Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game with extremely detailed and at times complex rules. However, only a basic understanding of the rules is necessary to play the game. The most important rule is that if the text on a card contradicts a game rule, the card text always takes precedence. Magic is thus constantly breaking its own rules, making it a highly challenging and intricate game.
Wizards of the Coast makes the Comprehensive Rules of the game available on their website. They are updated at the release of each new set.
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Areas of play
At any given time, every card is located in one of the following "zones":
Library: A player's deck. These cards are kept face down and should be randomly ordered (shuffled) to begin the game. A deck must have a minimum of 40 cards in Limited formats (constructing decks from a limited card pool of randomly selected sealed product), or a minimum of 60 cards for Constructed play (decks constructed from whatever cards the player has available, subject to restrictions based on the exact format). There is no maximum deck size.
Hand: A player's hand of cards that can be played. They are kept hidden from other players. If a player has more than seven cards in their hand, they must discard any extras at the end of their turn.
Battlefield: Most cards need to enter the battlefield to have an effect in the game. Unlike other zones, the battlefield is shared by all players.
Graveyard: A player's discard pile. When a card on the battlefield is destroyed, a card is discarded from hand, or after a single-use card is used, it is put in its owner's graveyard. These cards are face up, and can be examined by any player at any time.
The stack: This is the place for cards that have been cast, but have not yet resolved. While on the stack, they are called "spells." This zone is also shared by all players. See the stack.
Exile: Cards that have been exiled by a certain effect wind up here. Unless a card says otherwise, cards in this zone are face-up. Comparatively few cards and abilities can affect cards in the exile zone.
Beginning and ending the game
At the beginning of a game, each player shuffles his or her deck. For a standard game, each player's deck must contain at least 60 cards. Players then decide who will start, using any mutually agreeable method (flipping a coin, for example). Each player then draws seven cards from his or her library to form his or her starting hand. In turn order, each player may then decide to mulligan; that player shuffles his or her hand and library together and draws a new hand of one less card. A player can do this all the way down to a zero-card hand if he or she wishes, drawing one less card each time. In multiplayer games, players can mulligan for free one time, drawing seven cards a second time. Any further mulligans draw one card fewer each time, as normal.
In two-player games, the player who takes the first turn does not draw a card for that turn.
A player wins the game by eliminating all opponents. Players begin the game with 20 life; if a player ever has 0 or less life, he or she immediately loses. Additionally, if a player is required to draw a card but has no cards left in his or her library, he or she loses. Specific cards may dictate (or prevent) other ways of winning or losing the game.
Paying costs
Tapping and untapping
To tap a card means to temporarily use it. Tapped cards are turned sideways to indicate that they have been used for certain purposes that turn, and may not be used that way again that turn. At the beginning of each player's turn, that player untaps all cards he or she controls and returns them to their original orientation, allowing them to be used again. The mechanic allows cards to be used only once per turn cycle.
Mana
When a card that produces mana is tapped for mana, that mana is put in his or her "mana pool". Mana in the mana pool can be used to pay card costs. For example, a player plays a Swamp, then taps that swamp to add 1 black mana to his mana pool. Then, he uses that mana to cast Dark Ritual. Dark Ritual adds 3 black mana to that player's mana pool. He then uses two of them to cast Night's Whisper, which costs 1 generic and 1 black mana (1B). The player has now used two of the three black mana in his mana pool. The one left over is "floating" meaning it can be used any time during that main phase. At the end of each step and phase, mana pools empty and any remaining mana is lost.
Mana costs and colors
Most cards other than lands have a mana cost. This is the amount of mana that must be spent to cast that card as a spell. Each mana symbol in the top right corner of the card represents one mana of that color that must be paid. A number in a gray circle next to the mana symbols represents how much additional generic mana must be paid; this additional mana can be of any color or colorless.
For example, the cards Underworld Dreams, Hypnotic Specter, Warpath Ghoul and Whispersilk Cloak all cost 3 mana. However, the first card requires three black mana, while the last can be paid for with three mana of any color or combination of colors. The middle two cards require 2 and 1 mana, respectively, that must be black; the remainder can be any color. Note that the first three cards are black, but Whispersilk Cloak is colorless.
