@DocCid: You're correct, it's a static ability and cannot be affected by Pithing Needle. An activated ability is very easy to spot, it's simply anything with a colon ":". If it doesn't have a colon, then it's not an activated ability!
Ex. Sacrifice a creature: do X, Tap: do X, Lose 1 life: do X, pay RRR: do X
Posted By:
Vadoff
(11/7/2009 1:22:20 AM)
Nice card. Easily stops combos with just 1 mana. This card will only get better with age as more and more combo effects get released. Future proof.
Posted By:
rb2k
(5/6/2009 7:37:06 PM)
@DocCid
An activated ability is easy to recognize. It has a formatting that goes somewhat like this - "cost: effect". For example "Tap, pay 2R: Do something". Thus an ability describing a creature's power or i.e.: First Strike or Flying are NOT activated abilities, thus unaffected by Pithing Needle's ability.
Posted By:
omniszron
(6/24/2009 3:38:27 PM)
Great hate for planewalkers and in extended some powerful threats like jitte and elves combo cards.
Posted By:
Sarge41
(4/23/2009 5:55:37 AM)
An extremely flexible card. Plus one of the few that can take out planeswalkers
Posted By:
enkogneto
(4/17/2009 2:14:09 PM)
Me and a friend were having an arguement about this card. He tried to tell me it would make a "Maraxusus of keld" a 0/0 since it totalls its power from Lands, creatures, and aritfacts in play. i told him this is a passive effect describing his power and he said its and active ability so he's affected and a 0/0. Any thought's?
Posted By:
DocCid
(6/18/2009 1:19:26 AM)
I was wondering if this card worked to prevent cards like Sanguine Blood and Soul bleed.
Posted By:
KLasiter74
(8/17/2009 9:19:51 PM)
@KLasiter74
No. They have Triggered abilities, not Activated abilities. The Needle only works on Activated abilities.
Posted By:
A3Kitsune
(5/13/2010 3:04:17 AM)
This is roughly how Yawgmoth betrayed and incapacitated poor, gullible Dyfed, the Dominarian planeswalker who took him to the artificial, 8-layered metallic plane that would become the Phyrexian homeworld. When Dyfed was mercifully slain during the Thran rebellion, Yawgmoth had her dissected and her tissues cataloged for future study. Presumably, such processing led to the development of artificial planeswalking technology used by the Phyrexians to infiltrate plane after plane.
Posted By:
DacenOctavio
(12/24/2012 9:01:27 PM)