An Unofficial Update Bulletin for Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

| Simon Matthee

(Originally published on 2026-03-19; last reviewed on 2026-03-24; last updated on 2026-03-24)

(Update #1, 2026-03-24: Corrected issues with my proposal for a revised definition of sneak. This also solves the issues with Ninja Teen.)

With each new set release, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) update the Comprehensive Rules (CR) and the Oracle text of any number of cards. These updates include support for new mechanics, error corrections, and improvements to the wording of rules and cards.

Until the summer of 2023, WotC regularly published update bulletins which summarized and explained these changes. At that point, they stopped this practice for the most part and released only two new bulletins until spring 2025. Since then, WotC have resumed a regular schedule, but (so far) only for non-Universes Beyond sets. (Articles for Universes Beyond sets require more work, so my guess is that WotC deem update bulletins not worth the extra effort.)

Besides reducing the number of bulletins, WotC also made them more and more superficial over the years. In my opinion, that is the real loss, since the truly interesting parts were the ones that explained why a new rule or a rules change was written the way it was; those parts helped immensely in understanding the intent behind a rule and thus in properly evaluating it.

These days, if an official update bulletin mentions a new or changed rule, I find that the description just states what is readily apparent from reading the rule itself. As such, a CR diff found on Academy Ruins contains just as much information as the CR part of the bulletin, but with a much higher assurance that all changes are listed. The Oracle parts of official update bulletins are even more prone to omit changes (and openly state so), and unlike with the CR, comparing Gatherer revisions is quite an undertaking.

Of course, the lack of information published by WotC does not hinder a rules enthusiast from performing their own analysis: all one needs are the CR, Gatherer, and reason. (Which also holds true for judges.) Seen that way, the lack of meaningful official bulletins also has its advantage, as one doesn’t get influenced by what is ultimately just an opinion on how the changes are supposed to function. (Opinions which are generally well-informed, but all too often unsupported by the actual CR changes.)

That said, WotC did publish an update bulletin for Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which throws a wrench in my theory on their release strategy; time will tell whether Universes Beyond update bulletins become a regular thing. I wrote the preceding paragraphs a couple of days before that bulletin’s release and choose to let them stand as is.

This article is my attempt at an unofficial update bulletin. It contains all the changes to the CR, any errata issued for the new release, and changes to existing Oracle text. In each section, entries come with comments on their use cases and effects, and any other observations that come to mind; if I find that an update omits errata or support for a new card or mechanic, the omission gets its own entry.

The next section are changes to rulings listed on Gatherer. While these rulings are irrelevant to rules enthusiasts and judges, they are a constant source of amusement due to the sheer number of incorrect or misleading rulings, typos, and other absurdities. WotC’s rules team and editors are much too professional to commit these errors accidentally, so they must be deliberate choices meant to amuse the reader; as such, I think it unfair to WotC’s hardworking employees to not spread the word about their tireless attempts at making us laugh in these trying times.

The last section is a look at the official update bulletin, where I note anything I missed in my own analysis, discrepancies, and anything else that catches my eye.

Disclaimer: I have no special insight into the inner workings of WotC’s rules team, so any observations are based solely on the published updates and my own knowledge of and experience with Magic’s rules system. While I strive for completeness and correctness, I may have missed some changes; in particular, my process for archiving and comparing Gatherer revisions is still a work in progress. (Then again, WotC often omit minor changes in their own bulletins, so it’s par for the course.)

Changes to the Comprehensive Rules

For this section, I recommend having a CR diff open in another window, such as the one found on Academy Ruins.

Partial rules support for sneak

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles release introduces the sneak keyword ability.

The rules entry for sneak is 702.190. Subrule 702.190a contains the keyword’s definition, which covers the casting process, and subrule 702.190b deals with a resolving permanent spell entering the battlefield.

Notably, there is no subrule that addresses abilities which check whether an object’s sneak cost was paid. This means the default for such checks applies, and with sneak being an alternative cost, the default is that any sneak cost suffices—a sneak ability granted by an effect functions just as well as a sneak ability derived from the object’s rules text.

Now, the rules entry contains some weird choices regarding its wording, and the more I look at it, the weirder it gets. The first sentence reads

Sneak is a keyword that represents a static ability that functions while the spell with sneak is on the stack.

For the vast majority of keywords that represent a single ability, the template is simply “[Keyword] is an [ability] that functions [in a zone],” with no extra “is a keyword that represents.”

The next sentence defines the ability’s text, and reads

“Sneak [cost]” means “Any time you could cast an instant during your declare blockers step, you may choose to pay [cost] and return an unblocked creature you control to its owner’s hand rather than pay this spell’s mana cost.”

“Any time you could cast an instant” means “any time you have priority” [CR 304.5]. So . . . any time I have priority during my declare blockers step, I “may choose to pay” an alternative cost rather than pay the spell’s mana cost. That’s great, but can I also cast the spell any time I have priority during my declare blockers step? Or do I need a separate permission for that?

Even ignoring the casting permission, I make the decision to pay a spell’s alternative cost while I cast that spell [CR 601.2b], and while casting a spell, I don’t have priority (otherwise, I could interrupt the casting process and start casting another spell, resuming the first spell’s casting only after completing the second spell’s process). Thus, I can only choose to pay the alternative cost at a time where I’m not casting the spell. Which makes it quite impossible to cast a spell using its sneak ability.

If there is a rules-based reason for the definition’s wording, I fail to see it. There are other keywords whose definitions would provide a suitable template for sneak. For example, there is offering:

Offering is a static ability that functions while the spell with offering is on the stack. “[Quality] offering” means “As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may sacrifice a [quality] permanent. If you chose to pay the additional cost, this spell’s total cost is reduced by the sacrificed permanent’s mana cost, and you may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant.”

CR 702.48a

Taking this as a template, the sneak ability’s definition would look something like this:

“Sneak [cost]” means “You may pay [cost] and return an unblocked creature you control to its owner’s hand rather than pay this spell’s mana cost. If you chose to pay the alternative cost, you may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant during your declare blockers step.”

Or split the ability into two, using emerge as the template:

“Sneak [cost]” means “You may pay [cost] and return an unblocked creature you control to its owner’s hand rather than pay this spell’s mana cost” and “If you chose to pay this spell’s sneak cost, you may cast it any time you could cast an instant during your declare blockers step.”

But instead of an existing template carefully adapted to sneak’s requirements, we get this weirdo. Maybe the lessons learned from decades of unsuccessful block models have now found their way into the work of WotC’s rules team: players simply do not want keyword definitions that are merely variations of earlier definitions. Instead, they want fresh templates with each new set; and if one has to come up with a brand new keyword template every two months, one eventually runs out of functional templates and needs to resort to things such as this sneak definition.

Finally, rule 702.190a is missing the customary “Casting a spell using its sneak ability follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2f-h.”

Addendum #1, 2026-03-24

After publishing this article, I noticed some issues with my proposed revision of sneak’s definition. Shout-out to Dave Elden, whose video on the Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update contained just the right amount of inaccuracies to make me engage with it. Without that content, I might not have revisited this article for months and my own mistakes would have gone unfixed.

Issue one: Using sneak outside the declare blockers step

The first issue is very embarrassing: my original proposal would allow me to pay the alternative cost no matter when I cast the spell. If this happened to be during my declare blockers step, sneak would allow me to cast the spell as though it had flash; but if I had a separate permission to cast spells as though they had flash, or if the spell with sneak happened to be an instant, I could also cast the spell for its sneak cost during the combat damage step or the end of combat step.

The lack of unblocked creatures during other steps and phases would prevent me from paying the sneak cost at those other times, but my proposal is still an unintended functional change from the official version. Considering that one of the secondary goals of sneak was to create a cleaned-up version of ninjutsu, reintroducing one of the undesired interactions makes my proposal unacceptable.

So, my proposal needs a restriction for when sneak may be used. Going by my guidelines for harmonized keyword ability definitions, it should look like this:

“Sneak [cost]” means ” You may pay [cost] and return an unblocked creature you control to its owner’s hand rather than pay this spell’s mana cost if you cast it during your declare blockers step” and “If you chose to pay this spell’s sneak cost, you may cast it any time you could cast an instant.”

This revised proposal is still more permissive than the official version though. Suppose I control Kaervek, the Punisher and have Splinter’s Technique in my graveyard; during my declare blockers step, I cause Kaervek’s ability to trigger, and when it resolves, I exile Splinter’s Technique, copy it, and cast the copy. Can I pay the sneak cost while casting the copy?

My current proposal clearly says yes: I cast the spell during my declare blockers step and Kaervek’s ability does not dictate a particular cost, so paying the sneak cost would be allowed. The issues with the official version make a clear assessment difficult, but restricting the payment to when I have priority indicates that sneak should not be usable if I cast the spell while resolving a spell or ability, as I don’t have priority at these moments.

