Terminology: A.01 Q: What does "bury" mean? A: "Bury X" is an old term for "Destroy X. It can't be regenerated". The term was discontinued when Tempest came out. A.02 Q: What is a "Mana Source"? A: A Mana Source used to be an 'ultra fast' spell type that couldn't be countered or responded to in any way. The term was in use from Mirage to Urza's Legacy, inclusive. Nowadays any spell of type Mana Source is played as a normal Instant, and abilities that said "play this as a Mana Source" are now played as Mana Abilities. Anything that referred to a Mana Source now refers to an Instant. (see A.6 in "rule-general", for details on mana abilities.) A.03 Q: What is an Interrupt? A: An Interrupt used to be a special type of spell that was able to 'interrupt' other spells. The term was discontinued when 6th Edition came out, so now spells of type Interrupt are played as a normal Instant. Cards that referred to Interrupts (e.g. Avoid Fate) now refer to Instants instead. Abilities that said "play this as an Interrupt" are now played as normal (Instant-speed) Abilities unless they produce mana- in which case they're played as Mana Abilities. (see A.6 in "rule-general" for details on mana abilities.) A.04 Q: What is "summoning sickness"? A: Summoning sickness used to be the name for the effect that prevents creatures from attacking on the turn they're played, which now has no official name. It was officially in use from Mirage to Urza's Legacy, inclusive- but earlier versions of the rules did mention the term. "unaffected by Summoning Sickness" is one of the old terms for "Haste". A.05 Q: What's a "Mana Pool"? Is it my lands? A: No. Repeat after me: Mana is not the same thing as lands. This is the biggest difference between Portal and grown-up Magic, and has proved the one that causes the most confusion. In Portal, lands are simply tapped to pay for spells. In Magic, lands are tapped to add Mana to the player's Mana Pool. Then, the Mana is taken from that Pool to pay for spells. Think of it as a bowl containing your money. Mana in the pool is not represented by anything- it's not usually complex enough, or around for long enough, to need it. So, for example, Dark Ritual is an Instant spell that adds BBB (that's 3 black mana) to your pool when it resolves, just as if you'd tapped 3 swamps. Then you can take that mana out of your pool and use it to cast a black spell. If you can't spend all the mana, you'll take Mana Burn- each point left in your pool at the end of the step or phase will deal you one damage as it drains away. A.06 Q: What's a "permanent"? A: A permanent is a card that's in play- and _only_ a card in play. Anywhere else, it's just a card. In other words, a permanent is an Enchantment, Land, Artifact or Creature. Instants and Sorceries are never permanents, and neither are cards in your hand or graveyard. A.07 Q: What's the difference between a "creature" and a "creature card"? A: A "creature" is a term reserved for a permanent. The only way something can be a "creature" is for it to be in play. Anywhere else, the thing is just a "creature card" (or "creature spell"). The same applies to the terms "land", "artifact" and "enchantment" too. A.08 Q: What's the difference between a "Creature - X" card and a "Summon X" card? A: "Summon X" is the old term for "Creature - X". It was discontinued when 6th edition came out. There's no difference while you're playing the game; only the name has changed. A.09 Q: What's a "spell"? A: Don't laugh: this is a trick question to many people. A spell is a card on the stack, and _only_ one on the stack- in other words, a card becomes a spell as you announce it, and stops being one when it resolves. Note that when you play a land, it doesn't go onto the stack; Lands aren't ever spells. (see qn 21 for more.) A.10 Q: What's a "pseudospell"? A: A "placeholder" on the stack to represent an ability. When a spell is played, the card itself is put onto the stack... but when the ability of a permanent is played, there's no equivalent card handy. (the permanent certainly can't be put onto the stack). Therefore, a pseudospell is used. If you don't understand any of that, don't worry... it's not very important. A.11 Q: What does "resolve" mean? A: Spells and abilities cannot take their effect as soon as they are announced (see qn 21). The other players can use abilities and Instant spells in response to them. Only when everyone's finished can your spell actually 'resolve': that is, have its effect. A.12 Q: What do "respond" and "in response" mean? A: Because a spell or ability cannot resolve as soon as it is cast (see A.20), there is a time when abilities and Instant spells can be cast "in response" to it- in other words, they are announced and put onto the stack above it. Things done in response to a spell or ability will resolve first. The spells most commonly cast in response to something are those that will counter it- Counterspell, Quash and so forth. A.13 Q: What does "counter" mean? A: To "counter" a spell is to cause it to go to the graveyard without having its effect. Also, "counters"- as in "put a +1/+1 counter on this creature"- are small markers to put on your cards, such as glass beads or dice. A.14 Q: What does "fizzle" mean? A: This is the old term for "be countered on resolution". It was discontinued when 6th Edition came out. And now you'll ask... A.15 Q: What does "countered on resolution" mean? A: This is what happens to a spell or ability whose targets are all illegal. (This usually means that in response to the spell they've gained Protection, or been destroyed, or something of the sort). When it tries to resolve, a spell will check its targets for legality- and if none of them are legal, it will be countered instead of resolving. And yes, this really does counter the spell: Multani's Presence will trigger off it. (see qns 01-04, section M, for more details.) A.16 Q: Who is the "controller" of a card? A: The controller of the card is the player who can use its abilities, attack with it, and so on. If a card says "you", it's always talking to its controller. Which player is it? That depends. Usually, the controller and the owner (see below) of a card are the same player, but there are many effects that can change that. But generally speaking, if you put a card into play, and no effects apply that could change its controller, then you control that card. A.17 Q: Who is the "owner" of a card? A: The 'owner' of a card is the player who brought it to the game, and who started the game with it in his library (see below, however). The 'owner' of a token is the player who controlled the spell or ability that created it. (So, for example: Waiting in the Weeds creates a bunch of Cat tokens controlled by various players... but they're all owned by the caster of the spell.) A.18 Q: What's "ante"? What's an "ante card"? A: The