Rulings Summary: General (CHANGES ONLY) (09/11/97)
Stephen D'Angelo
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General Rulings Summary (CHANGES ONLY) Updated 09/11/97
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Rulings are collected from many sources. See credits and disclaimer at the
end of the file for details. The most recent mtg-l digest used was
"10 Sept 1997".
These rulings are updated monthly. The most recent version is available on
the web (WWW) as either of the following:
http://www.activesw.com/~sdangelo/magic.html
ftp://ftp.activesw.com/pub/sdangelo/magic/rule-general.txt
The above files are also available via FTP to "ftp.activesw.com" under
"pub/sdangelo/magic" as "rule-general.txt". If you have neither WWW nor FTP
access, send e-mail to "dan...@netcom.com" requesting a copy of the current
Rulings Summaries.
A '+' is used to mark changes since the last released version on 08/20/97.
Thanx,
Stephen.
----
Stephen D'Angelo | Official Magic: The Gathering Rules Summary
dan...@netcom.com | Network Representative for Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
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Table of Contents:
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No changes to this section.
Turn Order Rules and Rulings
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Phase 0: Beginning of Turn
+ You can use mana sources before this step (which is effectively between
turns). [Aahz 07/22/97] This is allowed because phase skipping can
require mana, even if you have no Time Vault or other phase skipping
thing available.
Phase 6: Cleanup
+ There is no time between turns in which to take actions. [bethmo] One
exception is "skip a turn" actions, which take place between turns.
[D'Angelo 08/22/97]
Attack Phase Rules and Rulings
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Step 1: Declare Attackers
+ Triggered abilities which have already been resolved are not undone if
a creature is retroactively removed from combat. [Aahz 09/09/97]
+ Triggered abilities that trigger on being declared which have not yet
resolved are cancelled if the creature is removed from the attack by
False Orders or some other effect which retroactively removes the
creature from combat. This also applies to Mijae Djinn's coin flip
because the Djinn retroactively removes itself from the combat.
[Aahz 08/18/97]
Step 3: Declare Blockers
+ Triggered abilities which have already been resolved are not undone if
a creature is retroactively removed from combat. [Aahz 09/09/97]
+ Triggered abilities that trigger on being declared which have not yet
resolved are cancelled if the creature is removed from the attack by
False Orders or some other effect which retroactively removes the
creature from combat. This also applies to Ydwen Efreet's coin flip
because the Efreet retroactively removes itself from the combat.
[Aahz 08/18/97]
Spell and Ability Timing
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Step 1: Announcing a Spell/Ability
+ Decisions which require looking at another player's hand, looking in a
player's library, and counting or otherwise comparing cards in play are
not made at this time. These things are considered as "hidden
information" and so these decisions wait until resolution.
[Aahz 09/09/97]
Step 4: Resolution
+ Note that damage from the "event" is available for prevention only during
the damage prevention step that damage is associated with. It is not
available during any damage prevention steps that may happen due to
triggered effects on the "event" or which otherwise happen prior to the
scheduled damage prevention step for that damage. [Aahz 08/25/97]
Glossary of Magic Topics
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Controller, Caster and Owner:
+ All effects of a spell/ability are considered "controlled" by the player who
played the spell/ability that generated the effect.
[WotC Rules Team 06/01/97] If an ability can be played by a player other
than the card's actual controller, then the controller of the card is not
relevant. For example, the player who plays and pays for the ability of
Zur's Weirding is the controller of the effect, whether or not that
palyer controls Zur's Weirding itself. [WotC Rules Team 06/01/97]
[Duelist Magazine #19, Page 30] This is a REVERSAL of previous rulings
where the controller of the card that generated the effect was the
controller of the effect.
+ The text "you" or "your" refers to the controller of the card and not the
owner. [Mirage Page 11] The same applies to any imperative text, such as
"do this". All such is to be done by the controller if the card is
in play, or by the owner if it is not in play. [D'Angelo 09/03/97]
Flanking:
+ Gaining Flanking after blockers are assigned will have no effect on the
blockers because the tim for Flanking to trigger has already passed.
[Duelist Magazine #19, Page 34]
Is Not Blocked Ability:
+ When the ability is written as "Use this ability only if Xxxx is attacking
and unblocked." then the ability is played as an instant during the
effects step that follows declaration of blockers. [Aahz 08/18/97]
Phase Cost:
+ Phase costs differ from phase abilities in their wording. Phase costs have
something that happens if you do not pay. For example: "During (your)
Xxxx phase, do something or something else happens". Also, while the cost
usually involves paying mana or sacrificing something, the cost could be
anything. [D'Angelo 12/03/96]
Play as a...:
+ A number of cards say that they are played as a different type than the
card's actual type. For example, the enchantment Ward of Lights says
that it can be "played as an instant".
