Rules Question - Cairn Wanderer/Tribal Golem

[rubbafish]

Was thinking, if Cairn Wanderer came out and Tribal Golem was in the graveyard, would you be able to use the abilities on it or does Golem lose everything when it hits the grave? Thinking it may be useful in a deck I am kinda thinking about.

[Wagz]

Tribal Golem's ability only works while it is in play. While in the graveyard it is just a vanilla 4/4. I think anyway, is there a better judge around to confirm this?

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Wagz is correct. Tribal Golem has none of the abilities Cairn Wandered is looking for. For example, it doesn't have "Trample", it has "...has trample as long as you control a beast...".

[rubbafish]

I understand what you are saying and it is the kinda answer I expected but here is where I got confused, Cairn Wanderer IS all those creature types but assumed as Golem was in the graveyard, this was irrelevant. Just wanted to be sure.

Thanks for that

[Jarandis]

I'm fairly certain the relevant rule is this

609.2. Effects apply only to permanents unless the instruction’s text states otherwise or they clearly can apply only to objects in one or more other zones.
Example: An effect that changes all lands into creatures won’t alter land cards in players’ graveyards. But an effect that says spells cost more to cast will apply only to spells on the stack, since a spell is always on the stack while a player is casting it.


Tribal Golem has static abilities that generate continuous effects upon it .

'As long as you control a beast' ...'This has trample'

As it is not an effect that must apply in a specific zone (e.g. spells on the stack) and it doesn't explicitly state otherwise then the ability will only apply to Tribal Golem as a permanent, not as a card in a Graveyard