301. The Turn

302. Play continues cyclically until one player wins.

303. The phases of a turn are rigid, but the actions taken during those steps can be done in any order, unless otherwise specified.

304. The Turn Player is the player taking the current turn.

305. When there are no items on the Chain and the Turn Player cannot or chooses not to perform any Discretionary Actions, the current phase or step of the turn ends and the next phase, step, or turn begins.

306. The Turn Player changes when the current Turn Player reaches the End of all of the Phases of their Turn.

307. States of the Turn

308. At any given time, the turn is in either a Neutral State or a Showdown State.

309. At any given time, the turn is in either an Open State or a Closed State.

310. These descriptions can be combined, such that the turn is always in one of these four states:

311. Priority and Focus

312. At any given time, up to one player has Priority.

313. At any given time, up to one player has Focus.

314. Phases of the Turn

315. Start of Turn

316. Main Phase

317. Ending Phase

318. Cleanups

319. A Cleanup will be made an Outstanding Task at the following times:

320. While a Cleanup is occurring, Chain Items cannot be Resolved.

321. Similarly, while Chain Items are Resolving, a Cleanup cannot occur.

322. If an event occurs during a Cleanup that qualifies for a Cleanup, another Cleanup will occur immediately after the first completes, repeating until a Cleanup occurs with no new change in the game's state.

323. When a Cleanup occurs, the following Tasks become Outstanding in the order described:

324. Special Cleanups are Cleanup steps invoked at specific times that have additional steps not present in a normal Cleanup.

325. Chains and Showdowns

326. Players can act during the following Windows of Opportunity that occur during the course of regular play:

327. Chains

328. The Chain is a Non-Board Zone that temporarily exists whenever a card is played or an ability is activated.

329. Cards and abilities added to the chain are added as Pending Chain Items that become Finalized Chain Items.

330. The Chain exists as long as a Chain Item is on it.

331. The State of the Turn is partially determined by whether or not the Chain currently exists.

332. Steps of Resolving Chain Items

333. Whenever a card or token is played or an ability is activated or triggered, a Chain is created.

334. A Task is one or more steps or processes that one or more Players must perform before continuing with any other actions.

335. Whenever a Player takes one or more actions that incur Tasks they should refer to the process of HOT FEPR: Handle Outstanding Tasks; then Finalize, Execute, Pass, Resolve.

336. When there are no outstanding Tasks and there are pending Chain Items on the Chain, players should refer to the FEPR process to proceed.

337. Step 1: Finalize

338. Step 2: Execute

339. Step 3: Pass

340. Step 4: Resolve

341. Showdowns

342. A Showdown is a Window of Opportunity in which Players have an Open State in which they may play Spells in an alternating fashion.

343. The State of the turn is partially determined by whether or not a Showdown or Combat is in progress.

344. A Showdown begins when Control of a Battlefield is Contested and the turn is in a Neutral Open State.

345. As a Showdown begins, the player who applied Contested status to the Battlefield gains Focus.

346. When the last item on the chain resolves and the turn returns to an Open State during a Showdown, Focus passes, and the next Player gains both Focus and Priority.

347. During a Showdown, the player with Focus may do one of the following:

348. If all players pass Focus without playing a spell or activating an ability, then the Showdown Closes.

349. Playing Cards

350. Playing a card is the act of a player utilizing their cards.

351. Cards have different behaviors when played.

352. Cards have different states during the process of being played.

353. The Process of Play

354. 1. Remove the card from the zone you are playing it from and put it onto the Chain.

355. 2. Make relevant choices.

356. 3. Determine Total Cost.

357. 4. Pay the card's costs.

358. 5. Check legality.

359. 6. Finish finalizing this card and proceed with the card's category of Play.

360. Abilities

361. An Ability is the structured rules and capabilities of Game Objects or Spells.

362. A card can have more than one Ability and more than one type of Ability.

363. Passive Abilities

364. Conditions, rules, constraints, or statements that affect the course of regular play.

365. Presence on Permanents

366. Presence on Card outside of the Board

367. Replacement Effects

368. An ability that alters the application of another game effect or game rule.

369. Replacement Effects intercede during the execution of a Game Effect and alter its execution.

370. A Replacement Effect can alter the typical flow of play, including other cards' executions.

371. Some Replacement Effects will begin with "once each turn."

372. If more than one Replacement Effect applies to the same event being executed, then the owner of the object being acted on determines the order the Replacement Effects will apply.

373. If more than one event occurs simultaneously that Replacement Effects could apply to, each event is treated separately and individually for the purposes of Replacement Effects, and Replacement Effects with the same controller are applied in the order of their controller's choosing. Example: Two units controlled by the same player die in the same cleanup. That player also controls Zhonya's Hourglass. They must decide which event to apply Zhonya's Hourglass to first.

374. A Replacement Effect's controller is the player that controls the source of the Replacement Effect.

375. If an event that a Replacement Effect applies to would be modified by a Game Effect, or the results of that event would be modified by a Game Action, the Replacement Effect will inherit those modifications. Example: Treasure Hunter reads "When I move, play a Gold gear token exhausted." A Replacement Effect that says "if you would play a token gear, play that token and an additional copy instead" is applied to the event of the Gold gear token being played. The additional copy will also be exhausted, as it inherits the "exhausted" modification. Example: Another Replacement Effect says "if you would play a token, draw 1 instead." The modification cannot apply, so we ignore it. Example: A spell reads "play a ready 3 [M] Mech token. Then do this: Give it Temporary." A Replacement Effect that says "if you would play a unit token, play that token and a 1 [M] Recruit token instead" is applied to the event of the Mech token being made. The Recruit token enters ready and is given Temporary.

376. Activated Abilities

377. Activated Abilities are repeatable effects with a cost. They follow a process of going onto the chain and resolving, similar to Playing a Card. See rule 349. Playing Cards for more information.

378. The controlling player chooses when and whether to activate an Activated Ability.

379. Activated abilities are present on Game Objects and some Spells.

380. Can primarily be activated while on the Board.

381. All Activated Abilities can only be activated on the Controlling Player's Turn and during an Open State.

382. Triggered Abilities

383. Triggered Abilities are repeatable effects that happen when a Condition is met.

384. Presence on Permanents

385. Presence on Cards outside of the Board

386. Reflexive Triggers

387. Reflexive Triggers are a type of Triggered Ability that create one or more Chain Items when their condition is met.

388. Reflexive Triggers use the Chain.

389. Delayed Abilities

390. Delayed Abilities are a type of Ability whose trigger Condition identifies a specific time during a turn or a specific event that can occur during a specific timeframe.

392. Delayed Abilities are not associated with Units or Gear; they are created by other Abilities or Spells. As such they are executed when their condition and/or specified time occurs regardless of whether the source of the Delayed Ability is still on the board or not.

393. Linked Abilities

394. Linked Abilities are a set of Abilities with one or more of the component Abilities referencing the other Abilities in the set.

395. In order for a set of Abilities to be Linked, they must be present in the printed Effect or Rules Text of the same Game Object, or be granted by the same source to another Game Object.

396. Linked Abilities can contain component Abilities of any type.

397. A component Linked Ability that references a Game Object affected by another Ability in the set may only interact with Game Objects affected by the Abilities it is Linked with.

398. Playing or Activating Abilities

399. Playing or activating Abilities follows the same steps of playing cards.