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An answer on another question tells of a way to turn planeswalkers into creatures:

Basically you start by playing the Mycosynth Lattice which turns all your permanents into artifacts, this includes Planeswalker.

Then you play March Of the Machines turning your Planeswalker into an artifact creature with power and toughness equal to it's casting cost.

What are the ramifications of doing this? In particular, I'm curious about the answers to the following sub-questions:

  • Can the loyalty abilities still be activated?
    • Can they be activated after the creature has attacked? (ie. during the 2nd main phase)
  • Does the creature die if it's loyalty hits 0?
  • Does the creature die if it has lethal damage counted on it?
  • Can damage applied to the creature be directed to apply to the loyalty, on only counted as damage on the creature? (ie. counted against it's toughness)
  • Since the permanent is still a planeswalker, can it still be attacked like a normal planewalker? (ie. a creature attacking the planeswalker instead of me, the player)

Is there any other interesting fallout of converting a planeswalker into a creature that I'm missing?

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  • 1
    Note that the creature dies if its loyalty hits zero, but the question also mentioned giving a different creature planeswalker abilities - that creature doesn't die for having 0 loyalty.
    – corsiKa
    Commented Jul 2, 2013 at 20:24
  • 1
    Gideon, Champion of Justice turns into a creature naturally. The rulings regarding him answer a lot of the things you want to know.
    – bengoesboom
    Commented Mar 2, 2014 at 1:41
  • 1
    Note that with Mycosynth Lattice + March Of the Machines, all lands become 0/0 creatures (since they have CMC 0) and die from state based effects unless there is some static effect boosting their toughness
    – Zags
    Commented Nov 25, 2014 at 3:49
  • @Zags, An interesting strategy comes from this if you have a way to turn your lands into creatures before dropping this combo... It's always fun to wipe out opponents' land.
    – cdeszaq
    Commented Nov 25, 2014 at 15:54
  • @cdeszaq or just have one of the various anthems (Glorious Anthem, Gaea's Anthem, Marshal's Anthem) and your lands survive while theirs don't
    – Zags
    Commented Nov 25, 2014 at 16:55

1 Answer 1

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Can the loyalty abilities still be activated?
Can they be activated after the creature has attacked? (ie. during the 2nd main phase)

Yes and yes. Nothing stops loyalty abilities from being activated just because Planeswalker is not the only type on the card. Actually, nothing stops a loyalty ability from being activated even if the permanent has not the Planeswalker type. Also, a loyalty ability doesn't include the tap simbol, so it doesn't matter if the creature is tapped or has summoning sickness.

Does the creature die if it's loyalty hits 0?

Yes:

704.5i If a planeswalker has loyalty 0, it’s put into its owner’s graveyard.

Does the creature die if it has lethal damage counted on it?

Yes:

704.5g If a creature has toughness greater than 0, and the total damage marked on it is greater than or equal to its toughness, that creature has been dealt lethal damage and is destroyed. Regeneration can replace this event.

Can damage applied to the creature be directed to apply to the loyalty, on only counted as damage on the creature? (ie. counted against it's toughness)

It counts for both. So if the creature-planeswalker is dealt two damage, you remove two loyalty counters and mark two damage on it (remember that damage does not reduce thoughness).

Since the permanent is still a planeswalker, can it still be attacked like a normal planewalker? (ie. a creature attacking the planeswalker instead of me, the player)

Yes. Planeswalkers can be attacked by creatures. There is no exception in the rules for a planeswalker that is also a creature.

As a wrap-up: to a permanent that is both a creature and a planeswalker, both rules for creatures and rules for planeswalkers apply.

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  • 100% correct. The rules for the last answer are: 119.3, 119.3c and 119.3e
    – ikegami
    Commented Jul 2, 2013 at 0:41
  • I've added this to my question as a follow-up, since I didn't realize that the creature type was added, so it was a Creature Planeswalker: "Since the permanent is still a planeswalker, can it still be attacked like a normal planewalker? (ie. a creature attacking the planeswalker instead of me, the player)"
    – cdeszaq
    Commented Jul 2, 2013 at 17:42
  • Given that regeneration can "solve" lethal damage, does a regen shield on Creature Planeswalker keep it on the battlefield? Or does it entirely depend on the state of the loyalty counters?
    – cdeszaq
    Commented Jul 2, 2013 at 17:56
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    @cdeszaq Regeneration won't help if the planeswalker has loyalty 0. Notice how rule 704.5g does say that regeneration can replace it, but rule 704.5i does not.
    – Pablo
    Commented Jul 2, 2013 at 19:05
  • Even if a regeneration effect prevented it from being destroyed, the next time SBEs were checked it would get destroyed again. Either you continue this process until you can no longer pay for regeneration, or it's an infinite loop which you either must break or draw the game.
    – corsiKa
    Commented Jul 2, 2013 at 20:23

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