Monster Media 1994 #2

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Welcome to the first edition of the Rulings Summary using the REVISED EDITION rules. Although very little has changed in this file due to the rules change, you are still advised to read the rulebook and the General Rulings section for more information. Please check the "General Rulings" if you do not find the answer you are looking for in here. The most recent gg-l digest used was #532. Many of these rulings are _NOT_ "official". Some of the rulings are "Common net wisdom" picked out of posts by people I trust of that put out a good argument. Whenever the ruling was made by an official (such as our former net contact "Snark", the game designer "Garfield", or other net contacts "Chris Page", "bethmo" and "Aahz"), I've tried to make a note of that. I don't claim responsibility for the accuracy of the rulings or for transcription errors, okay? I'm only human. Let me know if you find any problems/errors/typos/etc in the text below. I'd like to make it more accurate and complete. Normally, a '+' is used to mark changes since the last released version. Because so many changes occured, no change marks were used. I'm taking this opportunity to do a reset. Stephen D'Angelo sdangelo@usagi.eng.sun.com (work address) dangelo@netcom.com (checked less regularly) ---- ============================================================================= General Rulings last update 04/27/94 ============================================================================= Table of Contents: ------------------ Here is a quick outline of what can be found in this summary: - Basic Rulings We All Should Know - Turn Order - Attack Sequence - Dealing with Damage - Loss of Life - Mana Burn - Banding Questions - Trample Questions - Going to the Graveyard - Regeneration - Protection from Color - Special Creatures - Face Down Cards - Copy Cards - Paying Artifact and Enchantment Costs - Control Questions - Timing Questions - Countering Spells - Spell Casting Questions - Multiplayer Questions - Other Stuff - Switching from Limited/Unlimited Edition to Revised Edition Rules Basic Rulings We All Should Know: --------------------------------- "I'm done" always means "I'm done unless you do something else". You can use fast effects in response to anything your opponent does. [bethmo] Basic land types are: Forest, Island, Mountain, Plains, and Swamp. Multilands and the lands introduced by Arabian Nights (and other expansions are not "basic" lands types for purposes of any spell. [Page 15] Black, Blue, Green, Red and White are the only colors in the game. Colorless (or no color) are not valid color types for purposes of any spell. [Page 15] Fast effects are Instants, Interrupts or special abilities of any card in play. [Page 25] Artifacts and Lands have no color but can be xxxxLaced into a color. Any player can look at any other player's graveyard at any time. This means that a player cannot hide what goes into or gets taken out of the graveyard from any other player. You do not need to show anything which goes into or comes out of your Library. [bethmo] All players have the right to know how many cards you have in your hand. [bethmo] No player may count the number of cards in their or any other player's library. [bethmo] It is not legal to spend mana on preventions like Circle of Protection or Death Ward (but not limited to them) when there is no valid action to be countering. Equally, you cannot Animate Artifact when there are no artifacts. You can spend mana to power up Firebreathing or some other existing effect. Basically, you cannot make an excuse just to get rid of cards or mana. Special abilitites of creatures, such as Tim's poke, are not attacks. [bethmo] Neither are spells like Fireball or Lightning Bolt. These are just spells and effects. An Attack is something special in Magic. Continuous effects are faster than interrupts. [bethmo] Continuous effects of artifacts only work when they are untapped. [Page 22] Continuous effects of creatures work whether or not they are tapped. [Page 26] Artifact creatures count as creatures for this ruling. [WotC Rules Team] The effects of interrupts are permanent. [Page 25] A sacrifice is considered a cost in the casting of a spell or powering an effect. It is used up at the same time the mana is. Such costs are not preventable by any means, including regeneration. [Page 22] Sacrificing is _not_ a targeted effect and so Protection from Color will no protect a creature from a sacrifice. Enchantments may not be played directly on your opponent. [Page 23] Untapping a card does _not_ undo the effects of that card; it merely makes the card available to be used again. [bethmo] If two enchantments contradict one another, the most recently cast wins. For example, casting Flight on a creature with Earthbind on it grants the creature the ability to fly, but the Earthbind does remain in play. [WotC Rules Team] If an enchantment is removed after being used, its effects still remain. For example, if a 1/1 creature with Holy Armor (treated as 1/3) gets pumped up with 3 white mana, it gets +0/+3 making it 1/6. If the Holy Armor was then removed, the +0/+3 would still remain, although the +0/+2 granted by the enchantment would leave and the creature would be 1/4. [bethmo] Turn Order ---------- 1. Untap Phase You MUST untap each turn. You cannot "forget". [FAQ] Untapping is simultaneous. May not cast spells or use fast effects before or during untap phase. All Limited and Unlimited edition cards which said to do things at the beginning of the turn or during the untap phase take place during the upkeep phase under the Revised rules. 2. Upkeep Phase You still have an upkeep phase even if nothing happens during it. All Limited and Unlimited edition cards which said to do things at the beginning of the turn or during the untap phase take place during the upkeep phase under the Revised rules. Fast effects may be used during this phase by any player. [Page 13] You can resolve the actions that happen in your upkeep in any order you desire as long as all effects are dealt with during upkeep. [bethmo] If a card requiring upkeep costs is destroyed before the end of upkeep, no cost needs to be paid. This is similar for cards that "leave play". For example, if a Doppelganger switches away from Lord of the Pit it need not pay the upkeep cost. [bethmo] If something happens which adds an upkeep cost during upkeep, it must be paid. For example, if a Doppelganger becomes a Lord of the Pit, during upkeep, a creature must be sacrificed. [bethmo] Upkeep must be paid even if the card is tapped. [bethmo] Paying upkeep on a card is considered a fast effect. [bethmo] If a creature has an upkeep cost, you may not use its fast effect before its upkeep is paid. Demoinc Hordes is an example. [bethmo] Any mana in mana pool at end of Upkeep causes "mana burn". [Page 17] 3. Draw a Card Only fast effects which affect the draw may be used during this phase. These include Aladdin's Lamp and Jandor's Ring. If you have no cards in your library to draw from, you lose the game. [Rulebook] Any mana in mana pool at end of Draw causes "mana burn". [Page 17] 4. Main Phase May do the following in any order: a. Cast a spell -- any number of times before or after other actions b. Play a land -- only one per turn before or after other actions c. Declare an attack -- only one per turn This is the only phase in which you may cast spells which are not fast effects. Spell types include Sorcery, Summon, Enchantment, Artifact, Instant and Interrupt. Playing a land is a not a fast effect, so it cannot be done in reaction to something else. May play multiple lands if have Fastbond in play, but they can only be played when you could otherwise play a land. [bethmo] They cannot be played in the same instant. Play them sequentially. 5. Discard Discard down to seven cards in your hand. No spells or fast effects may be used during this phase. 6. Inform Opponent Declare that your turn is over. Your opponent gets the chance to react by using fast effects. You may do the same. The turn is not over until you both say you are done. [Page 14] Any mana in mana pool at end of this phase causes "mana burn". [Page 17] 7. Heal Creatures Damage is removed from creatures. Any creatures which gain tokens at end of turn get them. The effects of all fast effects (unless otherwise stated on the card) end. If any creature is reduced to zero or less toughness at this time, it dies and cannot succesfully regenerate since it will immediately die again. Any effects that happen at the "End of Turn" happen at this time. If this involves the death of a creature, spells and effects can be used to attempt regeneration (unless otherwise disallowed). All of these actions are simultaneous. Only spells which prevent damage, regenerate creatures, prevent "mana burn" or "given one life when xxx" may be used at this time. Any mana in mana pool at end of this phase causes "mana burn". [Page 17] You only get _one_ attack per turn. If you manage to untap creatures they cannot be used in that same turn to attack again. [Rulebook] If a creature is forced to attack (due to a spell like Siren's Call or an effect like the Nettling Imp) the player must declare an attack that turn and send out the affected creature(s) if it is legal to do so. [FAQ] There is no time between turns in which to take actions. An action must take place before the end of one player's turn or wait until the upkeep of the next turn. [bethmo] Attack Sequence: ---------------- 1. Declare intention to attack. a. Opponent gets the chance to use any fast effects or instants in response to this claim. [WotC Rules Team] They are not limited to a single instant's worth of effects. b. Any mana in mana pool causes "mana burn". [Page 17] 2. Declare attackers by tapping them There are some creatures which do not tap when attacking. No spells or fast effects may be used during this step. Creatures cannot attack (or be tapped for a special ability) until that card or token begins a turn in play on your side. This includes all possible ways of getting creatures: Summon, Animate, Resurrect, Living Lands, Control Magic, etc. [Page 26] You always attack your opponent and _not_ your opponent's creatures. [Page 27] If a card or token starts your turn in play on your side, leaves your side and then returns in the same turn, you may use it. [bethmo] Cards which are animated during a turn _may_ use their non-creature abilities even on the turn they become creatures, and may even attack if they began the turn in play on your side (creature or not)! [WotC Rules Team] Banding of attackers must be declared at this time and cannot be changed later. [bethmo] You can declare the start of your attack and then attack with no creatures. This is sort of a "null attack" which can be used to force the emptying of a mana pool or force your opponent to consider casting spells. Note that if you declare such a "null attack" it is considered your one attack for that turn. You are not mandated to declare any attack during a turn, but you _may_ declare this kind of zero creature attack. [Chris Page] 3. Fast effects can be used by either player. You are not limited to a single instant's worth of effects. 4. Declare defenders No spells or fast effects are allowed during this step. Defending creatures do NOT tap. This is one of the oldest myths of the game. There is nothing in the rules that suggests that they are tapped, but a lot of people were taught that way. If any member of a banded group can be blocked, the group is blockable. [Page 32] Defenders do not band or group. They can just decide to choose the same creature to block. Defensive banding only helps during damage allocation. [Page 33] In fact, there is no choice about using banding among a group of blockers blocking the same creature. If a group of blockers has at least one banding creature at damage dealing time, the defender gets to distribute the damage. [bethmo] An attacking creature with an evasion ability (flying, xxxwalk, etc) may not "turn off" the ability and choose to be blockable. [bethmo] Once blockers are declared against a creature, it is blocked. It remains blocked even if the blocking creature is killed or the block is made "illegal" by some action. [Page 28] This means that if you cast Jump on your creature, that you do not get around the blocker or even avoid damage. The False Orders card is the only exception to this since it retroactively changes the choice for one blocker. [Snark] 5. Fast effects can be used by either player. You are not limited to a single instant's worth of effects. 6. Damage Dealing a. Resolve all First Strike creatures simultaneously. Damage prevention is used after damage is assigned. (See Dealing with Damage) Dead creatures are removed to the graveyard. Any effects triggered by the deaths (Vampires gaining counters, Creature Bond damage, the use of Soul Net, and so on) take place. b. Resolve all normal creatures simulatneouly. Desert damage happens at this time. [bethmo] Basilisk and Cockatrice effects happen here as well, but wait until after affected creatures deal their damage. [Aahz] Damage prevention is used after damage is assigned. (See Dealing with Damage) Dead creatures are removed to the graveyard. Any effects triggered by the deaths (Vampires gaining counters, Creature Bond damage, the use of Soul Net, and so on) take place. Any mana in mana pool at end of Damage Dealing cause "mana burn". [Page 17] Each member of a Band of attackers is a separate source of damage. Banding just allows a group to be blocked or let through as a whole, and for the ability to distribute damage. It does not mean that the creatures act as one. [bethmo] If an attacker or defender dies (even if regenerated) before the damage dealing, said creature is removed from the combat. Note that if the creature did block an attacker, the attacker is still blocked. [Page 28] If an defender becomes tapped (due to using a special ability or some other effect) before damage dealing, the creature is still in the combat and receives damage but does not deal any damage. [Page 28] If an attacker gets untapped, it does not change its status in the combat at all. All it does is allow the attacker to use its special ability or to remain untapped for blocking in the next player's turn. [bethmo] Creatures with the ability to get "pumped up" by spending mana may choose to get more powerful at any time that fast effects may be used. This can be done any number of times. Dealing with Damage: -------------------- Enchantments on a creature which enhance the power of a creature do not change the color of the damage that creature does. For example, a Fire Breathing Pegasus does White damage. [Page 35] Enchantments which do damage directly (i.e. Creature Bond, Pestilence, etc.) do damage of the color of the enchantment. [Page 35] Creatures can have negative power ratings due to a variety of reasons. Such a creature does zero damage when attacking or defending. Damage is compared to a creature's toughness. You total up all damage done to a creature, and once it has more damage than it has toughness, it dies. This means that if a 3/3 Hill Giant with Holy Strength (+1/+2) takes 3 damage then the Holy Strength gets Disenchanted, the Hill Giant will die of its wounds. [bethmo] Damage is not subtracted from toughness. A 5 toughness creature with 4 damage still has a toughness of 5 and will be worth 5 to a Diamond Valley. [bethmo] Items and effects which cause damage to move from one target to another are called Damage Redirection effects. These effects include Trample damage, Personal Incarnation, Veteran Bodyguard, Jade Monolith, etc. Redirected damage maintains its color, source and nature. Nature includes any special effects that occur due to damaging. For example, the Hypnotic Spectre will cause a player to discard if any of its damage is redirected to the player. [bethmo] The ability of Disintegrate to cause a creature to be removed from the game is not in the nature of the damage but on the target of the spell. [WotC Rules Team] If a creature is ever removed from play, all damage to it is immediately removed. This includes creatures targetted by an Oubliette. [WotC Rules Team] Damage resolution occurs at the following times: - after resolving an effect which destroys or buries anything - after resolving a group of effects in which anything was damaged - after resolving a damage dealing step in which anything was damaged - whenever something is sacrificed A damage resolution step occurs even if there is no hope of preventing the effect in question. Often it is meaningless and can be ignored, but it is always there (much like upkeep phase). Damage prevention spells and effects cannot be used before the damage resolution. They can only be used during such resolution. Note that multiple damage resolutions may happen during a single instant. For example, player A taps a land with Psychic Venom to get a point of red mana (resolve venom damage) then taps other lands for more mana. Player A then casts Fireball split to target 3 creatures... one of which is a regenerating Fungusaur on player A's side. Player B is tired of the Fungusaur and casts Terror on it. Both players say they are done with fast effects. Terror resolves first and the Fungusaur is buried (damage resolution step here). Then the Fireball is resolved and damage gets delivered to 2 creatures. The third part of the Fireball fizzles. Lastly, resolve damage from spells during the instant. If multiple creatures are damaged or destroyed at the same time, go through the damage resolution steps all at once, not one at a time. Here are the steps to damage resolution: 1. Damage Prevention & Redirection Only interrupts, or spells and effect which prevent damage can be used at this time. Do whatever you want to prevent damage to that target. This includes Protection from XXXX (as given by Wards or by the card itself), Circles of Protection and damage prevention spells or effects. This prevention is targeted against the damage. When preventing damage, damage can be removed in any order. This means you can remove Trample damage first and leave non-Trample damage, or remove damage of one color before damage of another color. [bethmo] Unprevented damage is applied with