Magic: The Gathering Rules Compendium

Find the official rule, understand an interaction, and get back to the table. Explore the searchable Comprehensive Rules, mechanics, tournament policy, guides, FAQ, and recent updates.

Rule Chapters

Sample Rules

  • 100.1 These Magic rules apply to any Magic game with two or more players, including tw…
  • 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…
  • 200.1 The parts of a card are name, mana cost, illustration, color indicator, type lin…
  • 200.2 Some parts of a card are also characteristics of the object that has them. See r…
  • 200.3 Some objects that aren’t cards (tokens, copies of cards, and copies of spells) h…
  • 300.1 The card types are artifact, battle, conspiracy, creature, dungeon, enchantment,…
  • 300.2 Some objects have more than one card type (for example, an artifact creature). S…
  • 300.2a An object that’s both a land and another card type (for example, an artifact lan…
  • 400.1 A zone is a place where objects can be during a game. There are normally seven z…
  • 400.2 Public zones are zones in which all players can see the cards’ faces, except for…
  • 400.3 If an object would go to any library, graveyard, or hand other than its owner’s,…
  • 500.1 A turn consists of five phases, in this order: beginning, precombat main, combat…
  • 500.2 A phase or step in which players receive priority ends when the stack is empty a…
  • 500.3 A step in which no players receive priority ends when all specified actions that…
  • 601.1 Previously, the action of casting a spell, or casting a card as a spell, was ref…
  • 601.1a Some effects still refer to “playing” a card. “Playing a card” means playing tha…
  • 601.2 To cast a spell is to take it from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the…
  • 700.1 Anything that happens in a game is an event. Multiple events may take place duri…
  • 700.2 A spell or ability is modal if it has two or more options in a bulleted list pre…
  • 700.2a The controller of a modal spell or activated ability chooses the mode(s) as part…
  • 800.1 A multiplayer game is a game that begins with more than two players. This sectio…
  • 800.2 These rules consist of a series of options that can be added to a multiplayer ga…
  • 800.3 Many multiplayer Magic tournaments have additional rules not included here, incl…
  • 900.1 This section contains additional optional rules that can be used for certain cas…
  • 900.2 The casual variants detailed here use supplemental zones, rules, cards, and othe…
  • 901.1 In the Planechase variant, plane cards and phenomenon cards add additional abili…

About the Rules Database

This database contains the official Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Rules as published by Wizards of the Coast. Rules are updated with each major set release.