MAGIC the Gathering A Fantasy Trading Card Game by Richard Garfield P.O. Box 707, Renton, WA 98057-0707 --1 CONTENTS [deleted here, because word processors can find you the headings faster than you can read the Contents table] --2 GAME DESCRIPTION _Magic_ is a game of battle in which you and your opponent represent powerful sorcerers attempting to drive each other from the lands of Dominia. Your deck holds your tools: creatures, lands, spells, and artifacts. Careful consideration of strategy will play a significant part in the outcome. If you win, you'll gain more than mere satisfaction: the winner of a _Magic_ duel also ends up with a card from the loser's deck. Over time, decks will grow and shrink, both from winning and losing cards and from trading with other _Magic_ players. Such trading sessions can be very profitable, as you exchange cards you don't need as much for those that fill weak spots in your deck. Setting up a good deck configuration between games can contribute as much to winning as good tactics during a game. Be especially careful when playing new opponents. They will likely have cards you've never seen before, and new ways of playing old ones. Even old rivals may have gained new cards and learned new tricks since the last time you met them. Dominia is a vast place, and surprises will arise from the landscape long after you think you've seen it all. EQUIPMENT You and your opponent will each need a deck of _Magic_ cards and some way of keeping score. The --3 most common method is pencil and paper. Some people use twenty-sided dice, turning them so that the score is face-up; others use counters or just keep score in their heads. If you're going to use counters or dice, keep in mind that many cards may end up giving you more life points than you started with. You'll also need a reasonably large, flat area to lay out the cards during play. A SAMPLE GAME The object of the game is to drive your opponent from the land of Dominia. You each start with 20 life points, and whoever pushes the other person to 0 or below first wins. You also win if your opponent cannot draw a card when required to do so. Let's walk through a typical first game. Because we'll be doing a lot of explaining, it will seem to go somewhat slowly. Your first couple of games will probable be the same way. Once you know your deck a little better, the flow of the game should be pleasantly rapid. You shuffle your deck while your opponent does the same. If you're playing for -ante-, you cut her deck while she cuts yours, and you both turn over the top cards of each other's decks and set them aside as the ante cards. Whoever wins this game will keep both cards. --4 Now the two of you determine who goes first. Play scissors-paper-stone, flip a coin, or whatever works. Your adversary wins. To begin, you both draw seven cards. For her first move, your opponent draws a card, puts a land card down -- an island -- and indicates that she's done. Your turn. You draw a card and examine your hand more closely. You'll need -mana- to cast any spells, and lands are the most common sources of mana, so you look for those first. You decide to play your forest card, a land that can generate 1 point of green mana. You also have a Summon Scryb Sprites spell in your hand, and it only costs 1 point of green mana. You know the casting cost because the Scryb Sprites card shows a single circle with a treelike thing in it in the upper right corner; this circle matches the symbol on the forest card. One mana symbol means 1 mana point of that type. So you announce that you're drawing mana from the forest into your -mana pool-, and you turn the forest card sideways to show that you've used it this turn. Turning a card sideways is called -tapping-. Now you've got a point of green mana loose in your mana pool. You put down the Sprites, which uses up that mana. Like all creatures, the Sprites cannot attack this turn. Your turn is over, so you tell your opponent you're done. --5 Your opponent draws another card and puts down a second land card, a swamp. She now has a swamp and an island in play. She decides to summon Drudge Skeletons. The corner of this card says 1. The skull, the symbol for black mana, matches the swamp card. The gray circle around the 1 means that 1 other point of mana is required, but the color of the other mana isn't important. Your adversary turns both the swamp and the island cards sideways, then uses the point of black and point of blue mana in her mana pool to cast the Skeletons summon. She indicates she's done. At the beginning of your turn, you first untap any cards you have tapped. So you straighten out your forest card and draw. You place the second land card in your hand down on the table. This time it's a plains card, which will provide white mana. You also happen to have a Holy Strength in your hand. Holy Strength is an -enchant creature- card that costs 1 white mana. You tap the plains card to show that you've released the mana from it, them place the Holy Strength card on your Sprites. In the lower right of the Sprites card is the notation 1/1, which indicates the creature's -power- and -toughness-. A creature's power indicates how much damage it does; normally the Sprites would do 1 point of damage when they attack. But the Holy Strength enchantment says that the creature on which it is cast gains +1/+2, --6 so your Sprites with Holy Strength now act as a 2/3 creature. They thus do 2 points of damage, and have a current toughness of 3. You could attack with the Sprites now, but you decide to save them for defense. If you attack the Sprites will become tapped, and if they're tapped they can't defend. The main phase of a turn, the part we just saw, includes casting spells, a single attack that may involve any or all of your creatures on the table, and playing a single land card. These things can happen in any order. The last part of a turn, the discard phase, occurs only if you have more than seven cards in your hand; it forces you to discard until you have seven. Right now you have less than that, so you can't discard. You indicate your turn is over. Now it's your opponent's turn. She untaps her lands, draws a card, and gets a really frustrated look on her face. Though she spends a while looking back and forth between her Drudge Skeletons and your Sprites, she decides not to actually do anything this turn. Your turn. You draw a card, and, since it's another plains card, you lay it down on the table. Mow you have two plains and one forest. You could cast Healing Salve, an instant that either gives you 3 life points or prevents up to 3 points of damage from being dealt --7 to a creature, but you decide to save this until your need is greater. Besides, now you've got enough to summon a Pearled Unicorn, which costs 1 white mana and 2 of any color. You tap all your lands and put the Unicorn, a 2/2 creature, onto the table, savoring the dismayed look your opponent gives you. Though you can't attack with the Unicorn this turn, you will be able to use it to defend, so you can attack with your Sprites and still not have to worry about the Skeletons. You announce an attack and tap the Sprites. Your opponent can't block with the Skeletons because the Sprites have the special ability -flying-. Only other flying creatures