Cards And Zones
How Does Equipment Attach and Detach?
Attached Equipment gives its unit its Effect Text and Might bonus, while remaining a separate card.
RiftPal explanation · Answer first
The short answer
Attach EquipmentGear with the Equipment tag. When attached to a unit, it adds its Effect Text and Might bonus to that unit. Playing Equipment does not normally attach it automatically.View in Glossary only when an ability or effect tells you to. Place it under the unit with its Effect TextThe separate text section a card adds to the Rules Text of the card it is attached to. It is inactive while the card is unattached.View in Glossary and Might bonus showing: the unit gains that text and bonus for as long as the Equipment remains attached. Playing Equipment normally does not attach it; Equip is a separate activated ability.
RiftPal explanation
How it works
The unit is the Top-Most CardThe card with one or more cards attached beneath it. It receives their Effect Text and applicable Might bonuses.View in Glossary . It can have several EquipmentGear with the Equipment tag. When attached to a unit, it adds its Effect Text and Might bonus to that unit. Playing Equipment does not normally attach it automatically.View in Glossary attached, but each Equipment can attach to only one card at a time. Attaching to a different unit detaches the Equipment from the old one. Attaching it to the unit it is already attached to does nothing. You cannot freely detach Equipment without an instruction to do so.
Card reference
Boots of Swiftness
While attached, the EquipmentGear with the Equipment tag. When attached to a unit, it adds its Effect Text and Might bonus to that unit. Playing Equipment does not normally attach it automatically.View in Glossary 's printed Rules Text is InactiveText that is still present but does not currently apply, trigger or allow activation. Other effects can still check that the text or keyword is present.View in Glossary , with exceptions for abilities involved in attaching or detaching. Its separate Effect TextThe separate text section a card adds to the Rules Text of the card it is attached to. It is inactive while the card is unattached.View in Glossary works through the unit. Text granted or appended to the Equipment can still be active.
Gear
Boots of Swiftness
[Equip] [Chaos] ([Chaos]: Attach this to a unit you control.)
Attached effect
[Ganking] (I can move from battlefield to battlefield.)
The cards remain separate: attached EquipAn activated ability on Equipment: pay its listed cost to attach that gear to a unit you control when the ability resolves. This is normally separate from playing the gear.View in Glossary ment can still be targeted as gear, and changing control of one card does not change control of the other. Readying, exhausting or stunning the unit does not do the same to its Equipment. The Equipment follows the unit between board locations and cannot move separately while attached. Attaching can change its location, but does not count as a Move or ready it.
Card reference
Boots of Swiftness
Detaching removes the added text and Might bonus and leaves the EquipmentGear with the Equipment tag. When attached to a unit, it adds its Effect Text and Might bonus to that unit. Playing Equipment does not normally attach it automatically.View in Glossary at the unit's location. If the unit leaves the board, its Equipment detaches at the location it left. Unattached non-unit gear without Deploy at a battlefield is RecallRecall means moving a permanent back to its controller's Base.View in Glossary to its own controller's Base at the next CleanupAn automatic rules check that handles winning, lethal damage and board conditions before play continues. It is not an action you choose or normally announce, and an ordinary check does not heal units.View in Glossary .
Gear
Boots of Swiftness
[Equip] [Chaos] ([Chaos]: Attach this to a unit you control.)
Attached effect
[Ganking] (I can move from battlefield to battlefield.)
An Equipment that becomes a unit detaches immediately and cannot attach to another object while it is a unit. Its Equip ability can still be activated, but an attempted attachment does nothing. Other non-unit Equipment already attached to a gear-unit stays attached if that gear later stops being a unit. Deploy gear is not sent to Base by the usual battlefield recall check.
In practice
Example
Your 3 Might unit has Equipment with a +2 Might bonus, so it has 5 Might. The unit moves to a battlefield and the Equipment goes with it. If the unit then dies, the Equipment stays at that battlefield, detached, and is Recalled to its controller's Base at the next Cleanup. It does not go to the trash with the unit.