Classic Edition Rules Book Released to public by MTGnews.com on March 5, 1999 12:01 EST Introduction The Magic: The Gathering® game defies comparison. People will tell you it’s like chess, roleplaying games, or even contract bridge, but the fact is that it’s nothing like any game before it. Like those games, the Magic game has great depth—a depth avid players explore to its limits. For newer players to get in the game, they must first learn its rules. We at Wizards of the Coast® still feel the best way to learn a game, especially Magic, is from a friend. Because this isn’t always possible, we’ve made sure you have easy access to the rules. After all, someone has to be the first on your block to learn to play. Think of this rulebook as a ready reference—it’s not comprehensive, but it will answer almost all the questions that arise during a typical game. If you want to be a rules hotshot, contact us (see p. 63) or visit our website at to get the comprehensive Magic rules. You can also contact us with any questions you have about how to play. Who Is This Rulebook For? This book is designed for people who’ve played the Magic game at least a little. Maybe you’ve played a starter-level Magic product such as Magic: The Gathering—Portal™ or Portal Second Age™, maybe you’ve read through the play guide that came with this game, or maybe a friend taught you how to play. Still not sure if you’re ready? Here’s a simple test: "To play this creature, tap three mountains and six other lands." When you read this sentence, did you: a) feel your eyes glazing over? b) recognize the instructions for tapping lands to play a creature? c) recognize the instructions for playing Crimson Hellkite? If you answered (a), we recommend you pick up a starter-level game, such as the Portal Second Age game. You should also read the play guide in this game box before going further. If you answered (b), you’re in the right place. You aren’t scared off by the concept of turning a land card sideways to show you’re tapping it for mana. You also know that lands can pay for creature spells. If you answered (c), you obviously know how to play Magic. You should be out teaching your friends how to play! You’ll find this book is an excellent summary of the newer aspects of the Classic set. Words or phrases in green are important terms you can look up in the glossary, which starts on p. 32. Ready to begin? Let’s start with . . . Section I: The Basics Equipment The Classic game comes with two specially designed decks of forty cards each. All you need to get started are these two decks and something to keep track of life totals, like beads or a pencil and paper. Later, when you’re ready to start building your own decks, each player needs a deck of at least sixty cards, with no more than four copies of any card except basic lands. There’s no maximum deck size. Object of the Game You win if your opponent (a) is reduced to 0 life or less, or (b) has to draw a card when none are left in his or her library. Starting the Game Each player starts the game with 20 life, shuffles his or her deck, then draws the top seven cards. If you don’t like your starting hand, you can take a mulligan—reshuffle and draw a new hand of one fewer card. You can do this as many times as you want, but you draw one fewer card each time. Randomly decide who goes first. That player skips the draw step (they don’t get to draw a card) during that turn. If you’ve already played a game, the loser of the previous game gets to decide who goes first. Parts of a Magic Card Name. A card’s name appears in its upper left corner. When a card’s text mentions its name, it refers only to that copy of the card, even if other copies are in play. Mana Cost. Each symbol in the upper right corner is part of the cost for playing that spell. If the mana cost reads o2oU, you can play the card by spending one blue mana (from an island, for example) plus two mana of any kind. Card Type. This tells you whether the card is an artifact, artifact creature, creature, enchantment, land, instant, or sorcery. If it’s a creature, its creature type (such as Goblin or Elf) appears next to the word "creature." If it’s the kind of enchantment that attaches to another card, it will specify the card type it can be attached to (such as "Enchant Creature," "Enchant Land," and so on). Expansion Symbol. This symbol represents which Magic expansion the card is from. (Classic’s expansion symbol is "[Set actual Classic expansion symbol here]"—the roman numeral for six—because it’s the sixth edition of Magic’s main set.) The symbol appears in one of three colors to indicate the card’s rarity: black for common cards, silver for uncommons, and gold for rares. Text Box. This is where the card’s abilities appear. Flavor text might also appear here; it’s the text in italics that tells you something about the Magic world or story. Flavor text doesn’t have any effect on game play. Collector Number. The collector number makes cards easier to collect. The first number tells you the card’s place in the series, and the second number tells you how many cards are in the expansion. For example, "40/330" means that the card is the 40th of 330 different cards. Key Terms and Symbols Mana. Think of mana as Magic money—it’s what you use to pay most costs. Lands (and some other cards) provide mana, which goes into your mana pool (which is kind of like your wallet). You spend mana in your pool to play spells and abilities. Like money in your wallet, mana left in your mana pool will "burn a hole in your pocket." At the end of each phase, you lose 1 life for each unused mana in your mana pool, and the mana disappears. This is called mana burn. Each mana is either one of the five Magic colors (white, blue, black, red, and green) or is colorless. When a cost requires colored mana, the colored mana symbols ([W], [U], [B], [R], [G]) are used. When any kind of mana can be used to pay the cost, a number (2, for instance) is used. Permanent. When they resolve, artifacts, creatures, enchantments, and lands are put into play rather than into your graveyard. These cards are called permanents because they stick around until something removes them from play. Tapping. Tapping is the Magic game’s way of showing a card has been used. To tap a card, turn it sideways. At the beginning of each of your turns, you untap your tapped cards so you can use them again. The symbol "[tap]" means "tap." It usually appears as part of the cost to play an ability (like Prodigal Sorcerer’s), where it means "tap this card." Target. When a spell or ability contains the word "target," you choose what to affect when you play the spell or ability. For example, Prodigal Sorcerer’s ability reads, "[tap]: Prodigal Sorcerer deals 1 damage to target creature or player." When you play this ability, you choose a creature or player, and the Sorcerer deals 1 damage to the creature or player you chose. Card Types There are six types of