapter number. This Saga enters with the chosen number of lore counters on it. If it doesn’t have read ahead, it enters with a lore counter on it.”

Obviously, this ability would be longer than each of the separate abilities on its own; however, the text appears only in the rules and not on cards, so length is less of an issue. And complexity-wise, it remains perfectly understandable.

The benefit I gained from this change is that the ability becomes easier to apply in certain situations. Two separate abilities, one with a negative condition (i.e. not having read ahead), were more complex whenever a Saga loses one of them—it should not automatically gain the other one and I had to decide on the correct answer each time. How a Saga should behave if it loses read ahead also proved more complex with two abilities. Last but not least, it made writing the rules a bit easier (see below).

(Note that without the addition of chapter abilities to the criteria, the intrinsic abilities cannot be combined quite so elegantly because the only remaining criterion would be “a Saga.” This would cause an issue if a Saga without any abilities gains read ahead: as long as read ahead is part of the criteria, gaining read ahead is a relevant change and causes a re-evaluation; if read ahead only appeared in the intrinsic ability’s text, the rules would need to check that text for any abilities mentioned to recognize the change as relevant. Which would be difficult to turn into an actual rule.)

Proposed amendments to the Comprehensive Rules

Having considered all existing intrinsic abilities and relevant effects, as well as some hypothetical ones, it is time to write some actual rules for my model.

Rule 305.6 should gain a reference to the new rules for intrinsic abilities.

305.6. The basic land types are Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest. If an object uses the words “basic land type,” it’s referring to one of these subtypes. An object with the land card type and a basic land type has the intrinsic ability “{T}: Add [mana symbol],” even if the text box doesn’t actually contain that text or the object has no text box. For Plains, [mana symbol] is {W}; for Islands, {U}; for Swamps, {B}; for Mountains, {R}; and for Forests, {G}. See rule 107.4a. See also rule 605, “Mana Abilities,” and rule 608, “Intrinsic Abilities.”

Rule 306.5b should use the standard self-reference for planeswalker permanents and gain a reference to the new rules for intrinsic abilities.

306.5b A planeswalker has the intrinsic ability “This permanent planeswalker enters with a number of loyalty counters on it equal to its printed loyalty number.” This ability creates a replacement effect (see rule 614.1c). See rule 608, “Intrinsic Abilities.”

Rule 310.4b should use a better self-reference for battle permanents and gain a reference to the new rules for intrinsic abilities.

310.4b A battle has the intrinsic ability “This permanent battle enters with a number of defense counters on it equal to its printed defense number.” This ability creates a replacement effect (see rule 614.1c). See rule 608, “Intrinsic Abilities.”

Rule 310.12b should use the standard self-reference for Siege permanents and gain a reference to the new rules for intrinsic abilities.

310.12b Sieges have A Siege has the intrinsic ability “When the last defense counter is removed from this permanent Siege, exile it, then you may cast it transformed without paying its mana cost.” See rule 608, “Intrinsic Abilities.”

Rule 702.155b (as amended by my other article) should gain a reference to the new rules for intrinsic abilities.

702.155b A Saga with one or more chapter abilities has the intrinsic ability “As this Saga enters, if it has read ahead, choose a number between one and this Saga’s final chapter number. This Saga enters with the chosen number of lore counters on it. If it doesn’t have read ahead, it enters with a lore counter on it.” See rule 714.3a. See also rule 608, “Intrinsic Abilities.”

Rule 714.3a (as amended by my other article) should gain a reference to the new rules for intrinsic abilities.

714.3a A Saga with one or more chapter abilities has the intrinsic ability “As this Saga enters, if it has read ahead, choose a number between one and this Saga’s final chapter number. This Saga enters with the chosen number of lore counters on it. If it doesn’t have read ahead, it enters with a lore counter on it.” This ability creates a replacement effect (see rule 614.1c). See also rule 702.155, “Read Ahead,” and rule 608, “Intrinsic Abilities.”

As seen in the references, I decided to afford intrinsic abilities their own top-level rule. Mana abilities, loyalty abilities, and linked abilities each have one, so why not intrinsic abilities too? Besides, there is no existing rule that would make a better fit: many of the rules for intrinsic abilities deal with the layer system, but not all of them, and rule 113, “Abilities,” is a bit too generic.

So, intrinsic abilities should be inserted after linked abilities and become rule 608; subsequent rules should be renumbered.

608. Intrinsic Abilities

608.1 Some rules define abilities for objects with specific card types or subtypes; these are called intrinsic abilities and are subject to special rules. An object with one or more of those types has the corresponding intrinsic abilities.

608.1a Most intrinsic abilities have additional criteria that an object must meet to gain one of these abilities. For example, the object must be a permanent with the specific card type or subtype, or have both that type and a specific ability.

First, an introductory rule that describes the concept of intrinsic abilities.

608.2 The intrinsic abilities are as follows:

608.2a An object with a basic land type has the intrinsic ability “{T}: Add [mana symbol].” For Plains, [mana symbol] is {W}; for Islands, {U}; for Swamps, {B}; for Mountains, {R}; and for Forests, {G}. See rule 305.6.

