In their articles on May 23, 2013, Magic Rules Manager and Editor Matt Tabak and Magic Designer Sam Stoddard outlined several changes to the rules effective July 13, 2013 for live Magic (on the date of the #M14 prerelease) and July 24, 2013, for MTGO*. These include changes to:

 

   1.   The "legend rule."

   2.   The "planeswalker uniqueness" rule.

   3.   Sideboarding in Constructed Magic tournaments.

   4.   Indestructibility (and clarification on Unblockability).

   5.   Effects that allow more than one land to be played.

 

*EDIT: Date for changes to be made for MTGO on July 24, not July 29 as previously posted in this news item. As per this tweet from @MagicOnline.

 

Here's a brief breakdown of the new rules changes. For the full version, read Matt Tabak's article Magic 2014 Core Set Rules Preview.

 

The "legend rule."

Changes include:

   1.   Whereas the old "legend rule" applied to all players, the new "legend rule" applies to players individually. This means that each player could control their own copy of the same legendary permanent.

Example: Player A plays Trostani, Selesnya's Voice. Player B then casts their own copy of Trostani. Both copies remain on the battlefield.

Example: Player A plays Trostani, Selesnya's Voice. Player B then casts Clone, copying Trostani. Both copies remain on the battlefield.

   2.   Under the old "legend rule," when a player controlled a second copy of a legendary permanent, both permanents were put into the graveyard as a state-based action. The new "legend rule" allows one of the copies to stay on the battlefield, and the controller chooses which copy of the permanent will remain.

Example: Player A plays Trostani, Selesnya's Voice. Player B casts Arrest targeting Trostani. Player A then plays a second Trostani, choosing to keep the new one on the battlefield and placing the original Trostani in the graveyard.

For a detailed explanation of why the changes to the "legend rule" were made, read Sam Stoddard's article Legendary Rule Change.

 

The "planeswalker uniqueness" rule.

Changes to the "planeswalker uniqueness rule" mirror the changes to the legend rule, except that the rule checks for subtype and not name.

Example: Player A plays Jace, Architect of Thought. Player B then casts their own copy of Jace, Architect of Thought. Both copies remain on the battlefield.

Example: Player A plays Jace, Architect of Thought. Player B then casts Jace, Memory Adept. Both copies remain on the battlefield.

Example: Player A plays Jace, Architect of Thought. Player B casts Pithing Needle naming Jace, Architect of Thought. Player A then plays a Jace, Memory Adept, choosing to keep it on the battlefield and placing the Jace, Architect of Thought in the graveyard.

Example: Player A plays Liliana of the Veil and uses her -2 ability. Then Player A casts a second copy of Liliana of the Veil, choosing to keep it on the battlefield and placing the original Liliana in the graveyard. He then activates the second Liliana's -2 ability.

 

Sideboarding in Constructed Magic tournaments.

   1.   Sideboards may now contain up to fifteen cards. This means that anywhere between 0 and 15 cards is a legal number, not just one or the other.

   2.   Players are no longer required to sideboard "one-for-one," and may now sideboard in or out as many cards as they choose so long as their deck remains at least 60 cards and sideboard remains at most 15 cards.

Example: Player A has a 60 card deck and a 3 card sideboard. His deck is legal.

Example: Player A has a 62 card deck and a 15 card sideboard. His deck is legal.

Example: Player A has a 60 card deck and a 15 card sideboard. After game 1, he presents a 61 card deck. His deck is legal.

Example: Player A has a 62 card deck and a 12 card sideboard. After game 1, he presents a 60 card deck. His deck is legal.

Example: Player A has a 250 card deck and a 10 card sidboard. After game 1, he presents a 60 card deck. His deck is illegal (sideboard contains more than 15 cards).

Example: Player A has a 61 card deck and a 10 card sideboard. After game 1, he presents a 56 card deck. His deck is illegal (deck contains fewer than 60 cards).

 

Indestructibility (and clarification on Unblockability).

   1.   "Indestructible" is now a keyword ability.

   2.   "Unblockable" is now "can't be blocked" and is not a keyword ability (as it never was).

Example: Player A controls two creatures. He casts Rootborn Defenses, giving his creatures "indestructible" until end of turn. He then casts another creature. Whereas before that creature was indestructible, now the third creature does not have "indestructible."

Example: Player A controls a creature. He casts Rootborn Defenses, giving his creature "indestructible" until end of turn. Player B casts Turn//Burn, targeting the creature with both sides of the card. Whereas before that creature was still indestructible, now it loses the ability and is destroyed.

 

Effects that allow more than one land to be played.

Effects that allow you to play additional lands are now treated as extra "land drops." It does not matter where the effect is coming from; losing a land drop and then gaining a new land drop does not increase the number of lands you can play.

Example: Player A controls Exploration and plays two lands. He has no more land drops this turn.

Example: Player A controls Exploration and plays two lands. He then plays Oracle of Mul Daya. He has an additional land drop, and plays a third land.

Example: Player A controls Exploration and plays two lands. He then plays Oracle of Mul Daya, but in response Player B casts Disenchant targeting the Exploration, destroying it. Under the old rules, the Oracle of Mul Daya granted Player A an additional land drop. Under the new rules, Player A has two land drops and has played two lands. He cannot play a third.

 

For more updates on the M14 rules updates that occur July 13, 2013, and all of the other news updates in Magic, stay tuned to SCGNews and DailyMTG.com.