Magic the Gathering Rules

8/4/2019 Magic the Gathering Rules

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Object of the Game

Te Magic: Te Gathering game is a strategy game played by two or more players, each o whom has a customized deck oMagic cards. Over the course o the game, each player will take turns playing cards such as lands (which enable you to playyour other cards), creatures, sorceries, and other spells. Each player starts at 20 lie. When you reduce your opponent to 0 lie

by attacking with creatures and casting spells, you win!

Basic Rulebook

Your Journey Has BegunYou are a Planeswalker, and ahead o you lay countless battles across deadly worlds that dey imagination.

o thrive, let alone survive, youll need a base rom which you can start.

AGE 13+

Illus. odd Lockwood


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Introduction

Youre here because you want to learn the Magic: TeGatheringgame, the worlds premier trading card game.It was the frst game o its kind, and its still the best andthe biggest.

In the Magic game, you play the role o a planeswalkerapowerul wizard who fghts other planeswalkers or glory,knowledge, and conquest. Your deck o cards representsall the weapons in your arsenal. It contains the spells youknow and the creatures you can summon to fght or you.

rading card games like the Magic: TeGathering game combine collectablecards with a strategy game. Start yourcollection with an intro pack and begin

battling immediately with a ready-to-play deck.

Once youve gotten a handle on how toplay, customize your deck using cardsrom booster packs, starting with the

one included in your intro pack. You dont know whatcards youll get in a Magic booster pack. You just starta collection and trade with other players to get the cardsyou want. You can fnd stores where Magic cards are soldat http://www.wizards.com/locator .

Te best part about a trading card game is that its alwayschanging. You design and build your own unique decks,and each Magic game you play is dierent. NewMagic

expansions are released a ew times a year, and eachnew expansion brings new ways to stupey and deeatyour opponents. Check out MagicTeGathering.comor daily articles, insider inormation, and news aboutupcoming sets!

ContentsSection 1: Te Basics

Five Colors o Mana . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Parts o a Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Card ypes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Game Zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Section 2: Te Building Blocks

Making Mana. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Attacking and Blocking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Building Your Own Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Te Golden Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Section 3: Playing a Game

Get a Deck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Get a Friend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Start the Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Parts o the urn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Te Next urn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Te Ever-Changing Game . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Section 4: Diferent Ways to Play

Limited Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Constructed Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Multiplayer Variants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Section 5: Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Questions?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Rule the Multiverse


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& 19932009 Wizardsof the CoastLLC232/249

DonHazeltine

Plains

Basic Land Plains

OOO

Flying

Vigilance(Attacking doesnt causethis creature to tap.)

Her sword sings more beautifully thanany choir.

4/4& 19932009 Wizardsof the CoastLLC29/249

Greg Staples

o3oWoWSerra Angel

Creature Angel


ScottBailey

Island

Basic Land Island

OO

Enchant land

As Convincing Mirage enters thebattlefield, choose a basic land type.

Enchanted land is the chosen type.

Where are we? You must learn to askmore useful questions than that.


RyanPancoast

o1oUConvincing Mirage

Enchantment Aura


Jim Pavelec

Swamp

Basic Land Swamp

OOO

Other Zombie creatures you controlget +1/+1.

o2oB, oT: Exile target creature card froma graveyard. Put a 2/2 black Zombiecreature token onto the battlefield.

Every grave cradles a recruit.


Dave Allsop

o1oBoBCemetery Reaper

Creature Zombie


NilsHamm

Mountain

Basic Land Mountain

OO

Seismic Strike deals damage to targetcreature equal to the number ofMountains you control.

Life up here is simple.Adapt to the waysof the mountains and they will rewardyou.Fight them and they will end you.Kezim,prodigal pyromancer


Christopher Moeller

o2oRSeismic Strike

Instant


JohnAvon

Forest

Basic Land Forest

OOO

o1oG: Put a 1/1 green Insect creaturetoken onto the battlefield.

Kill the queen first,or well be fightingher drones forever.It is not in a queensnature to have enough ser vants.Borzard,exterminator captain


Trevor Claxton

o3oGoG Ant Queen

Creature Insect

3

Section : The Basics

WhitePlains are the source o white magic, the color o light, protection, and above allorder. White magic is about making and enorcing the rules. White planeswalkersbelieve that without laws and the strength to uphold them, anarchy prevails. Tosewho ollow the rules shall have honor and thrive while those who orsake them

will ultimately suer.


Five Colors of Mana

Only one thing unites the infnite planes o the Multiverse: mana, the energy that uels all magic. Te fve colors omana are imbued in the land itsel, and a planeswalker with a connection to a place can call upon its mana rom acrossthe sea o ther between worlds.

Each color o mana uels a dierent kind o powerul magic or you to command. For example, red spells have oR intheir costs, and tapping (turning) a Mountain gives youoR that you can spend to cast spells. Its up to you whether tomaster one color or all fve.

BlueBlue magic ows rom Islands. It ocuses on manipulation and intellect. Bluetampers with the undamental order o things and thrives on controlling theenvironment, bending the rules to suit its own needs. Blue planeswalkers believethat the most important commodity is knowledge.

BlackSwamps are the source o black magicthe magic o death, decay, and power

Black planeswalkers embrace their ambition, and are willing to pay a price orgreatness. Tey believe that lie is about gaining power at all costs. Everything andeveryone is a possible resource.

RedRed magic comes rom Mountains. Red planeswalkers can literally crush theground beneath their eet, or call upon urious volcanic activity to destroy theiroes. Tey want results and action instead o deliberation and debate. Chaos,destruction, and warthese are red magics staples.

GreenForests are the root o green magic. From the power o nature, green magic providesgrowth and lie to the planeswalkers who wield it. Green planeswalkers live anddie according to the law o the jungle: only the strong survive, and every livingthing is either predator or prey. Green planeswalkers believe that growth is theoundation o everything. In the end, lie will win out.


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OO

Lava Axe deals 5 damage to targetplayer.

Catch!

& 19932009 Wizards of the Coast LLC 145/249

Brian Snoddy

o4oRLava Axe

Sorcery

OOO

Flying

oR: Shivan Dragon gets +1/+0 untilend of turn.

The undisputed master of the mountains

of Shiv.

5/5 & 19932009 Wizards of the Coast LLC 156/249

Donato Giancola

o4oRoRShivan Dragon

Creature Dragon

4


Mana CostMana is the main resource in thegame. Its produced by lands, and youspend it to cast spells. Te symbols in

a cards upper right corner tell you thecost to cast that spell. I the mana costreads o4oRoR, you pay our mana oany kinds plus two red mana (rom aMountain) to cast it.

Expansion SymbolTis symbol tells you which Magic setthe card is rom. Tis version o ShivanDragon is romMagic2010core set.Te color o the symbol tells you the

cards rarity: black or common cards,silver or uncommons, gold or rares,and red-orange or mythic rares.

Collector NumberTe collector number makes it easier

to organize your cards. For example,156/249 means that the card is the156th o 249 cards in its set.

Power and ToughnessEach creature card has a special box with itspower and toughness. A creatures power (the frstnumber) is how much damage it deals in combat.Its toughness (the second number) is how much

damage must be dealt to it in a single turn to destroyit. (A planeswalker card has a dierent special boxwith its loyalty here.)

Type LineTis tells you the cardscard type:artiact,creature, enchantment, instant, land,planeswalker, or sorcery. I the card hasa subtypeor supertype, thats also listedhere. For example, Shivan Dragon is acreature, and its subtype is the creaturetype Dragon.

Card Name

Card Types

EveryMagic card has one or more types. A cards type tells you when you can play thecard and what happens to the card ater you do.

Parts of a Card

Text BoxTis is where a cards abilities appear. You may also fnd favor textprintedin italics (like this) that tells yousomething about the Magic world.Flavor text has no eect on game play.Some abilities have italic reminder textto help explain what they do.

SorceryA sorcery represents a magical incantation. You can cast a sorcery only during a mainphase o one o your own turns. You cant cast it when another spell is on the stack(Youll learn about phases and the stack in a bit.) A sorcery has its eectin otherwords, you ollow the instructions on the cardthen you put it into your graveyardwhich is the game term or your discard pile.


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X X

X X X

X X X X X

X X X

X

X

& 19932009 Wizards of the Coast LLC 244/249

Karl Kopinski

Mountain

Basic Land Mountain

:

:

:+1

-2

-8

OOO

5 & 19932009 Wizards of the Coast LLC 102/249

Aleksi Briclot

o3oBoBLiliana Vess

Planeswalker Liliana

Target player discards a card.

Search your library for a card, thenshuffle your library and put that cardon top of it.

Put all creature cards in all graveyardsonto the battlefield under your control.:

:

+1

-2

-8

& 19932009 Wizards of the Coast LLC 102/249Aleksi Briclot

ilili nan esss

PlPl nnanan sw l rer Lillianan

ar tpla eer d scisccc rdar s a ccar .rd..r ..

eaarcr y rllll r rryy fff rrr a ca ccardr tt,, henhuufffl yo rourlilil brrar rr ndnda ut ttt tt t attatt caacc rdsn topt ooo tt.....

