When you gain control of a creature, you aren’t gaining control of anything that’s attached to it. This can be important to know when the equipment or aura has an ability, as opposed to when it give the creature an ability.

For example, Nancy has a 1/1 creature that is equipped with Sword of Feast and Famine, and Adam casts Traitorous Blood targeting that creature. At this point, he controls the 1/1 creature, which has the +2/+2 bonus from the sword. However, when he deals combat damage to the player, the Sword of Feast and Famine triggers, because the triggered ability is on the Sword of Feast and Famine, and isn’t given to the equipped creature. So the player that was dealt damage will have to discard a card (in this case, Nancy), but Nancy (not Adam) also gets to untap her lands, because the Sword of Feast and Famine’s triggered ability allows her to (it says “you untap…” and “you” always refers to the ability’s controller).

Today’s Rules Tip written by
Ronny Alvarado, Level 1 Judge from Houston, TX