============================================================================== General Rulings Summary (CHANGES ONLY) Updated 2001/11/04 ============================================================================== Rulings are collected from many sources. See credits and disclaimer at the end of the file for details. This release is under rules used by SIXTH EDITION and SEVENTH EDITION. Both of these editions use the same rules. These rulings are updated monthly. The most recent version is available on the web (WWW) as the following: http://www.crystalkeep.com/magic/rules/index.html A '+' is used to mark changes since the 2001/10/18 release. 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.17 - Flashback + A.17.2 - The ability means "You may play this card from your graveyard by paying rather than paying its mana cost. If you do, remove this card from the game instead of putting it anywhere else." [CompRules Update in Odyssey FAQ 2001/10/04 - 502.22a] + A.17.Ruling.1 - Flashback is an alternative cost. [CompRules Update in Odyssey FAQ 2001/10/04 - 502.22a] See Rule E.1 for more details on how alternative costs work. A.25 - Protection + A.25.Ruling.8 - Protection from Instants and Sorceries means that the permanent cannot be targeted by an instant or a sorcery and that damage that would be dealt by an instant or a sorcery to that permanent is prevented. [Odyssey FAQ 2001/10/04] + A.25.Ruling.9 - Protection from Creatures means that the permanent cannot be the target of abilities of creatures, that damage from a creature is prevented, and that it cannot be blocked by a creature. [Odyssey FAQ 2001/10/04] + A.25.Ruling.10 - Protection from Enchantments means that the permanent cannot be target of enchantment spells or the abilities of enchantment, that damage from enchantments is prevented, that it cannot be enchanted by any enchantments, and that it cannot be blocked by any enchantment that also happens to be a creature. [Odyssey FAQ 2001/10/04] A.28 - Threshold + A.28.1 - The ability is written "Threshold - ". + A.28.2 - The ability means "As long as you have seven or more cards in your graveyard, this card has ''." [CompRules Update in Odyssey FAQ - 502.23a] + A.28.3 - The ability's text is only on the card as an ability if you have seven or more cards in your graveyard. Otherwise, the text only exists as a potential ability inside the Threshold ability's text. [CompRules Update in Odyssey FAQ - 502.23b] In general, it's easiest to just think of the text not being there at all. This results in the same answer to all rules questions. + A.28.4 - An instant or sorcery card with Threshold has the ability only while the card is on the stack, not while it is in your hand or anywhere else. An artifact, creature, enchantment, or land card or token with Threshold has the ability only while it is in play. [CompRules Update in Odyssey FAQ - 502.23c] + A.28.Ruling.1 - If the ability is static, the ability is either "on" or "off". [Odyssey Rules Insert 2001/10/04] When it is "on", it is treated as if it were always on the permanent. It is ordered for continuous effects as if it entered play at the same time the permanent did. [DeLaney 2001/10/13] + A.28.Ruling.2 - Activated abilities only check the Threshold condition when the ability is announced. It is not checked again at resolution. [Odyssey Rules Insert 2001/10/04] + A.28.Ruling.3 - For triggered abilities, they only trigger if the Threshold is true at the time when (think "just before") the trigger condition occurs. [Odyssey Rules Insert 2001/10/04] + A.28.Ruling.4 - For instants and sorceries, the threshold condition is only checked on resolution. [DeLaney 2001/10/13] + A.28.Ruling.5 - You may still use text altering spells and abilities such as from Sleight of Mind. These spells and abilities can be used when there is no text to alter (or when text only exists in a potential form) and once the ability appears (when Threhold is met), the alteration will be applied to the text as it would have been had the text been there the whole time. [Barclay 2001/10/22] C - Combat Rules ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No changes to this section. D - DCI Tournament Rules ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ D.13 - Type 1 Tournament Format + Note - Odyssey became legal on 2001/11/01. D.14 - Type 1.5 Tournament Format + Note - Odyssey becomes legal on 2001/11/01. D.15 - Extended Tournament Format + Note - Odyssey became legal on 2001/11/01. D.16 - Standard Tournament Format + Note - On 2001/11/01, the Mercadian Masques/Nemesis/Prophecy block rotated out and the Odyssey card set rotated in. E - Extracted Rulings on Cards ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No changes to this section. G - Game Terms and Rules ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No changes to this section. K - Card and Permanent Types and Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No changes to this section. 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No changes to this section. 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. "Aahz" is Tom Wylie, the former Magic Rules Manager. "Barclay" is Paul Barclay, the previous MTG-L mailing list NetRep. "bethmo" is Beth Moursund, the Rules Manager at Wizards of the Coast, and former MTG-L mailing list NetRep. "CompRules" marks rules from the Sixth Edition Comprehensive Rules. "D'Angelo" is Stephen D'Angelo, the Rules Summary network representative, and former MTG-L mailing list NetRep. "DeLaney" is David DeLaney, the network representative for the "rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules" newsgroup. "Dommermuth" is Brady Dommermuth. "Encyclopedia, Page " marks errata from the Magic Official Encyclopedia. "Fifth Edition, Page " marks rules from the Fifth Edition rulebook. "Jackson" is Collin Jackson, the DCI Rules Documentation NetRep. "Jordan" is Jeff Jordan, the MTG-L mailing list NetRep. "Mirage, Page " marks rules from the Mirage rulebook. "Peterson" is Paul Peterson, a previous MTG-L mailing list NetRep. "Tempest, Page " marks rules from the Tempest rulebook. "WotC Rules Team" marks official rulings from the rules team. 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.