If an attacking creature “is unblockable,” no creature can legally block it. Spells or abilities may still cause it to become blocked.
A creature is unblocked if it’s attacking and no creature blocked it during the declare blockers step of the current combat phase. It remains an unblocked creature until an effect causes it to become blocked, it’s removed from combat, it stops being a creature, its controller changes, or the combat phase ends. Unblocked creatures don’t exist outside of the combat phase or before the declare blockers step. See rule 309, “Declare Blockers Step.”
The DCI Universal Tournament Rules (
Some cards use the phrase “[Do something] unless you [do something else].” This means the same thing as “You may [do something else]. If you don’t, [do something].”
To untap a tapped card, rotate it back to the upright position. See also Tap, Tapped, and Untapped.
The untap step is the first step of the beginning phase. All permanents controlled by the active player normally untap at this time. See rule 302, “Untap Step.”
A permanent that’s upright is untapped. Tapping permanents shows that they’ve been used. Permanents untap during their controllers’ untap steps. See also Tap, Tapped, and Untap.
The upkeep step is the second step of the beginning phase. Some cards have abilities that trigger at the beginning of the upkeep step; such an ability is informally called an “upkeep cost” or an “upkeep effect.” An upkeep cost is usually written in the form “At the beginning of your upkeep, you may [pay cost]. If you don’t, sacrifice [this card].” These are normal triggered abilities-there are no special rules for them. See rule 303, “Upkeep Step.”
The
Vigilance is a static ability that modifies the rules for the declare attackers step. Attacking doesn’t cause creatures with vigilance to tap. See rule 502.14, “Vigilance.”
sWall is a creature type with no particular rules meaning. Many older cards with the Wall creature type have received errata so that they also have the defender ability. Many older cards that referred to the Wall creature type also have errata. Updated wordings for all cards are available in the Oracle card reference.
A game immediately ends when a player wins. See rule 102, “Winning and Losing.”
World is a supertype that normally applies to enchantments.
If two or more permanents have the supertype world, all except the one that has been a permanent with the world supertype for the shortest amount of time are put into their owners’ graveyards. In the event of a tie for the shortest amount of time, all are put into their owners’ graveyards. This “world rule” is a state-based effect. See rule 420.5.
If a world permanent’s types or subtypes change, this doesn’t change its supertypes. The permanent will still be a world permanent.
If a cost has an “{X}” in it, the value of X must be announced as part of playing the spell or ability. (See rule 409, “Playing Spells and Activated Abilities.”) While the spell or ability is on the stack, the {X} in its mana cost equals the amount announced as part of playing the spell or ability. If a card in any other zone has {X} in its mana cost, the amount is treated as 0. If you’re playing a spell that has {X} in its mana cost and an effect lets you play it without paying any cost that includes X, the only legal choice for X is 0. This does not apply to effects that only reduce a cost, even if they reduce it to zero. See rule 409, “Playing Spells and Activated Abilities.”
In triggered abilities, X is defined when the ability resolves. It may be defined by the text of the ability, by a keyword ability of the card, or by the trigger event. See rule 410, “Handling Triggered Abilities.”
In other cases, X is defined by the text of a spell or ability. If X isn’t defined, the controller of the spell or ability chooses the value of X. All Xs on an object have the same value.
Y, Z
See X.
The words “you” and “your” on an object refer to the object’s controller, its would-be controller (if a player is attempting to play it), or its owner (if it has no controller). For a static ability, this is the current controller of the object it’s on. For an activated ability, this is the player who played the ability. For a triggered ability, this is the controller of the object when the ability triggered. See also Controller, Owner.
