Usually, yes. An Incubator token that transforms into a creature normally has summoning sickness if you did not control that same permanent continuously since your most recent turn began. Transforming it does not make a new permanent or restart the control clock. The creature can attack and use abilities with {T} or {Q} in their costs only if that timing requirement is satisfied or the creature has haste.
The short rules answer
Summoning sickness is the common name for the restriction in rule 302.6 of the Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules. A creature generally cannot attack or activate an ability with the tap symbol ({T}) or untap symbol ({Q}) in its cost unless its controller has controlled it continuously since the beginning of that controller’s most recent turn. Haste is the exception.
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An Incubator token starts on its front face as a colorless artifact, not a creature. When you pay {2} to transform it, the permanent becomes its back face: a colorless 0/0 Phyrexian artifact creature. If you created the token during the current turn, it normally cannot attack during that turn after transforming. It also cannot activate a {T}– or {Q}-cost ability that turn. These conclusions follow from the official rules at Wizards of the Coast’s rules page.
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What an Incubator token actually is
Incubate creates a transforming double-faced Incubator token. Its front face is a colorless artifact with the activated ability “{2}: Transform this artifact.” Its back face is a colorless 0/0 Phyrexian artifact creature. The token receives the +1/+1 counters specified by the Incubate instruction, which are normally what keep a 0/0 back face alive.
The official March of the Machine Release Notes and March of the Machine Update Bulletin describe Incubator tokens as transforming permanents. The same permanent remains on the battlefield while it changes faces. That matters for summoning sickness, enters-the-battlefield triggers, counters, damage marked on it, and effects tracking that permanent.
Because the front face is an artifact rather than a creature, creating an Incubator does not immediately give you a creature that could attack. The relevant timing question begins when the token becomes a creature: had you already controlled that permanent continuously since the start of your most recent turn?
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Use the turn in which the token entered your control, not the turn in which it transformed, as the starting point. Transformation does not reset the clock.
| When the Incubator entered your control | When it transforms | Can it attack immediately? |
|---|---|---|
| During your current turn | Later in that same turn | No, unless it has haste. You did not control it when your most recent turn began. |
| Before your current turn began, such as during an opponent’s turn | During your current turn | Usually yes, provided it is untapped and otherwise able to attack. You controlled it continuously at the start of your turn. |
| During your opponent’s turn | During that opponent’s turn | No attack occurs during the opponent’s turn because you cannot attack on that turn. On your next turn, it normally can attack if it remained under your control. |
| At any time | At any time | Haste allows it to attack despite entering under your control this turn, subject to the normal attack requirements. |
For example, suppose you cast a spell with Incubate during your main phase. You receive an Incubator token, pay {2} to transform it, and it becomes a creature. It cannot attack that turn without haste. By contrast, if an effect gave you the token during an opponent’s end step, it will already have been under your control when your next turn began, so transforming it during that turn does not prevent it from attacking.
The creature still has to be untapped, must satisfy any restrictions imposed by the game or other effects, and must be a legal attacker. Meeting the control-time requirement removes only the summoning-sickness restriction; it does not override those other requirements.
Does transformation reset summoning sickness?
No. A transforming permanent is not a new object merely because its face changes. The Incubator keeps the same battlefield identity and the same controller. If it was affected by summoning sickness before transformation, it remains subject to the restriction after transformation until the relevant turn begins or haste applies.
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This is different from an effect that exiles a permanent and returns it, or from creating a separate replacement token. Those events can produce a new permanent with a new control history. Incubate’s normal transformation does neither: the token stays on the battlefield and simply turns over.
Transformation also does not untap the token. If an effect tapped the Incubator before it transformed, the resulting creature is still tapped. It cannot attack while tapped, even if it has been under your control long enough to avoid summoning sickness.
What haste changes
Haste is the specific exception to the timing rule. A transformed Incubator creature with haste can attack on the turn it becomes a creature even if you created the token earlier that same turn. Haste also lets it activate abilities with {T} or {Q} in their costs during that turn.
Haste does not automatically untap the token, add +1/+1 counters, or make an illegal attack legal. A tapped creature with haste still cannot attack until it is untapped. Likewise, a creature must still meet the ability’s other requirements, and you must be able to pay any costs.
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Summoning sickness applies specifically to attacking and to activated abilities whose costs contain the tap or untap symbol. It does not stop the creature from using an activated ability that has no {T} or {Q} in its cost, nor does it prevent triggered abilities from working.
Can it use tap abilities after transforming?
