M14 Rules Change

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Happy Thursday MTG peeps,

As we here at MTG Realm were contemplating all the new Magic 2014 core set cards (and already planning preorders at MTG Mint Card), we were taken completely by surprise by the rules change announcement on the mothersite today (these rules tweaks typically come at this time).  Anywhoos, we suggest you click on over to read what Magic: the Gathering changes there may be - these can be here and here - brought to you by the dashingly hansome WotC Rules minion Matt Tabak, and his compatriot Sam Stoddard.

For those of you whose clicky finger is tired, please read on . .
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The Legend Rule
Essentially, Wizards of the Coast found that games where players used their Planeswalkers to continuously nullify each other weren't particularly interesting, and overall it made Planeswalkers less fun as a result.  Hence the new tweak which is scheduled to take effect on July 13, the date of the Magic 2014 Core Set Prerelease. On Magic Online, the changes will go live on or around July 24, the date of the Magic 2014 Core Set build.

The "legend rule," rule 704.5k - current rules, any time two or more legendary permanents with the same name were on the battlefield, they would all be put into their owners' graveyards as a state-based action. Under the new rules, any time two or more legendary permanents with the same name are controlled by a player, that player chooses one of them and the rest are put into their owners' graveyards as a state-based action.

• Both players can now control legendary permanents of the same name.
• A player can only control one of each legendary permanent of the same name.
• A player gets to choose one legendary permanent to keep if he/she has multiple legendary permanents of the same name.
• Thus, legends can no longer be used to "kill"/"remove" opponents' legends.

The "Planeswalker Uniqueness Rule"
Here's the new rule # 704.5j which states that if a player controls two or more Planeswalkers that share a Planeswalker type, that player chooses one and the rest are put into their owner's graveyards as a state-based action. Again, you no longer have to worry about what other players control. 

The Sideboard Rule
Previously, your main deck was sixty or more cards and your sideboard was either fifteen cards or zero cards, indicating you weren't using a sideboard. With the new rule, your main deck is still sixty or more cards but your sideboard is now up to fifteen cards.

Additionally, you are not required to swap cards between your main deck and sideboard on a one-for-one basis. For Games 2 and 3 (and so on), as long as your main deck is sixty or more cards and your sideboard is no more than fifteen cards, you're good.
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