Putut all cl crear t rtt ee cccarar iis inn allll grraavveyy rda sntnt tt ee b ttlelefiee undnder uour ccontnt oror lrr ..

6

PlaneswalkerPlaneswalkers are powerul allies you can call on to fght by your side. Teyrepermanents, and each one enters the battlefeld with the number o loyaltycountersindicated in its lower right corner. Each planeswalker has abilities that add or removeloyalty counters to activate. For example, the symbol!means Put one loyalty counteron this planeswalker, and the symbol2 means Remove two loyalty counters romthis planeswalker. You can activate one o these abilities only at the time you couldcast a sorcery, and only i none o that planeswalkers abilities have been activated

yet that turn.

Your planeswalkers can be attacked by your opponents creatures (i so, you can blockas normal), and your opponent can damage them with their spells and abilities insteado damaging you. Any damage dealt to a planeswalker causes it to lose that manyloyalty counters. I it has no loyalty counters, its put into your graveyard.

Planeswalkers are rich and complex, and this just scratches the surace. o learn more,visitwww.wizards.com/planeswalkers .

LandAlthough lands are permanents, they arent cast as spells. o play a land, just put itonto the battlefeld. Tis happens immediately, so no player can do anything else inresponse. You can play a land only during one o your main phases while the stack isempty. You cant play more than one land a turn.

Most lands have abilities that make mana. Youll use lands to make the mana you needto pay or spells and abilities.

Each basic land has a mana ability that makes one mana o a particular color. Plains

make white mana (oW), Islands make blue mana (oU), Swamps make black mana (oB)Mountains make red mana (oR), and Forests make green mana (oG). Any land otherthan these fve is a nonbasicland.


Card typeIs a

permanentIs cast as a

spellIs usuallycolorless

Can attackCan be

attacked

Land

Artiact

CreatureEnchantment

Planeswalker

Instant

Sorcery


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RobA

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Mounta

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Countertargetnoncreature spell.Mastersofthearcanesavora deliciousirony.Theirstudyofdeepandcomplexarcana leadstosuch a simpleend:theabilitytosaymerelyyesorno.

& 19 9320 09 Wizards o f theCoas tLLC 65/24 9

JeremyJarvis

o1oU

Negate

Instant

creature spell.savora deliciouseepandcomplplplexa simpleend:theheesorno.

5//244495/4 94/4 9499

oOOOoOOoOOOOO

OOO

FlyingoR:ShivanDragongets+1/+0until

endofturn.Theundisputedmasterofthemountains

ofShiv.

5/5

&19932009Wizardsof theCoastLLC156/249

DonatoGiancola

o4oRoR

ShivanDragon

CreatureDragon

&19932009WizardsoftheCoastLLC247/249

JohnAvon

Forest

BasicLandForest


RobAlexander

Plains

BasicLandPlains

OO

WhenBorderlandRangerentersthebattlefield,youmaysearchyourlibraryforabasiclandcard,revealit,andputitintoyourhand.Ifyoudo,shuffleyourlibrary.

Onlyfoolsandbanditsuseroads.

2/2&19932009WizardsoftheCoastLLC169/249

JesperEjsing

o2oG BorderlandRanger

CreatureHumanScout

OO

WhenElvishVisionaryentersthe

battlefield,

drawacard.

Beforeanymajorundertaking,a

Cylian

elfseekstheguidanceofavisionaryto

learnthewillofthegargantuanancients.

1/1

&1993

2009WizardsoftheCoastLLC178/249

D.

AlexanderGregory

o1oG

ElvishVisionary

Creature

ElfShaman

OO

Reach(Thiscreaturecanblockcreatureswithflying.)

Thegiantspiderssilknaturallyresistsgravity,almostweavingitselfasitblanketstheforestcanopy.

2/4&19932009WizardsoftheCoastLLC185/249

RandyGallegos

o3oG GiantSpider

CreatureSpider

OO

Oncehedworkedoutwhich endofthethingwassharp,he waspromotedto

guardduty.


DiTerlizzi

o1oRGoblinPiker

Creature GoblinWarrior

OOO

Flying

oR:DragonWhelp gets+1/+0 untilendof turn.At the beginning ofthe endstep,if thisabilityhasbeenactivatedfourormore timesthisturn,sacrifice DragonWhelp.


StevenBelledin

o2oRoRDragonWhelp

Creature Dragon


Sam Wood

Mountain

Basic LandMountain&19932009WizardsoftheCoastLLC244/249

KarlKopinski

Mountain

BasicLandMountain


NilsHamm

Mountain

BasicLandMountain


RobAlexander

Island

BasicLandIsland


JohnAvon

Island

BasicLandIsland

OO

Enchantcreature

Enchantedcreaturecantattackorblock.

Forthefirsttimeinhislife,Grakkfeltalittlewarmandfuzzyinside.


RobertBliss

o1oW Pacifism

EnchantmentAura

OO

Haste(Thiscreature canattackandoT assoonasit comesunder your control.)

Aflashofthelightning,abreakof thewave,Hepassesfromlife tohisrestin thegrave.

WilliamKnox,Mortality


Kev Walker

o3oRLightning Elemental

Creature Elemental

&1993


JohnAvon

Plains

BasicLand

Plains

&1993


GlenAngus

Forest

BasicLand

Forest

O

Targetcreaturegets+3/+3untilendofturn.


MattCavotta

oG GiantGrowth

Instant

7

Game Zones


Heres what a game in progress looks like.In this example, there arent any exiled cards, and no spellsare on the stack. (When you put a spell on the stack, you takethe card rom your hand and put it in the middle o the tableuntil it fnishes resolving.)

Since the Magic game doesnt have a game board, zonesare the areas o play that exist on your table.

Hand

Hand

Battlefield

Opponent life left

You life left

Library

Library

Graveyard

Graveyard

HandWhen you draw cards, they go to your hand, just as in mostother card games. No one except you can look at the cardsin your hand. You start the game with seven cards in yourhand, and you have a maximum hand size o seven. (You

may have more than seven cards in your hand, but you mustdiscard down to seven at the end o each o your turns.)Each player has his or her own hand.

BattlefieldYou start the game with nothing on the battlefeld, but thisis where the action is going to be. On each o your turns,you can play a land rom your hand. Creatures, artiactsenchantments, and planeswalkers also enter the battlefeldater they resolve. You can arrange your permanents howeveryou want (we recommend putting lands closest to you)

but your opponent must be able to see all o them and tellwhether theyre tapped. Tis zone is shared by both players.

GraveyardYour graveyard is your discard pile. Your instant and sorceryspells go to your graveyard when theyresolve. Your cards goto your graveyard i an eect causes them to be discardeddestroyed, sacriced, or countered. Your planeswalkers go toyour graveyard i they lose all their loyalty counters. Yourcreatures go to your graveyard i the damage theyre dealtin a single turn is equal to or greater than their toughness,or i their toughness is reduced to 0 or less. Cards in your

graveyard are always ace up and anyone can look at them atany time. Each player has his or her own graveyard.

The StackSpells and abilities exist on the stack. Tey wait there toresolve until both players choose not to cast any new spellsor activate any new abilities. Ten the last spell or abilitythat was put onto the stack resolves, and players get a chanceto cast spells and activate abilities again. (Youll learn moreabout casting spells and activating abilities the next section.)Tis zone is shared by both players.

ExileI a spell or ability exilesa card, that card is put in a gamearea thats set apart rom the rest o the game. Te card willremain there orever, unless whatever put it there is able tobring it back. Exiled cards are normally ace up. Tis zone isshared by both players.

LibraryWhen the game begins, your deck o cards becomes yourlibrary (your draw pile). Its kept ace down, and the cardsstay in the order they were in at the beginning o the game.No one can look at the cards in your library, but you canknow how many cards are in each players library. Eachplayer has his or her own library.

OO

Drawtwo cards.

Thekey tounlockingthispu zzleis

withinyou .Doriel,mentorofMi st ralI sle

& 19932009Wizardsof theCoastLLC49/

249HowardLyon

o2oUDivination

Sorcery


8/34

oW

oU

oB

oR

oG


Rob Alexander

Plains

Basic Land Plains

&1993


RobAlexander

Plains

BasicLandPlains

Pl

sicLandPlais

OO

oT: Prodigal Pyromancer deals 1 damageto target creature or player.

What am I looking at? Ashes,dead man.

1/1& 19932009 Wizardsof the CoastLLC 151/249

JeremyJarvis

o2oRProdigal Pyromancer

Creature Human Wizard

OO

oT:ProdigalPyromancerdeals1damage

totargetcreatureorplayer.

WhatamIlookingat?Ashes,deadman.