Magic cards: Artifact Artifacts are colorless permanents that represent magical objects. They can be played only during your main phases. (See p. 24 for more on phases.) Some artifacts are artifact creatures that can attack and block just like other creatures. Artifact creatures are subject to all the rules for both artifacts and creatures and are affected by spells and abilities that affect artifacts as well as those that affect creatures. Creature Creatures are permanents that can attack and block. They can be played only during your main phases. Unlike other types of cards, creature cards have two numbers separated by a slash in their lower right corner. The number to the left of the slash is the creature’s power, which tells you how much damage it deals in combat. The number to the right of the slash is the creature’s toughness—how much it takes to destroy the creature. A creature can’t attack, and you can’t play any of its abilities that have ocT in their costs, unless it’s been under your control since the very beginning of your most recent turn. Even if it hasn’t, you can play the creature’s other abilities and it can block if it’s not tapped. Enchantment Enchantments are permanents that can be played only during your main phases. There are two kinds of enchantments: those that stand alone while in play and those that are attached to other permanents. If an enchantment’s card type is simply "Enchantment," it’s put into play just like an artifact or creature. If the card type reads, "Enchant _______" (the blank line could be any permanent type, such as "Creature" or "Land"), the enchantment can be attached only to the specified type of permanent. If a permanent with an enchantment attached to it leaves play, the enchantment is destroyed—it doesn’t just float around with nothing to enchant. Instant Instants are spells that can be played almost anytime, even during your opponent’s turn or in response to another spell. Instant spells aren’t permanents. They’re put into their owner’s graveyard when they resolve. Instant spells aren’t the only kind of instants—activated abilities are played as instants, too. (See p. 19 for more on activated abilities.) Land Lands are permanents that usually have mana abilities (abilities that produce mana). These abilities are the most common way of paying for spells and abilities. They’re different from other permanents because (a) they don’t start off as spells, and (b) you can play only one during each of your turns and only during a main phase. The most common type of land card is called a basic land: plains, islands, swamps, mountains, and forests. Any other land is called a nonbasic land. Sorcery Sorceries are spells that can be played only during your main phases. Sorcery spells aren’t permanents. They’re put into their owner’s graveyard when they resolve. Areas of Play Some cards and rules refer to an area in which cards might be during a game. The basic areas of play are: Library. This is the deck of cards you use to play the game—your draw pile. It’s kept face down, and the cards stay in the order they were in at the beginning of the game. No one can look at the cards in your library. Hand. This is where cards go when you draw them, just as in most other card games. No one except you can look at the cards in your hand. In Play. This is the area in front of you where you put your permanents. You can arrange your permanents however you want (we recommend putting lands closest to you), but your opponent must be able to see them all and tell whether they’re tapped. Graveyard. This is your discard pile. Spells go here when they resolve and permanents go here when they’re destroyed. Cards in your graveyard are always face up and anyone can look at them at any time. Section II: Spells, Abilities, and Effects The Golden Rule of Magic Whenever a card’s text contradicts a game rule, the card wins. For example, you get only one combat phase each turn, but Relentless Assault’s effect gives you an additional combat phase. It overrides the one-combat-phase-per-turn rule for the current turn. What’s a Spell? From the time a card is played until it resolves, it’s a spell. When the spell resolves, it goes to its owner’s graveyard (if it’s an instant or sorcery) or is put into play (if it’s anything else). Even creature cards are spells while they’re being played. For example, when you play Wind Drake, you’re actually playing a Wind Drake spell. When the spell resolves, it puts the Wind Drake creature into play—the spell card becomes a permanent. There’s one exception: land cards are never spells. They’re simply put into play. What’s an Ability? An ability is kind of like a spell printed on a permanent: many abilities have costs, and most are played and resolved just like spells. Once an ability is played, it exists separately from its source. This means, for example, that if you play Prodigal Sorcerer’s ability, and then the Sorcerer is destroyed, the ability will resolve anyway. There are three types of abilities: Activated ability. You play an activated ability by paying a particular kind of cost called an activation cost. Activated abilities are written as "activation cost: ability." What’s before the colon (":") is the ability’s activation cost, and the text after the colon is the ability played when you pay the cost. Only a permanent’s controller may play its activated abilities. Triggered ability. An ability that starts with the word "when," "whenever," or "at" is a triggered ability. In this type of ability, the first part of the sentence is the trigger event. When the trigger event occurs, the triggered ability "goes off"—you can’t choose not to play it. If the trigger event occurs several times at once, the ability goes on the stack once for each time the trigger event occurs. Static ability. These abilities aren’t played and resolved like others. When a permanent with a static ability comes into play, the ability’s effect simply "turns on," and it stays on as long as the permanent stays in play. How Do I Play a Spell or Activated Ability? You may play a spell or ability only when you have priority to do so. When do you get priority? At the beginning of most phases and steps, the active player—the player whose turn it is—gets priority. When you have priority, you may play a spell or ability or pass. If you pass, your opponent gets priority. Also, after a spell or ability resolves, the active player gets priority again. When that player passes, the opponent gets priority again. The following card types can be played only when it’s your main phase, you have priority, and no spells or abilities are waiting to resolve: artifacts, creatures, enchantments, lands, and sorceries. Spells and activated abilities are played in three steps: 1. Tell your opponent what spell or ability you’re playing. If it’s a spell, take the card from your hand and show it to your opponent. 