Sneak’s reminder text makes a blanket statement that should allow the use of sneak when “casting during resolution,” but given that it is reminder text, this doesn’t mean much. The official update bulletin contains no information on this topic. The mechanics article and the Release Notes/Gatherer rulings (which place between reminder text and update bulletins on the technical-precision scale) both indicate that priority is required. Overall, WotC’s intent seems to be that sneak should not be usable when casting a spell while another spell or ability resolves.

I would prefer a solution where sneak is usable though, because that would be consistent with every other keyword ability that involved an alternative or additional cost and that functioned on the stack: from ‘A’ like awaken to ‘Z’ like web-zlinging, none of them check whether the spell’s controller has priority. Even offering, the one other keyword that grants a flash-like casting permission in exchange for a specific cost, is not restricted to “regular casting,” and may be used in the Kaervek scenario.

Disallowing the use of sneak in the Kaervek scenario is consistent, however, with keywords that function in the zone from which the spell is cast. And this, I think, is the other issue I overlooked: sneak should not function on the stack (at least, not exclusively), but in the zone from which the card with sneak is cast.

Issue two: Zones in which sneak functions

A very brief recap of the process for casting a spell: to begin the process, I need permission to cast the spell; then comes the spell’s proposal, where I move the spell to the stack, and choose modes, costs, targets, and similar things; then comes a legality check to see if the proposed spell still meets the permission’s criteria; finally, I calculate and pay the spell’s total cost [CR 601.2].

On its own, this process does not work for permissions where a spell may be cast as though it had flash if a specific choice is made during its proposal. The classic example is a card like Rout: Suppose I have Rout in my hand and I want to cast it during an opponent’s end step. To begin this process, I need permission to cast Rout. Its ability modifies how the card can be cast, so it functions in every zone from which I could cast it, which includes my hand [CR 113.6e]. In other words, the permission to cast it functions while Rout is in my hand.

So far, so good. Now I announce that I want to cast Rout as though it had flash, using that permission. But that permission requires that I choose to pay the additional cost, and I haven’t done that yet; I can only do so during the spell’s proposal, after the process has already begun. But the process cannot begin until I have chosen to pay the additional cost.

To solve this conundrum, WotC introduced rule 601.3 and its subrules in the Eldritch Moon update. The core idea is that, if the criteria of the permission I want to use are not met, but a choice during the spell’s proposal will cause them to be met, I may begin the casting process using that permission. If I make the correct choice during the proposal, the proposed spell fulfills the second legality check and I can conclude the casting process; if I fail to make the correct choice, the proposed spell fails the second legality check and the entire casting process is rolled back.

The result is that I may cast Rout as though it had flash, if and only if I pay the additional cost. Which is the intuitive and obvious outcome.

How does this process look like for Splinter’s Technique? I have Splinter’s Technique in my hand and I want to cast it during my declare blockers step; to begin this process, I need permission to cast Splinter’s Technique. Per rule 702.190a, its sneak ability only functions on the stack and not in my hand, so there is no permission to begin casting Splinter’s Technique at that moment. Once it were on the stack, its sneak ability would function and provide a suitable permission, but I cannot move it to the stack unless I already have that permission. This starts to sound familiar.

This time, rule 601.3 does not provide an immediate solution, because it takes into account only choices made during the spell’s proposal. Moving the spell from its current zone to the stack is not a choice, so even if this action would cause any relevant changes to the game state, rule 601.3 ignores them. And this design is actually intended: for example, if the effect of Ixalan’s Binding’s ability exiled Squee, the Immortal, the structure of rule 601.3 prevents Squee from being cast from exile.

Can I interpret rule 601.3 in a way that makes the current issue work? One idea I briefly entertained was that, when rule 601.3c talks about effects that allow a player to cast a spell as though it had flash, it might include effects that do not exist yet: rule 601.3 already peeks into the future to check for potential choices, so it might also check for effects and casting permissions that only exist once the spell is on the stack.

This does sound forced though and it does lead to some bizarre outcomes. Suppose I have Rout in my graveyard, Yixlid Jailer is on the battlefield, and I resolve Yawgmoth’s Will. I may now cast Rout from my graveyard, but since it doesn’t have its abilities in the graveyard, I should be unable to cast it as though it had flash. If I interpreted rule 601.3c to also include effects that only exist after moving the spell to the stack, however, I could start to cast Rout as though it had flash, and once on the stack, it would have its ability again and I could choose to pay {2} to make the proposal legal.

This doesn’t seem intuitive, but at least it would enable sneak to function as intended. Where it all breaks down is when I swap Rout for a card with actual flash. Again, the card would not have flash in the graveyard, so when I wanted to cast it, I would not have permission to cast it anytime I could cast an instant. Unlike Rout and sneak though, flash doesn’t involve a choice, so my generous interpretation of rule 601.3c does not apply in this modified scenario.

Revised proposal

So, trying to make the sneak ability function on the stack leads me to being able to cast Rout as though it had flash even if it does not have that ability in my graveyard. But a simple card with flash cannot be cast under the same circumstances. This is neither consistent nor intuitive, so the solution is clear: sneak needs to function in the zone of origin, because it provides a casting permission.

In my article on revising Ashling, the Limitless and other cards, I discussed which kinds of effects count as casting permissions and which don’t, and how these two groups function in different zones: keyword abilities that grant permissions function in any zone from which the object with the keyword can be cast, while keywords that affect the casting process in other ways function only on the stack.

Sneak grants a permission to cast a spell at an unusual time and belongs to the first group. Thus, a full revision of rule 702.190a should actually look like this:

Sneak is a static ability that functions in any zone from which the card with sneak can be cast. “Sneak [cost]” means “You may cast this card any time you could cast an instant during your declare blockers step by paying [cost] and returning an unblocked creature you control to its owner’s hand rather than paying its mana cost.” Casting a spell using its sneak ability follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2f-h.

With such a definition, sneak’s role as a casting permission would become clear, and its functionality would be consistent with other keywords that grant casting permissions. Last but not least, this revision should also be helpful for restoring Ninja Teen’s intended functionality (see below).

To finish off this addendum, let’s revisit offering: I took inspiration from offering for my first, faulty version, because it is the one other keyword that allows a spell to be cast as though it had flash if the keyword cost is paid. Additionally, its rules entry states that offering functions on the stack, so it seemed like a good template candidate.

With my new findings, it becomes obvious that offering should not function on the stack; rather, it should function in any zone from which the object with offering can be cast.

For more than a decade, offering’s rules entry stated that it functioned in the zone of origin. The Eldritch Moon update changed this, and that is not a coincidence: before, offering had a somewhat clunky wording to make it function within the old framework for casting spells. With the introduction of the current framework in 2015 and the addition of rule 601.3 in the Eldritch Moon update, WotC saw an opportunity to streamline the way offering functions.

As part of that change, rule 702.48a was changed to state that offering functions on the stack. It is now clear that this was a bit too much: just like sneak, offering grants a casting permission and thus needs to function in the zone of origin. With the Eldritch Moon keyword emerge as an inspiration (which itself was loosely based on offering), a revised rule 702.48a should look something like this:

Offering represents two static abilities: one that functions in any zone from which the card with offering can be cast and one that functions while the spell with offering is on the stack. “[Quality] offering” means “You may cast this card any time you could cast an instant by sacrificing a [quality] permanent as an additional cost to cast it” and “If you chose to pay the additional cost, this spell’s total cost is reduced by the sacrificed permanent’s mana cost.”

Moving on to rule 702.190b.

A permanent spell cast using sneak enters the battlefield tapped and attacking (see rule 506.3a). It will be attacking the same player, planeswalker, or battle as the creature that was returned to its owner’s hand to pay the sneak cost of the spell that became that permanent.

CR 702.190b

So, that rule’s initial subject is “a permanent spell.” The future tense in “it will be attacking” matches that, since the spell itself is not attacking anything; only the permanent it will become is attacking. But then the rule talks about the creature used to pay the cost of “the spell that became that permanent.” Which permanent? So far, everything the rule talked about was the spell.

And again, there are functional issues with the text. The rule only applies to spells that were cast using sneak: if a creature spell cast using sneak is copied, the copy will not enter the battlefield tapped and attacking, because it wasn’t cast [CR 707.10]. However, anything that checks whether its sneak cost was paid will be satisfied.

This is inconsistent, both internally and when compared to other keywords. In recent times, the saga of impending’s ever-changing definition indicates that WotC prefer the majority approach of only caring about the keyword cost.

So, taking some inspiration from rule 702.49c, something like this seems more appropriate:

If a resolving creature spell’s sneak cost was paid, it enters the battlefield tapped and attacking (see rule 506.3a). The creature it becomes enters the battlefield attacking the same player, planeswalker, or battle as the creature that was returned to its owner’s hand.

