810. Two-Headed Giant Variant 811. Alternating Teams Variant 9. Casual Variants 900. General 901. Planechase 902. Vanguard 903. Commander 904. Archenemy 905. Conspiracy Draft Glossary Credits 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.” 100.2. To play, each player needs his or her own deck of traditional Magic cards, small items to represent any tokens and counters, and some way to clearly track life totals. 100.2a In constructed play (a way of playing in which each player creates his or her own deck ahead of time), each deck must contain at least sixty cards. A constructed deck may contain any number of basic land cards and no more than four of any card with a particular English name other than basic land cards. 100.2b In limited play (a way of playing in which each player gets the same quantity of unopened Magic product such as booster packs and creates his or her own deck using only this product and basic land cards), each deck must contain at least forty cards. A limited deck may contain as many duplicates of a card as are included with the product. 100.3. Some casual variants require additional items, such as specially designated cards, nontraditional Magic cards, and dice. See section 9, “Casual Variants.” 100.4. Each player may also have a sideboard, which is a group of additional cards the player may use to modify his or her deck between games of a match. 100.4a In constructed play, a sideboard may contain no more than fifteen cards. The four-card limit (see rule 100.2a) applies to the combined deck and sideboard. 100.4b In limited play involving individual players, all cards in a player’s card pool not included in his or her deck are in that player’s sideboard. 100.4c In limited play involving the Two-Headed Giant multiplayer variant, all cards in a team’s card pool but not in either player’s deck are in that team’s sideboard.
Loyalty Ability An activated ability with a loyalty symbol in its cost. See rule 606, “Loyalty Abilities.” Madness A keyword ability that lets a player cast a card he or she discards. See rule 702.34, “Madness.” Main Game The game in which a spell (or ability) that created a subgame was cast (or activated). See rule 718, “Subgames.” Main Phase Part of the turn. The first, or precombat, main phase is the second phase of the turn. The second, or postcombat, main phase is the fourth phase of the turn. See rule 505, “Main Phase.” Mana The primary resource in the game. It is spent to pay costs, usually when casting spells and activating abilities. See rule 106, “Mana,” rule 107.4, and rule 202, “Mana Cost and Color.” Mana Ability An activated or triggered ability that could create mana and doesn’t use the stack. See rule 605, “Mana Abilities.” Mana Burn (Obsolete) Older versions of the rules stated that unspent mana caused a player to lose life; this was called “mana burn.” That rule no longer exists. Mana Cost A characteristic, and part of a card. A card’s mana cost is indicated by the mana symbols printed in its upper right corner. See rule 107.4 and rule 202, “Mana Cost and Color.” Mana Pool Where mana created by an effect is temporarily stored. See rule 106.4. Mana Source (Obsolete) An obsolete card type. All cards printed with this card type are now instants. All abilities that, as printed, said a player could “play as a mana source” are now mana abilities. All relevant cards have been given errata in the Oracle card reference. Mana Symbol An icon that represents mana or a mana cost. See rule 107.4. Manifest A keyword action that puts a card onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature. See rule 701.32, “Manifest,” and rule 707, “Face-Down Spells and Permanents.” Match A multiplayer game or a two-player series of games (usually best-two-of-three) played in a tournament. See rule 100.6. Maximum Hand Size The number of cards in hand a player must discard down to during his or her cleanup step. See rule 402.2 and 514.1.