Historical Rules

Rules effective 10 August 2018

This is a dated historical record, not the current Rules release.

1. Game Concepts22 sections · 399 rules
100. General
101. The Magic Golden Rules
102. Players
103. Starting the Game
104. Ending the Game
105. Colors
106. Mana
107. Numbers and Symbols
108. Cards
109. Objects
110. Permanents
111. Spells
112. Abilities
113. Emblems
114. Targets
115. Special Actions
116. Timing and Priority
117. Costs
118. Life
119. Damage
120. Drawing a Card
121. Counters
2. Parts of a Card13 sections · 103 rules
3. Card Types14 sections · 118 rules
4. Zones9 sections · 72 rules
5. Turn Structure15 sections · 136 rules
6. Spells, Abilities, and Effects17 sections · 271 rules
600. General
601. Casting Spells
602. Activating Activated Abilities
603. Handling Triggered Abilities
604. Handling Static Abilities
605. Mana Abilities
606. Loyalty Abilities
607. Linked Abilities
608. Resolving Spells and Abilities
609. Effects
610. One-Shot Effects
611. Continuous Effects
612. Text-Changing Effects
613. Interaction of Continuous Effects
614. Replacement Effects
615. Prevention Effects
616. Interaction of Replacement and/or Prevention Effects
7. Additional Rules22 sections · 929 rules
700. General
701. Keyword Actions
702. Keyword Abilities
703. Turn-Based Actions
704. State-Based Actions
705. Flipping a Coin
706. Copying Objects
707. Face-Down Spells and Permanents
708. Split Cards
709. Flip Cards
710. Leveler Cards
711. Double-Faced Cards
712. Meld Cards
713. Checklist Cards
714. Saga Cards
715. Controlling Another Player
716. Ending the Turn
717. The Monarch
718. Restarting the Game
719. Subgames
720. Taking Shortcuts
721. Handling Illegal Actions
8. Multiplayer Rules12 sections · 170 rules
800. General
801. Limited Range of Influence Option
802. Attack Multiple Players Option
803. Attack Left and Attack Right Options
804. Deploy Creatures Option
805. Shared Team Turns Option
806. Free-for-All Variant
807. Grand Melee Variant
808. Team vs. Team Variant
809. Emperor Variant
810. Two-Headed Giant Variant
811. Alternating Teams Variant
9. Casual Variants6 sections · 105 rules