<p><strong>The effect preventing you from blocking is not an ability on the creature, so Witness Protection does not remove it.</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/The_Ring_Tempts_You" rel="noreferrer">Rule 702.51c</a> says</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If a player doesn’t have an emblem named The Ring at the time the Ring tempts them, they get an emblem named The Ring before choosing a creature to be their Ring-bearer. <strong>The Ring has “Your Ring-bearer is legendary and can’t be blocked by creatures with greater power.”</strong> As long as the Ring has tempted that player two or more times, it has “Whenever your Ring-bearer attacks, draw a card, then discard a card.” As long as the Ring has tempted that player three or more times, it has “Whenever your Ring-bearer becomes blocked by a creature, the blocking creature’s controller sacrifices it at end of combat.” As long as the Ring has tempted that player four or more times, it has “Whenever your Ring-bearer deals combat damage to a player, each opponent loses 3 life.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>None of the abilities on The Ring actually grant abilities to the Ring-bearer. Instead, the effects are created by the abilities on The Ring itself. So, there's nothing here to remove from the creature.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-30T03:54:09.963Z
2023-09-30T03:54:09.963Z
murgatroid99
<p>While playing <em>Arena</em>, I enchanted my opponent's <a href="https://scryfall.com/card/ydmu/26/slimefoot-thallid-transplant" rel="noreferrer">Slimefoot, Thallid Transparent</a>, which was their Ring-bearer, with <a class="mtg-autocard" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" href="https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Witness%20Protection">Witness Protection</a>. I expected that Witness Protection's ability removal would remove the one ability that The Ring's had at the time, &quot;Your Ring-bearer is legendary and can't be blocked by creatures with greater power&quot;. <a href="https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/30155/layers-lose-abilities-vs-creatures-have-ability">It's a simple matter of timestamps, right?</a> First The Ring gives Slimefoot the ability, then Witness Protection removes it. However, it did not. Here is a screenshot:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/giTfg.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/giTfg.jpg" alt="Screenshot of a game of Magic Arena" /></a></p>
<p>Thinking this was simply a visual bug, displaying the ability without granting it, I attacked with <a class="mtg-autocard" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" href="https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dina%2C%20Soul%20Steeper">Dina, Soul Steeper</a> and passed. On my opponent's turn, they attacked with Legitimate Businessperson, and I was not given the option to block it because all my untapped creatures had 3 power. This confirms that the ability was functional.</p>
<p>9 times out of 10 I can mull it over and prove myself wrong when I think there's a bug in <em>Arena</em>, but I'm stumped here.</p>

<magic-the-gathering><mtg-arena>
If a Ring-bearer loses all abilities, does that include The Ring's abilities?
Cain Goldhardt
# If a Ring-bearer loses all abilities, does that include The Ring's abilities?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-09-30)

While playing *Arena*, I enchanted my opponent's [Slimefoot, Thallid Transparent](https://scryfall.com/card/ydmu/26/slimefoot-thallid-transplant), which was their Ring-bearer, with [Witness Protection](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Witness%20Protection). I expected that Witness Protection's ability removal would remove the one ability that The Ring's had at the time, "Your Ring-bearer is legendary and can't be blocked by creatures with greater power". [It's a simple matter of timestamps, right?](https://boardgames.stackexchange.com/questions/30155/layers-lose-abilities-vs-creatures-have-ability) First The Ring gives Slimefoot the ability, then Witness Protection removes it. However, it did not. Here is a screenshot:

[![Screenshot of a game of Magic Arena](https://i.sstatic.net/giTfg.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/giTfg.jpg)

Thinking this was simply a visual bug, displaying the ability without granting it, I attacked with [Dina, Soul Steeper](https://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Dina%2C%20Soul%20Steeper) and passed. On my opponent's turn, they attacked with Legitimate Businessperson, and I was not given the option to block it because all my untapped creatures had 3 power. This confirms that the ability was functional.

9 times out of 10 I can mull it over and prove myself wrong when I think there's a bug in *Arena*, but I'm stumped here.

**Tags:** magic-the-gathering, mtg-arena


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2023-09-30. Score: 6 | Accepted answer

**The effect preventing you from blocking is not an ability on the creature, so Witness Protection does not remove it.**

[Rule 702.51c](https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/The_Ring_Tempts_You) says

> If a player doesn’t have an emblem named The Ring at the time the Ring tempts them, they get an emblem named The Ring before choosing a creature to be their Ring-bearer. **The Ring has “Your Ring-bearer is legendary and can’t be blocked by creatures with greater power.”** As long as the Ring has tempted that player two or more times, it has “Whenever your Ring-bearer attacks, draw a card, then discard a card.” As long as the Ring has tempted that player three or more times, it has “Whenever your Ring-bearer becomes blocked by a creature, the blocking creature’s controller sacrifices it at end of combat.” As long as the Ring has tempted that player four or more times, it has “Whenever your Ring-bearer deals combat damage to a player, each opponent loses 3 life.”

None of the abilities on The Ring actually grant abilities to the Ring-bearer. Instead, the effects are created by the abilities on The Ring itself. So, there's nothing here to remove from the creature.


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