Historical Rules

Rules effective 16 July 2010

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

Read all rulesEvery rule, in source order, with links to dedicated pages.
Jump to chapter
1. Game Concepts22 sections · 350 rules

Read chapter 1 continuously →

100. General
101. The _Magic_ Golden Rules
102. Players
103. Starting the Game
104. Winning and Losing
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 Card12 sections · 80 rules
3. Card Types12 sections · 92 rules
4. Zones9 sections · 69 rules
5. Turn Structure15 sections · 118 rules
6. Spells, Abilities, and Effects17 sections · 226 rules

Read chapter 6 continuously →

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 Rules16 sections · 581 rules

Read chapter 7 continuously →

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. Controlling Another Player's Turn
712. Ending the Turn
713. Subgames
714. Taking Shortcuts
715. Handling Illegal Actions
8. Multiplayer Rules12 sections · 159 rules

Read chapter 8 continuously →

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 Variants5 sections · 76 rules