2. If the spell or ability contains the word "target," choose the target(s) for it. If the spell or ability’s text starts with "Choose one —" (Healing Salve, for example), make the choice. 3. For spells, pay the mana cost. For activated abilities, pay the activation cost. If the spell or ability has oX in its cost, you choose the value of X and then pay that amount of mana. 4. That’s it—the spell or ability is played and goes on the stack to await resolution. See "The Stack" on p. 20 and "How Do Spells and Abilities Resolve?" on p. 21 to find out what happens to the spell or ability after it’s played. How Do I Play a Triggered Ability? You don’t play triggered abilities—the game does it for you. A triggered ability waits around for its trigger event to occur. When it does, the game simply waits for a player to get priority and then takes control. It puts the ability on the stack, whether you like it or not. You make the choices and pick the target(s) for the ability when the game puts it on the stack. After the triggered ability goes on the stack, the player who would’ve gotten priority gets it back. What happens if more than one ability triggers at the same time? First the game puts the active player’s abilities on the stack, in whatever order that player chooses. Then the game puts the opponent’s abilities on the stack, in whatever order the opponent chooses. The Stack The stack is where played spells and abilities wait to resolve. Here’s how it works: A player with priority plays a spell or ability, and it goes on the stack. That player can either add more spells or abilities to the stack or let the opponent have priority to add spells or abilities to the top of the stack. Priority goes back and forth this way until both players are done playing spells and abilities. Then the spell or ability on the top of the stack—the one played last—resolves. After each spell or ability resolves, the active player gets priority again. For example, let’s say you play Lightning Blast on my creature and I respond by playing Giant Growth on it (and neither of us wants to play other spells or abilities). Giant Growth resolves first, because it’s on top of the stack. Then, if neither of us wants to play more spells and abilities, the Lightning Blast resolves. Here are some things that don’t go on the stack: * If an ability produces mana, it doesn’t go on the stack (but mana-producing spells such as Dark Ritual do). You get the mana immediately. For example, when you tap your Llanowar Elves to get oG, you don’t have to wait for the ability to resolve—you get the mana as soon as you tap the card. * Static abilities don’t go on the stack. They simply "turn on" as soon as the permanent with the ability comes into play. * When you play a land, you simply put it into play. Land cards aren’t spells, so they don’t go on the stack. How Do Spells and Abilities Resolve? 1. Check each of the spell or ability’s targets to see whether it’s still a legal target. (If the spell or ability has no targets, skip this check.) A target is illegal if it has left play or if its characteristics have changed so it doesn’t meet the targeting requirements of the spell or ability anymore. If all the spell or ability’s targets are illegal when it tries to resolve, no effect is generated. 2. The spell or ability’s effect is generated. Carry out the effect the spell or ability describes, in the order it’s written. (Replacement effects may modify the actual actions you take.) If the text calls for any choices other than those made earlier, make those choices as you carry out the effect. 3. For an ability, you’re done. For a spell, after you carry out its effect, put the spell card into play (for artifact, creature, and enchantment spells) or into its owner’s graveyard (for instant and sorcery spells). What’s an Effect? When a spell or ability resolves, it generates an effect. There are three basic kinds of effects: One-shot effect One-shot effects do something once, such as deal damage or destroy a creature. For example, Counterspell reads, "Counter target spell." When it resolves, its effect is done. Continuous effect These effects do something for some length of time rather than just once. A continuous effect from a spell lasts as long as the spell says it does. For example, Giant Growth reads, "Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn." Its effect lasts from the time the spell resolves until the end of the turn. Activated and triggered abilities that generate continuous effects follow the same rules as spells: the effect lasts as long as the ability says it does. A continuous effect from a static ability lasts as long as the permanent is in play. For example, Enfeeblement reads, "Enchanted creature gets -2/-2." Its effect on the enchanted creature lasts as long as it’s attached to that creature. Replacement and prevention effects These effects wait for a particular event to try to occur and then replace it with a different event, modify it, or prevent some or all of it from occurring. Spells and abilities that generate replacement effects contain the word "instead." For example, Gravebane Zombie’s ability reads, "If Gravebane Zombie would be put into a graveyard from play, instead put Gravebane Zombie on top of its owner’s library." Spells and abilities that generate prevention effects contain the word "prevent." For example, Samite Healer’s ability reads, "ocT: Prevent the next 1 damage to target creature or player this turn." Its effect waits for a time during the turn when the target would be dealt damage and then prevents 1 damage. Section III: Turn Structure Each turn has five phases, and each phase occurs even if nothing happens during the phase. At the end of each phase, mana left in your mana pool disappears, and you lose life equal to the amount of that mana (you take mana burn). 1. Beginning Phase This phase has three steps: a. Untap step During your untap step, untap all your tapped cards. No one can play spells or abilities during this step, and abilities that trigger during this step have to wait until the upkeep step to go on the stack. b. Upkeep step Your upkeep step may go by unnoticed unless you control abilities that trigger on upkeep ("At the beginning of your upkeep, . . . "). Players can play instant spells and activated abilities during this step. c. Draw step At the beginning of your draw step, draw a card. Players can play instant spells and activated abilities during this step. 2. Main Phase You can play every type of spell and ability during this phase, but your opponent can play only instant spells and activated abilities. Also, you can play a land during this phase. Remember that you can play only one land each turn. 3. Combat Phase This phase has five steps: a. Beginning of combat step Players can play instant spells and activated abilities during this step (but there’s usually no reason to do so). b. Declare attackers step Decide which of your creatures, if any, will attack. When you