non-Trample first and then Trample damage, so that there is the greatest chance of Trample working. [Page 32] Trample damage in excess of a creature's toughness moves on to the defender. Jade Monolith shunts the remaining damage to the defender. Defender can shunt damage using Personal Incarnation. Damage to the player from an unblocked creature is transfered to the Veteran Bodyguard. Etc. 2. Send Creatures to Graveyard Regeneration or destruction preventing spells and effects can be used in this step. Review the unprevented damage. If the creature still has enough damage to be killed and it has the ability to regenerate, it may use that ability at this time. (See Regeneration) Note that if a creature is "buried", "cannot regenerate" or "removed from game", it may not regenerate. [Page 34] 3. Death Events Generated Any effect due to the creature going to the graveyard happens at this time. This includes Vampires gathering tokens, use of a Soul Net, Creature Bond, etc. This is the step in which the Limited edition Fungusaur gains a counter for being damaged if it did not die. (See Fungusaur) Note that only spells and effects specified may be used during damage resolution. The use of "Gain 1 life if xxx" effects and interrupts are always allowed. Check for player death at the end of each phase, the beginning and end of the attack [Page 14] This allows for Stream of Life and other Sorceries to save the player. Loss of Life ------------ Loss of life is not the same as damage and therefore cannot be prevented with a Circle of Protection nor reversed with Reverse Damage. Damage can be done to any target. Damage done to a player can result in a "loss of life" if not prevented. [bethmo] Only players have "life" points. Loss of Life in general does not have color associated with it. [FAQ] Mana Burn --------- Mana burn is the damage caused by having extra mana in your pool at the end of each phase during your turn or the beginning or end of an attack. You take 1 colorless damage for each mana left in your pool. [Page 17] Mana burn is a single action which uses all the mana in your pool. You cannot use some of the mana to prevent the rest from harming you. You can use other mana sources to cast spells to prevent the loss of life, though. [WotC Rules Team] Banding Questions: ------------------ Attacker needs all-but-one creature to have banding ability in order to band. Defender needs only one creature to have banding ability in order to band. [Page 32] If the defender has any banding creatures in a group, then they do not have the option of not banding. Just by being present, a banding creature gives the defender the ability to decide how damage is divided up. Grouping for defense or banding in defense or attack, does not change the actual power, nature, or color of the creatures attacking. When damage gets distributed, the damage still has color and may even have Trample nature. Assigning more damage to a creature than it can survive is allowed. [Page 33] If the extra damage assigned to a creature is Trample damage, it does go past and damages the defending player. Banding consists of two separate abilities, which can be referred to as "mutual assistance" and "damage sharing". [bethmo] - Mutual assistance only applies when declaing attackers. At this time you may group any set of creatures so long as all of them, or all-but-one of them have Banding. You may not add or subtract creatures from the group after this. The "assistance" is an agreement that if any member is blocked, the whole group will stop and gang up on whatever did the blocking. - Damage sharing applies only when damage is assigned. This part of the ability appplies to attackers and defenders and allows the side(s) with Banding in their group to distribute damage. Creatures do not "band for defense". Defending creatures may choose to group up against an attacker (or attacking band) at any time. Banding is not necessary to group up against an attacker. Only the "damage sharing" ability applies to defenders. [bethmo] Damage may be divided up among a banded group any way you want to. You can give all of it to one creature or any other way you want. [bethmo] Common misconceptions: [bethmo] - That a Pegasus banded with Invisible Zombies loses its flying ability. This is _false_. The banded group can be blocked by either a flying creature (which can block the pegasus) or a Wall (which can block the Zombies). - That a Pegasus banded with Invisible Zombies can only be blocked by a flying Wall. Again, _false_. - That I can band a War Mammoth with a Pegasus to block a flying creature. This is VERY wrong. Only creatures which can block an attacker as an individual may block the attacker. You do not "band for defense" (see above) Trample Questions: ------------------ If a Trample creature is blocked by an unbanded group, the player may assign all of the damage to one of the blockers and by means of Trample do damage in excess of the blocker's toughness to the player. [Page 29] Defenders do not get to use Trample ability. Only attackers. If a mix of Trample and non-Trample damage are involved, non-Trample damage is assigned first, and Trample damage is assigned afterwards. [Page 31] A creature with Trample ability which has its blocker removed is still blocked but all the damage that creature would do goes through to the defender after trampling the non-existant blocker. [Page 32] Going to the Graveyard: ----------------------- Dies/destroyed/sent-to-graveyard mean the same thing. All count as death events for spells that detect them. [bethmo] The term "discarded" was used on cards to mean several different things. Cards which say "discarded" from play or something to that effect should be treated as if they say "destroyed". Cards which say "when X is discarded" should be treated as if they say "when X is removed from play". [WotC Rules Team] Once sent to the graveyard, a card "forgets" all enchantments and things that happened to it. [Page 35] This includes any 'X' casting cost, changes to the text by cards like Magical Hack or Purelace, or tokens it might have accumulated. Regeneration: ------------- Regeneration means prevention of sending the card to the graveyard. When a creature is regenerated, all enchantments and whatnot remain on the card, and the card becomes tapped. Also, the creature is reset to having zero damage done to it. [Snark] Tapping the creature is not a cost of Regeneration... it is an effect. The creature instead of going to the graveyard becomes tapped (if it was not already tapped). [bethmo] Regeneration abilities and spells must be used at the time the creature would be sent to the graveyard. [Snark] Cannot regenerate a creature which is "buried" or "removed from the game". [Page 31] Protection from Color: ---------------------- Protection from a color means that a creature: 1. Damage of <Color> is reduced to zero 2. Cannot be blocked by <Color> creatures 3. Cannot be targetted by <Color> effects or spells, but it may be effected by spells or effects of that color which do not target it specifically. 4. Any enchantments of <Color> are removed Protection from Color does not protect creatures from general enchantments or spells. So a creature with Red Ward still uses Orcish Oriflamme. [Page 20] Protection from Color does not protect creatures from being sacrificed (even from spells or effects of the appropriate color). Sacrificing is not considered a targeted effect. Ward spells grant Protection from Color abilities to the creature. They do not prevent the Ward or other enchantments on the creature from being affected. [bethmo] When deciding if a spell or effect targets a creature with Protection from Color ability of if it is a general effect, just ask if the player using the effect at any time chooses cards which are affected. If no choice is made, then it is a general effect, if at least once a card or target must be specified, then it is a targetted effect. [bethmo] Choosing defenders is not a choice that makes something a targeted effect. Hence abilities which affect cretures "blocking" or "blocked by" a creature are not targeted and are not stopped by Protection. For example, a Green Ward will not save a creature from being destroyed by the Thicket Basilisk. [WotC Rules Team] A Protection from Color ability does not work for a creature while it is in the graveyard. Hence a White Knight can have Animate Dead cast on it and a Black Knight can be Resurrected. [bethmo] Note that the White Knight would immediately dispell the Animate Dead and go back to the graveyard, but the example still holds. "Destroys self" is considered a sacrifice and cannot be prevented by a Ward or other protection. [WotC Rules Team] Special Creatures: ------------------ Walls are in all senses creatures. They are affected by any spell or effect which affects creatures (including Paralyze, Terror, Creature Bond, and so on). [Page 26] Walls cannot attack even if power is greater than zero. If Animate Wall is used on them, they may attack even if power is zero. [Page 26] Artifact Creatures cannot attack the turn in which they are put into play or do any action which would cause them to be tapped. They have all the limitations that regular creatures do. [Page 22] The effects and abilities of artifact creatures can be used even when the creature is tapped (as long as tapping is not part of the use cost). [WotC Rules Team] The artifact quality of a card has nothing to do with its color. If you Chaoslace an artifact, it is now a red artifact. [bethmo] Creatures represented by tokens are not "cards" in the game sense. This means that they cannot be targetted by spells which specify a card (like City in a Bottle, Red Elemental Blast, and Desert Twister). [bethmo] Token creatures are also removed from the game entirely if they are ever Unsummoned, destroyed, or otherwise removed from play. [bethmo] Token creature are considered to have a zero casting cost. [bethmo] Face Down Cards --------------- Face down creatures (hidden by Camouflage or Illusionary Mask) still have any tokens they have on top of the creature. Some creatures are just not very disguisable. [bethmo] Face down creatures have their enchantments turned over as well, but the number of enchantments is still visible. [bethmo] Continuous effects of face down creatures still take effect. If you have a face down Goblin King, you should tell your opponent that his Goblins are 2/2 creatures now. Again, these creatures are hard to disguise. How much knowledge you have when dealing with face down creatures is an issue. Some say that they are treated with all the knowledge the player has (and NetReps have said this is what should happen). But, there is a question of how much people remember and what really is "information" (should I deduce your creature from the mana tapped?). The most recent answer is that all you really know is that it is a creature and that all creature affecting spells may target face down creatures (but they will fizzle if the target is not valid). [bethmo] A Clone or Doppleganger can be made of a face down creature. You opponent does not need to tell you anything about your creature's power/toughness or abilities. The opponent must, however, inform you of the results of actions you take (i.e. how much damage was done, or whether tapping the creature allows you some special ability). [bethmo] Copy Cards ---------- Cards which copy other cards include Clone, Doppelganger and Copy Artifact. All such spells target the thing they are copying and cannot be brought into play without a legal target. [WotC Rules Team] Clone and Doppelganger can only copy permanents created by a "Summon" or "Artifact Creature" spell, or tokens that inherently count as creatures. They may not copy permanents which are only creatures due to some sort of animation such as Animate Dead. [WotC Rules Team] Copy Artifact can only copy permanents created by "Artifact" or "Artifact Creature" spells, or tokens that inherently count as artifacts. They may not copy permanent which are only artifacts due to some other effect. [WotC Rules Team] They copy on the base creature/artifact and not any enchantments or counters on it, regardless of whether the counters are due to natural abilities of the creature/artifact or of other spells. [WotC Rules Team] This means that a copy of a Rock Hydra with 6 heads will be a zero headed Hydra (and will most likely die immediately). This ruling affects Tetravus, Triskelion, Scavenging Ghoul and other creatures with tokens on them. They come into play in the same tapped/untapped state as the target. [WotC Rules Team] They do not copy the "expansion symbol" on a card. [WotC Rules Team] They remain cards even when copying a token. [WotC Rules Team] Treat the permanent effects of interrupts and Asnof's Transmogrant as counters for this entire set of rulings. [WotC Rules Team] This means that effects of xxxxlace spells, Magical Hack, Sleight of Mind, and such do _not_ also go with the copy. It also means that if the Doppelganger is xxxxlaced or Tranmografied, that the effect remains even after it switches creatures. Paying Artifact and Enchantment Costs: -------------------------------------- Enchantments with activation costs, such as Pestilence, may be powered for any amount as a single activation, or used in single changes, at the controllers discretion. [WotC Rules Team] Artifacts which do not have tapping as part of their activation cost (and which are not triggered off an event) may be powered for multiple times at once. This counts as a single activation of the artifact. If it does damage, like the Rocket Launcher, the damage arrives in one chunk. [WotC Rules Team] Artifacts or enchantments that require a cost be paid to use the card must have the cost paid directly. The cost cannot be used by more than one card. For example, skipping one turn will not untap 2 Time Vaults. A sacrifice is a cost that cannot be prevented using regeneration, or any other means. [Page 21]. The Limited and Unlimited edition used the term "Mono Artifact" to mean that the artifact had "Tap" as part of the activation cost. The terms "Poly Artifact" and "Continuous Artifact" applied to artifacts which did not require tapping when used. Artifacts that do something based on an event (like "+1 life when black spell is cast(1)") can only be used once per event, but multiple artifacts or enchantments can catch the same event. This is spelled out on the Revised edition cards. Paying an artifact or enchantment use cost is not considered to be "casting a spell" and so it cannot be Counterspelled, Deathgripped, etc. [bethmo] Control Questions: ------------------ The owner of a card is the one who brought it to the table. The controller is usually the one who cast the spell (but cards can change controller). The caster is the one who cast the spell. [Page 18] The caster of an enchantment is forever considered its controller. There are currently no cards which change the ownership of an enchantment. Only the controller can pay costs associated with an enchantment (unless otherwise specified on the card). [page 23] This means that if a spell like Regeneration is placed on an opponent's creature (or is later found to be on an opponent's creature because he/she used Control Magic to steal the creature from your control), that you--not your opponent--can power the Regeneration ability. Controlled creatures count as yours for all cards that say "your" in the effects (including Sacrifice and Diamond Valley). [Snark] Timing Questions: ----------------- Fast Effects can be used during any player's turn. [Page 25] Unless otherwise stated, tapping a creature to use its special ability is a instant-speed fast-effect. [Page 25] Only tapping land for mana works at interrupt speed. Tapping a land for any other effect is an instant (unless the card says otherwise). [bethmo] Your opponent is allowed to cast spells during your turn. If both of you want to cast spells at the same time, the player who's turn it is goes first. [Page 36] Note that this only applies when you both want to use fast effects. If you want to use a non-fast effect and your opponent wants to use a fast effect, you must allow them to use those fast effects (any number of instants worth) before you can use your non-fast effect or spell. [bethmo] Your opponent is allowed to respond to any action with fast effects. Such actions include: Casting of _any_ spell regardless of type, End of Upkeep, End of Turn, and Start of Attack phase. In addition, they can be used in response to any damage done to any target, or at specified points in the attack sequence. If multiple fast effects or spells are announced, they are resolved in last-to-first order. Damage is not applied until after all effects have been resolved. [Page 37] It is possible for a spell to be legally declared and then be made illegal by a spell which is declared later. When a spell is made illegal, it fizzles out. Interrupts can target only the spell which they are interrupting, or a permanent in play. You may not interrupt one spell to target a different spell. [bethmo] Interrupts are resolved immediately unless they are in turn interrupted. If the second interrupt targets the first interrupt, it will always take precedence. If two interrupts target the same spell, the one cast the the player who's turn it is goes first. [Page 36] Note that if the player who's turn it is wants to go after the other interrupt, that player can wait for the first interrupt to be resolved completely before declaring the second interrupt. There are currently no spells which will counter a fast effect. Interrupts may be used to counter spells, but once a fast effect is declared, it may not be stopped even by an interrupt. This may change if a new spell is introduced which is specifically given this ability. [bethmo] Countering Spells: ------------------ Once a spell (or fast effect) is declared, the mana is spent even if the spell fizzles, is counterspelled, or made illegal by some other action. Note that it is polite to not counterspell until the person declares how much mana is actually in that X damage spell, or otherwise finishes what they're doing. Do not interrupt a player... interrupts are played AFTER an action but take place before it. If a spell is countered, it is not considered to have