Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules
These rules are current as of June 1, 2003.
Introduction
This booklet is designed for people who’ve moved beyond the basics of the Magic: The Gathering® game. If you’re a beginning Magic® player, you’ll probably find these rules intimidating. They’re intended to be the ultimate authority for the game, and you won’t usually need to refer to them except in specific cases or during competitive games.For casual play and most ordinary situations, you’ll find what you need in the general rulebook included in the Magic: The Gathering—Seventh Edition™ game box. You can download a copy of that rulebook from the Wizards of the Coast® Magic rules website at www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/rules. If you’re sure this is where you want to be, keep reading.This document includes a series of numbered rules followed by a glossary. Many of the numbered rules are divided into subrules, and each separate rule and subrule of the game has its own number. Words or phrases in italics are defined in the glossary, along with a few concepts that don’t really fit anywhere among the numbered rules. So if you can’t find what you’re looking for, check the glossary.We at Wizards of the Coast recognize that no matter how detailed the rules, situations will arise in which the interaction of specific cards requires a precise answer. If you have questions, you can get the answers from us. Contact information is on the last page of this rulebook.In response to play issues and to keep these rules as current as possible, changes may have been made to this document since its publication. See the Wizards of the Coast website for the current version of the official rules.www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/rules
Contents
1. The Game100. General101. Starting the Game102. Winning and Losing103. The Golden Rule
2. Cards200. General201. Parts of a Card202. Name203. Mana Cost204. Illustration205. Type206. Expansion Symbol207. Text Box208. Power/Toughness209. Credit210. Legal Text211. Collector Number212. Card Type213. Spell Type214. Permanent Type215. Legends and Legendary Types216. Tokens217. Zones
3. Turn Structure300. General301. Beginning Phase302. Untap Step303. Upkeep Step304. Draw Step305. Main Phase306. Combat Phase307. Beginning of Combat Step308. Declare Attackers Step309. Declare Blockers Step310. Combat Damage Step311. End of Combat Step312. End Phase313. End of Turn Step314. Cleanup Step
4. Spells, Abilities, and Effects400. General401. Spells402. Abilities403. Activated Abilities404. Triggered Abilities405. Static Abilities406. Ability Subtypes407. Adding and Removing Abilities408. Timing of Spells and Abilities409. Playing Spells and Activated Abilities410. Handling Triggered Abilities411. Playing Mana Abilities412. Handling Static Abilities413. Resolving Spells and Abilities414. Countering Spells and Abilities415. Editing a Spell or Ability416. Effects417. One-Shot Effects418. Continuous Effects419. Replacement and Prevention Effects420. State-Based Effects421. Handling “Infinite” Loops422. Handling Illegal Actions
5. Additional Rules500. Legal Attacks and Blocks501. Evasion Abilities502. Keyword Abilities503. Copying Spells and Abilities504. Face-Down Spells and Permanents505. Split Cards
Glossary
Credits
Questions?
1. The Game
100. General
100.1. These Magic rules assume a game between two players. Optional rules allow for more players but aren’t discussed here. These rules can be found at the Wizards of the Coast website at www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/rules/multiplayer.
100.2. In constructed play, each player needs his or her own deck of at least sixty cards, small objects to represent any tokens and counters, and some way to clearly track life totals. A constructed deck can have any number of basic land cards and no more than four of any card with a particular English name other than basic land cards.
100.3. For sealed deck or draft play, only forty cards are required in a deck, and a player may use as many duplicates of a card as he or she has. See the most current Magic: The Gathering DCI™ Floor Rules for more information. They can be found at www.wizards.com/DCI/main.asp?x=UTR_Intro.
100.4. There is no maximum deck size.
100.5. Most Magic tournaments have special rules (not included here) and may limit the use of some cards, including barring all cards from some older sets. See the Magic DCI Floor Rules for more information.
101. Starting the Game
101.1. At the start of a game, each player shuffles his or her own deck so that the cards are in a random order. Each player may then shuffle his or her opponent’s deck.
101.2. After the decks have been shuffled, the players determine who chooses which player goes first using any mutually agreeable method (flipping a coin, rolling dice, etc.). In a match of several games, the loser of the previous game decides who will take the first turn. If the previous game was a draw, the person who determined who would take the first turn in the previous game decides.
101.3. Once the starting player has been determined, each player sets his or her life total to 20 and draws a hand of seven cards.
101.4. The player who plays first skips the draw step (see rule 304, “Draw Step”) of his or her first turn.
101.5. A player who is dissatisfied with his or her initial hand may mulligan. That player shuffles his or her hand back into the deck, then draws a new hand of six cards. He or she may repeat this process as many times as desired, drawing one fewer card each time, until the hand size reaches zero cards. Once the first player has decided to keep a hand, the second player may mulligan. Once both players are satisfied with their hands, the first player takes his or her turn.
102. Winning and Losing
102.1. If a player’s life total is 0 or less, he or she loses the game the next time a player would receive priority. (This is a state-based effect. See rule 420.)
102.2. When a player is required to draw more cards than are left in his or her library, he or she draws the remaining cards, then loses the game the next time a player would receive priority. (This is a state-based effect. See rule 420.)