declare that a creature is attacking, tap it. Walls, creatures that are already tapped, and creatures you haven’t controlled since the beginning of the turn can’t be declared as attackers. Remember that your creatures can attack only your opponent. You can’t have them attack a particular creature. Once you’re done declaring attackers, players can play instant spells and activated abilities. c. Declare blockers step Your opponent decides which of his or her creatures will block your attacking creatures. Each blocking creature may be assigned to block only one attacking creature, but blocking creatures can "gang up" on an attacking creature. Tapped creatures can’t block. Once your opponent is done declaring blockers, players can play instant spells and activated abilities. d. Combat damage step Unblocked attacking creatures deal damage equal to their power to the defending player. Blocked attacking creatures deal their damage to the creatures blocking them. If an attacking creature is blocked by more than one creature, the attacking player decides how the creature will deal its damage among the blockers. Blocking creatures deal their damage to the creatures they’re blocking. If an attacking creature was blocked at the declare blockers step but the blocking creature has since been removed, the attacking creature doesn’t deal any damage. Once players make all announcements about how combat damage will be dealt, the damage goes on the stack. Nothing that happens to the creatures can affect damage that’s on the stack waiting to be dealt. Players may then play instant spells and activated abilities. Once these have been resolved, combat damage is actually dealt. Note that even if creatures leave play after the damage goes on the stack, their combat damage, which is on the stack waiting to resolve, is dealt normally. If a creature tries to deal damage to a creature no longer in play, the damage isn’t dealt. e. End of combat step Like your upkeep step, this step may go by unnoticed unless you control abilities that trigger on combat ending ("At end of combat, . . . "). Players can play instant spells and activated abilities during this step. 4. Main Phase (again) Your second main phase is identical to your first main phase: You can play every type of spell and ability, but your opponent can play only instant spells and activated abilities. Also, you can play a land during this phase. Remember that you can play only one land each turn, so you can play a land during this phase only if you didn’t do so during your first main phase. 5. End Phase This phase has two steps: a. End of turn step Like your upkeep step, this step may go by unnoticed unless you control abilities that trigger on the turn ending ("At end of turn, . . . "). Players can play instant spells and activated abilities during this step. b. Cleanup step If you have more than seven cards in your hand, choose and discard cards until you have only seven. Next, all damage on creatures is removed and all "until end of turn" effects end. No one can play spells or abilities during this step unless an ability triggers during the step— something that rarely happens. Section IV: Creature Abilities Creatures sometimes have abilities that aren’t fully explained on the cards. Most such abilities have reminder text, though, which summarizes what effect the ability has. Here are full explanations of the standard creature abilities: First strike Creatures with first strike deal their combat damage before creatures without it. When you reach the combat damage step, if one or more of your attacking creatures has first strike, an extra combat damage step is created just for attacking and blocking creatures with first strike. The extra combat damage step works just like a normal one, except that creatures without first strike don’t get to deal their combat damage. When the first-strike combat damage step is over, you go through a second combat damage step for the creatures that haven’t yet dealt their combat damage. After this second step is complete, proceed to the end of combat step as normal. Flying A creature with flying can be blocked only by other creatures with flying. Flying creatures can block other creatures with flying. They can also block creatures without flying. Haste If you control a creature with haste, you can ignore the rule that it can’t attack and that you can’t play its activated abilities that have [tap] in the activation cost unless you’ve controlled it since the beginning of your most recent turn. In other words, a creature with haste can do the stuff it’s normally not allowed to do during the turn it comes into play. Landwalk Landwalk is the name for a group of abilities that includes islandwalk, swampwalk, mountainwalk, and forestwalk. A creature with landwalk is unblockable if the defending player controls at least one land of the specified type. Landwalk abilities don’t cancel each other out. For example, if the defending player controls a forest, even another creature with forestwalk can’t block an attacking creature with forestwalk. Regeneration Regeneration helps keep creatures from being destroyed. It’s different from other standard creature abilities in two ways: (a) it’s an activated ability, and (b) even though it doesn’t contain the word "instead," the ability generates a replacement effect. When the regeneration ability resolves, its effect waits for the creature to be destroyed and then replaces its destruction with the regeneration effect—it becomes tapped, all damage is removed from it, and it’s removed from combat (if it’s in combat). Section V: Glossary Ability Text on a permanent that generates an effect. A card’s abilities, if it has any, appear in its text box above flavor text. Abilities can be played only when the card is in play and only by its controller (although static abilities aren’t played—they simply "turn on"). There are several different types of abilities, from creature abilities such as flying to static abilities such as "white creatures get +1/+1." See also Activated ability, Static ability, Triggered ability. Activated ability An ability that’s played by paying its activation cost. The cost appears before a colon in front of the ability’s text. For example, "o2, ocT: Gain 1 life" means if you pay the activation cost of o2 and tap the permanent with the ability, you gain 1 life. Activated abilities are played just like instants. Note that activation costs that don’t include ocT can often be paid more than once in a turn. Artifact A colorless permanent with one or more abilities that represents a magical object. Because artifacts don’t have any colored mana in their mana costs, they can be put into any deck. Artifacts can be played only during your main phases, when you have priority, and when the stack is empty. See also Artifact creature. Artifact creature A colorless permanent that represents a creature. Artifact creatures are considered both