Comprehensive Rules (Ideal Magic)

1. Core Game Philosophy

1.1 Foundations

• Deck size: Minimum 60 cards (no maximum). Four-copy limit per card name (basic lands excepted).
• Sideboard: Up to 15 cards in competitive play.
• Starting life: 20. Opening hands: London Mulligan.
• Five-color mana system and the traditional color pie remain intact.
• The stack and priority rules operate as in classic Magic.
• Turn structure: beginning, two main phases, combat, end—see §4.
• Interaction-first: Removal and counterplay are broad and accessible. Ward replaces most uses of Hexproof at lower rarities.
• Complexity guardrails: No game states that persist after the last relevant permanent leaves the battlefield. Tracking uses dice or counters on objects you can see.

1.2 Victory Conditions

• Reduce an opponent from 20 life to 0; or
• An opponent attempts to draw from an empty library.

2. Game Objects and Card Types

2.1 Spells and Timing

• Casting: Pay costs, choose modes/targets, put the spell on the stack.
• Resolution: Last-in, first-out. If a spell/ability is countered or all targets become illegal, it doesn’t resolve.
• Nonpermanents (instants/sorceries) go to their owner’s graveyard after resolving unless a mechanic says otherwise.

2.2 Card Types

• Instants: Cast any time you have priority.
• Sorceries: Cast during your main phase when the stack is empty.
• Creatures: Have power/toughness; can attack and block; damage wears off at cleanup.
• Artifacts/Enchantments: Ongoing effects on the battlefield.
• Sagas: Enchantments with lore counters that add chapters as they enter and at your precombat main phase (see §6.2).
• Lands: Special permanents that produce mana; you may play one land per turn as a special action.
• Double-Faced Cards (DFCs): Allowed (transforming/modal), but no Day/Night tracking (see §7).

(Planeswalkers are allowed at your table’s discretion; if used, apply the current comprehensive rules for loyalty abilities and combat targeting.)

3. Mana System

3.1 Generating and Using Mana

• Lands are the default mana source; artifacts/creatures may produce mana; spells/abilities can create temporary mana.
• Mana pool empties at the end of each step and phase. No mana burn.

3.2 Colors

• White: order, efficiency, small-army tactics.
• Blue: draw, permission, manipulation.
• Black: removal, recursion, resource exchange.
• Red: aggression, direct damage, short bursts.
• Green: growth, big creatures, natural resilience.
• Colorless: flexible, often with rate/tension costs.

3.3 Smoothing

• Smoothing is baked in via Scry/Surveil, light Cycling, and Investigate (Clues). These appear broadly across sets to reduce non-games.

4. Turn Structure

1. Beginning Phase a) Untap → b) Upkeep (resolve “at the beginning of upkeep”) → c) Draw (active player draws a card)
2. Precombat Main Cast spells, play a land (once/turn), activate abilities.
3. Combat Phase a) Beginning of combat → b) Declare attackers (tap, unless vigilance) → c) Declare blockers (defender assigns; attacker orders damage among multiple blockers) → d) Combat damage (first strike/double strike modify timing) → e) End of combat
4. Postcombat Main
5. End Step / Cleanup Resolve “at the beginning of end step” triggers → discard to hand size (7) → remove damage, end “until end of turn” effects.

Priority: Active player gets priority first in each step/phase; pass priority to move forward.

5. Combat

5.1 Core Rules

• Attack players or planeswalkers. Creatures must be untapped and not affected by summoning sickness unless they have haste.
• Multiple blockers are allowed; attacking player orders damage among them.

5.2 Evergreen Combat Abilities

• First strike / Double strike / Deathtouch / Lifelink / Menace / Reach / Trample / Vigilance.
• Ward — N: When this permanent becomes the target of an opponent’s spell or ability, counter it unless that player pays the Ward cost.

6. Mechanics Used in Ideal Magic

6.1 Evergreen / Near-Evergreen

• Scry N: Look at that many cards from the top of your library; put any number on the bottom and the rest on top in any order.
• Surveil N: Look at that many, then put any number into your graveyard and the rest back on top in any order.
• Ward — N / [cost]: See §5.2.

6.2 “Glue Suite” (frequently reused)

• Kicker [cost]: You may pay the kicker cost as you cast this spell for an additional effect or upgrade. (Multi-kicker is allowed when a set calls for it.)
• Cycling [cost]: [cost], Discard this card: Draw a card.
• Flashback [cost]: You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost, then exile it.
• Foretell: During your turn, pay {2} to exile this card from your hand face down. Cast it on a later turn for its foretell cost.
• Adventure: A creature card with an alternate instant/sorcery face you may cast first; after the Adventure resolves, you may later cast the creature from exile.
• Investigate: Create a Clue token with “{2}, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.”
• Landfall: An ability triggers whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control.
• Sagas: Enter with a lore counter, then add one at the start of your precombat main phase; resolve the chapter abilities as counters are added. Sacrifice after the final chapter unless the card says otherwise.