Maybe, against all odds, the official update bulletin contains more information on this subject. As is, the thought process behind sneak’s rules entry proves too sneaky for me.

Rules support for Mutagen tokens

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles release introduces Mutagen tokens, a new kind of predefined token.

The tokens’ characteristics are defined in rule 111.10v and are self-explanatory. There are no additional rules specific to Mutagen tokens.

Rules support for partner—Character select

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles release introduces partner—Character select, which is a variant of the partner—[text] keyword ability.

This variant is added to the list of partner—[text] variants in rule 702.124i. There are no additional rules specific to partner—Character select.

All elusive attackers enter the battlefield unblocked (functional)

The rules for ninjutsu stated that a creature put onto the battlefield by a resolving ninjutsu ability enters the battlefield unblocked. There was no general rule though that stated the same for creatures put onto the battlefield by other means after blockers have been declared.

As a result, any such creature was neither blocked nor unblocked, and did not assign any combat damage that combat [CR 510.1b–c]. (A second consequence was that any ability that triggers when such a creature becomes blocked did not trigger if the creature became blocked by an effect or by a creature put onto the battlefield blocking it [CR 509.3c].)

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update resolves this issue by introducing rule 506.3d and its twin rule 508.4d; subsequent rules get renumbered. Any creature that enters the battlefield attacking after the declare blockers step has begun enters the battlefield unblocked. (Rule 508.4d also includes a reminder about events that cause such creatures to stop being unblocked.)

Cards affected by this change are: Zareth San, the Trickster, Thousand-Faced Shadow, Arni Metalbrow, Senu, Keen-Eyed Protector, The Last Ronin’s Technique, and Shark Shredder, Killer Clone.

As a positive side effect, rule 702.49c does not have to explicitly state this for ninjutsu anymore and is shortened accordingly. Likewise, the rules entry for sneak does not mention that the creature enters the battlefield unblocked.

Points to WotC’s rules team for resolving this issue.

A reminder sentence for rule 508.4 (nonfunctional)

Similar to the reminder in its new subrule 508.4d, rule 508.4 receives an additional sentence about the conditions under which a creature put onto the battlefield attacking stops being an attacking creature.

This is not a functional change, as rules 506.4 and 511.3 already covered this topic.

An irregular “enters” in ninjutsu’s rules entry (nonfunctional)

After the rewrite, rule 702.49c now says that the creature “enters attacking.” While the Bloomburrow update shortened the phrase “enter the battlefield” to “enter” in most contexts, it did so only for card text; the CR continue to use the full phrase for the text of rules.

There are only a handful of instances of the shortened form in the CR—all of them rather recent additions—which makes them stand out all the more. They include the examples for rules 614.13c, 707.9d, 707.9f, and 712.13a, the glossary entry for gift, and rule 709.5d. The one instance I find acceptable is rule 506.3e due to the sentence’s structure.

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update adds two more entries to the list: the aforementioned rule 702.49c and the glossary entry for sneak (see below).

Omitted rules change for Endless Foot Assault (nonfunctional)

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Commander card Endless Foot Assault is the first noncreature card with the squad keyword ability. The keyword’s definition in rule 702.157a describes only creature objects with squad, and this update does not change that rule to refer to permanent objects instead.

Curiously, the second subrule for squad, 702.157b, has used a generic wording since the keyword’s introduction.

Changes to card types, supertypes, and/or subtypes

New artifact type: Mutagen.

New creature type: Utrom.

Changes to ability words

New ability word: Disappear.

Changes to glossary entries

New glossary entry: Sneak.

This glossary entry is notable for two things. First, it doesn’t contain a reference to rule 702.190. Among the hundreds of glossary entries, almost everyone either references a rule or another glossary entry which in turn references a rule. The only exceptions are entries for obsolete terms, former keywords turned into ability words (imprint and threshold), and those for draft, card pool, minimum deck size, silver-bordered, assemble, energy symbol, foretold, ticket symbol, and doctor’s companion. Among the last group, five have an obvious rule they could reference. The entry for sneak is the sixth member in this rather exclusive group.

Second, the glossary entry uses the shortened “enter” rather than the full “enter the battlefield.” As noted in the section on ninjutsu, the shortened term was only introduced to card text; the CR continue to use the full term, so this entry is a member of two exclusive groups at once.

Sneak

A keyword ability that allows a spell to be cast for an alternative cost, including returning an unblocked attacking creature to its owner’s hand. Creatures cast this way enter tapped and attacking.

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update adds the following paragraph to the legal information at the end of the CR.

© 2026 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. Nickelodeon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.

The update also modifies the paragraph added by the Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender update: it inserts a space between the copyright symbol and the year and it adds a period to the final sentence.

Old text:

©2025 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. Nickelodeon, Avatar: The Last Airbender and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Viacom International Inc

New text:

© 2025 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. Nickelodeon, Avatar: The Last Airbender and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.

Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles prerelease errata

Note: Most of the time, I list only the changed parts of a card’s Oracle text, rather than the complete text of the card.

All subtypes removed (functional)

WotC issued a large number of prerelease errata which change subtypes to (as yet undefined) card types. These errata affect all cards newly printed in the Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles release, as well as all reprint versions that are part of the release.

The errata replace the em dash on the type line with a hyphen-minus. Since the CR use a long dash to differentiate between card types and subtypes [CR 205.3b], removing the em dash automatically moves the former subtypes into the card-type part of the type line.

As a result, each card printed with the creature card type and the Mutant, Ninja, and Turtle subtypes now has the creature card type, three undefined card types named “mutant,” “ninja,” and “turtle,” and no subtypes. Other cards and reprint versions are affected accordingly.

Lita, Little Orphan Amphibian (functional)

WotC issued a prerelease erratum which adds additional instructions to the second mode of Lita, Little Orphan Amphibian’s ability.

The erratum removes the reminder text after the {T} and replaces it with identically worded rules text. This rules text represents additional instructions for the second mode’s effect. Thus, after creating the food token, the ability’s controller is instructed to sacrifice Lita and to gain 3 life.

Printed rules text:

Alliance — Whenever another creature you control enters, choose one that hasn’t been chosen this turn.

• Put a +1/+1 counter on Lita.

• Create a Food token. (It’s an artifact with “{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.”)

• Scry 1.

Oracle rules text:

Alliance – Whenever another creature you control enters, choose one that hasn’t been chosen this turn.

* Put a +1/+1 counter on Lita.

* Create a Food token. (It’s an artifact with “{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.”)

* Scry 1.

Omitted erratum for Ninja Teen (functional)

Ninja Teen is the sixth card that allows a player to cast a card from their graveyard if they use a specific keyword ability in the process. It is the first card, however, whose casting permission doesn’t apply to itself but to other cards. Such pioneers often require carefully crafted card text or rules changes to support their apparent functionality, and Ninja Teen is one of the unfortunate few who received neither.

The ideal

Using a player named Alex and Sabin, Master Monk as an example, the process for casting a card using such a permission is as follows: Alex announces that they cast Sabin from their graveyard using the permission granted by its ability, which requires them to use a blitz ability during the casting process [CR 601.2]. The relevant ability only functions on the stack, so Alex does not make any choices at this point [CR 702.152a]. Alex puts Sabin from their graveyard onto the stack [CR 601.2a].

Then, Alex chooses whether they pay an alternative cost instead of Sabin’s mana cost [CR 601.2b]. One of Alex’s options is the blitz cost of Sabin’s blitz ability; if Sabin happens to have more than one instance of the blitz ability, Alex can choose any one of them.

Theoretically, Alex could choose a cost other than a blitz cost or even choose not to pay any alternative cost; however, this would result in Sabin failing the following legality check [CR 601.2e]. (This is what the final sentence of rule 601.2b alludes to.) For this exercise, Alex chooses one of the blitz costs.

The remaining steps are that Alex determines Sabin’s total cost, activates mana abilities if desired, and pays the total cost. Sabin becomes cast and will eventually resolve [CR 601.2f–i].

The issue

How does Ninja Teen compare to this? Suppose Alex controls an unblocked, attacking Bear Cub and Ninja Teen, which is level 3, and they have Serra Angel in their graveyard. Alex announces that they cast Serra Angel from their graveyard, using the permission granted by one of Ninja Teen’s abilities; this requires them to use a sneak ability during the casting process. Sneak abilities function only on the stack, so Alex does not make any choices at this point.

Alex moves Serra Angel from their graveyard to the stack. Since Serra Angel changes zones, it becomes a new object with no relation to its previous existence [CR 400.7]. As a result, the effect of Ninja Teen’s other ability, the one that grants creature cards in Alex’s graveyard sneak, stops applying to Serra Angel.

