7.  Additional Rules

701.  Keyword Actions

701.1  Most actions described in a card’s rules text use the standard English definitions of the verbs within, but some specialized verbs are used whose meanings may not be clear. These "keywords" are game terms; sometimes reminder text summarizes their meanings.

701.2    Activate

701.2a  To activate an activated ability is to put it onto the stack and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Only an object’s controller (or its owner, if it doesn’t have a controller) can activate its activated ability unless the object specifically says otherwise. A player may activate an ability if he or she has priority. See rule 602, "Activating Activated Abilities."

701.3    Attach

701.3a  To attach an Aura, Equipment, or Fortification to an object means to take it from where it currently is and put it onto that object. If something is attached to a permanent on the battlefield, it’s customary to place it so that it’s physically touching the permanent. An Aura, Equipment, or Fortification can’t be attached to an object it couldn’t enchant, equip, or fortify, respectively.

701.3b  If an effect tries to attach an Aura, Equipment, or Fortification to an object it can’t be attached to, the Aura, Equipment, or Fortification doesn’t move. If an effect tries to attach an Aura, Equipment, or Fortification to the object it’s already attached to, the effect does nothing. If an effect tries to attach an object that isn’t an Aura, Equipment, or Fortification to another object or player, the effect does nothing and the first object doesn’t move.

701.3c  Attaching an Aura, Equipment, or Fortification on the battlefield to a different object causes the Aura, Equipment, or Fortification to receive a new timestamp.

701.3d  To "unattach" an Equipment from a creature means to move it away from that creature so the Equipment is on the battlefield but is not equipping anything. It should no longer be physically touching any creature. If an Aura, Equipment, or Fortification that was attached to something ceases to be attached to it, that counts as "becoming unattached"; this includes if that object and/or that Aura, Equipment, or Fortification leaves the battlefield.

701.4    Cast

701.4a  To cast a spell is to take it from the zone it’s in (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. A player may cast a spell if he or she has priority. See rule 601, "Casting Spells."

701.4b  To cast a card is to cast it as a spell.

701.5    Counter

701.5a  To counter a spell or ability means to cancel it, removing it from the stack. It doesn’t resolve and none of its effects occur. A countered spell is put into its owner’s graveyard.

701.5b  The player who cast a countered spell or activated a countered ability doesn’t get a "refund" of any costs that were paid.

701.6    Destroy

701.6a  To destroy a permanent, move it from the battlefield to its owner’s graveyard.

701.6b  The only ways a permanent can be destroyed are as a result of an effect that uses the word "destroy" or as a result of the state-based actions that check for lethal damage (see rule 704.5g) or damage from a source with deathtouch (see rule 704.5h). If a permanent is put into its owner’s graveyard for any other reason, it hasn’t been "destroyed."

701.6c  A regeneration effect replaces a destruction event. See rule 701.12, "Regenerate."

701.7    Discard

701.7a  To discard a card, move it from its owner’s hand to that player’s graveyard.

701.7b  By default, effects that cause a player to discard a card allow the affected player to choose which card to discard. Some effects, however, require a random discard or allow another player to choose which card is discarded.

701.7c  If a card is discarded, but an effect causes it to be put into a hidden zone instead of into its owner’s graveyard without being revealed, all values of that card’s characteristics are considered to be undefined. If a card is discarded this way to pay a cost that specifies a characteristic about the discarded card, that cost payment is illegal; the game returns to the moment before the cost was paid (see rule 717, "Handling Illegal Actions").

701.8    Exchange

701.8a  A spell or ability may instruct 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 the entire exchange can’t be completed, no part of the exchange occurs.

701.8b  When control of two permanents is exchanged, if those permanents are controlled by different players, each of those players simultaneously gains control of the permanent that was controlled by the other player. If, on the other hand, those permanents are controlled by the same player, the exchange effect does nothing.

701.8c  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.

701.8d  Some spells or abilities may instruct a player to exchange cards in one zone with cards in a different zone (for example, exiled cards 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.

701.8e  If a card in one zone is exchanged with a card in a different zone, and either of them is attached to an object, that card stops being attached to that object and the other card becomes attached to that object.

701.8f  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.

