Magic The Gathering Comprehensive Rules Part 21

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.

Example: If an attacking creature is blocked by two defending creatures, this is one event for a triggered ability that reads "Whenever [name] becomes blocked" but two events for a triggered ability that reads "Whenever [name] becomes blocked by a creature."

Exchange

A spell or ability may instruct two players to exchange something (for example, life totals or control of two permanents) as part of its resolution. When such a spell or ability resolves, if it can't exchange the chosen things, it has no effect on them.

Example: If a spell attempts to exchange control of two target creatures but one of those creatures is destroyed before the spell resolves, the spell does nothing to the other creature. Or if a spell attempts to exchange control of two target creatures but both of those creatures are controlled by the same player, the spell does nothing to the two creatures.

When control of two permanents is exchanged, each player simultaneously gains control of the permanent that was controlled by the other player.

When life totals are exchanged, each player gains or loses the amount of life necessary to equal the other player's previous life total. Replacement effects may modify these gains and losses, and triggered abilities may trigger on them.

Some spells or abilities may instruct a player to exchange cards in one zone with cards in a different zone (for example, cards removed from the game and cards in a player's hand). These spells and abilities work the same as other "exchange" spells and abilities, except they can exchange the cards only if all the cards are owned by the same player.

If a spell or ability instructs a player to simply exchange two zones, and one of the zones is empty, the cards in the zones are still exchanged.

Expansion Symbol

The small icon normally printed below the right edge of the ill.u.s.tration on a Magic card is the expansion symbol. It indicates the set in which the card was published. Cards reprinted in a core set or another expansion receive its expansion symbol. Spells and abilities that affect cards from a particular expansion only affect cards with that set's expansion symbol. The first five editions of the core set had no expansion symbol. See rule 206, "Expansion Symbol. Visit the products section of www.magicthegathering.com for the full list of expansions and expansion symbols (www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=magic/products/cardsets).

Players may include cards from any printing in their constructed decks if those cards appear in sets allowed in that format (or allowed by the Magic Floor Rules). See the Magic Floor Rules for the current definitions of the constructed formats (www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dci/doccenter/home).

Extra Turn

Some spells and abilities can give a player extra turns. They do this by adding the turns directly after the current turn. If a player gets multiple extra turns or if multiple players get extra turns during a single turn, the extra turns are added one at a time. The most recently created turn will be taken first. See rule 300.6.

The Grand Melee multiplayer variant has a special rule to handle when extra turns are taken: If a player would take an extra turn after the current turn and it's not currently that player's turn, that player instead takes the extra turn immediately before his or her next turn. See rule 608, "Grand Melee Variant."

Face Down

Face-down spells on the stack, face-down permanents in play, and face-down cards in the phased-out zone have no characteristics other than those listed by the ability or rules that allowed the card, spell, or permanent to be turned face down. Any listed characteristics are the copiable values of that object's characteristics.

At any time, you may look at a face-down spell you control on the stack, a face-down permanent you control, or a face-down card in the phased-out zone you controlled when it phased out. You can't look at face-down cards in any other zone, face-down spells or permanents controlled by another player, or face-down cards in the phased-out zone last controlled by another player.

The ability or rules that allowed a permanent to be turned face down may also allow the permanent's controller to turn it face up. Spells normally can't be turned face up.

If you control multiple face-down spells on the stack or face-down permanents in play, you must ensure at all times that your face-down spells and permanents can be easily differentiated from each other.

See rule 504, "Face-Down Spells and Permanents," and rule 502.26, "Morph."

Fading

Fading is a keyword ability that represents two abilities. "Fading N" means "This permanent comes into play with N fade counters on it" and "At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a fade counter from this permanent. If you can't, sacrifice the permanent." See rule 502.20, "Fading."

Fear

Fear is an evasion ability. A creature with fear can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or black creatures. See rule 502.25, "Fear."

First Strike

First strike is a static ability that modifies the rules for the combat damage step. At the start of the combat damage step, if at least one attacking or blocking creature has first strike or double strike (see rule 502.28), creatures without first strike or double strike don't a.s.sign combat damage. Instead of proceeding to end of combat, the phase gets a second combat damage step to handle the remaining creatures. See rule 502.2, "First Strike."

Fizzle (Informal)

The term "fizzle" is an informal term, used when a spell or ability was countered as a result of all its targets being missing or illegal when it resolved. See rule 413.2a.

Flanking

Flanking is a triggered ability that triggers during the declare blockers step of the combat phase. "Flanking" means "Whenever this creature becomes blocked by a creature without flanking, the blocking creature gets -1/-1 until end of turn." See rule 502.3, "Flanking."

Flash Flash is a static ability that functions in any zone from which you could play the card it's on. "Flash" means "You may play this card any time you could play an instant." See rule 502.57, "Flash."

Flashback

Flashback appears on some instants and sorceries. It represents two static abilities: one functions while the card is in a player's graveyard and the other functions while the card is on the stack. "Flashback [cost]" means "You may play this card from your graveyard by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost" and "If the flashback cost was paid, remove this card from the game instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack." Playing a spell using its flashback ability follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 409.1b and 409.1f-h. See rule 502.22, "Flashback."

Flavor Text

This is text in italics (but not in parentheses) in the text box of a card. It provides a mood or gives interesting background detail for the game world but has no effect on play. See rule 207.2.

Flip a Coin

To flip a coin for an object that cares whether a player wins or loses the flip, the affected player flips the coin and calls "heads" or "tails." If the call matches the result, that player wins the flip. Otherwise, the player loses the flip. Only the player who flips the coin wins or loses the flip; no other players are involved.

To flip a coin for an object that cares whether the coin comes up heads or tails, each affected player flips a coin without making a call. No player wins or loses this kind of flip.

If the coin that's being flipped doesn't have an obvious "heads" or "tails," designate one side to be "heads," and the other side to be "tails." Other methods of randomization may be subst.i.tuted for flipping a coin as long as there are two possible outcomes of equal likelihood and all players agree to the subst.i.tution.

Flip Cards

Flip cards have a two-part card frame on a single card. The text that appears right side up on the card defines the card's normal characteristics. Additional alternative characteristics appear upside down on the card. The back of a flip card is the normal Magic: The Gathering card back. See rule 508, "Flip Cards."

The top half of a flip card contains the card's normal name, text box, type line, power, and toughness. The text box usually contains an ability that causes the permanent to "flip" if certain conditions are met. The bottom half of a flip card contains an alternative name, text box, type line, power, and toughness. These characteristics are used only if the permanent is in play and only if the permanent is flipped.

A flip card's color, mana cost, expansion symbol, ill.u.s.tration credit, and legal text don't change if the permanent is flipped. Also, any changes to it by external effects will still apply.

In every zone other than the in-play zone, and also in the in-play zone before the permanent flips, a flip card has only the normal characteristics of the permanent. Once the flip permanent in the in-play zone is flipped, the normal name, text box, type line, power, and toughness of the flip permanent don't apply and the alternative versions of those characteristics apply instead.

If you control a flip permanent, you must ensure that it's clear at all times whether the permanent is flipped or not, both when it's untapped and when it's tapped. Common methods for distinguishing between flipped and unflipped permanents include using coins or dice to mark flipped objects.

Flipping a permanent is a one-way process. Once a permanent is flipped, it's impossible for it to become unflipped. However, if flipped permanent leaves play, it retains no memory of its status.