Rules on Creatures you control

[mpbarry21]

There are a number of artifact cards that have a power and toughness equal to the number of artifacts you control. I have a friend who claims that since you control your graveyard, the artifacts in your graveyard as well as the ones on the battlefield count toward the power/toughness number. I disagree. Has anyone run into this problem?

[yellow9]

No you do not count the artifacts in the graveyard. The graveyard is a different zone then the in play zone. only cards in the in play zone (or now called "Battlefierld" i believe) are counted for this purpose.

The rules state:

4. Zones
400. General
400.1. A zone is a place where objects can be during a game. There are normally six zones: library,
hand, battlefield, graveyard, stack, and exile. Some older cards also use the ante zone. Some casual
variants use the command zone. (See Section 9, “Casual Variants.”) Each player has his or her own
library, hand, and graveyard. The other zones are shared by all players.

403.3. Permanents exist only on the battlefield. Every object on the battlefield is a permanent. See rule
110, “Permanents.”


Also this is the wording from the old rules:
217.5d An object not in the in-play zone isn’t “in play” and isn’t considered tapped or untapped.
Objects that aren’t either in play or on the stack aren’t controlled by any player.

Magic: The Gathering Rules : Wizards of the Coast

[Sphinx]

Yeah yellow9 is right , the artifacts in graveyards and other zones do nor count for this, only those in play (battlefield) are considered under your control.

PLus not sure what your friend mean by "you control your graveyard" things go there when they get discarded but dont think it is counted as "controlling" the graveyard

[TauntingElf]

Yes thats correct here is the relevant quote from the most recent rules:

109.4. Only objects on the stack or on the battlefield have a controller. Objects that are neither on the
stack nor on the battlefield aren’t controlled by any player. See rule 108.4.

[mpbarry21]

All my friend was refering to was the fact that I can't play things like Unearth out of another players graveyard. Thus he was trying to make a logic argument that since I can only do things to my items in my own graveyard (unless a card specifies otherwise) then I must "control" my graveyard. Then he was saying if I "control" my graveyard I must have control of the creatures in it as well. But, after your helpful posts and lots of rule reading, He has agreed he is wrong.

[teletel]

Some cards will specifacally tell you to count cards in your graveyard like this one:

Nightstalker Engine 4B (5)
Creature — Nightstalker (*/3)

Nightstalker Engine's power is equal to the number of creature cards in your graveyard.

[seba1983]

not on toppic but given the nice example above worth metioning is regarding characteristic-defining abilitys.

nightstalker engien will have its power = to the number of creatures in your gravejard no matter where he is. if you have 5 creatures in your gravejard and a nightstalker engien in your hand, grave, exile zone and library each of them will have a power of 5. when another creature is put in your grave all will then have a power of 6 and so forth. same is true for an artifact counting the number of artifacts you control or a tarmogoyf etc. note if it would say something like "as long as "cardname" is in play its power and toughness are equal to ..." it will not have its power and toughness set when not in play.

here the relavant rules:

604.3. Some static abilities are characteristic-defining abilities. A characteristic-defining ability conveys information about an object's characteristics that would normally be found elsewhere on that object (such as in its mana cost, type line, or power/toughness box). Characteristic-defining abilities function in all zones. They also function outside the game.

604.3a A static ability is a characteristic-defining ability if it meets the following criteria: (1) It defines an object's colors, subtypes, power, or toughness; (2) it is printed on the card it affects, it was granted to the token it affects by the effect that created the token, or it was acquired by the object it affects as the result of a copy effect or text-changing effect; (3) it does not directly affect the characteristics of any other objects; (4) it is not an ability that an object grants to itself; and (5) it does not set the values of such characteristics only if certain conditions are met.