artifacts and creatures and are affected by rules, spells, and abilities that affect both. Although artifact creatures can attack and block just like creatures do, they often have no creature type. See also Artifact, Creature. "As though" When a card instructs you to treat it "as though" it were something else or had a specific ability, it’s time to pretend. The card doesn’t become or gain that thing. For example, Giant Spider doesn’t gain flying and doesn’t count as a creature with flying just because it says it "can block creatures as though it had flying." All this means is that creatures with flying can’t get past it. Attack During your combat phase, you may attack your opponent with any number of creatures you control. You must tap your creatures when they attack, so if a creature is already tapped, it can’t attack. Why attack at all? To see your opponent’s life total drop like a goblin kite! Your opponent will probably try to block your attacking creatures or remove them from combat with an instant or activated ability. Remember, you can attack only your opponent, never your opponent’s creatures. See also Attacking creature, Blocking creature, Combat. Attacker See Attacking creature. Attacking creature A creature that’s attacking (duh). Creatures become attacking creatures when you declare them as attackers during your declare attackers step. You must tap creatures to attack with them. If a creature is already tapped, it can’t attack. You can’t tap a creature to pay its activation cost and attack with it at the same time—you have to choose which thing you’re tapping it for. A creature is considered to be attacking from the time it’s declared as an attacker until the end of combat, unless it’s removed from combat by an effect (such as regeneration’s). There’s no such thing as an attacking creature outside of the combat phase. Basic land See Land. Block To use your creatures to intercept your opponent’s attacking creatures. During combat, you may have one or more of your untapped creatures block each attacking creature. If you do, that attacker will deal its combat damage to the blocking creatures rather than to you. See also Blocking creature, Combat. Blocked creature An attacking creature that was blocked during the declare blockers step. A creature is considered blocked from the time it’s blocked until the end of combat, even if the blocking creature is removed from combat or from play before the combat damage step. In other words, if you don’t want your attacking creatures to become blocked creatures, dispose of your opponent’s creatures before they get a chance to block yours. See also Attacking creature, Combat damage. Blocker See Blocking Creature. Blocking Creature An untapped creature can defend its controller from an attacking creature by being assigned as a blocker. This means that the combat damage assigned by the attacking creature will be directed at the blocking creature, not its controller. (A good deal for the player; not so good for the blocker.) A creature is considered a blocking creature from the time it’s declared as a blocker until the end of combat. There’s no such thing as a blocking creature outside of the combat phase. See also Combat damage. Card type A category of cards, identified under the art on the card. The card types are artifact, artifact creature, enchantment, land, instant, and sorcery. Some cards have a subtype, such as "Goblin" in "Creature — Goblin" and "Land" in "Enchant Land." "Choose one — " When you see the phrase "Choose one —" on a card, you have to choose from the listed options when you play the card. You can’t change your mind and choose something else later on, even if your first choice doesn’t work out. (It’s just the chance you take, as with any other card!) Collector number Two small numbers at the bottom of the card that make Magic cards easier to collect. The first number is the card’s position in the set. The second number is the total number of cards in the set. Color The five Magic colors are white, blue, black, red, and green. (If you ever forget, they appear on the back of the card.) A card is considered the color of the mana in its mana cost; it’s blue if it has blue mana in its mana cost, and so on. This is important for spells and abilities that affect things of a certain color, such as Fear or Circle of Protection: Red. Lands and artifacts have no color and are therefore said to be colorless. (Pretty creative, huh?) Colorless See Color. Combat This is the fourth phase of your turn, the part where you try to give your opponent a whuppin’ with some of your creatures. You don’t have to attack with any of your creatures, but you can’t skip your combat phase any more than you can skip any other phases of your turn. You’re allowed only one attack each turn. See also Attack. Combat damage Damage dealt by creatures during the combat damage step. Because this step includes only the damage from creatures’ power, it doesn’t describe any damage dealt by a creature through any abilities listed in the card’s text box. For example, when you play Prodigal Sorcerer’s ability, it deals 1 plain ol’ damage, but when it attacks, it deals 1 combat damage (because its power is 1). Some effects cause creatures not to deal combat damage. Note that these effects don’t cause the affected creatures to deal 0 damage—they don’t deal combat damage at all. Comes into play For a card to successfully resolve. Effects that trigger on something coming into play don’t do so until the card has fully resolved; if the card’s countered, they don’t trigger at all. Common See Rarity. Control To have the ability to make play decisions for a spell or permanent. A player can control only those things that are in play or are being played; cards that are in a library, graveyard, or hand have no controller. Controller For permanents, the player who brought it into play. For spells or activated abilities, the player who plays the spell or ability. For triggered and static abilities, the player who controls the permanent with the ability. A permanent’s controller can be changed by effects. Enchantments played on your opponent’s lands or creatures remain under your control. Cost See Activated ability, Mana cost. Counter (noun) A marker used to keep track of the lasting effects of a spell. These can be anything: pennies, glass beads, dead spiders, and so on. Counters are of different types, as noted by their names. For example, a "spore counter" is different than a "head counter," and a "+1/+1 counter" is different than a "+2/+2 counter." Use different things as different types of counters to help you keep everything straight. Counter (verb) To cancel the playing of a spell so that it has no effect. (A spell is any card as it’s being played, other than a land.) Creature A type of permanent designed to attack opponents and block attacking creatures. In addition, many creatures have abilities described on the card itself. In the