Then, Alex chooses whether they pay an alternative cost instead of Serra Angel’s mana cost. Serra Angel has no sneak abilities, so Alex cannot choose to pay a sneak cost. The subsequent legality check fails. The end result is that Alex cannot cast Serra Angel from their graveyard.

Does this mean that the casting permission granted by Ninja Teen’s ability is useless? Not quite: if a card has a “natural” sneak ability, Alex can use that ability while casting a spell this way. So the casting permission is merely use-impaired.

The sneak ability granted by the effect of Ninja Teen’s ability, however, has no practical use, except to make a creature card an illegal target for something like Fang-Druid Summoner’s ability.

The core issue with Ninja Teen’s text is not so much that it grants the casting permission to other cards; rather, it is the fact that the two effects—the ability-granting effect and the permission-granting effect—are generated by two different abilities.

The permission-granting effect does not need to track a card cast this way to the stack, but if it did, rule 400.7h would allow it to do so. The ability-granting effect, on the other hand, needs to track the card to the stack, but it cannot do so. The closest exception, specified in rule 400.7g, is not applicable, because the granted sneak ability does not allow the card to be cast; it is the permission granted by the other effect that allows the card to be cast.

Possible solutions

So, based on the reasonable assumption that Ninja Teen’s current functionality is not the one intended by WotC, the question is how to restore the intended functionality. As always, the rules need to change, or the card’s Oracle text. Or both.

Generally, changing the card text is the better solution, since a rules change may inadvertently affect other cards and rules; changing a single card’s text, on the other hand, affects only that card. In this particular case, the risk of potential side effects seems too great to me to advocate for a rules change: the recent disaster of the Lorwyn Eclipsed update shows how difficult it is to properly make effects track and stick to objects and to connect abilities with other abilities or effects.

The cost of changing a card’s Oracle text is that the Oracle text and the printed card diverge, meaning the card does not do what its printed text says; this may cause confusion among laypersons if they ever encounter the Oracle text. However, in cases such as this, this argument doesn’t hold much sway, since the card already does not do what its printed text heavily suggests it should do. Thus, I focus my efforts on potential Oracle text changes.

So, the sneak-granting effect wants to track any card that is cast with the permission granted by the other effect to the stack. Fortunately, sneak is only relevant during the spell’s proposal, so it doesn’t matter if something happens to Ninja Teen after the spell’s proposal is complete; all the issues tied to blitz, evoke, etc. can be ignored, and the only issue is how to make the sneak-granting effect follow the card from the graveyard to the stack.

A couple of paragraphs earlier, I mentioned that the permission-granting effect could track the cards as they move to the stack, if necessary, so why not have the sneak-granting effect piggyback on this and combine both effects into one? Suppose that Ninja Teen granted itself one ability, rather than two, and that this ability read like this:

Creature cards in your graveyard have sneak {3}{B}. You may cast them from your graveyard using their sneak abilities.

Or a one-sentence variation inspired by Azula, Cunning Usurper:

Creature cards in your graveyard have sneak {3}{B} and you may cast them from your graveyard using their sneak abilities.

With this text, there would be one ability generating one effect. That effect would grant both the sneak ability and the casting permission, so with the help of rule 400.7h, the ability-granting part could continue to apply to the cards as they moved to the stack.

Another quirk of Ninja Teen’s casting permission is that it’s unaffected by the effect of Yixlid Jailer’s ability. Even if that effect removes a card’s sneak ability (whether that ability is derived from the card’s rules text or granted by the effect of Ninja Teen’s ability), the casting permission still exists, and since the sneak ability only becomes relevant after the card has moved to the stack, it does not matter that the card did not have sneak in the graveyard.

Here, it is not obvious to me what outcome WotC intend; Yixlid Jailer is a sufficiently obscure card that they may not care about this interaction. In any case, it cannot hurt to devise another Oracle text update that incorporates the more intuitive outcome regarding Yixlid Jailer.

The heart of the issue with Yixlid Jailer is that its ability’s effect cannot affect the casting permission as long as that permission is generated by an ability of Ninja Teen. So, let’s transfer the casting permission to the cards in the graveyard and build on the rules support for keywords like flashback:

Creature cards in your graveyard have sneak {3}{B} and “You may cast this card from your graveyard using its sneak ability.”

With this text, there would also be one ability generating one effect. That effect would grant each creature card two abilities: one whose effect would allow it to be cast, and another ability that would function on the stack. In this case, rule 400.7g would ensure that, if a creature card were cast with the former ability’s permission, the effect of Ninja Teen’s ability would continue to apply to the creature spell on the stack and continue to grant it a sneak ability.

If Yixlid Jailer was added to the scenario and timestamps caused its ability’s effect to remove the sneak abilities, the abilities granting the individual casting permissions would also be removed. As a result, creature cards would not have sneak and they could not be cast from the graveyard. This seems a more intuitive outcome than the actual one, where the cards don’t have sneak in the graveyard but can still be cast.

One thing my proposed text would not solve are scenarios where a creature card in the graveyard has a “natural” sneak ability, and where the effect of Yixlid Jailer’s ability applies before that of Ninja Teen’s ability. The creature card in the graveyard would have the granted sneak ability and the permission-granting ability, so it could be cast from the graveyard. On the stack, it would once again have its “natural” sneak ability and either ability could be used, even though in the graveyard, only one sneak ability existed. Changing this outcome requires dabbling with the rules surrounding casting permissions, so I advocate against it.

Conclusion

At present, the intended functionality of Ninja Teen’s “level 3 class abilities” is not supported by its rules text and the CR. An Oracle text update seems the least disruptive option, and there are multiple cards and graveyard-centric keywords whose text can serve as a template. A new text would only minorly deviate from the printed text, so the risk of laypersons getting confused over the card’s intended functionality is minimal.

Until such an update occurs, remember that ninjas are masters of trickery and pay close attention to their supposed abilities.

Addendum #2, 2026-03-24

After publishing this article, I noticed some issues with my proposed sneak definition. After putting some more thought into it, I came to the realization that sneak should not function on the stack, but in the zone from which the object with sneak is cast:

Sneak is a static ability that functions in any zone from which the card with sneak can be cast. “Sneak [cost]” means “You may cast this card any time you could cast an instant during your declare blockers step by paying [cost] and returning an unblocked creature you control to its owner’s hand rather than paying its mana cost.” Casting a spell using its sneak ability follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2f-h.

This revision also proves beneficial for Ninja Teen. First, the scenario where Alex wants to cast Serra Angel from their graveyard: Alex would announce that they cast Serra Angel from their graveyard, using the permission granted by one of Ninja Teen’s abilities. That permission requires the use of a sneak ability, but now, the sneak ability would also grant a permission and it would function in the graveyard.

Thus, Alex would also choose to use that permission before they began the casting process; combined, the two permissions would cover the zone and the timing, so Alex could begin to cast Serra Angel. And, since the sneak ability would grant a casting permission and Alex would use that permission, rule 400.7g would now apply to the sneak-granting effect and the spell on the stack would continue to have sneak (if that mattered).

Second, Yixlid Jailer: If a creature card in a graveyard has no sneak abilities due to the effect of Yixlid Jailer’s ability and Alex wants to cast that card, they could choose the permission from Ninja Teen’s ability, but not the permission from the nonexistent sneak ability. As a result, Alex could not cast the card. Another intuitive outcome.

Third, the scenario where the effect of Yixlid Jailer’s ability removes a creature card’s “natural” sneak ability, but that card has a sneak ability due to the effect of Ninja Teen’s ability: if Alex wants to cast that card, they would choose the permission from Ninja Teen’s ability and the permission from the granted sneak ability and could begin to cast the card that way. Once on the stack, the card would have its “natural” sneak ability, but Alex would have already chosen to use the granted sneak ability, so they would be committed to the latter ability. In other words, Alex could only use sneak abilities that were present in the graveyard. Intuitive outcomes all around.

So, Ninja Teen’s Oracle text does not require an update after all: critically examining sneak’s rules entry without taking anything for granted proved sufficient. A couple more of these incidents and I might actually learn that lesson.

Arcade Cabinet (functional)

The printed text of Arcade Cabinet instructs a player to “double the number of counters” on an object. Rule 701.10e defines the doubling of counters only in reference to a specific kind of counter; without such a reference, it is ambiguous what doubling the number of counters means.

WotC issued a prerelease erratum which changes the text of Arcade Cabinet to use the standard wording for effects that double the counters on an object.

Printed ability text:

{2}, {T}, Sacrifice a token: Double the number of counters on target creature.

Oracle ability text:

{2}, {T}, Sacrifice a token: Double the number of each kind of counter on target creature.

Omitted erratum for Turtles Forever (nonfunctional)

Turtles Forever instructs its controller to search for “exactly” four cards with specific qualities. Rule 701.23b allows the player to find less than four cards in their library though, and rule 701.23j allows the same when searching “outside the game.”