can block them, and the Skeletons don't fly. The Sprites thus wing merrily over to your opponent and prick her for 2 points of damage. You smile as you tell your opponent you're done. Your opponent doesn't need to untap, since none of her cards became tapped since her last turn. She draws a forest card and plays it immediately. Then she announces that she is attacking and taps her Skeletons. This seems suspicious. Since the Skeletons are only 1/1 and your Unicorn is 2/2, the Skeletons will be killed if you block with your Unicorn. This isn't as bad for your opponent as it sounds, since the text block on the Skeletons card indicates it has a special ability called -regeneration-. Even if the Skeletons take enough damage to kill them, your adversary can --8 spend 1 point of black mana to activate the regeneration ability and prevent them from dying. But her attack still seems pointless, since the Skeletons can do only 1 point of damage to your Unicorn, and the Unicorn won't be killed unless it takes damage equal to or greater than its toughness, which is 2. Your opponent may have made a mistake -- or she may have something up her sleeve. Since you still have your Sprites, you decide to risk the Unicorn. You indicate that you're blocking. Now you see what her sleeve held. She taps her forest, frees 1 point of green mana, and uses it to cast Giant Growth on her Skeletons. Similar to Holy Strength, Giant Growth gives the creature on which it is cast +3/+3, but unlike the Holy Strength bonus, this bonus lasts only until the end of the turn. Another difference between Holy Strength and Giant Growth is that Giant Growth is an -instant- spell, which means that it can be cast during an attack. Instants, along with -interrupt- spells, creature -special abilities- like regeneration, and the effects of some artifacts and enchantments, are called -fast effects-. Other types of spells, including -summons-, -enchantments-, -artifacts-, and -sorceries-, cannot be cast during an attack. Fast effects can also be cast during your opponent's turn, while you can case other types of spells only during your own turn. With that Giant Growth on them, the 1/1 Skeletons --9 become 4/4 for this turn. They do 4 points of damage to the Unicorn, which has only 2 points of toughness. Since it has taken damage equal to or greater than its toughness, the Unicorn has taken enough damage to kill it. In return, it has done 2 points of damage, but the Skeletons now have a total of 4 points of toughness, so the Skeletons survive. Now you wish you hadn't tapped all your mana, because that Healing Salve spell would be quite useful right here. Most creatures that take a lethal amount of damage go to the -graveyard-, otherwise known as the discard pile. If you could cast the Healing Salve, you could prevent 3 points of damage to your Unicorn. This would reduce the damage the Unicorn took from 4 points to 1, which wouldn't be enough to kill it. But you don't have any mana left, so the Unicorn goes to the graveyard and it's your opponent's turn to smile. Still, you've got your Sprites, and after all, you've got more life points! Now that you've had this taste of the game, you can try a couple of different approaches. If you learn best by reading, go on and read the rest of the rulebook, then try a game with someone. If you learn better by doing, go ahead and play a game or two with somebody, and refer to the appropriate section of the rules if you get stuck. Then you can come back and read the whole book. Just be sure you do come back; if you --10 don't, sooner or later some smart-aleck is going to catch you with a rule you won't know unless you read this stuff. AT THE START OF THE GAME Each player must have at least forty cards in his or her deck. Shuffle your deck thoroughly and wait for your opponent to do the same. You may request to shuffle your opponent's deck as well. Each of you then cuts the other person's deck and turns over the top card. These two cards are set aside as the ante. Whoever wins the game gets to keep both cards. Now draw seven cards from the top of your deck to form your starting hand. If you've just started playing, randomly select who goes first. Otherwise, the loser of the previous game goes first. The space in front of you should now have a stack of undrawn cards, called the -library-; a space for your discards, known as the graveyard; and an area for you to place cards in play, called your -territory-. You may end up playing some cards in your opponent's territory. If you do, be sure to retrieve them at the end of the game. You might want to mark such cards with sticky notes or paper clips to make sure you remember to whom they belong. --11 GAME TURN During his or her turn, each player must perform the following steps, also called -phases-: 1. Untap 2. Upkeep 3. Draw a card 4. Main phase (in any order) a. May put a land into play b. May make an attack c. May cast spells 5. Discard down to seven cards in hand, if necessary 6. Inform opponent you are finished 7. Heal creatures Strictly speaking, you need to give your opponent a chance to act after every part of this sequence, and even after every action you take. Most games are far more informal, and you can expect your adversary will jump in with a "Wait!" before you go on. _Tapping and Untapping_: Many cards will have the following symbol on them: . If a card has this symbol, the card must be tapped whenever its power or ability is used; this indicates it cannot be used again until untapped. Tapping a card means to turn it horizontally. At the beginning of your turn, you untap all of your cards. --12 [diagram: y U U r n n a t t r a Tapped a b p p i p p L e e d d d r a y e v a r G] _Upkeep_: Some cards require you to take some action during your upkeep. This requirement will be stated specifically on the cards. If you don't have any such cards in play, move directly to the draw phase. You or an opponent may also play -fast effects- during this phase. _Draw_: This phase is pretty simple. Draw a card from the top of your library and put it in your hand. If you have no cards in your library when you need to draw, the game ends and your opponent wins. -Main Phase-: This phase is a little trickier. You may play a land card from your hand if you want to, but you may not play more than one. You may have some or all of your creatures in play attack your opponent, but you can't change your mind about who's attacking and who isn't once your opponent has begun to declare defense. You cannot attack more than once per turn. You may play that land card either before or af- --13 ter the attack. This is the only phase during which you may cast summons, enchantments, sorceries, or artifacts. You may cast these spells any time during this phase except during an attack. -Discard-: If you have more than seven cards, you have to discard enough cards to bring your hand down to seven. If you have seven cards or fewer, you may not discard. -Inform Opponent-: Because you may not need to discard and there's no set order to the main phase, your adversary has no way of knowing you're finished with your turn unless you announce it. -Heal Creatures-: Once you say you are done, your opponent can, as usual, respond with fast effects, to which you may respond. When all this