1. Game Concepts

Rules overview

The opening section of the Comprehensive Rules. It defines what Magic is: how a game starts, who the players are, what mana is, what the colors mean, what gets counted (life, damage, counters), what the numbers and symbols on cards mean, and the core lifecycle of a game.

If you ever need to settle a dispute about something fundamental -- "is this card colorless?", "does this player have priority?", "which wording of this card counts?" -- the answer lives here.

What you'll find

• 100 General -- the absolute basics: number of players, deck sizes, sideboards.
• 101 The Magic Golden Rules -- a card's text beats the rules, "can't" beats "can", impossible instructions are ignored, and simultaneous choices go in APNAP order (active player first, then the others in turn order).
• 102 Players -- definitions and identifiers.
• 103 Starting the Game -- who goes first, starting life totals, opening hands, mulligans.
• 104 Ending the Game -- win/loss/draw conditions.
• 105 Colors -- the five colors and what counts as each.
• 106 Mana -- mana types, producing mana, the mana pool.
• 107 Numbers and Symbols -- how numbers and X work, and what each symbol means: mana symbols, {T}, {Q}, loyalty symbols, and more.
• 108 Cards -- what counts as a card, who owns it, and why the Oracle text is the wording that counts (108.1).
• 109 Objects -- the umbrella for cards, copies, tokens, spells, permanents, emblems, and abilities on the stack.
• 110 Permanents -- cards and tokens on the battlefield.
• 111 Tokens -- created by effects. A token that leaves the battlefield ceases to exist, but it really does change zones first, so "dies" and other leave triggers still happen (111.7).
• 112 Spells -- what a spell is (casting one is 601).
• 113 Abilities -- static, activated, triggered, mana, characteristic-defining.
• 114 Emblems -- markers some effects put in the command zone, such as many planeswalkers' last abilities.
• 115 Targets -- targeting rules, illegal targets, changing targets.
• 116 Special Actions -- playing a land, turning a face-down creature face up, and the other actions that don't use the stack.
• 117 Timing and Priority -- the heart of how Magic works.
• 118 Costs -- mana costs, additional costs, alternative costs, and why a cost must be paid in full (118.3).
• 119 Life -- gain, loss, payment as a cost.
• 120 Damage -- what damage does to players, creatures, planeswalkers and battles, and when it's lethal.
• 121 Drawing a Card -- the most-used action in Magic.
• 122 Counters -- +1/+1, -1/-1, loyalty, charge, all the others.
• 123 Stickers -- markers that change an object's characteristics; a sticker isn't a counter or a token.