Thread by @twotwobearz

Here's a rules question from #MTGAFR that's been making the rounds.

I have Asmodeus and Arc-Slogger in my graveyard, and Necrotic Ooze in play.

Can I pay {R} to exile my top ten cards (and deal 2), then pay {B} to get those 10 cards back?

The answer is, no.

...but why? 🧵

Before I explain the right answer, let's talk about some of the wrong answers.

One common mistake is thinking this interaction revolves around card names. Since Asmodeus' ability says "exiled with Asmodeus the Archfiend", it seems like the names of the cards should matter.

As it turns out...the names don't matter here at all! In Magic, if a card refers to itself by name, it actually just means "me, this card".

Suppose we also had a Basking Rootwalla in our graveyard. Paying {1}{G} would give our Necrotic Ooze +2/+2, not the (poor, dead) Rootwalla!

If an effect in Magic genuinely cares about an object's name, it has to use very specific language to do so. You can see this in #MTGAFR with the Book of Vile Darkness! (Or as we call it in the 'biz, TBVOD.)

Let's take a look at that activated ability there.

As we now know, the first part of the ability -- "Exile TBVOD" -- really just means "Exile whatever object has this ability."

Suppose Myr Welder has TBOVD's ability. Even though Myr Welder isn't named TBOVD, that doesn't matter! You can exile Welder to pay that part of the cost.

The second part of the ability is where things get specific. The specific phrasing "named Eye of Vecna and Hand of Vecna" means we have to care about the object's *actual* name.

A single Myr Welder exiling TBOVD, the Eye, and the Hand would, sadly, not qualify for evil lichdom.

OK, let's circle back to the original question.

We now know that when the Ooze gains Asmodeus' bottom ability, we can treat that text as if it said "Return all cards exiled with Necrotic Ooze [...]"

This actually makes it seem like our devious plan should work, right?!

Unfortunately, this is where a pesky concept called "linked abilities" steps in. It turns out that the Magic designers and rules managers have foreseen the possibilities of such shenanigans, and decreed: no.

Linked abilities are actually incredibly intuitive, which is probably part of why most players don't know about them by name. It turns out there are lots of scenarios where abilities can be linked, and there over a dozen different types of them!

Let's look at a simple one.

Diamond Mare has a straightforward pair of linked abilities. As it enters the battlefield, you choose a color; from that point forward, you gain 1 life whenever you cast a spell of that color.

But what does being "linked" actually mean?

When abilities are linked, that means that rules text like "the chosen color" or "the exiled cards" can *only* refer to choices or actions that are part of the pair of linked abilities.

Here's a concrete example:

Suppose we chose "red" for our Diamond Mare. Later, due to Mirrorweave shenanigans, our Diamond Mare turns into a copy of Voice of All.

Turns out, our Mare/Voice's new static ability won't give it to protection from anything, not even red!

This is because Voice of All has its own pair of linked abilities.

Voice's protection ability can *only* work with a color chosen specifically with Voice's individual "choose a color" ability.

Even though our Mare/Voice copy seems to have a color chosen for it, that color is inextricably tied to the Mare's "you gain 1 life" triggered ability, and can't be paired with anything else.

So, our Mare/Voice's protection ability has an undefined choice, and does nothing.

With that in mind, for the last time, let's revisit our friends Necrotic Ooze, Arc-Slogger, and Asmodeus.

As it turns out, Asmodeus *also* has a pair of linked abilities! In this case, the Binding Contract replacement effect is linked with the bottom activated ability.

How do we know that these abilities are linked? Mostly, because the rules say so (607.2a).

But also, if an ability refers to "exiled cards" and that ability doesn't directly exile cards itself, that's a pretty good sign there's a linked ability hanging out somewhere.

This all means that when you activate the "return all cards exiled with me" ability, that ability can only give you cards that were exiled specifically from the Binding Contract.

Cards that just happen to be exiled by the same creature don't qualify.

In the context of a Necrotic Ooze "borrowing" Arc-Slogger and Asmodeus' abilities, this means that activating Slogger's ability will exile 10 cards, which you *cannot* put back in your hand by paying {B}.

...but hey, you can still pay {B}{B}{B} to draw 7. That seems pretty good!

And so this saga comes to an end.

I would be remiss if I didn't include some rules citations, so here you go:

201.4 (how names on cards work)
607 (linked abilities in general)
607.2a (why Asmodeus' abilities are linked)

Hope you enjoyed; feel free to reply with any questions!

Minor correction, that's 607.2b for Asmodeus' abilities :)