by Elton Gahr

Created on: June 24, 2009

The rules of Magic the Gathering change all the time if you consider the effects of new cards as changes but true changes to the core rulebook are much less common. The last truly major changes to these rules occurred around sixth edition and it was certainly time for the Wizards of the Coast to take another look at making the rules easier.

One of the major things that the rules have changed is a player's connection to his mana pool. They have done this with two rules changes that will generally not affect anyone a lot but will help to simplify some of the questions.

The first of these rules changes is that mana now empties from the pool after every stage and phase rather than only every phase. This will generally effect people very little as the difference between a stage and a step isn't all that well known. It is easiest to simply understand that you must gather and use mana at one time rather than holding onto it. This will be most noticed in the transition from the upkeep step to the draw step, and in combat between the declaring of attackers and the declaring of blockers.

I am certain that there will be the occasional question about this rule but the simple answer is that you need to tap your mana and use it, similar to how it is almost always used now.

The other rule goes hand in with this and will help reduce some of the pain of the changes. Mana burn has been eliminated from the game completely. Wizards of the Coast has found that many casual players are not even aware of the concept of mana burn and that when it is used it is generally to avoid the effects of a card or to gain some advantage that was not meant to be gained.

This will affect a few cards. The most notable of these cards are cards which allow a player to gain mana each turn. Without the drawback of mana burn these abilities will be considerably better. Consider Heartbeat of Spring that made each land produce one extra mana. This previously could cause damage if you couldn't use it giving the card a minor drawback. This is no longer the case.

These rules will go into effect on July 11th and July 29th for magic the gathering online. The concept of new rules and changes to the game of Magic: The Gathering is often met with frustration and trepidation as we fear that wizards will change the things we love about the game these rules seem specifically designed to cut back on the complexity of the game and to eliminate loopholes that most players didn't know existed anyway.

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