Magic The GatheringOn Thursday, Wizards of the Coast announced several changes to the official rules for Magic: The Gathering.

Probably the most significant is that multiple copies of the same legendary permanent or Planeswalker will not automatically trigger mutual destruction. Currently, as soon as two or more cards with the same name are on the battlefield, all of them are immediately put in their owners’ graveyards. With the new rules, the cards of each player will be considered separately, so that for example, more than one player may summon the same Planeswalker. Also, even for the same player, multiple copies aren’t all destroyed. Instead, the possessing player chooses one to keep. Only duplicates are eliminated.

Another change being made to the MtG rules promotes “indestructible” to a keyword. Apparently, this has been a point of confusion for many players. After the change though, any spell that makes other permanents indestructible will not have an affect on creatures added later.

For tournament players, the rules on sideboards are changing somewhat. Previously sideboards were required to be either exactly 15 or zero cards. Going forward, sideboards can be any number up to 15 cards. This means that over the course of a tournament, a player’s main deck can change in size.

Finally, in an effort to simplify an issue that not many players were even aware of, more flexibility has been granted to the playing of multiple lands. Before, when playing any land beyond the first, a player was supposed to specify which card’s ability they were relying on. With the new rule, any additional land-plays granted by a card go in to a general pool.

All of these rule changes are effective July 13, or July 24 in Magic Online.