Cards that instruct you to play a card from your Main Deck must first banish that card, then play it from banish. This gives the game a defined zone for the card while it is being played and a place to return it if it cannot be played for any reason. This applies to Rek'Sai Swarm Queen, Void Burrower, Void Rush, and Reinforce.
Citaat uit de bron: “banishing the card ensures that the game has a place to put the card until it's actually played, and a place to send the card back to if it can't be played”
When a Brush token is swapped back, the Brush token ceases to exist. A player can choose to swap back to any object that was replaced, including the original battlefield, because a replacing game object inherits all statuses and conditions of the game object it replaced (438.1).
Citaat uit de bron: “The Brush token will cease to exist. When swapping back, a player can choose to swap back to any object that was replaced, including the original battlefield.”
Gear cards enter play in the Ready state (not Exhausted), so they can be used immediately; Gear always enters at the controller's Base.
community (2 bronnen, trust 0.75, officieel bevestigd, status=unreviewed — nog niet gereviewd)
“Gear cannot hold or conquer battlefields, and can only exist in base. If a Gear card is played at a battlefield, it is immediately recalled to the base.”
When a player controls the battlefield but has no units there (achievable via Hostile Takeover or Stormbringer), the current rules have a gap with no obvious outcome. The interim ruling is to start a noncombat showdown as the least disruptive way to handle this scenario.
Citaat uit de bron: “starting a noncombat showdown is the least disruptive way to handle this scenario”
During the Beginning Phase, each player channels 2 Runes from the top of their Rune Deck; the second player channels 3 Runes on their very first turn to compensate for going second.
community (1 bron, trust 0.50, officieel bevestigd, status=unreviewed — nog niet gereviewd)
“If you're going second on your very first turn, you get 3 Runes instead to help catch up.”
Each Battlefield can only award 1 point per turn; moving a unit away and replacing it with another unit in the same turn does not grant additional points.
community (2 bronnen, trust 0.75, officieel bevestigd, status=unreviewed — nog niet gereviewd)
“Moving away from a battlefield and back to it with another unit the same turn will not gain you a bonus point.”
Rule 323.6 is corrected to read: 'Players lose control of any controlled Battlefields without their Units occupying them if the turn is in an open state and there is no Showdown or Combat ongoing there.' This replaces the old wording, which incorrectly made unoccupied battlefields with no Showdown or Combat become universally Uncontrolled rather than stripping control only from the player whose units are absent.
Citaat uit de bron: “Players lose control of any controlled Battlefields without their Units occupying them if the turn is in an open state and there is no Showdown or Combat ongoing there.”
Ravenborn Tome's Bonus Damage effect now applies only to the next spell played 'this turn,' preventing the bonus from carrying forward to future turns.
community (1 bron, trust 0.50, officieel bevestigd, status=unreviewed — nog niet gereviewd)
“The next spell you play this turn deals 1 Bonus Damage.”
Yone's ability checks the control status of the battlefield immediately before he conquers it. He triggers at the end of a noncombat showdown in which he conquers an uncontrolled battlefield. He also triggers in 'surprise defense' scenarios where units move during a showdown and he ends up defending a battlefield he doesn't control—if he conquers it, the battlefield was uncontrolled before he conquered it.
Citaat uit de bron: “We're tweaking his text to cue off the control status of the battlefield immediately before conquering it.”
Units with the Ganking ability may move directly from one Battlefield to another, whereas normal units can only move between their controller's Base and a Battlefield.
community (2 bronnen, trust 0.75, officieel bevestigd, status=unreviewed — nog niet gereviewd)
“only units with the Ganking ability may move between battlefields”
When Baited Hook resolves, kills the targeted unit (the sole unit at a battlefield), and the player plays a unit from the top 5 cards, that unit goes pending on the chain. The outstanding cleanup cannot strip battlefield control while a chain item is pending, so the finalized unit can be played to the same battlefield where the kill occurred.
Citaat uit de bron: “I can't lose control of the battlefield because the played unit is on the chain pending”
Battlefield Control (open state, rule 187.4.c) (§187.4.c)
Per rule 187.4.c, a player loses control of a battlefield only in a cleanup that occurs while the turn is in an Open state and they have no units there (and no Combat/Showdown is ongoing). Control cannot be lost during a cleanup while items remain on the chain, enabling effects that kill or banish a unit and then play a new one to target that same battlefield.
Citaat uit de bron: “If a player has no Units at a Battlefield and the turn is in an Open state, they lose Control of that Battlefield in the following cleanup”
When an Attacker destroys all Defending units and still has units remaining, they conquer the Battlefield and immediately score 1 point; additionally, every time a Battlefield is conquered without winning the game, the conquering player draws a card.
community (1 bron, trust 0.50, officieel bevestigd, status=unreviewed — nog niet gereviewd)
“every time you conquer a Battlefield but it doesn't win you the game, you get to draw a card”
Arise! is revised to use a reflexive trigger: it first plays a 2 [M] Sand Soldier unit token for each Equipment you control, then 'Then do this:' readies up to two of them, allowing players to respond between the two effects.
