what is summoning sickness

[what]

whats summoning sickness

[Arix]

It's a slang term for the rule that says creatures can't attack or activate any abilities with the tap or untap symbol unless you've controlled them continuously since the start of your most recent turn.

You can see why we like using the slang term.

[kip]

so its not an official term? whatst the official term for summoning sickness?

[Arix]

It's not so much unofficial as it is obsolete. It's in the comprehensive rules, but it's pointed out to be an "informal" term.

[Benji]

from the comp rulebook:

Summoning Sickness Rule
Informal term for a player’s inability to attack with a creature or to activate its abilities that include the tap
symbol or the untap symbol unless the creature has been under that player’s control since the beginning of
that player’s most recent turn. See rule 302.6. See also Haste.

[guyarney]

It's not so much unofficial as it is obsolete. It's in the comprehensive rules, but it's pointed out to be an "informal" term.

Kinda like "Fizzle".

[BobLoblaw]

So along the summoning sickness lines... if you have a land with the ability to become a land/creature until the end of turn, is that creature under summoning sickness, and therefore never able to attack... ie. used for blocker situations only?

[Arix]

It depends on the situation. Did the land come under your contro that turn? If so, it can't attack.

Turning into a creature doesn't make a land "gain" summoning sickness. This is where what I said earlier comes in handy to remember - all permanents have summoning sickness, but only creatures are affected by it. When the land comes into play, it has sickness, but it doesn't matter because it's not a creature. When it turns into a creature, suddenly it's affected by the sickness that it already had.