Rules FAQ

Arm

Arm is a keyword action. To "arm" a creature involves two steps:

1. Create a colorless Equipment artifact token with "Equipped creature gets +1/+1" and Equip 2.
2. Attach the equipment to the creature being armed.

• There is no timing window where the equipment is on the battlefield and not attached to the creature. It is created and then attached in the same action.
• If the creature is not on the battlefield as you perform the arm action, no equipment is created.
• Some cards will instruct you that a creature enters the battlefield armed. This is a static ability that creates a replacement effect: "If you would put this creature onto the battlefield, instead put it onto the battlefield and arm it."

Infiltrate

Infiltrate is a keyword ability that makes a creature not able to be blocked if it attacks with exactly one other creature. It is a triggered ability with the following rules:

"Whenever this creature attacks with exactly one other attacking creature, this creature can't be blocked this turn."

• The ability doesn't trigger at all if there isn't exactly one other attacking creature.
• If there isn't exactly one other attacking creature as the ability resolves (for example, if the other attacking creature is removed from play), the ability will still resolve and the creature still can't be blocked this turn.

Reconstitute

Reconstitute is a keyword ability that triggers upon the creature dying to find another creature in your deck that costs less and put it onto the battlefield. It is a triggered ability with the following rules:

"When this creature dies, reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a creature card whose converted mana cost is less than this creature's converted mana cost. Put that creature card onto the battlefield. Then put all the other cards revealed this way on the bottom of your library in a random order."

• If you reveal your whole library without finding a creature card that costs less, no creature cards are put onto the battlefield and you put your library back in a random order. (The cards are put back in a random order, but they are not "shuffled".)

Teleport

Teleport is a keyword ability that allows the player to pay an alternative cost to cast the spell directly from their library if the player is looking at or revealing the card. It is a static ability with the following rules:

"You may cast this card from your library while you're looking at it or revealing it. To do so, pay [cost] rather than paying its mana cost."

• Teleport only works while you're looking at the card or revealing it while the card is in the library. The effect needs to say "look" or "reveal" for this to work.
• If you have enough mana, you can teleport multiple spells during a single look or reveal effect.
• You cannot teleport a card from an opponent's library.

TL;DR:

1. Complete the looking at/revealing of all relevant cards. (e.g. For reconstitute, keep revealing until you find a creature that costs less.)
2. You now have an opportunity to cast any number of Teleport cards from among them for their Teleport cost. Any cards you teleport are removed from the looked at/revealed cards and put onto the stack (but don't start resolving yet).
3. Finish off the original effect. (e.g. For reconstitute, put onto the battlefield the creature that costs less. If you teleported that creature, it is no longer revealed and this part of the reconstitute effect doesn't happen.)
4. Resume resolving all spells and abilities on the stack from top to bottom. Usually this will mean you start resolving the cards you teleported.

• Teleporting a spell follows all the normal rules for casting a spell, except for timing in some circumstances.
• If a static ability lets you look at cards in your library at any time, or causes you to play with cards in your library revealed, you can teleport a spell at any time you could cast the spell normally, following the usual timing restrictions.
• Teleporting a spell during the resolution of another spell or ability follows all the normal rules for casting a spell except for the timing. The spell goes on the stack, then you have to pay its teleport cost, which means you can activate mana abilities while you're casting the spell while you're resolving the original spell or ability.
• If you teleport a spell during the resolution of another spell or ability, you pick up the original look or reveal effect where you left off, except the teleported spell is no longer part of the set of cards revealed or looked at and cannot be interacted with by the original effect. Do not look at or reveal any additional cards to make up for the teleported card.
• If you teleport a spell during the resolution of another spell or ability, when the original effect finishes resolving, the active player gets priority with the teleported spell on the stack. Any abilities that triggered when the spell was cast are put on the stack now.
• If an effect causes you to look at or reveal multiple cards in your library (for example, a creature with reconstitute died), finish looking at or revealing all the cards first, then teleport spells, then finish resolving the original effect.
• While looking at or revealing cards from your library, you must keep the cards in the same order until an effect lets you rearrange them. This order could matter if you tap Millikin for mana, for example, to pay the teleport cost.
• If an effect attempts to interact with a card that you teleported (for example, you teleported a creature card you were about to put into play from reconstitute), that part of the original effect fails and you continue resolving the rest of the effect. (In this example, no creature would be put into play with reconstitute)

Karn the Penitent

• Scan counters have no effect by themselves.

Suspension Squad

• The ability can target any creature the defending player controls, and will perform its check upon resolution. This may cause the ability not to do anything if there are no longer enough attacking creatures when the ability resolves.

Triphibious Dropship

• The second ability triggers when blockers are declared and no blockers are declared for Triphibious Dropship. It is therefore too late for the creature put into play to have any blockers declared for it, so that creature effectively cannot be blocked.

Turn the Tide of Battle

• The creature counts and life totals are checked upon resolution.

Coordinate Scrambler

• Returning a creature you control to its owner’s hand is part of the cost of Coordinate Scramber's activated ability. Paying a cost can’t be responded to (with Murder, for example).
• Since Coordinate Scrambler is a creature, you may return Coordinate Scrambler itself to your hand. If you do, the rest of the ability will still work normally.
• The creature card you put onto the battlefield when the ability resolves may be the same card that you returned to your hand when you paid the cost. If so, it returns to the battlefield as a new object with no relation to its previous existence.