1/1


JeremyJarvis

o2oR

ProdigalPyromancer

CreatureHumanWizard

8

Section : The Building Blocks

Making Mana

Tis section describes the actions that youll take during a game. Youll learn how to make mana, which is the resourceyou need to cast spells. It will then describe how to cast a spell, as well as how to use abilities. It will go over how toattack and block with your creatures. Te section fnishes with a brie description o how to build your frst deck andan explanation o the games Golden Rule.

o do just about anything else in the game, you frstneed to be able to make mana. Tink o mana as Magicmoneyits what you use to pay most costs. Each manais either one o the fve Magic colorsor is colorless. Whena cost requires colored mana, youll see colored manasymbols (oW or white, oU or blue, oB or black, oR orred,oG or green). When any kind o mana can be used

to pay the cost, youll see a symbol with a number in it(likeo2).

Where does mana come rom? Nearly every land in thegame has an ability that produces mana. Basic lands justhave a large mana symbol in their text boxes to showthisyou can tap one o them to add one mana o thatcolor to your mana pool. (Your mana pool is where manais stored until you spend it.) Other lands, as well as somecreatures, artiacts, and spells, may also make mana.Teyll say something like Add oG to your mana pool.

Mana that youve made doesnt last orever. At the end oeach step orphaseo the turn, any unused mana in yourmana pool disappears.

Tapped

UntappedTappingo tap a card is to turn it sideways. You do this when you use a land to make mana, whenyou attack with a creature, or when you activate an ability that has the oT symbol as part oits cost (oT means tap this permanent). When a permanent is tapped, that usually meansits been used or the turn. You cant tap it again until its been untapped(straightened out).

Sometimes an eect will tap a permanent. I this happens, you dont get the eect youd geti you chose to tap your permanent yoursel.

At the beginning o each o your turns, you untap your tapped cards so you can usethem again.


Basic Land Type Can Be Tapped For

Plains

Island

Swamp

Mountain

Forest

(white)

(blue)

(black)

(red)

(green)


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OO

Destroy target tapped creature.

This is how wars are wonnot witharmies of soldiers but with a single knifeblade, artfully placed.Yurin, royal assassin


Kev Walker

o2oBAssassinate

Sorcery

9


Spells

Now that you can make mana, youll want to use it to cast spells. All cards except lands are cast as spells. You can castsorceries, creatures, artiacts, enchantments, and planeswalkers only during one o your main phases when theresnothing else on the stack. Instants can be cast at any time.

Casting a Spello cast a spell, take the card you want to cast rom yourhand, show it to your opponent, and put it on the stack.(Te stack is the game zone where spells live. Its usuallyin the middle o the table.) Tere are a ew choices thatyou need to make right now. I the spell is an instant orsorcery and says Choose one , you choose which othe options youre using. I the spell is an instant or sorceryand it has a target, you choose what (or who) that targetis. Aura spells also target the permanents theyll enchant.I the spell has oX in its cost, you choose what number

X stands or. Other choices will be made later, when thespell resolves.

TargetWhen you see the word targeton a spell or ability, you haveto choose one or more thingsor the spell or ability to aect. Youll be able to choose onlycertain kinds o things, suchas target red permanent ortarget creature or player.

You choose the targets or a spell when you cast it, andyou choose targets or an activated ability when youactivate it. I you cant meet the targeting requirements,you cant cast the spell or activate the activated ability.Once you choose targets, you cant change your mindlater. When the spell or ability resolves, it checks thetargets to make sure theyre still legal(theyre still there,and they match the requirements stated by the spell orability). I a target isnt legal, the spell or ability cant

aect it. I none o the targets are legal, the spell orability is countered and does nothing at all.

Now check what the spells cost is. ap your lands toproduce the mana necessary to pay that cost, and pay it.Once you do that, the spell has been cast.

Responding to a SpellTe spell doesnt resolve(have its eect) right awayit hasto wait on the stack. Each player, including you, now getsa chance to cast an instant or activate an activated abilityin response. I a player does, that instant or ability goes onthe stack on top o what was already waiting there. Whenall players decline to do anything, the top spell or abilityon the stack will resolve.

Resolving a SpellWhen a spell resolves, one o two things happens. I the

spell is an instant or a sorcery, it has its eect (in otherwords, you ollow the instructions on the card), then youput the card into your graveyard. I the spell is a creatureartiact, enchantment, or planeswalker, you put the cardon the table in ront o you, near your lands. Te card isnow on the battlefeld. Any o your cards on the battlefeldis called apermanentbecause it sticks around permanently(well, until something happens to it). Many permanentshave abilities, which is text on them that aects thegame.

Ater a spell or ability resolves, both players get the chanceto play something new. I no one does, the next thingwaiting on the stack will resolve (or i the stack is emptythe current part o the turn will end and the game willproceed to the next part). I either player plays somethingnew, it goes on top o the stack and the process repeats.

urn the page to see an example o spells on the stack.


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1

2

3

4

3

4

1

2

10

Te Lightning Bolt goes on the stack on top o GiantGrowth so it resolves frst. It deals 3 damage to RuneclawBearenough to destroy it! When the Giant Growth tries

to resolve, its only target is no longer on the battlefeld, soits countered (it does nothing).

What would happen i the Giant Growth were cast rst?


Your opponentcasts Lightning Bolt targeting yourRuneclaw Bear, a 2/2 creature. Te Lightning Bolt goeson the stack.

You respond to the Lightning Bolt by casting GiantGrowth on your Runeclaw Bear. Giant Growth goeson the stack, on top o Lightning Bolt. Your and youropponent both decline to do anything else.

Giant Growth resolves, making the Runeclaw Bear 5/5until the end o the turn.

Ten the Lightning Bolt resolves, dealing 3 damage tothe pumped-up Runeclaw Bear. Tats not enough todestroy it.

Examples of Spells on the Stack

Your spell on the stack

Your creature on the battlefeld

Opponents spellon the stack


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oB: Looming Shade gets +1/+1 untilend of turn.

Its form never rests, propelled by someundetectable gale from beyond the gloom.


Kev Walker

o2oBLooming Shade

Creature Shade

OO

When Elvish Visionary enters thebattlefield, draw a card.

Before any major undertaking, a Cylianelf seeks the guidance of a visionary tolearn the will of the gargantuan ancients.


D. Alexander Gregory

o1oGElvish Visionary

Creature Elf Shaman

OOO

Creatures you control have flying.

The horses of Scythas army must bewell trained. A thrown rider would fallmiles before meeting the ground.


Jim Murray

o2oUoULevitation

Enchantment

OOO

Flying

Vigilance (Attacking doesnt causethis creature to tap.)

Her sword sings more beautifully thanany choir.


Greg Staples

o3oWoWSerra Angel

Creature Angel

11

Abilities

As you start to accumulate permanents on the battlefeld, the game will change. Tats because many permanents havetext on them that aects the game. Tis text tells you a permanents abilities. Tere are three dierent kinds o abilities apermanent can have: static abilities, triggered abilities, and activateda bilities.

Static AbilitiesA static ability is text that is always true while that card is on the battlefeld. For example,Levitation is an enchantment with the ability Creatures you control have ying. You dontactivate a static ability. It just does what it says.

Triggered AbilitiesA triggered ability is text that happens when a specifc event occurs in the game. For example,Elvish Visionary is a creature with the ability When Elvish Visionary enters the battlefeld,draw a card. Each triggered ability starts with the word when, whenever, or at. Youdont activate a triggered ability. It automatically triggers whenever the frst part o the abilityhappens. Te ability goes on the stack just like a spell, and resolves just like a spell. I theability triggers but then the permanent the ability came rom leaves the battlefeld, the ability

will still resolve.

You cant choose to delay or ignore a triggered ability. However, i the ability targets something

or someone but you cant choose a legal target or it, the ability wont do anything.

Activated AbilitiesAn activated ability is an ability that you can activate whenever you want, as long as you canpay the cost. For example, Looming Shade is a creature with the ability oB: Looming Shadegets +1/+1 until end o turn. Each activated ability has a cost, then a colon (:), then aneect. Activating one works exactly like casting an instant spell, except theres no card to puton the stack. Te ability goes on the stack just like a spell, and resolves just like a spell. I youactivate an ability but then the permanent the ability came rom leaves the battlefeld, the

ability will still resolve.

Some activated abilities contain the oT symbol in their costs. Tis means that you must tapthe permanent to activate the ability. You cant activate the ability i the permanentis already tapped.

KeywordsSome permanents have abilities that are shortened to a single word or phrase. Most o thesehave reminder text that gives you a brie description o the abilitys eect. Keyword abilitiesin the core set include deathtouch, deender, enchant, equip, frst strike, ash, ying, haste,landwalk (such as swampwalk or orestwalk), lielink, protection, reach, shroud, trample, andvigilance. Most o these are static abilities, but keyword abilities can also be triggered abilitiesor activated abilities. Detailed explanations o each o these abilities can be ound in theglossary at the end o this rulebook.



