============================================================================== General Rulings Summary (CHANGES ONLY) Updated 04/21/99 ============================================================================== Rulings are collected from many sources. See credits and disclaimer at the end of the file for details. These rulings are updated monthly. The most recent version is available on the web (WWW) as either of the following: http://www.crystalkeep.com/magic/rules/index.html If you do not have web access, send e-mail to "dangelo@crystalkeep.com" requesting a copy of the current Rulings Summaries. A '+' is used to mark changes since the last released version on 03/17/99. Thanx, Stephen. ---- Stephen D'Angelo | Official Rulings Summary NetRep dangelo@crystalkeep.com | Network Representative, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. ============================================================================== Table of Contents: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No changes to this section. A - Abilities ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A.1 - General Rulings on Abilities + A.1.14 - An ability is considered "a mana-producing ability" if it can produce mana under some set of conditions, even if those conditions are not currently being met. For example, Gaea's Cradle has a mana-producing ability even if you have no creatures. [WotC Rules Team 03/18/99] Also, any colors or types of mana the ability can produce under some set of conditions are considered by effects which check what the ability can generate. It does not matter if those conditions are currently being met. [WotC Rules Team 03/18/99] + A.1.15 - An effect that copies or depends on the type of mana a card's abilities can produce checks all normal effects (such as Phantasmal Terrain changing a land's type) and replacement effects (such as Contamination), but does not check additional mana that might be generated due to triggered abilities (such as Wild Growth or Fertile Ground). [WotC Rules Team 03/18/99] + A.1.16 - If a mana copying effect or triggered ability generates mana and there is a choice of what type involved, the player playing the mana-producing ability decides the color, regardless of who controls any of these effects. [WotC Rules Team 03/18/99] For example, if an opponent places Fertile Ground on one of your lands, you decide the color of mana it generates. + A.1.17 - Abilities that trigger (see Rule A.8) when a land is tapped for mana (such as Wild Growth and Mana Flare) trigger even if the land produces no mana. [WotC Rules Team 03/18/99] A.8 - Triggered Abilities + A.8.5 - All the characteristics of a triggered ability are locked in when that ability triggers. The characteristics are the same as the characteristics of the source at that time. This may be a while before the ability is actually played/announced during the Series (see Rule T.9) for triggered abilities. [D'Angelo 02/03/98] If the ability checks the characteristics of something in play, including its source, it checks those characteristics during resolution. See Rule K.4.4, Rule K.4.5 and Rule K.4.6 for additional details. A.16 - Echo: + A.16.1 - The ability is written "Echo". All cards include reminder text defining the ability as "During your next upkeep after this permanent comes under your control, pay its casting cost or sacrifice it." [Urza's Saga Rule Page] The rulings are made based on a wording more like "During your upkeep, if this card came under your control between the start of your previous upkeep and the start of this upkeep, pay its casting cost or sacrifice it." [D'Angelo 04/03/99] + A.16.Ruling.6 - If it enters play during your upkeep, you pay during the following upkeep. [Bethmo 03/27/99] C - Combat Rules ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No changes to this section. D - DCI Tournament Rules ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No changes to this section. E - Extracted Rulings on Cards ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ E.13 - Templates + E.13.Ruling.24 - The text "...this turn" is identical to "...until end of turn". The shorter version is used when "until" would not be clear, such as with "you cannot regenerate the creature until end of turn", which some people took as a delay rather than a duration. [bethmo 03/24/99] + E.13.Ruling.25 - The text "(this still counts as a land)" means the same as "(if this was a land, it still is a land)". [bethmo 04/10/99] G - Game Terms and Rules ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ G.17 - Exchange + G.17.3 - An exchange with a card in the graveyard puts the card that was in play into its owner's graveyard, regardless of whose graveyard the card is taken out of. [WotC Rules Team 03/18/99] See Goblin Welder. And the card goes on top of the gravyard, not into the middle of it. K - Card and Permanent Types and Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ K.2 - Permanents + K.2.6 - If a spell or ability changes a permanent's type, none of the abilities of the permanent are changed unless the effect says they do. [WotC Rules Team 03/18/99] In addition, if the card was a land, all mana producing abilities are still played as a mana source even if the card did not say so explicitly. [WotC Rules Team 03/18/99] Note that this rule does not apply to changing one land type to another type. See Rule K.18.3. [D'Angelo 03/19/99] K.4 - Characteristics + K.4.4 - The characteristics of an ability start out with the characteristics of the permanent that generated the ability, or if it is an ability