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Let's say I have a god in the battlefield for more than one turn. And this turn I summon a creature that "completes" my devotion to the god. Can the god attack this turn? or it is affected by the summon sickness?

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2 Answers 2

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The god can attack the turn it becomes a creature, as long as you had it for more than 1 turn like you said. Summoning sickness only affects a creature if it entered the battlefield since the beginning of your turn, and it did not enter the battlefield upon meeting its devotion requirement, it simply changed to a creature. This won't trigger "when enters the battlefield" triggers either.

302.6. A creature’s activated ability with the tap symbol or the untap symbol in its activation cost can’t be activated unless the creature has been under its controller’s control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. A creature can’t attack unless it has been under its controller’s control continuously since his or her most recent turn began. This rule is informally called the “summoning sickness” rule.

The god creature HAS been under your control since the beginning of your turn; it just wasn't a creature before.

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    @jonathanhobbs Your edit comment said that summoning sickness doesn't only affect creatures? Doesn't it?
    – GendoIkari
    May 2, 2014 at 14:30
  • @Gendolkari Wow, I'm glad you asked me that. I thought it applied to enchantments and artifacts too - apparently it doesn't. Feel free to do whatever with my edit including roll it back. May 2, 2014 at 14:38
  • @jonathanhobbs I think your new wording is still clear and accurate, so I'll leave it.
    – GendoIkari
    May 2, 2014 at 14:43
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    @GendoIkari: As written in the rules, only creatures have summoning sickness. However, to simplify explaining the interaction between summoning sickness and type-changing effects, some people will say that all permanents have summoning sickness, but only creatures are affected by it. It has the same result, but it makes it easier to explain why they can't tap with their new manland if they activate it, or why they can attack with their newly devoted god.
    – 3Doubloons
    May 2, 2014 at 17:58
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Another user submitted a correct answer that is easy to read and I just wanted to provide a bunch of examples of when it might be relevant. Everything that has entered the battlefield since the beginning of your most recent turn has summoning sickness. That includes, but is not limited to:

  • Lands
    • If you play Mutavault and then use its second ability, it will not be able to attack that turn unless it somehow gains haste.
    • Oddly enough, if you play Mutavault and then turn it into a creature, it becomes affected by summoning sickness and can no longer use its first ability to tap for mana. It always had summoning sickness, but only became affected by it when it became a creature.
  • Planeswalkers
    • If you play Gideon, Champion of Justice and then activate its second ability, it cannot attack. That's actually a ruling on the card if you click the link.
  • Artifacts
    • If you play Rakdos Keyrune and immediately activate it, you'll no longer be able to tap it for mana, and you won't be able to attack with it either.

Even creatures with haste have summoning sickness. If the creature somehow lost haste, summoning sickness would again affect your creature.

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  • "It always had summoning sickness, but only became affected by it when it became a creature." As "summoning sickness" is an informal term, I think you could view this either way, but to me it makes more sense to say that only creatures have summoning sickness. Mutavult didn't have it before it was a creature, but now that it's a creature, it has it because you didn't control it since the beginning of your turn.
    – GendoIkari
    May 2, 2014 at 14:33
  • @Gendolkari Watch this video from the Judge's corner and you'll understand where I got that from. They word it a lot better than I do. Forget the informal term - it is still a rule that always applies to any object. The object must have been under your control for a period of time, whether it was a creature during that time or not. In other words, the check considers the object, but the effect only applies to creatures.
    – Rainbolt
    May 2, 2014 at 15:17
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    That makes sense I suppose. It is indeed important that the object, not the "creature," is the thing that's checked for how long you've controlled it. For me, it's still confusing and possibly misleading to explain it in terms of "everything is subject to summoning sickness, but only creatures are affected by it", but I guess that's just personal preferences on how to explain rules.
    – GendoIkari
    May 2, 2014 at 15:28
  • I agree that this is actively confusing; in particular, one aspect of summoning sickness is 'this permanent cannot tap to activate an ability', which is patently false for non-creature permanents. May 2, 2014 at 22:09
  • @StevenStadnicki The rule doesn't prevent permanents from tapping to activate an ability. It prevents creatures from tapping to activate an ability. Pretend that I cast Act of Treason on your Thassa, God of the Sea, taking control of it and giving it haste until EOT. Assume that I still have less than 5 devotion to blue. Haste says "This creature can attack and tap as soon as it comes under my control." Thassa is not a creature, so she is not affected by haste. It still has haste, but it isn't affected by haste.
    – Rainbolt
    May 2, 2014 at 22:42

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