lower right corner of the card, you’ll see two numbers separated by a slash. Those numbers represent the creature’s power (the amount of damage it deals in combat) and toughness (the amount of damage required to destroy it). Because a creature is a type of permanent, once it’s in play it stays there for the rest of the game, unless it’s destroyed or removed by an effect. You have to pay its mana cost only when you play it; you don’t have to pay its mana cost when you attack with it. Keep in mind that while a creature’s being played, it’s a spell and can be countered like any other spell. Creature type This tells you what kind of creature it is, such as Goblin, Elf, or Wall. A creature’s type is identified below the card’s art, after "Creature —" or, on older cards, after "Summon." Artifact creatures usually don’t have a creature type, but if they do, it appears in the same place on the card, such as "Artifact Creature — Golem." Lands that have been turned into creatures don’t have a creature type and won’t be affected by spells that target creature types. Damage Creatures deal damage to each other in combat, and many spells and abilities deal damage directly to creatures and/or players. If a creature is dealt damage that’s equal to or greater than its toughness in one turn, it’s destroyed. If a player is dealt damage directly, it’s subtracted from the player’s life total. "Damage dealt" The amount of combat damage, minus the amount of damage prevented. Deck Your collection of at least forty cards (sixty if you’re building a deck from scratch), prepared with a loving mix of spells, creatures, and lands, specially designed to beat the snot out of your opponent. Defending player The player who’s being attacked. You’re always the defending player on your opponent’s turn, when he or she assigns creatures to attack you. Destroy To remove a card from play and put it into its owner’s graveyard. Creatures that are destroyed can be regenerated by effects unless some effect prevents them from doing so. See also Regenerate. Discard To take a card from your hand and put it into your graveyard. If a spell or ability makes you discard cards, it will specify whether you get to choose which cards to discard or whether you have to discard randomly. If the discard is random, the easiest way to do it is to fan out your cards and let your opponent pick them. (Make sure your opponent only sees the back of the cards!) Draw To take the top card of your library and put it into your hand. You normally draw one card during each of your turns, at the beginning of your draw step. If an effect lets you draw one or more cards, these cards don’t replace your normal draw—they’re extra. When a spell or ability puts cards from your library into your hand, it only counts as a draw if the spell or ability uses the word "draw." Effect What a spell or ability generates to affect the game in some way. See also Ability, Spell. Enchant Creature See Enchantment. Enchantment A kind of permanent with one or more abilities. Some enchantments are attached to a particular type of permanent rather than standing on their own. These cards read, "Enchant Creature," "Enchant Land," and so on. When these types of enchantments are on a card when the card leaves play, they’re destroyed. Whether the card type reads, "Enchantment" or "Enchant _____," it’s affected by spells and abilities that affect enchantments. When an enchantment refers to "enchanted creature," "enchanted land," and so on, it means the permanent that enchantment is attached to. Exchange To exchange something, each of the two players must have one of that thing to give to the other. You can’t exchange control of creatures, for example, if one of you doesn’t have a creature in play. Expansion symbol The symbol on the right of the card under the art. The expansion symbol identifies which Magic expansion the card is from and appears in one of three colors to indicate the card’s rarity: black for common cards, silver for uncommons, and gold for rares. First strike A creature ability that enables a creature to deal its combat damage before those without the ability. When one or more creatures with first strike are attacking or blocking, there’s a separate combat damage step before the normal one just for them. Then, during the normal combat damage step, creatures without first strike (the ones that survived) get to deal their combat damage. Flavor text Italic text in the text box that sets a tone or describes part of the magical world of the card. If the text is in parentheses, it’s just there to remind you about a rule—it’s not flavor text. Flavor text has no effect on how the card is played. Just because the flavor text says a creature is feared throughout the land doesn’t mean it will scare your opponent! Flying A creature with flying can’t be blocked by a creature without flying. A creature with flying can block both creatures with flying and creatures without flying. Forestwalk See Landwalk. Graveyard Your discard pile. This is where cards go when discarded, destroyed, sacrificed, or sent there specifically by an effect. Note that when a card is "removed from the game," it doesn’t go to its owner’s graveyard—it’s taken out of the game entirely. Hand Your fistful o’ cards. Normally, your maximum hand size is seven cards. Even if you’re holding no cards, you still have a hand (of zero cards). Haste A creature ability that enables a creature to attack or be tapped to pay for an activated ability the turn it comes into play on your side. Just like any other ability, haste works for your opponent if he or she gains control of the creature with the ability. See also Activated ability, Attack. In play A card in play is a permanent. Cards in your library, graveyard, and hand aren’t considered to be in play. See also Permanent. Instant A type of spell or ability that’s played and then put into its owner’s graveyard when it resolves. Unlike sorceries, instants can be played during almost any phase of any player’s turn, and in response to other spells. Instants are either instant spells, which are always their own cards, or activated abilities. See also Activated ability. Islandwalk See Landwalk. Land A permanent that typically has a mana ability. There are five basic lands—plains, islands, swamps, mountains, and forests—that each produce one mana of a color. Any land other than these five is called a nonbasic land. Nonbasic lands often have other abilities in addition to or even instead of mana abilities. You can play only one land card each turn, only during one of your main phases, and only when the stack is empty. Lands aren’t spells and therefore can’t be countered. See also Mana ability. Landwalk A creature ability that makes the creature unblockable as long as the defending player controls at least one land of the specified type. "Landwalk" is actually a general term that covers islandwalk, swampwalk, mountainwalk, and forestwalk. Landwalk