Contents

This section describes the contents of the other section of this site detailing which groups of rules may be found in which section and where at in that section.

1. Game Concepts

100. General
100.1. These Magic rules apply to any Magic game with two or more players, including two-player
games and multiplayer games.
100.1a A two-player game is a game that begins with only two players.
100.1b A multiplayer game is a game that begins with more than two players. See section 8,
“Multiplayer Rules.”

2. Parts of a Card

200. General
200.1. The parts of a card are name, mana cost, illustration, type line, expansion symbol, text box,
power and toughness, loyalty, hand modifier, life modifier, illustration credit, legal text, and
collector number. Some cards may have more than one of any or all of these parts.

3. Card Types

300. General
300.1. The card types are artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, plane, planeswalker, scheme,
sorcery, tribal, and vanguard.
300.2. Some objects have more than one card type (for example, an artifact creature). Such objects
combine the aspects of each of those card types, and are subject to spells and abilities that affect
either or all of those card types.

4. Zones

4. Zones
400. General
400.1. A zone is a place where objects can be during a game. There are normally seven zones: library,
hand, battlefield, graveyard, stack, exile, and command. Some older cards also use the ante zone.
Each player has his or her own library, hand, and graveyard. The other zones are shared by all
players.

5. Turn Structure

500. General
500.1. A turn consists of five phases, in this order: beginning, precombat main, combat, postcombat
main, and ending. Each of these phases takes place every turn, even if nothing happens during the
phase. The beginning, combat, and ending phases are further broken down into steps, which
proceed in order.

6. Spells, Abilities, and Effects

600. General
601. Casting Spells
601.1. Previously, the action of casting a spell, or casting a card as a spell, was referred to on cards as
“playing” that spell or that card. Cards that were printed with that text have received errata in the
Oracle card reference so they now refer to “casting” that spell or that card.

7. Additional Rules

700. General

700.1. Anything that happens in a game is an event. Multiple events may take place during the
resolution of a spell or ability. The text of triggered abilities and replacement effects defines the
event they’re looking for. One “happening” may be treated as a single event by one ability and as
multiple events by another.

8. Multiplayer Rules

800.1. A multiplayer game is a game that begins with more than two players. This section contains additional optional rules that can be used for multiplayer play.
800.2. These rules consist of a series of options that can be added to a multiplayer game and a number of variant styles of multiplayer play. A single game may use multiple options but only one variant.
800.3. Many multiplayer Magic tournaments have additional rules not included here, including rules for deck construction. See the most current Magic: The Gathering Tournament Rules for more information. They can be found at http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Events.aspx?x=dci/doccenter/home.

9. Casual Variants

900. General

900.1. This section contains additional optional rules that can be used for certain casual game variants.  It is by no means comprehensive.

900.2. The casual variants detailed here use supplemental zones, rules, cards, and other game  implements not used in traditional Magic games.