Historical Rules

Rules effective 29 April 2022

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

1. Game Concepts23 sections · 443 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 · 116 rules
3. Card Types15 sections · 136 rules
4. Zones9 sections · 75 rules
5. Turn Structure15 sections · 141 rules
6. Spells, Abilities, and Effects17 sections · 303 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 Rules27 sections · 1142 rules
700. General
701. Keyword Actions
702. Keyword Abilities
703. Turn-Based Actions
704. State-Based Actions
705. Flipping a Coin
706. Rolling a Die
707. Copying Objects
708. Face-Down Spells and Permanents
709. Split Cards
710. Flip Cards
711. Leveler Cards
712. Double-Faced Cards
713. Meld Cards
714. Substitute Cards
715. Saga Cards
716. Adventurer Cards
717. Class Cards
718. Controlling Another Player
719. Ending Turns and Phases
720. The Monarch
721. Restarting the Game
722. Subgames
723. Merging with Permanents
724. Day and Night
725. Taking Shortcuts
726. Handling Illegal Actions
8. Multiplayer Rules12 sections · 173 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 · 122 rules