701.8g  A spell or ability may instruct a player to exchange two numerical values. In such an exchange, each value becomes equal to the previous value of the other. If either of those values is a life total, the affected player gains or loses the amount of life necessary to equal the other value. Replacements effects may modify this gain or loss, and triggered abilities may trigger on it. If either of those values is a power or toughness, a continuous effect is created setting that power or toughness to the other value (see rule 613.3b). This rule does not apply to spells and abilities that switch a creature’s power and toughness.

701.9    Exile

701.9a  To exile an object, move it to the exile zone from wherever it is. See rule 406, "Exile."

701.10    Fight

701.10a  A spell or ability may instruct a creature to fight another creature or it may instruct two creatures to fight each other. Each of those creatures deals damage equal to its power to the other creature.

701.10b  If a creature instructed to fight is no longer on the battlefield or is no longer a creature, no damage is dealt. If a creature is an illegal target for a resolving spell or ability that instructs it to fight, no damage is dealt.

701.10c  If a creature fights itself, it deals damage equal to its power to itself twice.

701.10d  The damage dealt when a creature fights isn’t combat damage.

701.11    Play

701.11a  To play a land means to put it onto the battlefield from the zone it’s in (usually the hand). A player may play a land if he or she has priority, it’s the main phase of his or her turn, the stack is empty, and he or she hasn’t yet played a land this turn. Playing a land is a special action (see rule 115), so it doesn’t use the stack; it simply happens. Putting a land onto the battlefield as the result of a spell or ability isn’t the same as playing a land. See rule 305, "Lands."

701.11b  To play a card means to play that card as a land or to cast that card as a spell, whichever is appropriate.

701.11c  Some effects instruct a player to "play" with a certain aspect of the game changed, such as "Play with the top card of your library revealed." "Play" in this sense means to play the Magic game.

701.11d  Previously, the action of casting a spell, or casting a card as a spell, was referred to on cards as "playing" that spell or that card. Cards that were printed with that text have received errata in the Oracle card reference so they now refer to "casting" that spell or that card.

701.11e  Previously, the action of using an activated ability was referred to on cards as "playing" that ability. Cards that were printed with that text have received errata in the Oracle card reference so they now refer to "activating" that ability.

701.12    Regenerate

701.12a  If the effect of a resolving spell or ability regenerates a permanent, it creates a replacement effect that protects the permanent the next time it would be destroyed this turn. In this case, "Regenerate [permanent]" means "The next time [permanent] would be destroyed this turn, instead remove all damage marked on it and tap it. If it’s an attacking or blocking creature, remove it from combat."

701.12b  If the effect of a static ability regenerates a permanent, it replaces destruction with an alternate effect each time that permanent would be destroyed. In this case, "Regenerate [permanent]" means "Instead remove all damage marked on [permanent] and tap it. If it’s an attacking or blocking creature, remove it from combat."

701.12c  Neither activating an ability that creates a regeneration shield nor casting a spell that creates a regeneration shield is the same as regenerating a permanent. Effects that say that a permanent can’t be regenerated don’t prevent such abilities from being activated or such spells from being cast; rather, they prevent regeneration shields from having any effect.

701.13    Reveal

701.13a  To reveal a card, show that card to all players for a brief time. If an effect causes a card to be revealed, it remains revealed for as long as necessary to complete the parts of the effect that card is relevant to. If the cost to cast a spell or activate an ability includes revealing a card, the card remains revealed from the time the spell or ability is announced until it the time it leaves the stack.

701.13b  Revealing a card doesn’t cause it to leave the zone it’s in.

701.14    Sacrifice

701.14a  To sacrifice a permanent, its controller moves it from the battlefield directly to its owner’s graveyard. A player can’t sacrifice something that isn’t a permanent, or something that’s a permanent he or she doesn’t control. Sacrificing a permanent doesn’t destroy it, so regeneration or other effects that replace destruction can’t affect this action.

701.15    Search

701.15a  To search for a card in a zone, look at all cards in that zone (even if it’s a hidden zone) and find a card that matches the given description.

701.15b  If a player is searching a hidden zone for cards with a stated quality, such as a card with a certain card type or color, that player isn’t required to find some or all of those cards even if they’re present in that zone.

701.15c  If a player is searching a hidden zone simply for a quantity of cards, such as "a card" or "three cards," that player must find that many cards (or as many as possible, if the zone doesn’t contain enough cards).

701.15d  If the effect that contains the search instruction doesn’t also contain instructions to reveal the found card(s), then they’re not revealed.

