Startling Development
Instant
Until end of turn, target creature becomes a blue Serpent with base power and toughness 4/4.
Cycling (, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
Remarkably, dinner continued with no further interruptions.
Illustrated by
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths#68CommonEnglishLegality
Rulings
Startling Development overwrites all previous effects that set the affected creatures’ color, creature types, power, and/or toughness to specific values. Other effects that set these characteristics to specific values that start to apply after Startling Development resolves will overwrite that part of the effect.
Effects that modify the affected creature’s power or toughness without setting it will apply no matter when they started to take effect. The same is true for counters that change the creature’s power or toughness.
The affected creature doesn’t lose any abilities when it becomes a Serpent.
Because damage remains marked on a creature until the damage is removed as the turn ends, nonlethal damage dealt to the target creature may become lethal once its base toughness becomes 4.