These rules’ combined effect is that the word “exactly” has no significance to the card’s function: whether the player is instructed to search for “four” cards, “up to four” cards, or “exactly four” cards, they can always choose to find less than four cards. The remaining effects of Turtles Forever do not depend on the player finding exactly four cards, so any cards found are revealed and either put into the player’s hand or shuffled into their library, as chosen by an opponent.

Given that Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is more strongly aimed at new or casual players than other sets, I expected WotC to issue an erratum that changes Turtles Forever’s text by replacing “exactly four” with “up to four,” to clarify the card’s actual functionality. Apparently, WotC have full confidence in their new audience’s ability to look up and study the CR before playing their game (something that the more enfranchised parts of the fan base constantly struggle with).

Maybe, against all odds, the official update bulletin will provide more information on this subject. Otherwise, the thought process behind Turtles Forever’s rules text will forever elude me.

Omitted erratum for Groundchuck & Dirtbag (nonfunctional)

Mana abilities that trigger whenever a player taps some permanent for mana use the template “Whenever [a player] taps [a permanent] for mana, that player adds [mana]” or “Whenever [a permanent] is tapped for mana, its controller adds [mana].”

The “[mana]” part in turn uses two different templates: “one mana of any type that [permanent] produced” is used if the mana depends on the mana produced by the ability that causes the mana ability to trigger; otherwise, “an additional [amount and type of mana]” is used. The latter template’s use of “additional” makes it clearer that the mana is produced in addition to that produced by the permanent, rather than replacing it.

The text of Groundchuck & Dirtbag’s triggered mana ability does not match this template, making it inconsistent with all other mana abilities of this kind.

Leonardo, Worldly Warrior (nonfunctional)

WotC issued a prerelease erratum which replaces Leonardo, Worldly Warrior’s first ability with affinity for creatures.

This is not a functional change, as the original ability was functionally equivalent to affinity for creatures, and no card or rule mechanically cares about affinity abilities.

Printed ability text:

This spell costs {1} less to cast for each creature you control.

Oracle ability text:

Affinity for creatures (This spell costs {1} less to cast for each creature you control.)

Changes to Oracle text

Note: Most of the time, I list only the changed parts of a card’s Oracle text, rather than the complete text of the card.

Templating (nonfunctional)

All cards in the Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles release conform to the templating guidelines for self-references introduced with the Magic: The Gathering Foundations release. Likewise, the Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update contains no feature reductions for cards that violate these guidelines, and no fixes for typos introduced by the guidelines’ rollout in the Aetherdrift update.

This makes it the second update of this kind, the first being the Lorwyn Eclipsed update.

Crash Through (nonfunctional)

The December update for the Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY holiday release corrected a typo in Crash Through’s reminder text. WotC then reintroduced that typo in the Lorwyn Eclipsed update.

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update corrects that typo once again.

Old ability text:

Creatures you control gain trample until end of turn. (Each of those creature [sic] can deal excess combat damage to the player or planeswalker it’s attacking.)

New ability text:

Creatures you control gain trample until end of turn. (Each of those creatures can deal excess combat damage to the player or planeswalker it’s attacking.)

Removed: Promo Cards version of Aang, the Last Airbender (nonfunctional)

The Promo Cards version of Aang, the Last Airbender has been removed from Gatherer. I was unable to find any information on how this promo version was distributed (or supposed to be distributed), so chances are it was never released at all. Also, Gatherer still contains traces of that version: while a search for cards in the Promo Cards set yields only fourteen entries, the set overview page lists fifteen cards for the set, and card images of the promo version are still online.

Changes to Gatherer rulings (nonfunctional)

Painter’s Servant

Eight years after the relevant rules changed and one release after its reprint in Lorwyn Eclipsed, WotC have corrected a ruling on the Gatherer page of Painter’s Servant and removed some outdated terms.

For the next card in the line of reprints with outdated rulings, see Plague of Vermin, below.

Old text:

Each card becomes a new object as it changes zones, so this effect will apply to it from scratch in the new zone. Zone-change replacement abilities that care about the new color (like “[color] permanents enter tapped”) won’t work because those effects are applied as the card is entering its new zone. Zone-change triggered abilities that care about the new color (like “when a [color] permanent enters” or “when you cast a [color] spell”) will work because those effects apply after the card is already in its new zone.

New text:

Each card becomes a new object as it changes zones, so this effect will apply to it from scratch in the new zone. However, replacement effects that care about the color of permanents entering the battlefield (like “[color] permanents enter tapped”) will apply to permanents entering if that color was chosen for Painter’s Servant because Painter’s Servant’s effect applies simultaneously with those permanents entering the battlefield. Zone-change triggered abilities that care about the new color (like “whenever a [color] permanent enters” or “whenever you cast a [color] spell”) will also work.

Dauthi Voidwalker

WotC have corrected a ruling on Dauthi Voidwalker’s Gatherer page: since the effect of its ability cares about the graveyard a permanent would be put into, rather than under whose control the permanent would be put there, ownership of the permanent is relevant, but not control.

A similar incorrect ruling is still found on Leyline of the Void’s Gatherer page.

Old text:

While Dauthi Voidwalker is on the battlefield, nontoken creatures your opponents control won’t die. They’ll be exiled instead. Abilities that would trigger when those creatures die won’t trigger.

New text:

While Dauthi Voidwalker is on the battlefield, nontoken creatures your opponents own won’t die. They’ll be exiled instead. Abilities that would trigger when those creatures die won’t trigger.

The Mechanist, Aerial Artisan

WotC have corrected a ruling on The Mechanist, Aerial Artisan’s Gatherer page: since the effect of its activated ability combines the card types artifact and creature with a creature type, all existing creature types of the target are replaced with that creature type [CR 205.1b].

Similar incorrect rulings are still found on the Gatherer pages of Jade Statue, Kenku Artificer, and Tezzeret, Cruel Captain.

Old text:

The Mechanist, Aerial Artisan’s activated ability doesn’t remove any abilities the target artifact token has. The artifact token also retains any types, subtypes, or supertypes it has.

New text:

The Mechanist, Aerial Artisan’s activated ability doesn’t remove any abilities the target artifact token has. The artifact token also retains any types, subtypes, and supertypes other than creature types.

Plague of Vermin

The outdated ruling on the Gatherer page of Painter’s Servant referred to a prominent part of the CR and used some quaint terms. The following ruling found on Plague of Vermin’s Gatherer page does neither, but it can pride itself on being at least sixteen years out of date, twice as long as the other ruling.

In a Two-Headed Giant game, each player on a team gets a chance to pay life. The team’s life total is adjusted in between.

This ruling is incorrect, as both players pay life at the same time, rather than one after the other; there is no adjusting in between. Each time a team gets the chance to pay life for Plague of Vermin’s effect, both players decide how much life they each want to pay, then both players pay simultaneously [CR 805.6]. (While choosing how much life to pay, rule 810.9b prevents players from choosing a combined amount that exceeds the team’s current life total.)

This distinction becomes relevant in scenarios involving Ob Nixilis, Captive Kingpin, Bloodletter of Aclazotz, Ashiok, Wicked Manipulator, and more esoteric cards.

Donatello, the Brains

One ruling on Donatello, the Brains’s Gatherer page claims that Donatello’s controller has to be the one creating the tokens in order for the replacement effect to apply. This ruling is incorrect, as the text of the replacement effect states that the tokens have to be created under the control of Donatello’s controller.

You don’t need to control the spell or ability that creates the tokens, but you do have to be the one creating the tokens for Donatello’s first ability to apply.

If the replacement effect of Crafty Cutpurse’s triggered ability causes another player to create tokens under the control of Donatello’s controller, the effect of Donatello’s ability applies; conversely, if Donatello’s controller creates tokens under another player’s control, the replacement effect does not apply.

A similar ruling on Chatterfang, Squirrel General’s Gatherer page was corrected in the Innistrad Remastered update (introducing a typo at the same time). Other pages with similar incorrect rulings are those of Peregrin Took and Quina, Qu Gourmet. (The ruling on Stridehangar Automaton’s Gatherer page has been correct since its introduction and the ruling on Worldwalker Helm’s page is correct due to the card’s different wording.)

Another ruling on Donatello, the Brains’s Gatherer page features a typo: it first refers to multiple tokens, then switches to a singular token, then switches back to plural.

The additional Mutagen token won’t have any abilities the other tokens were created with. Anything else specified in the effect creating the token [sic] (such as tapped or “Exile that token [sic] at end of combat”) applies to both the original tokens and the Mutagen token.

Krang, Master Mind

One ruling on Krang, Master Mind’s Gatherer page features a typo.

If you have four or more cards in hand when Krang enters, his second ability won’t trigger at all. If it does trigger, the ability will check again as it tries to resolve. If you have four or more card [sic] in hand at that time, the ability won’t resolve and none of its effects will happen.