Citaat uit de bron: “Play a 2 [M] Sand Soldier unit token for each Equipment you control. Then do this: Ready up to two of them.”
Accelerate creates a delayed replacement effect that causes the card to enter ready. This delayed replacement effect persists on the card even after the Accelerate keyword itself is no longer present when the card resolves.
Citaat uit de bron: “Accelerate creates a delayed replacement effect that causes Atakhan to enter ready. Although he lacks the Accelerate keyword when he resolves, he still has the delayed replacement effect”
Action Spells may be played during the controller's turn or during a Showdown; on an opponent's turn, a player may only play Action Spells during Showdowns.
community (1 bron, trust 0.50, officieel bevestigd, status=unreviewed — nog niet gereviewd)
“Most Spells are labeled Action, which means you can play them during your turn or during a Showdown. If it's not your turn, you can only play Action Spells during Showdowns.”
Per rules 323.1 and 467, a player wins during a cleanup only if they have points ≥ the Victory Score AND more points than any opponent. If both players are tied at the Victory Score, neither wins; they must score additional points to satisfy both conditions.
Citaat uit de bron: “If both players are at 8 points, they have not fulfilled both requirements for winning the game. They will need to score additional points in order to win.”
When Deceiver's reflexive trigger copies Zilean, Time Mage, the two Reflection tokens resolve and become copies of Zilean. However, there is no subsequent 'play token' game action for Zilean's replacement effect to apply to, so no further tokens are produced and the loop does not repeat.
Citaat uit de bron: “there is no subsequent play game action involving tokens to apply their replacement effects to”
If a player kills their only unit at a battlefield to pay Cruel Patron's additional cost, a cleanup is triggered, but control of the battlefield is not lost because Cruel Patron is on the chain. The player may then choose to play Cruel Patron to that same battlefield.
Citaat uit de bron: “because there is an item on the chain (Cruel Patron) I don't lose control of the battlefield”
Signature Cards are Legend-specific cards that can only be included in a deck matching their designated Legend, with a maximum of 3 total Signature Cards permitted across the entire deck.
community (1 bron, trust 0.50, officieel bevestigd, status=unreviewed — nog niet gereviewd)
“You can only use them with their matching Legend, and you can't put more than 3 total Signature Cards in your deck.”
Weaponmaster as a keyword is always optional. It is always a choice whether or not to use this play ability. The reminder text ('You may') is more accurate than the Core Rules wording, which implies a mandatory target; the Core Rules language will be cleaned up in the future.
Citaat uit de bron: “Weaponmaster as a keyword is always meant to be optional... It is always a choice on whether or not to use this play ability”
If Temporary is granted to an attached Spinning Axe, it has two instances of Temporary: one inactive (the printed keyword, does not trigger) and one active (the granted keyword, does trigger). The active granted Temporary will kill the Spinning Axe at the start of its controller's Beginning Phase.
Citaat uit de bron: “The Spinning Axe will have two instances of the Temporary keyword - one that is active and one that is inactive. The inactive keyword will not trigger”
Forgotten Monument completely prevents the process of scoring at its battlefield, meaning no conquer triggers, no hold triggers, and no points from those activities. This differs from Tianna Crownguard, who only blocks gaining points. Extra points from other sources (e.g., Renata Glasc, Mastermind) are unaffected. You can still gain control of the battlefield after a showdown—you just cannot conquer it.
Citaat uit de bron: “Forgotten Monument completely prevents the process of scoring there. That means no conquer triggers, no hold triggers, and no points from doing those things.”
Rule 316.5.b is corrected to read: 'A Showdown is marked as staged at a battlefield in the cleanup after the Contested status is applied to that battlefield.' The old wording incorrectly implied a Showdown is only staged at an uncontrolled battlefield; the corrected wording allows Showdowns to be staged while the battlefield is still controlled by a player.
Citaat uit de bron: “A Showdown is marked as staged at a battlefield in the cleanup after the Contested status is applied to that battlefield.”
Elder Dragon's passive ('Any amount of your damage is enough to kill enemy units') alters the lethal damage threshold for units with damage marked by Elder Dragon's controller to any non-zero amount. As a result, Elder Dragon can check damage marked on units before it enters the board, and its controller need only assign one damage per unit during the Combat Damage step.
Citaat uit de bron: “Elder Dragon can check damage marked on units by its controller before it enters the board, and that players need only assign one damage to units during the Combat Damage step while they control Elder”
Pickpocket can kill a Gold token. Token costs are treated as 0 for all purposes (including Pickpocket's 'cost no more than 1' check), not as NULL. A token's cost is 0 because it has no need for one, not because the information is missing.
Citaat uit de bron: “We'll be updating the rules to clarify that the cost of a token can be treated as 0 for all purposes.”