Type-Changing in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Last updated on June 13, 2025

Zur, Eternal Schemer | Illustration by Dan Mumford

Changing the text of a card in Alchemy has proven unpopular, and oracle text adjustments remain grump-inducing, but when a card lets us do that as part of Magic, we love it! It feels like cheating, but in a totally safe way.

When most people think of this sort of thing, they’re generally thinking of cards that change another card’s color and then utilizing color hosers. But that’s only scratching the surface.

There’s a lot to unpack here as we explore Magic’s type- and text-changing effects!

What Is Type-Changing in MTG?

Glamerdye | Illustration by Ralph Horsley

Type-changing or text-changing effects replace some card text with other card text. MTG isn’t really built to allow for this physically (the ill-advised experiment with stickers in Unfinity notwithstanding), so this is a virtual change only that needs to be remembered by all players or signaled with a reminder or a written note.

We’re looking at four categories here:

• Effects that change a card’s card type,
• Effects that change a card’s subtype, usually a creature type,
• Effects that change card text,
• Effects that change card names.

Stickers can make these sort of changes, but at some risk to your card or sleeve.

Changing Card Types

There are seven basic card types in just about every Magic set release – namely artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, and sorcery – as well as other types occasionally used, with battle being the newest example. Changing one of these types is surprisingly common.

Examples of Type-Changing Cards

You’re most likely to see effects that add the “creature” card type to things like artifacts, enchantments, and lands. There are already “artifact creatures” and “enchantment creatures,” but cards like Animate Artifact, Zur, Eternal Schemer, Animate Land, and Spark Rupture either add the creature type or convert the card into a creature, in effect replacing the type. There are also creature-lands like Lair of the Hydra that have an activated ability that animates them into creatures, and some planeswalkers, including Gideon-type ‘walkers like Gideon, Ally of Zendikar and Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, that have activated abilities or triggered abilities that let them become creatures.

There are also cards like Liquimetal Coating, Enchanted Evening, and Ashaya, Soul of the Wild that convert things into artifacts, enchantments, or lands.

What’s the Benefit of Changing Card Types?

There are offensive, defensive, and value reasons to want to use these effects.

Offensively, a classic move is to use Karn, the Great Creator to pull Liquimetal Coating out of the sideboard and convert an opponent’s land into an artifact, which, based on Karn’s static ability, can now no longer be tapped for mana. A less obnoxious move is to use a card like Nissa, Who Shakes the World to animate a bunch of lands to mount a go-wide attack or using the Liquimetal to make a creature into an artifact at instant speed to take advantage of Tempered Steel.

Defensively, some of these things can be used at instant speed for quick defense, like Liquimetal and Padeem, Consul of Innovation. Ashaya, Soul of the Wild, as an overall defensive posture, is also nice in a world where many bounce effects, including Brazen Borrower’s inability to target lands.

Value-wise, there are several ways these kinds of type changes can benefit a player. Cost reductions based on type like affinity are the most obvious reasons. And an EDH deck like Baba Lysaga, Night Witch, makes heavy use of these kinds of effects to support its card draw engine.

What Happens if You Clone a Card That Changed Types?

As is true for all the effects we’re discussing, a clone or copy effect copies the original unaltered card text, as per Magic’s Comprehensive Rules section 706.2: “Other effects (including type-changing and text-changing effects), status, and counters aren’t copied.”

Changing Subtypes and Creature Types

Creature subtypes are some of the most fun elements of MTG. People love typal decks. There’s flavor and a pleasing sort of narrative of all the elves or vampires coming out to play. In such a fertile space, of course there are effects that change things up! There are a few cards that affect noncreature subtypes like Armed with Proof, and quite a few that change lands into some basic types, like Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth, but we’re mostly in critter country here.

Examples of Subtype-Changing Cards

There are some cards that do this kind of thing globally, like Arcane Adaptation and Leyline of Transformation. But there are also cards that target one other creature, like Artificial Evolution.

More common are kinds that change a type based on flavor, like converting something to a vampire with New Blood, resurrecting a hero as an angel warrior with Ascent of the Worthy, cursing the greedy to become, um, walls with Aurification, or resurrecting cards as zombies with Dread Slaver.