is finished any damage to creatures in play is erased. Now it's your opponent's turn. WINNING THE GAME Each player starts the game with 20 life points. If your opponent's life point total drops below 1 at the end of a phase or at the start or end of an attack, you win. If both players reach or pass 0 at one of these times, the game is a draw. You also win if your opponent is required to draw a card but has no cards left in his or her library. --14 MANA Most spells require mana to cast. Mana can be one of five colors -- white, blue, black, red, or green -- or it can be colorless. Some spells will require a certain amount of a particular type of mana, while others can be cast with any type. -Sources of Mana-: The most common source of mana is a land card. Different kinds of land provide different colors of mana (see the Mana Chart for more information). A land card can usually provide only 1 point of mana per turn. If you draw mana from a land card, you must tap it to show that the mana has been drawn from it. The five basic land types are plains, which produce white mana; mountains, which produce red mana; forests, which produce green mana; swamps, which produce black mana; and islands, which produce blue mana. Basic lands have no other abilities. Some effects in the game may change a land into one of the basic land types. If this happens, the land loses any special powers it might have had, and the kind of mana it produces may change. Mana can also come from various other sources in the game; these are all explained on the relevant cards. -Mana Pool-: When you draw mana from any source, such as a land, it goes into your _mana pool_. Your mana --15 MANA CHART __________ -Black Magic-: The black magician's power stems from the swamps and bogs. Black magic is the magic of death. The often self destructive lore of black magic is regarded by most as best left unknown. The traditional enemies of black are white and green. -Blue Magic-: The blue magician taps the islands for energy. Blue magic is mental in nature. The fortes of the blue magician are artifice, illusion, and deception, as well as the elemental forces of air and water. The traditional enemies of blue are red and green. -Green Magic-: The green magician draws energy from the forest. Many magicians have been lulled into complacency by green magic's peaceful exterior, the magic of life, and have been caught unaware by the vast destructive capability of its nature. Green's traditional enemies are blue and black. -Red Magic-: The red magician gets power from the mountains. Red magic is a destructive magic, the magic of earth and fire, of chaos and war. The traditional enemies of red are blue and white. -White Magic-: The white magician draws energy from the plains. Spells of healing and protection are the white magician's specialty, though chivalrous war magic is not unfamiliar. White's traditional enemies are red and black. --16 pool is simply the mana you have available at that moment. When you cast a spell, the mana you use is drawn from your mana pool. If for some reason there is mana left in your mana pool at the end of any phase or at the beginning or end of an attack, each leftover point of mana is converted into a point of damage to you. The source of this damage is considered colorless. You may not give mana to another player. Tapping a land to add mana to your mana pool is considered an interrupt. PARTS OF A -MAGIC- CARD If the spell is a Summon spell, the card will indicate which class of creature is being summoned. For example, Wall of Wood, Wall of Bone, and Wall of Swords all say "Summon Wall", which is important if there's another spell that kills all walls. Power and toughness only appear on creature cards. See _Attacking_ for more information. SPELLS, PERMANENTS, CONTROLLER There are six basic kinds of spells: summons, enchantments, sorceries, instants, interrupts, and artifacts. When you play any card that's not a land, you are casting a spell. One a card is successfully played, it is no longer a spell. Some spells are discarded after being cast; others, called _permanents_, remain in play. --17 [diagram: Name of card, Casting Cost, Border, Illustration, Type of Spell, Text of Card, Power/Toughness, Illustrator] Lands, artifacts, creatures, and enchantments are all permanents once in play. Almost all permanents are played in the caster's territory. The exception is enchantments that say "Enchant _something_", where _something_ is another type of card, such as a creature. These _enchant card_ spells are played on their targets. The caster of a card is usually considered its _controller_, though some effects can change this. If an effect gives control of a card to someone other than the caster, place the card in the territory of its new controller. --18 Make sure you retrieve your cards from your opponent's territory after a game! Once a permanent is in play, only the effects of another card can remove it. In other words, you can't just decide you want it to go away, even if it's yours. -Casting Cost-: The cost to cast a spell is listed in the upper right-hand corner of the card. It will consist of one or more numbers in gray circles and/or mana symbols. The symbols indicate how much mana of a particular type is needed to cast the spell, and the gray-circled numbers indicate how much more mana of any combination of types is needed. For example, 3 would be listed on a spell that takes 2 white mana and 3 more of any type to cast. The 3 mana of any type could be 2 green and 1 blue, 3 more white, or 2 colorless mana and 1 black, for example. Some spells may have an X in the gray circle. Unless otherwise specified on the card, this means that the caster may use any amount of mana available to fulfill that part of the casting cost, even 0. The text on such cards explains what the effect of this X mana will be. For example, Disintegrate has a casting cost of X and the text says "Disintegrate does X damage to one target.". If the caster spends 1 red mana plus 4 more of any type, Disintegrate would do 4 points of damage. When a card refers to the casting cost of a spell, it means the total number of mana needed, ignoring --19 how much is of what type. A spell that requires 1 to cast thus has a casting cost of 3. If a card refers to the casting cost of a spell that is not currently being cast, assume X is 0. -Targets-: Some spells or effects require one or more targets. This sort of spell allows the caster to choose which of a particular class of cards will be affected. Usually the type of target will be obvious; for instance, an _enchant land_ spell can only be cast on a land. A spell or effect that requires a target may not be used if there are no targets of the appropriate type available. For example, you can't cast an _enchant creature_ spell unless there's a creature on the table, and you can't power an enchantment that protects you from a source of blue magic unless you're taking damage from a blue card. Some spells or effects act on an entire class of cards; for example, a card might destroy all creatures in play. This sort of spell doesn't give the caster any choice about which of the cards in the class will be affected, so it does not have a specific target. Cards affected by such a spell or effect are not considered