Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules
These rules are effective as of October 1, 2009.
Introduction
This document 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 Magic: The Gathering basic rulebook. You can download a copy of that rulebook from the Wizards of the Coast® Magic rules website at www.wizards.com/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.
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 at www.wizards.com/customerservice. Additional contact information is on the last page of these rules.
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/Magic/rules
Contents
1. Game Concepts
100. General
101. The Magic Golden Rules
102. Players
103. Starting the Game
104. Winning and Losing
105. Colors
106. Mana
107. Numbers and Symbols
108. Cards
109. Objects
110. Permanents
111. Spells
112. Abilities
113. Targets
114. Special Actions
115. Timing and Priority
116. Costs
117. Life
118. Damage
119. Drawing a Card
120. Counters
2. Parts of a Card
200. General
201. Name
202. Mana Cost and Color
203. Illustration
204. Type Line
205. Expansion Symbol
206. Text Box
207. Power/Toughness
208. Loyalty
209. Hand Modifier
210. Life Modifier
211. Information Below the Text Box
3. Card Types
300. General
301. Artifacts
302. Creatures
303. Enchantments
304. Instants
305. Lands
306. Planeswalkers
307. Sorceries
308. Tribals
309. Planes
310. Vanguards
4. Zones
400. General
401. Library
402. Hand
403. Battlefield
404. Graveyard
405. Stack
406. Exile
407. Ante
408. Command
5. Turn Structure
500. General
501. Beginning Phase
502. Untap Step
503. Upkeep Step
504. Draw Step
505. Main Phase
506. Combat Phase
507. Beginning of Combat Step
508. Declare Attackers Step
509. Declare Blockers Step
510. Combat Damage Step
511. End of Combat Step
512. Ending Phase
513. End Step
514. Cleanup Step
6. Spells, Abilities, and Effects
600. General
601. Casting Spells
602. Activating Activated Abilities
603. Handling Triggered Abilities
604. Handling Static Abilities
605. Mana Abilities
606. Loyalty Abilities
607. Linked Abilities
608. Resolving Spells and Abilities
609. Effects
610. One-Shot Effects
611. Continuous Effects
612. Text-Changing Effects
613. Interaction of Continuous Effects
614. Replacement Effects
615. Prevention Effects
616. Interaction of Replacement and/or Prevention Effects
7. Additional Rules
700. General
701. Keyword Actions
702. Keyword Abilities
703. Turn-Based Actions
704. State-Based Actions
705. Flipping a Coin
706. Copying Objects
707. Face-Down Spells and Permanents
708. Split Cards
709. Flip Cards
710. Controlling Another Player’s Turn
711. Ending the Turn
712. Subgames
713. Taking Shortcuts
714. Handling Illegal Actions
8. Multiplayer Rules
800. General
801. Limited Range of Influence Option
802. Attack Multiple Players Option
803. Attack Left and Attack Right Options
804. Deploy Creatures Option
805. Free-for-All Variant
806. Two-Headed Giant Variant
807. Emperor Variant
808. Grand Melee Variant
809. Teams Variant
9. Casual Variants
900. General
901. Planar Magic
902. Vanguard
903. EDH
Glossary
Credits
Questions?
100.1. These Magic rules apply to any Magic game with two or more players, including two-player games and multiplayer games.
100.1a A two-player game is a game that begins with only two players.
100.1b A multiplayer game is a game that begins with more than two players. See section 8, “Multiplayer Rules.”
100.2. To play, each player needs his or her own deck of traditional Magic cards, small items to represent any tokens and counters, and some way to clearly track life totals.
100.2a In constructed play (a way of playing in which each player creates his or her own deck ahead of time), each deck must contain at least sixty cards. A constructed deck may contain any number of basic land cards and no more than four of any card with a particular English name other than basic land cards.
100.2b In limited play (a way of playing in which each player gets a quantity of unopened Magic product and creates his or her own deck on the spot), each deck must contain at least forty cards. A limited deck may contain as many duplicates of a card as a player has.
100.3. Some casual variants (either constructed or limited) require additional items, such as specially designated cards, nontraditional Magic cards, and dice. See section 9, “Casual Variants.”
100.4. Each player may also have a sideboard, which is a group of additional cards the player may use to modify his or her deck between games of a match.
100.4a In constructed play, a sideboard (if used) must contain exactly fifteen cards. The four-card limit (see rule 100.2a) applies to the combined deck and sideboard.
100.4b In limited play involving individual players, all cards a player opens but doesn’t include in his or her deck are in that player’s sideboard.
100.4c In limited play involving the Two-Headed Giant multiplayer variant, all cards a team opens but doesn’t include in either player’s deck are in that team’s sideboard.
100.4d In limited play involving other multiplayer team variants, each card a team opens but doesn’t include in any player’s deck is assigned to the sideboard of one of those players. Each player has his or her own sideboard; cards may not be transferred between players.
100.5. There is no maximum deck size.
100.6. Most Magic tournaments (organized play activities where players compete against other players to win prizes) have additional rules covered in the Magic: The Gathering Tournament Rules (found at http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Events.aspx?x=dci/doccenter/home). These rules may limit the use of some cards, including barring all cards from some older sets.
