IMPORTANT UPDATE: This article has been updated as of the prerelease of Magic 2014 on July 13; Please refer to the revisions below.
When first introduced in the early expansion set Legends, Legend was a creature type. Creatures could gain or have it removed from them if an effect were to change a creatures type. However when Champions of Kamigawa was released, what being a legend was and the ‘legend rule’ was changed. (Prior to the change legendary was a type and applied to non-creature permanents. If a Legendary non-creature permanent became a creature, it gained the subtype of legend. Easy huh?)
As mentioned above prior to this change, legend was a creature subtype and the ‘legend rule’ worked a bit differently. It used to be that if one legend was in play, a legend with the same name were to enter play the newer one would go to the graveyard. In other words the first legend in play would ‘win.’
Now, the legend creature type is the supertype of legendary. And it can be used on any permanent type, not just creatures. And if there are ever two or more Legendary permanents on the battlefield with the same all of them will go to the graveyard when state-based actions are checked. So instead of one of the Legends staying in play, all will go to the graveyard.
And the Legend Rule has been updated once again with the release of Magic 2014. As of July 19th, 2014, the rules only look at each player’s individual ‘portion’ of the battlefield when looking for multiple Legendary permanents. Each player can control a copy of the same Legendary permanent at the same time with no problems; the “Legend Rule” only kicks in if any one player controls 2 or more Legendary permanents with the same name. If that occurs, that player will choose one of the Legendary permanents they control to keep, and immediately put the rest in their owners’ graveyards. For example, if Adam and Nancy each control a Geist of Saint Traft, there’s no problem. if Adam were to cast a second Geist, he (and ONLY he!) would choose one of his two Geists, and put the other in the graveyard.
Today’s Rules Tip was suggested by George FitzGerald, a level 1 judge from Sarasota, Florida, United States.