exception to the 'ownership' rule above. "Playing for ante" was an optional rule that was discontinued when 5th Edition came out- apparently because it fell foul of anti-gambling laws. At the beginning of the game you turned face-up the top card of your opponent's deck, and he did the same to you. The two cards were set aside, in a special "ante" zone. Whoever won the game won both those cards, permanently. An "Ante card" is a card which can affect the ante zone, or which can change ownership of a card... such as Demonic Attorney. All such cards are banned in tournaments. A.19 Q: Who is the "active player"? A: The player whose turn it is. Usually if both players can do something, the Active player gets to do so first... including making choices (which means that when the opponent chooses, he knows what choice was made) and putting triggered abilities onto the stack (which means the opponent's abilities resolve first). (See qn 3 in section L, and qn 21 in section A.) A.20 Q: What is a "modal" spell? A: A "modal" spell is, in general terms, one which can do more than one thing. All modal spells, under the current wordings, have to say "Choose one-", followed by a list of possible effects. The Charms from Mirage and Visions- Hope Charm, Ebony Charm, Seedling Charm and so on- are archetypal modal spells. Healing Salve and Parch are also well known examples. Notice that Disenchant is _not_ a modal spell, because it doesn't say "Choose one- destroy target artifact, or destroy target enchantment". The distinction is important, because when you announce a modal spell, you choose what mode it'll use right then, instead of waiting until it resolves. Suppose, for example, you cast Parch and choose its "Deal 4 damage to target blue creature" mode. Your opponent makes the creature nonblue in response. Parch will be countered on resolution- it won't be able to change its mode to deal 2 damage. A.21 Q: What's "the stack"? What is "priority"? A: The Stack is a timing system, intended to stop Magic from turning into a game of Snap. It's a zone of play, like your graveyard or your library. When a spell is announced, it cannot take its effect straight away- instead, it's put on top of the stack, and other players can respond to it with their own spells. The responses will resolve first... and when people have finished responding, eventually the original spell will resolve. The player who "has priority" at any particular time is the one who's currently allowed to add things to the stack. Here's a brief flowchart showing how the system works. I: When you announce a spell or ability- pay its cost and choose its targets and its mode (see A.21) now- you put it on top of the Stack. Then you get priority again- that is, you may respond to it by announcing more abilities or Instant spells. If you do, repeat [I]. If you don't, then you instead "pass priority" to your opponent- go to [II]. II: Your opponent has priority- that is, he can now respond to your spell by playing his own abilities and Instant spells. If he chooses to do so, then we return to [I], with your opponent as "you". Otherwise, we go on to [III]. III: Both players have passed, so they've both finished responding to the spell- if the stack is empty, the current step of this turn will end. Otherwise, the top item is taken off the stack and resolves- and then the active player (who I'll again call "you") has priority again. You can announce an ability or Instant spell [I], or you can pass [II]. A.22 Q: What does "play" mean? A: Too many things. But the main source of confusion is this: To "play" a spell or ability means to _announce_ it. The "Play" zone, on the other hand, is the main area of the game, where Lands can be put, and where Creature, Artifact and Enchantment spells end up when they resolve... which leads onto the following question: A.23 Q: What's the difference between "playing" and "putting into play"? A: To "play" a spell or ability means to announce it, as I said above. In other words, paying costs, choosing targets, and putting it onto the stack. Now, when a Creature, Artifact or Enchantment spell resolves, the last part of its effect will "put the card into play"- that is, move it from the stack into the Play zone. Other methods of obtaining a creature, such as Elvish Piper, do _not_ "play" it- they only "put it into play". Yes, this distinction is highly confusing, and yes, a simple change of wording would make it a great deal clearer. Sorry... WotC just refuse to see this as a problem. See also qn 11, section K. ========== Damage B.01 Q: If I redirect combat damage to a Fog Bank or Wall of Essence, will that wall's abilities still consider it combat damage? A: Yes. The rule that prevented this was removed when 6th Edition came out. B.02 Q: Can damage be redirected to a Fog Bank or a Gaseous Formed creature? A: Yes. The complication here used to be that the abilities of these cards said "~ cannot deal or recieve combat damage". They have now been errata'd to say "prevent all combat damage that would be dealt to or dealt by ~". Therefore, the damage will be redirected just fine, and can be prevented once it's there. B.03 Q: Can I use an en-Kor to redirect more damage than the toughness of the creature he's moving it onto? A: Yes. The redirection effect gets used _before_ the damage is dealt, and will _replace_ "damage is dealt here" with "one fewer damage is dealt here, and one is dealt over there". In other words, the effect that causes the damage to the en-Kor will turn into an effect that causes damage to somewhere else. Then, when everyone's satisfied, that damage will finally be dealt. B.04 Q: Do Damage Prevention effects now target the creature/player they protect? A: Yes. Healing Salve, for instance, now says "Prevent the next 3 damage to _target_ creature or player". B.05 Q: Do Damage Prevention effects now target the source of the damage? A: No. Circles of Protection, for example, say "The next time **a source of your choice** would deal damage to you, prevent that damage." They don't target anything at all. ====== Color C.01 Q: Can I Terror a red-and-black creature? A: No. A Red-and-black creature is black. Therefore, it isn't non-black, regardless of what other colors it might be. (Similarly, it's red, therefore it's not non-red. It's non-blue, non-green and non-white though.) C.02 Q: Can I use CoP:Black against a red-and-black creature? A: Yes- it's black, regardless of what other colors it might be. C.03 Q: Can I choose 'gold', 'artifact' or 'colorless' when asked to choose a color? A: No. When asked to choose a color, you have to choose one of the five 'primary' colors of magic. None of those above are considered to be real colors. C.05 Q: Do basic lands have colours? (e.g. Are swamps black?) A: No. Lands are colorless, most of the time. If you're asked to reveal a black card from your