Seasinger and worldgorger dragon

[Freelancer]

This is the board position:

Me:
Island and other lands
Seasinger untapped

Him:
Island,sea,mox jet,bazaar
Dragon in grave

He casts a Animate dead on his dragon I respond to the leave play ability by stealing the dragon. What happens?
What happens if I use its ability to steal at a different moment in the game?

[Nibble]

Well, let's look at this in steps...

1. Animate Dead resolves. Its CIP ability goes on the stack. Nothing to steal with Seasinger at this point.

2. Animate Dead's CIP resolves. Your opponent now has Dragon in play enchanted by Animate, and Dragon's CIP is on the stack.
     2.a. You activate Seasinger, and it resolves, stealing Dragon. Go to 3.a.
     2.b. You leave Seasinger untapped. Go to 3.b.

3.a. Dragon's CIP ability resolves. Even though you have control of the Dragon, you don't control the Animate (95% sure on this one), so Animate is removed along with your opponent's lands and Jet. Animate Dead's leaves-play ability goes on the stack. Go to 4.
3.b. Dragon's CIP ability resolves, removing your opponent's lands, Jet, and Animate. Animate Dead's leaves-play ability goes on the stack.
     3.b.i. You activate Seasinger, and gain control of Dragon. Go to 4.
     3.b.ii. You leave Seasinger untapped. Go to 4.

4. Animate Dead's leaves-play ability resolves, returning Dragon to your opponent's graveyard. Dragon's leaves-play ability goes on the stack. If your Seasinger is still untapped now, there's nothing for it to target.

5. Dragon's leaves-play ability resolves, returning your opponent's lands, Jet, and Animate to play. Animate's CIP ability goes on the stack. Go to 2.


So, unless I'm missing something here, there's no point in time where taking control of the Dragon will do you any good, unfortunately.

[Malhavoc]

I've done the same reasoning using gilded drake, and it should not change here. The short answer: he win anyawy. The long answer: problem is that you take control of the creature, but not control of the enchantment. You take control of dragon, then all permanents he controls goes away. Dragon is not one of them, but animate dead it is. This means "your" dragon is going to die due to the other ability of animate dead. And of course it will go to his grave. Now the tricky point: the leaving play ability of the dragon does not say "return all permanents you control you removed with this", but "returns the cards removed with this". Even if the dragon is now yours, he remembers the permanents he removed. Then your opponent will take back into play everything, including the animate dead, he targets the dragon now in his grave, and continues the combo until he has won.

[Freelancer]

Bleh, would've been a great sideboard card against dragon if it worked.

Thanks for the advice and help. I wasn't exactly sure what happened with the enchanment.

[Mark_Story]

This may be moot, but doesn't the animate become a creature enchant once it's triggered ability resolves?  When you take control of it, wouldn't the enchantment come with it?  I looked through the comp rules, (which I find very annoyingly set up)  and couldn't find anything about enchantments falling off when control of their targeted permanent changes.

[Malhavoc]

The enchantment comes with it, but the controller of the enchantment (your opponent) doesn't change. Dragon leaves play due to its coming-into-play ability removing the animate spell from the game, then killing itself.

[Pinky]

3.b. Dragon's CIP ability resolves, removing your opponent's lands, Jet, and Animate. Animate Dead's leaves-play ability goes on the stack.
     3.b.i. You activate Seasinger, and gain control of Dragon. Go to 4.

You can't even activate Seasinger with the leaves play ability on the stack, your opponent doesn't control an island.

Seasinger
1UU   
Creature — Merfolk   
0/1   
When you control no Islands, sacrifice Seasinger.
You may choose not to untap Seasinger during your untap step.
T: Gain control of target creature whose controller controls an Island[/B] as long as you control Seasinger and as long as Seasinger remains tapped. 

[Nibble]

Ah, I missed that. Nice catch!