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So me and a couple friends were playing a hand of MTG. While doing so, I played a card called Seraph Sanctuary which has the ability

Whenever an Angel enters the battlefield under your control, you gain 1 life.

While playing an Angel card, however, one of the friend's used an ability to change the Angel's creature type to none at all during its casting. However the card reads Target creature. Does this imply that the Angel has to be in play before the creature type is changed? Because if you use it as an instant, it takes place before the angel is ever cast as per the "last played first to resolve" rule, so the angel won't technically even exist before the type is changed to nothing, therefore I believe it to be an illegal target for the creatures ability to change a creature type to none. I need to know the exact ruling if this is a legal move or if someone owes me an apology

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  • Interesting... The answer wasn't closed on my vote alone. Probably because the tags were changed? – ikegami Dec 17 '17 at 5:31
  • You can't use an ability during casting unless it's a mana ability. /// You can't change an object's creature type to "none" (there is no such creature type). /// Please note how to link to cards ([mtg:NAME]) and the correct tag for your question. – ikegami Dec 17 '17 at 5:34
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    You can't goldhammer a question if you're the one that added the tag you're gold in. – Nij Dec 18 '17 at 5:39
  • @ikegami I believe by during its casting OP is referring to while it is on the stack, not in the steps involved in a cast which you are correct, can't be interrupted in that way. – Andrew Jan 12 '18 at 18:42
  • @Andrew, Correcting terminology is important. – ikegami Jan 12 '18 at 18:44
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"Creature" (used as a noun) means "creature permanent", which means "creature permanent or token on the battlefield".

109.2. If a spell or ability uses a description of an object that includes a card type or subtype, but doesn’t include the word “card,” “spell,” “source,” or “scheme,” it means a permanent of that card type or subtype on the battlefield.

110.1. A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield. [...]

So, for example, Amoeboid Changeling's abilities can only target objects on the battlefield, so Seraph Sanctuary's second ability would already have triggered before you could even activate one of Amoeboid Changeling's abilities.

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