Duelists' Convocation WOTC's Official Deckmaster Games Organization P.O. Box 707 Renton WA 98057-0707 Magic: the Gathering official tournament rules Includes Magic: the Gathering, Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends 8/1/94 Version Deck Construction Rules: 1. The tournament deck must contain a minimum of 60 (sixty) cards, total, of all lands, creatures, spells, and artifacts. In addition to the tournament deck, players may construct a Sideboard of exactly 15 (fifteen) additional cards. Players are not required to use a Sideboard, but if they do it must always contain exactly 15 (fifteen) cards. The use of the Sideboard will be further explained under Floor Rules (rule #5). 2. There may be no more than 4 (four) of any individual card in the tournament deck (including sideboard), with the exception of the five basic land types (Plains, Forest, Mountain, Island, Swamp). 3. The Restricted List : No more than 1 (one) of each of the cards on the Restricted List are allowed in the tournament deck. If more than 1 (one) of any individual card from the Restricted List are found in a player's deck, that will be interpreted by the Judge as a Declaration of Forfeiture. The Restricted List may be modified by the Director of the Duelists' Convocation as necessary. The Restricted List is as follows : Ali from Cairo Ancestral Recall Berserk Black Lotus Brain Geyser Candleabra of Tawnos Channel Chaos Orb Copy Artifact Demonic Tutor Falling Star Feldon's Cane Ivory Tower Library of Alexandria Mind Twist Mirror Universe Mishra's Workshop Mox Pearl Mox Emerald Mox Ruby Mox Sapphire Mox Jet Recall Regrowth Sol Ring Sword of Ages Time Twister Time Walk Underworld Dreams Wheel of Fortune In addition, any "Summon Legend" card is restricted to one each, as are each of the Legendary Lands from the Legends expansion. 4. The following cards are banned from official tournament decks : Bronze Tablet Contract from Below Darkpact Demonic Attorney Divine Intervention Jeweled Bird Rebirth Shahrazad Time Vault Tempest Efreet Several of the cards on the banned list are not allowed because they clearly state to remove them from your deck if not playing for ante, and ante is not required to be wagered in an official tournament (see Floor Rules, rule #6). Any future cards that make the same statement will subsequently be banned. This list may be modified by the Director of the Duelists' Convocation as necessary. 5. Decks may be constructed from Magic cards from the Limited (black border) series, the Unlimited (white border) series, Revised Edition, or any Magic expansion (unless expressly disallowed by the Judge prior to the event). All cards in the tournament deck must have identical card back design. Under no circumstances will cards from the Collector's Edition factory sets be permitted in tournament decks. They are easily distinguished from legal play cards by their square corners and gold borders. Use of Collector's Edition factory set cards, or any other cards not expressly permitted, in a tournament deck will be interpreted by the Judge as a Declaration of Forfeiture (see Floor Rules, #12). Floor Rules : 1. Tournaments may use a standard, single elimination ladder bracket system, or other approved tournament form. When using a ladder bracket system, a ladder chart should be prepared with players' names and Duelists' Convocation membership numbers clearly printed in their ladder positions. The players should be allowed to view the chart at any time between their matches, at their request. 2. The number of players in an official tournament should ideally be a factor of two (i.e., 16, 32, 64, 128...etc.). In the event that the number of players are not a factor of two, byes may be assigned randomly during the first round only, and should be done in such a fashion so that the number of players in the second round is a factor of two. Players will not receive ranking points for a round in which they received a bye. 3. Tournaments will be presided over by a Judge, who may be assisted by as many Assistant Referees as they may need. A Judge may be required to interpret rules, to terminate an excessively long match, to interpret a Declaration of Forfeiture, or make any other adjudication as necessary during the tournament.The Judge is also responsible for maintaining the ladder chart, and only the Judge is permitted to write on the chart (i.e., listing advancing players on the bracket). Assistant Referees will aid by answering rules questions on the floor and being available to the Judge for any other assistance they may require. In necessary cases, the Judge may overrule any decision made by an Assistant Referee. The decision of the Judge is always final. 4. A duel is one complete game of Magic. A match is defined as the best two out of three duels. A player may advance in the tournament after successfully winning one match, and reporting this victory to the Judge. 