What does the game consider being the same instance of a card?

Question

I control one Synod Sanctum, exile some permanents with it, and then my opponent destroys it without me being able to use its returning ability.

If I later on draw another Synod Sanctum, can I return to the battlefield the cards exiled by the first one?

The wording is:

Return all cards exiled with Synod Sanctum to the battlefield under your control.

What if I get the same Synod Sanctum back with Trash for Treasure? It's the same physical card back on the battlefield. Does the game consider it's the same instance or a different one?

Possible duplicate of How does having multiple creatures with the same name affect those creatures' abilities? — GendoIkari, Oct 12 '17 at 14:13
That's really close, but I could see it not quite being a duplicate because that question seems to target the case where there are multiple cards that share a name, rather than the same card representing two different game objects. — David Z, Oct 12 '17 at 20:36
@DavidZ The question was updated a bit after my initial close vote; I agree that it is no longer a duplicate. — GendoIkari, Oct 13 '17 at 06:25
@Gendolkari: well, the site gave me the choice between "this is a duplicate" and "No, my question is different. I will edit to explain how". I chose the later ;) — liberforce, Oct 13 '17 at 08:24

Malco · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-12T14:52:54.037

You can not return the exiled cards once the Synod Sanctum that exiled them has left the battlefield.

When a card refers to itself by name it is referring only to that object, and not other objects with the same name. As stated in the Comprehensive Rules:

201.4.: Text that refers to the object it’s on by name means just that particular object and not any other objects with that name, regardless of any name changes caused by game effects.

When a permanent leaves the battlefield it ceases to be the same object and the game "forgets" the linked cards. There are a couple exceptions (400.7a-f) but Synod Sanctum is not one of them.

400.7.: An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence.

Keep in mind this means that if the Synod Sanctum changes zones for any reason (it gets returned to your hand or even flickered with a Ghostly Flicker type effect) it will be treated as a new object and your exiled cards will no longer be reachable.

@liberforce Checkout the links to the mtg Gameapedia, they do a decent job of separating out the different rules sections. It can be a good place to check if you are trying to figure how different parts of the game work. — Malco, Oct 12 '17 at 14:40
As examples of cards that have extra rules to get around this, see cards like [Mairsil, the Pretender] (which marks the cards with counters) and [Smuggler Captain] (which uses the text "cards named Smuggler Captain"). — Hylianpuffball, Oct 13 '17 at 00:19

Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla · Answer 2 · 2017-10-12T14:48:39.180

7

No, you can only return the cards that were exiled by that specific instance of a Synod Sanctum.

When a card refers to itself by name, it refers to that specific object only.

201.4. Text that refers to the object it’s on by name means just that particular object and not any other objects with that name, regardless of any name changes caused by game effects.

If the object leaves the zone that it is in, it loses all memory of what it was before it moved. So even if you can bring the right Synod Sanctum back it won't have access to the cards its previous instance exiled.

400.7. An object that moves from one zone to another becomes a new object with no memory of, or relation to, its previous existence. There are nine exceptions to this rule: (but none of them make this work)

edited Oct 12 '17 at 14:48

answered Oct 12 '17 at 13:34

Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla

2,125
10
17

Hum... What if I can get that specific instance into the battlefield with [mtg:Trash for Treasure] for example, did the game forgot it was the same? – liberforce Oct 12 '17 at 14:10
@liberforce added the rule that explains that detail. – Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla Oct 12 '17 at 14:49

What does the game consider being the same instance of a card?

2 Answers2