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Say someone has Ludevic's Test Subject, which is a 0/3 Defender, and after some mechanics, transforms into a 13/13 Lizard Horror with Trample.

Say this someone managed to transform said card into its 13/13 Trample form, and then cast Phyrexian Metamorph on it (or any other clone type card if it would matter between different ones). Does the Metamorph/Clone/etc. come into play transformed, or as the 0/3 Defender?

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If an effect tries to copy a double-faced permanent, it sees whichever side is face-up.

There's actually an example in the comprehensive rules that covers this sort of scenario:

711.3. Except for determining whether or not a permanent can transform, a spell, ability, effect, or rule that needs information about a double-faced permanent sees only the information given by the face that's currently up.


Whenever a clone-style effect tries to copy a permanent, it copies the copiable values of that permanent. In the case of a double-faced permanent (that isn't already a copy of something else), those values are whatever is printed on the face that is currently showing.

Note, however, that if a permanent can only transform if it's actually represented by a double-faced card. If you create a copy of Ludevic's Test Subject before it transforms, you can add as many counters as you want, but it will never become Ludevic's Abomination.

701.25a Only permanents represented by double-faced cards can transform. (See rule 711, “Double-Faced Cards.”) If a spell or ability instructs a player to transform any permanent that isn‘t represented by a double-faced card, nothing happens.

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