Transformation

For the official double-faced card mechanic, see Transform.

Transformation is a slang term used by Magic R&D to describe the following effect: "~ is a (color) (card type) with base power and toughness P/T." This mechanic is primary in blue.

Description

Transformation overwrites the base power and toughness of a creature. It can be temporary, through a one-shot spell or ability that lasts for the turn, or more permanent, usually through an Aura; more complex designs have more abstract conditions. This ability used to be in both blue and white, but R&D decided to focus it in blue. Sometimes blue can overwrite what the creature is currently doing and just make it the "transformed" creature. The one thing that R&D has taken from blue is destroying or exiling a creature and then giving the controller of that creature a creature token as a means of flavoring transformation. That is now a white ability flavored as giving compensation for destroying/exiling the creature. This means all of blue's transformation abilities are auras or limited effects on spells or activations.

Green has started to gain some use, but the general difference is that blue usually uses it as a shrinking effect like removal, whereas green uses it to pump creatures in a way that's hard to compound. Blue using it as pumping has a similar application.

A small number of cards transform permanents into noncreatures, such as an enchantment, a land, a Clue, a Vehicle or a Treasure.

Examples

Only examples that affect other creatures are listed. Those that affect only themselves and those that animate noncreatures are left for other pages.

The list below has the affected creature losing all abilities. Those listed as non-enchantments are assumed to be either triggered abilities or spell abilities that last until end of turn unless specified.

Color	Name	Type	P/T	Color	Creature Type	Notes
	Darksteel Mutation	Aura	0/1		Insect	Becomes an artifact creature and has no other types with Indestructible
	Humble	Instant	0/1
	Humility	Enchantment	1/1			All creatures
	Minimus Containment	Aura			Treasure	Becomes a Treasure
	Overwhelming Splendor	Aura Curse	1/1			All creatures controlled by enchanted player
	Rasaad, Radiant Monk	Creature	1/1
	Reprobation	Aura	0/1		Coward	Loses noncreature types
	Amphibian Downpour	Aura	0/1		Frog
	Astroquarium	Artifact	4/4 or 8/8	Shark or Octopus
	Dance of the Skywise	Instant	4/4		Dragon Illusion	with Flying
	Deep Freeze	Aura	0/4	+	Wall+	with Defender
	Flatline	Instant	0/1			Creatures target player control
	Eaten by Piranhas	Aura	1/1		Skeleton
	Frogify	Aura	1/1		Frog
	Gift of Tusks	Instant	3/3		Elephant
	Hunted by The Family	Sorcery	1/1		Human
	Ichthyomorphosis	Aura	0/1		Fish
	Imprisoned in the Moon	Aura			Land	Gains ": Add "
	In Too Deep	Aura			Clue	Gains Clue text
	Kasmina's Transmutation	Aura	1/1
	Mercurial Transformation	Sorcery - Lesson	1/1 or 4/4		Frog or Octopus
	Metamorphic Blast	Instant	0/1		Rabbit
	Ovinize	Instant	0/1
	Polymorphist's Jest	Instant	1/1		Frog
	Poppet Factory	Artifact	3/3			Affects tokens while controlled
	Shadow Puppeteers	Creature	4/4	+	Dragon+	Flying creatures only
	Sludge Monster	Creature	2/2			Creatures with slime counters While controlled
	Stasis Field	Aura	0/2			Gains defender
	The Flood of Mars	Creature	3/3		Alien Zombie Horror	Creatures with flood Counter Becomes a copy of the original
	Turn	Instant	0/1		Weird
	Turn to Frog	Instant	1/1		Frog
	Utter Insignificance	Aura	1/1
	Vedalken Humiliator	Creature	1/1			All opponent's creatures
	Warkite Marauder	Creature	0/1
	Will Kenrith	Planeswalker	0/3
	Witness Protection	Aura	1/1		Citizen	Name becomes Legitimate Businessperson
	Sudden Spoiling	Instant	0/2			Creatures target player control
	Vraska, Betrayal's Sting	Planeswalker			Treasure	Becomes a Treasure Permanent effect with no reminding marker
	Kenrith's Transformation	Aura	3/3		Elk
	Lignify	Tribal Aura	0/4		Treefolk
	Trickster's Elk	Bestow Aura	3/3		Elk
	The Curse of Fenric	Saga	6/6		Legendary Horror	Nontoken creature
	Dragonshift	Instant	4/4		Dragon	with Flying
	Oko, Thief of Crowns	Planeswalker	3/3		Elk	Also can target artifacts Permanent effect with no reminding marker
	Snakeform	Instant	1/1		Snake
	Obscura Confluence	Instant	1/1

The following list will not have the target lose abilities i.e. the transformation is only a power and toughness change. The same assumption regarding non-enchantments and time duration applies.