Some cards may require their owner to pay mana of two or more colors. These cards are multicolored. Some multicolored cards also use hybrid mana, which can be paid with one of two different colors. For example, the card Golgari Guildmage can be cast by spending either two black, two green, or one black and one green mana. Some cards have costs which can be paid with any color of mana, but are cheaper when a color requirement is met. For example, Beseech the Queen costs either three black mana, two black and two other, one black and four other, or six mana of any color. In all cases, a card's color is determined by the mana symbols in its cost, and not by the specific mana used to cast it.
Abilities
There are three main types of abilities that cards on the battlefield, or "permanents," may have: activated abilities, triggered abilities, and static abilities.
Activated abilities are abilities of a card that are always written in the form "{Cost}: {Effect}". Paying the cost allows a player to produce the effect. Costs may include paying mana, tapping the card, discarding cards, or other things. Like instants, these abilities can be activated any time in the game unless otherwise stated (see timing and the stack). Activated abilities, like instants, go on the stack.
Triggered abilities look for a particular event, time, or game state, and then produce an effect when that event/time/state occurs. These abilities contain a trigger condition (which will use one of the words "when", "whenever", or "at"), usually at the start of the ability, and then an effect. Whenever the trigger condition is met, these abilities are automatically "triggered", then go on the stack and resolve like other spells and abilities. The card may also lay out additional conditions that must be met for the effect to occur (using the word "if"). Note that abilities starting with "as" or "if" are not triggered abilities and therefore do not use the stack. If multiple triggered abilities' conditions are met at the same time, those controlled by the active player (the player whose turn it is) are put on the stack first. Each player chooses the order in which his or her triggered abilities are put on the stack.
Static abilities are general effects that alter cards on the battlefield, or the rules of the game. If an ability is not activated or triggered, it is static. These abilities are always "on". Static abilities only work while the card is on the battlefield, unless otherwise stated or if the ability only makes sense if it applies from a different zone. For example, a card that refers to casting itself from the graveyard will only work from the graveyard; one that refers to casting any other card from the graveyard will not. A static ability takes effect as soon as the card enters the battlefield. Once the card leaves the battlefield, the ability stops working. Static abilities never use the stack, although they may change the game state and trigger triggered abilities.
Types of cards
All objects that remain on the battlefield are called "Permanents". Types of permanents include lands, creatures, enchantments, artifacts, and planeswalkers. In contrast, sorceries and instants go to the graveyard immediately after they are used.
Lands
Land cards tap to produce mana that is used to cast spells and activate abilities. They cost no mana to play; however, a player may play no more than one land per turn, and only during the main phase of his or her own turn. There are five types of basic lands, one for each color. These lands can each be tapped to produce one mana of the appropriate color. Other lands are non-basic and may produce other combinations or amounts of mana, or may have other abilities. Lands are not spells and cannot be countered. Lands are colorless, regardless of what colors of mana they may produce. Playing a land does not use the stack and therefore occurs immediately, with no way for any player to stop it. Players are allowed to have any number of basic lands in a deck, but nonbasic lands follow the usual restriction of four copies of any one card per deck.
Creatures
Creatures represent people or beasts that are summoned to the battlefield to attack opposing players and defend their controller from the attacks of enemy creatures. They normally cannot attack or use an ability with the "tap symbol" in its cost on the first turn they enter the battlefield. This is known as "summoning sickness." Creatures have two values that represent their strength in combat: power and toughness. These values are printed on the lower right-hand corner of the card, with a slash separating them. The first number is the creature's power; the amount of damage it deals in combat. The second number is its toughness; if it receives that much damage in a single turn, the creature is destroyed and placed in the graveyard. If a creature is sent to the graveyard in other ways, such as by being sacrificed or having its toughness decreased to zero by a card effect (as opposed to taking damage equal to its toughness), it is placed in the graveyard immediately, regardless of other effects such as regeneration.
