What happens when a vehicle dies with the Hofri Ghostforge in play (from the upcoming Strixhaven set)?

Whenever another nontoken creature you control dies, exile it. If you do, create a token that’s a copy of that creature, except it’s a Spirit in addition to its other types

What will the type of the token be? Artifact Creature-Spirit, Tribal Artifact - Spirit, Artifact - Spirit or Artifact?

  • 2
    Is this a new card? I am not seeing it in gatherer. – Joe W Mar 31 at 0:47
  • @JoeW Yes, it's a new card for the next set, Strixhaven, just revealed. See the Strixhaven Card Gallery for all the cards revealed so far (spoilers, obviously!!). – BradC Mar 31 at 13:50
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    @BradC Thanks for that info and this question should contain spoilers for the information and include that it is a card for a new set so that people who don't want the spoilers can avoid them. – Joe W Mar 31 at 14:00
  • Spoiler blocks for upcoming cards from future sets has never been our policy, and it makes the question more difficult to read. I am reverting that edit. – murgatroid99 Mar 31 at 16:39

The token will be an Artifact - Vehicle. It will not be a Spirit, even if it becomes a creature later.

This is primarily a consequence of rule 205.3d:


The subtype Spirit only corresponds to the types Creature and Tribal, and the permanent has neither of those types, so it cannot gain the Spirit type either.

The card Glasspool Mimic has a similar ability that copies a creature and adds creature subtypes:

You may have Glasspool Mimic enter the battlefield as a copy of a creature you control, except it’s a Shapeshifter Rogue in addition to its other types.

That card also has a couple of rulings that explain how that is handled with non-creature cards:

Glasspool Mimic copies exactly what was printed on the original creature (unless that creature is copying something else or is a token; see below), except that it’s also a Shapeshifter Rogue. It doesn’t copy whether that creature is tapped or untapped, whether it has any counters on it or any Auras and Equipment attached to it, or any non-copy effects that have changed its power, toughness, types, color, or so on. Most notably, if it copies a creature that’s not normally a creature, it won’t be a creature.

If Glasspool Mimic isn’t a creature, most likely because it copied a creature that was only temporarily a creature, it won’t be a Shapeshifter Rogue, even if it becomes a creature later.

Like on Glasspool Mimic, Hofri's ability says "in addition to its other types", so it will still have the Artifact and Vehicle types.

If, instead of a Vehicle, the artifact in question was an animated Tribal Artifact such as Thornbite Staff, the token copy would have the Spirit type because the Sprit subtype corresponds to the Tribal type.

  • Unless the Vehicle was already a Tribal Artifact - [Creature subtype], anyway, in which case it'd become a Tribal Artifact - [Creature subtype] Spirit, I think. I don't think there are any such cards yet, but I could see something like a Tribal Artifact - Plant Vehicle being a thing. – nick012000 Mar 31 at 4:04
  • Yes, there are Tribal artifacts, and if this copied one of those, it would get the Spirit type. But there is never going to be a Tibal Vehicle, because Wizards doesn't make new Tribal cards. – murgatroid99 Mar 31 at 4:10
  • WotC have said a number of times that they don't have plans to bring back a number of things, only to immediately release a new set bringing back those things. I'm not too sure about how much we can trust them about not bringing back Tribal. – nick012000 Mar 31 at 4:30

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