hand, you can't reveal a swamp. C.06 Q: Will a Grindstone 're-grind' if it got two artifacts? What about two lands? A: No; no. Artifacts and lands are both colorless- therefore, they don't "share a color", because they don't have any. C.07 Q: If something becomes an artifact, does it become colorless? A: No. Being an artifact and being colorless usually go together... but only because the artifact cards that have been printed so far haven't got any colors in their casting costs. It's not an intrinsic property. C.08 Q: If something becomes colorless, does it become an artifact? A: No. see the question above. C.09 Q: Does a Polluted Mire (which has the ability T: add B to your mana pool) count as a Swamp? A: No, because it doesn't say it does. There are only 6 cards that have been printed that count as swamps- Swamp, Snow-covered Swamp, Underground Sea, Bayou, Badlands and Scrubland. The last four are Dual Lands that _say_ they count as swamps... and even they don't count as Basic swamps. ======== Creatures D.01 Q: If I play a permanent, then animate it, can it attack or tap this turn? A: No. All permanents have "the property formerly known as summoning sickness" when they come into play- but the difference is, only creatures are affected by it. When the permanent becomes a creature, its 'latent' sickness takes effect and the creature can't attack. D.02 Q: If I play a creature on my opponent's turn, can it tap? Can it attack or tap on my turn after? A: No; Yes. Creatures can only tap or attack if they've been under the control of their current controller since the beginning of his most recent turn. So on your opponent's turn, they can't do so- however, on your turn, they've been under your control since the start of that turn... so yes they can. D.03 Q: Can a summoning-sick creature tap for Field Surgeon's ability? A: Yes. The only thing summoning-sickness prevents is the payment of abilities that use the Tap symbol. Since Field Surgeon uses the word tap, instead of the tap symbol, any creatures can be tapped to use it. D.04 Q: When something asks me to choose a creature type, can I choose 'blue' or 'ugly' or 'yours'? A: No. The "Creature type" of a card is the word(s) written after Creature or Summon, on the middle line of the card. So for example, you could choose "Elf" and have it affect a Priest of Titania. Note also that choosing "Goblin" will not let you affect a Goblin Rock Sled, since that doesn't say "Summon Goblin": instead it says "Summon Rock Sled". ====== Combat E.01 Q: What is the overall structure of the combat phase? A: The Combat Phase is divided into 5 steps. Note that there is only ever _one_ combat phase in a turn. You can't "attack with this thing, see what happens to it, then attack with this other thing" or whatever. All attackers attack simultaneously, and all blockers block simultaneously. 1: Beginning of Combat: Instants can be played. (Puppet Strings and Flood are good for the defending player here). 2: Declare Attackers: The active player declares which creatures are attacking, then taps them and pays any other costs to attack. Then Instants can be played. (Creature killing spells, or Puppet Strings, are good for the attacking player here). 3: Declare Blockers The defending player declares which creatures are blocking which. Then Instants can be played. (Damage Prevention spells, creature killing spells, and creature power enhancers, are good here. Also anything that removes a creature from combat.) 4: Combat Damage Combat Damage from surviving creatures is assigned to the creatures they're fighting, in whatever pattern their controllers want. Then Instants can be played. Then the damage will resolve, possibly killing something. Then Instants can be played again. Note that if creatures with First Strike are involved, the Combat Damage step will be repeated- in the first one, only creatures with first strike will deal any damage. In the second one, creatures that didn't deal damage the first time will do so. 5: End of Combat Abilities that trigger "at end of combat" will do so, and go onto the stack (see qn 21, section A). Then Instants can be played. E.02 Q: Can I Terror an attacker to stop its combat damage? A: Yes. If you play your spell before the Combat Damage step, then the destroyed creature won't be around to deal any damage. E.03 Q: Will a blocking creature deal combat damage while it's tapped? A: Yes. The rule that prevented this was removed when 6th Edition came out. (Note that tapped creatures still can't block- the change is just that if something becomes tapped after it blocks, it will still deal damage.) E.04 Q: Will untapping something stop it from attacking? A: No. Tapping is usually a cost to attack, but once something has started attacking, it doesn't matter whether it's tapped or not. E.05 Q: Can a Giant Spider block an Treetop Ranger? (ranger says "Treetop Rangers can't be blocked except by creatures with flying.") A: Yes, currently. The answer that's most desirable in this case isn't obvious... but under the current wording, which is "Giant Spider can block as if it had flying", it can do so. ====== Protection F.01 Q: What does protection protect against? A: Contrary to some people's beliefs, having Protection does not mean that the creature is completely and utterly immune to everything with that property. Instead, Protection from only works against four things... remember them by "DEBT". Cannot be D amaged by sources. Cannot be E nchanted by enchantments. Cannot be B locked by creatures. Cannot be T argeted by spells and abilities. F.02 Q: Will a Protection from White creature be killed by a Wrath of God (white spell saying "destroy all creatures")? A: Yes, it will. Wrath of God does not target the creature (see below), and does nothing else that Protection can help against. (it _destroys_ the creatures, instead of damaging them.) Therefore the protection is ineffective, and the creature is killed. ====== Trample G.01 Q: How does Trample work? A: Trample is an ability that makes it less effective to block your creatures. In vague terms, if your creature kills all the creatures blocking it, you can choose to have any extra damage "trample over" to the player you're attacking. e.g: a 3/3 Trample creature is blocked by a 1/1. It assigns one damage to the 1/1, which is equal to its toughness and enough to kill it. The other 2 damage can be assigned to the player or the creature, as you want. (and since the creature's going to die anyway, you might as well put it onto the player.) G.02 Q: How does Trample work against Protection or Gaseous Form? A: Trample (which changed when Urza's Saga came out) affects the way you _assign_ damage- it doesn't care how much of the damage will actually get through, or whether the creature will end up dying. Therefore, Protection and Gaseous Form, and similar Damage Prevention