diff --git a/forge-game/src/main/java/forge/game/card/Card.java b/forge-game/src/main/java/forge/game/card/Card.java
index 7044c836f46..cf42e514f99 100644
--- a/forge-game/src/main/java/forge/game/card/Card.java
+++ b/forge-game/src/main/java/forge/game/card/Card.java
@@ -2722,9 +2722,27 @@ public class Card extends GameEntity implements Comparable<Card> {
 
     public final Player getController() {
         if ((currentZone == null) || ((currentZone.getZoneType() != ZoneType.Battlefield) && (currentZone.getZoneType() != ZoneType.Stack))){
-            //only permanents and spells have controllers [108.4],
-            //so a card really only has a controller while it's on the stack or battlefield.
-            //everywhere else, just use the owner [108.4a].
+            /*
+             * 108.4. A card doesn’t have a controller unless that card represents a permanent or spell; in those cases,
+             * its controller is determined by the rules for permanents or spells. See rules 110.2 and 112.2.
+             * 108.4a If anything asks for the controller of a card that doesn’t have one (because it’s not a permanent
+             * or spell), use its owner instead.
+             *
+             * Control, Controller: "Control" is the system that determines who gets to use an object in the game.
+             * An object's "controller" is the player who currently controls it. See rule 108.4.
+             * 
+             * 400.6. If an object would move from one zone to another, determine what event is moving the object. 
+             * If the object is moving to a public zone and its owner will be able to look at it in that zone, 
+             * its owner looks at it to see if it has any abilities that would affect the move. 
+             * If the object is moving to the battlefield, each other player who will be able to look at it in that 
+             * zone does so. Then any appropriate replacement effects, whether they come from that object or from 
+             * elsewhere, are applied to that event. If any effects or rules try to do two or more contradictory or 
+             * mutually exclusive things to a particular object, that object’s CONTROLLER—or its OWNER 
+             * IF IT HAS NO CONTROLLER—chooses which effect to apply, and what that effect does.
+             */
+            if (controller != null) {
+                return controller; // if there's a controller we return this
+            }
             if (owner != null) {
                 return owner;
             }