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Attacking and Blocking

Te primary way to win the game is to attack with yourcreatures. I a creature thats attacking your opponent isntblocked, it deals damage equal to its power to him or her.It doesnt take that many hits to drop your opponent all

the way rom 20 lie to 0!Te middle o each turn is the combat phase. (Youll learnabout the parts o the turn in a bit.) In your combat phase,you choose which o your creatures will attack, and youchoose who or what they will attack. Each one can attackyour opponent or one o your opponents planeswalkers,but not any o his or her creatures. You tap the attackingcreatures. Tey all attack at the same time, even i theyreattacking dierent things. You can attack with a creatureonly i its untapped, and only i it was on the battlefeld

under your control when the turn began.

Your opponent chooses which o his or her creatures willblock. apped creatures cant be declared as blockers.For blocking, it doesnt matter how long the creature hasbeen on the battlefeld. Each creature can block only oneattacker, but multiple blockers can gang up on a singleattacking creature. I that happens, the attacking playerorders the blockers to show which is frst in line ordamage, which is second, and so on. Creatures dont haveto block.

Ater all blockers are chosen, combat damage is assigned.Each creatureboth attackers and blockersdealsdamage equal to its power. An attacking creature that isnt blocked deals damage to

the player or planeswalker its attacking. An attacking creature that is blocked deals damage to

the blocking creatures. I one o your attacking creaturesis blocked by multiple creatures, you decide how todivide its combat damage among them. You must assignat least enough damage to the frst blocking creature in

line to destroy it beore you can assign damage to thenext one in line, and so on.

A blocking creature deals damage to the attacker itsblocking.

I damage is dealt to your opponent, he or she loses thatmuch lie!

I damage is dealt to your opponents planeswalker, thatmany loyalty counters are removed rom it.

I a creature is dealt damage equal to or greater than itstoughness over the course o a single turn, that creature isdestroyed and goes to its owners graveyard. I a creaturetakes damage that isnt lethal, that creature stays on thebattlefeld, but the damage doesnt wear o until theturn ends.

urn the page to see an example o combat.


Illus. Aleksi Briclot


13/34


14/3414

You play a Magic game with your own customized deck. You build it yoursel using whichever Magic cards you wantTere are two rules: Your deck must have at least 60 cards, and your deck cant have more than our copies o any singlecard (except or basic lands). Te rest is up to you, but here are some guidelines or getting started:

Lands. A good rule o thumb is that 2/5 o your deck should be lands. A 60-card deck usually hasabout 24 lands.Creatures. Creatures account or 20 to 30 cards in a typical 60-card deck. Choose creatures that havea variety o mana costs. Low-cost creatures are potent early on, but high-cost creatures can quicklywin a game once they enter the battlefeld.Other cards. Artiacts, enchantments, planeswalkers, instants, and sorceries round out your deck.

Ater you play with your new deck or a while, you can start to customize it. ake out cards you dont eel are workingwell and add new cards you want to try. Te best part about trading card games is being able to play with whatevercards you want, so start experimenting!

When a Magic card contradicts the rulebook, the card wins. For example, the rules say you have a maximum handsize o seven. But Spellbook reads You have no maximum hand size. Spellbook changes the rules as long as its onthe battlefeld. One o the things that makes the Magic game un to play is that there are individual cards that let youbreak almost every rule.


Building Your Own Deck

The Golden Rule

Illus. Cyril Van Der Haegen


15/3415

Section : Playing a GameNow that you know the elements o the game and how to perorm the main actions, its time to walk through a turnTis section describes what happens in each part o a turn. In a typical game, youll skip many o these parts (orexample, nothing usually happens in the beginning o combat step). An actual Magic game is pretty casual, despitehow complex the structure may seem.

Youll need your own Magic deck. Youll also need a way to keep track o both players lie totals.

o play a game, youll need an opponent! Your opponent will play against you using his or her own deck.

Each player starts at 20 lie. You win the game byreducing your opponent to 0 lie. You also win iyour opponent has to draw a card when none arelet in his or her deck, or i a spell or ability says thatyou win.

Decide which player will go frst. I youve justplayed the same opponent, the loser o the last gamedecides who goes frst. Otherwise, roll a die or ip acoin to see who gets to decide.

Each player shu es his or her deck, then draws ahand o seven cards to start. I you dont like youropening hand, you can mulligan. Shu e your handback into your deck and draw a new hand o sixcards. You can keep doing this, drawing a hand oone ewer card each time, until you decide to keep

your cards.

Section : Playing a Game

Illus. Jason Chan

Get a Deck

Get a Friend

Start the Game


16/3416

Parts of the Turn

Below are the parts o a turn. Each turn proceeds in the same sequence. Whenever you enter a new step or phase, anytriggered abilities that happen during that step or phase trigger and are put on the stack. Te active player(the playerwhose turn it is) gets to cast spells and activate abilities, then the other player does. When both players in a row declineto do anything and nothing is waiting to resolve, the game will move to the next step.

With each part o the turn is a description o what can happen during that part, i its your turn.

. Beginning Phasea. Untap step

You untap all your tapped permanents. On the frstturn o the game, you dont have any permanents, soyou just skip this step. No one can cast spells or activateabilities during this step.

b. Upkeep stepTis part o the turn is mentioned on a number ocards. I something is supposed to happen just once

per turn, right at the beginning, an ability will triggerat the beginning o your upkeep. Players can castinstants and activate abilities.

c. Draw stepYou draw a card rom your library. (Te player whogoes frst skips the draw step on his or her frst turn tomake up or the advantage o going frst.) Players canthen cast instants and activate abilities.

. First Main PhaseYou can cast any number o sorceries, instants, creatures,

artiacts, enchantments, and planeswalkers, and youcan activate abilities. You can play a land during thisphase, but remember that you can play only one landduring your turn. Your opponent can cast instants andactivate abilities.

. Combat Phasea. Beginning o combat step

Players can cast instants and activate abilities.b. Declare attackers step

You decide which, i any, o your untapped creatures will attack, and which player or planeswalker they

will attack, then they do so. Tis taps the attackingcreatures. Players can then cast instants and activateabilities.

c. Declare blockers step Your opponent decides which, i any, o his or heruntapped creatures will block your attacking creatures,then they do so. I multiple creatures block a single

attacker, you order the blockers to show which is frstin line or damage, which is second, and so on. Playerscan then cast instants and activate abilities.

d. Combat damage stepEach attacking or blocking creature thats still on thebattlefeld assigns its combat damage to the deendingplayer (i its attacking that player and wasnt blocked)to a planeswalker (i its attacking that planeswalker andwasnt blocked), to the creature or creatures blocking it,

or to the creature its blocking. I an attacking creatureis blocked by multiple creatures, you divide its combatdamage among them by assigning at least enoughdamage to the frst blocking creature in line to destroyit beore assigning damage to the next one in line, andso on. Once players decide how the creatures theycontrol will deal their combat damage, the damage isall dealt at the same time. Players can then cast instantsand activate abilities.

e. End o combat stepPlayers can cast instants and activate abilities.

. Second Main Phase Your second main phase is just like your frst mainphase. You can cast every type o spell and activateabilities, but your opponent can only cast instants andactivate abilities. You can play a land during this phasei you didnt during your frst main phase.

. Ending Phasea. End step

Abilities that trigger at the beginning o your end stepgo on the stack. Players can cast instants and activateabilities.

b. Cleanup stepI you have more than seven cards in your hand, chooseand discard cards until you have only seven. Next, aldamage on creatures is removed and all until end oturn eects end. No one can cast instants or activateabilities unless an ability triggers during this step.



17/34

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17

The Next Turn

The Ever-Changing Game

Now its your opponents turn. Tat player untaps his or her permanents and goes rom there. Ater that player is done,it will be your turn again. Keep going until a player is reduced to 0 lie. As soon as a player has 0 lie, the game endsimmediately and the other player wins!

One o the ascinating aspects o the Magic game is that it changes rom turn to turnand the cards themselves canactually alter the rules o the game. As you play, youll fnd nonland cards with abilities that produce mana, and landsthat do other things besides produce mana. Youll fnd creatures with the haste ability, which allows them to attackright away. Youll fnd creatures with ying and trample, which change the rules o combat. Youll fnd cards withabilities that work rom your graveyard. Youll fnd cards whose abilities work together or an eect thats much morepowerul than either one could achieve alone (such as the combo o Blinding Mage and Royal Assassin). Tis is a gameo discovery, o amazement, o fghting, and o tricks. Tis is a game o magic.


Illus. Nils Hamm


18/3418

Section : Different Ways to PlayYou know everything you need to play a Magic game. But what kind o game will you play? Appropriately enough ora game with so many options, there are lots o dierent ways to play. Everyone can start on equal ooting with brand-new cards, or you can build a deck in advance rom the cards in your collection. You can even play with a bunch oriends, not just one.

