Mark Schafer's Home Page

My chief reason for doing my own web site is to provide the Dynamic Rule Book for Magic: The Gathering, which is a collectible card game I like to play. The rule book represents the current rules of the game. When the rules change or if I think a change is needed, I'll change the rule book. I have an up-to-the-minute source of new rulings, so there won't be much lag time between a new ruling being made and it appearing here. A new ruling, however, doesn't necessarily mean that I change something. Most rulings only interpret existing rules, so they will not require that I change anything.

Background
Before you get to the Dynamic Rule Book, you might want to know a little more about me and what qualifies me to do this. I was born in a small town... uh, let's not go back that far. I have a lot in common with Richard Garfield, the man who invented Magic. We're about the same age, we both have been inventing games since we were kids (admittedly, he has gone a lot further in this endeavor than I have), we both like to play all kinds of games, and we both got our undergraduate degrees in math & computers. So I have a lot of experience in writing rules to games. Plus, I've been known to modify the rules of existing games. I believe having a computer background gives me a strong sense of logic. That and the fact I also score high in English gives me great rules-writing ability.

I learned how to play Magic on March 24, 1994. I bought my own cards on March 26, the same date I played my first multi-player game. I actually played with my own cards on April 9, the same date I first taught someone else how to play. Exactly one year later, on April 9, I played in my first tournament. It was Type I, and I lost in the first round to the guy who would ultimately win. My favorite tournament type is sealed deck. I track my cards and my collection currently (as of 6/30/07) tops 67,000 (not counting cards that I've set aside to reduce the size of the collection, two unopened boxes, and some of my basic land).

The best I've ever finished in a small tournament is first (it was Type I, and there were 9 people), and the most people that were in a large tournament that I won is 32 (it was sealed). I might as well throw in my booster draft tournament performance. My lifetime record as of 6/30/07 in 8-player booster draft is 35-17, and I have two victories, and two ties in eleven tries. The thing to note about my tournament play is that I nearly always win rules arguments.

On May 16, 1997 I became officially certified as a Level 1 judge for DCI sanctioned tournaments. For my first judging gig, I helped judge the Kentucky State Limited Championship on June 29. Then on August 3, 1999 I became a Level 2 judge.

As you probably know, the rules to Magic have been changing constantly almost since it came out. That prompted Steve D'Angelo to compile a list of rulings and update them on a regular basis. However, most card rulings can be derived by application of existing rules. If you know the rules, you should already know most of the rulings. So I thought if there were a source for the rules that was updated dynamically, it would give players what they need to interpret the cards. That has led to this project.

Card Wording
I had another Magic-related project once before that took up a great deal of my time, and that was when I reworded all the Revised cards according to how I think they should've been worded. I did that before Fourth Edition came out. I never publicized them, but Wizards of the Coast has gradually come around to my way of thinking. They've adopted several of my ideas without even knowing it (at least I don't think they knew it). They are as follows:

1. Clearly defining what's targeted and what isn't. We did this differently. I did it by using a "Target" line on the card that spelled out the target description.
2. Using banding instead of bands to be more consistent with flying.
3. Avoiding using ambiguous expressions like opponent's creature instead of creature controlled by opponent.
4. Being consistent in the wording so that cards that do similar things are phrased the same way.
5. Phrasing cards using the same form every time it's feasible. I phrased them all in third person (Buries all creatures); Wizards phrases them in command form (Bury all creatures). Same idea. I actually prefer command form because it is generally shorter, but I thought it might confuse people.
6. Using destroyed instead of killed, which is not an official term.
7. Using "cost: effect" on more cards to clearly define what part is the cost. However, as of Urza's Saga, they have stopped using this on non-permanent cards.
8. Putting all costs to the left of the colon.
9. Using line breaks to indicate separate abilities.
10. Putting abilities without activation costs before ones that have them so the player knows they aren't part of the activated ability.
11. Using the term summoning sickness on cards since it's defined in the rules. Makes such cards much easier to phrase. However, as of Sixth Edition, the term no longer exists, and nothing took its place.
12. Always using the word prevent for all damage prevention effects. Yes! As of Sixth Edition, they're doing this! They're actually using the word for all prevention effects, not just damage prevention.

1. Use of an upkeep symbol, both right-side up (affects your upkeep) and upside-down (affects your opponent's upkeep) so that players could just look over their and their opponent's cards to see if any card affects their upkeep. Status: This looks like it will never happen. They've made no effort to make upkeep abilities easier to find.
2. If a card says "sacrifice" without specifying what, it means the card itself. Status: They've backtracked on this one. Now, they're specifying the name of the card instead of just saying "regenerate". I thought this one had a good chance until then.
3. Avoid referring to the players as he, she, or they. Status: They are still fond of using the phrase he or she.
4. Stop using reminder text. Players should know the rules. Status: They've backtracked on this one, too. They're using more reminder text! Argh! They think we can't remember what landwalking is for goodness sake! At least they put reminder text in italics so we know it is not part of the game.
5. Just use mana symbols for effects that produce mana. So, Llanowar Elves would simply read, ": " If they had done this in the first place, they wouldn't have had to issue errata to change the speed of such effects. Status: Not much hope for this one, either, but now the speed of such effects is a rule instead of card text.