been "cast". This means that you cannot use effects which say "Gain one life if xxx is cast" or any similar effect. [Aahz] Spell Casting Questions: ------------------------ Casting a spell means playing a non-Land card from your hand. [Page 17] Using abilities of creatures, artifacts or enchantments are not spells. The Nether Shadow's ability to return to play is neither a spell nor a summoning. [bethmo] Spells which target "all" of something can be played even if there is none of the somthings available. For example, you can use Flashfires even if no Plains are in play. This is because the spell does not require a target to act upon. It just does something. [Page 20] You may not cast a targetted spell unless it is aimed at a legal target. Spells like Hurricane and Wrath of God are not targetted, but Lightning Bolt and Terror are. [Page 20] Spells which are targeted must have a valid target when declared and when resolved. If the target is no longer valid when resolved, then the spell (or effect) fizzles. For example: - If the target is destroyed and removed prior to the effect - If a creature ends up untapped after the Royal Assassin targets it (from Instill Energy or Twiddle). - If a creature leaves combat after a Desert targets it. There are many other occurances. Watch for them. Spells with an X cost can legally be cast with zero as the X. [Page 19] Spells with an X cost are declared when they are cast as to how much mana is in them. This amount cannot be increased or decreased after it is declared. [Page 19] If a card reads "a xxxxx" or "any xxxx" it means "any one xxxx in play, no matter who it belongs to." [bethmo] Interrupts can be used to modify of a spell or card as the card is being put into play. This modification cannot make an illegal choice of target into a legal one but it can make a legal target illegal and fizzle the spell. This means that you cannot cast an Elemental Blast at a card of the wrong color with the intention of using Sleight of Mind on it the next moment. [bethmo] No spell or effect (other than the Ring of Ma'ruf) can target a card which is outside of the game. Very few spells can select a card which is in the Graveyard, the Library (where you draw cards from), the Ante, or from someone's hand. These cards are specificly worded to do that. A card cannot be acted upon until it is successfully cast. For example, if City in a Bottle is being cast, you cannot disenchant it until the Instant after it enters play. This means it will have its full effect before you can do anything. [Page 21] You may announce a spell then tap mana, or tap mana and then announce a spell. Both ways are legal. In any case, once a person starts to cast a spell by tapping mana or by putting a card out of their hand onto the table, the casting cannot be interrupted until all decisions and costs related to that spell are complete. This includes the expendature of the mana, choice of any targets, etc. [bethmo] Interrupts are cast after the spell, but can take place before it. If they make the spell they modify invalid, then the spell fizzles. [bethmo] Nothing can increase the cost to cast an already-cast spell. For example, you cannot Sleight of Mind a Gloom enchantment to make green spells cost 3 more after a green spell is cast and expect 3 extra mana to have to be spent. [bethmo] A countered spell is placed in the owner's graveyard and all mana (or other costs such as sacrifices) used for the casting are wasted. [bethmo] An enchantment is either cast on a target, or it is played in your territory. No enchantment is played on another player. [Page 23] If a spell has multiple targets and one of the targets is removed from play, only that one portion of the spell fizzles out. The rest of the targets are affected normally. Also, if a Fireball is used on 3 targets and one is Unsummoned, the damage is still spread between the 3 targets with one target's damage fizzling out. [bethmo] Spells that target "attacking" or "defending" creatures may only be used during an attack. [bethmo] If they are untargeted spells, they may be used at any time. [Aahz] The "casting cost" of a spell is number of mana points, regardless of color which were used to cast the spell. [Page 19] The "casting cost" does not include any extra mana that was spent to overcome obstacles like Gloom or Power Sink. [bethmo] Token creatures and animated lands have casting costs of zero. [bethmo] Creatures with Animate Dead have a casting cost equal to their original cost, not that of Animate Dead. [bethmo] Multiplayer Questions: ---------------------- In multiplayer games, cards which read "both players" affect all players. [Snark] If a card reads "each upkeep" or "each turn", it means each of _your_ upkeeps or each of _your_ turns. If the card affects multiple players, it affects each player during his (or her) upkeep or turn. In most multiplayer rule sets, if a player is killed, all of that player's cards are immediately removed from the game. Other Stuff: ------------ If a card says that you must pay mana or bad things happen, the mana expenditure is not mandatory... unless the card specifies exactly what sources of mana should be used. For example, Power Sink specifies lands and mana pool, so you *must* spend the mana. Demonic Hordes, Force of Nature, Stasis, etc. do not specify and so are optional. [Aahz] If an enchantment becomes invalid after it enters play, it is immediately removed. [Page 23] A player can concede at any time and loses any ante they have put up. [bethmo] You lose if you try to draw a card from your library and can't because the library has no more cards. You do not lose upon drawing your last card. [Page 14] When a card comes from the graveyard back into play (for example by Animate Dead or Resurrection), any features which are normally set at summoning time are set as if it was just summoned. If the creature has an X in the casting cost, X is zero. So, Clockwork Beast comes out fully wound, Clone must choose a creature to copy as it is brought out, and the Rock Hydra has zero heads. [WotC Rules Team] If you lose control of a creature and then manage to regain control of it during the same turn, you may use it since you began the turn with it in play on your side. [bethmo] As obvious as it might sound, cards sent to the graveyard go to the top of the graveyard. Also, you cannot reorder the graveyard during play unless a card tells you to do so. [bethmo] In tournament games that limit the number of a particular card you may have in a deck restrict cards by _title_, so you cannot have four of each design of a card like Urza's tower. [bethmo] Switching from Limited/Unlimited Edition to Revised Edition Rules ----------------------------------------------------------------- It is highly recommended that you get and read the new rulebook or Pocket Player's Guide. This section does not cover everything. If you have played by the rules in previous summaries, you will be less affected than players without previous access to the summaries because the net rulings have been moving slowly toward the Revised rules for some time. The Revised rules took a lot of rulings out of the net and into the rulebook. Mana burn is no longer "loss of life". It is now colorless damage. The term "buried" has been added to the game and means "is killed and may not regenerate". Player death is checked for only at the end of each phase and begining and end of each attack instead of at any time. This allows for sorceries like Stream of Life to be used to save a player. There are now rules for damage resolution. See "Dealing with Damage" to find out more. Protection from Color has changed a lot. It now explicitly removes previous enchantments of that color, and spells out some other details more clearly. (See Protection from Color) Timing rules have changed a lot. In the Limited/Unlimited editions, all fast effects were resolved simultaneously unless a "paradox" occurred. In the Revised rules, effects are now resolved in last-to-first order. (See Timing Questions) If an enchantment becomes invalid after it enters play, it is now removed immediately. It used to hang around just in case it became useful again. Sacrificing is very different. You can sacrifice any kind of card (not just creatures). A sacrifice is now considered a cost of the spell or effect and the creature is buried when you declare the spell, not as part of the effect of the spell. Sacrifices may not be prevented by any means, including regeneration. Finally, sacrifices are not targeted, and so Protection from Color does not protect a creature from such effects. Several cards changed their wordings. See the rulings on specific cards for more info. ============================================================================= Rulings on Specific Cards last update 04/27/94 ============================================================================= Multilands: The Revised edition multilands differ from the Limited and Unlimited edition ones in that they say that if "one land type is altered, the other is unaffected". This applies only to spells like Conversion which alter a land type. It does not mean that Phantasmal Terrain or any other spell which changes a land card to a different type only changes half of a multiland. Aladdin's Lamp: This can be used any time you draw a card from the library including Sindbad, Ancestral Recall, and so on. It affects only one of the cards drawn this way, though. [bethmo] Cannot be used with X equal to zero because this makes no sense. [WotC Rules Team] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Aladdin's Ring: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Ancestral Recall: When used on a person when it is not their turn, they may keep all the cards until the end of their next turn when they must discard as normal down to 7 cards (Library of Leng excepted). Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Animate Artifact: Artifact is now an Artifact-Creature and abides by creature rules while still being an artifact as well. The Limited and Unlimited edition cards Cannot be cast on artifact-creatures. The Revised one can but has no effect on them. [Card Text] Note that the Limited/Unlimited edition card does not cause itself to be removed from play once the creature is Animated. [Aahz] The Limited and Unlimited edition cards say that it destroys zero-cost artifacts. This was meant to restate the obvious--a zero toughness creature dies, but the card text did not account for things like Castle which give +2 toughness when untapped. So, the artifact is not destroyed just because its casting cost was zero, it is destroyed when its toughness reaches zero. [Snark] Animated artifacts cannot attack until it begins its controller's turn in play. They also may not use any special ability which requires it to be tapped. [Page 22] If it was in play on your side before you animated it, you may use it immediately. Animate Dead: Animating a dead Clone gets all the Clone's abilities but it mimics at -1 power. [Snark] Animating the Clockwork Beast revives it totally wound but at -1 power. [WotC Rules Team] You can Animate a creature which was discarded from a hand and therefore was never in play. Animated creature cannot attack until it begins its controller's turn in play. [Page 26] Armageddon: The destruction can be prevented normally, such as with Consecrated Land or Pyramids. [Aahz] Armageddon Clock: During upkeep, add a counter, then allow people to remove counters, then deal the damage from the clock at the end of upkeep. [Aahz] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Aspect of Wolf: The bonus is recalculated every time the number of Forests you have in play changes. It is not a one-time bonus. [bethmo] Atog: Cannot use the ability unless you have an artifact to sacrifice. It is part of the cost. [Aahz] As with all fast effects, it wears off at the end of the turn. Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Balance: White-Warded creatures are ignored by Balance in both the counting of the number of creatures and the decision of which ones to destroy. [WotC Rules Team] Consecrated Lands are protected, but the unconsecrated lands must be removed first. [Snark] Animated lands are considered both as lands and as creatures. Just remove whatever you have to in order to achieve "balance". And yes, this does mean that they get double-counted :-( The word "discarded" should be read as "destroyed" [WotC Rules Team] Basalt Monolith: Untapping this card is a fast effect. [Snark] Berserk: Note the creature only dies if it attacks, not if it defends. The doubling effect of Berserk is constant. If the creature's base power is changed at any time, recalculate the power of the creature by backing up and applying all effects that turn over again in the same order they were originally used. For example: If a 3/3 Plague Rat has Giant Growth then Berserk cast on it, it is a 12/6 creature. If one of the other two Plague Rats in play is destroyed, it becomes a 2/2 Plague rat with the spells reapplied to get a 10/5 creature. [WotC Rules Team] The creature can regenerate from dying due to attacking under Berserk. The creature is not considered to be "on its way to the graveyard" until the end of the turn is reached. This means that it maybe sacrificed before that time. Only in the Limited and Unlimited editions. Birds of Paradise: Text changed between alpha and beta printings to explicitly say "one mana of any color" instead of just "one mana". Black Lotus: Treat "discarded" as "destroyed" on the card. [WotC Rules Team] An Animated Lotus cannot benefit from Regeneration because cards which destroy themselves are considered "sacrifices". [WotC Rules Team] Only in the Limited and Unlimited editions. Blaze of Glory: The text "controller of target creature may distribute damage among attackers as desired" is a restatement of the combat rules and does not override the attackers's right to distribute damage when attacking with a banded group. [bethmo] As per all fast effects, this lasts only until the end of the turn. Does not allow a tapped creature to block, or allow a creature to block any creatures it would not normally be able to block. [bethmo] Only in the Limited and Unlimited editions. Bottle of Suleiman: The Djinn is an artifact creature with a casting cost of zero. [Snark] It cannot be used to attack in the turn in which it is "created" by paying the artifact's cost. It must be in play at the beginning of your turn in order to be used. Note that you can pay the costs during an opponent's turn in order to use it when your turn comes around. The Djinn is not a "card", it is a token. It cannot be affected by Desert Twister or count as life for a Lich. Spells which specifically target or use "cards" such as City in a Bottle do not affect it. [Snark] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Braingeyser: When used on a person when it is not their turn, they may keep all the cards until the end of their next turn when they must discard as normal during the discard phase. Brass Man: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Camouflage: Can be cast when you have no creatures in play since it does not say it needs to be played during an attack. [bethmo] (See the General Rulings section on Special Creatures for notes on face-down creatures) Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Castle: Note that attackers lose the benefits, so even though the Serra Angel does not tap when attacking it does not get the benefits during the attack but if it does not die in the attack, it gets back the benefit afterwards (since it will no longer be "attacking"). [bethmo] Tapping a creature removes the +2 toughness from the creature and may kill it if it has already taken damage. Channel: This is not damage, it is loss of life. It cannot be prevented by any current spell (including Conservator). [bethmo] The amount of life converted into mana is not a decision as part of the casting of Channel. [WotC Rules Team] Chaos Orb: You can arrange your cards any time before the Orb is put into play, but not after. [Snark] "Cards it touches" refers to cards it touches once it stops moving. [Snark] You cannot interfere in any physical way with the playing of this card. [FAQ] It must flip 360 degrees (that's what "flip entirely" means). [FAQ] The word "discarded" should be read as "destroyed". Also, a card which destroys itself cannot have that destruction prevented. [WotC Rules Team] Can only affect cards that are in play. Cards that are in the game but not in play (such as the Library and Graveyard) or cards that are held out of play by such effects as Oubliette and Tawnos's Coffin cannot be affected. This is a _not_ a targeted effect. Creatures with Artifact Ward or other means of preventing being targeted by artifacts are destroyed by the Orb. [bethmo] If the Orb does not touch a card because a pente stone or other token is between them, the the Orb counts as _not_ touching the card. [bethmo] If you have sleeves on cards, they count as the cards. [bethmo] Ripping the Chaos Orb into confetti and then scattering it (as each piece flops 360 degrees) across your opponent's cards is only legal in games which are not the final round of a tournament. [bethmo] :-) Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Clockwork Beast: Animate Dead on the Clockwork Beast revives it totally wound but at -1 power. [WotC Rules Team] Resurrection on the Clockwork Beast revives it totally wound. [WotC Rules Team] Loses a token _immediately_ upon being declared for attack or defense! This means it can do a maximum of 6 damage. Clone: There are a lot of rulings dealing with copy cards in the Copy Cards section of the General Rulings. Go read those first. Animating a dead Clone gets all the Clone's abilities but it mimics at -1 power. [Snark] The Clone of an artifact creature can be Shattered or Disenchanted because it is an artifact creature too. [Aahz] Can be used to copy a base Doppelganger. You get a Doppelganger which is always blue, and the Clone is mimicking the same creature the Doppelganger was until the next upkeep. [bethmo] The Limited and Unlimited edition cards said "all normal characteristics" instead of "all characteristics". In either case, this means that you treat the Clone as having the exact same text on it