effects, are ignored when you assign your Trample damage. e.g: a 3/3 Trample creature is blocked by a 1/1 Gaseous Formed creature. It assigns one damage to the 1/1, and the other two damage can go to the player. The one damage will of course be prevented, and the 1/1 will live- but the player will still be damaged. G.03 Q: How does Trample work if I kill all the blockers after they've blocked? A: If there are no blocking creatures when you come to assign the damage, then 0 damage is enough to make all the blocking creatures lethally damaged... so all the damage goes through to the defending player. G.04 Q: How does Trample work against Banding/Defensive Formation? A: Banding and Defensive Formation allow your opponent, instead of you, to assign your damage. Since Trample is always optional, he can choose not to use it. Trample is essentially useless against these abilities. ====== One-word Abilities H.01 Q: What is Banding and why would I use it? A: Banding is easily the most complex ability in Magic, and it allows small creatures to gang up to defeat larger ones. It has two distinct parts. 1) When you attack, you can form your attacking creatures into "bands", each of which can consist of any number of creatures with Banding, and up to one without it. If a creature blocks any member of the band, the rest of the band is blocked by that creature too, even if that creature couldn't usually block them. e.g. a Metathran Soldier ("~ is unblockable") and a Kjeldoran Warrior ("banding") attack banded together. A creature blocks the Warrior, and therefore blocks the Soldier as well, even though that's usually impossible. NB: Banding creatures together does _not_ make them into 'all one big creature', or allow them to share their abilities, or anything like that. The _only_ thing it means is that if you block any one creature, you block all the creatures, as I said above. Note also that you cannot 'band to block'. You can't "band several creatures together and block an attacker with one of them, thus causing all those creatures to block that attacker". This part of the ability only works when attacking. 2) The second part takes effect when combat damage is due to be distributed among a group of creatures (and/or players). (This happens most often when several creatures are blocking one attacker, or an attacking band gets blocked... but it can also happen when a Wall of Glare blocks several attackers, for example.) If at least one of the creatures in the group has Banding, then that creature's controller distributes the damage, instead of the controller of the creature that's dealing the damage. He is free to put more-than-lethal damage on a creature, in order to save the others. e.g. a 3/3 creature is blocked by three 1/1 creatures, one of which has Banding. The controller of the 1/1s gets to distribute the 3 damage, so he can put it all on the same one... killing it, but saving the other two. (Note that the condition for this part is is "at least one of the creatures has Banding", and not "all but one of the creatures has Banding", which was the requirement for the first part to work.) So, why would you want to use this ability? It seems like a disadvantage to have all your creatures get blocked if any one of them is. However, consider the following situation. Your opponent has two 3/3 creatures. You have three 2/2 banding creatures. Attacking with them usually would mean that two would be blocked and killed, with your opponent losing only 2 life and no creatures. However, attacking with them banded together means your opponent has to choose- 1) if he blocks with one 3/3, it will die and none of your creatures will (because you can choose to put 1 damage on each of them, which they're able to survive.) 2) If he blocks with both 3/3s, both of his will die and only one of yours will (because you can put all 6 damage on the same one.) 3) If he doesn't block, he'll lose 6 life. You can see that using Banding here makes your position as an attacker much stronger than it was before. H.02 Q: What does Phasing mean? A: Phasing is a 'disadvantage' ability, which essentially means you only have your creature (or whatever it is that has the ability) on alternate turns. At the start of your turn, just before everything untaps, all your stuff with Phasing phases out. (note that your opponent's stuff stays where it is- it's just the active player who does this.) Most players turn their cards face down to show they're phased out. While something is phased out, it's essentially out of the game- it can't be targetted, can't attack, can't use its abilites and so on. At the same time, all your stuff that's already phased out phases back in. They'll still have all the counters and enchantments that were on them when they phased out, and so on. Creatures that phase in have Haste until their controller's next turn begins. So, for example- You play a Breezekeeper, a 4/4 phasing creature. You can't attack with it this turn because it just came into play. It can block in your opponent's turn. On your next turn, it phases out. So you can't attack with it this turn. It can't block on your opponent's turn. On your turn after that, it phases back in- so you can finally attack with it, or block on your opponent's turn. On your turn after that, it phases back out... you get the picture? Phasing details: If a creature phases out tapped, it will phase back in tapped. Since this normally happens at the start of the turn, just before you untap everything anyway, it doesn't usually matter. When a creature phases out, abilities that trigger "when ~ leaves play" will do so. When it phases in, abilities that trigger "when ~ comes into play" will _not_ do so. Other than reasons of game balance- this would be too powerful with Bone Shredders, for example- there's no real explanation for this behaviour. Just stick Vanishing on your Thalakos Seer and enjoy it. H.03 Q: What is Echo good for? A: Echo is a "Disadvantage" ability that makes you pay twice for your permanents. It's good because the cost you pay each time is actually very low. For example, compare Pouncing Jaguar (2/2 Echo for G) with Grizzly Bears (2/2 for 1G). The Jaguar has a low cost compared to the Bears, and would just be ridiculously good if it didn't have echo. As it is, you can play a Jaguar on your first turn... which gives a great advantage. H.04 Q: When a creature dies, can I regenerate it later on in the turn? A: No. Regeneration is an effect that _prevents a creature from dying_. It's not an effect that brings a creature back after it's died. When you use an ability that says it "Regenerates" a creature, it creates an effect that says "The next time this turn that this creature would be destroyed, instead tap it, remove all damage from it, and remove it from combat". Therefore, you have to use regeneration abilities _before_ the