Magic: The Gathering® | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Update Bulletin
Sit back with a slice of pizza and learn about the changes to Magic's comprehensive rules coming with the newest release, as well as the changes coming to the official text of a few cards.
This is a summary of the rules changes that are skating into Magic with the release of Magic: The Gathering® | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The official rules can be found on our rules page. If there are any discrepancies between this summary and the official rules, the official rules take precedence.
New and Updated Rules
For detailed descriptions of each of the new mechanics, check out Matt Tabak's excellent mechanics article.
Sneak
The new rule 702.190 and its subrules, alongside the minor changes to combat rules listed below, flesh out the sneak ability. Sneak represents a static ability that functions while the spell with sneak is on the stack. "Sneak [cost]" means "Any time you could cast an instant during your declare blockers step, you may choose to pay [cost] and return an unblocked creature you control to its owner's hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost." A separate subrule explains that the permanent enters the battlefield attacking, and that it will be attacking the same player, planeswalker, or battle as the creature that was returned to pay the sneak cost.
506.3d and 508.4d
The new subrules here handle general cases where a creature enters the battlefield attacking after blockers have already been declared. The rule for ninjutsu used to cover this, but that's been removed from the keyword ability's rules and the generalized rule now covers ninjutsu and the new sneak ability. It also covers
508.4
While we were at it making sure creatures that enter attacking were correctly considered blocked or unblocked, we realized there wasn't a rule that said when those creatures stop being attacking creatures. The answer is obvious, but we decided to make the rules explicit about it, and a new sentence in this rule does just that. If a creature is put onto the battlefield attacking, it remains an attacking creature until it is removed from combat or the combat phase ends, whichever comes first.
Mutagen Token
A new subrule in 111.10 defines a Mutagen token. Radical!
Partner
702.124i. Partner—Character select has been added to the list of partner abilities.
New artifact type
- Mutagen
New creature type
- Utrom
New glossary entries
- Sneak
New ability word
- Disappear
Oracle Updates
We only ordered a few Oracle updates with this release, so let's get cooking! Leaving aside the minor reminder text and templating adjustments (they don't make good toppings), here's the good stuff, fresh out of the pizza oven.
Leonardo, Worldly Warrior
Leonardo might want to go to a place where there are no limits, but Magic templating has a few rules and conventions even he can't slice through. In particular, that first ability of his looks a lot like affinity for creatures, so we made the swap.
Old text:
This spell costs {1} less to cast for each creature you control.
Double strike (This creature deals both first-strike and regular combat damage.)
New text:
Affinity for creatures (This spell costs {o1} less to cast for each creature you control.)
Double strike (This creature deals both first-strike and regular combat damage.)
Arcade Cabinet
I know you have a quarter on the machine, but I need to do a little bit of maintenance first. It won't take but a moment. The last ability isn't in line with the usual template for counter doubling, so we've adjusted it to match.
Old text:
When this artifact enters, put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to four target creatures.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice a token: Double the number of counters on target creature.
New text:
When this artifact enters, put a +1/+1 counter on each of up to four target creatures.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice a token: Double the number of each kind of counter on target creature.
Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is available now from your local game store, TCGplayer, Amazon, and elsewhere Magic is sold.