targets, and such spells may be cast whether or not there is a card of the appropriate class in play. If a spell conceals the identity of a card, you may target that card as long as the available information indicates that card _could_ be a legitimate target. For example, if a spell conceals the identity of a creature, --20 you may target that card with an effect that destroys walls, even though you can't be sure that it's a wall. If the concealed card doesn't turn out to be a valid target, the targeting spell is discarded with no effect. If you have a spell that targets a permanent, you may not use your spell on your opponent's permanent until it has been successfully brought into play. Until then, your opponent's permanent is just a spell, subject only to effects that target spells. -Sacrificing-: If a card calls for a _sacrifice_, you must choose an appropriate card and place it in your graveyard. This card is considered _buried_ and thus may not be regenerated (see _Destroyed, Buried, and Removed from Game_). You cannot sacrifice a card under another player's control, nor can you sacrifice a creature that has taken lethal damage or is otherwise headed to the graveyard. A sacrifice is a cost that cannot be prevented. Just as mana is spent as soon as a spell is announced, a sacrifice is taken as soon as the spell or effect requiring it is announced. If this spell or effect is countered in some way, the card being sacrificed still gets buried, just as the mana spent on a countered spell is still spent. -Additional Costs-: Some permanents have special effects or abilities that can be activated after the cards are in play. These costs will appear in the text block. --21 See _Artifacts, Creature Abilities_, and _Enchantments_ for more information. -Artifacts-: You may cast artifacts only during your main phase. All artifacts except artifact creatures may be used during the turn in which they are played. If an artifact becomes tapped you may not use it again until it is untapped, even if it does not normally tap. Even continuous effects of the artifact cease until it is untapped. Artifacts often have an activation cost, which is listed in the text area of the card. If an artifact shows a tap symbol () in the text block, you must tap the artifact whenever you use it. If there are mana symbols next to an artifact's effect, then you must provide that mana to use that effect. If there is neither a tap symbol nor any other cost to activated, the artifact is continuous and its effect is always present unless the artifact becomes tapped. An artifact with an activation cost of 0 is not continuous: it is activated only when its controller announces he or she is activating it. -Artifact Creatures-: Artifact creatures are artifacts that must also follow the restrictions on creatures. Thus they may not attack or use any ability whose cost includes the tap symbol on the turn they are played, and they may not attack or defend when tapped. Artifact creatures can be targeted by spells that affect either --23 artifacts or creatures. For more information, see _Creatures_. -Enchantments-: Enchantments have a lasting effect on the game and may only be played during the main phase of the caster's turn. Enchantments cannot be tapped; some enchantments are played on cards that can be tapped, but these enchantments function even when the target card is tapped. Enchantments that say "Enchant _something_", where _something_ is another type of card, must be played on a card of the appropriate type. If the target of an _enchant card_ enchantment ceases to be a legitimate target of the enchantment, the enchantment is discarded. If the card just says it's an enchantment, place it in the caster's territory. Such enchantments affect both players unless the card says otherwise. Some enchantments have an activation cost. This cost may only be paid by the controller of the enchantment. Such enchantments may be used more than once per turn, and may even be used more than once at a time. For example, if you play a creature enchantment that adds 1 to the target creature's power for 1 red maan, you can spend 3 red mana to add 3 to the creature's power. These may be spent all at once or one at a time -- simultaneously or sequentially. All such activated power and toughness bonuses expire at the end of the turn. --23 -Sorceries-: A sorcery may only be played during the caster's main phase, and is discarded after use. -Summons-: A summon spell brings a creature into play. Creatures may only be summoned during the caster's main phase, and a creature of yours may not attack or use any ability whose activation cost includes the tap symbol until it has been on your side at the very beginning of your turn. -Instants-: An instant spell can be played during your turn or your opponent's turn. Instants are discarded once played. You may respond to a spell or other action with an instant and/or other fast effects, and your opponent may respond likewise until all fast effects are cast, at which time the instants all take effect, last to first. See _Timing_ for more information. -Interrupts-: An interrupt spell can be played during your turn or your opponent's turn. Though an interrupt is discarded once played, the effect it has on another spell is permanent. If you aren't sure you want to interrupt your rival's spell, request some time to think. Once you or your opponent have taken any game action other than casting an interrupt, it's too late to interrupt a spell being cast. You may interrupt your own spells, and you and your opponent may cast more than one interrupt at a time. You may also interrupt an interrupt. See _Timing_ for more information. --24 -Fast Effects-: Fast effects include interrupts, instants, and the abilities of permanents. Some such abilities include regeneration, enhanced power and toughness, and providing mana. All special abilities are described in the text block of the relevant card. You may use fast effects during your turn and during your adversary's turn. CREATURES Summon spells, mentioned earlier, bring creatures into play. You can easily identify creatures since they say "Summon _creature type_" just below the illustrations and have two numbers separated by a slash in their lower right-hand corners. The spell cost in the upper right is a cost to summon; once the card is on the table it is a creature, not a spell, and you do not have to pay the casting cost again. -Power and Toughness-: The two numbers in the lower right are the creature's _power_ and _toughness_. The power rating indicates how much damage a creature does when it engages in combat. Toughness is how much damage the creature can take before it dies. This damage adds up during a turn, but is completely healed at the end of each turn unless the creature dies. If a creature's toughness drops below 1, that creature is dead. If a creature's power drops below 1, it deals no damage when it engages in combat. --25 -Walls-: Walls are just like other creatures except that they cannot be used to attack. Some walls have a power rating greater than 0; such a wall may be able to damage an attacker while defending, but it still cannot attack. -Characteristics-: Some spells refer to the _characteristics_ of a creature. These include the creature