Resonate

  1. Resonate is a static ability, written "Resonate X - [text]."  The text can be a static ability, activated ability, triggered ability, characteristic-setting text, spell text, or any combination of the five. The phrase "Resonate X - [text]" means "As long as there are X or more permanents in play with Resonate, this card has '[text].'"
  2. Cards and permanents with Resonate have the resonate text only if there are X or more permanents with Resonate in play. Otherwise, the text after "Resonate X —” is treated as though it did not appear on the card or permanent.
    1. Cards with Resonate that are not in play do not count towards the number of permanents with Resonate in play.
    2. Resonate functions in all zones.  Cards with Resonate that are not in play do have their Resonate text as long as there are X or more permanents with Resonate in play.
    3. A card, spell, or permanent “has resonate” even if the resonate count isn’t high enough to turn the object’s resonate ability “on”.
      Example: Reson-hate has the ability “Reson-hate deals 2 damage to target creature. If that creature has resonate, Reson-hate deals 4 damage to it instead.” Enraged Wurm has the ability “Resonate 3 – Trample”.  If Reson-hate resolves, and Enraged Wurm is the target, and the resonate count is 1, Reson-hate will deal 4 damage to the Enraged Wurm (even though the Wurm’s Resonate ability isn’t “on”.)
  1. Instants and sorceries with resonate check the number of permanents with resonate that are in play when they resolve, not when they're played or put on the stack.
  2. Activated and triggered abilities that permanents have with resonate check the number of resonate permanents in play only when the abilities are played or triggered. Even if the number of resonate cards in play when the ability resolves is less than the number required, the ability will resolve normally.
  3. If a card has multiple instances of resonate text, then only the one with the highest value X is used.  That is, a card with "Resonate 1 - [a]" and "Resonate 2 - [b]" only has text [b] when there are 2 or more cards with resonate in play.
    1. A permanent with more than one instance of resonate still only counts as 1 permanents with resonate for purposes of determining the current resonate count.