That’s a Tootsie Roll Pop reference for those of you old enough to get it.

I know I’ve skipped a week already, but that’s part and parcel of the process when a Magic prerelease goes by. Luckily though, I saw a lot of cards that weekend that will lead into this week’s fun. The interactions of continuous effects are some of the trickiest rules questions that a judge can get when he walks over to a table. This week I’m going to deal with the most common ones: power and toughness layers!

You know we’re destined for good times when a single layer has to be divided into so many sublayers. It used to be much less intuitive before the layer overhaul near Ravnica. Humility questions used to be the bane of judges, now we only have to take the time to see what’s in play and know what goes where. Let’s go to the comprehensive rules and look at section 418.5a. We’ll skip everything else and go straight to layer 6 where we determine a creature’s power and toughness.

"Inside layer 6, apply effects in a series of sublayers in the following order: (6a) effects from characteristic-defining abilities; (6b) all other effects not specifically applied in 6c, 6d, or 6e; (6c) changes from counters; (6d) effects from static abilities that modify power and/or toughness but don’t set power and/or toughness to a specific number or value; and (6e) effects that switch a creature’s power and toughness. Within each sublayer, apply effects in timestamp order."

Sounds like a bunch of gibberish, don’t it? Luckily, we can take the rules speak and translate it into regular speech.

The first thing we need to apply is characteristic-defining abilities because we have to know what the characteristic is before we can start to mess with it. Drove of Elves has a static ability that defines the characteristic of its power and toughness as the number of green permanents you control. Something to remember is that this ability functions in all zones, even your library. So when we have five green permanents it makes him a 5/5.

The next layer is sort of a catch-all. It’s not what happens here that’s important; it’s what doesn’t happen here. Everything else that affects power and toughness will go in here expect for things that happen later.

Counters will apply next and in this Block Constructed format, that is something to consider. Remember that in Time Spiral a change was made that +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters destroy each other as a state-based effect.

6d is a very specific layer that some people get mixed up in. The key phrase in this layer is “static ability”. Static abilities do something at all times as opposed to triggered or activated ones that require something to happen. [Loxodon Warhammer] provides a static ability that gives the creature it equips +3/+0 in this layer.

Power and toughness switching effects are always applied last. Merfolk Thamaturgist’s ability will be the last thing used to figure out what its target’s toughness is, regardless of when in the turn it was played.

So now let’s run through some fun.

My Drove of Elves with a +1/+1 counter equipped with a Loxodon Warhammer is attacking you while I control six green permanents. I have a Luminthread Field and an Unstoppable Ash in play on my side as well. You block with a Grizzly Bears and play Merfolk Thamaturgist’s ability targeting my Drove of Elves. After that ability resolves, I cast Giant Growth my creature. How much damage do you take when combat damage resolves?

First of all, what the hell format are we playing?

Secondly, the answer is 14.

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Oh, fine, I’ll explain. The first thing is our elf is a 6/6 from the characteristic-defining ability in 6a. In 6b we apply the +0/+5 from Unstoppable Ash’s triggered ability and the +3/+3 from the Giant Growth. In 6c, the counter gets added to the pile just in time for 6d. The static abilities from Loxodon Warhammer and Luminthread Field add +3/+0 and +0/+1 respectively. And we know that switching always applies last in 6e.

This makes our boy a fat 16/13 trampler blocked by a 2/2. Not good for you. I’ll assign 2 to your Grizzly Bears and 14 to you. GG?

Come back and see me next week for the recent changes to the judge program and some information on certification.

-- Erik