of a card not in play, then it starts with the characteristics of the card. This is locked in when the ability is announced. The characteristics are then tracked through the ability's life cycle separately from the source of the ability. Changing the source of the ability (with a Sleight of Mind or similar effect) or even destroying the source of the ability will not change the ability. [Mirage, Page 26] Note that few abilities refer to their own characteristics. They usually refer to the characteristics of their source, which pulls Rule K.4.5 and Rule K.4.6 into effect. [D'Angelo 04/11/99] K.13 - Creature Type + K.13.7 - Changing a permanent to a specific creature type, with a card such as Fowl Play, removes all other creature types. [bethmo 04/08/99] It does not remove the Legendary nature of the creature if it was a Legend. See Rule K.19.5 for more information. K.14 - Enchantment + K.14.10 - The effect of a local enchantment on the permanent it enchants does not validate or invalidate any conditions in its own text. For example, a card which says "enchanted green creature is black" does not cause its effect to be cancelled, and a card which says "enchanted non-creature artifact is an artifact creature" does not cause itself to effect to be cancelled. Similarly, Transmogrifying Licid does not make its target legal when it says "enchanted creature is an artifact creature". [WotC Rules Team 03/18/99] You can play as if "enchanted A does B" instead read "as long as enchanted permanent is an A, it does B" so the enchantment's effect gets ordered after anything which would change the permanent to match the condition. [bethmo 04/08/99] K.18 - Land Type + K.18.5 - Changing a permanent to a basic land removes all other land sub-types of the permanent. It does not remove any other types the permanent has, such as creature or artifact. [bethmo 04/10/99] K.19 - Legendary Permanents + K.19.5 - Any change to a permanent which changes the card's name can remove Legendary status. A change which does not change the card's name will not remove Legendary status. [bethmo 04/10/99] + K.19.Ruling.1 - A spell or ability that affects "all legends" is referring to "all Summon Legend" creatures and all Legendary permanents. [WotC Rules Team 03/18/99] + K.19.Ruling.9 - The newer permanent is buried (as per Rule K.19.1) even if the two legends with the same name are somehow different card types. [WotC Rules Team 03/18/99] M - Multi-Player Rules ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No changes to this section. P - Phases of the Turn ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No changes to this section. T - Timing of Spells and Abilities ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ T.4 - Step 1: Announcing a Spell or Ability + T.4.6 - Decisions which require looking at any player's hand, looking in a player's library, and counting or otherwise comparing cards in play are not made at this time. These things are considered as "hidden information" and so these decisions wait until resolution. [Aahz 09/09/97] Added your own hand to the list. [DeLaney 03/30/99] U - Unglued ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No changes to this section. Z - Zones of Play ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No changes to this section. Index ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No changes to this section. Acknowledgements and Disclaimers ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ While this work is not officially issued by Wizards of the Coast, it is the official collected rulings from official sanctioned representatives of and publications by Wizards of the Coast. This summary is collected from rulings made by officials and network representatives of Wizards of the Coast, along with a number of unofficial rulings also collected from the net. Whenever a source for a ruling is known, the name of that person is listed with the ruling. "WotC Rules Team" marks official rulings from the rules team. "Mirage, Page " marks rules from the Mirage rulebook. "Tempest, Page " marks rules from the Tempest rulebook. "Fifth Edition, Page " marks rules from the Fifth Edition rulebook. "Encyclopedia, Page " marks errata from the Magic Official Encyclopedia. "bethmo" is Beth Moursund, the Rules Manager at Wizards of the Coast. "Barclay" is Paul Barclay, the network representative for the "mtg-l" mailing list. "DeLaney" is David DeLaney, the network representative for the "rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules" newsgroup. "D'Angelo" is Stephen D'Angelo, the Rules Summary network representative. "bethmo" was the previous "mtg-l" representative. "D'Angelo" was the previous "mtg-l" representative. "Peterson" is Paul Peterson, the previous "mtg-l" representative. "bethmo" was also the "mtg-l" representative before Paul. "Aahz" is Tom Wylie, the former Magic Rules Manager. "Snark" is Dave Howell of WotC. These files may be freely copied and posted anywhere you'd like. The contents can also be included in other formats (such as HTML or databases) or in products, but there are two restrictions. I insist that the files are not sold for profit. Anything you put them in must be available at no more than cost of duplication. Also, you must give credit to me and list the version date your work is derived from. Thanks. Every attempt has been made to make this summary accurate, but errors do creep in. Nothing in this work is guaranteed to be accurate. Use at your own risk. Magic: The Gathering and all of the cards listed herein are copyrighted by Wizards of the Coast.