1. Wrong is right. Many ways in which people used to unintentionally play the game wrong is now right. This bothers me. What they're saying is the ignorant masses know more about good game play than they do!
2. End of turn effects can only happen once! Yes! That helps clean up the game a lot.
3. When you attack, you have to wait for two sets of passes. It used to be Player A: "I declare my attack."; Player B: "Go ahead"; and then player A would declare his attackers. Now it's like this: Player A: "Pass."; Player B: "Pass."; Player A: "Pass."; Player B: "Pass."; and then player A declares his attackers. This is annoying. It could also be confusing since player B may think player A is ending his second main phase instead of his first. They clean this up in tournaments. Player A's declaration of attack implies two passes. If Player B wanted to do something in Player A's main phase, he can back it up; otherwise, he has a chance to do something before attackers are declared.
4. Only one timing structure for spells, non-mana abilities, and triggered abilities. I like that, but resolving a stack is more trouble than resolving a batch used to be. Every time you resolve something, you have to query both players to see if they want to add anything before you move on. That could make the game drag.
5. You can play spells and abilities after damage dealing but before it's resolved. Yuck! That makes cards like Blinking Spirit more annoying than ever. I would've liked it better if the source of combat damage has to still be in play to deal it when the damage resolves.
6. Permission is more powerful than ever. This is truly annoying. Big blue can counter a spell after he knows all responses to it. It's one of the few ways to get rid of cards that don't otherwise go away easily like Blinking Spirit and enchantments that won't die. This makes it more necessary to play permission.
7. Damage prevention is weaker since it's now targeted, but to make up for that, it lasts until the end of the turn.
8. They got rid of the set aside zone. All cards that used to use this zone now use the out of game zone instead. They probably think that eliminating a zone simplifies the game. On the contrary, I think it makes it look silly and more confusing. Take Three Wishes for example. Now it would read to remove those three cards from the game, and you can play them as if they were in your hand. Excuse me? They're out of the game, but I can still play them?! Then if you don't play them, they come back into the game and go to your graveyard. Your punishment for not playing them is that they're no longer out of the game! Also cards that used to move cards from set aside to out of game no longer move the cards at all but somehow something has changed. Because of this nonsense, my rules call it the set aside zone, and it's the out of game zone that's gone. If cards can still be useful while in the zone, then they're clearly not out of the game. It does not matter what you call the zone while learning the rules so long as you know how it works. I think it's better to not call it a name that implies the cards are out of the game. This is a holdover from Fifth Edition in spite of their efforts to eliminate confusing terminology (like summoning sickness).
9. Speaking of summoning sickness, whereas I agree with them getting rid of the term, I do not approve of it not being replaced. This makes the rule more difficult to iterate. It was simpler when it read that creatures with summoning sickness cannot attack. If your opponent attacks with such a creature by mistake, you could remind him by merely uttering two words: "Summoning sickness." Now you have to say, "You just brought that out," or something like that. How about a suggestion? They should've introduced the term "new". A permanent is new if you have not controlled it since the start of your last turn. Making it an adjective instead of a noun would have phrasing advantages. Nettling Imp under Fifth Edition rules: ": Target creature without summoning sickness an opponent controls attacks this turn if able..."; under Sixth: ": Target creature an opponent has controlled since the start of his or her last turn attacks this turn if able..."; my way: ": Target non-new creature an opponent controls attacks this turn if able..." See? "Siren's Call does not affect new creatures." "Play this ability only if Rocket Launcher is not new." No more confusing term, and you still get terse wording.
10. I like the fact that the untap step returns to being atomic (no spells or abilities can be played).

Using the Dynamic Rule Book
Here's how I recommend you use the Dynamic Rule Book:

1. When you first encounter it, download all the files and print them out, or you can print them directly.
2. Put them into a loose-leaf notebook. I would recommend the order I have them in, but you can use any order you want.
3. If you're new to the game of Magic, read it in its entirety; I guarantee you will find something you didn't know. You veterans may not want to read so much material you already know, but there's probably something new to you somewhere especially in the "How to Interpret the Cards" chapter and the one that follows it. Everyone should know the material in those two chapters.
4. Periodically check the Table of Contents to see if anything has changed. If so, print the files that have changed and replace those pages in the notebook. At this point, you can find the parts that are different and compare the new to the old.

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