Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules

by Mark L. Gottlieb

  Example: A 2/2 creature with an ability that enables it to block multiple attackers blocks two attackers: a 1/1 with no special abilities a 3/3 with trample. The attacking player could assign 1 damage from the first attacker and 1 damage from the second to the blocking creature, and 2 damage to the defending player from the creature with trample.

  502.9f Multiple instances of trample on the same creature are redundant.

  502.10. Banding

  502.10a Banding is a static ability that modifies the rules for declaring attackers and assigning combat damage.

  502.10b As a player declares attackers, he or she may declare that any number of those creatures with banding, and up to one of those creatures without banding, are all in a “band.” (Defending players can’t declare bands but may use banding in a different way; see rule 502.10h.)

  502.10c A player may declare as many attacking bands as he or she wants, but each creature may be a member of only one of them.

  502.10d Once an attacking band has been announced, it lasts for the rest of combat, even if something later removes the banding ability from one or more creatures. However, creatures in a band that are removed from combat are also removed from the band.

  502.10e If an attacking creature becomes blocked by a creature, each other creature in the same band as the attacking creature becomes blocked by that same blocking creature.

  Example: A player attacks with a band consisting of a creature with flying and a creature with swampwalk. The defending player, who controls a Swamp, can block the flying creature if able. If he or she does, then the creature with swampwalk will also become blocked by the blocking creature(s).

  502.10f Banding doesn’t cause attacking creatures to share abilities, nor does it remove any abilities. The attacking creatures in a band are separate permanents.

  502.10g If one member of a band would become blocked due to an effect, the entire band becomes blocked.

  502.10h A player who controls an attacking creature with banding chooses how combat damage is assigned by creatures blocking that creature. A player who controls a blocking creature with banding chooses how combat damage is assigned by creatures it blocks. If the creature had banding when it attacked or blocked but the ability was removed before the combat damage step, damage is assigned normally.

  502.10i Multiple instances of banding on the same creature are redundant.

  502.11. Bands with Other

  502.11a Bands with other is a special form of banding. If an effect causes a permanent to lose banding, the permanent loses all bands with other abilities as well.

  502.11b An attacking creature with “bands with other [creature type]” can form an attacking band with other creatures that have the same “bands with other [creature type]” ability. Creatures with banding can also join this band, but creatures without banding can’t. The creatures in this band don’t have to have the creature type specified in the “bands with other [creature type]” ability. Blocking this band follows the same general rules as for banding.

  502.11c If an attacking creature is blocked by at least two creatures with the same “bands with other [creature type]” ability, the defending player chooses how the attacking creature’s damage is assigned. Similarly, if a blocking creature blocks at least two attacking creatures with the same “bands with other [creature type]” ability, the attacking player chooses how the blocking creature’s damage is assigned.

  502.11d Multiple instances of bands with other of the same type on the same creature are redundant.

  502.12. Rampage

  502.12a Rampage is a triggered ability. “Rampage N” means “Whenever this creature becomes blocked, it gets +N/+N until end of turn for each creature blocking it beyond the first.” (See rule 309, “Declare Blockers Step.”)

  502.12b The rampage bonus is calculated only once per combat, when the triggered ability resolves. Adding or removing blockers later in combat won’t change the bonus.

  502.12c If a creature has multiple instances of rampage, each triggers separately.

  502.13. Cumulative Upkeep

  502.13a Cumulative upkeep is a triggered ability that imposes an increasing cost on a permanent. “Cumulative upkeep [cost]” means “At the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on this permanent, then sacrifice this permanent unless you pay [cost] for each age counter on it.” If [cost] has choices associated with it, each choice is made separately for each age counter, then either the entire set of costs is paid, or none of them is paid. Partial payments aren’t allowed.

  Example: A creature has “Cumulative upkeep {W} or {U}” and two age counters on it. When its ability next triggers and resolves, the creature’s controller puts an age counter on it and then may pay {W}{W}{W}, {W}{W}{U}, {W}{U}{U}, or {U}{U}{U} to keep the creature in play.

  Example: A creature has “Cumulative upkeep-Sacrifice a creature” and one age counter on it. When its ability next triggers and resolves, its controller can’t choose the same creature to sacrifice twice. Either two different creatures must be sacrificed, or the creature with cumulative upkeep must be sacrificed.

  502.13b If a permanent has multiple instances of cumulative upkeep, each triggers separately. However, the age counters are not linked to any particular ability; each cumulative upkeep ability will count the total number of age counters on the permanent at the time that ability resolves.

  Example: A creature has two instances of “Cumulative upkeep-Pay 1 life.” The creature currently has no counters but both cumulative upkeep abilities trigger. When the first ability resolves, the controller adds a counter and then chooses to pay 1 life. When the second ability resolves, the controller adds another counter and then chooses to pay an additional 2 life.

