Volrath's Shapeshifter and Erayo, Soratami Ascendant

[BlackVise]

First, here are the two cards in question.

Volrath's Shapeshifter
 
Creature - Shapeshifter
As long as the top card of your graveyard is a creature card, Volrath's Shapeshifter has the full text of that card and has the text " : Discard a card." (Volrath's Shapeshifter has that card's name, mana cost, color, types, abilities, power, and toughness.)
 : Discard a card.
0/1

Erayo, Soratami Ascendant
 
Legendary Creature - Moonfolk Monk
Flying
Whenever the fourth spell of a turn is cast, flip Erayo, Soratami Ascendant.
1/1
///
Erayo's Essence
Legendary Enchantment
Whenever an opponent casts a spell for the first time in a turn, counter that spell.

So, say I have a Volrath's Shapeshifter in play and the top card of my graveyard is Erayo, Soratami Ascendant. My opponent plays (for example) Brainstorm, I Mental Misstep, he Force of Wills, and I Spell Pierce, then what happens? I'm assuming that Volrath's Shapeshifter 'flips' into Erayo's Essence, the spells resolve and then I'm unsure of what happens. Does Volrath's Shapeshifter lose the "As long as the top card of your graveyard is a creature card" ability when it flips and then stay as Erayo's Essence, or does it just revert back it's normal 0/1 self?

Any clarification on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[boggyb]

The answer has to do with a permanent's 'status' -- the comp rules actually provide a parallel scenario to yours to illustrate what that is and means:

110.6. A permanent‘s status is its physical state. There are four status categories, each of which has two possible values: tapped/untapped, flipped/unflipped, face up/face down, and phased in/phased out. Each permanent always has one of these values for each of these categories.
110.6c A permanent retains its status until a spell, ability, or turn-based action changes it, even if that status is not relevant to it.
Example: Dimir Doppelganger says “{1}{U}{B}: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. Dimir Doppelganger becomes a copy of that card and gains this ability.” It becomes a copy of Jushi Apprentice, a flip card. Through use of Jushi Apprentice‟s ability, this creature flips, making it a copy of Tomoya the Revealer with the Dimir Doppelganger ability. If this permanent then becomes a copy of Runeclaw Bear, it will retain its flipped status even though that has no relevance to Runeclaw Bear. If its copy
ability is activated again, this time targeting a Nezumi Shortfang card (another flip card), this permanent‟s flipped status means it will have the characteristics of Stabwhisker the Odious (the flipped version of Nezumi Shortfang) with the Dimir Doppelganger ability.
110.6d Only permanents have status. Cards not on the battlefield do not. Although an exiled card may be face down, this has no correlation to the face-down status of a permanent. Similarly, cards not on the battlefield are neither tapped nor untapped, regardless of their physical state.

So, it'll flip to Erayo's Essence and retain the shapeshifter's discarding ability. If you discard another creature, it'll become that creature; and if that creature can flip, it'll become the flipped version of that creature.

[BlackVise]

Ah ok! Thanks for the clarification.

[Delha]

To expand a bit on this... Erayo will flip, but as the stack resolves, the top card of your grave will no longer be a Erayo (or even a creature, for that matter). Once your Spell Pierce hits the grave, the Shapeshifter will revert to being a 0/2 where its "flipped" status does nothing.

[BlackVise]

Ah that makes sense! So, in another hypothetical situation, I have Shapeshifter in play and Erayo on top of my graveyard, and I play 4 Moxen, does it become Erayo's Essence or does it just become Erayo but count as flipped?

Thanks for the reply, by the way!

[Delha]

Ah that makes sense! So, in another hypothetical situation, I have Shapeshifter in play and Erayo on top of my graveyard, and I play 4 Moxen, does it become Erayo's Essence or does it just become Erayo but count as flipped?

Thanks for the reply, by the way!

There are two separate conditions involved: Is your Shapeshifter flipped? Is it copying Erayo? So long as both are true, it will be an Erayo's Essence.

The first condition only needs to be met once, because the change is permanent (so long as Shapeshifter stays on the battlefield). The second condition must be met continuously, because if the top card of your grave ever stops being Erayo, then the Shapeshifter obviously becomes something else.

So in answer to your question, yes. When you cast the fourth mox, the Shapeshifter will flip due to the ability it gained from copying Erayo Soratami Ascendant. Then, because it is still copying Erayo, it will be an Erayo's Essence.

[AmbivalentDuck]

Ah that makes sense! So, in another hypothetical situation, I have Shapeshifter in play and Erayo on top of my graveyard, and I play 4 Moxen, does it become Erayo's Essence or does it just become Erayo but count as flipped?

Thanks for the reply, by the way!

There are two separate conditions involved: Is your Shapeshifter flipped? Is it copying Erayo? So long as both are true, it will be an Erayo's Essence.

The first condition only needs to be met once, because the change is permanent (so long as Shapeshifter stays on the battlefield). The second condition must be met continuously, because if the top card of your grave ever stops being Erayo, then the Shapeshifter obviously becomes something else.

So in answer to your question, yes. When you cast the fourth mox, the Shapeshifter will flip due to the ability it gained from copying Erayo Soratami Ascendant. Then, because it is still copying Erayo, it will be an Erayo's Essence.

Does the change (flipping) apply also to Bushi Tenderfoot and Rune-Tail?

[Delha]

Does the change (flipping) apply also to Bushi Tenderfoot and Rune-Tail?

Yes. You can think of flipping as an independent toggle associated with the card. After triggering it once, it will stay "on" indefinitely. When a flipped card copies Tenderfoot or an Ascendant, it will become Kenzo/Essence.

I've requoted the relevent part of boggyb's earlier post:

110.6c A permanent retains its status until a spell, ability, or turn-based action changes it, even if that status is not relevant to it.
Example: Dimir Doppelganger says “{1}{U}{B}: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. Dimir Doppelganger becomes a copy of that card and gains this ability.” It becomes a copy of Jushi Apprentice, a flip card. Through use of Jushi Apprentice‟s ability, this creature flips, making it a copy of Tomoya the Revealer with the Dimir Doppelganger ability. If this permanent then becomes a copy of Runeclaw Bear, it will retain its flipped status even though that has no relevance to Runeclaw Bear. If its copy ability is activated again, this time targeting a Nezumi Shortfang card (another flip card), this permanent‟s flipped status means it will have the characteristics of Stabwhisker the Odious (the flipped version of Nezumi Shortfang) with the Dimir Doppelganger ability.

[AmbivalentDuck]

What happens if a creature is asked to flip twice?  Ie. A flipped creature is Mirrorweaved into an unflipped creature and meets its flip condition.  Ie. My Kenzo the Hardhearted somehow becomes a copy of Bushi Tenderfoot and meets its flip condition.

[boggyb]

It wouldn't become a copy of Bushi Tenderfoot -- if it's flipped, when it becomes a copy of that creature, it retains its flipped status and is the flipped version.

[Delha]

It wouldn't become a copy of Bushi Tenderfoot -- if it's flipped, when it becomes a copy of that creature, it retains its flipped status and is the flipped version.

Mechanically, I think of being flipping in terms of an imaginary "flip counter". When you flip Tenderfoot, you're putting the counter on. From there, the alternate side of all flipped cards effectively translate to rules text that says "as long as this card has a flip counter on it, use these characteristics instead".

If a Kenzo is on the board, it obviously has the "flip counter".When you Mirrorweave an Erayo, Soratami Ascendant, that counter is still there, so Kenzo becomes Erayo's Essence directly. It never becomes the creature version of Erayo.