6.3 Supported “Lesser-Known” Mechanics

• Rebound: If you cast this spell from your hand, as it resolves, exile it. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast the card from exile without paying its mana cost.
• Surge [cost]: You may cast this spell for its surge cost if you or a teammate has cast another spell this turn.
• Raid: Abilities with Raid check if you attacked with a creature this turn.
• Buyback [cost] (fenced): As you cast this instant or sorcery, you may pay its buyback cost. If you do, as it resolves, put it into your hand instead of your graveyard. Policy: Appears at higher rarity with conservative rates; no repeatable hard-lock patterns.
• Emerge [cost] (curated clusters only): You may cast this creature by sacrificing a creature and paying the emerge cost reduced by the sacrificed creature’s mana value.

6.4 Occasional “Quest” Enchantments

• Quest (designation, not a keyword): Enchantments that gain counters when you meet listed conditions and pay off at a threshold. Use clear triggers and visible counters only.

7. Excluded or Modified Mechanics (Format Policy)

Banned/Excluded from Ideal Magic card pool

• Day/Night (daybound/nightbound) — persistent global tracking not tied to visible objects.
• Companion — extra, consistent opening resource outside deck structure.
• Cipher — clarity and repetition issues.
• Dungeons / Venture into the Dungeon — off-board mini-game with low interactivity.
• Cumulative Upkeep — escalating bookkeeping.
• Storm and other “count spells this turn” abuse patterns.
• Dredge, and broadly “free engine” mechanics that convert zones to repeated free cards/mana.

Constrained usage

• Buyback — allowed only per §6.3 policy.
• Emerge — only in small, playtested clusters; no mass-availability.
• Hexproof — appears sparingly at higher rarities; Ward is the default resilience knob.

(Mechanics not listed above may appear as rare cameos if they don’t violate the philosophy or tracking rules. When in doubt, cut it.)

8. Deck Construction and Formats

8.1 Defaults

• Constructed: 60+ cards; up to 15-card sideboard; 20 life.
• Limited (Draft/Sealed): 40+ cards; basic lands as needed.
• Matches: Best-of-three by default; London Mulligan.

8.2 Archetype Rails (for Limited & Cube builders)

Color pairs lean on a mix of these pillars:

• Spells-matter (prowess-style triggers),
• Go-wide tokens (with clean payoff knobs),
• Graveyard value (Flashback/Disturb-style recursion),
• Landfall midrange,
• Artifacts/Clues value,
• Tempo (Raid/Surge pressure).

9. Tournament Procedures

9.1 Match Structure

• Best-of-three; typical round length 45 minutes.
• Present the same deck after each match; sideboarding between games.

9.2 Priority & Communication

• Announce and pass priority clearly, especially around combat steps.
• Reveal choices and face-down/face-up information as required (e.g., Foretell, Adventure exile).
• Track counters with visible dice/counters; keep tokens distinct and labeled (Clues, etc.).

9.3 Rules Enforcement & Governance

• Banlist: See §7. (Storm, Dredge, Companion, Cipher, Dungeons, Day/Night, Cumulative Upkeep are not legal.)
• Complexity policy: Avoid mechanics that require hidden or off-board tracking or that persist without a visible permanent.
• Rate policy (dev guidance): Removal must be broadly playable; Ward replaces most hexproof at low rarities; smoothing (Scry/Surveil/Cycling/Clues) is common.
• Updates: Publish changelogs for any additions (e.g., cameo mechanics) and for emergency bans if a loop violates the “no free engines” rule.

10. Glossary (Selected)

• Active player: The player whose turn it is.
• Counter (marker): A physical marker placed on a permanent (e.g., +1/+1, lore, quest). Removing the permanent removes its counters.
• Dies: Is put into a graveyard from the battlefield.
• Exile: The out-of-play zone; cards specify when/how they can be cast from exile (e.g., Adventure, Rebound, Foretell).
• Target: A legal object or player chosen when casting a spell or activating an ability.
• Ward: See §5.2.
• Clue: Artifact token with “{2}, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.”

Quick Reference

• Turn order: Beginning → Main 1 → Combat → Main 2 → End
• Mulligan: London Mulligan (draw 7 each time; bottom cards equal to mulligans taken)
• Play a land: Once per turn, during your main phases when the stack is empty
• Evergreen smoothing: Scry/Surveil; light Cycling; Investigate (Clues)
• Core mechanics you’ll see often: Kicker, Cycling, Flashback, Foretell, Adventure, Landfall, Sagas, Investigate
• Supported extras: Rebound, Surge, Raid; carefully-costed Buyback; small Emerge clusters
• Hard NOs: Storm, Dredge, Companion, Cipher, Dungeons/Venture, Day/Night, Cumulative Upkeep, “free” engines
• Resilience: Ward is the default; Hexproof is rare
• Win: Reduce to 0 life or deck the opponent

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