Morph

From MTG Salvation Wiki

Morph is a keyword ability on permanents that allows the player to pay to play a card with the ability face down as a 2/2 colorless, typeless creature. The player can then turn that creature face-up at any time they could play an instant by paying a variable Morph cost printed on each card. Many permanents with morph have additional triggered abilities that trigger when they are turned face-up (see Bane of the Living), and some other permanents trigger when a different card is turned face up.

Morph first appeared in Onslaught block and was revisited in the Time Spiral block.

From the Comprehensive Rules: 502.26. Morph 502.26a Morph is a static ability that functions in any zone from which you could play the card it’s on, and the morph effect works any time the card is face down. “Morph [cost]” means “You may play this card as a 2/2 face-down creature, with no text, no name, no subtypes, no expansion symbol, and no mana cost by paying rather than its mana cost.” Any time you could play an instant, you may show all players the morph cost for any face-down permanent you control, pay that cost, then turn the permanent face up. This action does not use the stack. (See rule 504, “Face-Down Spells and Permanents.”) 502.26b To play a card using its morph ability, turn it face down. It becomes a 2/2 face-down creature card, with no text, no name, no subtypes, no expansion symbol, and no mana cost. Any effects or prohibitions that would apply to playing a card with these characteristics (and not the face-up card's characteristics) are applied to playing this card. These values are the copiable values of that object's characteristics. (See rule 418.5, "Interaction of Continuous Effects," and rule 503, "Copying Objects.") Put it onto the stack (as a face-down spell with the same characteristics), and pay rather than pay its mana cost. This follows the rules for paying alternative costs. You can use morph to play a card from any zone from which you could normally play it. When the spell resolves, it comes into play with the same characteristics the spell had. The morph effect applies to the face-down object wherever it is, and it ends when the permanent is turned face up. 502.26d Any time you could play an instant, you may turn a face-down permanent you control face up. To do this, show all players what the permanent’s morph cost will be when the effect ends, pay that cost, then turn the permanent face up. The morph effect on it ends, and it regains its normal characteristics. Any abilities relating to the permanent coming into play don’t trigger when it’s turned face up and don’t have any effect, because the permanent has already come into play. 502.26e If a face-up permanent is turned face down by a spell or ability, it becomes a 2/2 face-down creature, with no text, no name, no subtypes, no expansion symbol, and no mana cost. These values are the copiable values of that object’s characteristics. (See rule 418.5, “Interaction of Continuous Effects,” and rule 503, “Copying Objects.”) The rules for morph and face-down permanents apply to it normally. 502.26f See rule 504, “Face-Down Spells and Permanents,” for more information on how to play cards with morph.

Contents 1 Rulings 2 Examples 3 Comprehensive Rules references 4 External links

[edit] Rulings

• An important change in Future Sight is that playing a spell face down works as though the card were already face down in your hand when you start to play it. It's treated as though it's a creature card with no name, color, abilities, mana cost, or subtypes while it's in your hand, and you can play that creature spell by paying rather than its mana cost. You can also play it face up as normal, of course.
• If you have Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir in play, creature cards in your hand have flash. If you play a noncreature card with morph face down, you can do so as though it had flash. If you play a noncreature card with morph face up, you can do so only at the time you could normally play that type of card.
• If a card such as Voidstone Gargoyle prohibits you from playing a certain card that has morph, you can still play that card face down.
• Morph triggers occurswhen you use the Morph ability to turn the card face up, or when an effect turns it face up. It will not trigger on being revealed or on leaving play.

Other notes related to noncreature cards with morph:

• As soon as a noncreature card with morph is turned face up, it stops being a creature. Any Equipment attached to it fall off. Any Auras that can't be attached to it fall off. Any counters that are on it will remain, though they may not have any effect.
• If such a permanent is in combat when it's turned face up, it's removed from combat. Combat damage that it assigned will still be dealt. Combat damage assigned to it will not be dealt because it's no longer a creature.
• Three Onslaught block cards (Aphetto Runecaster, Aven Farseer, and Bonethorn Valesk) have triggered abilities that trigger whenever a creature is turned face up. These will be getting errata so they trigger whenever a permanent is turned face up. They will trigger when one of these three Future Sight cards is turned face up.

[edit] Examples

Aphetto Alchemist - Creature — Wizard 1/2 : Untap target artifact or creature. Morph . Gathan Raiders - Creature — Human Warrior 3/3 Hellbent — Gathan Raiders gets +2/+2 if you have no cards in your hand. Morph — Discard a card.

[edit] Comprehensive Rules references

For your reference [CR 504]: 504. Face-Down Spells and Permanents 504.1. Two cards (Illusionary Mask and Ixidron) and the morph ability (see rule 502.26) allow spells and permanents to be face down. 504.2. Face-down spells on the stack, face-down permanents in play, and face-down cards in the phased-out zone have no characteristics other than those listed by the ability or rules that allowed the card, spell, or permanent to be turned face down. Any listed characteristics are the copiable values of that object’s characteristics. (See rule 418.5, “Interaction of Continuous Effects,” and rule 503, “Copying Objects.”) Objects that are put into play face down are turned face down before they come into play, so the permanent’s comes-into-play abilities won’t trigger (if triggered) or have any effect (if static). Objects that are played face down are turned face down before they are put onto the stack, so effects that care about the characteristics of a spell will see only the face-down spell’s characteristics. 504.3. At any time, you may look at a face-down spell you control on the stack, a face-down permanent you control, or a face-down card in the phased-out zone you controlled when it phased out. You can’t look at face-down cards in any other zone, face-down spells or permanents controlled by another player, or face-down cards in the phased-out zone last controlled by another player. The ability or rules that allow a permanent to be face down may also allow the permanent’s controller to turn it face up. Spells normally can’t be turned face up. 504.4. If you control multiple face-down spells on the stack or face-down permanents in play, you must ensure at all times that your face-down spells and permanents can be easily differentiated from each other. This includes, but is not limited to, knowing the order spells were played, the order that face-down permanents came into play, which creature attacked last turn, and any other differences between face-down spells or permanents. Common methods for distinguishing between face-down objects include using counters or dice to mark the different objects, or clearly placing those objects in order on the table. 504.5. As a face-down permanent is turned face up, its copiable values revert to its normal copiable values. Any effects that have been applied to the face-down permanent still apply to the face-up permanent. Any abilities relating to the permanent coming into play don’t trigger and don’t have any effect, because the permanent has already come into play. 504.6. If a face-down permanent moves from the in-play zone to any zone other than the phased-out zone, its owner must reveal it to all players as he or she moves it. If a phased-out face-down object moves to any zone other than the in-play zone, its owner must reveal it as he or she moves it. If a face-down spell moves from the stack to any zone other than the in-play zone, its owner must reveal it to all players as he or she moves it. At the end of each game, all face-down objects in play, in the phased-out zone, or on the stack must be revealed to all players. 504.7. If a face-down permanent becomes a copy of another permanent, its copiable values become the copiable values of that permanent, as modified by its face-down status. Its characteristics therefore remain the same: the characteristics listed by the ability or rules that allowed it to be turned face down. However, if it is turned face up, its copiable values become the values it copied from the other permanent. 504.8. If a face-down permanent would have an “As [this permanent] is turned face up . . .” ability after it’s turned face up, that ability is applied while that permanent is being turned face up, not afterward.

[edit] External links

"Morph: Onslaught’s New Ability", by Paul Barclay, MTG.com, Friday, September 6, 2002.