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Mental Magic Comprehensive Rules
Mental Magic
(Version 1.0)
904. Mental Magic
904.1. General
904.2. Game Mode
904.3. Identity
904.4. Utopia
904.5. Playing Utopias
904.6. Casting Spells
904.7. Playing other Lands
904.8. Hidden Cards
904.9. Handling Hidden Acticated Abilities
904.10. Handling Face-Down Permanents
904.11. Handling known cards in hidden zones
904.12. Entering a Public Zone
904. Mental Magic
904.1. In Mental Magic, every magic card is played as a representative as every magic card with the exact same mana cost as that card. The Mental Magic variant uses all the normal rules for a Magic game, with the following additions or alterations.
904.2. A Mental Magic game may be a two-player game or a multiplayer game.
904.3. The identity of a card is every game-relevant value of a card. This includes, as what card that card has been played, any characteristics of that card, including supertype, type, subtype, text, power/toughness, expansion symbol, name, as well as any game interactions of that card, including any permanents attached to it, any counters on it, any spells and abilities targeting it, any continous or temporary effects that effect it.
904.4. Mental Magic uses an additional basic land type, Utopia.
904.4a. The basic land type "Utopia" implies an intrinsic ability to produce colored mana. An object with the basic land type "Utopia" is treated as if its text box included "
904.5. Each card can be played as a basic land Utopia.
904.5a Each player may choose to play a card face-down as a land. This follows the normal rules for playing lands, meaning that a player can only can play one land during his or her own turn, and only during his or her main phase and when the stack is empty.
904.5b A land played this way has the following characteristics: It enters the battlefield as a Basic Land, has no text, no name, the subtype "Utopia", no expansion symbol, and no mana cost. These values are the copiable values of that objects characteristics.
904.5c A card played as a land this way is not considered as face-down card. Instead, it is treated as a normal face-up permanent with the characteristics described in rule 904.3b. If a land is turned face-down, follow the normal rules for turning permanents face-down as described in rule 707.2a.
904.5d If a card played as land this way is turned face-down by another effect, and gets turned face-up again, it becomes a land again with the characteristics described in rule 904.3b
904.5e Although the card is not considered face-down, players may not look at the card it was before it became a land. Only the player currently controlling the land may look at the card.
904.5f If an Utopia would change zones, instead, choose a random Utopia controlled by the same player in the same zone. Exchange the identity of those two Utopias, (see rule 904.5.), then the randomly chosen Utopia leaves the battlefield. The zone the Utopia was leaving to remains unchanged.
Example: Player A controls a tapped Utopia enchanted with Spreading Seas. He plays a Deprive, and chooses the enchanted land to return to his hand. Instead, an untapped Utopia got chosen at random. Those two lands exchange identities, meaning the randomly chosen land is now the land enchanted by Spreading Seas, is tapped, and gets returned to its owner's hand, while the original chosen land is now untapped and not enchanted by anything. The Spreading Seas will be put into its owner's graveyard the next time state-based actions are checked.
904.6. Each card in a hidden zone can be cast as any non-marked card with the exact same mana cost. This is the very first step of casting the spell. This also alters the timing of when that card can be played. Casting spells like this follows the normal rules of casting spells, see rule 601. If the chosen card is successfully cast, the card it was played as becomes marked.
Example: Player A has an Angel's Herald in his hand. During Player B's upkeep, he chooses to play it as an Orim's Chant targeting Player B. No other player will be able to play a card as an Orim's Chant this game.
904.6a Cards cannot be cast as the card the card they are represented by unless that card is explicitly chosen as that card as described in rule 904.6. If that card has already been marked, a card cannot be cast as itself from any hidden zone at all.
904.7. Each card in a hidden zone with no mana cost can represent any nonmarked land card. This also means it can be played as any non-marked land, following the normal rules for playing a land.
904.8. Each card in a hidden zone can be treated as any non-marked card with the same mana cost or as a land with the characteristics described in rule 904.5b. If no non-marked card with that mana cost remains for a card, it is only an Utopia.