Color	Name	Type	P/T	Color	Creature Type	Notes
	Archon of the Wild Rose	Creature	4/4			Other enchanted creatures controlled While controlled Gives flying
	Curse of Conformity	Aura Curse	3/3		Loses creature types	All non-legendary creatures of enchanted player
	Baffling Defenses	Instant	0/X			Perpetual effect X is target's toughness
	Graven Dominator	Creature	1/1			Each other creature
	Harmonious Archon	Creature	3/3			All Non-Archon creatures While controlled
	Mirror Entity	Creature	X/X		All types	All creatures controlled
	Sigarda's Summons	Enchantment	4/4		Angel+	Controlled creatures with +1/+1 counters
	Swift Reconfiguration	Aura			Vehicle	Loses all other types Gains Crew 5
	Taranika, Akroan Veteran	Creature	4/4			Gains indestructible
	Teyo, Aegis Adept	Planeswalker	X/X			X is the target's toughness Perpetual effect Gains "can attack as though it didn't have defender"
	Awakened Awareness	Aura	1/1
	Behind the Mask	Instant	4/3 or 1/1			Can target artifacts
	Better Offer	Sorcery	X/X			Gains Ward
	Brine Hag	Creature	0/2			All creatures that damaged the dead Brine Hag Permanent effect without a marker
	Burden of Proof	Aura	1/1			If non-Detective
	Candlekeep Inspiration	Sorcery	X/X
	Diminish	Instant	1/1
	Dreadful as the Storm	Instant	5/5			The Ring Tempts You
	Eccentric Apprentice	Creature	1/1		Bird	with Flying
	Illusory Wrappings	Aura	0/2
	Majestic Metamorphosis	Instant	4/4		Angel artifact	Gains flying Can target artifacts
	Mass Diminish	Sorcery	1/1
	Mordenkainen's Polymorph	Instant	4/4		Dragon	Gains Flying
	Octavia, Living Thesis	Creature	8/8
	Octopus Umbra	Aura	8/8			Gains a tapping ability
	One with the Stars	Aura			Enchantment	Loses other types
	Phantasmal Form	Instant	3/3	+	Illusion+	with Flying
	Reduce in Stature	Aura	0/2
	Relic's Roar	Instant	4/3		Dinosaur	Can target artifacts
	Serendib Sorcerer	Creature	0/2
	Serpentine Ambush	Instant	5/5		Serpent
	Startling Development	Instant	4/4		Serpent
	Suit Up	Instant	4/5		Artifact creature	Can target Vehicles
	Symmetry Sage	Creature	2/X			X is target's toughness
	A-Symmetry Sage	Creature	3/X			X is target's toughness
	Water Wings	Instant	4/4			Gains flying and hexproof
	Will, Scholar of Frost	Planeswalker	0/2
	Wings of Velis Vel	Instant	4/4		All types	Gains flying
	Zhalfirin Shapecraft	Instant	4/3
	Blade of the Oni	Equipment - Demon	5/5	+	Demon+	Gains Menace While equipped
	Six-Sided Die	Instant	X/1
	Sorceress Queen	Creature	0/2
	Withercrown	Aura	0/X			X is target's toughness
	Creepy Puppeteer	Creature	4/3
	Allosaurus Shepherd	Creature	5/5		Dinosaur+	Affects all Elves controlled
	Belt of Giant Strength	Equipment	10/10			While equipped
	Creeperhulk	Creature	5/5			Gains trample
	Cycle of Life	Enchantment	0/1			Until next upkeep Only on your creature that entered that turn
	Exuberant Wolfbear	Creature	X/Y			X/Y is Wolfbear's stats Target Human controlled
	Gigantiform	Aura	8/8			Gains trample
	Gigantomancer	Creature	7/7
	Halsin, Emerald Archdruid	Creature	4/4	+	Bear+	Target token controlled
	Jolrael, Mwonvuli Recluse	Creature	X/X			X is cards in hand All creatures controlled
	Raised by Giants	Legendary Enchantment - Background	10/10		Giant	Commanders
	Scale Up	Sorcery	6/4		Wurm
	Singing Tree	Creature	0/X			Attacking creature's toughness unchanged
	Vengeant Earth	Instant	4/4		Elemental	Gains haste
	Voice of the Vermin	Creature	4/4
	Wild Shape	Instant	1/3 or 1/5 or 3/3		Turtle or Spider or Elephant	Hexproof or Reach or Trample, respectively to types
	Aven Mimeomancer	Creature	3/1			Gains flying As long as it has a feather counter
	Godhead of Awe	Creature	1/1			All other creatures While controlled
	Coerced To Kill	Aura	1/1		Assassin+	Gains Deathtouch
	Inkfathom Witch	Creature	4/1			Unblocked creatures
	Vhati il-Dal	Creature	X/1 or 1/X			X is the original creature's stat
	Almost Perfect	Aura	9/10			Gains indestructible
	Kudo, King Among Bears	Creature	2/2		Bear+	All other creatures Until Kudo leaves
	Biomass Mutation	Instant	X/X			All creatures controlled
	Chrome Host Hulk	Creature	5/5
	Oko, the Trickster	Planeswalker	10/10			All creatures controlled Gains trample
	Oko's Hospitality	Sorcery	3/3			All creatures controlled
	Omnibian	Creature	3/3		Frog
	The Bears of Littjara	Enchantment - Saga	4/4			Any number of Shapeshifters Continues after the Saga has left
	Square Up	Instant	4/4
	Restless Vinestalk	Land	3/3
	Tanazir Quandrix	Creature	X/Y			X/Y is Tanazir's stats
	Unruly Krasis	Creature	X/X			X is Unruly Krasis's power
	Minsc, Beloved Ranger	Creature	X/X		Giant+
	Storvald, Frost Giant Jarl	Creature	7/7 or 1/1
	Hostile Takeover	Sorcery	One becomes 1/1; another becomes 4/4
	Cogwork Progenitor	Creature	1/1		Gnome+
	Flayer of Loyalties	Creature	10/10
	The Capitoline Triad	Emblem	9/9			Creatures controlled Emblem granted by activated ability of a creature
	Chariot of the Sun	Artifact	X/1			Gains flying X is target's power
	Graaz, Unstoppable Juggernaut	Artifact	5/3		Juggernaut	Creatures controlled Until Graaz leaves
	Island of Wak-Wak	Land	0/X			Only flying creatures X is target's toughness