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Rivalry Rules

This document outlines the basic rules and phases of a card game between the USA and USSR. It explains that each player starts with 20 life and a 40 card deck. It details how cards work, such as tapping lands to cast spells, attacking and blocking with creatures, and special abilities. Each turn has phases like untapping, upkeep where an event card is revealed, drawing a card, main phases to play lands/cards, a combat phase, and ending your turn by passing to your opponent.

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109 views2 pages

Rivalry Rules

This document outlines the basic rules and phases of a card game between the USA and USSR. It explains that each player starts with 20 life and a 40 card deck. It details how cards work, such as tapping lands to cast spells, attacking and blocking with creatures, and special abilities. Each turn has phases like untapping, upkeep where an event card is revealed, drawing a card, main phases to play lands/cards, a combat phase, and ending your turn by passing to your opponent.

Uploaded by

api-454863801
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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APPENDIX II: Rules of the Game

1. LIFE – each player starts with 20 life.


2. DECK – each player starts with a deck of 40 cards. The deck should be shuffled before the
game begins and whenever the deck is searched.
3. HOW TO READ A CARD
a. In the top left is the name of the card.
b. In the top right is how many lands must be tapped to cast the card.
c. Underneath the card art is the type line, which describes if the card is a Creature –
Human or Artifact – Missile, for example.
d. Underneath the type line is the text box, which contains any special abilities of the card
as well as flavor text in quotation marks.1
e. In the bottom right corner is the power and toughness of the card if it is a creature,
denoted “power/toughness.”
i. The power is how much damage the creature can deal.
ii. The toughness is how much damage the creature can absorb before dying.
4. PERMANENT DEFINED – All cards are permanents. Once a card is played, it stays on the
battlefield even if it has no other effect after what occurs when it enters the battlefield.2
5. TAPPING AND UNTAPPING – to tap a card is to turn it sideways to show that it has been used
for the turn. You do this when you use a land to make mana and when you attack with a
creature. When a permanent is tapped, you can’t tap it again until it’s been untapped (turned
back upright). As your turn begins, untap your tapped cards so you can use them again.
6. CASTING SPELLS – to cast a spell, you must pay its cost in the upper right hand corner by
tapping the required number of lands.
7. ATTACKING AND BLOCKING – the most common way to win the game is to attack with
your creatures. If a creature that is attacking an opponent isn’t blocked, it deals damage equal to
its power to that opponent. If damage is dealt to your opponent, they lose that much life.
8. USA ALWAYS GOES FIRST.3 USA may choose whether to play first or second. If USA plays
first, then they do not draw a card. If they play second, they draw a card.
9. ABILITIES OF A CREATURE – can be activated at any time unless the card says otherwise.
10. PARTS OF A TURN - each turn proceeds in the same sequence.
a. BEGINNING PHASE
i. Untap step – untap all of your tapped permanent cards. On your first step, you
don’t have any permanents, so you just skip this step.
ii. Upkeep4 - at the beginning of USA’s turn and on their upkeep, flip over one
Event card. That card remains active until USA’s next upkeep, when the next
Event card is revealed. If the current Event card is an Ongoing Event, do not flip
it during USA’s upkeep unless the condition on the card is met. If the condition is
met, the Ongoing Event stays upright but its effect is neutralized until USA’s
next upkeep. At that time, the Ongoing Event is flipped.

1
Most cards in the game were inspired by real life persons and things rather than actual Magic: The Gathering cards.
2
This gives players permanents to sacrifice to the many sacrifice effects in the game.
3
This is in order to balance the game because the USSR deck is slightly stronger.
4
This step was added to the game. The purpose of this step was to provide an opportunity at the very beginning of the
turn to flip over a new Event card. Event cards are meant to be flipped often to avoid giving one player too much of an
advantage and to maintain a sense of tension and uncertainty. Event cards disrupt and alter the game substantially each
turn.
iii. Draw step – you must draw a card from your library, even if you don’t want to.
USSR will always draw a card on their Draw step unless USA lets them go first.
USA skips their first draw step unless USA chooses to go second.
b. FIRST MAIN PHASE – you may cast any number of cards or activate abilities during
this phase. You may also play a land during this phase.5 You may only play one land per
turn. If you cast a creature, it may not attack the same turn it was played.
c. COMBAT PHASE – this may be skipped if you cannot or choose not to attack.
i. Declare attackers step – you decide which, if any, untapped creatures attack.
ii. Declare blockers step – your opponent decides which, if any, untapped creatures
will block. Multiple blockers can block one attacking creature. As soon as
blockers are declared, combat damage from that creature is blocked, even if the
blocking creature subsequently dies.
iii. Combat damage step – each attacking or blocking creature assigns its combat
damage to the defending player or blocking creature. An attacking creature
blocked by several blockers may have its combat damage assigned to the
blocking creatures as the attacking player wishes. Once players decide how
creatures they control will deal their combat damage, the damage is all dealt at
the same time. Some creatures may die in this step.
d. SECOND MAIN PHASE - this is just like your first main phase, but occurs after
combat.
e. END OF TURN PHASE – your turn ends, and you pass the turn to your opponent.

5
The lands for each player were named after major cities in the USA or USSR.

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