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Is there a fine line between permanents and players?

What technically defines a permanent in MTG and by understanding that a player can get "poison counters" are players considered permanents when it applies to cards like Gilder Bairn, can the Gilder Bairn give more poison counters to the player? I'm questioning this because of the reasoning of poisoning being a stand-alone counters specifically for players, a player is being literally "added counters to" so wouldn't this include the player as a legal target for the Gilder Bairn with a loose context of wording on the part of MTG?
Posted 20 July 2010 at 19:14

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2 replies

there's a large bold line between players and permanents, they do not overlap in any way.

a permanent is any card that exists on the battlefield (or "in play"), this includes: lands, creatures, artifacts, enchantments and planeswalkers. (tokens are also permanents)


as to your specific question: no, the gilder bairn cannot affect the poison counters on a player.

Poison counters were a really horrible mechanic and that's why they only ever printed 10 cards that relate to them.
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Posted 20 July 2010 at 19:57

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To paraphrase Dr. House: There is not a fine line between permanents and players, much like there is not a fine line between love and hate. There is, in fact, a Great Wall of China with armed sentries posted every twenty feet between all of the above.
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Posted 21 July 2010 at 07:32

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