MTGNexus

Say I have a Preston, the Vanisher and trigger to make a 0/1 copy of a Geist-Honored Monk. Does the token created from Preston stay as a 0/1 or does it scale to the number of creatures as it is supposed to? I assume there is a general rule for what takes priority but I have no clue which one it is. If I had to guess I would say the textbox on the card overrides the 0/1 of Preston.

This is CR 707.9d: The relevant portion reads "When applying a copy effect that doesn't copy a certain characteristic, retains one or more original values for a certain characteristic, or provides a specific set of values for a certain characteristic, any characteristic-defining ability of the object being copied that defines that characteristic is not copied." In other words, Geist-Honored Monk has a characteristic-defining ability for power and toughness, the thing also being defined by the copy ability itself. The token will be a 0/1 with only vigilance and the ETB ability. It's the same case as defined in the Gatherer rulings for Quicksilver Gargantuan.

Thanks for the clarification. Its a niche enough rule that I didn't know how the ruling stood on this corner case lol.