creature dies, not afterwards. H.05 Q: Can I regenerate a creature that's not about to die? A: Yes. You have to Regenerate a creature _before_ it gets destroyed- and it doesn't matter if there aren't any effects that can do that in view. Therefore, yes- you can sink mana into a regenerator. H.06 Q: Does this mean I can play regeneration abilities on my opponents creatures, to make them tap? A: No. Setting up a regeneration shield on a creature will not activate any of the regeneration side-effects. They will only take place when the shield gets _used_- in other words, to make a regeneration ability tap something, you'll have to do something to _destroy_ the creature. If you're going to do that, you'd probably prefer to kill the thing instead of just tapping it. (In other words, Yavimaya Hollow cannot be used as an Icy Manipulator.) H.07 Q: What can I regenerate from? A: A creature can regenerate from any effect that would "destroy" it- but only those. Note the rules will "destroy" lethally damaged creatures, too... which is why you can regenerate from damage. H.08 Q: Can I regenerate from a Sacrifice? A: No. It isn't a "destroy" effect. H.09 Q: When my creature's toughness is 0, can it regenerate? A: No. Creatures with toughness 0 are "put into the graveyard", which isn't a "destroy" effect- so it's not possible to regenerate from it. H.10 Q: Can I regenerate a creature that's already tapped? A: Yes. When it would get destroyed, the replaced effect will try to tap it- but will do nothing, because it's already tapped. The creature will still survive. H.11 Q: What's the difference between Cycling (2) and "(2), Sacrifice ~: draw a card"? A: Cycling, as is stated on every card that has it, is an ability that lets you discard the card _from your hand_. The ability above is a normal ability- that is, one that can only be used while the card is _in play_. So the difference between them is that you can Cycle the first one as soon as you draw it, while the second one has to be played (or otherwise put into play) before you can draw a card from it. ====== Cost J.01 Q: What's the difference between a cost and an effect? A: A Cost is something that happens at the time a spell or ability is announced. It must be done successfully for the announcement to be legal. (If it's not successful, the game is "rewound" to the point just before you tried to announce it, and you can try doing something else.) An Effect, on the other hand, is something that happens when a spell or ability _resolves_. It doesn't have to be successful, the game will just do "as much of it as possible". J.02 Q: How do I tell whether something is a cost or an effect? A: In general, the mana cost in the top right hand corner of a spell is its cost, and the text in the text-box of the spell is its effect. In the case of an ability, the text before the colon is its cost, and the text after it is its effect. Note that many spells have "additional costs"- costs required to cast them, besides the mana cost. These are simply treated as normal costs. They are indicated in various ways, the current one being the clearest: "as an additional cost to play ~, ...". Older versions include "at the time you play ~, ...", and the confusing one in the following question... J.03 Q: Does "X: do Y" on an instant/sorcery mean I can pay X several times to get Y to happen several times? A: No. This isn't an ability the spell gives you, it's an obsolete way of indicating an additional cost for the spell. The modern wording for this would be: "As an additional cost to play ~, do X. do Y". This makes it clearer- the additional cost is paid once, and once only. J.04 Q: When a spell is countered, do you still have to pay its cost? A: Yes. By the time it can be countered it's been announced, had its targets and mode chosen, and had its cost paid. You've lost the mana for good. J.05 Q: Can Buyback or Gloom costs be reduced by Medallions? A: Yes. Additional costs are always added before cost reductions are applied- so you can ignore Gloom when you play spells, if you have 3 Pearl Medallions in play. J.06 Q: Are Buyback or Gloom costs considered part of a spell's mana cost, for Spell Blast or Aluren? A: No. Spell Blast and Aluren only consider the unmodified mana cost printed on the card. J.07 Q: Can I respond to a Mogg Fanatic sacrificing itself, by destroying it? A: No. There are two reasons why this won't prevent the damage: the first being that it sacrifices itself as the _cost_ of its ability: by the time you can respond to it, the Fanatic is gone. The second reason is that ALTERING THE SOURCE DOES NOT ALTER THE ABILITY. The ability has already been announced, so you'll need something that can counter an ability- Interdict- to prevent it from dealing damage now. J.08 Q: Can I pay for two abilities with one sacrifice? A: No. You can't pay two costs with one payment- you wouldn't try to cast two Giant Growths with one green mana, would you?. Sacrifices work in exactly the same way. You can't buy two cans of drink from two machines with just one coin. J.09 Q: If my Tim is enchanted with Hermetic Study, can I tap it to deal 2 damage? A: No. The Tim has two copies of the ability "T: ~ deals 1 damage to target creature or player", and you can't pay for both the abilities with the same tap. See D.08a. Note, however, that a Goblin Medic enchanted with Hermetic Study can deal 2 damage with a single tap. It has an ability that triggers when it becomes tapped, not one that requires tapping in order to use it. ====== Abilities K.01 Q: Can Dark Ritual be countered? A: Yes. Dark Ritual is an Instant, and can be countered just like any other spell. K.02 Q: Can Llany's ability be countered? A: No. The ability is a Mana Ability, which, although it has no specific rule saying it can't be countered, doesn't get put onto the stack and therefore cannot be responded to. There is no time for anything to counter it, not even a triggered ability like Hesitation. K.03 Q: If I kill/tap/Humble/etc a creature when it uses its ability, does the ability still take effect? A: Yes. ALTERING THE SOURCE DOES NOT ALTER THE ABILITY- sometimes called the Silver rule of Magic. In other words, once an ability has been announced, it is definitely going to resolve, unless something counters it (and that something must _say_ it counters things, explicitly). Note in particular that tapping, say, a Prodigal Sorceror in response to its ability being announced will have no effect whatsoever. The Prodigal Sorceror tapped as the _cost_ for its ability: in other words, by the time you can respond to it, it's already ready and tapped. K.04 Q: Can Terroring a 187 creature stop it from destroying something? A: No. Again let me say, ALTERING THE SOURCE DOES NOT ALTER THE ABILITY. The creature's ability goes onto the stack as soon as it comes into play. Even if you Terror the creature