100.6a Tournaments usually consist of a series of matches. A two-player match usually consists of the best two of three games, or sometimes the best three of five. A multiplayer match usually consists of only one game.
100.6b Players can use the Magic Locator at www.wizards.com/locator to find tournaments in their area by selecting “Events” and typing in the name of their city.
101.1. 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. The only exception is that a player can concede the game at any time (see rule 104.3a).
101.2. When a rule or effect says something can happen and another effect says it can’t, the “can’t” effect wins.
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 precludes you from playing lands wins.
101.2a Adding abilities to objects and removing abilities from objects don’t fall under this rule; see rule 112.10.
101.3. Any part of an instruction that’s impossible to perform is ignored. (In many cases the card will specify consequences for this; if it doesn’t, there’s no effect.)
101.4. If multiple players would make choices and/or take actions at the same time, the active player (the player whose turn it is) makes any choices required, then the next player in turn order (usually the player seated to the active player’s left) makes any choices required, followed by the remaining nonactive players in turn order. Then the actions happen simultaneously. This rule is often referred to as the “Active Player, Nonactive Player (APNAP) order” rule.
Example: A card reads “Each player sacrifices a creature.” First, the active player chooses a creature he or she controls. Then each of the nonactive players chooses a creature he or she controls. Then all creatures are sacrificed simultaneously.
101.4a If an effect has each player choose a card in a hidden zone, such as his or her hand or library, those cards may remain face down as they’re chosen. However, each player must clearly indicate which face-down card he or she is choosing.
101.4b A player knows the choices made by the previous players when he or she makes his or her choice, except as specified in 101.4a.
101.4c If a player would make more than one choice at the same time, the player makes the choices in the order written, or in the order he or she chooses if the choices aren’t ordered.
101.4d If a choice made by a nonactive player causes the active player, or a different nonactive player earlier in the turn order, to have to make a choice, APNAP order is restarted for all outstanding choices.
102.1. A player is one of the people in the game. The active player is the player whose turn it is. The other players are nonactive players.
102.2. In a two-player game, a player’s opponent is the other player.
102.3. In a multiplayer game between teams, a player’s teammates are the other players on his or her team, and the player’s opponents are all players not on his or her team.
103.1. At the start of a game, each player shuffles his or her deck so that the cards are in a random order. Each player may then shuffle or cut his or her opponents’ decks. The players’ decks become their libraries.
103.2. After the decks have been shuffled, the players determine which one of them will choose who takes the first turn. In an individual game, or in the first game of a match, the players may use any mutually agreeable method (flipping a coin, rolling dice, etc.) to do so. In a match of several games, the loser of the previous game chooses who takes the first turn. If the previous game was a draw, the player who made the choice in that game gets to make the choice in this game.
103.3. Once the starting player has been determined, each player sets his or her life total to 20 and draws a hand of seven cards.
103.3a In a Two-Headed Giant game, each team starts with a shared life total of 30 instead.
103.3b In a Vanguard game, each player sets his or her life total to 20, as modified by the life modifier of his or her vanguard card, and draws a hand of seven cards, as modified by the hand modifier of his or her vanguard card.
103.3c In an EDH game, each player sets his or her life total to 40.
103.4. A player who is dissatisfied with his or her initial hand may take a mulligan. First, the starting player declares whether or not he or she will take a mulligan. Then each other player in turn order does the same. Once each player has made a declaration, all players who decided to take mulligans do so at the same time. To take a mulligan, a player shuffles his or her hand back into his or her library, then draws a new hand of one fewer cards than he or she had before. If a player kept his or her hand of cards, those cards become the player’s opening hand, and that player may not take any further mulligans. This process is then repeated until no player takes a mulligan. (Note that if a player’s hand size reaches zero cards, that player must keep that hand.)
103.4a If an effect allows a player to perform an action “any time [that player] could mulligan,” the player may perform that action at a time he or she would declare whether or not he or she will take a mulligan. This need not be in the first round of mulligans. Other players may have already made their mulligan declarations by the time the player has the option to perform this action. If the player performs the action, he or she then declares whether or not he or she will take a mulligan.
103.4b In a multiplayer game, the first time a player takes a mulligan, he or she draws a new hand of as many cards as he or she had before. Subsequent hands decrease by one card as normal.
103.4c The Two-Headed Giant variant uses the multiplayer mulligan rule, with a slight modification. First, each player on the starting team declares whether or not he or she will take a mulligan. Then the players on each other team in turn order do the same. Then all mulligans are taken at the same time. A player may take a mulligan even after his or her teammate has decided to keep his or her opening hand.
103.4d The EDH casual variant uses an alternate mulligan rule. Each time a player takes a mulligan, rather than shuffling his or her entire hand of cards into his or her library, that player exiles any number of cards from his or her hand. Then the player draws a number of cards equal to one less than the number of cards he or she exiled this way. Once a player keeps an opening hand, that player shuffles all cards he or she exiled this way into his or her library.
103.5. Once all players have kept their opening hands, if any cards in the starting player’s hand allow that player to begin the game with those cards on the battlefield, he or she may put any or all of them onto the battlefield. Then each other player in turn order may do the same.
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