Witness Protection + Mephit's Entusiasm Incorrect Interaction
My opponent played Mephit's Enthusiasm and killed one of my creatures, then played a creature who received the perpetual +X/+0 bonus to its power and toughness from the Mephit's Enthusiasm excess damage. I then played Witness Protection on that creature, which should have made it lose all abilities and become a creature with base power and toughness 1/1. But the +X/+0 alteration was applied on top of the 1/1 instead of being overwritten by the 1/1, making it a 1+X/1. This makes no sense--if the perpetual +X/+0 is considered an ability, Witness Protection should have made the card lose it. If the perpetual +X/+0 is considered a change to base power and toughness, Witness Protection should have prevailed as the later in time change to base power and toughness. The perpetual +X/+0 is not like an aura or counter where there is a continuous change from an outside-source that can be applied on top of Witness Protection. Its a change to the attributes of the card itself that Witness Protection should have overwritten.
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SpencerPrime#66226 commented
@Rezzahan - That is dumb and unintuitive. "Perpetual" changes are permanent changes to the card itself, and so they should be applied in Layer 3 as changes to the text of the card (or even in Layer 1 as just a change to the underlying card). Treating them like a continuous effect from some invisible external permanent is the least intuitive way to implement the mechanic.
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[Deleted User] commented
Setting base power/toughness is applied in layer 7b, while modifying effects for power/toughness are applied in later sublayers. This means, that base power/toughness is always set first, then other changes are applied on top of it. It doesn't matter in what order those effects were created. Perpetual just makes the effect track the card through zone changes, apply the changes there as well, and make it last for the rest of the game. None of that changes the order in which effects are applied.