Only if it satisfies the same timing rule or has haste. If you created the Incubator this turn and transform it, you cannot activate a back-face ability with {T} in its cost that turn. If you controlled the token continuously since your turn began, you may use such an ability after transformation, assuming the creature is untapped and the ability is otherwise legal.
The restriction is tied to the creature permanent, not to whether it was a creature when it entered the battlefield. Turning an artifact into a creature does not provide a loophole around rule 302.6.
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Paying {2} to transform the front face is a different matter. That ability does not require tapping the token. Summoning sickness therefore does not prevent you from activating the transformation ability while the token is on its artifact face. Once the token is on its creature face, its ability set is determined by that face and by any effects modifying it.
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Why the 0/0 back face matters
Incubator creatures have base power and toughness 0/0 on the back face. The +1/+1 counters supplied by Incubate are normally essential. A token that transforms with no counters, or whose counters have been removed, may have 0 toughness and be put into its owner’s graveyard as a state-based action before anyone receives priority.
That can happen even when the token has haste and even when it would otherwise be allowed to attack. Haste changes the summoning-sickness rule; it does not raise toughness. A continuous effect that gives the creature positive toughness, or another effect that changes its base toughness, can keep a counterless Incubator creature on the battlefield.
Counters remain on the same permanent through a normal transformation. If an Incubator had the appropriate +1/+1 counters before you paid {2}, those counters continue to modify the 0/0 creature face after the transformation unless an effect specifically removes them.
A practical turn-by-turn checklist
- Identify the permanent. Confirm that the object is the same Incubator token that entered the battlefield, rather than a new token created by another effect.
- Check the control history. Ask whether you have controlled that token continuously since the beginning of your most recent turn. If it entered during your current turn, the answer is no. If it was already under your control when your current turn began, the answer is usually yes.
- Check for haste. Haste overrides the control-time restriction for attacking and for
{T}/{Q}abilities. - Check the permanent’s current face. The front face is an artifact; the back face is the 0/0 artifact creature. The creature’s current characteristics determine whether it can attack or use an ability.
- Check whether it is untapped. Transformation does not untap the permanent. A tapped creature cannot attack, and a tap-cost ability cannot be activated unless the cost can be paid.
- Check survival and legality. Count its +1/+1 counters and any other toughness-modifying effects. Then verify that the attack or ability has no additional restrictions.
This sequence separates summoning sickness from the other reasons an Incubator creature might fail to attack. A “no” at step two can be changed by haste; a “no” at steps four through six requires a different solution.
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“It was not a creature when I created it, so it has no sickness.”
The restriction is checked when the permanent is a creature, but the control history still includes the time before transformation. A token created this turn does not become immediately attack-ready merely because it began as an artifact.
“Transforming makes it a new creature.”
It becomes a creature, but it does not become a new permanent. Its controller, counters and battlefield history continue through the transformation.
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“I can transform it, so I can attack with it.”
The ability that transforms the artifact costs mana, not {T}. Being able to pay {2} says nothing about whether the resulting creature may attack that turn.
“Haste fixes everything.”
Haste fixes the summoning-sickness restriction only. It does not untap the creature, replace missing counters, or override an effect that says it cannot attack.
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“A 0/0 Incubator can wait until combat.”
State-based actions are checked before a player receives priority. If the transformed token has 0 toughness, it normally leaves the battlefield before you get an opportunity to declare attackers.
How to judge unusual board states
If an effect changes an Incubator’s creature type, power, toughness or abilities, apply that effect after determining the permanent’s current face. An effect can give the creature haste, increase its toughness, or grant a tap ability, but none of those changes by themselves alter the token’s control history.
If control of the Incubator changes, the new controller must use their own control history. A player who gains an already transformed Incubator has not necessarily controlled it continuously since the beginning of their most recent turn, so it may be unable to attack or use {T}/{Q} abilities immediately unless it has haste.
If the token leaves the battlefield and returns, treat the returned object according to the effect that brought it back. It may be a new permanent with a new control history, unlike an ordinary Incubate transformation. When the interaction is unclear, use the exact wording of the effect and the current Comprehensive Rules rather than relying on the fact that the object still looks like an Incubator.
Bottom line for play
An Incubator created this turn generally cannot attack or use a tap or untap ability after you transform it. If you controlled the same token continuously since your most recent turn began, transformation does not stop it from attacking, provided it is untapped and otherwise legal. Haste is the exception. Always check the token’s counters as well: the back face is 0/0, so a transformed Incubator with no toughness boost may die immediately.
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