============================================================================== General Rulings Summary (CHANGES ONLY) Updated 11/18/98 ============================================================================== 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.activesw.com/~sdangelo/rulings.html ftp://ftp.activesw.com/pub/sdangelo/magic/rule-general.txt The above files are also available via FTP to "ftp.activesw.com" under "pub/sdangelo/magic" as "rule-general.txt". If you have neither WWW nor FTP access, send e-mail to "dangelo@netcom.com" requesting a copy of the current Rulings Summaries. A '+' is used to mark changes since the last released version on 10/21/98. Thanx, Stephen. ---- Stephen D'Angelo | Official Magic: The Gathering Rules Summary dangelo@netcom.com | Network Representative for Wizards of the Coast, Inc. ============================================================================== Table of Contents: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No changes to this section. A - Abilities ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A.7 - Replacement Abilities + A.7.4 - Replacement abilities are not played for any costs paid when announcing a spell or ability, or for the effects of a mana source. [D'Angelo 11/03/98] + A.7.5 - A few cards have "continuous replacement" abilities. These are not played in a Series and can modify costs and mana sources. If two or more continuous replacements try to modify the same event, the active player chooses the order in which to apply the ones they control, then the other player chooses to apply the ones they control. [WotC Rules Team 11/02/98] These cards are not marked by explicit text. They are usually easy to notice since they modify mana production or such, but in some cases this is just explicitly noted for various cards. Some cards included in this ruling are Contamination, Furnace of Rath, Hall of Gemstone, Infernal Darkness, Naked Singularity, Ritual of Subdual, Serra Avatar, Sulfuric Vapors, and Yawgmoth's Will. It does not include cards like Wild Growth and Mana Flare. A.8 - Triggered Abilities + A.8.Ruling.8 - An ability that triggers on a permanent leaving play will use the game state at the time right before that permanent left play to answer any questions about things that were in play. This is how the characteristics of the permanent leaving play are determined. A side-effect of this is that a permanent's ability can trigger on itself leaving play or on things leaving play at the same time it does. The ability will also end up seeing all the permanents that left play at the same time it did as being in play as far as the ability is concerned. For example Lifeline checks if other creatures are in play and will see creatures that left play at the same time. [D'Angelo 11/17/98] C - Combat Rules ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No changes to this section. D - DCI Tournament Rules ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ D.16 - Standard Tournament Format + D.16.2 - Decks can be composed of cards from the most recent edition of The Gathering (currently Fifth Edition) and all sets from the two most recent "blocks" (currently Tempest-Stronghold-Exodus and Urza's Saga). A "block" is a stand-alone set and the two expansion sets which follow it. This means that cards stay in use for approximately two years. [Tournament Rules 10/01/97] E - Extracted Rulings on Cards ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ E.13 - Templates + E.13.Ruling.23 - The text "If/when , do instead of " indicates a replacement ability. See Rule A.7. Contrast this with Rule E.13.Ruling.13 which describes a triggered ability. The word "instead" is the key. [bethmo 11/03/98] G - Game Terms and Rules ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ G.21 - Infinity + G.21.Ruling.4 - You cannot use the "pick a number" rule (Rule G.21.3) for loops which are not really infinite. If a loop will end, the game will run it to completion. [bethmo 11/03/98] G.23 - Losing the Game + G.23.Ruling.1 - You check for players losing the game, due to any effect other than having zero of less life, whenever a Rule Effect (see Rule T.13) would get checked for. This means it happens only after fully resolving a spell or ability (or at an appropriate splitting point, see Rule T.7.1). For example, if Wheel of Fortune is cast and neither player has enough cards in their library, they both lose. It is not the first one to draw that loses. [Duelist Magazine #5, Page 123] [bethmo 02/07/98] This most often only applies to draw effects since that is one of the few ways to lose because of an effect. K - Card and Permanent Types and Information ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ K.4 - Characteristics + K.4.5 - If a spell or ability is to check the characteristics of something during its resolution, then the characteristics are looked up on an as-needed basis. They do not get "locked in" at any particular point in time. [bethmo 10/23/98] + K.4.Ruling.4 - If the ability of a permanent says " does ", then the effect is considered to come from the permanent, so if you need to check characteristics, such as color, then check the permanent on resolution. This means that changes to the permanent can possibly affect the result. See Rule K.4.5. [bethmo 11/03/98] + K.4.Ruling.5 - If the ability of a permanent says "Do ", then the ability is doing the effect, not the permanent. In this case, you use the characteristics of the ability, which by Rule K.4.4 are the same as what the permanent had when the ability was announced. [bethmo 11/03/98] K.19 - Legendary Permanents + K.19.4 - If a Summon Legend is changed to a non-creature type, it is still a legendary permanent. This is true for any type changes to legendary permanents. They do not lose their legendary status. [bethmo 11/03/98] 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.7 - Step 4: Resolution + T.7.6 - If the spell or ability checks any aspect of a permanent in play (including the source), it does so during resolution. These values are looked up as needed (see Rule K.4.5). For example, when you use the ability of Prodigal Sorcerer, it puts "Prodigal Sorcerer deals 1 damage to target creature or player" into the batch. On resolution, the color of the Prodigal Sorcerer is looked up to determine the color of the damage that is done. [WotC Rules Team 10/18/98] This is a big REVERSAL. Characteristics of the source used to not be looked up again. + T.7.7 - A spell or ability has its own characteristics (see Rule K.4.4), and anything which checks the characteristics of the ability will not recheck the permanent. Very little checks the ability. Most things check the source, so this won't matter very often. [D'Angelo 10/22/98] Note that the check for valid targeting from Protection from Color is done by checking the color of the ability, not the source. [DeLaney 11/14/98] T.10 - Damage Prevention Step + T.10.Ruling.11 - Continuous replacement abilities (see Rule A.7.5) which apply to damage being assigned are applied before any abilities that trigger on damage being assigned. [D'Angelo 11/03/98] For example, Furnace of Rath. Z - Zones of Play ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Z.6 - Limbo + Z.6.3 - Cards in this zone break one of the basic rules of zones (see Rule Z.1.3). They can leave this zone and carry changes with them. [D'Angelo 02/03/98] 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.