Ninja Teen

One ruling on Ninja Teen’s Gatherer page uses “first level 3 ability” where it should say “second level 3 ability.” The next ruling correctly refers to the “second level 3 ability.”

Casting creature spells from your graveyard using their sneak abilities with the permission granted by Ninja Teen’s first level 3 ability doesn’t change when you can cast them. You’ll only be able to cast them this way during the declare blockers step on your turn when you could play an instant, and you’ll still have to pay the sneak cost, including returning an unblocked attacking creature you control to its owner’s hand.

If a creature card in your graveyard has multiple sneak abilities, you can cast it from your graveyard using any of those sneak abilities with the permission granted by Ninja Teen’s second level 3 ability.

Party Dude

One ruling on Party Dude’s Gatherer page refers to the ability associated with level 3 as the “last ability.” This deviates from the rulings on the other four Class cards’ Gatherer pages, which refer to the granted abilities as “level N abilities.” This in turn is a deviation from older Class cards’ pages, whose rulings use the phrase “[level N] class ability” for the granted abilities and the phrase “level ability” for the activated abilities.

The value of X is calculated each time Party Dude’s last ability resolves. Changing the number of cards in your hand after the ability resolves won’t change the bonus granted to that creature that turn.

The Neutrinos

One ruling on The Neutrinos’s Gatherer page uses “the exiled permanent” where it should say “the exiled creature.”

Once a creature exiled this way returns, it’s considered a new object with no relation to the object that it was. Auras attached to the exiled creature will be put into their owners’ graveyards. Equipment attached to the exiled permanent will become unattached and remain on the battlefield. Any counters on the exiled creature will cease to exist.

Another ruling attributes all abilities that trigger whenever a creature attacks to the attacking creature, instead of their actual sources.

Although the creature you put onto the battlefield is attacking, it was never declared as an attacking creature. Abilities that trigger whenever a creature attacks won’t trigger when that creature enters attacking. (Any abilities that triggered before The Neutrinos exiled the creature are unaffected, and the source of those abilities is that creature as it last existed on the battlefield, not the creature that’s attacking now.)

Shredder, Shadow Master

Two rulings on Shredder, Shadow Master’s Gatherer page use “last ability” where they should say “first ability.” The last ruling correctly refers to the first ability.

If Shredder leaves the battlefield before his last ability resolves, the tokens will still enter as a copy of Shredder, using Shredder’s copiable values from when he was last on the battlefield.

In the unusual case where Shredder becomes a copy of something else while his last ability is on the stack but before it resolves, the tokens will enter as a copy of whatever Shredder is copying.

Although the token copies created by Shredder’s first ability enter attacking, they were never declared as attacking creatures. Abilities that trigger whenever a creature attacks won’t trigger when those tokens enter attacking.

Rocksteady, Mutant Marauder

One ruling on Rocksteady, Mutant Marauder’s Gatherer page features a typo.

Both commanders start in the command zone, and the remaining 98 cards your deck [sic] are shuffled to become your library.

Hidden Hideout

The first ruling on Hidden Hideout’s Gatherer page uses “first ability” where it should say “second ability” or “first activated ability.” The other two rulings also refer to the “first ability,” but are correct when applied to that ability.

If you have two commanders, Hidden Hideout’s first ability adds one mana of any color in their combined color identities.

If your commander is a card that has no colors in its color identity, Hidden Hideout’s first ability produces no mana. It doesn’t produce {C}.

If you don’t have a commander, Hidden Hideout’s first ability produces no mana.

Restored: Thousands of rulings

The Edge of Eternities update removed rulings from several thousand Gatherer pages by applying a kind of legend rule to them: after the update, each ruling (i.e., each unique combination of date and text) appeared only once across all of Gatherer. (As always, exceptions proved the rule.)

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update restores these rulings. It also adds standard rulings for various mechanics to the Gatherer pages of recent sets.

Some rulings have not been restored. Excluding duplicates, the following rulings are still absent from Gatherer:

Split cards

All rulings on the Gatherer pages of split cards.

The en and the il

(The Edge of Eternities update also removed these cards’ complete rules text, so not restoring the rulings is somewhat justified.)

Oracle en-Vec, Vhati il-Dal, Lancers en-Kor, Nomads en-Kor, Shaman en-Kor, Spirit en-Kor, Warrior en-Kor, Mage il-Vec, Chieftain en-Dal, Netter en-Dal, Outrider en-Kor, Zealot il-Vec, Drifter il-Dal, Looter il-Kor, Trespasser il-Vec, Augur il-Vec, Spirit en-Dal, Infiltrator il-Kor, Cutthroat il-Dal, Sanctifier en-Vec, and Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim.

Throne of Eldraine adventurer cards

Rulings on the placeholder pages of: Dizzying Swoop, On Alert, Bring to Life, Granted, Mesmeric Glare, Rage of Winter, Swift End, Curry Favor, Stomp, and Haggle.

Devour

A standard ruling for the devour keyword ability previously found on the Gatherer pages of: Tar Fiend, Caldera Hellion, Predator Dragon, Thorn-Thrash Viashino, Thunder-Thrash Elder, and Mycoloth.

If you cast this as a spell, you choose how many and which creatures to devour as part of the resolution of that spell. (It can’t be countered at this point.) The same is true of a spell or ability that lets you put a creature with devour onto the battlefield.

A variation found on Caprichrome’s Gatherer page.

If you cast this as a spell, you choose how many and which artifacts to devour as part of the resolution of the spell. (It can’t be countered at this point.) The same is true of a spell or ability that lets you put a creature with devour artifact onto the battlefield.

A variation found on Feasting Hobbit’s Gatherer page.

If you cast this spell, you choose how many and which Foods to devour as part of the resolution of the spell. (It can’t be countered at that point.)

Green Sun’s Zenith

If this spell doesn’t resolve, none of its effects occur. In particular, it will go to the graveyard rather than to its owner’s library.

If Green Sun’s Zenith is countered, none of its effects will happen. Notably, it will be put into its owner’s graveyard rather than shuffled into its owner’s library.

In most cases, if you own Green Sun’s Zenith and cast it, you’ll shuffle your library twice. In practice, shuffling once is sufficient, but effects that care about you shuffling your library (like Psychogenic Probe, for example) will see that you’ve shuffled twice.

If you own Green Sun’s Zenith, but an opponent casts it (due to Knowledge Pool’s effect, for example), that opponent searches their library for an appropriate creature card, then shuffles that library. That opponent then shuffles Green Sun’s Zenith into your library. You won’t shuffle any library in this case.

Better Than One

You and your new teammate become a Two-Headed Giant team and play under Two-Headed Giant rules from that point forward. Similarly, if you pick up a second teammate, you and your two teammates becomes a Three-Headed Giant team, and so on.

Your new teammate must agree to play with you, although they don’t necessarily need to know how to play.

Your new teammate must be someone not already in your game, although it can be someone who was once in your game but left.

For game purposes, your new teammate becomes the owner of the cards you give them for their library, hand, and permanents. Remember to get your cards back after the game.

You can give your new teammate Contraptions you control. You can also give them face down cards from your Contraption deck so they can form their own Contraption deck.

Omniclown Colossus

All the rulings from this point on are about how to play with Adventures. If you are an experienced adventurer, you can venture forth.

You Are Unworthy of Mercy

When this scheme’s ability resolves, the next opponent in turn order chooses a nonland permanent (or three nonland permanents) they control to sacrifice. Then each other opponent in turn order does the same. Then all of the chosen permanents are sacrificed simultaneously. Opponents will know what choices opponents earlier in the turn order made.

Added: Standard rulings for Edge of Eternities and later releases

Gatherer pages added by the Edge of Eternities, Magic: The Gathering | Marvel’s Spider-Man, Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Lorwyn Eclipsed updates receive standard rulings for their respective mechanics.

  • Edge of Eternities: Station cards, warp, void, Lander tokens, and landfall.
  • Magic: The Gathering | Marvel’s Spider-Man: Web-slinging, mayhem, connive, modified, and modal double-faced cards.
  • Magic: The Gathering | Avatar: The Last Airbender: Firebending, earthbend, waterbend, airbend, Clue tokens, Food tokens, flashback, and exhaust.
  • Lorwyn Eclipsed: Blight, vivid, nonmodal double-faced cards, evoke, changeling, kindred, convoke, and behold.

Added: Previously missing standard rulings for the first half of 2025

A few Gatherer pages added by the Aetherdrift, Tarkir: Dragonstorm, and Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY updates were missing standard rulings for their cards’ mechanics.

Aetherdrift rulings for cycling triggers have been added to the Gatherer pages of: Basri, Tomorrow’s Champion, Valor’s Flagship, and Howler’s Heavy.