type, color, power, toughness, casting cost, and special abilities. They do not include any enchantments cast on the creature. If a card refers to the power or toughness of a creature, this means its current power or toughness including enchantments, unless the spell specifically says otherwise. -Special Abilities-: Some creatures have special abilities, which are described in the text box. Using such an ability may require spending mana or tapping the creature; if so, the appropriate symbols will indicate this. If the activation cost for a special ability doesn't include the tap symbol, the ability may be used more than once in a turn. Some creature abilities have activation costs that can be powered multiple times to generate greater effects. Such abilities add to the creature's natural abilities. See _More on Special Abilities_ for more information. -Summoning Sickness-: A creature of yours may not attack or use any ability whose activation costs in- --26 cludes the tap symbol unless it was in play on your side at the start of your turn. This means most creatures can do nothing on the turn they are summoned, although they may block during your opponent's turn. THE ATTACK You may announce an attack only once per turn and only during your main phase. You select the attacking creatures, your opponent selects defenders, damage is dealt, and then the dead are carted away. During an attack, only fast effects may be played. No sorceries may be cast and no new enchantments, creatures, artifacts, or land may be put into play. Keep in mind that the following rules attempt to cover all cases and situations. Usually battles are pretty easy to follow. -Assigning Attackers-: Right after announcing an attack, you select any number of creatures under your control to participate, tapping them to indicate that they are being used to attack. Walls and creatures that were already tapped may not participate. After all attacking creatures have been chosen, either player may choose to use fast effects. You cannot choose to attack your opponent's creatures. You can only push your army in the defender's general direction and see if your opponent chooses to block. --27 -Assigning Defenders-: Your rival now chooses which creatures, if any, will defend. If any of your opponent's creatures are tapped, they may not defend. For each creature you have attacking, your opponent must decide how many, if any, creatures will block it. Your opponent may not use one creature to block two or more of yours, though more than one defender can block a single creature. Any attacking creature opposed by a defender is _blocked_, even if the defender is later removed by a fast effect or the block otherwise becomes illegal. After all defenders are assigned, there is another opportunity for fast effects. -Damage-: The next step is to assign damage. No spells or effects of any kind may be played while damage is being assigned. An unblocked attacker does an amount of damage equal to its power rating to your opponent. A blocked attacker does its damage to the defender blocking it; if the defender is no longer present, it does not deal damage at all. A defending creature deals damage to the attacker it blocked, unless it became tapped during the attack. Most defenders will remain untapped, but some may become tapped during the fast effects stage. All damage takes effect simultaneously. Next, compare the amount of damage a creature has taken this turn to its toughness value. If the damage is equal to or greater than its toughness, then the crea- --28 ture has taken a lethal amount of damage. For example, if a creature with a toughness of 6 took 2 points of damage from a spell earlier in the turn and then was blocked by a creature with a power of 4 during the attack, this creature sustained a total of 6 points of damage, enough to match its toughness and kill the creature. If a creature takes more damage than its toughness rating, that just makes it more thoroughly squashed. The extra damage does not transfer to the defending player. If two or more defending creatures block an attacking creature, the attacking player may assign damage from the attacker to the defenders as desired, even if this means one of the creatures has taken more than enough damage to kill it. Once damage dealing starts, no other actions may occur until all damage has been assigned. After the damage is assigned there is an opportunity to prevent the damage or redirect it. See _Saving Creatures from the Grave_ for more details. MORE ON SPECIAL ABILITES Any special ability that includes the tap symbol in the activation cost may not be used if the creature is already tapped. Abilities that do not include in the activation cost may be used whether the creature is tapped or not. --29 Creature special abilities that require neither tapping nor payment to use are always in effect. Note that this means creatures cannot choose _not_ to use these abilities where applicable, though a creature with a special ability that gives it an advantage when attacking is not required to attack. For example, a creature with the special ability _flying_ cannot choose to attack on foot, but you don't have to attack with that creature unless you want to. The one exception to this rule is _banding_; you may decide whether and how a creature with this ability chooses to band. See _Evasion Abilities_ and _Banding_ for more information on these abilities. -Enhanced Power/Toughness-: One common special ability is enhanced power or toughness. For example, a creature may have the ability to gain 1 point of power for 1 point of red mana. If 4 points of red mana are spent, the creature's power is increased by 4. This ability can also be used again later in the turn, multiple times if needed. All such special ability bonuses expire at the end of the turn. When the rules or cards refer to a creature's power or toughness, they mean the current value, which may have been increased or decreased from the original numbers in the lower right of the card as a result of special abilities, enchantments, or other effects. --30 -Regeneration-: Usually, when a creature is about to be sent to the graveyard, it can be regenerated by an appropriate spell or ability. A regenerated creature returns to play tapped but undamaged, and never actually reaches the graveyard. A creature that is _buried_ or _removed from the game_ cannot be regenerated (see _Destroyed, Buried, and Removed from Game_). If a creature that has been declared as an attacker is regenerated before damage is dealt, treat this as if the creature never attacked. The creature neither deals damage to nor receives damage from any blockers. If a creature that has been declared as a blocker is regenerated, the creature neither deals damage to nor receives damage from the creature it was blocking, but the attacking creature is still considered blocked. -Evasion Abilities-: Some creatures have the _flying_ ability, which means they can be blocked only by other flying creatures, though they can block both flying and nonflying creatures. Other creatures have _landwalk_ abilities, such as _swampwalk_ or _forestwalk_. If the defending player has a land of the appropriate type in play, such as a swamp for a swampwalking creature, then an attacking creature with that type