Historical Rules

Rules effective 7 August 2020

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

1. Game Concepts23 sections · 428 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. Tokens
112. Spells
113. Abilities
114. Emblems
115. Targets
116. Special Actions
117. Timing and Priority
118. Costs
119. Life
120. Damage
121. Drawing a Card
122. Counters
2. Parts of a Card13 sections · 104 rules
3. Card Types14 sections · 119 rules
4. Zones9 sections · 73 rules
5. Turn Structure15 sections · 137 rules
6. Spells, Abilities, and Effects17 sections · 289 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 Rules24 sections · 1024 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. Adventurer Cards
716. Controlling Another Player
717. Ending Turns and Phases
718. The Monarch
719. Restarting the Game
720. Subgames
721. Merging with Permanents
722. Taking Shortcuts
723. Handling Illegal Actions
8. Multiplayer Rules12 sections · 172 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 · 111 rules