Creatures usually have one or more creature types, located after the word "creature" in the type line. Creature types are simply markers and have no inherent abilities; for example, having the Bird type does not automatically give a creature the Flying ability. Some non-creature cards have the "Tribal" type, which allows them to have creature types without being creatures themselves.
Enchantments
Enchantments represent persistent magical effects; they are spells that remain on the battlefield and alter some aspect of the game.
Some enchantments are attached to other cards on the battlefield (often creatures); these are known as Auras. They describe what they can be attached to in their "Enchant <something>" ability. For example, an Aura with "Enchant green creature" can only be attached to a green creature. If the card an Aura is attached to leaves the battlefield, or stops matching the Enchant ability, the Aura goes to the graveyard..
Artifacts
Artifacts represent magical items, animated constructs, pieces of equipment, or other objects and devices. Like enchantments, artifacts remain on the battlefield until something removes them. Many artifacts are also creatures; artifact creatures may attack and block as other creatures, and are affected by anything that affects either artifacts or creatures.
Some artifacts are Equipment. Equipment cards enter the battlefield just like any other artifact, but may be attached to creatures using their Equip ability. Unlike Auras, however, if an Equipment is attached to a creature and the creature is destroyed, the Equipment stays on the battlefield, and may later be attached to a different creature. Fortifications use the same rules, but attach to lands instead of creatures.
Planeswalkers
Planeswalkers are extremely powerful spellcasters that can be called upon for aid. According to Magic lore, the player is a "planeswalker," a wizard of extraordinary power who can travel ("walk") between different realms or universes ("planes"); as such, planeswalker cards are meant to represent scaled-down versions of other players, with their decks represented by the card's abilities, and originally were designed to move through a roster of effects without player control, as though they had a mind of their own.[1]
A planeswalker card is cast the same as any other spell, and remains on the battlefield once cast. Each planeswalker has a planeswalker type; only one planeswalker of each type may be on the battlefield at one time. If one is on the battlefield and another with the same planeswalker type is cast, both are put into their owner's graveyards.
Planeswalkers' abilities are based on their loyalty, which is tracked with counters. The number printed in the lower right corner indicates how many loyalty counters the planeswalker enters the battlefield with. Planeswalkers' loyalty abilities each have a positive or negative loyalty cost; this is how many counters must be added (if positive) or removed (if negative) to activate that ability. Abilities with negative loyalty costs may only be activated if there are enough loyalty counters to remove. Regardless of the loyalty costs, a single planeswalker may only use one loyalty ability once per turn, and only on its controller's turn during his or her main phase.[2]
Note that planeswalkers are neither creatures nor players, so most spells and abilities cannot target them directly. There are, however, two ways to deal damage to a planeswalker. If a player uses any spell or ability that would deal damage to an opponent, the player may instead choose to deal the damage to one of that opponent's planeswalkers. Additionally, if a player attacks an opponent who controls a planeswalker, the player may declare any or all of the attacking creatures to be attacking the planeswalker instead. Those creatures may be blocked normally, but if not blocked deal damage to the planeswalker instead of the player. Whenever damage is dealt to a planeswalker, that many loyalty counters are removed from it. A planeswalker with no loyalty counters, either through use of its abilities or through damage, is put into its owner's graveyard.
Sorceries and instants
Sorceries and instants both represent one-shot or short-term magical spells. They never enter the battlefield. Instead, they take effect and then are immediately put into the player's graveyard.
Sorceries and instants differ only in when they can be cast. Sorceries may only be cast during the player's own main phase, and only when the stack is empty. Instants, on the other hand, can be cast at almost any time, including during other players' turns and while another spell or ability is waiting to resolve (see timing and the stack).
Parts of a turn
Beginning phase
The beginning phase is composed of three parts, or "steps." The first thing a player does is untap all cards he or she controls in the "untap step." Then, any abilities that trigger on the "upkeep step" happen. These often include cards that require mana payments every turn. Then the player draws a card in the "draw step."
