Actually, no matter what you choose it will be cr^p
ClockworkSwordfish
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Pick your sucky creature! Only good if you have some kind of morph trigger, like Unblinking Bleb or if you have Ixidron or something.
rinoh20
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
what if i want a 2.5/2.5
longwinded
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Like it's ancestor Primal Clay, this is one of the few really problematic cards I've seen with a characteristic ability.
Designers have complained about characteristic abilities -- things like "Mortivore's power and toughness are each equal to the number of creature cards in all graveyards," and, "Transguild Courier is all colors" -- because they're not particularly intuitive. They describe a card's characteristics, apply in all zones, are continuously updated, and are applied before any other effects in the layer system. In effect, they're 'what's printed on the card, even if that can't be printed' (like the ever-changing number equaling Mortivore's power). At the same time, they're abilities that can be overwritten by things like Humility.
This can get weird in some edge cases. For example, if a Transguild Courier is subject to Humility, is it every color, or colorless? Or, if the only creatures in any graveyard are your Lhurgoyf and Mortivore (thus respectively 2/3 and 2/2), which (if either) can be brought back by the death trigger ability on your Reveillark once it goes into the graveyard? Characteristic abilities sometimes make you stop and have to re-examine the rules, which in turn means it's easy to misunderstand and misapply the rules before it's played. Some in R&D even went as far to say that cards like Humility don't actually work under the rules as written. But for the most part, I never thought it was too hard to figure out what a P/T or color of a given object was at any given time.
But this? As near as I can tell, the */* indicates that P/T should be treated as set by a characteristic ability. But the Aquamorph Entity doesn't really have one that defines it at all times. It has a replacement effect that's relevant when entering the battlefield or turned face up. I had to hit the complete rules to find out there's a subrule (208.2b) for exactly and only this type of effect. (long and short, */* is 0/0 if it hasn't been set by something.)
Enelysios
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Why is this so poorly rated? Play it for as a 2/2 and at any time you can pay 3 to make it a 5/1 or 1/5. Now, this isn't the best blue creature out there, but certainly useful. If he's unblocked, or you want to kill a blocker you can have 5 damage, if you get blocked or are being attacked you can always swap to 1/5.
Comments (6)
Designers have complained about characteristic abilities -- things like "Mortivore's power and toughness are each equal to the number of creature cards in all graveyards," and, "Transguild Courier is all colors" -- because they're not particularly intuitive. They describe a card's characteristics, apply in all zones, are continuously updated, and are applied before any other effects in the layer system. In effect, they're 'what's printed on the card, even if that can't be printed' (like the ever-changing number equaling Mortivore's power). At the same time, they're abilities that can be overwritten by things like Humility.
This can get weird in some edge cases. For example, if a Transguild Courier is subject to Humility, is it every color, or colorless? Or, if the only creatures in any graveyard are your Lhurgoyf and Mortivore (thus respectively 2/3 and 2/2), which (if either) can be brought back by the death trigger ability on your Reveillark once it goes into the graveyard? Characteristic abilities sometimes make you stop and have to re-examine the rules, which in turn means it's easy to misunderstand and misapply the rules before it's played. Some in R&D even went as far to say that cards like Humility don't actually work under the rules as written. But for the most part, I never thought it was too hard to figure out what a P/T or color of a given object was at any given time.
But this? As near as I can tell, the */* indicates that P/T should be treated as set by a characteristic ability. But the Aquamorph Entity doesn't really have one that defines it at all times. It has a replacement effect that's relevant when entering the battlefield or turned face up. I had to hit the complete rules to find out there's a subrule (208.2b) for exactly and only this type of effect. (long and short, */* is 0/0 if it hasn't been set by something.)