abilities don’t cancel each other out; even a creature with forestwalk, for example, can’t block another creature with forestwalk if the defending player controls a forest. Land type Land type differs from creature type and card type—a land’s type is the same as its name. For example, all forests are of the type "forest." A land’s type doesn’t appear anywhere else on the card. Legend If a creature’s type is Legend, there can only be one of that creature in play at a time. If another creature of the same name comes into play, it’s put into its owner’s graveyard. Lethal damage Enough damage to destroy a creature. A creature has received lethal damage when the damage it’s dealt over the course of one turn equals or exceeds its toughness. See also Toughness. Library Your draw pile. The order of cards in your library doesn’t change (unless an effect has you shuffle), and you don’t get to see what you’ll draw next. Your library exists even when there aren’t any cards in it. See also Draw. Life, Life total Each player begins the game with a life total, or score, of 20. When you’re dealt damage by effects or creatures, you subtract life from your life total. If your life total drops to 0 or less, you lose the game. If something causes both players’ life totals to drop to 0 or less at the same time, the game is a draw. Losing You lose the game when your life total drops to 0 or less. Also, you lose if you have to draw a card when there aren’t any left in your library. See also Library, Life total. Main phase You get two main phases each turn: one before combat and another one after combat. During your main phases, you can play artifacts, creatures, enchantments, instants, and sorceries, and you can play a land if you haven’t already played one that turn. Mana The basic unit of Magic spell energy, typically generated by tapping your lands. Each of the five basic lands produces mana of a specific color: plains produce white; islands, blue; swamps, black; mountains, red; and forests, green. Mana that’s not of any of these colors is called colorless. You can pay generic mana costs, represented simply by a numeral (for example, o2), with any kind of mana, including colorless mana. Mana ability An ability that adds a specified amount and color of mana to your mana pool. Mana abilities don’t go on the stack when you play them—you simply get the mana immediately. (However, spells that provide mana do go on the stack.) Mana burn At the end of each phase, mana left in you mana pool drains away, and you lose 1 life for each one mana wasted this way. This is called mana burn. In other words, don’t tap your lands for mana you can’t use! Mana cost A card’s mana cost is in its upper right corner. Except for those of artifacts, mana costs include at least one mana of a specific color. A specified amount of additional mana is often required, but the color of this mana is left to the choice of the caster. For example, a mana cost of o2oU means that a total of three mana is required to play the spell, one of which must be blue. The mana symbols in a card’s mana cost also determine its color. If a card has oG in its mana cost, for example, the card is green. See also Mana. Mana pool The imaginary place where your mana is stored until you spend it. When you tap a land for mana, that mana remains in your mana pool until you spend it or until the phase ends. See also Mana, Mana burn. Mountainwalk See Landwalk. Mulligan If you don’t like your initial hand of cards for any reason, you can take a mulligan. To do this, shuffle you hand into your library and draw a new hand of one less card. You don’t have to show your opponent your lousy hand when you do this. You can take a mulligan as many times as you want, but each time costs you a card—a pretty high price to pay! Non- When a spell or ability’s text refers to a "nonland card," a "noncreature artifact," a "nonblack creature," and so on, it means "a card that’s not a land," "an artifact that’s not an artifact creature," "a creature that’s not black," and so on. Nonbasic land See Land. Owner The person who started the game with the card in his or her deck. Even if your opponent becomes the controller of one of your permanents, you’re still its owner. Contrast Controller. Pass To choose to do nothing when you have priority. Spells and abilities on the stack don’t begin to resolve until all players pass in succession. See also Priority, Stack. Permanent A card in play. Permanents can be artifacts, artifact creatures, creatures, enchantments, or lands. (Remember, tokens are creatures, so they’re also permanents.) Permanently The word "permanently" means "until something happens to change this effect." In other words, don’t get too attached. Phase The main sections of each turn. The five phases of a turn are the beginning phase, main phase, combat phase, main phase (again), and end phase. Each of these phases is further broken down into steps. At the beginning of each phase, abilities that trigger at that phase go on the stack. At the end of each phase, mana in players’ mana pools drains away (and mana burn occurs if appropriate). See also Mana burn. Play For a land, to bring into the game. For a spell, to put onto the stack by paying its mana cost. For an activated ability, to put onto the stack by paying its activation cost. See also Activated ability, Land, Spell. Power The amount of combat damage a creature deals in combat. A creature’s power is found on the lower right part of the card, to the left of the slash. See also Toughness. Prevention effect A kind of effect that waits for a particular event to try to occur and then prevents some or all of that event from occurring. Priority You can play a spell or ability only when you have priority. (See p. 19.) Protection A creature ability that has three different effects: (1) the creature can’t be blocked by creatures of the color it’s protected from, (2) the creature can’t be the target of spells or abilities of the color it’s protected from, and (3) damage from sources of the color it’s protected from are reduced to 0. Put into play To bring something into the game. When you’re instructed to put a creature (or a creature token) into play, you don’t have to pay its mana cost unless the ability putting it into play tells you otherwise. Rare See Rarity. Rarity Magic cards are found at three levels of rarity: common, uncommon, and rare. The color of a card’s expansion symbol indicates its rarity: black for commons, silver for uncommons, and gold for rares. Regeneration A creature ability that helps keep creatures from being destroyed. When a spell or ability that regenerates a creature resolves, the creature remains in play, retaining all the enchantments and counters on it, as well as effects applying to it. The creature becomes tapped and is removed from combat. Also, all damage is removed from it. Remove from the game To remove a card from the game, put it aside and