No player receives priority during the untap step, meaning that no cards or abilities can be played at that time. During the upkeep and draw steps, however, instants can be cast, and activated abilities can be activated as normal.
First main phase
Most of the game's actions happen during the main phase. With the exception of instants, most cards can only be played or cast during a player's main phase.
Combat phase
The combat phase is split into five steps. It represents a point in the magical duel where the active player sends his or her creatures to attack the opposing player, in the hopes of doing damage to the player or the player's creatures. Except for instants, players may not cast spells during combat. Instants and activated abilities, however, may be cast or activated during each step.
Beginning of combat
Nothing normally happens in the beginning of combat step: this step only exists to allow players to cast spells and activate abilities that may alter how combat progresses. For example, only untapped creatures may attack, so the defender might cast an instant or activate an ability that will tap a creature, preventing it from attacking.
Declare attackers
The player whose turn it is declares which creatures he or she controls will attack the opponent, and/or a planeswalker, directly. Creatures that are tapped or that were played this turn (without "haste") may not attack. Attacking causes a creature to become tapped (except for creatures with the "vigilance" ability).
Declare blockers
Once the attacking player chooses which creatures they wish to attack with, the defending player chooses which creatures they wish to block with. For a creature to be able to block it has to be untapped. Note that unlike attacking, the act of blocking does not cause the blocking creatures to tap, and creatures with summoning sickness can still block. A creature can only block a single attacker, although multiple creatures can be used to block a single attacking creature. In this case, the attacker orders the blocking creatures. The ordering becomes relevant in the combat damage step.
Combat damage
Attacking creatures that weren't blocked deal damage equal to their power to the player(s) or planeswalker(s) they attacked; the amount of damage dealt is deducted from the player's life total or the planeswalker's loyalty counters. Attacking creatures that were blocked deal damage equal to their power to the creature or creatures that blocked them, and blocking creatures deal damage equal to their power to the attacking creature they blocked. If a creature is blocked by multiple creatures, the player that controls the attacking creature must choose how he or she assigns the damage to the defending creatures. An attacker that is blocked, but whose blocker is removed from combat before this, stays blocked and deals no combat damage. If a creature is dealt as much or more damage than its toughness, it is destroyed and must be put in its owner's graveyard.
If creatures with first strike or double strike are involved in combat, their first strike damage is dealt first. Next, both players get a chance to cast instants or activate abilities, and only then will normal damage be dealt. If a creature without first strike is destroyed by first strike damage, it will not deal damage.
End of combat
This step allows players to cast instants and activate abilities after combat, but before the main part of the player's turn starts again. Many effects that trigger off events in combat occur in this step.
Second main phase
After the combat phase there is another main phase, identical to the first.
Ending phase
The ending phase has two steps: "end step" and "cleanup". During the first, abilities that trigger "at the beginning of the end step" go on the stack. Then, during the cleanup step, the player whose turn it is discards down to his or her current hand limit, normally 7 cards. Effects that last "until end of turn" or "this turn" wear off, and all damage is removed from creatures still on the battlefield. Players may cast instants or activate abilities during the end of turn step, but not during the cleanup step.
Timing and the stack
The most versatile aspect of Magic is that after most spells and abilities are cast or activated, but before they actually take effect ("resolve"), all players get a chance to "respond" to them. This means they can cast a different spell or activate another ability that will resolve first, often either invalidating or reinforcing the effect of the first spell. The mechanism that accomplishes this is called "the stack." It is where spells and abilities go to wait for any responses that may get played.
Some spells and abilities (spells that create permanents that end up on the battlefield; sorcery spells; and abilities that say "activate this ability only any time you could play a sorcery") cannot be cast or activated as responses. They can only be cast or activated when the stack is empty, only on the turn of whoever casts or activates them, and only in a main phase. Others (activated abilities, instant spells, and spells that have the ability flash) can be played on anybody's turn and in most steps of the game, go on the stack "on top of" anything that is already there, and will resolve first. Many players refer to this difference as "speed," but that is a misleading term, because neither is "faster" than the other; the only difference is when they can be played. In addition, the ability split second discontinues any further action on the stack. If a spell with split second is cast, no other spells or activated abilities (that are not mana abilities) can be placed on the stack.