In Limited play, each player builds his or her own deck on the spot out o a number o booster packs. In other wordsyour deck is made rom a limited card pool. Each deck must contain at least 40 cards. Te only cards you can playwith are the ones opened in those packs, plus any number o basic land cards. (A 40-card deck should have about 17lands and about 15 creatures.)

Sealed Deck ( or more players)In this Limited ormat, you build a deck out o brand-

new booster packs. Each player opens fve or six 15-cardboosters and builds a 40-card deck using the cards romhis or her packs and any number o basic lands.

Booster Draft ( to players)In this Limited ormat, you select the cards youll buildyour deck rom. Each player at the table starts with threeunopened 15-card booster packs. Each player opens hisor her frst pack, chooses a card, and passes the rest to thelet. Dont show anyone your picks or whats in the packs!ake one card rom each pack passed to you and pass the

rest to your let until all the cards have been taken. Repeatthis process with the second pack, but pass it to the right.For the last pack, pass to the let again. Use your picks andany number o basic lands to build your 40-card deck.

Section : Different Ways to Play

Limited Formats

Sideboards

Each Magic deck may have a sideboarda group oextra cards that are particularly good against certainopponents. For example, a card that says Destroy allgreen creatures is great against someone playing agreen deck, but useless against anyone else. Ater youplay a game against an opponent, you may move cardsrom your sideboard into your main deck, then playthat opponent again. You must reset your deck to itsoriginal confguration beore playing someone new.

In a Limited game, all the cards you opened that arentin your main deck are in your sideboard. Between

games, you may swap in cards rom your sideboardin exchange or the same number o cards in yourmain deck. You may also simply add cards rom yoursideboard to your main deck.

In a Constructed game, your sideboard consists oexactly 15 cards. You build your sideboard as youbuild your deck. Your combined deck and sideboardcant have more than our copies o any card otherthan basic land cards. Between games, you may swapin cards rom your sideboard in exchange or the samenumber o cards rom your main deck.

Illus. Matt Cavotta


19/3419

Constructed Formats

Multiplayer Variants

In Constructed play, each player brings his or her own deck to the game. In other words, your deck must be constructed inadvance. Each deck must contain at least 60 cards. A deck may contain any number o basic land cards, but no more thanour copies o any other card. Te pool o cards that players use to build their decks depends on exactly which Constructedormat theyre playing.

You can play a Magic game with more than two players in it. Tere are dozens o dierent ways to do so. Tree o the mostpopular are wo-Headed Giant, Emperor, and Free-or-All.

StandardStandard is the most popular Constructed ormat. Fora Standard game, you build a deck using cards rom thetwo most recent October large expansions and all otherexpansions and core sets released since the frst o thoseOctober expansions.

ExtendedFor an Extended game, you build a deck using cards romthe seven most recent October large expansions and allother expansions and core sets released since the frst othose October expansions.

Block ConstructedFor a Block Constructed game, you build a deck using cardsrom the most recent October expansion and any o thetwo expansions released ater it. You cant use cards romthe core set.

LegacyFor a Legacy game, you build a deck using cards rom anyMagic set. Tis ormat has an extensive Banned List.

VintageFor a Vintage game, you build a deck using cards rom anyMagic set. Tis ormat has an extensive Restricted List.

Two-Headed GiantIn a wo-Headed Giant game, you and a teammate playagainst another two-person team. You and your teammatetake your turns at the same time! Each team has a sharedlie total that starts at 30.

EmperorIn an Emperor game, two three-player teams ace o. Eachteam has an emperor, who sits in the middle o the team.

Te remaining players on the team are generals whose jobis to protect the emperor. A team wins when the opposingemperor has been deeated.

Free-for-AllIn a Free-or-All game, each player acts as an individualagainst multiple opponents. You win i youre the last onestanding!

Banned and RestrictedSome cards have proven to be too powerul or certainConstructed ormats. Tese cards have been banned

(meaning you cant play with them at all) or restricted(meaning you can play at most one o each o them,rather than the typical our). Only the Vintage ormathas a Restricted List. Tese lists are updated quarterly.CheckMagicTeGathering.com or announcements onDecember 20, March 20, June 20, and September 20.

TipsIn a multiplayer game, the frst time a player takes amulligan, he or she draws a new hand o seven cardsrather than six cards. Subsequent hands decrease by onecard as normal.

In a wo-Headed Giant game, the team who plays

frst skips the draw step o their frst turn. In all othermultiplayer games, no player skips the draw step o his orher frst turn.

Learn more about these and other Magic ormats atwww.wizards.com/MagicFormats.

Section : Different Ways to Play


20/34

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Section : Glossary

Section : Glossaryo1,o2,o3,and so on,oXOne o these generic mana symbols in a cost means thismany o any type o mana. For example, o2 in a costmeans you can pay two mana o any type, such asoR andoG, oroU andoU, oroR and one colorless mana, and so on.(IoX is in a cost, you get to choose what number the Xstands or.)

Tese symbols are also ound in some abilitiesthat produce mana, like Add o1 to your mana pool. Inthis context,o1means one colorless mana. You cant usecolorless mana to pay or colored mana costs.

oW(white mana)One white mana. apping a Plains makesoW. A card withoW in its mana cost is white.

oU(blue mana)One blue mana. apping an Island makesoU. A card withoU in its mana cost is blue.

oB(black mana)One black mana. apping a Swamp makes oB. A cardwithoB in its mana cost is black.

oR (red mana)One red mana. apping a Mountain makes oR. A cardwithoR in its mana cost is red.

oG(green mana)One green mana. apping a Forest makesoG. A card withoG in its mana cost is green.

oT(tap)Tis symbol means tap thiscard (turn it sideways toshow that its been used). Itappears in activation costs.You cant pay aoT cost i thecard is already tapped. Also,remember that you cant payyour creaturesoT costs untilthe creature starts your turnon the battlefeld underyour control.

oh1,oh6, and so onHybrid mana symbols represent a cost that can be paidwith either o two colors. For example, a cost representedby theoh1 symbol can be paid with one white mana or oneblue mana. Its both a white and a blue mana symbol, anda card with oh1 in its mana cost is both white and blue.

/Instead o numbers, some creatures have stars or theirpower and toughness. Tis means the creatures powerand toughness are set by an ability it has rather thanbeing fxed numbers. For example, Nightmare has anability that reads Nightmares power and toughnessare each equal to the number o Swamps you control.I you control our Swamps when Nightmare enters thebattlefeld, it will be 4/4. I you play more Swamps lateron, it will get even bigger.

Ability Any text on a permanent (except reminder text anavor text) tells you the permanents abilities. Tere arethree kinds o abilities a permanent can have: activatedabilities, static abilities, and triggered abilities. Unless theysay otherwise, abilities work only while the permanenttheyre on is on the battlefeld. Once a triggered abilitytriggers or an activated ability is activated, it will resolveunless its countered; it doesnt matter what happens tothe source o the ability once the ability goes on the stackSee Abilities on page 11.

ActivateYou activate an activated ability by putting it on the stackYou activate an ability just as you cast a spell: announceit, choose its targets, and pay its activation cost. SeeActivated Abilities on page 11.

Activated abilityOne o the three kinds o abilities a permanent can haveAn activated ability is always written in the orm costeect. See Activated Abilities on page 11.

Active playerTe player whose turn it is. Te active player always getsthe frst chance to cast spells and activate abilities.


21/34


John Avon

Forest

Basic Land Forest

21

Additional costSome spells say they have an additional cost. o cast thatspell, you must pay both the mana cost in the upper rightcorner o the card and its additional cost.

ArtiactA card type. See Artiact on page 5.

Artiact creatureTis is both an artiact and a creature. See Creature onpage 5.

AttackHow your creatures deal damage to your opponent.During your combat phase, you decide which, i any, oyour untapped creatures will attack, and which player orplaneswalker they will attack, then they all do so at once. Attacking causes creatures to tap. Creatures can attackonly players or planeswalkers, not other creatures. Your

opponent then gets a chance to block your attackingcreatures with his or her own creatures. See the explanationo Attacking and Blocking on page 12.

Attacking creature A creature thats attacking. A creature is attacking romthe time its declared as an attacker until the combatphase ends, unless its somehow removed rom combat.Teres no such thing as an attacking creature outside othe combat phase.

AuraA special type o enchantment that can be attached to apermanent. Each Aura has the keyword enchant ollowedby what it can be attached to: enchant creature, enchantland, and so on. When you cast an Aura spell, you chooseone o the right kind o permanent to target. When theAura resolves, its put onto the battlefeld attached to thatpermanent (its not targeting it anymore). Te Aura staysthere until its destroyed or the permanent its attachedto leaves the battlefeld. I the permanent leaves thebattlefeld, the Aura card is put into your graveyard.