+ All spells which are "played as a" different type are still considered to
be their actual type for all reasons other than deciding when you can
play the spell. [D'Angelo 08/29/97]
+ Things which affect "instants" will not affect spells which are "played
as an instant", because the spells are not considered to be "instants".
The same applies to other spell types. [WotC Rules Team 08/05/97] For
example, Hydroblast is an Interrupt even when being played as an instant
to target a permanent. And Ward of Lights is an Enchantment even when
being played as an instant.
+ Things which affect "instants" will affect all spells of type "Instant" even
if they are being played as damage prevention or as a specialized
effect. The same applies to other spell types. [WotC Rules Team 08/05/97]
Regeneration:
+ A regneration spell/ability can be redirected using Deflection to target
a creature which is not dying. [Aahz 09/09/97]
Tournament Rulings
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Classic-Restricted Tournaments:
+ As of 10/01/97, Candelabra of Tawnos, Copy Artifact, Feldon's Cane,
Mishra's Workshop, and Zuran Orb are no longer banned. [Update 09/01/97]
Extended Tournaments:
+ As of 10/01/97, Hypnotic Specter(RV/4E) and Juggernaut (RV) are added to
the banned list. [Update 09/01/97]
Changes Between Fourth and Fifth Edition Rules
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No changes to this section.
Acknowldgements and Disclaimers
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While this work is not officially issued by Wizards of the Coast, it is
the official collected rulings from official sanctioned representatives
of and publications by Wizards of the Coast.
This summary is collected from rulings made by officials and network
representatives of Wizards of the Coast, along with a number of
unofficial rulings also collected from the net. Whenever a source for
a ruling is known, the name of that person is listed with the ruling.
"bethmo" is Beth Moursund, the network representative for the "mtg-l"
mailing list. "D'Angelo" is Stephen D'Angelo, the previous "mtg-l"
representative. "Peterson" is Paul Peterson, the previous "mtg-l"
representative. "bethmo" was also the representative before Paul.
"Aahz" is Tom Wylie, the Magic Rules Guru. "DeLaney" is David DeLaney,
the network representative for the "rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules"
newsgroup. "Snark" is Dave Howell of WotC. Official rulings from the
rules team are marked as "WotC Rules Team". Rules from the Mirage rule
book are marked with "Mirage Page #". Errata from the Magic Official
Encyclopedia are marked with "Encyclopedia Page #".
These files may be freely copied and posted anywhere you'd like. The
contents can also be included in other formats (such as HTML or databases)
or in products, but there are two restrictions. I insist that the files
are not sold for profit. Anything you put them in must be available at
no more than cost of duplication. Also, you must give credit to me and
list the version date your work is derived from. Thanks.
Every attempt has been made to make this summary accurate, but errors do
creep in. Nothing in this work is guaranteed to be accurate. Use at your
own risk.
Magic: The Gathering and all of the cards listed herein are copyrighted by
Wizards of the Coast.
David
>+ Triggered abilities that trigger on being declared which have not yet
> resolved are cancelled if the creature is removed from the attack by
> False Orders or some other effect which retroactively removes the
> creature from combat. This also applies to Mijae Djinn's coin flip
> because the Djinn retroactively removes itself from the combat.
> [Aahz 08/18/97]
I wonder if Tom had an example in mind. All TEs triggered on
something being declared are fully dealt with before you can
cast False Orders.
I get the impression that Tom thinks that a TE that schedules
another effect for latter on, is really just one effect that resolves
twice somehow. [eg a Basilisks delayed death effect]. Does
Tom think that the TE for the Basilisk's blocking something
begins resolving at the usual time, and carries on resolving
throughout the combat while everything else carries on in a
parrallel time stream like a Clergy of the Holy Nimbus? Or
maybe he thinks the resoultion of the TE sort of stops and
then starts up again latter on!!!
Does this mean Tom thinks that a Cantrip's still resolving into
the next turn so that it can do it's draw effect? Does he think
the Cantrip card is placed in graveyard only after all the
delayed effects have been dealt with?
David
Dan Johnson
In article <dangeloE...@netcom.com>,
Stephen D'Angelo <dan...@netcom.com> wrote:
>Extended Tournaments:
>+ As of 10/01/97, Hypnotic Specter(RV/4E) and Juggernaut (RV) are added to
> the banned list. [Update 09/01/97]
Is a correction to this going to show up in the changes file on your web
page (http://www.activesw.com/~sdangelo/magic/rule-general.chg)?
--
Daniel W. Johnson
pano...@iquest.net
http://www.members.iquest.net/~panoptes/
039 53 36 N / 086 11 55 W