as the original card had. This includes name, casting cost, power/toughness, etc. It does not gain any enhancements the original creature may have had temporarily through Instants like Giant Growth or through Enchantments. [bethmo] The Clone is the same color as the creature it copies. It is no longer blue (even if the card looks blue) unless the creature it copied was blue too. [bethmo] The decision of what to Clone is part of the casting decisions. [bethmo] Cockatrice: In all ways, the Cockatrice is like the Thicket Basilisk. See rulings there. Consecrate Land: Prevents direct use of enchantments on the land. Indirect effect by enchantments such as Conversion, Living Lands, Kormus Bell, and Manaflare are not prevented and the land can still be targeted by Gaea's Liege, Cyclopean Tomb, etc. [Snark] A living Consecrated Land cannot be destroyed. It is effectively an unkillable 1/1 creature. [Snark] If it ever takes enough damage to be killed, it automatically is regenerated and this regeneration does not cause the land to come back tapped as normal regeneration would. [WotC Rules Team] This power works similarly for immunity to the Basilisk ability, Disintegrate, and anything else that would kill it. [bethmo] Note that Tramble damage beyond the Land's toughness would still come through to the player. [Aahz] Does not prevent a land from sending itself to the graveyard, as the Strip Mine can do. [bethmo] Does not prevent "place in graveyard" like it does for "destroy" effects. [bethmo] Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Conservator: Cannot be used on creatures because it prevents Loss of Life and not damage. [Card Text] Can prevent zero, one or two points of life loss. [WotC Rules Team] This makes it a good way to sink extra mana. Note that the loss of life caused by Channel, Lich, death of a Personal Incarnation, Shahrazad, and Bronze Tablet cannot be prevented so the Conservator is not useful against those. [bethmo] Control Magic: Steals ownership of a creature, but enchantments on the creature are still "controlled" by the caster. [Snark] Note that the controlled creature cannot be tapped or used for an attack until you begin a turn with the creature in play. [Page 25] The work "discarded" should read "until enchantment is removed". [WotC Rules Team] Conversion: Once in play, Mountains produce white mana and this white mana is acceptable for paying the upkeep cost. A Mountain is not protected by a Consecrate Land enchantment. [Snark] The word "discarded" should be read as "destroyed". [WotC Rules Team] Copper Tablet: Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Copy Artifact: There are many rules covered in the General Rulings under Copy Cards which should be read before reading further. The copy of the artifact is still blue. The card says that the copy is both an artifact and an enchantment, so it is a blue artifact-enchantment. It can be tapped like an artifact and is the only exception to the rule that enchantments are never tapped. [WotC Rules Team] The decision of what to copy is part of the casting decisions. [bethmo] Creature Bond: You do not lose life if Swords to Plowshares is used on the creature. Swords to Plowshares causes the card to leave the game, _not_ to be destroyed. [Snark] Creatures "discarded from play" to the graveyard still cause damage because "discarded" means the same as "destroyed". This means that City in a Bottle and other effects which cause discarding do trigger this spell. [WotC Rules Team] Crumble: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Cyclopean Tomb: The lands so changed are not considered "Enchanted" and so Consecrate Land will not protect them. [Snark] Can be used to change any land (not just basic lands) into a swamp. [bethmo] Cannot change Swamps (or multilands which are part Swamp) into Swamps. [Card Text] A changed land is considered to be the new land type in all ways. This is not just a change of name. It changes the color of mana produced too. [bethmo] No casting cost was listed in the alpha printing. This was corrected in the beta printing to show a cost of 4 colorless mana. Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Dancing Scimitar: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Darkpact: If you use some spell or effect (like Natural Selection) which allows you to peek at cards in the library, you can still use Darkpact. Deathgrip: The Limited/Unlimited edition version of the card says "destroys a green spell as it is being cast" but should be read as "counters a green spell". [bethmo] Demonic Hordes: May not be tapped until its upkeep is paid for that turn. [bethmo] Paying the Hordes is optional. You may choose not to pay them but then you take the consequences. [bethmo] The 'B's on the card were changed to black mana symbols between the Alpha and Beta printings of the Limited edition. Demonic Tutor: You do not show the card you pick out to your opponent. [bethmo] Desert Twister: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Dingus Egg: If multiple lands are destroyed at once, each land causes the Egg to do 2 points of damage. These are all from the same source but come in seperate chunks. [bethmo] Disenchant: Regenerating artifacts _can_ regenerate from disenchant because "discard" from play is the same as "detroyed". [WotC Rule Team] Disintegrate: Creatures killed with Disintegrate cannot regenerate because in the Limited and Unlimited edition versions of the cards this was spelled out and because in the Revised rules any card "removed from play" may not be regenerated. [Page 31] Some people feel the language "if it dies this turn" can be misread because if something is Regenerated, it does not "die". This text was not cleaned up from Limited/Unlimited edition to the Revised edition. Basically, just read this card to say that it cannot regenerate. Officially, this is an error correction to the card. [WotC Rules Team] If creature is not killed by the Disintegrate but is later in the turn given enough damage to kill it, it may not regenerate. This is true even if all damage from the Disintegrate is prevented or if zero damage is done in the first place (X=0). [WotC Rules Team] It may not regenerate even if the damage is redirected to another target. The effect is not a nature of the damage. [bethmo] As always "a target" means any creature or player. Disrupting Sceptre: Forces discard from opponent's hand and not from cards in play. Can only be used during your turn. [Card Text] Dragon Engine: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Dragon Whelp: Can spend up to RRR each turn without it dying. It does not remember between turns as to how much was spent on it. [Chris Page/Revised Card Text] Drain Life: You can put as much Black mana as you want into this spell, but you cannot drain more life than the creature's toughness. The overkill may be useful though. The amount of mana put into the spell is determined at time of casting, but is not considered part of the casting cost. [bethmo] The 'B' on the card was changed to an icon between the Alpha and Beta printings of the Limited edition. Drain Power: Since this is a sorcery, your opponent may finish the casting of any instants or interrupts during the instant in which you cast this before you get all the mana from the pool and lands. If a land can draw more than one color of mana (by choice) then the target player chooses which colors are drawn. [bethmo] Dwarven Demolition Team: Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Dwarven Warriors: Can be tapped at any time to make a creature unblockable. For example, if you had Orcish Oriflamme in play, you could tap the Dwarves to make a 2/2 creature unblockable before you declare an attack. Once the attack is declared, the creature is 3/2 because the the Oriflamme. [bethmo] Can enhance the creature any way you want after the Dwarves make it unblockable without losing the effect. [bethmo/Revised Card Text] Can be used after a creature is blocked but has no effect. Once a creature is blocked, it cannot be unblocked by anything other than False Orders. [bethmo] Dwarven Weaponsmith: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Earthbind: The two damage is just just like other damage and goes away at the end of the turn. [Snark/Revised Card Text] If Flight is cast on an Earthbound creature, it gains flying again. In general, if two enchantments contradict each other, the most recently cast wins. [WotC Rules Team] The Limited and Unlimited editions of this card were only castable on flying creatures. The Revised edition card can be cast on any creature but has no effect on non-flying creatures. Note that the Limited/Unlimited versions of this spell do not remove themselves once the creature is not flying. Earthquake: This is not a targeted spell, and so it may be cast when there are no creatures in play. [bethmo] Ebony Horse: The attacking creature is left tapped, it just leave the combat. [bethmo] The Clockwork Beast does not gain back its token. [bethmo] The creature is considered to have attacked for purposes of "attack or die" effects like Siren's Call. [bethmo] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) El-Hajjaj: Earns you life for the total amount of unprevented damage inflicted regardless of the toughness of the target. For example, if an El-Hajjaj with Unholy Strength is blocked by a 1/1 Goblin, you get 3 life, but if a Samite Healer prevents one point, you get 2 life. [WotC Rules Team] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Elvish Archers: The stats for the archers changed from 1/2 in alpha to 2/1 in the beta printing of the card. Energy Flux: The Guardian Beast will prevent your artifacts from being destroyed, so it can make you immune to this effect. Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Erg Raiders: If tapped and unable to attack, they still do 2 damage to the controller of this card. [Snark] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Evil Presence: A changed land is considered to be the new land type in all ways. This is not just a change of name. It changes the color of mana produced too. [bethmo] Eye for an Eye: Does white damage. Cannot be used on effects that cause loss of life. This includes Shahrazad, Channel, and death of a Personal Incarnation. It can only be used on damage. [bethmo] Can only be used for damage from creatures, spells and artifacts, not from mana burn or other effects. [Card Text] The Arabian version was not usable on artifact damage. Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) False Orders: This spell can be cast after defenders are chosen and effectively changes a decision made by your opponent as to if and how one creature blocks or does not block. [Snark] Can only give legal orders to a creature. If your opponent could not make the choice on his own, False Orders cannot make him do it. [bethmo] You cannot use this spell to make a creature not block a Lured creature. [bethmo] Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Farmstead: Only one life per turn can be gained from this card. [bethmo] Some people have read the card to say that it can be used multiple times during a turn because there is no indication that it is a mono action. Fastbond: You can only play land cards when it would otherwise be legal to play a land. Fireball: If split for multiple targets, multiple targets worth of damage cannot be assigned to one target. [bethmo] If the damage to creatures is redirected to the player (via Jade Monolith or other effect), each split of the fireball is a separate damage source for purposes of Circle of Protection. [WotC Rules Team] As always "a target" means any creature or player. Flying Carpet: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Fog: The Limited and Unlimited edition versions of this card prevent damage during the combat but do not prevent other special effects such as the Thicket Basilisk's kill of any creature that blocks it. This was changed in the Revised edition to prevent such effect. Stops a Desert from doing damage. [WotC Rules Team] Can be played before an attack, or during an attack before damage is dealt. [bethmo] Forcefield: In the Revised edition rules, the Forcefield removes all but one point of damage from an unblocked creature. The remaining point of damage retains its color and may be prevented or redirected as per normal means (including the Veteran Bodyguard). Treat the "loss of life" on this artifact as "damage to the player". [bethmo] Can not be used to prevent damage caused by a blocked creature with Trample ability. [bethmo] Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Force of Nature: COP:Green can be used to prevent damage due to not paying upkeep. [Snark] It is _not_ mandatory to pay the upkeep cost. You may choose not to pay and to take the damage. [WotC Rules Team] The 'G's on the card were changed to green mana symbols between the Alpha and Beta printings of the Limited edition. Fork: You maintain full control over the copy of the spell regardless of who cast the original. [Snark] This card can be misread with the "just cast" text. Read it as "being cast". [Snark] For spells like Fireball that allow mana to be used for damage or for additional targets, the controller of the copy decides how to divide things up. In other words the copy of a Fireball need not have the same number of targets as the original. [bethmo] When Forking a sorcery, resolve them in sequence with the original going first. For example, if you Fork a Shahrazad and lose both subgames, you lose half of your life, and then half of what is left. [WotC Rules Team] Fungusaur: The Limited and Unlimited versions of this card gain +1/+1 every time it is damaged and not killed. This can occur more than once in a turn. The Revised edition card only gains one token at the end of any turn in which it is damaged. Regeneration prevents death, so even if it would have died, it took damage and lived so it gets its +1/+1. [bethmo] Gauntlet of Might: Mountains do not produce two mana when Conversion is in play because all the Mountains are now Plains instead. [Snark] Multilands which have Mountain as one of their types produce an extra red mana when tapped for either color. [bethmo] If a Mountain is tapped using Twiddle or Icy Manipulator while the Gauntlet is in play, the owner of the Mountain gets one red mana added to her pool. The Gauntlet says that if the land gets tapped, an additional red mana gets generated. [bethmo] Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Gaea's Liege: Consider this card to be defending at all times when it is not attacking. [Snark] Note that if you have 5 Forests and your opponent has 10 Forests and the Liege takes 7 damage during an attack, that once the attack is over, the Liege is now defending and will be killed. [bethmo] The "change to forest" effect cannot be prevented by Consecrate Land or Tranquility because it is not an enchantment. [Snark] This can change any land (not just basic lands) into a Forest. [bethmo] A changed land is considered to be the new land type in all ways. This is not just a change of name. It changes the color of mana produced too. [bethmo] Gloom: The additional 3 mana cost is colorless. [bethmo] The Limited and Unlimited versions of this card only affected the casting of white spells and the use of Circles of Protection. The Revised edition card affects any white spells and the use of white enchantments with activation costs. Players with Holy Armor, Farmstead and such are in for a surprise. Note that this does not include upkeep costs, and that the Revised card will not affect Circles which are xxxxlaced to another color. The extra mana is not considered part of the activation cost. It is a seperate cost. So, if an artifact were Purelaced, Power Artifact could be used to reduce the base cost, but not the Gloom cost. [Aahz] Goblin Balloon Brigade: Does not grant flying to *all* goblins, just this one card. Can power it up repeatedly during a turn. This has no additional effect, but can use up a red mana each time. [Aahz] Goblin King: Grants these powers to all cards which say "Summon Goblins" and not itself. [Snark] These powers begin once the King is in play and immediately cease if it leaves play. Grants these powers to all Goblins owned by any player. [Snark] The Hive: The wasps created by the Hive are not "cards", they are tokens. They cannot be destroyed with Desert Twister or count as life for a Lich. They cannot be targeted by spells which target cards (such as xxxxlace). [Snark] They are artifact creatures with a casting cost of zero. [Snark] Note that this is true even though the Hive's activation cost is five. Hurkyl's Recall: Retrieves all artifacts owned by the target player regardless of who controls them. Ignores artifacts owned by other players even if target player has control of them. Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Hurricane: This is not a targeted spell, and so it may be cast when there are no creatures in play. [bethmo] Hypnotic Spectre: Must do at least 1 point of damage to cause opponent to discard because the effect is a property of the damage. [WotC Rules Team] If damage is redirected to opponent by some spell or effect and is not prevented, opponent must discard a card as if he were attacked directly. Equally, if damage is redirected from the play no card needs to be discarded. [WotC Rules Team] If a player discards due to the Spectre and later that turn retroactively redirects the damage (Simulacrum or other effect), the player does not get the card back. [WotC Rules Team] Ice Storm: Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Icy Manipulator: Opponent gets a chance to use the card being Manipulated during the same instant if he/she so wishes. The "no effect" text can be easily misread. It means that your tapping has no effect, not that your opponent cannot respond by using the card to some effect (if that would be a legal action). Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Illusionary Mask: Since your opponent cannot see what your creatures are, that person may end up casting spells which cannot normally be cast on your creature (for example: Terror on a Black creature). In this case, the spell just fizzles out with no effect. In other words, it is a legal use of the spell, but it may fail to do anything. [bethmo] If the creature is controlled by Control Magic or other means by another player, it remains face down but the new controller may look at the card. This card does not affect in any way the original spell casting cost (amounts or colors). It just allows you to spend X additional mana of any color to disguise what the real cost was. [Card Text] If the Mask is destroyed, the creatures still remain face-down until one of the conditions of turning it over are met. [bethmo] Only usable on summoned creatures, not on artifact creatures or animated lands. [bethmo] Similarly, it can't be used for Resurrected or Animated creatures. (See the General Rulings section on Special Creatures for notes on face-down creatures) Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Instill Energy: The creature so instilled cannot be tapped, untapped, and then tapped again all in the same instant. It may be tapped for some effect, and then untapped by the Instill Energy during the resolution of that instant. [bethmo] Any enchantments (or other effects) which are on the creature that would cause it to not be untapped (or have a cost to be untapped) during untap phase do not in any way hinder or imply a cost to use the ability to untap once during the turn. [bethmo] If cast on a creature the same turn it is summoned, the creature may attack that turn. [Card Text] It may not be tapped for special abilities because the card does not say that it can. [bethmo] If played on an opponent's creature, the creature will be untapped during the contoller of the creature's untap phase (unless prevented) and can be untapped during the controller of the enchantment's turn. [bethmo] Invisibility: Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Ironclaw Orcs: Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Island Fish Jasconius: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Island Sanctuary: The Alpha printing of the Limited edition version of this card only prevented damage from creatures that are not flying or IslandWalking. All other printings prevent such creatures from even being used to attack. The distinction is subtle, but with the non-Alpha versions you can use the Nettling Imp or Siren's Call to kill off creatures since they cannot attack you. [bethmo] Only skip drawing one of your cards on a given turn to get the Sanctuary. If Howling Mine is in play, you only get to forego one of the draws. [bethmo] If you have multiple Santuaries in play, you may decline to draw a card for each of them. [Aahz] Does not count as an Island for any spell which expects Islands. [bethmo] Ivory Tower: You can take the bonus life points at any time during your upkeep. This means that you may cast spells after gaining life, and that if a Black Vise is in play, you may gain life, cast spells, and then take damage from the Vise with (hopefully) fewer cards in your hand. Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Jade Statue: It can only be a creature during attack phases (or defense during someone else's attack phase) and therefore can only have instants and interrupts cast upon it. Enchantments cannot be used at that time, and so no Enchant Creature spells are usable on the Statue. [bethmo] Paying mana to use it for defense does not tap it. [bethmo] It _cannot_ be used for attack the turn in which it is created. [WotC Rules Team] The Pocket Player's Guide FAQ has a misprint on this subject. Ignore it. [WotC Rules Team] The statue is destroyed at the end of the turn if it attacks when Berserked. [Snark] Similarly for any other effect which kills it at the end of the turn, even though it is not a creature then. [bethmo] If Animate Artifact is used on it, you get a 4/4 artifact creature which becomes a 3/6 artifact creature during an attack phase if 2 mana are spent. [bethmo] While animated, it can have enchantments placed on it. Once the Animate Artifact is removed, all Enchant Creatures will be removed because they no longer apply. [Page 23] It is legal to power it up even if it is already a creature. This has no effect other than to use up 2 mana. [Aahz] Only in the Limited and Unlimited editions. Jandor's Ring: When used with Howling Mine, Ancestral Recall, etc. you must draw one card at a time and decide with each card if you want to use the Ring. You do not draw all the cards then decide to use the Ring on one of them. [Snark] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Jandor's Saddlebags: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Jayemdae Tome: Can be used as an instant, which means it can be used to draw a card during your upkeep phase. This may give you one chance to get a card to prevent damage caused during upkeep. [Snark] Can only be used once a turn because it is a Mono Artifact and must be tapped as part of the use cost. [bethmo] Juggernaut: Invisibility can make the Juggernaut unblockable. The "can only be blocked by walls" of Invisibility does not override the text on the Juggernaut which says it cannot be blocked by walls. [bethmo] Jump: Cannot be used after a blocker is assigned in order to avoid being blocked. See general rulings section. Kird Ape: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Kormus Bell: Lands are now Creature-Lands and while being creatures in all senses are also lands. [Snark] Wrath of God will destroy them without possibility of regeneration. Nevinyrral's Disk and Armageddon will destroy them. With Balance, consider them both as lands and as creatures. Just remove whatever you have to in order to achieve "balance". And yes, this does mean that they get double-counted :-( New lands of this type played out cannot be tapped to attack until they are in play at the beginning of your turn (as per the creature rules). They may still be tapped for mana though. [WotC Rules Team] Lands in play at the beginning of a turn when they are animated may be tapped for mana or to attack immediately. [WotC Rules Team] Affected by Smoke and Winter Orb. [bethmo] This does mean lands owned by any and all players. Consecrate Land does not protect the land from being affected by the Bell. [bethmo] A living Consecrated Land cannot be destroyed. It is effectively an unkillable 1/1 creature. [Snark] It takes damage as normal, but will not die even if damage is greater than toughness (although Trample damage still goes through). It is also immune to the Basilisk ability, Disintegrate, and anything else which would kill it or remove it from play. [bethmo] Kudzu: If the land with Kudzu on it is destroyed by some spell or effect (rather than tapping) Kudzu is discarded. [Snark] Treat "discarded" as "destroyed" and also note that a card which destroys itself cannot have that destruction prevented. [WotC Rules Team] Replace the word "may" with "must" on the card. Kudzu _must_ be moved to another land when it is activated. [Snark] Yes, you can move it to any other player's land whenever you get to move it. [Card text] Leaves play once there are no lands which it can be placed on. Consecrated lands are protected. [bethmo] Although the person making choices with this spell changes regularly, the "controller" of the enchantment always is the caster. See General Rulings. Lance: Playing this on a creature which already has First Strike has no effect. There is no such thing as double First Strike. [Aahz] Library of Leng: If you are forced to discard from your hand you may discard to the top of your library. This cannot be done with a discard of a card in play. [bethmo] The Limited and Unlimited versions of this card would not allow you to discard during discard phase even if you had more than 7 cards in your hand. The Revised version of this card causes you to skip the discard phase entirely. This distinction is very subtle, but the Revised card allows you to avoid spells such as Cursed Rack. Lich: This can only be played on yourself, not on opponents. You cannot destroy a creature which has lethal damage on it if you take damage at the same time. [bethmo] If you have multiple Lich cards in play, you must destroy 1 card for each life lost for _each_ Lich. Similarly, you draw 1 card for each life gained for _each_ Lich. The phrase "You lose if this enchantment is destroyed" is an absolute statement. Casting a Healing Salve or using a "lucky charm" after the destruction will not save you. [WotC Rules Team] Cards destroyed by losing life generate death events and in all ways are similar to normal destroy actions. [bethmo] Cards are destroyed by the player and not by the Lich. So Protection from Black has no effect. [bethmo] If you play Simulacrum after destroying some cards, you do not get them back. [bethmo] Note that because you have no life points, you cannot use Channel, "mana burn" does not affect you, the Conservator does not help you, and Ali from Cairo does not help either. [Aahz] Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Lifegrip: The Limited/Unlimited edition version of the card says "destroys a black spell as it is being cast" but should be read as "counters a black spell". [bethmo] Lifetap: This card gives one life for each and every Forest tapped. [bethmo] Since it detects a Forest becoming tapped, it even works if the Forest is tapped with Twiddle or Icy Manipulator. Living Artifact: Tokens are associated with the Living Artifact card so: - Tokens go away if the enchantment is removed. [bethmo] - If you have two or more in play, you may trade in one token from each. [WotC Rules Team] - If you have two or more in play on the same artifact, they cannot use each other's tokens. [Aahz] You can play it on your opponent's artifacts. The controller of the enchantment (not the controller of the artifact) uses the Living Artifact ability. [bethmo] Living Lands: Living Lands is identical in effect to the Kormus Bell (except it animates Forests instead of Swamps), so see its entry for rulings. Lord of Atlantis: Does not grant the abilities to itself. [Snark] These powers begin once the Lord is in play and immediately cease if it leaves play. Does grant the abilities to all Merfolk owned by any player. [Snark] Lord of the Pit: You cannot sacrifice the Lord of the Pit to itself. COP:Black can be used to avoid damage from not paying the upkeep. [Snark] A sacrifice of a creature cannot be prevented by either player. [Page 21] If you have a creature, you *must* sacrifice it. The "or take 7 damage" option can only be taken if no creature can be sacrificed. [WotC Rules Team] Can select creatures with Protection from Black to be sacrificed. [Aahz] Lure: Opponent does not have to power special effects in an attempt to make all creatures block the Lured creature. For example, you do not need to power a Goblin Balloon Brigade to block a flying creature with Lure, but if you do power it, the Brigade must block. [bethmo] If a Lured creature is in a band, only blockers able to block the Lured creature are affected by the Lure. [bethmo] Magical Hack: Alters all occurrences of a land word on the given card. These words must occur in the text box on the card. Any card without such a word is not a valid target for this spell. [WotC Rules Team]] Cannot Hack proper nouns (i.e. card names) such as Island Fish Jasconious. [WotC Rules Team] Change lasts until the card so-changed is taken out of play. In a multiplayer game, this means it persists even after the player who cast the Magical Hack leaves the game. The card forgets the change if it goes to the graveyard or is Unsummoned. [Chris Page] Magnetic Mountain: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Manabarbs: Each land tapped acts a new instance of damage, but all damage is from the same source. [bethmo] Mana Flare: When used with multilands produces 2 of one color, not one of each. Only produces extra mana when land is tapped for mana, not when tapped by Twiddle or for some other effect. [bethmo] Mana Short: The text was changed between the alpha and beta printings. Since this is an instant, your opponent may use any fast effects during the instant in which you cast this. [bethmo] Mana Vault: Can be untapped at any time at the cost of 4 mana. [bethmo] Meekstone: Note that creatures with power>2 cannot untap once they become tapped, but since they do not tap when blocking, these creatures are still useful for defense. Mijae Djinn: If Nettling Imp, Siren's Call or similar effect is used on the Djinn and the coin toss fails, then it does not attack and will be killed at the end of the turn. [bethmo] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Millstone: Library of Leng has not effect on the Millstone because cards are moved to the graveyard. They are not "discarded". [bethmo] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Mishra's War Machine: Cannot avoid damage if you have no cards to discard. [bethmo] You may choose to take damage or to discard. Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Mox Emerald, Jet, Pearl, Ruby, Sapphire: Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Natural Selection: Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Nettling Imp: It can nettle a tapped creature. [Snark] Cannot nettle a creature with Protection from Black. [bethmo] Cannot nettle any Wall, even an Animated one. [bethmo] Creature nettled is destroyed if it cannot attack. This includes a Sea Serpent which cannot attack if opponent has no Islands, non-flying creatures which cannot attack if the opponent has an active Island Sanctuary, or if the creature is tapped before it is nettled. [Aahz] Creatures can regenerate if they die from being nettled. Creatures which are brought into play by means other than Summoning (casting from your hand) are _not_ valid targets for the Imp. This is against the true reading of the card, but is highly recommended. [WotC Rules Team] Creature does not have to attack immediately, nor does it have to attack at all, but if it does not attack, it is destroyed. [bethmo] Nevinyrral's Disk: Creatures can be regenerated although the enchantments on them will still be destroyed by the Disk. [bethmo] Onulet: Only works when a card goes to the graveyard from play, _not_ from a player's hand. At that time, the card is not an artifact. [bethmo] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Orcish Artillery: COP:Red can be used to avoid damage from the artillery. Makes it a nice 2 point directed attack. The casting cost changed from 1R in the alpha printing to 1RR in the beta printing. Orcish Oriflamme: The casting cost changed from 1R in the alpha printing to 3R in the beta printing. Ornithopter: The zero casting cost is not a misprint. Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Paralyze: Note that enchantment is permanent. It does not leave once it is paid. This is a common mistake. The Limited and Unlimited versions of this card said to pay the mana during the untap phase. This is not valid under the Revised rules and so it should be paid during the upkeep phase, just like the Revised version of the card states. Because Paralyze is paid during upkeep, the creature does avoid restrictions on the untap phase such as Smoke, and can untap when Stasis is in effect, or untap around the Meekstone. [bethmo] As with all upkeep costs, you may pay it only once per turn. It is not mandatory that you pay the mana cost. It is optional, but must be paid in order to untap. If two Paralyzes are on a creature, 8 mana must be spent to untap it. [Snark] Personal Incarnation: The loss of life caused when the Incarnation dies cannot be prevented by any spell or effect. It is not damage, and it is not prevented by the Conservator, Circle of Protection, Reverse Damage or anything else. [bethmo] You do not lose life if Swords to Plowshares is used on it. [Snark] If the Incarnation has Creature Bond on it, when it dies, the controller of the Incarnation decides whether to lose the Creature Bond damage before or after the Incarnation's loss of life. [WotC Rules Team] If two Incarnations die at once, you lose half of your life, then half of what is left. [WotC Rules Team] Pestilence: It is legal to power it up with X for an X mana single damage or for X sequential attacks of 1 damage because it says "B:Effect". [bethmo] Each usage is considered a new "damage effect". As above, a usage may be 1 or more points of damage. [bethmo] It goes away at the end of the turn if no creatures are in play, even if a new creature (such as a Rukh) comes into existence at the end of turn also. [Snark] The word "discarded" should be read as "destroyed". [WotC Rules Team] Phantasmal Forces: Paying the upkeep is optional. [Aahz] The 'U' was changed to a blue mana symbol between the Alpha and Beta printings of the Limited edition. Phantasmal Terrain: Only the basic land types can be declared. Multilands are not basic types nor are the Arabian Nights lands. However, multilands and Arabian Nights land cards are valid targets for the spell. [bethmo] A changed land is considered to be the new land type in all ways. This is not just a change of name. It changes the color of mana produced too. [bethmo] Plague Rats: "Rats in play" means rats in play by any and all players. Power Sink: Only lands and mana pool must be expended. Artifacts and other mana sources need not be used to counter this spell. [bethmo] Special lands (even if they provide no mana) must be tapped in an attempt to pay the Sink (if you cannot or do not pay by other sources). If the land provides mana only for specific purposes (like Mishra's Workshop), the land is tapped but does not contribute to the X mana you have to pay. [bethmo] Power Surge: Does damage during upkeep, but damage amount depends on number of untapped lands at the start of your turn. [Snark] Is considered one source of red damage and damage comes in one packet. [bethmo] Primal Clay: Clones and Doppelgangers of this card may not choose a different form than the original. [bethmo] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Prodigal Sorcerer: As always "a target" includes any creature or player. Psionic Blast: Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Psychic Venom: Whenever the land is tapped for any reason (including by Twiddle or Icy Manipulator), damage is done. [bethmo] The Rack: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Raging River: Two Raging Rivers result in one extra long river. No more splits. [Snark] This is not a targeted