Transform is an ability which irreversibly transforms a minion into something else. This removes all card text, abilities and enchantments, and does not trigger any Deathrattles.
Transformation is not an enchantment but rather a permanent change, which cannot be undone. Silencing the transformed minion or returning it to its owner's hand will not revert the transformation.
Transform is the battlefield equivalent of replace.
For cards which transform in hand, see: Transform in hand.
Notes
- While transform effects effectively create a new minion in place of the old one, they do not summon minions and so will not trigger effects such as
Knife Juggler or Starving Buzzard.[1] The process appears to continue the summoning process precisely, with the new minion in place of the old.
- However, minions transformed as the result of a Battlecry will activate some of their triggered effects appropriate to the resulting minion, at the end of the summoning process.[1]
- Example: A Faceless Manipulator is played, and its Battlecry is used to transform itself into a Savannah Highmane. First any "Whenever you summon" effects will trigger for the Faceless Manipulator, then (after the transform) any "After you summon" effects active for the Highmane, and then one extra phase is invoked to again trigger the "Whenever you summon" effects for the Highmane. This causes a Starving Buzzard to draw a card in this event, not during its normal phase prior to Battlecries, but instead after the minion's summoning has resolved, and all other effects have played out.[1] However, this also causes an Unlicensed Apothecary to trigger twice.
- This double processing of the "Whenever you summon" effect specifically happens when the transform is the result of a Battlecry (minions transforming themselves, like Faceless Manipulator or Druid of the Claw; and minions transforming one other minion, like Master of Evolution or Tinkmaster Overspark. It also happens when playing Thrall, Deathseer (a Hero Card, not a minion, but the transform effect is still a battlecry). The latter effect can be particularlly devastating if one of your minions happens to be transformed into an Unlicensed Apothecary.
- Minions that are transformed as the result of a spell (e.g Polymorph, Evolve) are not ever processed as summoned.
- The exact behaviour of minions transformed as a result of Potion of Polymorph or Transmute Spirit is currently unknown.
- Example: A
- Minions produced by transformations will be immediately exhausted, as though they had just been summoned.[2] This is true even if the minion which was transformed was previously ready to attack. However, if the resulting minion has Charge it will not suffer from exhaustion.[2]
- Minions removed from play due to being transformed are not considered to have died, and so cannot be resummoned by effects like Resurrect or Kel'Thuzad nor will they trigger effects like Corridor Creeper.
- Transforming a minion will result in the new minion becoming last in the 'queue' that determines the order in which effects are activated, since it has been freshly put into play.[3] This is the same result as if the new minion had been summoned in place of the old minion.
- Not all transform effects are explicitly described as such.[4] Faceless Manipulator transforms the base minion into another minion according to how the card is played, despite the word 'transform' not being used on their cards. Comments by Ben Brode suggest this is likely due to the tradeoff between consistency and concision of phrasing.[5]
- Cards that transform no longer keep any enchantments when they transform.
- Example: Shifter Zerus, Molten Blade, and Shifting Scroll do not keep any enchantments when they transform.
- Example:
- Cards that "transform a minion into a random one that costs (1) more/less", like Evolve or Devolve, will now always re-roll the minion, even if no minion exists in the target-cost minion pool. The minion will be re-rolled at the nearest possible cost.
- For example, when a 0-mana Target Dummy is Devolved, because there is no negative-cost minion, it will transform into a random 0-cost minion.
- For example, when a 25-mana Shirvallah, the Tiger is Evolved, because there is no 26-cost minion or another 25-cost minion, it will transform into a new Shirvallah, the Tiger.
- For example, when a 0-mana
Cards with Transform
- For Wild format listings, see Transform/Wild format
Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.
Related cards
These cards have effects related to transforming.
- For Wild format listings, see Transform/Wild format
Cargo Query Error: Error: Table Card not found.
Trivia
- Prior to Patch 8.0.0.18336, all druid Choose One transform cards had inconsistent wording, with Druid of the Claw not including the word transform, Druid of the Flame showing the end result as opposed to the stat change, and Druid of the Saber including both the word transform and related stat changes. This was eventually changed with the release of Journey to Un'goro to follow Druid of the Flame's formatting, with the new Shellshifter also written like this.
- Prior to some time in early 2013, the word "Transform" was printed in bold text on cards such as Polymorph, and always with a capital letter. This suggests that it was previously a keyword (like Charge or Battlecry), complete with its own tooltip explaining the effect. The relative complexity of the mechanic (a non-reversible minion change) might justify this, with the ability the subject of some confusion during the game's beta.
Patch changes
Patch 16.0.0.37060 (2019-12-05): Cards that "transform a minion into a random one that costs (1) more/less", like Evolve or Devolve, will now always re-roll the minion, even if no minion exists in the target-cost minion pool. The minion will be re-rolled at the nearest possible cost.
Alpha patch (unknown date, pre-May 2013): "Transform" in card text is no longer printed in bold, and is not capitalised.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Tested by User:Taohinton and User:Xinhuan, 2015-02-02
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Zeriyah on Twitter. (2014-12-03).
- ↑ Tested by User:Taohinton, 2015-02-07. Various scenarios.
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2014-11-04).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2014-11-04).