5. Players must use the same deck that they begin the tournament with throughout the duration of the tournament. The only deck alteration permitted is through the use of the Sideboard (see Deck Constuction Rules, rule #1). If a player intends to use a Sideboard during the course of a match, they must declare to their opponent that they will be using the Sideboard prior to the beginning of that match. Players may exchange cards from their deck for cards from their Sideboard on a one-for-one basis at any time between duels or matches. There are no restrictions on how many cards a player may exchange in this way at any given time. Prior to the beginning of any duel, each player must allow their opponent to count, face down, the number of cards in their Sideboard. If a player's Sideboard does not total exactly 15 (fifteen) cards, the Judge or an Assistant Referee must be consulted to evaluate the situation before the duel can begin. If a player claims that they are not using a Sideboard at the beginning of the match, ignore this counting procedure for that player, but no deck alteration of any kind will be permitted by the Judge for that player for the duration of that match. Any violation of this rule may be interpreted by the Judge as a Declaration of Forfeiture. NOTE: The only deck alteration allowable while a duel is in progress is with the use of a Ring of Ma'Ruf. The Ring of Ma'Ruf may only be used to retrieve a card from the player's sideboard. Cards other than the tournament deck and sideboard should not be allowed at the tournament. In the event that a player uses a Ring of Ma'Ruf to retrieve a card from their sideboard, the Ring of Ma'ruf used is placed into the player's sideboard to take the place of the retrieved card, thus maintaing exactly fifteen cards in the sideboard. 6. Players are not required to wager ante during the tournament. Players may play for real ante, provided that both participants in the match give their consent, though this agreement does not allow the inclusion of the banned ante cards in the tournament deck. Ante cards won in a tournament must be kept seperate from the tournament deck and sideboard; they may not be used in the tournament, and are not valid for use with a Ring of Ma'Ruf. If loss of ante cards from a player's deck reduces the deck below 60 (sixty) cards, the player no longer has a legal tournament deck, and will be removed from the tournament bracket. 7. If a player draws either (a.) no land or (b.) all land cards on the initial draw of seven cards to begin a duel, they may restart the duel. To do this, the player must show their opponent that they have either no land or all land, reshuffle their deck, allow their opponent to recut the deck, and draw seven new cards. The player's opponent has the option to do the same, even if their hand does not qualify for this rule. For example, if player A draws no land and wishes to reshuffle, player B may opt to also to try to improve the hand they drew. A player may only use this rule once per duel. 8. The use of "proxy cards" in the tournament deck is not allowed. A proxy card is one that has been placed into the deck to represent another card that for one reason or another the player doesn't want to play with (i.e., using a Swamp with the word "Nightmare" written on it, because the player doesn't want to play with their beta Nightmare). Magic: the Gathering is a card game; if you don't want to play with a card, then don't play with it. If you want to play with a card, you must put it in your deck...no proxies. 9. The use of plastic sleeves or other protective devices on cards in the tournament deck is not allowed. These items do not allow for proper shuffling of a deck, as the plastic tends to stick to itself. 10. Players may not have any outside assistance (i.e., coaching) during a match. If a player is in violation, the Judge may issue a warning to the player, or interpret the violation as a Declaration of Forfeiture, at the Judge's discretion. 11. Players must at all times keep the cards in their hand above the level of the playing surface. If a player is in violation, the Judge may issue a warning to the player, or interpret the violation as a Declaration of Forfeiture, at the Judge's discretion. 12. Failure to adhere to the above rules, or any other rules specific to a particular tournament, may be interpreted by the Judge as a Declaration of Forfeiture. Only the Judge may make an interpretation of a Declaration of Forfeiture. This is a more pleasant way of stating that if a player cheats, the Judge will remove them from the tournament. 13. Rules note: The Director of the Duelists' Convocation reserves the exclusive right to add, delete, alter, transmute, polymorph, switch, color-lace, sleight of mind, magical hack, or in any other way change these rules, whole or in part, with or without notice, at any time that it is deemed necessary or desirable. This right is non-negotiable. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------