spell. [bethmo] Opponent chooses which side of the river each creature is on before you even choose what creatures you are attacking with. [bethmo] When using Jade Statue, you do not have to decide which side it is on until it actually becomes a creature. [bethmo] Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Raise Dead: You must show the card you bring out of the graveyard to your opponent. [bethmo] (also see General Rulings) You can Raise Dead a creature which was discarded from your hand and was therefore never in play. Reconstruction: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Red Elemental Blast: The Alpha printing of the Limited edition had this card as an Instant. Because it is able to counter other spells, it is played as an Interrupt regardless. It is an Interrupt in all other printings. Regrowth: You must show the card you bring out of the graveyard to your opponent. [bethmo] (also see General Rulings) You can Regrow a card which was discarded from your hand and was therefore never in play. Resurrection: Resurrected creatures cannot be tapped to attack or to use a special effect on the turn in which they come into play. In many ways it is like the creature has been summoned but with zero applied to any 'X' cost. The Serra Angel cannot attack on the turn in which it is Resurrected because there is a rule that a creature cannot attack until it begins a turn in play on your side. [Page 25] You can Resurrect a creature which was discarded from your hand and was therefore never in play. Reverse Damage: This can be played when the damage occurs (as a form of damage prevention) or later in the same turn to retroactively remove damage. If used later in the turn, any effects that were caused by the damage (i.e. Hypnotic Spectre, Drain Life, etc) are _not_ undone. [bethmo] If a source does damage to you multiple times in the same turn, you can reverse all of it, not just one time. [Card Text] Actually removes damage when it gives you life, so you gain nothing by casting two of these in a row. [WotC Rules Team] Reverse Polarity: Actually removes damage when it gives you life, so you gain nothing by casting two of these in a row. [WotC Rules Team] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Rocket Launcher: Because it does not have tapping as part of its activation cost, you can power it many times in one turn, but it is destroyed at the end of any turn in which you use it. [Card Text] Can choose different targets for each use. [bethmo] Can be animated and enchanted with Regeneration to become reusable. Guardian Beast can prevent it from being destroyed. This gets around the normal "a card which destroys itself cannot be prevented" rule because the Launcher is destroyed at the end of the turn, rather than as an effect on itself. [Aahz] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Rock Hydra: When it dies it "forgets" how many heads it had, so Resurrection, Animate Dead and other cards which pull out of the graveyard result in a 0/0 creature. This creature will only live if its toughness is increased by something like Castle. [WotC Rules Team] The Rock Hydra loses tokens _instead_ of taking damage until it runs out of tokens. Then damage is applied normally. Another way to think of this is that by losing tokens, damage is absorbed. By spending R to prevent a token from being lost, the damage is also prevented. Do _not_ lose tokens and accumulate damage. [WotC Rules Team] Since the Hydra loses heads due to damage before accumulating damage points, instants like Giant Growth are not totally useful with a Rock Hydra. A Hydra with 4 heads and a Giant Growth is 7/7, but after taking 4 damage (without paying the mana to keep the heads) it will lose all of its heads and die once the Giant Growth wears off. [bethmo] Regeneration does not make much sense with the Hydra. It loses a head each time it dies until it reaches 0/0. Regenerating the creature results in a creature with exactly as many +1/+1 tokens as it had when it died. If it died due to taking damage, it will have no tokens, hence it will be 0/0 and will only live if its toughness is increased by something like Castle. If, however, it dies by say Blue Elemental Blast, it could indeed regenerate and keep its tokens. [Chris Page] The 'R's were changed to red mana symbols between the Alpha and Beta printings of the Limited edition. Royal Assassin: You can kill your own creatures. [bethmo] As with all targeted effects, the requirements for targeting are checked when declaring the effect and when resolving it. So, if the creature is no longer tapped (it untaps by Twiddle or other effect) when the Assassin is resolved, then the effect fizzles. [Aahz] Cannot target a creature with Protection from Black. [bethmo] Sacrifice: Cannot be used on a creature with lethal damage, but can be used before the creature receives the damage. [bethmo] Sacrificing an animated artifact gives the casting cost of the artifact. [bethmo] Sacrificing an animated land gives no mana since casting cost was zero. Sacrifice does not give any mana for the enchantments on the creature. [bethmo] Scavenging Ghouls: They gather tokens at the end of the turn so they cannot gather tokens for dead creatures until that point. Note that they still get to claim tokens even if summoned after the creatures died. [bethmo] Since "discarded from play" has been changed to mean "destroyed" for most cards, the Ghouls can gather tokens from "discarded" creatures. The Ghouls do not gain for cards "removed from play" Sengir Vampire: Gets tokens when creatures go to the graveyard. If it dies at the same time as a creature it killed, it does not get the token. If it regenerates or otherwise lives past the creature being killed, it gets the token. [bethmo] Serendib Efreet: Due to a printing error, this card has a green background and the picture of the Ifh-Biff Effreet while having the blue casting cost and stats of the Serendib Efreet. It is a blue card because casting cost sets the color, not the background. [WotC Rules Team] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Serra Angel: Although not tapped to attack, it must follow the rule all creatures do that it cannot attack in the same turn in which it comes into play. Shatter: Regenerating artifacts can regenerate from this because this is a simple "destroy" which is the same as being killed. [Snark] Shatterstorm: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Simulacrum: All damage retains its color when you assign it to a creature. [Snark] You cannot Simulacrum damage to a creature with Protection from Black because this is a black spell and cannot target such a creature. [WotC Rules Team] You can Simulacrum damage due to an unblocked or trampling creature to another creature involved in the attack, even if that creature has already taken fatal damage, because creatures are not removed until after damage prevention is allowed. [WotC Rules Team] (Note that this only works during the damage prevention step... once resolution is over the creature is removed.) You cannot Simulacrum Loss of Life to a creature, just damage. [Card Text] Simulacrum does not grant regeneration ability to the target creature, it just allows any existing regeneration ability to be used. [bethmo] Sinkhole: Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Siren's Call: This cannot be used after an attack. The word "should" should be interpreted as "can only". [bethmo] Kills creatures even if they were tapped before card was played. [Snark] Creatures can regenerate if they die due to not attacking. Only creatures in play when the spell is cast are affected. This means that the Jade Statue and any creatures which come into play after this spell is cast are not affected. [bethmo] Creatures Called are destroyed if they cannot attack. This includes a Sea Serpent which cannot attack if opponent has no Islands, non-flying creatures which cannot attack if the opponent has an active Island Sanctuary, or if the creature is tapped before it is nettled. [Aahz] Creatures which are brought into play by means other than Summoning (casting from your hand) are _not_ valid targets for the Call. This is against the true reading of the card, but is highly recommended. [WotC Rules Team] Sleight of Mind: Alters all occurrences of the color word on the given card. These words must occur in the text box on the card. Any card without such a word is not a valid target for this spell. [WotC Rules Team] You cannot Sleight proper nouns (i.e. card names). This means that you cannot affect Black Vise. [WotC Rules Team] Change lasts until the card so-changed is taken out of play. In a multiplayer game, this means it persists even after the player who cast the Sleight of Mind leaves the game. The card forgets the change if it goes to the graveyard or is Unsummoned. [Chris Page] This spell can be used to change the "flavor text" (the italicized text) on the card. This has no game effect but uses up the spell. [bethmo] Smoke: Lands animated by Living Lands or Kormus Bell are affected by this spell. Sorceress Queen: It changes the text on the card to read 0/2. Any counters or enchantments which improve (or weaken) the creature's combat values remain in effect. [WotC Rules Team] Note that this may actually make a Rock Hydra stronger or kill a creature with two or more -1/-1 tokens on it. May not target herself since it says "another creature" rather than "any creature". [bethmo] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Soul Net: Can catch discard from play or destroy events on creatures. [bethmo] This card can be used whenever a creature goes to the graveyard from play. [Card Text] It cannot be used on creatures which are Disintegrated, Swords to Plowshared or otherwise removed from the game. Steal Artifact: Can steal artifact creatures. [bethmo] The work "discarded" should read "until enchantment is removed". [WotC Rules Team] Stone Giant: The Giant can throw itself (if its power is enhanced). [bethmo]. This does not seem to do any good since you now have a _tapped_ flying Giant, but it might be useful sometime. Swords to Plowshares: The creature does not die and therefore cannot be regenerated or drive any effect which is triggered by a creature dying (including Creature Bond, Personal Incarnation, Soul Net, etc.). The creature just leaves the game. [bethmo] The owner of the creature may decide to "pump up" the creature before it leaves in order to get more life out of the deal because the total power of the creature (including enchantments and such) is counted. If the creature has a negative power, the player does not lose life. It is the same as if it had a power of zero. [Aahz] Terror: As with all targeted effects, the requirements for targeting are checked when declaring the effect and when resolving it. So, if the creature is becomes a black or artifact creature after this spell is declared and before it is resolved, then the effect fizzles. Thicket Basilisk: If a group (or banded group) is used to block a Basilisk (or a group banded with a Basilisk), all of the non-wall defenders are killed via the Basilisk's power. [Garfield] Creatures can regenerate from the Basilisk's power. If the Basilisk is killed before damage dealing but after blocking or being assigned blockers, the blockers still die. [bethmo] The Limited and Unlimited versions of Fog do not prevent the Basilisk's power from working. The Revised version does prevent it. (see Fog). Protection from Green does not prevent the Basilisk's power because it is not a targeted effect. [WotC Rules Team] An attacking Animated Wall which is blocked by a Basilisk dies since only blocking walls are protected from the Basilisk's power. [bethmo] Timetwister: Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Time Vault: Can use Twiddle to untap without skipping a turn. [Snark] Instill Energy works similarly once the Vault is Animated with Animate Artifact. [bethmo] The card says to "skip a turn to untap it". You must skip a turn. On your following turn, it untaps during your untap phase. If you have multiple Time Vaults, you must skip a turn for each one you wish to untap, not one turn to untap them all. [bethmo] See the general rulings section also. Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Time Walk: Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Titania's Song: Is not prevented by Guardian Beast. [bethmo] Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Antiquities) Tranquility: The word "discarded" should be read as "destroyed". [WotC Rules Team] Destroys all cards that read "Enchant xxx" as well as those reading "Enchantment" since all these cards are enchantments under the rules. [bethmo] Twiddle: Can be used to untap the Time Vault without skipping a turn [Snark] Tapping an artifact deactivates it. [Page 22] Opponent gets a chance to use the card being Twiddled during the same instant if he/she so wishes. The "no effect" text can be easily misread. It means that your tapping has no effect, not that your opponent cannot respond by using the card to some effect (if that would be a legal action). Note that any enchantments on the card will still generate effect when the card is tapped. The "no effect is generated by the target card" text was added to the beta printing. Note that this is _not_ a toggle effect. If you use Twiddle to tap a card and before it takes effect your opponent taps it, Twiddle will _not_ untap the card. [bethmo] Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Two-Headed Giant of Foriys: Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Unstable Mutation: Only in Revised edition. (Migrated from Arabian Nights) Unsummon: This can be used all the way up to the damage dealing phase of an attack, but cannot be used after that if the creature was killed. [Snark] Unsummoning an Animate Dead creature pulls it into the owner's hand. [Snark] If this causes an opponent to go over 7 cards when it is not their turn they need not discard until the end of their turn. An Unsummoned creature forgets its entire previous life. Unsummoning a token creature just removes it from the game. [bethmo] The word "discarded" should be read as "destroyed". [WotC Rules Team] Vesuvan Doppelganger: There are many rulings related to this card in the Copy Cards section of the General Rulings. Go read those first. Can only switch creatures once per upkeep phase. [WotC Rules Team] If switches away from a creature, any upkeep costs on that creature need not be paid. If switching to a creature, the upkeep costs must be paid before the end of upkeep (if the creature has any). [bethmo] Animating a dead Doppelganger gets all the Doppelganger's abilities but it mimics at -1 power. The Doppelganger of an artifact creature can be Shattered or Disenchanted. The "normal characteristics" text means that you treat the Doppelganger as having the exact same text on it as the original card had. This includes name, casting cost, power/toughness, etc. It does not gain any enhancements the original creature may have had temporarily through Instants like Giant Growth or through Enchantments. [bethmo] Whenever it changes creatures, it "resets" and loses any tokens or other gains it made as the creature it was originally copying. [WotC Rules Team] It does not lose tokens due to enchantments or other effects when it switches. Only the ones gained due to its creature type are removed. [WotC Rules Team] A Doppelganger of a Clone is just a copy of the creature the Clone copied. When the Doppelganger switches creatures, the creature it used to be is considered to have left play. This means that if it was a Gaea's Liege that converted lands, revert to their old form, and that if it was Aladdin that stolen artifacts return to the owner as normal. [bethmo] The decision of what to copy is part of the casting decisions. [bethmo] Veteran Bodyguard: If a creature is blocked but Trample damage is still done to a player, this damage cannot be redirected to the Bodyguard because the Bodyguard only takes damage from unblocked creatures. [bethmo] If a creature which does Trample damage is not blocked, the damage is taken by the Bodyguard and the damage loses its Trample nature. [Snark] Cannot be used against spell or other non-creature attack damage. Note that the Prodigal Sorcerer and other creatures have non-attack ways to deliver damage. Redirected damage retains its color. [Snark] In the Limited and Unlimited editions, the Bodyguard did not state that only one of them could take damage during a given turn, so if two (or more) Veteran Bodyguards are in play (for the same player), each of the bodyguards takes all of the unblocked damage. [Snark] If a Martyr of Koralis is in play, unblocked artifact creature damage must go to a Martyr because its text overrides the Veteran Bodyguard. All other unblocked creature damage can and will be taken by your Veteran Bodyguard. [Aahz] In the Revised edition, only one Bodyguard can take damage during a given turn, even if one of the other Bodyguards is a Limited or Unlimited edition one, or if it is a Martyr of Koralis. This means that you may choose among your various Bodyguards which one takes creature damage (with Martyrs usable for artifact creature damage). Note that if a Martyr takes some artifact damage (creature or not) then none of the other Revised Bodyguards may take damage for you, even if the damage is not artifact damage. Using the damage resolution steps (see General Rulings), you may use any form of damage prevention (including Circles of Protection) on the damage before it migrates to the Bodyguard. [bethmo] Volcanic Eruption: You can power this spell up for more mana than there are Mountains than your opponent has in play. If you do so, the additional destruction must be taken from your own Mountains. You cannot do more damage than there are Mountains available. [bethmo] Can be used with X equal to zero if no Mountains are in play. [bethmo] You must pick which Mountains are targeted when the spell is cast. [WotC Rules Team] Magical Hack will not allow you to change the targets of this spell because you chose the targets when the spell was declared and before a Hack can interrupt it. [WotC Rules Team] The Limited/Unlimited edition version of this card does X damage even if the Mountains are removed. This is because the damage is in no way ties to