701.16    Shuffle

701.16a  To shuffle a library or a face-down pile of cards, randomize the cards within it so that no player knows their order.

701.16b  Some effects cause a player to search a library for a card or cards, shuffle that library, then put the found card or cards in a certain position in that library. Even though the found card or cards never leave that library, they aren’t included in the shuffle. Rather, all the cards in that library except those are shuffled. Abilities that trigger when a library is shuffled will still trigger.

701.16c  If an effect would cause a player to shuffle one or more specific objects into a library, but none of those objects are in the zone they’re expected to be in, that library isn’t shuffled.

701.16d  If an effect would cause a player to shuffle one or more specific objects into a library, and a replacement or prevention effect causes all such objects to be moved to another zone instead, that library isn’t shuffled.

701.16e  If an effect would cause a player to shuffle a set of objects into a library, that library is shuffled even if there are no objects in that set.

701.16f  If an effect causes a player to shuffle a library containing zero or one cards, abilities that trigger when a library is shuffled will still trigger.

701.16g  If two or more effects cause a library to be shuffled multiple times simultaneously, abilities that trigger when that library is shuffled will trigger that many times.

701.17    Tap and Untap

701.17a  To tap a permanent, turn it sideways from an upright position. Only untapped permanents can be tapped.

701.17b  To untap a permanent, rotate it back to the upright position from a sideways position. Only tapped permanents can be untapped.

701.18    Scry

701.18a  To "scry N" means to look at the top N cards of your library, put any number of them on the bottom of your library in any order, and put the rest on top of your library in any order.

701.19    Fateseal

701.19a  To "fateseal N" means to look at the top N cards of an opponent’s library, put any number of them on the bottom of that library in any order, and put the rest on top of that library in any order.

701.20    Clash

701.20a  To clash, a player reveals the top card of his or her library. That player may then put that card on the bottom of his or her library.

701.20b  "Clash with an opponent" means "Choose an opponent. You and that opponent each clash."

701.20c  A player wins a clash if that player revealed a card with a higher converted mana cost than all other cards revealed in that clash.

701.21    Planeswalk

701.21a  A player may planeswalk only during a Planechase game. Only the planar controller may planeswalk. See rule 901, "Planechase."

701.21b  To planeswalk is to put the face-up plane card on the bottom of its owner’s planar deck face down, then move the top card of your planar deck off that planar deck and turn it face up.

701.21c  A player may planeswalk as the result of the "planeswalking ability" (see rule 309.6) or because the owner of the face-up plane card leaves the game (see rule 901.9).

701.21d  The plane card that’s turned face up is the plane the player planeswalks to. The plane card that’s turned face down, or that leaves the game, is the plane the player planeswalks away from.

701.22    Set in Motion

701.22a  Only a scheme card may be set in motion, and only during an Archenemy game. Only the archenemy may set a scheme card in motion. See rule 311, "Schemes," and rule 904, "Archenemy."

701.22b  To set a scheme in motion, move it off the top of your scheme deck and turn it face up.

701.23    Abandon

701.23a  Only a face-up ongoing scheme card may be abandoned, and only during an Archenemy game. See rule 311, "Schemes," and rule 904, "Archenemy."

701.23b  To abandon a scheme, turn it face down and put it on the bottom of its owner’s scheme deck.

701.24    Proliferate

701.24a  To proliferate means to choose any number of permanents and/or players that have a counter, then give each exactly one additional counter of a kind that permanent or player already has.

701.24b  If a permanent or player chosen this way has more than one kind of counter, the player who is proliferating chooses which kind of counter to add.

701.24c  To proliferate in a Two-Headed Giant game means to choose any number of permanents and/or teams that have a counter, then give each exactly one additional counter of a kind that permanent or team already has. See rule 810, "Two-Headed Giant Variant."

701.25    Transform

701.25a  Only permanents represented by double-faced cards can transform. (See rule 711, "Double-Faced Cards.") If a spell or ability instructs a player to transform any permanent that isn’t represented by a double-faced card, nothing happens.

701.25b  To transform a permanent, turn it over so that its other face is up.

701.25c  Although transforming a permanent uses the same physical action as turning a permanent face up or face down, they are different game actions. Abilities that trigger when a permanent is turned face down won’t trigger when that permanent transforms, and so on.