Playing lands, most abilities that produce mana, and certain other special actions do not use the stack; they bypass the rules below and take effect immediately.
The stack
This mechanic is nearly identical to the concept of a stack in computer science.
When a player casts a spell or activates an ability, it does not immediately take effect. Instead, it is placed on the stack. Then that player gains priority, which gives him or her a chance to respond to it with spells or abilities. Each new spell or ability is put on top of the stack in turn, with the newest on top and the oldest at the bottom. A player with priority can add as many spells or abilities to the stack as they can afford, but are not required to; if a player declines to respond to the latest spell or ability, he or she "passes priority" to the next player in turn order.
When all players have passed priority in succession, the top-most spell or ability on the stack resolves. If it was a sorcery, instant, or ability, the player carries out the instructions; if it would create a permanent, it enters the battlefield. Every time a spell or ability finishes resolving, players (starting with the player whose turn it is) can once again add more to the stack; if they don't, the new top-most spell or ability will resolve.
When the stack is empty, the player whose turn it is gets priority first. If all players pass priority while the stack is empty, the game proceeds to the next step or phase of the turn.
Example
Alice is attacking Norman with a Hill Giant, a 3/3 creature (meaning it has 3 power and 3 toughness). Norman chooses to block with his Grizzly Bears, a weaker 2/2 creature. If nothing else happened, the Hill Giant would deal 3 damage to the Grizzly Bears and kill them, while the Bears would deal 2 damage to the Giant, making Hill Giant "the winner".
However, Norman decides to cast his Giant Growth spell on his Grizzly Bears before combat damage is dealt. He taps a Forest to pay for the spell, and puts Giant Growth on the stack. Alice, who does not want to give the Grizzly Bears a chance to grow to 5/5 and kill her Hill Giant, responds by casting Shock. She taps one Mountain, tells Norman she is targeting the Grizzly Bears, and puts Shock on the stack on top of Giant Growth.
If Norman had no other spells, then Alice's Shock would resolve first and deal 2 damage to the Grizzly Bears, killing them. His Giant Growth would then go to the graveyard with no effect because the Bears would no longer be on the battlefield and would thus be an illegal target. Fortunately for Norman, he has another spell to cast. He taps a Plains and casts Mending Hands on his Grizzly Bears. Now Mending Hands is on top of the stack, with Shock and then Giant Growth beneath it.
Since both players are out of spells to cast, the top spell resolves. Mending Hands creates a "damage prevention shield" that can prevent up to 4 points of damage dealt to the Grizzly Bears, and is put into Norman's graveyard. Neither player chooses to cast anything else at this point, so Shock resolves. It attempts to deal 2 damage to Grizzly Bears, but Mending Hands' damage shield prevents the damage, and Shock is put into Alice's graveyard. Finally, Giant Growth resolves and makes Grizzly Bears a 5/5 creature until end of turn. Giant Growth then goes to Norman's graveyard.
Once combat damage is dealt, the now 5/5 Grizzly Bears deal 5 damage to the Hill Giant and destroys it. Hill Giant attempts to deal 3 damage to the Grizzly Bears, but the remainder of Mending Hands' damage shield prevents a further 2 damage (totaling 4 damage) and Grizzly Bears only takes 1 damage.
When Alice's turn ends, the single point of damage is removed from the Grizzly Bears, and the Giant Growth effect wears off at the same time. As Norman's turn begins, his Grizzly Bears are undamaged and 2/2.
Countering
Certain spells (and abilities) allow a player to counter other spells (or abilities). These spells must be cast while the spells they will affect are still on the stack. If a spell is countered, it is moved from the stack to its owner's graveyard. It does not resolve, and has no effect. If the spell would create a permanent, it never enters the battlefield. Some spells state that they cannot be countered.