in response, the ability will still resolve. K.05 Q: Can I play a 187 creature if it has nothing to target? A: Yes. Its ability won't be able to go onto the stack, because it has no legal targets- but the creature will still come into play and stay there happily. K.06 Q: If I play a 187 creature and its only legal target belongs to me, do I have to target it? A: Yes. Unless the ability says "may", it's not optional... if there are any legal targets, you're forced to choose and destroy something. K.07 Q: Does "This card is a red spell" count as an ability? A: No. The text "This is/counts as a ", is specially ruled to _not_ be an ability... it's just a characteristic of the card. For example, a Crimson Kobold, which states "This card is a red spell", will still be red if Humbled, and will still be red while in a player's library or graveyard. K.08 Q: Does "Metathran Soldier is unblockable" count as an ability? A: Yes, it does. Humbling the Soldier will make it blockable. There are two causes of confusion here, the first being a ruling about Cloak of Mists, which is a creature enchantment saying "enchanted creature is unblockable". The Cloak itself has an ability, but does not _grant_ an ability to the creature it enchants. Therefore, Humbling the creature can't stop it being unblockable. The second confusion is caused by the "This is/counts as a " rule (see the question above). This only applies to colors and types... unblockability is not one of these things. K.09 Q: Can I Counterspell a permanent's ability? A: No. Counterspell can only target a Spell. To counter an Ability, you need one of the four cards that say they can do so: Rust, Brown Ouphe, Ayesha Tanaka, or (the best of the lot) Interdict. Nothing else in the game can counter an ability, other than the rules. K.10 Q: If something is tapped, can it still use abilities that don't require it to tap? A: Yes. For example, Skyshroud Elf has two abilities: "T: add G to your mana pool", and "1: add W or R to your mana pool". It's perfectly legal to tap the Elf for G, and then use its ability to convert that to W or R. K.11 Q: Is it true that CIP abilities now no longer trigger unless the card was "played from your hand"? A: No, not in general. Only 8 cards currently have this restriction: the "Free" permanents (Cloud of Faeries, Peregrine Drake, Palinchron, Great Whale, Treachery, Priest of Gix), and two cards that are too powerful without it (Karmic Guide and Iridescent Drake). Note that Time Spiral, Rewind, Snap and Frantic Search do NOT have this restriction. K.12 Q: What does the "if you played it from your hand" errata require for the ability to trigger? A: "putting into play from your hand" with Sneak attack, Elvish Piper, Quicksilver Amulet etc won't trigger the ability. "playing from elsewhere" with Aerial Caravan, Yawgmoth's Will, Temporal Aperture, etc won't trigger the ability. Aluren, Winding Canyons and Dream Halls, however, _will_ allow it to trigger- they do indeed allow you to "play" the creature from your hand, although you can do so at an unusual time and/or paying the costs differently. K.13 Q: If something happens "Whenever a creature comes into play", will that trigger when something that's already in play gets animated? A: No. "Coming into play" requires moving from a different zone into the Play zone. Simply changing forms while you're there doesn't work. K.14 Q: Can I pump my Shade more than once per turn/activate Pestilence more than once per turn? A: Yes. Unless there is a specific restriction on an ability ("play this only once per turn", "pay only BBB in this way each turn", etc), you can play it as many times as you can afford. K.15 Q: Do the abilities of Artifacts work while they're tapped? A: Yes. The rule that prevented this was discontinued for 6th Edition. Certain artifacts say "as long as ~ is untapped" though, so that their abilities still work the same way. And now you'll ask... K.16 Q: Which Artifacts recieved the "as long as ~ is untapped" errata? A: Only Howling Mine and Winter Orb, so far. We're still hoping that it's a terrible mistake, so that at least Static Orb will get it... but at the moment only Howling Mine and Winter Orb (and Storage Matrix, which was recent enough to have the restriction printed on the card) are limited in this way. ====== Timing L.01 Q: Monk Realist vs Humility: does Humility get destroyed? A: No. The Continuous Effect of Humility removes the Monk's ability before it gets a chance to trigger, so it fails to destroy anything. L.02 Q: I cast Replenish. Opalescence, Pandemonium and Angelic Chorus are coming into play at the same time- will their abilities trigger? A: Yes, for the same reason as in D.21; the Continuous Effect of Opalescence will animate the enchantments before their abilities get a chance to trigger... so by the time they can, they will see that the things that came into play are currently creatures. Their abilities trigger both off themselves and off each other. (but not off Opalescence, because it doesn't animate itself.) L.03 Q: What happens first, if two things say they happen "when" or "whenever" an event occurs? Can I cast Instants in-between them? A: Abilities that say something happens "at" a time, or "when" or "whenever" an event/gamestate occurs are TRIGGERED abilities. Here's how to determe what order the abilities happen in, if they both trigger at the same time- APNAP order. In other words, the abilities controlled by the A ctive P layer will be put onto the stack (in an order of that player's choice), followed by those of the N on-A ctive P layer (in an order of that player's choice). Then, because of the way the stack works, those abilities will resolve off the stack in _reverse_ order: the Non-Active Player's, followed by the Active Player's. Here's an example of how this works. Example 1: A Weatherseed Treefolk is in play. (it has the ability "When Weatherseed Treefolk is put into a graveyard from play, return Weatherseed Treefolk to its owner's hand."). There is a Planar Void in play. ("Whenever a card is put into a graveyard, remove that card from the game."). The Treefolk is killed and goes to the graveyard- what happens to it? Well, this depends on which card is controlled by which player. If the same player controls both, he or she can put the abilities onto the stack in an order of his or her choice- that player may have it return to its owner's hand or leave the game, whichever is desired. If the active player controls the Void and the non-active player controls the Treefolk, then the non-active player's ability will go onto the stack last, and resolve first: the Treefolk will return to its owner's hand. If the non-active player controls the Void and the active player controls the Treefolk, then the non-active player's ability will go onto the stack last, and resolve first: the Treefolk will