Future Insight

• If X is 2 or less, you won't be able to put the full 3 cards into your hand and will have to make do with fewer.

Neutron Flow

• X is set as you cast the spell. The token created does not update its power and toughness as the number of artifacts you control changes.

Cloning Vats

• The second ability can put any exiled creature card into its owner's graveyard, not just cards exiled with Cloning Vats.

Murmur, the Cleaner

• Murmur's first ability doesn’t count as a creature entering the battlefield. Murmur was already on the battlefield; they only changed their types.
• If Murmur becomes a creature the same turn they enter the battlefield, they have summoning sickness like usual, unless granted haste.
• Murmur's first ability causes them to become a creature with the creature type Assassin. They remain a planeswalker with the planeswalker type Murmur. (They also retain any other card types or subtypes they may have had.) Each subtype is correlated to the proper card type: planeswalker is only a type (not a creature type), and Assassin is just a creature type (not a planeswalker type).
• If damage that can’t be prevented is dealt to Murmur after their first ability has resolved, that damage will have all applicable results: specifically, the damage is marked on Murmur (since they're a creature) and that damage causes that many loyalty counters to be removed from them (since they're a planeswalker). Even though they have indestructible, if Murmur has no loyalty counters on them, they're put into their owner’s graveyard.

Mystic of the Under

• A creature is only considered unblocked after blockers have been declared and the creature doesn't have any blockers assigned to it.

The Moirai

• The target is chosen at random as you put the triggered ability on the stack. Players can respond to this ability knowing what the target is.

Wanted Speedster

• The targeted creature just has its state changed to be attacking. It was not declared as an attacker and therefore any "whenever this creature attacks" triggers do not happen.

Bioarchitect

• Yes, the ability works on itself. I don't know why you would want to do that, but you do you.

Murmur's Command, Wormcaller's Command, Ingolf's Command, Vuissance's Command, Ntombi's Command

• You choose the modes as you cast the spell and pay the appropriate mana cost. You must choose up to X different modes, but no more than the modes printed on the card. Once modes are chosen, they can’t be changed.
• You can choose a mode only if you can choose legal targets for that mode. Ignore the targeting requirements for modes that aren’t chosen. For example, you can cast Ingolf's Command without targeting an enchantment provided you don’t choose the third mode.
• As the spell resolves, follow the instructions of the modes you chose in the order they are printed on the card.
• If a Command is copied, the effect that creates the copy will usually allow you to choose new targets for the copy, but you can’t choose new modes.
• If all targets for the chosen modes become illegal before the Command resolves, the spell won’t resolve and none of its effects will happen. If at least one target is still legal, the spell will resolve but will have no effect on any illegal targets.

Matter Redistributor

• For the first ability, you choose whether to put 1 or X charge counters on it as the ability resolves.

Acquisitor Delwani

• Rebel creatures which are no longer on the battlefield as her ability resolves do not count any more and will not cause her to create an equipment. (i.e. You will never create an equipment that isn't immediately attached to a creature.)

Umida Koto

• If X is 0, Umida enters the battlefield with no loyalty and is put into his owner’s graveyard before you can activate his abilities.
• If a creature has multiple instances of reconstitute, such as multiple reconstitute counters from Umida's second ability, each instance triggers separately.
• The value of X chosen when you activate Umida's fourth activated ability doesn’t have to be the same value of X that you chose when you cast him.
• For Umida's fourth ability, as an example: If you spend 1 loyalty counter, you'll get a single creature with mana value 1 or less. If you spend 2 loyalty counters, you'll get two creatures each with mana value 2 or less. If you spend 3 loyalty counters, you'll get three creatures, each with mana value 3 or less. And so on.

The Aion

• If you don't have enough cards in your graveyard to shuffle into your library, you shuffle no cards from your graveyard into your library (and shuffle The Aion into your library).

Formling

• If Formling becomes a copy of another creature with its second ability, it does not retain its original abilities.
• If an effect begins to apply to Formling before it becomes a copy of another permanent, that effect will continue to apply. For example, if Formling's first ability is activated to give it infiltrate, and then it is made to copy a Storm Crow, the effects of the first ability continue to apply while Formling is a copy of Storm Crow so it will still have infiltrate.

Mutagenic Serum

• You reveal Mutagenic Serum from your hand after you have completed mulliganing.

Trojan Horse

• The player who activates the last ability is the one who skips the turn.
• Skipping a turn will only happen if Trojan Horse is on the battlefield to be sacrificed as the last ability resolves, so if Trojan Horse is not in play as the last ability resolves, nobody skips any turns.

The Martian Lens

• Any replacement effects are considered by The Martian Lens when determining the types of mana a land can produce.
• Any change to a land’s type or splicing of text into a land can affect the types of mana a land can produce.
• The types of mana are white, blue, black, red, green, and colorless.
• The Martian Lens checks the effects of all mana-producing abilities of lands you control, but it doesn’t check their costs or whether or not you are able to activate the ability.
• The Martian Lens doesn’t care about any restrictions or riders your lands put on the mana they produce, such as Pillar of the Paruns and Hall of the Bandit Lord do. It just cares about types of mana.
• If you are somehow able to have multiple copies of The Martian Lens, they won’t help each other produce mana. If you control The Martian Lens, and all other lands you control either lack mana abilities or are other copies of The Martian Lens, you may still activate The Martian Lens's first ability — it just won’t produce any mana.