Aetherdrift rulings for exhaust have been added to the Gatherer pages of: Rangers’ Refueler, Rangers’ Aetherhive, and Marshals’ Pathcruiser.

Aetherdrift rulings for start your engines!, speed, and max speed have been added to the Gatherer pages of: Zahur, Glory’s Past and Racers’ Scoreboard.

Tarkir: Dragonstorm rulings for harmonize have been added to the Gatherer pages of: Ureni’s Rebuff, Nature’s Rhythm, and Roamer’s Routine.

Tarkir: Dragonstorm rulings for mobilize have been added to the Gatherer pages of: Zurgo’s Vanguard and Zurgo, Thunder’s Decree.

Tarkir: Dragonstorm rulings for renewal have been added to the Gatherer page of Alchemist’s Assistant.

Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY rulings for Wizard tokens have been added to Lindblum, Industrial Regency’s Gatherer page.

Update: Flashback

The Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY update introduced new text for a standard flashback ruling; the new text includes the current definition of the two abilities represented by the keyword.

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update applies that text change to all rulings released up to and including Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Rulings released between Outlaws of Thunder Junction and Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY, as well as those released after Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY, continue to use the old text.

Old text:

“Flashback [cost]” means “You may cast this card from your graveyard by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost” and “If the flashback cost was paid, exile this card instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack.”

New text:

“Flashback [cost]” means “You may cast this card from your graveyard if the resulting spell is an instant or sorcery spell by paying [cost] rather than paying its mana cost” and “If the flashback cost was paid, exile this card instead of putting it anywhere else any time it would leave the stack.”

Some standard rulings have been added to Gatherer pages that were missing them. This update applies to the Gatherer pages of: Calibrated Blast, Kaleidoscorch, Strike It Rich, Katilda and Lier, The Fugitive Doctor, Archmage’s Newt, and Slickshot Lockpicker.

Updated: Partner

The Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY update introduced a new example to the text of a standard partner ruling.

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update applies that text change to the Gatherer pages of all cards with the partner ability.

Old text:

If your Commander deck has two commanders, you can only include cards whose own color identities are also found in your commanders’ combined color identities. If Falthis and Kediss are your commanders, your deck may contain cards with black and/or red in their color identity, but not cards with green, white, or blue.

New text:

If your Commander deck has two commanders, you can only include cards whose own color identities are also found in your commanders’ combined color identities. If Bruse Tarl and Ishai are your commanders, your deck may contain cards with red, white, and/or blue in their color identity, but not cards with green or black.

Updated: Adventurer cards

The Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY update featured a list of rulings tailored to the adventurer cards in that release.

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update replaces all other lists of adventurer card rulings with the Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY list. Unsurprisingly, the Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY–specific parts of that list do not match the older adventurer cards at all.

Updated: Landfall

The Edge of Eternities update introduced modified text for a standard landfall ruling, which fixes typos found in the previous version.

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update applies that text change to all rulings released before Edge of Eternities.

Old text:

Whenever a land you control enters, each landfall ability of the permanents you control will trigger. You can put them   on [sic] the stack in any order. The last ability you put on the stack will be the first one to resolve (As a result, you can have those abilities resolve in the order of your choosing.). [sic]

New text:

Whenever a land you control enters, each landfall ability of permanents you control will trigger. You can put them on the stack in any order. The last ability you put on the stack will be the first one to resolve. As a result, you can have those abilities resolve in the order of your choosing.

Revisited: Reverting reordered rulings

The Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY update reordered the rulings on several Gatherer pages; some of these changes were reverted by the Edge of Eternities update.

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update reverts the remaining of these reorderings, all of which belong to restored rulings.

This update applies to the Gatherer pages of: Magical Hack, Transmute Artifact, Clockwork Swarm, Mind Bend, Whim of Volrath, Oath of Lieges, Remembrance, Pattern of Rebirth, Bribery, Crystal Spray, and Artificial Evolution.

Revisited: “Move” becomes “attach”

The rulings on several Gatherer pages talk about “moving” Auras or Equipment onto a permanent; for some of them, the Edge of Eternities update replaced “move” with the technical term “attach.”

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update replaces further instances of “move” in some restored rulings. (The majority of rulings continue to use “move.”)

This update applies to the Gatherer pages of: Cloak and Dagger, Diviner’s Wand, Obsidian Battle-Axe, and Thornbite Staff.

Old text:

If you attach an Equipment you control to another player’s creature, you retain control of the Equipment, but you don’t control the creature. Only you can activate the Equipment’s equip ability, and if the Equipment’s ability triggers again, you choose whether to move the Equipment. Only the creature’s controller can activate any activated abilities the Equipment grants to the creature, and “you” in any abilities granted to the creature refers to that player.

New text:

If you attach an Equipment you control to another player’s creature, you retain control of the Equipment, but you don’t control the creature. Only you can activate the Equipment’s equip ability, and if the Equipment’s ability triggers again, you choose whether to attach the Equipment to the creature. Only the creature’s controller can activate any activated abilities the Equipment grants to the creature, and “you” in any abilities granted to the creature refers to that player.

Revisited: A typo in this pages ruling

The Edge of Eternities update corrected a typo in a ruling on Heartlash Cinder’s Gatherer page.

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update corrects that same typo in two restored rulings.

This update applies to the Gatherer pages of: Springjack Shepherd and Outrage Shaman.

Old text:

The effect counts the mana symbols in this cards [sic] mana cost as well.

New text:

The effect counts the mana symbols in this card’s mana cost as well.

Revisited: This rulings was originally printed with a typo

The Edge of Eternities update corrected a typo in a ruling on All Is Dust’s Gatherer page.

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update corrects that same typo in restored rulings.

This update applies to the Gatherer pages of all kindred cards originally released before the card type’s renaming.

Old text:

This cards [sic] was originally printed with the “tribal” card type. That card type has been replaced with “kindred”. This change does not affect the gameplay function of this card.

New text:

This card was originally printed with the “tribal” card type. That card type has been replaced with “kindred”. This change does not affect the gameplay function of this card.

Revisited: Copies of surged spells

The Edge of Eternities update generalized a ruling on Boulder Salvo’s Gatherer page.

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update applies this change to restored surge rulings.

This update applies to the Gatherer pages of all cards with surge.

Old text:

If an instant or sorcery spell cast for its surge cost is copied, the copy is also considered to have had its surge cost paid.

New text:

If a spell cast for its surge cost is copied, the copy is also considered to have had its surge cost paid.

Revisited: “Transforming” becomes “nonmodal”

The December update for the Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY holiday release replaced the obsolete term “transforming double-faced [object]” with “nonmodal double-faced [object].”

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update applies this change to restored rulings. As before, other recent changes to the functionality of double-faced objects were not incorporated; notably, many rulings still state that modal double-faced cards cannot transform or enter the battlefield transformed.

This update applies to the Gatherer pages of: all double-faced cards released in Zendikar Rising, Kaldheim, Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, Modern Horizons 3, and Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY, all cards with disturb released in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, all battle cards released in March of the Machine, and all cards with craft released in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan and The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander.

Revisited: “All colors” becomes “each color”

Protection and hexproof abilities use the phrase “from each color” rather than “from all colors.”

The December update for the Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY holiday release replaced the phrase “from all colors” in all rulings but one.

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update adds a “from each color” ruling to Gatherer pages that were missing one. Notably, the first ruling on Favor of the Mighty’s page still says “from all colors.”

This update applies to the Gatherer pages of: Pristine Angel, Favor of the Mighty, Etched Champion, Spectra Ward, Akroma’s Will, and Eldritch Immunity.

“Protection from each color” is shorthand for protection from white, from blue, from black, from red, and from green. Colorless is not a color.

Revisited: Adding a clause to a changeling ruling

The December update for the Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY holiday release added a parenthesis to one standard changeling ruling.

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update adds that parenthesis to restored rulings.

This update applies to the Gatherer pages of: Littjara Kinseekers, Mistwalker, Orvar, the All-Form, Guardian Gladewalker, Littjara Glade-Warden, Masked Vandal, Realmwalker, The Bears of Littjara, Moritte of the Frost, and Maskwood Nexus.

Old text:

If an effect causes a creature with changeling to become a new creature type, it will be only that new creature type. It will still have changeling; the effect making it all creature types will simply be overwritten.

New text:

If an effect causes a creature with changeling to become a new creature type, it will be only that new creature type (unless the effect says “in addition” or similar). It will still have changeling; the effect making it all creature types will simply be overwritten.

Revisited: Removing a redundant ruling for double-faced cards

The December update for the Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY holiday release removed a redundant ruling from Bahamut, Warden of Light’s Gatherer page.

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update removes the same ruling from the other Gatherer pages added by the Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY update.