What’s the Benefit of Changing Subtypes?

Aside from flavor, you can interfere with opponents who are using typal effects like Distant Melody or Coat of Arms for value by changing their creatures to other things. And you can do something similar for yourself to add value with creature synergies.

How Do You Remove Creature Types in MTG?

Most cards that change a creature subtype simply add the new type to the mix. But there are some that specify that a card loses all creature types, as with New Blood, or more globally with cards like Curse of Conformity and Amoeboid Changeling.

Does Changing a Creature’s Type Remove its Other Types?

Rarely and only if specified by the card making the change, as in New Blood. You're looking for the text “in addition to its other types.” If that text isn't present, the new creature type overrides the previous.

Changing Card Text

There are two mechanics that change the text of cards they’re on as they’re cast, and both are kicker variants that require additional mana: overload and cleave. Other effects in MTG change the texts of spells on the stack or permanents on the battlefield.

Examples of Text-Changing Cards

The most infamous overload card is EDH bane Cyclonic Rift.

The best cleave card is likely Path of Peril.

Alter Reality, Artificial Evolution, and Magical Hack are examples that target spells on the stack.

Mind Bend and Trait Doctoring are spells that target permanents.

And there are permanents that alter the text of other permanents, often in blue, from Balduvian Shaman and Swirl the Mists up to effects like Unable to Scream and Imprisoned in the Moon. There are even cards that exchange text boxes, like Exchange of Words.

There are also cards that change power and toughness, like Brine Hag for opposing creatures or Arni Brokenbrow for your own.

What’s the Benefit of Changing Card Text?

You can remove buffs or synergies or just make things into elk, like Oko, Thief of Crowns. Cards that do that without targeting, like Polymorphist's Jest, can take care of hexproof creatures and every version of Emrakul.

You can also gain synergies I’ve already discussed. But the oldest trick in this text-changing book is changing lands to enable things like landwalk or landhome, as with all those big blue serpents that can only attack if the defending player controls an island.

Of course, the classic here, which is still a key Modern strategy, is Blood Moon.

Changing Card Names

There aren’t many spells that change names. There’s Spy Kit, Psychic Paper, and Witness Protection. Otherwise, sticker cards like Fight the _____ Fight can change a card’s name. Mutate changes the name of a card pile, but not in a way that matters much.

What’s the Benefit of Changing Card Names?

It’s not clear that there is one! Witness Protection matters because it nerfs something down to a super vanilla 1/1. The name bit is mostly for hijinks and hilarity when you enchant a Theros god or Eldrazi titan into the witness protection program.

Does Changing Names Affect the Legend Rule?

Yes. If there were more name-changing effects, this would be of benefit to a card like Tatsunari, Toad Rider. You can only control one Keimi at a time, but if you altered the frog‘s name, you could theoretically make multiples.

There are some niche situations where altering a creature's name might let you control two of the same legendary creature. This is the idea behind the Mishra's Warform token on Mishra, Eminent One. Since that token has a different name, you can control it plus the legendary artifact you copied without bumping into the legend rule.

Wrap Up

Path of Peril | Illustration by Kasia ‘Kafis' Zielinska

In a lot of ways this is old Magic, to be able to change things for color hosers or landwalk. We all tried Balduvian Shaman and various Circles of Protection at casual tables in the ‘90s. And we lost games.

In Commander, where all these cards are legal, nothing but Rule 0 (and self-preservation?) is stopping you from doing stuff like Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth and Kaervek, the Spiteful and then casting Kormus Bell. There are no payoffs with text like “every time a permanent changes color.”

While blue continues to see auras printed that blank creatures as blue's standard removal spell for Limited, the cards that make more nuanced changes in card text are few and far between. And although the Magic Boomer in me wants to be sad about that, it’s probably for the best, as the game becomes more complex, to have everything right there in the card text. Probably.

Do you have favorite type-changing or text-changing cards we didn’t mention? Drop some faves in the comments or on Discord.

Stay un-salty out there!