Let’s say I have face down creature equipped with the Dragon Throne (I’ve always enjoyed the idea of a mystery man on the Throne), and I choose to activate the ability granted by the Throne, so I can attack with my army of morphs and overrun you. But you have better ideas. With that ability on the stack, you cast Blinding Spray on that morph, making it a -2/2. So what happens when that activated ability resolves?
Those of you who played with Wild Beastmaster probably already know the answer to this question. The ability checks the equipped creature’s power when the ability resolves. When the ability resolves, it sees the creature’s power is -2. Most of the time, the game can’t use a negative number, but in cases where we’re trying to modify a creature’s power and/or toughness, it can use a negative number. So instead of your other creatures getting +2/+2 (which is what you planned when you activated the ability), the ability will instead give your other creatures -2/-2, and wiping my board of face down creatures.
That leaves a face down creature alone on the Throne, without his face down army. I’m sure if it had a face, you would see how sad he is after accidentally killing his army.
Today’s Rules Tip written by Nate Long