Magic the Gathering Rules FAQ

Let's face it: Magic is not an easy game. If it was, there wouldn't be a need for the incredibly useful rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules newsgroup, and it wouldn't receive over 100 posts a day, every day. Even the most knowledgeable rules gurus make mistakes and come upon problems and questions sometimes, and the vast majority of players don't fall into the guru category. As a result, we put together a list of the most frequently asked questions on the newsgroup. That's what a FAQ is for after all, right?

My question isn't answered here...

What in the world is phasing?

Phasing is not really all that complicated. Think of a permanent with phasing as this text. Now you see it, now you don't. Phasing is identical. The permanent enters play, and stays there for that turn. Then, during your next begin phase, it disappears. And, during your next begin phase after that, it comes back. Just like the text, it can be used when it comes back. A creature with phasing gains haste whenever it phases in, so you can use it to attack or tap when it is there. (It'd be fairly useless otherwise!) The only complicated thing about phasing is understanding that phasing in does not trigger coming into play abilities, but phasing out does trigger leaves play abilities. The reason for this is that letting CiP abilities trigger with phasing would have been far too powerful.

How does Trample interact with Protection from x?

Before Urza's Saga came out, the answer to this question was "All damage is assigned to the protected creature, and is reduced to 0, so no damage carries through." The 'new' rules now say that the controller of the trampling creature now must assign at least what would be lethal damage to the protected creature, then the rest tramples through. The damage assigned to the protected creature is then reduced to 0 . Example: You attack me with your Child Of Gaea (7/7 green trampling nasty>, which I block with my Voice of Duty (2/2 flying prot. green). You can assign anywhere from 2 to 7 damage to the Voice, and the rest goes over to me. The damage to the Voice is reduced to 0 by its protection.

When I use Yavimaya Elder's second ability to sac it, do I draw the card before I search for the lands?

Fortunately, no. When you pay the cost for the sac ability, the "Draw a card" pseudospell goes on the stack. The graveyard trigger of the Elder's first ability then goes on the stack, above the card-drawing. They come off in that order, lands first, then card.

Does Yawgmoth's Will let me cycle cards in my graveyard?

No. Yawgmoth's Will does not say treat your graveyard as your hand. You can only ever discard from your hand.

A full FAQ, written by fellow Magic Guru Laurie Cheers, is available here. Get the introducion and index here. A Mercadian Masques FAQ will be up by 20/10/99.

Mercadian Masques FAQ - Blue, White and Artifacts Now available!
Mercadian Masques FAQ - Red, Black and Green Also available!

My question isn't answered here...