leave the game. L.04 Q: Both players want to cast Shock, and both are on 2 life. Who wins? A: The player who cast his Shock last. When his opponent announces a spell, he can respond to it with his own, and the response will resolve first- If each player knows that the other has a Shock, it's a stalemate. ========= Targeting and enchanting M.01 Q: What does it mean for a spell to "target" something? A: The term "target" is a great deal more specific than most players seem to realise. For a start, the only thing that can ever "target" anything is a spell or ability on the stack. Continuous abilities, for example, never target anything. In addition to that, only spells and abilities that specifically use the word "target" target anything. An effect that does something to "all creatures" or to "any creature" or to "enchanted creature" does _not_ target those creatures! And finally, at the time you play a local enchantment spell, it will target the permanent you cast it on (but will stop doing so once it's come into play... see qn 8, section M). The exception proves the rule, I suppose. M.02 Q: If Terror's target becomes black before it resolves, will it still destroy it? ("destroy target nonblack, nonartifact creature".) A: No. The Terror checks its targets twice- once when it is announced, and then again when it resolves. Therefore, when the Terror resolves, it will see that its target is no longer a nonartifact creature. All its targets are illegal, and therefore the Terror will be "countered on resolution". M.03 Q: Can I cast Reckless Spite targetting only one creature, or the same creature twice? ("destroy two target nonblack creatures...".) A: No. You have to choose a separate, legal, creature for each of its targets. If your opponent doesn't control two creatures, you'll have to have it destroy one of yours. If there's only one nonblack creature in play, it can't be cast it at all. M.04 Q: If one of Reckless Spite's targets becomes black before it resolves, will it still destroy the other one? A: Yes. When the spell checks its targets, it will see that one of them is illegal, and will fail with respect to that one. There are still some legal targets, however, so it will not be "countered on resolution". Therefore, it does as much as possible- namely, it destroys the other creature. M.05 Q: How well does Deadly Insect's ability protect it? ("cannot be the target of spells or abilities".) A: What it says is that that targetted spells and abilities (i.e. things on the stack that say they "target" something, or are local enchantments) cannot target it. This it doesn't prevent it from being enchanted, though it does prevent enchantments from being cast on it. Any other effect- Wrath of God, Diabolic Edict, etc- will get through the defence just fine. M.06 Q: Can Enchantment Alteration move an enchantment onto a Deadly Insect? A: Yes. Enchantment Alteration doesn't say it targets the permanent the enchantment is moving onto- therefore it doesn't. Deadly Insect's ability only stops spells and abilities that say they "target" it, so it can't prevent this. M.07 Q: Can Enchantment Alteration move an enchantment onto a creature with protection from that enchantment's color? A: No. Enchantment Alteration's reminder text says the enchantment must still be legal. It's not legal for an enchantment to enchant a protected creature (because protection includes "can't be enchanted by enchantments- which Deadly Insect does not); therefore this isn't possible. M.08 Q: I understand Enchantments no longer 'target' the things they sit on, they just 'enchant' them. What does this change affect? A: Nothing. Effects that used to prevent enchantments from "targetting" something will now prevent them from "enchanting" it. The change simply makes it so that only spells and abilities "target" anything, which makes things clearer. M.09 Q: Do "Enchant X" cards fall off when their enchantee stops being an X? A: Yes. There is a state-based effect that checks more-or-less continuously for local enchantments enchanting the wrong things. If it finds one, it will put the enchantment into the graveyard. M.10 Q: Will Enchantments saying "play ~ only on X" fall off if the enchantee stops being an X? A: Yes. The current wording for this is "~ can only enchant an X", which is clearer. The state-based effect checks for this as well. M.11 Q: Will an Enchantment fall off if the enchantee gains protection from its color? A: Yes. One of the properties of Protection is "cannot be enchanted by enchantments". The state-based effect checks for this as well. M.12 Q: Will +1/+1 counters fall off if they're not on a creature? A: No. Their effect will be "suppressed", but they will stay on. M.13 Q: Do enchantments & counters fall off when something regenerates? A: No. Regeneration _replaces_ destruction; It doesn't say "Oops, that thing was destroyed- come back here!", it says "Destruction? I don't think so, buddy." Regenerated things never actually leave play, so there's no reason for anything to fall off them. M.14 Q: Do enchantments & counters fall off when something phases out? A: No. This is a special property of Phasing: it's specially intended not to remove enchantments or counters. The enchantments phase out with the enchantee, and will phase back in with it, too. M.15 Q: What is a "global enchantment"? A: Any "Enchant World" or "Enchantment" card. Note that Soul Sculptor creates global enchantments. M.16 Q: What is a "local enchantment"? A: Any "Enchant XXX" card, other than an "Enchant World". For example, Licids can become local enchantments. ====== Questions on Specific Cards N.01 Q: Does Lifeline work for everyone, or just me? A: Everyone. The card is obviously extremely badly worded, and has been errata'd to say "Whenever a creature is put into a graveyard and another creature is in play, return the first creature from **that** graveyard to play under its owner's control at end of turn". (emphasis mine.) N.02 Q: Two Mogg Bombers + Lifeline = Infinite Damage? A: No. 6th Edition rules were changed specifically to prevent this problem. Effects that happen "at end of turn" happen "at the beginning of the end-of-turn step"- and there's only ever one end-of-turn step each turn. If a creature dies after Lifeline has brought it back, it's missed its chance to come back again this turn. It will come back the next time an end-of-turn step begins: the end of _next_ turn. Note that this is the reason why Waylay worked so strangely for a while. Note also that "until end of turn" effects wear off in the _cleanup_ step, not in the end-of-turn step. The same tricks don't work with "until end of turn" effects. N.03 Q: Can I use Mother of Runes to make enchantments fall off my opponents' creatures, by giving them protection from the appropriate color? A: No. Mother of Runes can only target creatures you control. (read