Rules

The Unique Nature of Volrath’s Shapeshifter#

Volrath’s Shapeshifter is one of the most unique cards in the game in terms of the wording of its ability: it is the only card that “copies” another card by taking its text as a text-changing effect, rather than as a copy ability.

This uniqueness goes back to the introduction of layers in the game’s rules, when Shifter was reworded as a text-changing effect — instead of the original copy ability — to maintain its interaction with controller-changing abilities (see this).

A perhaps unintended result of this change is that the interaction between Shifter and “Activate once each turn” abilities is nebulous.

If Shifter is a Wall of Roots and we activate its mana ability, under which conditions can we activate it again?

• If we discard a card on top of the graveyard so Shifter is no longer Wall of Roots, and we later remove that card revealing Wall of Roots again, does it count as a new Wall of Roots?
• What if we discard a new Wall of Roots instead to the top of the graveyard, can we activate it?

Copy Effects vs Text-Changing Effects#

Copy effects would make this interaction much easier: they are governed by the timestamp of the copy effect and thus “forget” who they were every time a new copy effect is applied.

The use of a text-changing ability, however, makes this more difficult. After consulting with multiple judges (10+) and getting a variety of opinions, we went directly to the MTG Rules Architect, Jess Dunks (see interaction here).

We presented 3 different scenarios for when Shifter is in play and we want to activate a “once a turn” ability twice:

Scenario A — Wall of Roots is on top, we activate it, we discard a card and exile that card (making Shifter the same Wall of Roots again), and we activate it.

Scenario B — Wall of Roots is on top, we activate it, we discard a new Wall of Roots, and we activate it.

Scenario C — Wall of Roots is on top, we activate it, then we Unearth it and sacrifice it to Therapy to have Wall of Roots on top again, and activate it.

Dunks’s response was that scenarios B and C should probably be legal, as the Wall of Roots that provide the ability to Shifter are all different graveyard objects across activations. We could use rule 602.5c to justify that the “once a turn” limitation wouldn’t apply to abilities granted by different objects (This ruling is similar in nature to other rulings like the ones for Necrotic Ooze and Koh, but not a 1:1 match, as the text-changing nature of Shifter muddies the comparison).

Regarding scenario A, as of now Dunks is of the opinion that the current rules cannot offer a unique solution to that question — so it would be up to the judge of the event.

Until we get an official rules update that resolves this scenario, the head judge of each event is responsible for setting the ruling framework that governs these interactions. Some of the judges we have consulted are of the opinion that the most sensible option would be to allow A and this has been the ruling for some tournaments (e.g. Danish Nationals), while some others have issued rulings that allow B and C but not A (e.g. North American Nationals).

So, how does this affect you? We only use these interactions in a limited number of lines, those that either try to activate the same Wall of Roots multiple times (e.g. the infinite damage line) or when we want to introduce more than 3 cards to library in a Hermit Scrounger line by covering and uncovering Scrounger with a Psychatog discard+exile ability. Luckily not only are these scenarios sparse but we have solutions for both, so in the meantime learn how to play without them and make sure you ask your event’s judge how he would rule beforehand to prevent any misunderstandings.