  502.14. Vigilance

  502.14a Vigilance is a static ability that modifies the rules for the declare attackers step.

  502.14b Attacking doesn’t cause creatures with vigilance to tap. (See rule 308, “Declare Attackers Step.”)

  502.14c Multiple instances of vigilance on the same creature are redundant.

  502.15. Phasing

  502.15a Phasing is a static ability that modifies the rules of the untap step.

  502.15b During each player’s untap step, before the active player untaps his or her permanents, all permanents with phasing the player controls phase out. Simultaneously, all objects that had phased out under that player’s control phase in. (See rule 217.8, “Phased Out,” and rule 302.1.)

  502.15c If an effect causes a player to skip his or her untap step, the phasing event simply doesn’t occur that turn.

  502.15d Permanents phasing in or out don’t trigger any comes-into-play or leaves-play abilities, and effects that modify how a permanent comes into play are ignored. Abilities and effects that specifically mention phasing can modify or trigger on these events, however. (Because no player receives priority during the untap step, any abilities triggering off of the phasing event won’t go onto the stack until the upkeep step begins.)

  502.15e When a permanent phases out, all damage dealt to it is removed.

  502.15f A card that returns to play from the phased-out zone is considered the same permanent it was when it left. This is an exception to rule 217.1c, which stipulates that a permanent “forgets” its previous existence when it changes zones.

  502.15g Effects with limited duration and delayed triggered abilities that specifically reference a permanent will be unable to further affect that permanent if it phases out. However, other effects that reference the permanent (including effects with unlimited duration) can affect the permanent when it returns to play.

  Example: A creature is affected by Giant Growth and then phases out during the same turn. If the creature phases back in somehow before the turn is over, it won’t get the +3/+3 bonus from the Giant Growth because its effect has a limited duration.

  502.15h Phased-out cards “remember” their past histories and will return to play in the same state. They “remember” any counters they had on them, any
choices made when they first came into play, whether they were flipped when they left play, and whether they were tapped or untapped when they left play. They also “remember” who controlled them when they phased out, although they may phase in under the control of a different player if a control effect with limited duration has expired.

  Example: Diseased Vermin reads, in part, “At the beginning of your upkeep, Diseased Vermin deals X damage to target opponent previously dealt damage by it, where X is the number of infection counters on it.” If Diseased Vermin phases out, it “remembers” how many counters it has and also which opponents it has previously damaged. When it phases back in, it will still be able to target those opponents with its upkeep-triggered ability.

  502.15i When a permanent phases out, any Auras or Equipment attached to that permanent phase out at the same time. This alternate way of phasing out is known as phasing out “indirectly.” An Aura or Equipment that phased out indirectly won’t phase in by itself, but instead phases in along with the card it’s attached to.

  502.15j If an Aura or Equipment phased out directly (rather than phasing out along with the permanent it’s attached to), then it “remembers” the permanent it was attached to and returns to play attached to that permanent. If an Aura phases in and the permanent it was attached to has left play or is no longer legal to enchant, the Aura returns to play and then is placed in its owner’s graveyard. This is a state-based effect; see rule 420. If an Equipment phases in and the permanent it was attached to has left play or is no longer legal to equip, the Equipment returns to play and then stays in play, not equipping anything. This is a state-based effect; see rule 420.

  502.15k Permanents that phase in keep the same timestamps (see rules 418.5d and 418.5e) they had when they phased out. This doesn’t change the fact that the permanents phase in simultaneously, however.

  502.15m A permanent that phases in can attack and tap to play abilities as though it had haste. This applies even if that permanent phased out and phased back in the turn it came into play. The permanent remains able to attack and tap to play abilities until it changes controllers or leaves play.

  502.15n A spell or ability that targets a permanent will resolve normally with respect to that permanent if the permanent phases out and back in before the spell or ability resolves.

  502.15p Multiple instances of phasing on the same permanent are redundant.

  502.16. Buyback

  502.16a Buyback appears on some instants and sorceries. It represents two static abilities that function while the spell is on the stack. “Buyback [cost]” means “You may pay an additional [cost] as you play this spell” and “If the buyback cost was paid, put this spell into its owner’s hand instead of into that player’s graveyard as it resolves.” Paying a spell’s buyback cost follows the rules for paying additional costs in rules 409.1b and 409.1f-h.

  502.17. Horsemanship

  502.17a Horsemanship is an evasion ability that appeared in the Portal Three Kingdoms™ set.

  502.17b A creature with horsemanship can’t be blocked by creatures without horsemanship. A creature with horsemanship can block a creature with or without horsemanship. (See rule 309, “Declare Blockers Step.”)

  502.17c Multiple instances of horsemanship on the same creature are redundant.

  502.18. Cycling

  502.18a Cycling is an activated ability that functions only while the card with cycling is in a player’s hand. “Cycling [cost]” means “[Cost], Discard this card: Draw a card.”