pretend you don’t know it exists for the rest of the game. Don’t put it into your graveyard or your hand. Replacement effect A kind of effect that waits for a particular event to try to occur and then replaces that event with a different one or modifies it somehow. See also Prevention effect. Resolve When the stack deals with a spell or ability on it, that spell or ability generates its effect—it resolves. If a spell or ability is countered, or if all its targets have become invalid by the time it tries to resolve, it doesn’t resolve at all. See also Counter, Stack. Respond, Response Playing an instant or an ability immediately after the playing of another spell or ability, prior to its resolution. See also Stack. Reveal When you reveal a card, you have to show it to all players in the game (usually to assure them that you’re not a lying weasel). Sacrifice To take one of your own permanents from play and put it into your graveyard. Don’t confuse this with discarding, which affects only cards in your hand. Sealed-deck play When you’re given a limited number of cards to build your deck. In sealed-deck play, you only need 40 cards for a legal deck. Sorcery A spell type that can be played during your main phase, but only when you have priority and the stack is empty. Sorceries go to their owner’s graveyard when they resolve. See also Priority, Stack. Source The origin of something, typically damage and effects. If an effect’s source is destroyed after the effect is put on the stack for resolution, the effect will still resolve in turn. Spell A nonland card as it’s being played from your hand. Once a spell resolves, what happens depends on the spell’s card type. If it’s an instant or sorcery, it goes to its owner’s graveyard. Otherwise, it’s put into play as a permanent under the control of the player who played it. See also Permanent. Stack The place where spells and abilities go to await resolution. As additional spells and abilities are played, they’re added to the top of the stack. Once both players have agreed to stop complicating things, the things on the stack resolve one at a time, from top to bottom. Each time one resolves, however, players can play more spells and abilities. See also Ability, Priority, Spell. Static ability A category of abilities that take effect as soon as the permanent with the ability enters play. Static abilities remain active until that permanent leaves play. They don’t ever go on the stack. See also Permanent. Swampwalk See Landwalk. Tap To turn a card sideways to indicate that it’s been used that turn. You tap lands to produce mana, creatures to attack, and permanents to pay for activated abilities that have the ocT symbol in their activation costs. Other effects may cause your permanents to become tapped; if that happens, you don’t get the effect you’d get if you chose to tap your permanent yourself. (That’s why you generally won’t like it when that happens.) Once a card becomes tapped, it can’t be tapped again until it’s first untapped. See also Activated ability. Target The thing a spell or ability is aimed at, specifically if it says "target ____" in its text. Spells and abilities often have requirements as to what their targets can be; those requirements are listed on the card. You must choose the targets for the spell or ability when you play it; you can’t change your mind later. Text box The square on the lower half of the card that has all those words in it. The text box contains abilities, flavor text, reminder text (text that reminds you about a rule), and even a pretty background. Token Any object used to represent a creature created by a spell or effect that has no card of its own. Tokens are considered creatures in every way, except that when one of your token creatures leaves play, it vanishes from the game completely. Token creatures are affected by rules, spells, and abilities that affect creatures, but not by stuff that affects "cards" (even if you use cards as tokens). Toughness The amount of damage it takes to destroy a creature. A creature’s toughness is found on the lower right part of the card, to the right of the slash. See also Power. Trample When an attacking creature with trample deals its combat damage, after it deals enough damage to destroy all of its blockers, it deals any leftover damage to the defending player. See also Combat damage. Triggered ability Abilities that automatically go on the stack when some event happens in the game. You can’t decide to ignore or delay a triggered ability; you must deal with it when you get to it on the stack. Turn Each turn is broken into phases, which are then broken into steps. A player completes a turn by passing through all of them, in order: beginning (untap, upkeep, draw), main phase, combat (beginning of combat, declare attackers, declare blockers, combat damage, end of combat), main phase (again), end phase. When your end phase is over, your opponent begins his or her turn. Unblockable When a creature is unblockable, it’s impossible for the defending player to block it, no matter how many cool creatures he or she has out. Don’t even try! Unblocked During combat, after the declare blockers step ends, any attacking creatures that weren’t assigned a blocker are considered unblocked until the end of combat. Uncommon See Rarity. Untap To turn a tapped card upright, enabling you to use it again. Untap step The first step of your beginning phase, when you recharge all your creatures and lands by untapping them. No one can play anything during this step, and triggered abilities that trigger during it must wait until the upkeep step to go on the stack. Upkeep step The second step of your beginning phase. Powerful permanents often require more maintenance than others; this is when those costs typically get paid. Otherwise, you aren’t required to do anything besides pass. Wall A creature that can’t attack but is usually good for blocking. Walls carry the text "(Walls can’t attack.)" to remind you of this rule. Because Walls are still creatures, spells and abilities that affect creatures also affect them. That’s right—strange as it may seem, you can destroy a Wall by playing Terror on it. (But you can also give it flying, so there!) X The placeholder for a number that the card’s controller gets to choose. When a spell or ability has oX in its casting or activation, its controller chooses what X will be when playing the spell or ability. You The word "you" on a Magic card always refers to the card’s current controller. Questions Contact the office nearest you. U.S., Canada, Asia Pacific, and Latin America Wizards of the Coast P.O. Box 707 Renton, WA 98057-0707 USA attn: Magic Questions Tel: 1-800-324-6496 Fax: 1-425-204-5818 Email: questions@wizards.com (for rules questions) custserv@wizards.com (for all other concerns) (c) 1999 Wizards of the Coast. See legal corner. MTGnews.com would like to thank the person who sent this rules book in! You are awesome!