608.2b A planeswalker has the intrinsic ability “This planeswalker enters with a number of loyalty counters on it equal to its printed loyalty number.” See rule 306.5b.

608.2c A battle has the intrinsic ability “This battle enters with a number of defense counters on it equal to its printed defense number.” See rule 310.4b.

608.2d A Siege has the intrinsic ability “When the last defense counter is removed from this Siege, exile it, then you may cast it transformed without paying its mana cost.” See rule 310.12b.

608.2e A Saga with one or more chapter abilities has the intrinsic ability “As this Saga enters, if it has read ahead, choose a number between one and this Saga’s final chapter number. This Saga enters with the chosen number of lore counters on it. If it doesn’t have read ahead, it enters with a lore counter on it.” See rule 702.155b and rule 714.3a.

Second, a list of all existing intrinsic abilities, for reference.

608.3 An object’s intrinsic abilities aren’t derived from its rules text, nor are they granted to that object by an effect. Rather, an object’s intrinsic abilities are determined by the following rules:

Third, rules on how to apply intrinsic abilities in the layer system.

608.3a After applying any rules and effects that modify copiable values, any control-changing effects, and any text-changing effects, but before applying any other effects, each object gains any intrinsic abilities whose criteria it meets.

This subrule covers everything before layer 4.

608.3b If a type-changing effect sets an object’s card type to one or more card types with an associated intrinsic ability, for each of those abilities, the object gains that ability if it meets the ability’s criteria and it doesn’t currently have that ability.

608.3c If a type-changing effect sets an object’s card type and the object does not retain its old card types, it loses any intrinsic abilities associated with card types removed this way.

608.3d If a type-changing effect removes one or more card types from an object, the object loses any intrinsic abilities associated with those card types.

Rule 608.3d is meant to cover effects that just remove a card type, while subrule 608.3c is meant to cover effects that overwrite a card type with a new one.

608.3e Rules 608.3b–d apply to type-changing effects that set or remove subtypes or that set or remove a combination of card types and/or subtypes just as they apply to type-changing effects that set or remove card types.

608.3f If a type-changing effect sets a permanent’s land type to a basic land type and the object does not retain its old land types, the permanent loses all its abilities, including intrinsic abilities. See rule 305.7.

(Final reminder that currently, rule 305.7 does not remove intrinsic abilities.) These two subrules conclude the section for layer 4.

608.3g If an ability-adding effect grants an object an ability or kind of ability that is part of an intrinsic ability’s criteria, for each of those intrinsic abilities, the object gains that intrinsic ability if it meets the ability’s criteria and it doesn’t currently have that intrinsic ability.

608.3h If an ability-removing effect removes an ability or kind of ability that is part of an intrinsic ability’s criteria from an object, for each of those intrinsic abilities, the object loses that intrinsic ability if it doesn’t meet the ability’s criteria.

These two subrules cover layer 6. Note that this version is written for a single intrinsic Saga ability that requires the Saga to have chapter abilities.

With two separate abilities, rule 608.3g would lead to the wrong outcome in the Urza’s Saga plus Barbara Wright scenario: Urza’s Saga would gain the intrinsic ability tied to having read ahead, but it would not lose the intrinsic ability tied to not having read ahead. To rectify this, rule 608.3g would need to also remove abilities whose criteria are no longer met.

Similarly, the hypothetical scenario of an effect removing just read ahead is not covered correctly by rule 608.3h when using the actual intrinsic abilities: the Saga would lose read ahead and its intrinsic ability, but not gain the “default” intrinsic ability. Rule 608.3h would need to also grant abilities whose criteria are now met.

Last but not least, “an ability […] that is part of an intrinsic ability’s criteria” might be misconstrued to mean only the presence of an ability, but not the absence of an ability. To be on the safe side, the quoted part should spell out both possibilities.

All three points are avoided by my rewrite of the intrinsic Saga abilities.

608.4 An object can’t have more than one instance of the same intrinsic ability.

The preceding rules should make this impossible, but if you want to be sure that the Comprehensive Rules do something, have them state it. Especially if it requires only a single line of text.

608.5 Some ability-adding effects grant all of an object’s abilities—or a subset of those abilities—to one or more objects. If this includes an intrinsic ability of the first object, the granted ability is not intrinsic.

Example: Necrotic Ooze is a creature that reads “As long as this creature is on the battlefield, it has all activated abilities of all creature cards in all graveyards.” If there are a total of four Dryad Arbors—a Forest land creature card—in all graveyards, Necrotic Ooze has four instances of the ability “{T}: Add {G}” and none of them are intrinsic. Each Dryad Arbor has one instance of that ability and those instances are all intrinsic.

608.5a If any other kind of effect uses all of an object’s abilities—or a subset of those abilities—to set, define, or add to the abilities of an object, the effect ignores any intrinsic abilities the first object may have.

Finally, two rules to handle the not-quite-copying of abilities. As is tradition, the one with a very narrow application does not get an example, so that future generations of rules enthusiasts have something to research.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You will not be added to any email lists and we will not distribute your personal information.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.