Basic landTere are fve basic lands. Plains makeoW (white mana). Islands make oU(blue mana). Swamps make oB (blackmana). Mountains make oR (redmana). Forests makeoG (green mana)Tey each say basic on their typeline (basic is a supertype). Lands other

than these fve are called nonbasiclands.

When building a deck, you can include anynumber o basic lands. You cant have more than ourcopies o any other cards in your deck.

Basic land typeEach basic land has a subtype, which appears ater BasicLand on its type line. Tese are the basic land types,which are the same fve words as the basic land namesSome nonbasic lands also have basic land types. Any land

with a basic land type has an activated ability that makesone mana o the appropriate color, even i it doesnt say soin the text box. For example, every Forest has the abilityoT: AddoG to your mana pool.

BattleeldA game zone. See Battlefeld on page 7.

Beginning o combat stepSee Parts o the urn on page 16.

Beginning phaseSee Parts o the urn on page 16.

Blocko stop an attacking creature rom damaging you orone o your planeswalkers by having it fght one o

your creatures instead. Ater your opponent attackswith one or more creatures, you can have any numbeo your untapped creatures block. Each one can blockone attacking creature. You can have two or more o youruntapped creatures gang up and block a single attacking

creature. I an attacker is blocked, it will deal its combatdamage to the creature blocking it instead o to you.Blocking is optional. See the explanation o Attackingand Blocking on page 12.

Block ConstructedSee Constructed Formats on page 19.

Section : Glossary


22/3422

Blocked creature An attacking creature thats blocked by at least onecreature. Once a creature is blocked, it stays blocked orthe rest o the combat phaseeven i all the creaturesblocking it leave combat. In other words, once a creatureis blocked, theres no way or it to deal damage to theplayer or planeswalker its attacking (unless the attackingcreature has trample). Teres no such thing as a blocked

creature outside o the combat phase.

Blocking creatureA creature assigned to block an attacking creature. I acreature blocks an attacker, the attacker deals its damageto the blocker instead o to the player or planeswalkerits attacking. Once a creature blocks, it stays a blockingcreature or the rest o the combat phaseeven i thecreature its blocking leaves combat. Teres no such thingas a blocking creature outside o the combat phase.

Booster, booster pack A pack o randomly assorted Magic cards. Whenyou want to add more cards to your collection, this is what youll get. Most 15-card booster packs containone rare or mythic rare card, three uncommon cards,and eleven common cards, including one basic landcard. Find stores where Magic cards are sold athttp://locator.wizards.com .

Booster DratSee Limited Formats on page 18.

Card typeEvery card has at least one card type: artiact, creature,enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, or sorcery. Acards type is printed under its illustration. Some cards,like artiact creatures, have more than one type. Somecards also have subtypes, such as Goblin and Warriorin Creature Goblin Warrior, or supertypes, such asbasic in Basic Land Forest.

Cast

You cast a spell by putting it on the stack. Dierent kindso spells can be cast at dierent times, but the things youhave to do to cast a spell are always the same: announceit, choose its targets (and make certain other choices rightaway), and pay its cost. See Spells on page 9.

Choose one When you see the phrase Choose one on a cardyou have to choose one option on the card when you castit. You cant change your mind and choose somethingelse later on, even i your frst choice doesnt work out.

Cleanup stepSee Parts o the urn on page 16.

Collector numberSee Parts o a Card on page 4.

ColorTe fve Magic colors are white, blue, black, red, andgreen. I a spell or ability tellsyou to choose a color, youmust choose one o those fve. A cards color is determined

by its mana cost. For example,a card that costs o1oU is blueand a card that costs oRoW is both red and white. Cards with no colored mana in their mana costs, like mosartiacts, are colorless. (Colorless is not a color.) Lands arealso colorless.

Some eects can change a permanents colorFor example, arget creature becomes blue until end oturn. Te new color replaces the previous colors, unlessthe ability says otherwise.

ColorlessLands and most artiacts are colorless. Colorless is not acolor. I something tells you to choose a color, you cantchoose colorless.

CombatIn general, combat means attacking, blocking, and all thestu that happens during a combat phase.

Combat damageDamage dealt by creatures due to attacking and

blocking. A creature deals combat damage equal to itspower. Tis damage is dealt during the combat damagestep. Any other kind o damage doesnt count as combatdamage, even i its dealt as the result o a creaturesability during combat.

Section : Glossary


23/3423

Combat damage stepSee Parts o the urn on page 16.

Combat phaseSee Parts o the urn on page 16.

Concedeo stop playing a game and give your opponent the

victory. You can concede a game at any time (usually iyou realize you wont be able to avoid losing). When youconcede, you lose the game.

Constructed A group o play ormats that use decks you build inadvance. See Constructed Formats on page 19.

Continuous efectAn eect that lasts or some duration. Tese are dierentrom one-shot eects, which just happen once and dont

have a duration. You can tell how long a continuous eectwill last by reading the spell or ability it came rom. Forexample, it might say until end o turn. I the continuouseect comes rom a static ability, it lasts as long as thepermanent with the ability is on the battlefeld.

ControlYou control spells you cast and permanents that enteredthe battlefeld on your side. You also control abilities thatcome rom permanents you control.

Only you can make decisions or things you

control. I you control a permanent, only you can activateits activated abilities. Even i you put an enchantment onyour opponents creature, you control the enchantmentand its abilities. For example, lets say you enchant youropponents creature with Armored Ascension (Enchantedcreature gets +1/+1 or each Plains you control and hasying). Armored Ascension doesnt count how manyPlains your opponent controlsit counts how manyPlains you control.

Some spells and abilities let you gain control oa permanent. Most o the time, this means the card will

move rom your opponents side to yours. But or Aurasor Equipment attached to other cards, the controllerchanges but it doesnt move. Lets say your opponent gainscontrol o your Armored Ascension. Now it counts howmany Plains your opponent controlsbut the Aura stillstays on the same creature.

ControllerA spells controller is the player who cast it. An activatedabilitys controller is the player who activated it. Apermanents controller is the player who cast itunlessanother spell or ability changes who controls it. A triggeredabilitys controller is the player who controlled the sourceo the ability when it triggered.

Converted mana costTe total amount o mana in a mana cost, regardless ocolor. For example, a card with a mana cost oo3oUoU hasa converted mana cost o 5. A card with mana cost oRoRhas a converted mana cost o 2.

CostA cost is something you have to pay to take another actionYou must pay a cost to cast a spell or activate an activatedability. Sometimes a spell or ability will also ask you topay a cost when it resolves. You cant pay a cost unless you

can pay all o it. For example, i an activated abilitys cost(the part beore the :) tells you to discard a card and youhave no cards in your hand, you cant even try to pay it.

Counter a spell or abilityo cancel out a spell or ability so it has no eect. I a spelis countered, its removed rom the stack and put into itsowners graveyard. Once a spell or ability starts to resolveits too late to counter it. Lands arent spells, so they cantbe countered.

Counter on a permanentSome spells and abilities tell you to put a counter on apermanent. Te counter marks a change to the permanenthat lasts or as long as its on the battlefeld. A counterusually changes a creatures power and toughness or tracksa planeswalkers current loyalty. You can use anything youwant as counters: glass beads, dice, or whatever.

CreatureA card type. See Creature on page 5.

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Creature typeTis tells you what kind o creature a creature is, suchas Goblin, El, or Warrior. You fnd creature types in themiddle o the card ater Creature . I a creature hasmore than one word ater the dash, the creature has all othose creature types.

Some spells and abilities aect multiple creatureswith a certain type. For example, Goblin Chietain reads,

Other Goblin creatures you control get +1/+1 and havehaste. All other creatures you control with the Goblincreature type get the bonus.

DamageTis is what knocks down a players lie total, lowers aplaneswalkers loyalty, and destroys creatures. Attackingand blocking creatures deal damage equal to their power.Some spells and abilities can also deal damage. Damagecan be dealt only to creatures, planeswalkers, or players.I a creature is dealt damage equal to or greater than its

toughness in one turn, its destroyed. I a planeswalkeris dealt damage, that many loyalty counters are removedrom it. I a player is dealt damage, its subtracted romthe players lie total.

Damage is dierent rom losing lie. Forexample, Acolyte o Xathrids ability reads, arget playerloses 1 lie. Tat loss o lie isnt damage, so it cant beprevented.

Deathtouch A keyword ability seen on creatures. Deathtouch is an

ability that causes a creature to deal an exceptionallylethal orm o damage to other creatures. A creature dealtany amount o damage by a creature with deathtouch isdestroyed. I your creature with deathtouch is blocked bymultiple creatures, you can assign as little as 1 damage toeach o the blocking creatures!

DeckAt least 60 cards o your choice, well shu ed. (Limitedormats in which players build their decks as part o theevent allow 40-card decks.) o play a Magic game, you

must have your own deck. Once the game starts, yourdeck becomes your library.

Declare attackers stepSee Parts o the urn on page 16.

Declare blockers stepSee Parts o the urn on page 16.

