This page is current as of Comprehensive Rules October 2010. Please direct your feedback to: The Staff

Summary

1. Golden Rules --- updated by Kalle
2. Decks --- updated by Kalle
3. Starting the game --- updated by Kalle
4. Winning, losing and drawing a game --- updated by Kalle
5. Mana and colors --- updated by Kalle
6. Numbers --- updated by Kalle
7. Symbols --- updated by Kalle
8. Permanents --- updated by Kalle
9. Tokens --- updated by Kalle
10. Spells --- updated by Kalle
11. Abilities in general --- updated by Francesco
12. Emblems --- updated by Kalle
13. Targets --- updated by Kalle
14. Special actions --- updated by OMNIPOTENT
15. Timing and Priority --- updated by Nicola
16. Costs --- updated by Nightcrawler
17. Life --- updated by Nightcrawler
18. Damage --- updated by Nicodaemon
19. Drawing a card --- updated by Giovanni
20. Counters --- updated by Kalle

The importance of terminology

The most underrated aspect of learning Magic Rules is using technically correct terminology. Most real life situations you are asked to solve will be completely unknown (you have never seen the same situation before). You will have to make a ruling based on cards' texts and not comparing the situation to other ones you have already seen.

To be able to make the correct ruling a judge needs to "break down" card's text into "rules" and then follow those rules.

The most difficult part is "breaking down" a card's text into basic elements, since to make it more readable by new players or just for aesthetic elegance, the text has been written in a way that makes it as natural as possible, either in his original or printed language.

Example. As we'll see later, there is a rule that states that the word "target" in a card's text really means the technical word target only if it is followed by an object, play zone or player (for Doom Blade, the "nonblack creature" object). This is true in English, but in different languages the object, play zone or player may precede the word "target".

Doom Blade

It is even more important to have a correct knowledge of technical terms and their meanings because the gap between "pure rules" (seen as abstract application of clearly identified elements) and "real rules" (where those elements are included in a fluent and readable text) is wider than you may expect. A lot of basic play elements are unintentionally hidden in the text to make it more readable in the language it is written. To be sure to identify all those basic elements and be able to break the text down into abilities, effects, targets and rules it is required to have a very strong knowledge of technical terminology.

Luckily for us, all "keywords" are unique, and are used only with a specific meaning, in specific context. This terminology isn't subject to usage of synonyms and all cards printed with the same terms are used to identify specific objects, abilities or effects.

Magic cards begun to be written with strict templating since the moment expansion symbols started to have colors to identify rarity. All cards from older sets have received new official templated wording (you can find it in the Oracle card reference database), substituting the one printed on the card. Some cards have also been given errata in the Oracle even if they are newer (usually when templates change). If the wording printed on the card is different from the one in the Oracle, the last one is official and should be used for rulings.

Every time one of the keywords appears on a card, it always has the same meaning. The text is not subject to interpretation.

Example. Ezuri, Renegade Leader has an ability that refers to "target Elf". The technical term to indicate a creature is "creature", while "Elf" is one of the legal creature subtypes. The text can only have the meaning: "the target must be a permanent with subtype Elf". Elf is not a synonym for creature and the target may not be a generic permanent.

Ezuri, Renegade Leader

Example. One of the cases most recently solved by terminology is the interaction between Meddling Mage and Isochron Scepter. Isochron Scepter's ability lets the player create a copy of the exiled card and cast the copy without paying its mana cost: this happens during the resolution of Isochron Scepter's ability. The copy is cast and should follow all rules for casting spells, including additional costs, restrictions, etc. Can you cast a spell named with Meddling Mage with Isochron Scepter's ability? Even if the answer seems to be no, indeed you can cast it. Meddling Mage rules text is "The named card can't be cast" and if you analyze correctly the terminology, the copy created by Isochron Scepter's ability is a spell, but not a card. The restriction created by Meddling Mage's ability applies only to cards and not to spells that aren't cards. These small differences can only be caught if you have a very deep understanding of technical terminology and you exactly know the difference between a spell, a card, an ability, etc. NOTE: it is possible that who wrote Meddling Mage's text intended it to prevent casting every spell with that name, but the text ended up restricting only cards. If the text would have been written "The named spell can't be cast" it would have prevented also Isochron Scepter's copies to be cast, but it would probably be less readable: "As Meddling Mage enters the battlefield, name a non-land card. The named spell can't be cast." For new players it would have been difficult to understand that the term spell on the second sentence is referring to the card in the first. In the same way, it couldn't have been written "As Meddling Mage enters the battlefield, name a spell" because, as we'll see, spells are only objects on the stack and it wouldn't make sense if there are no spells on the stack as Meddling Mage enters the battlefield.

Isochron Scepter Meddling Mage