of landwalk cannot be blocked, even by other creatures with the same ability. -Trample-: All damage delivered by a creature with the _trample_ ability is considered _trample damage_. If a de- --31 fending creature takes more trample damage than is needed to kill it, the excess trample damage is applied to the defending player. If the poor defending creature finds itself receiving both normal and trample damage, apply the normal damage first. If a creature with the trample ability is considered blocked, but the creature blocking it is removed before damage is dealt, then all trample damage is applied to the player. See the _Example of Creature Combat_ for more information. -First Strike-: If a creature has _first strike_, it deals its damage first. Creatures receiving this damage must survive it before they can deal any return damage; if an opposing creature takes lethal damage from a creature with first strike, it cannot return the attack. During an attack, all creatures with first strike deal their damage simultaneously, then surviving creatures without first strike deal their damage simultaneously. Giving a creature the first strike ability twice does not allow it to deal damage before others with first strike. -Banding-: _Banding_ creatures have two powers, both of which can only be used during an attack phase. When attacking, a banding creature may join with one or more other attacking creatures. These creatures must then be blocked or allowed through together. If a defending creature can block any one of these creatures, it can block the entire group, even if it would --32 not normally be able to block some of them individually. If the creatures are blocked, the damage they receive from the blocking creature or creatures is distributed among the attackers however the attacking player wishes. A banding creature may join with any number of other attacking creatures as long as no more than one of the creatures does _not_ have the banding ability. When defending, any creature can join with one or more other defending creatures to block a single attacker; the attacker's damage is then distributed among the defenders as the attacking player sees fit. But if any one of the defending creatures has the banding ability, then damage from the attacking creatures is distributed among the defenders as the _defending_ player desires. The defending player may assign more damage to a creature than it can survive. -Protection-: A creature with _protection_ from a particular color of magic gains the following abilities: Any damage dealt to the creature by a source of that color is reduced to 0, and the creature cannot be blocked by creatures of that color. The creature cannot be the target of a spell or effect of that color, though it can be affected by spells or effects of that color that do not target it specifically (see _Targets_ for more information). Any enchantments of that color already on the creature are dispelled, and no further enchantments of --33 that color may be cast on that creature. In all other cases, the protected creature interacts normally with cards of that color. VISITING THE GRAVEYARD -Destroyed, Buried, and Removed from Game-: If a spell or effect says it _destroys_ or _kills_ another card, the target card is sent to the graveyard, though it may be regenerated by an appropriate spell or effect before it gets there. If a spell or effect says it _buries_ another card, the target card is put in the graveyard and cannot be regenerated. Some spells and effects remove other cards from the game entirely. Such cards do not go into the graveyard, but into a separate pile. They are returned to their owners only at the end of the duel. Such cards are _not_ considered either dead or buried unless the card that caused the removal says otherwise. -Saving Creatures from the Grave-: Whenever a creature is assigned damage, you have the opportunity to use effects that prevent or redirect some or all of the damage. Such effects target the damage, not the source or recipient of the damage. If after this the creature has still taken lethal damage, you can use effects to regenerate it. Remember that damage is cumulative, and further damage this turn may send the creature to the graveyard again. --34 -The Graveyard-: When a card reaches the graveyard, any enchantments on it are removed, as are any counters. Cards in the graveyard have no "memory" of previous events, such as how many times they were used or what put them in the graveyard. THE COLOR OF SPELLS AND EFFECTS The color of the mana in the casting cost of a card determines the color of the spell; if the card is a permanent, it also determines the color of any effects generated by the card. If a spell does not require any particular color of mana to be cast, it and its effects are considered colorless. You can also use the borders of the cards to tell the color of a spell at a glance. Remember that although land cards are sources of colored mana, they themselves are colorless. Also, damage taken from excess mana is damage from a colorless source, no matter what color mana is left over or what color of card the extra mana came from. -Sources of Damage-: The _source_ of a given amount of damage is the card that dealt that damage, whether or not another card enabled it to do so. For example, Creature Bond does damage to the controller of a creature if that creature is destroyed. The source of this damage would be the Creature Bond card, not the creature or the card that destroyed the creature. Likewise, if a spell or effect modifies a creature's --35 power, the color of any damage done by the creature remains the color of the creature, not the color of the modifying card. Damage done by a green creature with a red enchantment that increases its power is considered damage from a green source. TIMING The timing of spells is occasionally rather tricky. You and your opponent might both want to do something at the same time, or counteract a counteraction, or something equally devastating. When you read the timing rules to follow, please keep in mind that you should never be in a race to see who can announce a spell first. If your opponent is checking with you after every step, or at least moving slowly enough that you can jump in if you want to, you shouldn't ever have to pounce to get a spell cast. If both players want to announce spells, the player whose turn it is announces spells first. Except for fast effects, spells occur one after the other, so one spell gets to finish casting before another starts. -Interrupts and Timing-: Interrupts, which are considered fast effects, are resolved immediately after casting unless they are interrupted themselves. Don't actually cut in when someone is announcing an interrupt; wait until your opponent finishes, then announce an interrupt of your own. Remember, players --36 are always obliged to give their opponents a chance to cast spells in response to their actions. If a spell is the target of more than one interrupt, then the player who cast that spell resolves his or her interrupts of that spell first, no matter in what order the interrupts were cast. If Interrupt A is cast and then Interrupt B targets A, Interrupt B takes effect first. -Other Fast Effects and Timing-: Other fast effects include