Landfall Cannot Identify a Creature’s Triggered Ability

Mark Rosewater said “target creature’s landfall ability triggers” cannot work because landfall is an ability word, which card text cannot mechanically reference. He answered the landfall question on November 5.

The Comprehensive Rules define an ability word as a label grouping abilities with similar functions, without rules meaning of its own. The triggered ability is instead defined by its rules text and trigger condition. For landfall cards, that condition is typically a land entering the battlefield, as Wizards’ landfall explanation describes. A card would need to refer to the rules-defined trigger condition rather than the label; a Blogatog commenter suggested wording around an ability triggered by a land entering the battlefield, but Rosewater did not give an exact template.