904.8a Special actions of cards in hidden zones can be activated as well. If a special action of a card is used, that card becomes marked. If that special action causes a card to enter a public zone, it remains that card belonging to that special action.
Example: Player A has a Bloodpyre Elemental in his hand. He chooses to suspend it as a Keldon Halberdier. The Keldon Halberdier is now marked. Once the last suspend counter is removed from the Keldon Halberdier, it gets cast and will also enter the battlefield as a Keldon Halberdier. This works, even though it is already marked, because it is not cast from a hidden zone.
904.9. Cards in hidden zones can activate any abilities of any non-marked cards with the same mana cost. If an ability is activated that way, the card is revealed, and the card belonging to that ability becomes marked. If an ability is activated this way, the card becomes the marked card for the time the ability gets activated. If the ability makes the card leave its current zone and enter a public zone, it enters that zone as the card belonging to the activated ability.
Example: Player A has a Scavenging Drake in his hand. He chooses to activate the cycling ability of Viscera Dragger. Since the ability caused the card to enter a public zone, it stays a Viscera Dragger and its Unearth ability can be used from the graveyard.
904.10. A card that represents a card that has morph can be played face-down following the normal morph rules.
904.10a A face-down permanent can be turned face-up for the morph cost of a non-marked card with that mana cost. If a permanent is turned face-up that way, it becomes the card of the morph ability that was used.
904.10b If a face-down permanent that was played as a morph is turned face-up (even if this happens by leaving the battlefield), it becomes a non-marked card with morph with that mana cost. That card becomes marked.
904.10c If a face-down creature that was played as a morph is turned face-up, and no non-marked card with morph for that mana cost remains, the card keeps all characteristics defined for a face-down creatures, except that its face-up.
904.11. Mental Magic uses special rules for handling known cards in hidden zones.
904.11a. Mental Magic uses different rules for searching libraries. Players cannot search their library. If a player would search his or her library for n cards, that player instead searches the top n cards of his or her library for n cards.
Example: Player A chooses to play a Valeron Outlander as a Eladamri's Call. Instead for searching his entire library, he gets to search for a creature card only in the top card of his or her library. If he cannot name a creature card for the card, he cannot reveal it and put it into his hand. Note that if he names a card, that card does not become marked.
904.11b. If a player would search his or her library for any number of cards, he searches his or her library for zero cards instead.
904.11c. If a card from a hidden zone gets revealed, the owner of that card announces what card it is. It may be any non-marked card with the same mana cost or a land as described in rule 904.5b. Note that the announced cards do not become marked. Also, if it is chosen to be a land, the characteristics of that card still remain visible to all players for as long as that card is revealed.
Example: Player A casts Serum Visions as an Telepathy. Player B, the opponent of Player A, plays with his or her hand revealed and has to announce a card for each card revealed. He can still cast those cards as what he announced, but he can also play them as something else, following the rule of casting spells from hidden zones.
904.11d. If a card from a zone gets looked at by a player other than its owner, those cards are considered to be lands with characteristics described in rule 904.5b. He or she still gets to see the characteristics of that cards. If cards looked at this way enter a public zone, they remain lands. Those cards become marked. This rule also applies for searching other players' libraries.
904.11e. If a card from a zone gets looked at by its owner, or a player searches his or her own library, any card looked at or searched may be an Utopia or any non-marked card with the same mana cost. If those cards move to a public zone, they enter that zone as the card they were in the library. If they enter the public zone as non-Utopia, the card they enter that zone in becomes marked.
904.12. If a card enters a public zone, if it was in a hidden zone before, if it a.) wasn't cast, b.) was not played as a land as described in rule 904.5, and if it does not enter the public zone from a hidden zone as described in rules 904.10a-e, it does enter the public zone as the same card it is as it leaves the hidden zone. If that card is not known, the owner of it announces as what card it is. It must be a non-marked card with the same mana cost or an Utopia; if it enters the public zone as a non-Utopia, the card it enters the zone as becomes marked.
