Tokens, in the realms of the game, are not cards.

That may shock some people, as they hold their 1/1 white soldiers token in their hands and go “It looks like a card, it feels like a card, it taste like a card, why isn’t it one?” (The Judge Rules Blog does not endorse anybody playing with any type of licked cardboard). In terms of magic rules, a “card” is anything that exists in your decklist. So a Magic card in your 60 card or 40 card deck (depending on your format of choice) and the items in your sideboard.

As you may know, tokens can exist on the battlefield; in fact, there are several ways you can create tokens throughout Magic’s history. You may also know that when a token leaves the battlefield, it “disappears”. This is due to state-based actions. Yes, the same state-based actions that we all know and love. A very classic SBA for example is “destroying” a creature when it has damage marked on it that is equal to or exceeds its toughness.

When a token goes into a zone that it can’t exist in (anything that’s not the battlefield), when SBAs are checked, the game says “YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO BE HERE!” and boots it out of that zone (and out of existence), hence removing it completely from the game.

Why should you care for Gatecrash, you say? There are several cards in this set that refers to “cards,” and a token is not that.

Dinrova Horror Example time! Eddie is playing against Jason at their local Gatecrash pre-release. Jason controls several 2/2 knight tokens when Eddie plays Dinrova Horror; it comes into play targeting one of the tokens.

Jason puts the token in his hand, and reads the second line of Dinrova Horror. “…then that player discards a card.” Jason, being a smart lad, knows that SBAs can’t be checked in the middle of a spell or ability resolving, so he tries to discard the token that’s in his hand, because SBAs haven’t kicked in yet and taken it from his hand.

Unfortunately for Jason, the rules are built to stop this from happening. A token is not a card, and therefore this is an illegal action for Jason to take! Jason will have to part with one of his actual precious cards in his hand.

Couple of quick examples before we leave…
This rule also means that Duskmantle Guildmage’s first ability would NOT count tokens. And Lazav, Dimir Mastermind CANNOT copy creature tokens.

Today’s Rules Tip written by Eddie Cheung