There is one other way for a spell to be countered. If the spell targets something (such as Giant Growth or Shock), then the target must be legal both when the spell is cast and when it resolves. A spell can't be cast without a legal target; if the target becomes illegal while the spell is on the stack, then the spell is countered by the game rules (for having an illegal target) just before it would start to resolve. If a spell is countered this way, then no part of the spell — even a non-targeting part of the spell's effect — takes place.
If a spell has multiple targets, then all of them must be legal for it to be cast, and all must be illegal for the spell to be countered. For example, the card Swelter deals 2 damage to two target creatures. If there is only one legal target for Swelter, then Swelter cannot be cast. If one legal target becomes an illegal target before Swelter resolves, for instance, if an instant is cast that grants protection from Swelter's color to that one creature, the other will still be damaged. But if they are both made illegal targets, then the entire spell is countered.
Keyword abilities
Some cards have abilities that are not fully explained on the card. These are known as "keyword" abilities, and consist of a word or phrase whose meaning is defined by the rules. Keyword abilities are usually given reminder text in the set in which they are introduced. There are over forty such abilities; only the most common are explained here. For a full list, see List of Magic: The Gathering keywords. In most cases, multiple instances of the same keyword on an object have no additional effect.
Combat abilities
Deathtouch
- When a creature with deathtouch deals damage to a creature, that creature is destroyed. Attacking creatures with deathtouch are also exempt from the usual restrictions about dealing damage to multiple blockers in order, and may choose to distribute their damage freely among the blocking creatures. Most creatures with deathtouch are black or green.
Defender
- A creature with defender cannot attack. Most creatures that have defender are Walls.
First strike and double strike
- Creatures with first strike or double strike deal damage before creatures without it. If any creatures in combat have first strike or double strike, then during the combat damage step those creatures deal their combat damage before creatures without first/double strike. Then any creature with lethal damage is destroyed, and then any surviving creatures without first/double strike deal damage. This is useful because if one creature blocks another with the same power/toughness, the one with first strike survives and the one without is destroyed.
- Double strike allows a creature to deal damage twice, once during the first strike combat damage step and once during the regular combat damage step. If an attacker with double strike kills all its blockers with first strike damage, it does not deal regular damage to the defending player unless it has another ability that allows it to do so (such as trample). Most creatures that have first strike/double strike are red or white.
Haste
- A creature with haste may attack or activate an ability with the "tap symbol" in its cost the turn it enters the battlefield. Creatures without the haste ability cannot use any "tap" activation abilities, or attack, until they have begun a turn under the control of their current controller. Most creatures that have haste are red, especially Goblins.
Reach
- A creature with reach may block creatures with flying, though it still attacks as a non-flying creature. Most creatures with reach are green, such as Spiders.
Trample
- Normally when a creature is blocked, it deals all of its damage to the blockers and none to the defending player or planeswalker. A creature with trample may deal any "extra" damage to the defending player. When an attacking creature with trample deals combat damage, if it first deals lethal damage to all blocking creatures (damage equal to the blocker's toughness, less if any damage is already present), the remaining damage can be assigned to the defending player. If a creature with trample has no blockers left when damage is assigned, it deals full damage to the defending player. Trample does nothing while blocking: if the defending player uses a creature with trample to block, no damage from this creature will be dealt to the attacking player.
- If a creature with trample is blocked by a creature that it cannot destroy (such as if the creature has (protection), it must first deal damage to that creature at least equal to its toughness, and may deal the rest to the defending player. The defending creature will survive because of its ability, but the extra damage will still "trample through" to the defending player.
- Most creatures with trample are green, though trample does run occasionally in red. Trample is the second most common ability, after flying.
Vigilance
- A creature with vigilance does not tap when attacking. Most creatures with vigilance are white, though a few are blue.
Evasion abilities
- Some creatures have evasion abilities, which make them more difficult to block in some fashion. If a creature has multiple kinds of evasion abilities, all of them apply. For example, a black creature with both flying and intimidate can be blocked only by a black creature with flying or an artifact creature with flying.