Deender A keyword ability seen on creatures. Creatures withdeender cant attack.

Deending playerTe player who is being attacked (or whose planeswalkeris being attacked) during a combat phase.

Destroyo move a permanent rom the battlefeld to its ownersgraveyard. Creatures are destroyed when theyve takendamage equal to or greater than their toughness. Also, lotso spells and abilities can destroy permanents (withoutdealing damage to them).

Sometimes permanents are put into the graveyardwithout being destroyed. I a permanent is sacrifced, itisnt destroyed, but its still put into its owners graveyardTe same is true i a creatures toughness is reduced to 0 orless, two legendary permanents with the same name are on

the battlefeld, two planeswalkers with the same subtypeare on the battlefeld, or an Aura is on the battlefeld butisnt enchanting whats described in its enchant ability.

Discardo take a card rom your hand and put it into yourgraveyard. I a spell or ability makes you discard cards,you get to choose which cards to discardunless the spelor ability says another player chooses the cards or youhave to discard at random.

I you have more than seven cards in your hand

during your own cleanup step, you have to discard untilyou have seven.

Double strikeA keyword ability seen on creatures. Creatures with doublestrike deal their combat damage twice. When you reachthe combat damage step, check to see i any attackingor blocking creatures have frst strike or double strike. Iso, an extra combat damage step is created just or themOnly creatures with frst strike and double strike get todeal combat damage in this step. Ater that, the normal

combat damage step happens. All remaining attackingand blocking creatures, as well as the ones with doublestrike, deal combat damage during this second step.

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O

Enchant creature

oR: Enchanted creature gets +1/+0until end of turn.

The mage breathed in life-giving airand breathed out death-bringing fire.


Aleksi Briclot

oRFirebreathing

Enchantment Aura

25

Draw a cardo take the top card o your library (deck) and put it intoyour hand. You draw one card during each o your turns,at the start o your draw step. You also draw i a spell orability lets you; this doesnt aect your normal draw orthe turn. I a spell or ability lets you put a card into yourhand rom your library but doesnt use the word draw, itdoesnt count as drawing a card.

Draw stepSee Parts o the urn on page 16.

Draw the gameTe other Magic meaning o draw is a game that endswith no winner. For example, i a spell like Earthquakedeals enough damage so that both players drop to 0 or lesslie, the game is a draw.

Efect

What a spell or ability does when it resolves. Tere areseveral types o eects: one-shot eects, continuous eects,prevention eects, and replacement eects. You can lookup each one in this glossary.

EmperorSee Multiplayer Variants on page 19.

Enchant A keyword ability seen on all Auras. Its ollowed by adescription o a permanent (or example, enchant

creature or enchant land), which tells you what kindo permanent the Aura can be attached to. When you castthe Aura, you must target that kind o permanent. I theAura is ever attached to something that isnt the right kindo permanent, its put into its owners graveyard.

Enchanted When an ability o an Aura saysenchanted creature (or enchantedartiact, enchanted land, and soon), it means the creature the Aura is

attached to. For example, Firebreathingreads, oR: Enchanted creature gets+1/+0 until end o turn. You can givethe bonus only to the creature that theFirebreathing is attached to.

EnchantmentA card type. See Enchantment on page 5.

End o combat stepSee Parts o the urn on page 16.

End stepSee Parts o the urn on page 16.

Ending phaseSee Parts o the urn on page 16.

Enters the battleeldWhen artiact, creature, enchantment, and planeswalkespells resolve, they enter the battlefeld as permanentsLands also enter the battlefeld as permanents.

Some triggered abilities start with When [thispermanent] enters the battlefeld, . . . . When a permanenwith an ability like this is put onto the battlefeld, this

ability triggers right away. Some abilities also trigger whencertain other permanents enter the battlefeld.

Some cards say they enter the battlefeld tappedTese cards dont enter the battlefeld and become tappedtheyre already tapped by the time theyre put onto thebattlefeld. Similarly, creatures that enter the battlefeldwith [some number o ] +1/+1 counters, or whose poweror toughness will be modifed by a continuous eect, dontenter the battlefeld and then change size.

Equip

A keyword ability seen on all Equipment. It tells you howmuch it costs to attach the Equipment to one o yourcreatures. It doesnt matter whether the Equipment isunattached or is attached to a dierent creature. You canactivate this ability only during your main phase, whenno spells or abilities are on the stack. Te equip abilitytargets the creature youre moving the Equipment onto.

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Equipment A type o artiact that represents a weapon, armor, orother item that your creatures can use. When you cast anEquipment spell, it enters the battlefeld like any otherartiact. Once its on the battlefeld, you can pay its equipcost any time you could cast a sorcery to attach it to acreature you control. You can do this even i the Equipmentis attached to another creature. Once its attached to a

creature, the Equipment then has some eect on it. I theequipped creature leaves the battlefeld, the Equipmentdrops to the ground and stays on the battlefeld, waitingor you to attach it to another creature.

Evasion abilityA nickname or any ability that makes a creature harder toblock. Flying is the most common evasion ability.

ExileA game zone. See Exile on page 7.

Expansion symbolSee Parts o a Card on page 4.

ExtendedSee Constructed Formats on page 19.

FearA keyword ability seen on creatures. A creature with earcant be blocked except by artiact creatures and/or blackcreatures. Fear only matters when the creature with the

ability is attacking.

First strikeA keyword ability seen on creatures. Creatures with frststrike deal their combat damage beore creatures withoutfrst strike. When you reach the combat damage step,check to see i any attacking or blocking creatures havefrst strike or double strike. I so, an extra combat damagestep is created just or them. Only creatures with frststrike and double strike get to deal combat damage in thisstep. Ater that, the normal combat damage step happens.

All remaining attacking and blocking creatures, as well asthe ones with double strike, deal combat damage duringthis second step.

Flash A keyword ability seen on creatures, artiacts, anenchantments. A spell with ash can be cast any time youcould cast an instant.

Flavor textItalic text (italic text looks like this) in a cards text box thatjust or un. Flavor text sets a tone or describes part o the

magical world o the card. I the text is in parentheses,its there to remind you about a ruleits not avor textFlavor text has no eect on how the card is cast.

FlyingA keyword ability seen on creatures. A creature with yingcant be blocked except by creatures with ying or reach.

Forestwalk A kind o landwalk. See the glossary entry oLandwalk.

Free-or-AllSee Multiplayer Variants on page 19.

Golden RuleHow to handle a conict between a card and the rulebookSee Golden Rule on page 14.

GraveyardA game zone. See Graveyard on page 7.

HandA game zone. See Hand on page 7.

HasteA keyword ability seen on creatures. A creature with hastecan attack as soon as it comes under your control. You canalso activate its activated abilities withoT in the cost.

IndestructibleAn indestructible permanent cant be destroyed by damageor by eects that say destroy. Tey can still be put into

the graveyard or other reasons. See the glossary entry orDestroy.

InstantA card type. See Instant on page 5.

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Instead When you see this word, you know a spell or abilitycreates a replacement eect. See the glossary entry orReplacement eect.

Intimidate A keyword ability seen on creatures. A creature withintimidate cant be blocked except by creatures that share

a color with it and/or artiact creatures. For example, ared creature with intimidate could be blocked by a redcreature, a red-and-green creature, or any artiact creature.Intimidate only matters when the creature with the abilityis attacking.

Intro packA pack that includes a ready-to-play deck eaturing cardsrom a particular set, as well as a bonus 15-card boosterpack. You can play decks rom intro packs against eachother right out o the box. Te Magic2010core set has

fve intro packs. Each expansion has intro packs, too. When youre just starting to play, modiying the decksrom a Magic intro pack is a good way to start designingyour own decks. Find stores where Magic cards are sold athttp://locator.wizards.com .

Islandwalk A kind o landwalk. See the glossary entry orLandwalk.

Land

A card type. See Land on page 6.

Land typeA subtype o a land. See the glossary entry or Basic landtype.

LandwalkLandwalk is the name or a group o keyword abilitiesthat includes plainswalk, islandwalk, swampwalk,mountainwalk, and orestwalk. A creature with landwalkis unblockable i the deending player controls at least one

land o the specifed type.Landwalk abilities dont cancel each other out. For

example, lets say your creature with orestwalk attacks aplayer who controls a Forest. Tat player cant block yourorestwalker at allnot even with another orestwalker.

Leaves the battleeldA permanent leaves the battlefeld when it moves romthe battlefeld zone to any other zone. It might return to aplayers hand rom the battlefeld, go to a graveyard romthe battlefeld, or go to some other zone. I a card leavesthe battlefeld and later returns to the battlefeld, its like abrand-new card. It doesnt remember anything rom thelast time it was on the battlefeld.

LegacySee Constructed Formats on page 19.