the number of mountains destroyed, just the number of mountains originally targeted. The Revised edition version of this card only does damage for each Mountain destroyed. [bethmo] Wild Growth: The Limited and Unlimited versions of this card have the land provide the mana no matter how it is tapped. This includes tapping it for mana, tapping to attack (as with a Living Land) or tapping it with Twiddle. The Revised version of this card has the enchantment provide the mana only when the land is tapped for mana. Winter Orb: Lands animated by Living Lands or Kormus Bell are affected by this spell. Word of Command: The caster of Word of Command controls *all* aspects of the spell he/she has the opponent cast, including the amount of mana and target of the spell. Note that if the spell just enables something, you cannot power it in addition to casting it. For example, you cannot cast Pestilence then tap additional mana to power the card, or summon a Nether Shadow and declare an attack with it. Spells with an X casting cost have X decided by the player. [WotC Rules Team] With Channel, the amount of many converted is _not_ a decision in the casting of the spell. [WotC Rules Team] Since casting this spell is an action, you opponent gets a chance to cast interrupts and instants in response to your spell. Once the current instant it resolved, then you can look at your opponent's hand. Note that if damage occurs during this instant, it must be resolved before the Commanded spell. You *must* order your opponent to cast a spell if it is possible to do so. [Card Text] The spell is considered as being cast by your opponent and not by you. [Snark] You opponent cannot counter the Word of Command once he lets you look at his hand, but he can attempt to counter the spell you force him to cast. [WotC rules team] Only land and mana pool are available to the caster. Other sources of mana are not allowed. You do get to choose which lands get tapped. [bethmo] This means you can choose ones with Psychic Venom or other nasties on them, but does not allow you to tap a wrong amount of mana (possibly causing mana burn) is there is a possible way to tap the right amount of mana. For example, if one Forest and one Forest with Wild Growth are available, you may not use the one with Wild Growth to cast Giant Growth (cost 'G'). [Aahz] You may Command your opponent to play a land (if they have not already done so this turn). [Aahz] Only in Limited and Unlimited editions. Wrath of God: White-Warded creatures cannot avoid this spell's effects. Destruction by means of Wrath of God is not considered "damage" which can be prevented by Protection from White. [Snark] Zombie Master: Does not grant the abilities to itself. [Snark] These powers begin once the Master is in play and immediately cease if it leaves play. Does grant ability to all Zombies owned by every player. [Snark] ============================================================================= Arabian Nights last update 04/27/94 ============================================================================= The new land types are NOT considered basic lands. Abu Ja Far: Protection from White will not keep a creature from being destroyed by Abu's power because the power is not considered to be targeted. [WotC Rules Team] Aladdin: He can hold onto more than one artifact at a time. He need not drop one in order to pick up another. Note that you must pay and tap the card for each use, however. [Snark] If your opponent takes control of Aladdin, he does not take the artifacts you already stole, but he is free to use Aladdin's power to take them later. [bethmo] Any artifact can be taken. This includes artifact creatures which are represented by tokens (e.g. Wasps, Djinn from Bottle of Suleiman). Aladdin's Lamp: Yes, the casting cost is 10. They used two circles because 10 did not fit into just one. This is not a typo. [Snark] This can be used any time you draw from the library including Sindbad, Ancestral Recall and so on. It affects only one of the cards drawn this way, though. [bethmo] Cannot be used with X equal to zero because "draw zero cards but choose only one to put in your hand" is self-contradictory. [WotC Rules Team] Ali Baba: May be used to tap more than one wall per turn if you have enough mana. [Snark] May tap walls even when it itself is tapped. [Snark] May be used on the turn summoned. Ali from Cairo: This card does indeed make you immune to damage that would take you below 1 life point (which is almost immunity to death). You can still be affected by things which reduce your life without doing damage. [Snark] Even works when he is tapped. [Snark] It does not prevent direct loss of life from spells like Lich, Channel, etc. [bethmo] Protection works up until Ali enters the graveyard, so simultaneous damage with Ali's death is prevented, but damage that occurs after he goes to the graveyard (i.e. Creature Bond) is not prevented. [bethmo] Bazaar of Bagdad: Says you can't cast spells between drawing and discarding cards. Also note that the rules already prevent the playing of land or use of Fast Effects during the resolution of tapping a land. The "can't cast spells" is there to prevent the use of interrupts which would otherwise have been allowed. [Snark] You draw 2 cards, add them to your hand, then discard 3 cards. [Card Text] Bottle of Suleiman: The Djinn is an artifact creature with casting cost of zero. [Snark] It cannot be used to attack in the turn in which it is "created" by paying the artifact's cost. It must be in play at the beginning of your turn in order to be used. Note that you can pay the costs during an opponent's turn in order to use it when your turn comes around. The Djinn is a not a "card", it is a token. It cannot be affected by Desert Twister or count as life for a Lich. Spells which specifically target or use "cards" such as City in a Bottle do not affect it. It cannot be xxxxlaced. [Snark] The word "discarded" should read "destroyed". [WotC Rules Team] Since the Bottle destroys itself, its desruction cannot be prevented. This counts as a sacrifice. [Aahz] City in a Bottle: Removes all Arabian Nights cards from play and prevents any player from casting any more of them until the City is removed. This can result in collecting a lot of cards in your hand. [Snark] The term "discarded" from play now means "destroyed". [WotC Rules Team] If regenerated, they are immediately destroyed again, so it is not worth doing. Death events are generated. If tapped by some means, this card does not function in any way. The rulebook says that continuous artifacts do not function when tapped. This card does not override any rules. Once untapped, all Arabian Nights cards are removed from play and no further spells can be cast. [Snark] Oubliette does not save a creature from being destroyed. In one moment, the creature is freed, and the next it is destroyed. This is faster than an interrupt. [Snark] Arabian Nights tokens or counters are not removed. [bethmo] City of Brass: Damage is done if the card is tapped by Twiddle or Icy Manipulator because the text on the card specifically detects the card becoming tapped. [Garfield] Cyclone: The word "discarded" should read "destroyed". [WotC Rules Team] Desert: No, this is not a basic land type. [Snark] Multiple deserts can be used to damage the same attacker. [bethmo] (this can be so brutal that some house rules suggest max 1 dmg per creature due to desert damage) Can be used any time during the attack phase before damage dealing, but does not actually do the damage until the normal damage dealing step. You have to choose where the damage goes when tapping the desert. Damage is simultaneous to normal combat damage. [Snark] Does no damage to a creature if that creature is removed from the combat after the Desert targets it. Some ways a creature may be removed include Ebony Horse and having the creature be killed before damage dealing. Can be used on any player's attacking creatures. This includes your own and creatures in an attack you are not involved in (multiplayer games). [bethmo] Can not do damage if Fog is played since Fog prevents creatures from damaging each other and Desert damage is done after creature damage. [WotC Rules Team] Can still target a creature in a Banding group. Banding only distributes creature damage. Diamond Valley: The sacrifice destroys the creature and all effects triggered by that destruction work (i.e. Soul Net, Rukh Egg). [bethmo] A sacrifice cannot be prevented by either player. [Page 21] Cannot sacrifice during damage dealing or damage prevention portions of the attack phase. [bethmo] Drop of Honey: The word "discarded" should read "destroyed". [WotC Rules Team] Ignore Green-Warded creatures in choosing which creature it destroys. [WotC Rules Team] Protected creatures count in determining if Drop of Honey stays in play. [WotC Rules Team] Ebony Horse: The attacking creature is left tapped, it just leave the combat. [bethmo] The Clockwork Beast does not gain back its token. [bethmo] The creature is considered to have attacked for purposes of "attack or die" effects like Siren's Call. [bethmo] El-Hajjaj: Earns you lives for the total amount of unprevented damage inflicted regardless of the toughness of the target. For example, if an El-Hajjaj with Unholy Strength is blocked by a 1/1 Goblin, you get 3 life, but if a Samite Healer prevents 1 point, you only get 2 life. [WotC Rules Team] Erg Raiders: If tapped and unable to attack, they will still do damage to the controller of the card. [Snark] Eye for an Eye: Does white damage. Cannot be used on effects that cause loss of life. This includes Shahrazad, Channel, and the death of a Personal Incarnation. It can only be used on damage. [bethmo] Can only be used for damage by creatures and spells, not from artifacts, mana burn or other effects. [Card Text] Note that the Revised version of this card also includes Artifact damage. Flying Carpet: Destroyed if creature using it is goes to the graveyard or gets removed from the game. It is not destroyed if the creature successfully regenerates. [Snark] Ghazban Ogre: If life points are tied, the one in control of the Ogre keeps control. In multiplayer games, if the tie does not include the current controller, a random method is used to pick the next controller. [Snark] It is up to the current controller as to when during upkeep that the Ogre looks for a new master. This can be before or after any other upkeep steps are resolved or spells used. [bethmo] Guardian Beast: Does not prevent any artifact from destroying itself. An artifact whic destroys itself is actually a "sacrifice". [WotC Rules Team] These include the Black Lotus, Nevinyrral's Disk and Suleiman's Bottle. Can prevent cards which say "destroy at end of turn" from being destroyed because this is not considered a "sacrifice self" since it is not an effect or cost of being used. [Aahz] Because "discarded" means "destroyed" for most uses, the Beast can protect against a "discard from play". [WotC Rules Team] Because "placed in the graveyard" means "sacrifice", such effects cannot be prevented by the Beast. [Aahz] Does not prevent you from giving back artifacts that were stolen by Aladdin or Steal Artifact when Aladdin or Steal Artifact are removed. [bethmo] Does not protect artifact creatures. [Card Text] This includes Animated artifacts. Note that it also prevents Animate Artifact from being cast on a protected artifact. [bethmo] Does not prevent non-enchantment effects like Titania's Song or Xenic Poltergeist. [bethmo] Hurr Jackal: The Jackal's power is not usable during damage prevention. You must use it prior to the damage prevention step. [bethmo] Note that it must be used _before_ fatal damage occurs and that it prevents regeneration for the rest of the turn. You may not use it at the time when someone tries to regenerate it because fast effects are not allowed at that step of damage prevention (see General Rulings). Ifh-Biff Efreet: You can pay the Efreet more than once a turn, indeed more than once in a given instant. [Snark] Each payment counts as a separate source of damage (because the notation is not "G:Effect" it is "spend G for effect"). [bethmo] The Efreet does indeed damage itself (unless it is no longer flying). [Chris Page] Island of Wak-Wak: This is not considered an Island and cannot be used as a target or an enabler for spells which require Islands. [Snark] Effect lasts until the end of the turn (even if Wak-Wak is destroyed). [Snark] Changes creature's current power to zero but does not prevent raising it after Wak-Wak has been used on it. [Snark] The full effect is to apply a -P/-0 to the creature where P=power of creature when Wak Wak is used. [Aahz] Jandor's Ring: When used with Howling Mine, Ancestral Recall, etc. you must draw one card at a time and decide with each card if you want to use the Ring. You do not draw all the cards then decide to use the Ring on one of them. [Snark] Jeweled Bird: Yes, it does intend for you to make the Bird into your ante. Your old ante goes to your graveyard, and you get to draw a new card to replace the bird. This is a mono artifact, and it may be tapped immediately after entering play. Note that the card is exchanged for your entire contribution to the ante. This means that it replaces all the cards if you have more than one already contributed! [bethmo] Jihad: Only the basic colors can be used. [Snark] Note that lands and artifacts are colorless. The word "discarded" should read "destroyed". [WotC Rules Team] Khabal Ghoul: Can collect tokens for creatures that died during the turn in which it enters play, even if it enters play after they die. [bethmo] King Suleiman: Can destroy any Djinn or Efreet, including the one in the main set, or any Clone or Doppelganger of one. [bethmo] Library of Alexandria: You can tap this card before you draw for a turn, and still draw as normal. [Snark] You may also tap at any other time in which fast effects are valid, and for which you meet the card's requirements. [bethmo] You may tap multiples of these in the same instant because the requirement for 7 cards is only checked at the time of tapping and the card is drawn when the effect is resolved. [bethmo] Metamorphosis: The mana generated by this spell must be used to summon creatures or you take mana-burn damage. You can however split it up among multiple summonings or add to it from other mana sources. [Snark] Since this is a "sacrifice", it may target creatures with Protection from Green. [Aahz] Mijae Djinn: If Nettling Imp, Siren's Call or similar effect is used on the Djinn and the coin toss fails, then it does not attack and will be killed at the end of the turn. [bethmo] Naf's Asp: Can pay the 1 mana at any time after damage is done before the draw phase of that player's turn. This means that you can pay up until the end of upkeep. [Card Text] Old Man of the Sea: Can be used at any time to take control of a creature. This includes your opponent's turn. If used during an attack phase, the creature is removed from the attack immediately. [bethmo] Interesting note: You do not lose control of a creature controlled by the Old Man even if you lose control of the Old Man itself. So, if A taps an Old Man to control B's Old Man, and during the same instant B taps to control A's Old Man, then at the resolution of the instant, the two Old Men switch sides. Now whoever untaps first will be getting both Old Men. [bethmo] Oubliette: The creature inside will survive anything which destroys the enchantment and it is immune to being killed. The creature is considered "out of the game". [Snark] The creature in the Oubliette may be selected (and returned to play) by the Ma'ruf's Ring artifact since the card was "out of play". [Snark] If City in a Bottle is used, the Oubliette does not protect the creature inside (if it is an Arabian Nights card) from being affected. The Oubliette is removed from play and then the creature is freed and removed from play immediately. Continuous effect artifacts are considered to be faster than an interrupts. [bethmo] If Oubliette is used on token creatures, they are permanently lost. This is because the cards which create tokens all say that the token is lost if it is ever "removed from play". This does not mean a "death" event however. [bethmo] The Oubliette stays in play. [Aahz] If something happens which removes the creature from the Oubliette, the Oubliette still hangs around. It is not discarded. [bethmo] While out of play, time does not pass for the creature. It does not untap, it is not affected by any effects during upkeep, and it cannot be targeted by any spell. In other words, just ignore it for a while :-) If a creature stops being a creature after it enters the Oubliette, it still remains inside. Examples include a Living Land or an Assembly Worker. [Aahz] Any damage on a creature is removed immediately when removed from play, so the Oubliette removes all damage from the creature. [WotC Rules Team] Oubliette targets the creature it is taking out of play, hence Protection from Black will prevent this spell. [WotC Rules Team] Remember that the creature, when removed from the Oubliette cannot attack or be tapped until you begin a turn with it in play. [bethmo] Pyramids: When used on a land animated by Living Lands (or similar effect), this effectively prevents the land from being killed by causing the land to regenerate without causing it to be tapped like a normal regeneration does. [WotC Rules Team] Cannot be used on a land which destroys itself (such as Strip Mine). [Aahz] Does not prevent cards which read "place in graveyard" rather than "destroy". [bethmo] Ring of Ma'ruf: Cannot acquire the Ante cards. They are considered still "in the game" as are cards in the library and the graveyard. [bethmo] Can acquire a creature which was removed from the game by the Oubliette, Disintegrate, Swords to Plowshares, or Tawnos's Coffin. [bethmo] While in a subgame started by Shahrazad, you cannot take cards from the parent game. This "subgame" is still part of the larger "game". [bethmo] You do not need to show the card you acquire to your opponent. [bethmo] Can only acquire cards you own. [bethmo] Rukh Egg: The "going to the graveyard" text means only when it leaves play as a creature. It does NOT include being discarded from your hand. One may be