Magic 2010

Magic: The Gathering 2010 Core Set (Magic 2010) will be released July 17, 2009. The worldwide Prerelease will take place July 11-12, and Launch Parties will be July 17-19.

Set details

Magic 2010 will be the first core set since Beta to bring new cards. It will also be the first core set with planeswalkers and mythic rares. There are no legendary cards in the set, unlike the previous core set. This set will be sold in new 6-card booster packs, as well as the standard 15-card ones.

Rule changes

Many rule changes are implemented with Magic 2010, the most changes since Sixth Edition core set changes.

• Simultaneous Mulligan - Starting with the player who will take the first turn of the game and proceeding in turn order around the table, each player announces whether he or she will take a mulligan or not. Then everyone who said they would take a mulligan does so at the same time. (If no one's taking a mulligan, the game proceeds onward.) If any players took a mulligan, then just those players repeat the process to see if any of them will take a second mulligan: First they announce yes or no, then all the yeses shuffle and redraw at the same time. This continues among the mulliganers until everyone's satisfied with their starting hands. Once you decide you're not taking a mulligan, your starting hand is locked in. You can't jump back into the mulligan process later.

• Battlefield - The in-play zone is renamed the "battlefield," which brings it in line with other flavorful zone names like "graveyard" and "library." Permanents now "enter the battlefield" or are "put onto the battlefield" as opposed to "come into play" or "put into play."

• Cast, Play, and Activate - "Cast" is being reinstated as the verb used when referring to the act of playing spells or types of spells. "Play" is being kept as the verb associated with lands (and with cards of unspecified types). Activated abilities are also no longer "played" but rather "activated."

• Exile - The phrase "remove from the game" is being changed to "exile," which is shorter, more flavorful, and not at all misleading about actually being in the game. The zone is now called the "exile zone" and cards in it will be referred to as "exiled cards."

• Beginning of the End Step - The "end-of-turn step" is now called "end step" and the phrase "at end of turn" will be replaced with "at the beginning of the end step".

• Mana Pools and Mana Burn - Mana pools now empty at the end of each step and phase, which means mana can no longer be floated from the upkeep to the draw step, nor from the declare attackers step to the declare blockers step of combat. Mana burn is eliminated as a game concept. Mana left unspent at the end of steps or phases will simply vanish, with no accompanying loss of life.

• Token Ownership - Now the owner of a token is the player under whose control it entered the battlefield.

• Combat Damage No Longer Uses the Stack - There will no longer be a time-window between the assigning of damage and the damage being dealt in which activated abilities or instants could be played. Instead, damage is dealt as soon as the players have finished assigning it.

• Multiple blockers are assigned damage in succession - If a creature is blocked by multiple creatures, the attacking players numbers the blockers in the order the attacking creature will deal damage to them. A creature can only assign damage to a blocking creature with a higher number if all creatures with numbers below that creatures number have been assigned lethal damage.
  • E.g.: A Trained Armodon (green, 3/3) is blocked by a Grizzly Bears and a Cylian Elf (both 2/2). The attacking player numbers the Bears as "Blocker #1" and the Elf as "Blocker #2". Now the defending player casts Shelter and gives the Bears protection from green. The attacking player now must assign 2 damage to the Bears and can only assign 1 point of damage to the Elf. Both 2/2's survive as the Bears damage is prevented by protection and the Elf is not dealt lethal damage. Meanwhile the Armodon is dealt a total of 4 damage and is destroyed since the damage on it exceeds it's toughness.

• Deathtouch - First, deathtouch is becoming a static ability. Creatures dealt damage by a source with deathtouch will be destroyed as a state-based effect at the same time lethal damage would kill them. As a side effect, multiple instances of deathtouch will no longer be cumulative. Second, deathtouch allows a double-blocked creature to ignore the new damage assignment rules and split its damage among any number of creatures it's in combat with however its controller wants to.

• Lifelink - Lifelink, like deathtouch, is turning into a static ability. If a source with lifelink deals damage, its controller gains that much life as that damage is being dealt. This brings the timing much closer to spells like Consume Spirit and Lightning Helix. As a side effect, multiple instances of lifelink are no longer cumulative.

Cycles

• Dual Lands: Each of these rare lands comes into play tapped unless you control a basic land of one of the appropriate types — Glacial Fortress, Drowned Catacomb, Desolate Cairns, Rootbound Crag and Sunpetal Grove.
• "Lucky charms": Each costing and hosting an ability that allows its controller to gain life whenever a spell of the appropriate color is played — Angel's Feather, Demon's Horn, Dragon's Claw, Kraken's Eye and Wurm's Tooth. (Reprinted from Darksteel.)

Functional reprints

Magic 2010 has 5 functional reprints:

• Borderland Ranger is a functional reprint of Civic Wayfinder from 10th Edition, save for creature type.
• Elite Vanguard is a functional reprint of Savannah Lions from 9th Edition, save for creature type.
• Goblin Artillery is a functional reprint of Orcish Artillery from 10th Edition and Orcish Cannoneers from Ice Age, save for creature type.
• Vampire Aristocrat is a functional reprint of Nantuko Husk from 10th Edition and Phyrexian Ghoul from Urza's Saga, save for creature type.
• Zephyr Sprite is a functional reprint of Flying Men from Time Spiral, save for creature type.

Intro Packs

The intro packs are: Template:Intro packs

External links

• Magic 2010 product information page — Wizards of the Coast
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• Magic 2010 spoilers

Rules changes

• Magic 2010 Rules Changes