the card). And yes, you can make enchantments fall off your own creatures just fine. N.04 Q: How do Opalescence and Humility interact? A: Complicatedly. With just one Opalescence, all other Enchantments (including Humility) will be 1/1 no-abilities. Opalescence doesn't animate itself, so it will be an enchantment as usual. With two Opalescences, we have a dependancy loop (Humility depends on Opalescence because it can make creatures, Opalescence depends on Humility because it can remove its abilities). So the result depends on the order they came into play. With the order Op, Op, Hu: All enchantments (including both Ops and Hu) are 1/1 no-abilities. With the order Op, Hu, Op: All enchantments except the first Op are 1/1 no-abilities. The first op is still an enchantment. With the order Hu, Op, Op: All enchantments except Op, Op and Hu are 1/1 no-abilities. Hu and both Ops are 4/4 with abilities. N.05 Q: If I play a Dreadnought, and choose not to sacrifice creatures, will a Pandemonium/Angelic Chorus still notice it coming into play? A: No. Phyrexian Dreadnought currently requires you to sacrifice creatures 'before it comes into play'. If you fail to do so, it will go to the graveyard _instead_ of coming into play. N.06 Q: If I sacrifice an Elder to its ability, will I get to search for 2 lands before or after I draw a card? A: Before. (This card badly needs reminder text.) The breakdown of events goes: You announce the ability, putting a "draw a card" effect onto the stack and sacrificing the Elder. The triggered ability gets put onto the stack. Then it resolves, and you search, and then the "draw a card" effect resolves, and you draw. N.07 Q: Can I cycle a card from the graveyard once I've cast Yawgmoth's Will? Can I discard from the graveyard? Can I use Elvish Spirit Guide's ability from the graveyard? Can I use Sneak Attack to get creatures out of the graveyard? A: No, no, no and no. All Yawgmoth's Will does is break the rule that you can't _play_ spells except from your hand: that is, it just lets you cast spells from your graveyard. However, it does not allow you to treat cards as if they were in your hand for any purpose other than that- discarding, using their abilities, counting the number of cards in your hand, and so on. (see A.23 for more on the distinction being made here.) N.08 Q: Will Yawgmoth's Will remove itself from the game when it finishes resolving? A: Yes. It will usually be the first card that gets removed from the game by the effect. N.09 Q: What happens if a card that says "when ~ leaves play, return it to owner's hand" goes to the graveyard from play, when there's a Planar Void out? A: Depends on who controls what. If the same player controls both the Void and the dead card, he can choose which of the effects happens first... and would usually choose to have the card bounce, thus preventing the Void from removing it from the game. If different players control the two cards, then the ability controlled by the non-active player will resolve first (see qn 3, section L) and the other one will fail to take effect. ====== O.01 Q: Where is section O? A: There is no section O. Move along. These aren't the droids you're looking for. ====== Tournaments and Rulebooks P.01 Q: What is a "sideboard"? A: A sideboard is something you only use in a tournament. In casual play, there's no need or purpose for one. In a tournament, you can set aside exactly 15 cards that help your deck against certain types of opposing deck. After each round, you can substitute cards in your deck for cards in your sideboard, on a 1-for-1 basis (so there will always be 15 cards in it). For instance, a white deck might include Circles of Protection against various colors, in its sideboard. Putting them in the main deck would be wasteful, because most of the time the opponent wouldn't be playing the right colors. However, once the player has seen what his opponent's deck contains, he can put the appropriate circles into the deck to use in the next round. P.02 Q: What does "Obsolete" mean? A: Stating that a term or ability is "obsolete" is WotC's way of saying that it won't appear in future cardsets or rulebooks. Note that when an entry in the glossary says "(Obsolete)", only the _term_ itself is obsolete- the information the entry gives is still accurate. You can still play with any cards that have abilities that are 'obsolete', both in tournaments and in casual games... but until the older rules appendix to the rulebook is released, it won't be 100% certain how these things work under the current rules. P.03 Q: How do I "Mulligan"? A: At the beginning of each game, when you've drawn and examined your hand of 7 cards, you may "mulligan"- that is, shuffle your hand back into your library and draw 6 new cards. If you're still not happy with what you've drawn, you may "mulligan" again, drawing only 5 cards this time, and so on. This is known as a "Paris Mulligan". Note that there used to be a rule that let you do a "no-land mulligan" or an "all-land mulligan"- if your hand contained no land cards, or nothing but land cards, you could shuffle it back in and draw a full 7 cards. This is no longer officially legal. P.04 Q: Can I use old cards and 6th edition cards in the same games, despite the rules-change? A: Certainly, yes. Many of the problems they had when writing the 6th edition rules came from ensuring that old cards would still work right. Most older cards have had their wordings changed a little, to fit in with the current templates. Check out the Oracle (http://www.wizards.com/DCI/Oracle.asp) if you want to know how an older card should work. P.05 Q: What cards can I play with in a tournament? A: Depends on the tournament. In a sealed-deck or booster-draft tournament, you just get to play with the cards you're given on the day, of course. In Type 1 ('Classic') tournaments, you can play with any card from any set. In Type 1.5 ('Extended') tournaments you can currently play with any card more recent than 4th Edition. In Type 2 ('Standard') tournaments, you can currently play with any card from Tempest or later. In fact, when I say "any card", there are admittedly certain cards that aren't legal. The current "Banned cards" lists can be found on the WotC website, at [REF]... they change frequently, and are way too long to reproduce here. P.06 Q: What does "errata" mean? A: Sometimes WotC decides to change the wording on a card. Sucks, yes, but sometimes cards have misprints, are poorly worded, or are way too powerful, and "errata" are issued to actually rephrase the card. The best source for errata is the Oracle (at http://www.wizards.com/DCI/Oracle.asp). If a card has been errata'd, you're supposed to play by the new errata'd text in all situations. Playing by the old card text is not an option, unless it's a casual game and the players all agree to do so. ======