able to read this card wrong. This is one of the few "play it right" and not "play it as it reads" corrections. [Garfield] You get the benefit of the Egg if it leaves play due to any reason which causes it to go to the graveyard. This includes being "destroyed", "discarded", "placed in graveyard" or "sacrificed". If the Egg is discarded by City in a Bottle, you get a Rukh. [Snark] The Rukh that hatches is a red creature with casting cost of zero. [Snark] The Rukh is not a "card", it is a token. It cannot be affected by Desert Twister, City in a Bottle, or other spells which target "cards". Equally, a Lich cannot gain life from it. It cannot be xxxxlaced. [Snark] The Rukh cannot be used to attack until it begins one of your turns in play. Animate Dead brings back a -1/3 Egg which will hatch into a fully functional Rukh (the Animate Dead goes to the graveyard with the Egg). [bethmo] If a Clone or a Doppelganger of a Rukh is destroyed, it hatches into a fully functional Rukh. [bethmo] A Clone or Doppelganger of a Rukh is still a card and goes to the graveyard when it is destroyed, and goes to a person's hand when it is Unsummoned. The text about the Rukh leaving the game permanently if it goes out of play applies only to token creatures. [bethmo] If the Egg is destroyed while under the control of another player, the _controller_ of the card gets the Rukh. This applies to Animate Dead as well. (This is a REVERSAL of a previous ruling!) [Snark] Note that Disintegrate and Swords to Plowshares remove the Egg from the game instead of sending the card to the graveyard, so no Rukh hatches. [bethmo] Sleight on Mind can be used to change the color of the Rukh that will hatch. [bethmo] Sandals of Abdallah: They are destroyed if the creature wearing them goes to the graveyard or is removed from the game. [Snark] Sandstorm: This can be played before damage dealing in the attack phase to kill off or damage creatures. [Snark] Serendib Djinn: If the destruction of the Land selected during upkeep is prevented by any means, the Djinn has still been paid. It is the attempt to destroy that makes the Djinn happy. So, use those Pyramids and Consecrate Lands! [Snark] The Djinn only damages you if an Island is successfully destroyed. [bethmo] If you have more than one Djinn, you may feed them one at a time. This may allow you to feed the same Consecrated Land to all the Djinni. [bethmo] Shahrazad: Yes this card is as annoying as you imagine :-( If a card is "removed from play" in the sub-game it is still shuffled back in before returning to the main game. [Snark] The player going first in the parent games goes first in the subgame. [bethmo] At the start of the subgame both players draw 7 cards. If one player has fewer than 7 cards, that player loses. If both have fewer than 7 cards, both players lose. [bethmo] The loss of life caused by losing the subgame is not preventable by any means, including Conservator. [bethmo] Singing Tree: Can only be used during an attack phase. Effects last until the end of the current attack phase. [Snark] Changes creature's current power to zero but does not prevent raising it after the Tree has been used on it. [Snark] The full effect is to apply a -P/-0 to the creature where P=power of creature when the Tree is used. [Aahz] Sorceress Queen: It changes the text on the card to read 0/2, any counters or enchantments which improve (or weaken) the creature's combat values remain in effect. [WotC Rules Team] Note that this may actually make the Rock Hydra stronger or kill a creature with two or more -1/-1 tokens on it. May not target herself since it says "another creature" rather than "any creature". [bethmo] Unstable Mutation: Note that the -1/-1 counters stay even if the enchantment is removed, and that the +3/+3 goes away when the enchantment does. [Card Text] Ydwen Efreet: If the coinflip prevents the Efreet from blocking, you cannot put up a different blocker instead. The coinflip occurs _after_ you assign defenders (much like False Orders). [Snark] ============================================================================= Antiquities last update 04/27/94 ============================================================================= General Rulings: None of the new land types are "basic" lands. [bethmo] Even though there are now artifact Wards and Circles of Protection, do not treat "artifact" as a color. Artifacts are colorless unless xxxxlaced to another color. It is possible to have a red-artifact creature. [bethmo] If a card says you must "choose one of you artifacts in play and place it in the graveyard" and you are unable to do so, you may not use the power of that card. It does not matter if the "choose" text is before or after the ability. [bethmo] Cards which read "discard from play" should read destroy. Note that if a card destroys itself, this may not be prevented by a regeneration or by the Guardian Beast. This is considered a "sacrifice". Cards which read "your" artifacts refer to any artifact you control. Armageddon Clock: During upkeep, add a counter, then allow people to remove counters, then deal the damage from the clock at the end of upkeep. [Aahz] As with every card that says "your upkeep" it means "each upkeep of the player controlling the card". [bethmo] (note that "any upkeep" means all players.) Artifact Ward: Note that this is not exactly like protection from color abilities. It does not prevent artifacts from targeting the creature, it just prevents damage from and being blocked by artifacts. [Card Text] Does not protect against non-damaging, non-targeted artifacts such as Nevinyrral's Disk. [bethmo] Ashnod's Transmorgrant: Taps when being used, so it does trigger effects like Powerleech. [Aahz] The +1/+1 does not end at the end of the turn. It is permanent. [bethmo] The +1/+1 should be represented by a token on the creature. [WotC Rules Team] Atog: Cannot use the ability unless you have an artifact to sacrifice. It is part of the cost. [Aahz] The "place in the graveyard" statement is actually a "sacrifice" and is a cost which cannot be prevented. [bethmo] Bronze Tablet: Cannot choose to lose 10 life if you have less than 10 life, but you may choose to give up the game immediately. This has roughly the same effect. The loss of life cannot be prevented by any spell or effect, including the Conservator. [bethmo] If the card being targeted by the Bronze Tablet is removed by an interupt Tablet takes effect, then the Tablet fails to work and remains tapped. If using a Copy Artifact of the Tablet, you must trade up the Copy Artifact card to your opponent. [bethmo] Yes, you can control your opponent's Tablet and in the trade you only have to give him back his Tablet. [bethmo] Citanul Druid: The rumor that they is a typo with this card is false. [bethmo] Clockwork Avian: Discards a token _immediately_ upon being declared for attack or defense! This means that it can do a maximum of 3 damage. Cursed Rack: If the Limited or Unlimited edition Library of Leng is also in play, you must still discard down to four cards, but you may discard to the top of your library. The Revised Library of Leng skips the discard phase entirely and thereby avoids this spell. Damping Field: Does not prevent artifacts (such as Colossus) from untapping during upkeep. Artifact creatures are artifacts. When this in play, they untap as artifacts and not as creatures, so only one may untap. Detonate: The damage is from Detonate, and therefore is a red source. [bethmo] Dwarven Weaponsmith: Cannot use the ability unless you have an artifact to sacrifice. It is part of the cost. [Aahz] The "place in the graveyard" statement is actually a "sacrifice" and is a cost which cannot be prevented. [bethmo] Energy Flux: The Guardian Beast will prevent your artifacts from being destroyed, so it can make you immune to this effect because the payment is optional. Read "discarded" as meaning "destroyed". Goblin Artisans: The ability is treated as an interrupt because it can counter a spell. Golgothian Sylex: Creatures may regenerate from being destroyed this way. [Aahz] Guardian Beast will prevent Antiquities artifacts from being destroyed, but will not stop the Sylex from destroying itself. Read "discarded" as meaning "destroyed". Hurkyl's Recall: Retrieves all artifacts owned by the target player regardless of who controls them. Ignores artifacts owned by other players even if target player has control of them. Ivory Tower: You can take the bonus life points at any time during upkeep. This means that you may cast spells after gaining life, and that if a Black Vise is in play, you may gain life, cast spells, and then take damage from the Vise with (hopefully) fewer cards in your hand. Martyrs of Korlis: Only one Martyr can take artifact damage in any single turn. So, if you choose one you must continue to use it for the rest of the turn. If the Martyr of choice is destroyed, then no further instances or sources of artifact damage can be redirected to any kind of Bodyguard. [Aahz] If a Veteran Bodyguard is available, you may not choose it to receive artifact damage (or more specifically unblocked artifact creature damage) because the Martyr overrides the Veteran Bodyguard. [Aahz] Mightstone: The +1/+0 applies to attacking creatures from all players. [Aahz] Millstone: Library of Leng has no effect on the Millstone since cards are just moved to the graveyard. They are not "discarded". [bethmo] Mishra's Factory: Assembly Worker only lasts until the end of the turn. [Aahz] Can attack on turn an Assembly Worker is created, but it may _not_ attack on the turn the land itself is brought into play. [bethmo] Can only give +1/+1 to one Assembly Worker. Not all of them. Assembly Worker is considered to have a zero casting cost. [bethmo] Because turning it into an Assembly Worker is an effect, it is possible to power it many times during an instant. When the instant is resolved, the Factory will turn into an Assembly Worker. [Aahz] Note that once it is an Assembly Worker that this will not work. When it is an Assembly Worker, it is an Artifact and can therefore be stolen by Aladdin. Your opponent cannot really use the creature because they cannot use it until they begin a turn with it in play, and at the end of the turn, the Worker returns to being a land... and returns to the original controller. When it is an Assembly Worker, it is still a land and retains all of its other abilities. [bethmo] Mishra's War Machine: Cannot avoid damage if you have no cards to discard. [bethmo] You may choose to take the damage or to discard. Obelisk of Undoing: A "permanent" is a land, creature, artifact or enchantment. [Page 17] You must be the owner _and_ controller of the card. Onulet: Only works when card goes to the graveyard from play, _not_ from a player's hand. At that time, the card is not an Artifact. [bethmo] Orcish Mechanic: Cannot use the ability unless you have an artifact to sacrifice. It is part of the cost. [Aahz] The "place in the graveyard" statement is actually a "sacrifice" and is a cost which cannot be prevented. [bethmo] Ornithopter: The zero casting cost is not a misprint. Phyrexian Gremlins: Only prevents artifact from untapping during untap phase. Ones that untap during upkeep are not inhibited. [Aahz] Power Artifact: Can be cast on artifacts with no or zero activation costs, but this has no effect on them. It does _not_ increase the cost to one. [bethmo] For artifacts with an X use cost (such as the Candelabra of Tawnos) this reduces the amount spent by 2 to a minimum of 1. Only affects colorless activation costs. Colored mana costs are not affected. This rule comes into play if a card like the Northern Paladin gets changed into an artifact by Ashnod's Transmogrant. Does not affect untap costs, just activation costs. [bethmo] This includes the Basalt Monolith and Colossus of Sardia. Priest of Yawgmoth: The "place in the graveyard" statement is actually a "sacrifice" and is a cost which cannot be prevented. [bethmo] Can sacrifice any artifact you own regardless of who controls it. Read "discarded" as "destroyed". Primal Clay: Ignore the second sentence. It is just a reminder that other spells can change the power/toughness and abilities of the creature. [bethmo] Clones and Doppelgangers of this card may not choose a different form from the original. [bethmo] Rakalite: Only returns to your hand if it is still in play at the end of the turn. If it leaves play, it does not return. [bethmo] Can be used any number of times during the turn before it leaves play. Can choose different targets for each use. Reconstruction: The Anvil symbol is missing from this card. Reverse Polarity: Actually removes the damage when it gives you life, so you gain nothing by casting two of these in a row. Rocket Launcher: Because it is a poly artifact (tapping is not part of the cost), you can power it many times in one turn, but it is destroyed at the end of any turn in which you use it. [Card Text] Can be powered up for multiple points of damage and count as only one "activation" of the artifact. A single "activation" may have only one target. [WotC Rules Team] This is covered under the General Rulings. Can choose different targets for each use. [bethmo] Can be Animated and enchanted with Regenerate to become reusable. Guardian Beast can prevent it from being destroyed. This gets around the normal "a card which destroys itself cannot be prevented" rule because the Launcher is destroyed at the end of the turn, rather than as a effect on itself [Aahz] Sage of Lat-Nam: Cannot use the ability unless you have an artifact to sacrifice. It is part of the cost. [Aahz] The "place in the graveyard" statement is actually a "sacrifice" and is a cost which cannot be prevented. [bethmo] Shapeshifter: If it begins upkeep with power of 2 or 1, the Dwarven Warriors may be tapped to make it unblockable _before_ you change the Shapeshifter to be a 6/1 creature. [Aahz] Strip Mine: Tapping is part of the cost of destroying another land, so you must have an untapped Strip Mine to send to the graveyard. [bethmo] Consecrate Land and Pyramids will not prevent the strip mine from sending itself to the graveyard. [bethmo] Will trigger Dingus Egg or anything else which triggers on lands being destroyed or sent to the graveyard. [bethmo] Su-Chi: Only works when card goes to the graveyard from play, _not_ from a player's hand. At that time, the card is not an Artifact. [bethmo] You cannot choose not to get the 4 mana when Su-Chi is destroyed. Note that if it dies during damage dealing, you get 4 colorless mana; You can only use damage prevention spells at this time; And you mana pool will be emptied (causing "mana burn") once damage prevention is over and before you can use even a fast effect! Tablet of Epityr: Only works when artifact goes to the graveyard from play, _not_ from a player's hand. At that time, the card is not an Artifact. [bethmo] Tawnos's Coffin: All damage and scheduled destruction (i.e. dies at end of turn) are removed when the creature goes out of play. Note that token creatures which are removed from play leave the game permanently. [bethmo] Tawnos's Wand: The second sentence should read "after the Wand is used" instead of "after defense is chosen". Tetravus: When the counters are off the Tetravus and acting as 1/1 Flying artifact creatures, they are token creatures with a zero casting cost. As token creatures, they are not considered Antiquities cards and are therefore not affected by Golgothian Sylex. [bethmo] If the Tetravus is destroyed when the Flyers are off the card, they are _not_ destroyed... they are just orphaned. [bethmo] Counters can only be moved back to the same Tetravus they came from. [Aahz] Moving counters is a fast effect. You can move as many as you want during upkeep. [bethmo] Orcish Oriflamme and other non-targeted effects can enhance the token creatures. [bethmo] A Clone of Tetravus does not get the counters. Titania's Song: Is not prevented by Guardian Beast. [bethmo] Transmute Artifact: Additional mana spent to cover the differences in casting costs is not part of the casting cost of this spell for Spell Blast or any other reasons. It is spent during spell resolution. [bethmo] The targeted artifact leaves play as a sacrifice (part of the cost of the spell). [Aahz] The one from the libary enters play when the spell is resolved, and this does _not_ count as the casting of an artifact or destruction of an artifact. It will not trigger off events which Urza's Chalice or Citanul Druid can react to. [bethmo] Triskelion: It is legal to attack (or defend) with the Triskelion and then after the attack use some of the +1/+1 tokens to do damage to a creature. [bethmo] Can still use its ability even when tapped because this is a creature ability. Can be used any time a fast effect is legal and not "any time" as the card says. Tokens can be used on the turn it enters play because it does not require tapping. [bethmo] Urza's Avenger: The -1/-1 is not permanent. It lasts until the end of the turn as do the abilities that give the -1/-1. Urza's Mine: If you have at least one of each of the three Urza's lands in play, you must take the 2 mana instead of just one. [bethmo] Urza's Mitre: Only works when artifact goes to the graveyard from play, _not_ from a player's hand. At that time, the card is not an Artifact. [bethmo] Must be the controller of the artifact to use this. Cannot be used on itself because it cannot be used after it goes to the graveyard. The last sentence (may not be used when otherwise benefit) means that any sacrifice is not counted. [Aahz] Urza's Power Plant: If you have at least one of each of the three Urza's lands in play, you must take the 2 mana instead of just one. [bethmo] Urza's Tower: If you have at least one of each of the three Urza's lands in play, you must take the 2 mana instead of just one. [bethmo] Wall of Spears: Yes, this is a Wall and abides by all rules that Walls do. [Card Text] Weakstone: The -1/-0 applies to attacking creatures from all players. [Aahz] Xenic Poltergeist: Allows the creature to attack as long as the artifact began play on your side this turn. [bethmo] Wears off at the beginning of the upkeep, not during upkeep. [bethmo] Yawgmoth Demon: The "place in the graveyard" statement is actually a "sacrifice" and is a cost which cannot be prevented. [bethmo]