Additional Rules for Urza's Saga
The following is exact text from the Urza's Saga rulebook describing
the new rules for the expansion.
Cycling
Many spells are priceless under the right circumstances but deadweight in
your hand the rest of the time. Cycling is a new ability that helps in
these situations. If you're holding a card with cycling, then instead of
playing it, you can pay the cycling cost and discard it to draw another
card.
Example: Rune of Protection: White is an enchantment that reads:
{W}: Prevent all damage to you from a white source. (Treat further damage
from that source normally.)
Cycling {2} (You may pay {2} and discard this card from your hand to draw a
card. Play this ability as an instant.)
Cycling is played as an instant, so you can use it any time that instants
are legal. You can even use cycling as a response to another instant.
Remember, though, that you draw the replacement card as the batch
containing the cycling ability resolves, so you can't play that card until
the whole batch has resolved. You discard the card as part of paying the
cycling cost, so it won't be in your hand during any responses.
Cycling is an ability, not a spell, so it can't be countered by spells or
abilities that counter spells.
Echo
Echo is a new ability that spreads the cost of a permanent, usually a
creature, over two turns. Spells with echo cost less to play than similar
ones without it. However, during your next upkeep, you must pay the
permanent's casting cost again or sacrifice it.
Example: Pouncing Jaguar is a green 2/2 creature that costs only {G}, so
you can play it on your first turn. However, since it has echo, you have
to pay another {G} next turn during your upkeep or sacrifice Pouncing
Jaguar.
The payment is required any time a permanent with echo comes under your
control, not just when you play one from your hand.
Example: You cast Control Magic on your opponent's Pouncing Jaguar. On
your next upkeep, you must either pay {G} (which may be difficult if you're
playing a pure blue deck!) or sacrifice the Pouncing Jaguar, just as if
you had summoned it yourself.
Echo is an upkeep cost. If you have a permanent that requires an echo
payment, you can't end your upkeep until you've either paid the cost or
sacrificed the permanent. Also, if the permanent has any activated
abilities, you can't play them until you've satisfied the echo payment.
New Enchantments
Urza's Saga includes two special types of enchantments, nicknamed
"sleeping" and "growing."
"Sleeping" Enchantments
Sleeping enchantments start out as enchantments, but can "wake up" and
turn into creatures. They get to "wake" only when an appropriate event
triggers them.
Example: Opal Gargoyle is a white enchantment that reads:
When one of your opponents successfully casts a creature spell, if Opal
Gargoyle is an enchantment, Opal Gargoyle becomes a 2/2 creature with
flying that counts as a Gargoyle.
Once a sleeping enchantment has changed into a creature, it no longer
counts as an enchantment. Most sleeping enchantments change once and stay
that way, but a few have a second ability that can "put them back to
sleep" by changing them into enchantments again.
If a spell or ability counters the enchantment's trigger condition (such
as successfully casting a creature spell), the countered spell or ability
doesn't resolve and will not wake the creature.
"Growing" Enchantments
Growing enchantments have a one-time ability that's under your control.
These enchantments start out powerless but grow potentially stronger each
turn they're in play.
Example: Torch Song is a red enchantment that reads:
During your upkeep, you may put a verse counter on Torch Song.
{2}{R}, Sacrifice Torch Song: Torch Song deals X damage to target creature
or player, where X is the number of verse counters on Torch Song.
Adding the counter is an optional upkeep ability. If you forget to put a
counter on the enchantment during your upkeep, you don't get to back up
and add one later.
Remember that if you sacrifice a permanent with counters on it as the cost
of an ability, the ability "looks at" the number of counters the permanent
had before it left play. Thus, you can decide whether to add the counter
before activating a growing enchantment's ability.
Rules Changes for Urza's Saga
In a continuing effort to simplify both the card text and play in general,
the Urza's Saga designers have made some revisions to the rules. The two
most significant changes are described in more detail below.
Effect Duration
If an effect doesn't say how long it lasts, its duration is "permanently."
In other words, that condition will persist until another spell or ability
changes the situation.
Example: Enchantment Alteration is a blue instant that reads:
Move target enchantment from one creature to another or from one land to
another. (The enchantment's new target must be legal.)
In previous editions of Magic, this would have added the word
"permanently" to clarify the duration of the effect. Now that duration is
understood unless the spell or ability explicitly states otherwise.
Trample
Trample's effect has changed to simplify its interactions with other
cards. It is no longer a damage-redirection ability. Instead, when an
attacking creature with trample deals combat damage, the player
distributing that damage can simply assign some or all of it to the
defending player. Assigning trample damage is subject to the following
rules.
- If the attacker is unblocked, it deals all its damage to the defending
player.
- If the attacker is blocked by one creature, it first deals damage to the
blocker. If it deals lethal damage to that creature, any remaining damage
may be divided as its controller chooses between the blocker and the
defending player. Because this distribution happens before damage
prevention, it's possible that some or all the damage on the blocking
creature will later be prevented; this won't change the damage dealt to
the defending player.
- If the attacker is blocked by more than one creature, it first deals
damage to the blocking creatures. If it deals lethal damage to all the
blockers, any remaining damage may be divided as its controller chooses
between them and the defending player. Again, this distribution happens
before damage prevention.
Blocking creatures that cannot receive combat damage, such as a creature
enchanted with Gaseous Form, are completely ignored for the purpose of
assigning trample damage. If such a creature is the only blocker, then all
the trample damage is dealt to the defending player.
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