Magic the Gathering 2010 Rules Update

Here is a quick look at the rule changes within Magic the Gathering for 2010

1) Mulligans

Both players will take a mulligan at the same time with the player going first declaring  if they will take one or not.  If you opt out of a mulligan you can not mulligan again this round.  The game begins when both players decline a mulligan.

Doesn’t mean much for us in our circle but I guess it would speed up tournament play.  I remember sitting there knowing I need to mulligan but have to wait for my opponent to shuffle and deal a couple of times before I can do anything.

2) Terminology Changes

In play is now “Battlefield”
Lands are “Played”
Spells are “Cast”
Abilities are “Activated”
Remove from the game is now “”Exile”
Until end of turn is now “at the beginning of the end step”

Again, doesn’t effect our circle but will help new players.

3) Mana Pools Emptying

Mana pools empty at the end of each step AND phase
Mana burn is eliminated

I have an Eladamri’s Vineyard deck that has Mana Burn as a win condition.  It’s been a deck I’ve had built for 12 years and now I have to change it.  Seeing as Mana Burn isn’t an issue, the Vineyard\Discard combo won’t work so there isn’t much point keeping it.  I’ve always seen Mana Burn as a key component for the game, but now you can mana flare away with no consequence.  Not a good change in my opinion

4) Token Ownership

The token owner is the player under whose control it entered the battlefield.

As far as I’m aware we played that rule anyway! How confusing

5) Combat Damage No Longer Uses the Stack

When combat damage is assigned, it’s assigned. Spells and abilities must be used in the declare blockers step.

Worth looking at the diagrams over at wizards.com/magic for this one, but basically damage is dealt like trample damage, except it isn’t carried over to the player after, unless of course they actually have trample.

6) Deathtouch

With the rule above, 1 damage from a  deathtouch critter counts as lethal damage.

Good.  If anyone can give me a good way to explain how a creature with deathtouch and trample deals damage, comment below :)

7) Lifelink

Multiple instances are no longer cumulative
Lifegain happens at the SAME TIME as lifeloss

I believe this means that a creature with Life link with an enchantment that says “Enchanted creature gains life link”  now only triggers once, which is nice.

@JestaThaRogue