102.3. A game immediately ends when either these rules or a card effect states that a player loses or wins.
102.4. If both players lose simultaneously, the game is a draw.
102.5. If a player would both win and lose simultaneously, he or she loses.
102.6. If the game somehow enters a “loop,” repeating a sequence of events with no way to stop, the game is a draw. Loops that contain an optional action don’t result in a draw.
102.7. A player may concede a game at any time.
102.8 If a player has ten or more poison counters, he or she loses the game the next time a player would receive priority. (This is a state-based effect. See rule 420.)
103. The Golden Rule
103.1. The Magic Golden Rule: Whenever a card’s text directly contradicts these rules, the card takes precedence. The card overrides only the rule that applies to that specific situation. If an instruction requires taking an impossible action, it’s ignored. (In many cases the card will specify consequences for this; if it doesn’t, there’s no effect.)
103.2. When one effect says something can happen and another says it can’t, the “can’t” effect wins. For example, if one effect reads “You may play an additional land this turn” and another reads “You can’t play land cards this turn,” the effect that keeps you from playing lands wins out. Note that adding abilities to cards and removing abilities from cards don’t fall under this rule. See rule 407, “Adding and Removing Abilities.”
2. Cards
200. General
200.1. When a rule or text on a card refers to a “card,” it means a Magic card with a Magic card front and the Magic card back. Tokens aren’t considered cards—even an Unglued™ card that represents a token isn’t considered a card for rules purposes.
201. Parts of a Card
201.1. The parts of a card are name, mana cost, illustration, type, expansion symbol, text box, power and toughness, credit, legal text, and collector number. Some cards may have more than one of any or all of these parts.
201.2. A card, spell, or permanent’s characteristics are name, mana cost, color, type and subtype, expansion symbol, rules text, power, and toughness. Any other information about a card, spell, or permanent isn’t a characteristic. Characteristics don’t include any other information, such as whether a permanent is tapped, a spell’s target, a spell or permanent’s controller, what a local enchantment enchants, and so on.
202. Name
202.1. The name of a card is printed on its upper left corner.
202.2. Card text that refers to the card it’s on by name means just that particular card and not any other duplicates of it, regardless of any name changes caused by game effects. Also, if a card has an effect on or grants an ability that includes that card’s name to another card, the name refers only to the card generating the effect or granting the ability, not to duplicates of cards with the same name.
202.3. Two cards have the same name if the English versions of their names are identical, regardless of anything else printed on the cards.
203. Mana Cost
203.1. The mana cost of a card is indicated by mana symbols printed on its upper right corner. Tokens and lands have a mana cost of 0. Paying a card’s mana cost requires matching the color of any colored mana symbols as well as paying the generic mana cost indicated.
203.2. A card is the color or colors of the mana symbols in its mana cost, regardless of the color of its border. For example, a card with a mana cost of 2W is white, and one with a mana cost of 2WB is both white and black. Cards with no colored mana symbols in their mana costs are colorless. Cards with more than one of the five colored mana symbols in their mana costs are multicolored. Multicolored cards are printed with a gold frame, but this is not a requirement for a card to be multicolored.
203.3. The converted mana cost of a card is the total amount of mana in the mana cost, regardless of color (For example, a mana cost of 3UU translates to a converted mana cost of 5). The converted mana cost is a generic mana cost—it may be paid with any combination of colored and/or colorless mana, regardless of the colors in the spell’s mana cost.
203.4. Any additional cost listed in a card’s rules text isn’t part of the mana cost. (See rule 409, “Playing Spells and Activated Abilities.”) Such costs are paid at the same time as the spell’s other costs.
204. Illustration
204.1. The illustration is printed on the upper half of a card and has no game significance. For example, a creature doesn’t have the flying ability unless stated in its rules text, even if it’s depicted as flying.
205. Type
205.1. The type (and subtype, if applicable) of a card is printed directly below the illustration. (See rules 212–215.)
206. Expansion Symbol
206.1. The expansion symbol indicates which Magic set a card is from. It’s printed below the right edge of the illustration.
206.2. The color of the expansion symbol indicates the rarity of the card within its set. A gold symbol signifies the card is rare; silver, uncommon; and black, common or basic land. (Prior to the Exodus™ set, all expansion symbols were black, regardless of rarity. Also, prior to the Classic™ (Sixth Edition) set, Magic basic sets didn’t have expansion symbols at all.)
206.3. A spell or ability that affects cards from a particular set “looks” only for that set’s expansion symbol. A card reprinted in the basic set receives the basic set’s expansion symbol; any reprinted version of the card no longer counts as part of its original set unless it was reprinted with that set’s expansion symbol. The first five editions of the basic set had no expansion symbol.
207. Text Box
207.1. The text box is printed on the lower half of the card. It usually contains rules text stating what the card does and any special requirements for playing it.
207.2. The text box may also contain italicized reminder text (in parentheses), which summarizes a rule that applies to that card, and italicized flavor text, which has no game function, but like the illustration, adds artistic appeal to the game.
208. Power/Toughness
208.1. A creature card has two numbers separated by a slash printed on its lower right corner. The first number is the creature’s power (the amount of damage it deals in combat); the second is its toughness (the amount of damage needed to ...
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