Flying
- A creature with flying can only be blocked by creatures with flying or reach. It may still block non-flying creatures normally. Flying is the most common of all abilities, and many creatures of all colors have it, though it is most common in white
and blue.
Intimidate
- A creature with intimidate can only be blocked by artifact creatures and/or creatures that share a color with it. It was introduced in the Zendikar set as a replacement for List of Magic: The Gathering keywords#fear, which was deemed inappropriately restrictive (as almost all creatures with fear are black).
Landwalk
- Landwalk is a category of several related abilities. A creature will not have the ability "landwalk" but may have Mountainwalk, Swampwalk, Forestwalk, and so on. If the defending player controls a land of the appropriate type, the attacking creature with that landwalk is unblockable.
Other abilities
Enchant
- All Auras have the ability Enchant card with <quality> or Enchant player with <quality>. An Aura may only be attached to an object or player that has the specified quality. When an Aura is cast, it must target the object or player and enters the battlefield attached to that object or player. If the object or player ever stops having the specified quality, or if it leaves the battlefield, the Aura is put into its owner's graveyard.
- Note that an Aura targets the card it will enchant as it is being cast, but not once it enters the battlefield. Thus, while a card or player with shroud may not be the target of an Aura being cast, a card enchanted by an Aura can gain shroud without losing any Auras already attached.
Equip
- All Equipment cards have the ability Equip <cost>. An Equipment enters the battlefield not attached to any creature. Equip {cost} means "{Cost}: Attach this Equipment to target creature you control. Activate this ability only any time you could play a sorcery." Equip may not be used to "unattach" an Equipment, however Equipment can be attached to a different creature by paying the equip cost. If the equipped creature leaves the battlefield, the Equipment stays on the battlefield in an unattached state.
Flash
- A card with flash may be cast any time an instant could be cast. See timing and the stack.
Protection
- Protection, like landwalk, is not a single ability but a family of static abilities. A permanent or player will not have Protection; it will have Protection from <quality>. For example, it might have Protection from artifacts, Protection from white/blue/black/red/green, Protection from creatures, etc. If a permanent or player has protection from multiple different qualities, all of them apply. Protection has a number of effects.
- Any kind of damage that would be dealt by cards with the quality to the permanent/player with protection is prevented.
- A permanent or player with protection may not be targeted by spells, or by abilities from cards with the given quality (including spells and abilities played by the controller of the permanent itself).
- Auras and Equipment with the given quality cannot be attached to the object, and, if they are already attached, are sent to the graveyard (Auras) or become unattached and remain on the battlefield (Equipment).
- If a creature has protection, it may not be blocked by other creatures with the quality. This is an evasion ability. If both attacker and defender creatures have protection from each other, the defender still cannot block the attacker.
- An easy way to remember what protection stops is to remember the acronym DEBT: Damage, Enchant/Equip, Block, Target. Protection does not affect anything that does not do one of those four things. A permanent/player with protection may still be affected by effects or abilities that do not specifically "target" it. For example, Progenitus is a 10/10 creature that has protection from everything. Sudden Spoiling is an instant that reads: Creatures target player controls become 0/2 and lose all abilities until end of turn. Because Sudden Spoiling targets a player Progenitus is not being targeted. When the instant resolves, Progenitus becomes 0/2 and loses its protection ability for the turn.
- Protection from red and black appears in many white cards, and other protection abilities appear less often in other colors.
Shroud
- A permanent or a player with shroud cannot be the target of spells or abilities. Shroud gives no protection against non-targeted effects, however: cards that affect permanents without targeting them (such as Sudden Spoiling) affect creatures regardless of shroud. Shroud most commonly occurs in blue, green, and sometimes white cards.
See also
List of Magic: The Gathering keywords
References
- ^ Mark Rosewater (2009-10-02). "Planeswalk on the Wild Side, part 1". http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr304.
- ^ "Magic: The Gathering Planeswalker Rules". 2008-03-26. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/rules/planeswalkers.
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