When does Tiana, Ship's Caretaker check card type?

Question

At what point does Tiana, Ship's Caretaker's last ability check if a card that went to the graveyard is an aura or equipment? Is that determination made when the card is on the battlefield and going to the graveyard, or when the card enters the graveyard?

In my specific example: I control a Bludgeon Brawl, Liquimetal Coating, and Tiana. I use liquimetal coating to turn Bludgeon Brawl into an artifact, and it then becomes an equipment because of bludgeon brawl. My opponent Shatters it. Does Tiana's second ability trigger because it was an equipment when it died, or not because it is an enchantment in the graveyard?

Answer 1

The ability will still trigger; what matters is what the object was when it was on the battlefield.

603.10. Normally, objects that exist immediately after an event are checked to see if the event matched any trigger conditions, and continuous effects that exist at that time are used to determine what the trigger conditions are and what the objects involved in the event look like. However, some triggered abilities are exceptions to this rule; the game “looks back in time” to determine if those abilities trigger, using the existence of those abilities and the appearance of objects immediately prior to the event. The list of exceptions is as follows:

603.10a Some zone-change triggers look back in time. These are leaves-the-battlefield abilities, abilities that trigger when a card leaves a graveyard, and abilities that trigger when an object that all players can see is put into a hand or library.

Tiana’s ability is a leaves the battlefield ability; even though it talks about entering the graveyard:

603.6c Leaves-the-battlefield abilities trigger when a permanent moves from the battlefield to another zone, or when a phased-in permanent leaves the game because its owner leaves the game. These are written as, but aren’t limited to, “When [this object] leaves the battlefield, . . .” or “Whenever [something] is put into a graveyard from the battlefield, . . . .” (See also rule 603.10.) [...]

Answer 2

Tiana's ability will check for the card type at the time the ability that creates the delayed trigger is triggered. This means that the card will be returned to your hand even if it's not currently an aura or equipment while in your graveyard.

From Tiana's Gatherer rulings, emphasis mine:

Tiana’s last ability triggers and creates a delayed triggered ability that will let you return the Aura or Equipment during the next end step[...]

And, from CR603.7, which deals with delayed triggers, emphasis mine:

603.7c A delayed triggered ability that refers to a particular object still affects it even if the object changes characteristics[...]

And, to clarify what are characteristics, we refer to rule 109.3, emphasis mine:

An object’s characteristics are name, mana cost, color, color indicator, card type, subtype, supertype, rules text, [...]

Since the ability triggers when an aura or equipment leaves the battlefield (and is put into a graveyard), it looks back in time to the object that left the battlefield rather than the object in the graveyard.

This is governed by rule 603.10a:

603.10a Some zone-change triggers look back in time. These are leaves-the-battlefield abilities, abilities that trigger when a card leaves a graveyard, and abilities that trigger when an object that all players can see is put into a hand or library.