LegendaryLegendary is a supertype, so youll fnd it written on thetype line beore the card type. Tere can be only one oa particular legendary permanent on the battlefeld at atime. I two or more legendary permanents with the samename are ever on the battlefeld at the same time, theyreall put into their owners graveyard. Tis is known as the

legend rule.

LibraryA game zone. See Library on page 7.

Lie, lie totalEach player begins the game with 20 lie. When youredealt damage by spells, abilities, or unblocked creaturesyou subtract the damage rom your lie total. I your lietotal drops to 0 or less, you lose the game. I somethingcauses both players lie totals to drop to 0 or less at the

same time, the game is a draw.

Lielink A keyword ability seen on permanents. Damage dealby a permanent with lielink causes that permanentscontroller to gain that much lie, in addition to behavinglike normal damage.

LimitedA group o play ormats using cards rom booster packsyou open just beore you play. See Limited Formats on

page 18.

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6& 19932009 Wizardsof the CoastLLC132/249

Aleksi Briclot

o3oRoRChandra Nalaar

Planeswalker Chandra

Chandra Nalaar deals 1 damage totarget player.

Chandra Nalaar deals X damage totarget creature.

Chandra Nalaar deals 10 damage totarget player and each creature he orshe controls.

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Losing lieAll damage dealt to you causes you to lose lie, which iswhy its subtracted rom your lie total. In addition, somespells and abilities say that they cause you to lose lie. Tisisnt the same as damage, so it cant be prevented.

LoyaltyLoyalty is a characteristic that only

planeswalkers have. Each planeswalkercard has a loyalty number printed inits lower right corner: thats how manyloyalty counters it gets as it enters thebattlefeld. Te cost to activate oneo a planeswalkers activated abilitiesis to put loyalty counters on it orremove loyalty counters rom it. Each1 damage dealt to a planeswalker

causes a loyalty counter to be removed rom it. I aplaneswalker has no loyalty counters on it, its put into

its owners graveyard. See also Planeswalker on page 6.

Main phaseSee Parts o the urn on page 16.

ManaTe magical energy you use to pay or spells and someabilities. Most mana comes rom tapping lands. Tere arefve colors o mana: oW (white), oU (blue), oB (black), oR(red), andoG (green). Teres also colorless mana.

Mana ability An ability that adds mana to your mana pool. Manaabilities can be activated abilities or triggered abilities. Amana ability doesnt go on the stack when you activate itor it triggersyou simply get the mana immediately.

Mana costSee Parts o a Card on page 4. Also see the glossary entryor Converted mana cost.

Mana pool

Te place where your mana is stored until you spend it.When mana gets added to your mana pool, it stays thereuntil you spend it or until the current step or phase ends.

Match A series o games against the same opponent. Mosmatches are best two out o three, so the frst player towin two games wins the match. Te loser o the frst gamedecides who goes frst in the second game, and so on.

Mountainwalk A kind o landwalk. See the glossary entry o

Landwalk.

Mulligan At the beginning o a Magic game, you draw the topseven cards o your library. Tats your starting hand. Iyou dont like your starting hand o cards or any reason,you can mulligan.

When you mulligan, your hand is shu ed intoyour library and you draw a new hand o one ewer cards You can mulligan as many times as you want, but youdraw one ewer card each time. When both players like

their opening hands, you start playing.

Multicolored cardA card with more than one color o mana in its manacost. For example, a card with the mana cost o2oBoR isboth black and red. Most multicolored cards have a goldbackground.

Multiplayer gameA Magic game that starts with more than two players in itSee Multiplayer Variants on page 19.

NameSee Parts o a Card on page 4.

When a cards name appears in its text box, thecard is reerring to itsel, not to any other cards with thesame name.

Non-When a spell or abilitys text reers to a nonland card ora nonblack creature, and so on, it means a card thatsnot a land, a creature thats not black, and so on.

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Glacial Fortress enters the battlefieldtapped unless you control a Plains oran Island.

oT: Add oW or oU to your mana pool.


Franz Vohwinkel

Glacial Fortress

Land

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Nonbasic land Any land that doesnt have thesupertype basic on its type linein other words, any land not namedPlains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, orForest. You cant put more than ourcopies o any one nonbasic land cardinto a deck.

One-shot efectAn eect that applies to the game once, and then its done.For example, Divination reads, Draw two cards. Whenit resolves, its eect is done. One-shot eects dier romcontinuous eects, which last or some amount o time.

Opponent A person youre playing against. I a card says anopponent, it means one o its controllers opponents.

OwnerTe person who started the game with the card in his orher deck. Even i your opponent has control o one oyour permanents, youre still its owner. (I you loanedyour riend a deck, he or she will be the owner o all thecards in it during the game.) Te owner o a token is theplayer who controlled it when it came into play.

Paying lieSometimes a spell or ability will ask you to pay lie aspart o its cost. o pay lie, subtract that amount o lie

rom your lie total. You cant pay more lie than you have.Paying lie isnt damage, so it cant be prevented.

PermanentA card or creature token on the battlefeld. Permanentscan be artiacts, creatures, enchantments, lands, orplaneswalkers. Once a permanent is on the battlefeld,it stays there until its destroyed, sacrifced, or removedsomehow. You cant remove a permanent rom thebattlefeld just because you want to, even i you controlit. I a permanent leaves the battlefeld and then re-enters

the battlefeld, its treated like a brand-new card. It doesntremember anything about the last time it was on thebattlefeld.

Unless they say otherwise, spells and abilitiesaect only permanents. For example, Unsummon reads,

Return target creature to its owners hand. You musttarget a creature on the battlefeld, not a creature card in agraveyard or anywhere else.

Permanent typeTe permanent types are artiact, creature, enchantmentland, and planeswalker. Permanents can have more thanone type.

PhaseOne o the main sections o a turn. Tere are fvebeginning phase, frst main phase, combat phase, secondmain phase, and ending phase. Some phases are dividedinto steps. See Parts o the urn on page 16.

I a player has mana let over as a step or phaseends, that mana is lost.

PlaneswalkerA card type. See Planeswalker on page 6.

Planeswalker typeA subtype o a planeswalker. Tere can be only one versiono a planeswalker on the battlefeld at a time. I two ormore planeswalkers with the same planeswalker type areever on the battlefeld at the same time, theyre all put intotheir owners graveyard.

PlayYou play a land by putting it onto the battlefeld rom yourhand. You can play a land only once each turn during one

o your main phases when nothings on the stack. Landsdont go on the stack when you play them.

Some eects tell you to play a card. Tat means toplay a land or cast a spell, depending on the cards type.

PlayerEither you or your opponent. I a spell or ability lets youchoose a player, you can choose yoursel. You cant chooseyoursel i it says opponent. I youre playing a multiplayergame (a game with more than two players), everyone inthe game is a player, including your teammates.

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oB: Regenerate Drudge Skeletons. (The nexttime this creature would be destroyed this turn,it isnt.Instead tap it, remove all damage fromit,and remove it from combat.)

The dead make good soldiers.They cant disobeyorders,never surrender,and dont stop fightingwhen a random body part falls off.Nevinyrral,Necromancers Handbook

1/1& 19932009 Wizardsof the CoastLLC 95/249

Daarken

o1oBDrudge Skeletons

Creature Skeleton

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Regenerateo prevent a permanent rombeing destroyed later in the turn. Aregeneration eect works like a shield.A spell or ability that says Regenerate[a permanent] puts a regenerationshield on that permanent that can beused up at any time during the turn.

I a permanent would be destroyedand it has a regeneration shield, its

not destroyed. Instead, it becomes tapped, its removedrom combat (i its an attacking or blocking creature),and all damage is removed rom it. Tat regenerationshield is then used up. Te permanent never leaves thebattlefeld, so any Auras, Equipment, or counters thatwere on it remain there. Any unused regeneration shieldsgo away during the cleanup step.

Although a permanent with a regeneration shieldcant be destroyed, it can still be put into the graveyard or

other reasons. See the glossary entry or Destroy.

Reminder textext in italics (italic text looks like this) in the text boxthat reminds you o a rule or keyword ability. Remindertext isnt meant to tell you all the rules or an ability. It justreminds you o how the card works.

Remove rom combatI an eect removes a creature rom combat, its notattacking or blocking anymore. I it blocked a creature

beore it was removed, the attacking creature staysblocked, so no damage would get through to the playeror planeswalker thats being attacked. A creature thatsremoved rom combat neither deals nor is dealt combatdamage.

Replacement efectA kind o eect that waits or a particular event and thenreplaces that event with a dierent one. Replacementeects have the word instead in them. For example,Darksteel Colossus reads, in part, I Darksteel Colossus

would be put into a graveyard rom anywhere, revealDarksteel Colossus and shu e it into its owners libraryinstead. Te eect replaces the action o putting DarksteelColossus into the graveyard with the action o shu ing itinto its owners library. Darksteel Colossus never hits thegraveyard at all.

ResolveWhen you cast a spell or activate an activated ability, orwhen a triggered ability tri

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