instant spells, creature special abilities, and effects generated by permanents in play. After your opponent announces a spell or fast effect, you may respond with one or more fast effects. Your opponent may then respond by announcing fast effects in return, and they you may respond, until nobody wants to cast any more. Once all effects have been announced, then each one takes effect, starting with the _last_ effect announced. Fast effects other than interrupts are resolved last to first. There is one exception to this rule: if damage is to be applied to a player or creature, it doesn't take effect until all fast effects in the chain are resolved. -Resolving Fast Effects-: Usually, this process is merely a matter of following the instructions on the card. It is very important to remember that unless a fast effect is _countered_ by an interrupt, it will take effect no matter what else happens (see _Countering Effects). Even if the --37 source of a fast effect is destroyed during the resolution of these effects, the fast effect itself will succeed. For example, if you use a Rod of Ruin to do a point of damage to your opponent and your opponent responds by casting the instant Shatter on the Rod, then you resolve these effects last to first: the Shatter is resolevd, sending the Rod to the graveyard, and then the Rod's effect occurs, doing a point of damage. -Countering Effects-: Some interrupts will _counter_ other spells or effects. If a spell or fast effect is countered, the cost of the effect is not refunded, but the spell or effect fails to occur. Countered spells are discarded to the graveyard. Countering an effect with an interrupt is the only way to prevent that effect from happening. -Failed Spells and Missing Targets-: You cannot cast a targeted spell or use a targeted fast effect unless there is a valid target for it at the time it is announced. Sometimes interfering with a card's target is as good as countering it. Some spells don't need targets; see _Targets_ for more information. On the other hand, sometimes an interrupt, instant, or other fast effect causes the only legal target of an effect or spell to disappear or become illegal after the effect or spell is announced but before it takes place. In this case, the mana is spent and the spell is cast for no effect. If a spell targets multiple cards when de- --38 clared, and some of the targets disappear before it takes effect, its effect on the remaining targets is unchanged. All of its intended targets must disappear for it to fail. RESPONDING TO SPELLS If the current player fails to give the opponent a chance to act before moving to the next phase or casting the next spell, the opponent may require the current player to take back his most recent action, moving the game backwards to the appropriate phase. But if the opponent has allowed the current player to take multiple actions, this is considered tacit agreement that she did not wish to take any further actions in the previous phase. EXAMPLE OF CREATURE COMBAT -Attack and Fast Effects-: Carol is attacking, Miguel defending. Carol announces an attack and taps the following creatures: a Hill Giant (3/3) enchanted with Flight, a Shanodin Dryad (1/1 forestwalk), Mammoths (3/3 trample), and a Sea Serpent (5/5). Miguel has two Benalish Heroes (1/1 bands), a Pearled Unicorn (2/2), a Prodigal Sorcerer (1/1 with special ability), and an Ogre (2/2) with the Firebreathing enchantment. Miguel has both forests and islands in play on his side. --39 Miguel's islands allow Carol's Sea Serpent to attack, since the Serpent's text says its controller's opponent must have islands in play before it can attack. His forest means that Carol's Dryad will forestwalk and thus cannot be blocked by any of his creatures. Since the Giant is flying and none of Miguel's creatures can fly, his creatures can't block the Giant either. Now that Carol has announced her attackers, Miguel casts Jump, an instant that gives a creature flying ability, on one of his Heroes. Carol declines to cast any fast effects. -Defense and Fast Effects-: Now Miguel declares defense. He assigns the Jumping hero to block the Giant, the Unicorn and the Sorcerer to block the Mammoths, and the other Hero and the Ogre to block the Serpent. At this point, Carol can see some probable outcomes. The first Hero will do 1 point of damage to the Giant, which can take 3. The Giant will kill the Hero in return, doing 3 points of damage to a creature that can only take 1. The two creatures blocking the Mammoths are going to do enough combined damage to kill the Mammoths, but the Mammoths could kill both blockers in return. Carol decides to change this and casts Giant Growth on her Mammoths card, giving the Mammoths +3/+3. Miguel now expects that when damage time comes around, the Mammoths will use 3 points of damage to --40 kill the two blockers, and because the Mammoths have the trample ability, the other 3 points will strike him. Furthermore, the Mammoths now have an increased toughness and will no longer be killed by the two blockers. The Sorcerer's special ability is to do 1 point of damage to any target, so Miguel decides to use this one last time before the Sorcerer bites the dust. Miguel has the Sorcerer do 1 point of damage to the Dryad, killing it and leaving the Sorcerer tapped. Miguel also looks at Carol's Serpent and sees that, right now, his blocking creatures will only do 3 points of damage while the Serpent has a toughness of 5. He taps two mountains to provide 2 points of red mana for the Firebreathing enchantment on the Ogre. It is now effectively a 4/2 creature, and combined with the Hero will kill the Serpent. Finally, there's Carol's Giant. Miguel doesn't have a spell to save the Jumping Hero, but he does have a Howl from Beyond, an instant that increases a creature's power by an amount that depends on how much mana the player spends. He plays the card on his Hero and taps enough land to give the Hero a +5 bonus. Adding +2 would be enough to kill the Giant, but Miguel wants to make sure that a Healing Salev, which heals 3 points of damage, would be insufficient to save the Giant. Unlike the enchantment Firebreathing, for which the activation cost can be paid multiple --41 times, the power of Howl from Beyond is set when it is cast and cannot be changed. -Damage and Saving Dying Creatures-: Both players agree they're done with fast effects, so now they assign damage. As expected, the Giant does 3 points of damage to the Hero blocking it, which has a toughness of 1. The Hero is quite dead. The Hero with its Howl from beyond did 6 points of damage in return, which finishes off the Giant. The Mammoths deal 6 points of trample damage to their blockers. Carol assigns all 6 to the Sorcerer. One point is sufficient to kill it, so the other 5 are subtracted from Miguel's life points. The Unicorn is unharmed. The Unicorn does 2 points of damage to the Mammoths in return, but the Sorcerer does no damage in return since it is now tapped. The Serpent does 5 points of damage to the Ogre and Hero blocking it. Because the Hero has banding, Miguel gets to decide where that damage goes, not Carol. He chooses to have all 5 points of damage go to the Hero, killing it but leaving the Ogre unharmed. The Hero and Ogre do 5 points of damage in