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THE DISCUSSION IS CURRENTLY TAKING PLACE OVER HERE: http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1203752

This thread is for discussing the rules changes announced by Aaron Forsythe and Mark Gottlieb HERE!

We want to hear what you think about them. Please abide by the Code of Conduct so we don't have to remove any posts. Thank you.

DISCUSS!

EDIT:

RULES CLARIFICATIONS

DEATHTOUCH AND TRAMPLE (updated in post #1132)

If an attacking creature has deathtouch, its combat damage can be assigned among any of the creatures blocking it, divided as its controller chooses, ignoring the new ordering rules.

If an attacking creature has trample, its excess combat damage can be assigned to the defending player (or planeswalker) if all the creatures blocking it have been assigned at least lethal damage.

These two abilities don't overlap in any special way. (In other words, the definition of "lethal damage" hasn't changed, and isn't affected by deathtouch.) If you've got a 3/3 attacker with deathtouch and trample that's been blocked by a 2/2, you must still assign 2 damage to the blocker in order to assign 1 damage to the defending player.

FIRST STRIKE AND DOUBLE STRIKE

First Strike and Double Strike can and often will result in two combat damage steps. In the first, First Strike damage will be assigned and resolve. There is a chance to cast spells and activate abilities before taking care of regular combat damage. You then take care of regular combat damage and have another chance to cast spells and activate abilities.

BANDING

As mentioned in the article, an announcement will come out at a later date addressing the changes to Banding in regards to the rules changes.

The_Greek_God wrote:

At last, everything will become clear now.

Clear as mud for some, that's why we're announcing it now.

What was the purpose of "at the beginning of the end of turn step?"

I know absolutely no one who was confused by that timing. It makes Magic sound like a Yu-Gi-Oh clone.

I thought the purpose of these changes were for more elegant templating?

I'm going to go ahead and say it.

The end is nigh!

-Ender

To me, these changes are making the game harder to teach, not easier. I have and use a lot of cards running back to the start of the game, and a lot of the people I play with play very infrequently and remember things from long ago. Having to explain why some cards say "in play" and other say "the battlefield" and so on is going to be a huge drag and probably a continuing source of pain for a long time.

Add to that the fact that the rules changes unexpectedly destroy several existing decks that I enjoy (the old Mirari-Cunning Wish deck, my friend's Power Surge deck, stacking Armadillo Cloaks and Loxodon Warhammers, etc.) and it's hard to see how these changes will improve my Magic experience. Maybe they're pleasant for people who are playing exclusively with new cards, but that's never going to be my situation. Maybe long-time, devoted players who enjoy using old cards and sharing them with new players just aren't that important to the game?