CR 708. Split Cards

  • 708.1 Split cards have two card faces on a single card. The back of a split card is the normal Magic card back.
  • 708.2 Although split cards have two castable halves, each split card is only one card. For example, a player who has drawn or discarded a split card has drawn or discarded one card, not two.
  • 708.3 A player chooses which half of a split card they are casting before putting it onto the stack.
    • 708.3a Only the chosen half is evaluated to see if it can be cast. Only that half is considered to be put onto the stack.
    • 708.3b While on the stack, only the characteristics of the half being cast exist. The other half’s characteristics are treated as though they didn’t exist.
    • 708.3c An effect may create a copy of a split card and allow a player to cast the copy. That copy retains the characteristics of the two halves separated into the same two halves as the original card. (See rule 706.12.)
  • 708.4 In every zone except the stack, the characteristics of a split card are those of its two halves combined. This is a change from previous rules.
    • 708.4a Each split card has two names. If an effect instructs a player to choose a card name and the player wants to choose a split card’s name, the player must choose one of those names and not both. An object has the chosen name if one of its names is the chosen name.
    • 708.4b The mana cost of a split card is the combined mana costs of its two halves. A split card’s colors and converted mana cost are determined from its combined mana cost. An effect that refers specifically to the symbols in a split card’s mana cost sees the separate symbols rather than the whole mana cost.
    • 708.4c A split card has each card type specified on either of its halves and each ability in the text box of each half.
    • 708.4d The characteristics of a fused split spell on the stack are also those of its two halves combined (see rule 702.101, “Fuse”).