I'm going to play a deck with a Oko, Thief of Crowns. And my question is: can I use his abilities targeting a creature with protection from green? I know that normally I couldn't do that, because I can't even target creatures with protection from green with green spells, but for example Oko's abilities? He is blue and green, but his abilities aren't.
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Abilities never have any colors. It's just not an attribute that abilities have. They do have a source, though, and that source has a color (or colorless), which is what protection checks for. Note that cards never say something in the form of "Green abilities can't be activated." It will always be in the form of "The abilities of Green creatures can't be activated."– AetherfoxCommented Oct 11, 2019 at 14:45
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@Aetherfox I think that's technically incorrect. While no ability that exists currently can have a color; color as a whole is a characteristic that objects have, and an ability (at least one that is one the stack) is an object. (See 109.3).– GendoIkariCommented Oct 11, 2019 at 17:04
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@GendoIkari That rule also contains the important sentence "Objects can have some or all of these characteristics." It is currently impossible for any object to have every listed characteristic, and rule 602.2a explicitly says that abilities have no characteristics other than text.– murgatroid99 ♦Commented Oct 11, 2019 at 17:36
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@murgatroid99 Right; which is why no ability has any color... but I'm saying that there is no rules in regards to either color or abilities that prevent abilities from having a color. In fact the rules specifically allow for the possibility; it's just that no ability has ever been printed that has one.– GendoIkariCommented Oct 11, 2019 at 17:38
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And I'm saying that 602.2a specifically prevents activated abilities from having a color: "It has the text of the ability that created it, and no other characteristics." Rule 603.3 has the corresponding text for triggered abilities.– murgatroid99 ♦Commented Oct 11, 2019 at 17:49
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2 Answers
A creature with protection from green can't be targeted by Oko:
702.16b A permanent or player with protection can’t be targeted by spells with the stated quality and can’t be targeted by abilities from a source with the stated quality.
It doesn't matter that his ability doesn't have a color, protection cares about the color of the source of that ability. So unless you find a Thran Lens or something similar, you won't be able to target the creature.
answered Oct 11, 2019 at 14:39
No you cannot.
702.16b A permanent or player with protection can’t be targeted by spells with the stated quality and can’t be targeted by abilities from a source with the stated quality.
The source of the ability is green; so that prevents the targeting.
answered Oct 11, 2019 at 14:40