  502.18b Although the cycling ability is playable only if the card is in a player’s hand, it continues to exist while the object is in play and in all other zones. Therefore objects with cycling will be affected by effects that depend on objects having one or more activated abilities.

  502.18c Landcycling is a variant of the cycling ability. “[Land type]cycling [cost]” means “[Cost], Discard this card: Search your library for a [land type] card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.” Any cards that trigger when a player cycles a card will trigger when a card’s landcycling ability is played. Any effect that stops players from cycling cards will stop players from playing cards’ landcycling abilities.

  502.19. Echo

  502.19a Echo is a triggered ability. “Echo [cost]” means “At the beginning of your upkeep, if this permanent came under your control since the beginning of your last upkeep, sacrifice it unless you pay [cost].”

  502.20. Fading

  502.20a Fading is a keyword that represents two abilities. “Fading N” means “This permanent comes into play with N fade counters on it” and “At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a fade counter from this permanent. If you can’t, sacrifice the permanent.”

  502.21. Kicker

  502.21a Kicker is a static ability that functions while the spell is on the stack. “Kicker [cost]” means “You may pay an additional [cost] as you play this spell.” The phrase “Kicker [cost 1] and/or [cost 2]” means the same thing as “Kicker [cost 1], kicker [cost 2].” Paying a spell’s kicker cost(s) follows the rules for paying additional costs in rules 409.1b and 409.1f-h.

  502.21b Objects with kicker have additional abilities that specify what happens if the kicker cost is paid. Objects with more than one kicker cost have abilities that correspond to each kicker cost.

  502.21c If the text that depends on a kicker cost being paid targets one or more permanents and/or players, the spell’s controller chooses those targets only if he or she declared the intention to pay the appropriate kicker cost. Otherwise, the targets aren’t chosen at all.

  502.21d A card with kicker may contain the phrases “if the [A] kicker cost was paid” and “if the [B] kicker cost was paid,” where A and B are the first and second kicker costs listed on the card, respectively. This text just refers to one kicker cost or the other, regardless of what the spell’s controller actually spent when paying the cost. In other words, read “if the [A] kicker cost was paid” as “if the first kicker cost listed was paid,” and read “if the [B] kicker cost was paid” as “if the second kicker cost listed was paid.”

  502.22. Flashback

  502.22a Flashback appears on some instants and sorceries. It represents two static abilities: one functions while the card is in a player’s graveyard and the other functions while the card is on the stack. “Flashback [cost]” means “You may play this card from your graveyard by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost” and “If the flashback cost was paid, remove this card from the game instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack.” Playing a spell using its flashback ability follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 409.1b and 409.1f-h.

  502.23. Threshold

  502.23a Threshold used to be a keyword ability. It is now an ability word and has no rules meaning. All cards printed with the threshold keyword have received errata. Updated wordings are available in the Oracle card reference.

  502.24. Madness

  502.24a Madness is a keyword that represents two abilities. The first is a static ability that functions while the card with madness is in a player's hand. The second is a triggered ability that functions when the first ability is applied. “Madness [cost]” means “If a player would discard this card, that player discards it, but may remove it from the game instead of putting it into his or her graveyard” and “When this card is removed from the game this way, its owner may play it by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost. If that player doesn't, he or she puts this card into his or her graveyard.”

  502.24b Playing a spell using its madness ability follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 409.1b and 409.1f-h.

  502.25. Fear

  502.25a Fear is an evasion ability.

  502.25b A creature with fear can’t be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or black creatures. (See rule 309, “Declare Blockers Step.”)

  502.25c Multiple instances of fear on the same creature are redundant.

  502.2
6. Morph

  502.26a Morph is a static ability that functions in any zone from which you could play the card it’s on, and the morph effect works any time the card is face down. “Morph [cost]” means “You may play this card as a 2/2 face-down creature, with no text, no name, no subtypes, no expansion symbol, and no mana cost by paying {3} rather than its mana cost.” Any time you could play an instant, you may show all players the morph cost for any face-down permanent you control, pay that cost, then turn the permanent face up. This action does not use the stack. (See rule 504, “Face-Down Spells and Permanents.”)

  502.26b To play a card using its morph ability, turn it face down. It becomes a 2/2 face-down creature card, with no text, no name, no subtypes, no expansion symbol, and no mana cost. These values are the copiable values of that object’s characteristics. (See rule 418.5, “Interaction of Continuous Effects,” and rule 503, “Copying Objects.”) Put it onto the stack (as a face-down spell with the same characteristics), and pay {3} rather than pay its mana cost. This follows the rules for paying alternative costs. You can use morph to play a card from any zone from which you could normally play it. When the spell resolves, it comes into play with the same characteristics the spell had. The morph effect applies to the face-down object wherever it is, and it ends when the permanent is turned face up.