A transforming double-faced card enters the battlefield with its front face up by default, unless a spell or ability instructs you to put it onto the battlefield transformed or you cast it transformed, in which case it enters with its back face up.

Path to Exile

One ruling on Path to Exile’s Gatherer page has been updated.

Old text:

If the target creature is an illegal target by the time Path to Exile tries to resolve, the spell won’t resolve. The creature’s controller won’t search for a basic land card.

New text:

If the target creature is an illegal target by the time Path to Exile tries to resolve, it won’t resolve and none of its effects will happen. The creature’s controller won’t search for a basic land card.

Banishing Light

Four duplicate (or almost duplicate) rulings have been removed from Banishing Light’s Gatherer page.

If Banishing Light leaves the battlefield before its triggered ability resolves, the target permanent won’t be exiled.

Auras attached to the exiled permanent will be put into their owners’ graveyards. Any Equipment will become unattached and remain on the battlefield. Any counters on the exiled permanent will cease to exist. When the card returns to the battlefield, it will be a new object with no connection to the card that was exiled.

If a token is exiled this way, it will cease to exist and won’t return to the battlefield.

If an Aura is exiled this way, its owner chooses what it will enchant as it returns to the battlefield. An Aura put onto the battlefield this way doesn’t target anything (so it could be attached to a permanent with shroud, for example), but the Aura’s enchant ability restricts what it can be attached to. If the Aura can’t legally be attached to anything, it remains in exile for the rest of the game.

Wandering Fumarole

Two rulings have been restored to Wandering Fumarole’s Gatherer page. These rulings are now redundant due to the new rulings added by the Edge of Eternities update.

Effects that switch a creature’s power and toughness apply after all other effects, regardless of when those effects began to apply. For instance, if you target a 1/2 creature then give it +2/+0 later in the turn, it’s a 2/3 creature, not a 4/1 creature.

Switching a creature’s power and toughness twice (or any even number of times) effectively returns the creature to the power and toughness it had before any switches.

Effects that switch a creature’s power and toughness apply after all other effects, regardless of when those effects began to apply. For instance, if you switch Wandering Fumarole’s power and toughness, then give it +2/+0 later in the turn, it’s a 4/3 creature, not a 6/1 creature.

Switching a creature’s power and toughness twice (or any even number of times) effectively returns the creature to the power and toughness it had before any switches.

Teleportation Circle

Two rulings have been added to Teleportation Circle’s Gatherer page.

Once a permanent exiled this way returns, it’s considered a new object with no relation to the object that it was. Auras attached to the exiled permanent will be put into their owners’ graveyards. Equipment attached to the exiled permanent will become unattached and remain on the battlefield. Any counters on the exiled permanent will cease to exist.

If a token is exiled this way, it will cease to exist and won’t return to the battlefield.

Loot, the Pathfinder

A ruling found in the Aetherdrift Release Notes has been added to Loot, the Pathfinder’s Gatherer page.

Loot’s first exhaust ability is a mana ability. It doesn’t use the stack and can’t be responded to.

Lightning, Army of One

An irrelevant ruling has been removed from Lightning, Army of One’s Gatherer page. (The misleading wording of the other rulings remains unchanged.)

The Wizard token’s ability resolves before the spell that caused it to trigger. It resolves even if that spell is countered or otherwise leaves the stack.

Wan Shi Tong, All-Knowing

One ruling has been added to Wan Shi Tong, All-Knowing’s Gatherer page.

The Gatherer page of Dutiful Knowledge Seeker, whose triggered ability has the same trigger event, remains unchanged; I guess foxes are easier to understand than owls, so nobody was confused by Dutiful Knowledge Seeker’s text.

Wan Shi Tong, All-Knowing’s last ability triggers only when cards are put into a library from somewhere other than the library. It won’t trigger when you scry, surveil, or otherwise reorder cards in your library.

Lorwyn Eclipsed double-faced cards

One ruling has been added to the Gatherer pages of the seven double-faced cards released in Lorwyn Eclipsed.

This update applies to the Gatherer pages of: Brigid, Clachan’s Heart, Eirdu, Carrier of Dawn, Oko, Lorwyn Liege, Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom, Grub, Storied Matriarch, Ashling, Rekindled, and Trystan, Callous Cultivator.

In some rare cases, this permanent might transform while its triggered ability that allows you to pay mana to transform it is still on the stack. (For example, another effect might cause that ability to trigger an additional time.) In such a case, even if you pay mana as the triggered ability resolves, this permanent won’t transform because it already transformed while the triggered ability was on the stack.

Double Jump // Flying Kick

The Release Notes’ rulings for the split card Double Jump // Flying Kick have not been added to the card’s Gatherer page.

Version-specific rulings

The Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles update features more card versions with unique lists of rulings. As in the Lorwyn Eclipsed update, Gatherer pages for reprint versions contain duplicates of existing rulings, which do not appear on pages for older versions.

This update applies to the Gatherer pages of the Magic: The Gathering | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles versions of: Negate and Escape Tunnel.

A look at the official update bulletin

Now that I have listed all changes to the CR, to official Oracle text, and to other Gatherer information, it’s time to take a look at the official update bulletin. Maybe a wish comes true and there is some useful information concerning sneak’s wording, Ninja Teen, or Turtles Forever.

Introduction

Sit back with a slice of pizza and learn about the changes to Magic’s comprehensive rules coming with the newest release, as well as the changes coming to the official text of a few cards.

“comprehensive rules” should be capitalized. Good start.

Sneak

The new rule 702.190 and its subrules, alongside the minor changes to combat rules listed below, flesh out the sneak ability. Sneak represents a static ability that functions while the spell with sneak is on the stack. “Sneak [cost]” means “Any time you could cast an instant during your declare blockers step, you may choose to pay [cost] and return an unblocked creature you control to its owner’s hand rather than pay this spell’s mana cost.” A separate subrule explains that the permanent enters the battlefield attacking, and that it will be attacking the same player, planeswalker, or battle as the creature that was returned to pay the sneak cost.

This paragraph says slightly less than what rule 702.190 says, with just as many words. Terrific.

506.3d and 508.4d

It also covers Zareth San, the Trickster, which fell into a small hole in the rules before. Prior to this change, you could have made an argument that it was neither a blocked creature nor an unblocked creature after it entered the battlefield attacking via its activated ability. As far as I’m aware, no one made that argument, but if they did, now you can tell them this rule covers it.

It wasn’t a mere argument; it was a definite fact. Also, why is this written as if Zareth San, the Trickster were the only card affected?

Still, I certainly never noticed this issue nor did I ever encounter someone else who did, so, once again: good job, rules team.

Oracle Updates

We only ordered a few Oracle updates with this release, so let’s get cooking! Leaving aside the minor reminder text and templating adjustments (they don’t make good toppings), here’s the good stuff, fresh out of the pizza oven.

Reminder text changes are on my list, but what are the “minor […] templating adjustments” supposedly left aside? The only Oracle text changes omitted by the official bulletin are functional errata to new cards.

Musings about bulletins new and old

So, another official update bulletin not worth my time. At least they are short.

At this point, I’m starting to wonder whether the bulletins of old were actually better than the current generation. Maybe they were always this superficial, and it is I who changed.

Looking back with the experience of the last three years or so, my prior engagement with Magic’s rules system and with WotC’s bulletins feels embarrassingly shallow: just reading and absorbing all the content, never pausing to reflect on it, and entirely content to simply know things and regurgitate them on command, but without a single thought toward truly understanding them.

Having begun to move beyond that stage, it seems quite natural that a mere bulletin should not hold the same glamour it once had. And what kind of rules enthusiast would ever be content with someone else’s bulletin anyway?

That said, I see a difference between the current bulletins and the bulletins of old that has nothing to do with content: the timing of their release. Going entirely from memory (yes, lazy, I know), old bulletins seemed to release before the actual CR and Gatherer changes went live. With the bulletin first and the actual update second, the bulletin managed to provide new information on its release, even if it said nothing more than the actual update would. It acted as a teaser, and what Magic fan can resist a preview?

If instead the CR and Gatherer are updated first and the bulletin releases only weeks later, the bulletin loses that preview value. The new CR and the Gatherer changes have been analyzed exhaustively, and only then does the official bulletin arrive. And because it’s superficial, it adds nothing to the discussion. Quite a shame, really.

Why the bulletins seem to release later than they did in the good old times, I cannot say. They are still written as if the changes were happening in the future, so maybe the bulletins get delayed in the editing and publishing stages. Regardless of the reasons, the authors should consider writing the bulletins in a more neutral style: the first time a bulletin talked about “planned” changes for a set that had released a whole month earlier, it was somewhat funny; two years later, the novelty has worn off, and I for one would much prefer bulletins that acknowledged their new status as reviews, rather than previews.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You will not be added to any email lists and we will not distribute your personal information.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.