return, killing the Serpent. Now it's time for fast effects again. Carol casts Death Ward on her Serpent, regenerating it. All other creatures who took lethal damage are put in their owners' graveyards. --42 EXAMPLE OF SPELL COMBAT Chris has Grizzly Bears, a 2/2 creature, in play. Leyla casts Terror on the Bears, which would bury them. In response Chris casts Unsummon on the Bears, which would bring them back to his hand. Neither player decides to use any more fast effects. The spells are now resolved in reverse order. First the Unsummon happens, so the Bears go back to Chris's hand. Now Terror goes off; its target is now gone, so the spell fails and is discarded. If Chris had decided to Unsummon the Bears, and in response Leyla had cast Terror, or if a second Terror had been cast after the Unsummon, the Bears would have been buried. MISCELLANEOUS -Cards that Break the Rules-: Some cards grant abilities that conflict with the rules. These card wordings always take precedence. -Old Rules-: Earlier versions of _Magic: The Gathering_ had a slightly different set of rules. There have been many subtle changes between the old set and this revised set. We strongly encourage anybody who has played using only the old rules to read this new set carefully and at least twice, so you aren't surprised when somebody else plays differently. Since the card wordings and the rules are closely linked, mixing cards be- --43 tween versions could also cause peculiar side effects, which you should be prepared to discuss with your opponent ahead of time. -Help-: We encourage you to write to us if you have any questions or concerns about _Magic: The Gathering_. Write to Wizards of the Coast, P.O. Box 707, Renton, WA 98057-0707, attn: -Magic-. -More Help-: We also provide electronic support. We have an e-mail list, company representatives on the Internet and many commercial services, and more. For information on these services, send e-mail to _questions@wizards.com_ and we'll get back to you. -The Duelist-: _The Duelist_ is our quarterly magazine that provides official information on all of our -Deckmaster- products. Ask for it where you buy _Magic_. -Duelists' Convocation-: For serious players, we've formed the Duelists' Convocation, the official -Deckmaster- tournament league. Membership gets you a subscription to _The Duelist_ and the ability to participate in official -Deckmaster- tournaments. Membership is $15 per year. There's an application on the back cover. -Original Artwork-: If you'd like to acquire the original art for one of these cards, write to us, and we'll send you information on where to write or call to purchase the art, if it's available for sale. --44 [An Index, deleted here because searching the document's easier; no in-jokes in the index in this set's rulebook] --45 CREDITS: -Design-: Richard Garfield -Design Contributions-: Charlie "Deck of Weenie Madness", "Infinite Recursion Deck" Cantino; Skaff "The Bruise", "The Great White Death" Elias; Don Felice; Tom "Fontaine's Deck of Sooner Than Instant Death" Fontaine; Jim Lin; Joel Mick; Chris "The Great White Leftovers" Page; Dave "Hurricane Dave", "Dave's Deck of Land Destruction" Pettey; Barry "Bit", "The Archeologist", "The Serpentician", "The Artifact Deck", "The Serpent Deck", "The 5 Color Deck" Reich; Bill Rose; Elliot Segal -Card Text-: Richard Garfield, Peter D. Adkison, Lisa Stevens, Lisa Lowe, Len Case, George Lowe, Sean Prathur, Beverly Marshall Saling, Tom Fontaine, Jim Lin, Chris Page, Jesper Myrfors, Mike Davis, Lily Wu, Elizabeth Zanger -Editing-: Beverly Marshall Saling, Lance Kuykendall, Victor K. Wertz -Rules-: This edition by Dave Howell. -Art Direction-: Jesper Myrfors -Graphic Design-: Jesper Myrfors and Lisa Stevens -Logos and Symbols-: Chris Rush -Production and Typesetting-: Peter D. Adkison, Sandra Everingham, Dave Howell, Lisa Stevens, Victor K. Wertz -Layout-: Peter D. Adkison, Dave Howell, Lisa Stevens -Printer Liaison-: Luc Mertens -Jobs Too Numerous to mention-: Peter D. Adkison, Jesper Myrfors, Sean Prathur, Lisa Stevens, Victor K. Wertz. -Playtesters-: Peter Adkison, Mike Albert, Mikhail Chkhenkeli, Steven E. Conard, Jeff Goldman, James E. Hays, Jr., Robin Herbert, Karen Hibbard, Dave Howell, Dave Juenemann, Howard Kahlenberg, Ruthy Kantorovitz, Nets "Moose Slippers" Katz, Anthony Kosky, Sarath Kumar, Ethan Lewis, George Lowe, Lisa Lowe, Beverly Marshall Saling, Jesper Myrfors, Katherine K. Porter, Ron Richardson, Rick "Toad" Marshall, Lisa Stevens, Jean Pierre Trias, Lily "Snow White and the Eight Dwarves" Wu --46 -League Playtesting and Design-: Charlie Cantino, Skaff Elias, Don Felice, Howard Kahlenberg, Ethan Lewis, Joel Mick, Chris Page, Barry Reich, Bill Rose, Elliot Segal, Jean Pierre Trias -Art-: Rob Alexander, Julie Baroh, Melissa Benson, Kev Brockschmidt, Cornelius Brudi, Sandra Everingham, Kaja Foglio, Dan Frazier, Daniel Gelon, Justin Hampton, Quinton Hoover, Fay Jones, Kerstin Kaman, Anson Maddocks, Jeff A. Menges, Ken Meyer, Jr., Jesper Myrfors, Margaret Organ-Kean, Mark Poole, Christopher Rush, Andi Rusu, Douglas Shuler, Brian Snoddy, Ron Spencer, Mark Tedin, N\'e\~N\'e Thomas, Richard Thomas, Drew Tucker, Susan Van Camp, Pete Venters, Tom W\"anerstrand, Amy Weber, and Dameon Willich. Rulebook cover art by Melissa Benson. -Thanks to-: Dave Pettey for showing how nasty decks could get, to Charlie Cantino for showing how bizarre they could get, and to Skaff Elias for stress testing _every_ aspect of the game. -Special thanks- to the late night DRL deck construction crew: Mike Albert, Skaff Elias, Ruthy Kantorovitz, Chris Page, Dave Pettey, Barry Reich -Special thanks to- the people who helped critique the new rules in a very short time: Kevin Maroney, Geoffrey Speare, Peter Sarrett, Preston Kent, Ken Martin, D. K. Fenger, Mark Biggar, Anton Dovydaitis, and Nicholas J. Sauer, plus the always-remarkable efforts of the East Coast Playtesting Team: Jim Lin, Chris Page, Skaff Elias, Joel Mick, and Dave Pettey. Also thanks to all the people on gg-l and AOL who asked the questions that showed what needed to change. RTFM. -Thanks to- Beanies for late night coffee. -Thanks to- Peter Adkison for recognizing good ideas, while having them himself, and for recognizing good people, while being one himself. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (C)1993, 1994 by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. _Magic: The Gathering_, , , , , , , and -Deckmaster- are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. --47 [this page is sideways on the back cover] Duelists' Convocation Membership Application Why should WOTC's Official Deckmaster Games Organization you join? P.O. Box 707, Renton WA, 98057 See page 44. Name: __________________________________________________________ Address: _______________________________________________________ City: ___________________________ State: ________ Zip: _________ Phone#: ____________________________ Date of Birth: ____________ ________________________________________________________________ _Signature (Parent/Guardian must sign if under 18)_ Membership feeL $15/year. Make check or money order payable to Wizards of the coast. [along the bottom, so that it's sideways to the above sideways text] If this form is too small, you can send something bigger.