This content was originally included in an issue of The Duelist magazine. The original article can be accessed via Internet Archive here.

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Main Magazine Page: The Duelist #0

As you play Magic, you often run across new and interesting card interactions that the rules don’t perfectly explain.  After all, we couldn’t discuss every possible interaction when the game involves over 300 cards!  However, we did decide to provide answers to some of the more common questions.  If your question isn’t answered below, please send it to us along with a SASE. Our mailing address is:

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Banding: Creatures only band for the duration of a single attack. Banded creatures do not gain abilities of the other creatures in the band.
Example: A Mesa Pegasus (a flying creature with banding ability) bands with a Benalish Hero (a non-flying creature with banding ability) and Shanodin Dryads (a non-flying creature with forestwalk ability. The Hero cannot fly or forestwalk, so all of the banded attackers can be blocked by any creature that can block the Hero. But the attacker gets to choose how the damage from the blocking creature is distributed among the banding creatures.

Casting Cost.  You only need to pay the casting cost of a card (the amount in the upper right hand corner) once. If the card requires you to pay mana for upkeep, it will say so on the card.

Discarding:  You only need to discard if you have more than seven cards in your hand, unless a card in play specifically instructs otherwise.  Similarly, you may not discard unless you have more than seven cards, or are forced to by a card in play.

Enchantments: Enchantments remain in effect until they are destroyed or disenchanted, or the target upon which they are cast is destroyed or discarded.
Example: You cast Paralyze on your opponent’s Hurloon Minotaur.  Paralyze taps the Minotaur, and then requires your opponent to pay 4 mana during upkeep to untap the creature.  If your opponent pays the 4 mana, the Minotaur is untapped, but Paralyze is not discarded. If the Minotaur becomes tapped again, your opponent will again have to pay to untap it.

Flying: Creatures that can fly can be blocked only by other flying creatures.  Flying creatures can block either flying or non-flying creatures.

Special Costs: In the card text, a mana symbol preceding an effect should be read as “For each (mana) spent…”
Example: You cast Firebreathing on your Scathe Zombies. For each red mana you spend, you increase the strength of your Zombies by 1.

Special Types of Fast Effects: Using the special abilities of creatures, using artifacts already in play, and using enchantments in play are all fast effects.
Example: You have a Circle of Protection: Blue in play. Your opponent attacks with Sea Serpent, a blue creature, and taps Prodigal Sorcerer, another blue creature with a special ability that lets it do 1 point of damage to any target.  You may spend 1 mana of any or no color to prevent the damage from either source.  To prevent the damage from both sources, you must spend 2 mana—one for each source.

Tapping: The purpose of tapping is to indicate that a land has been used to provide mana, a creature has attacked, or an effect has been generated by an artifact or special ability.  A tapped card may not be used again until it is untapped.
Example:  You have Llanowar Elves in play, and you want to use the mana it can provide to summon your Scryb Sprites.  To show that the Elves have been used to generate mana this turn, you tap the card by rotating it 90° to a horizontal position.

The Graveyard: When cards are placed into or removed from the graveyard, they must be visible to both players.

Interrupts and Instants: The difference between interrupts and instants is timing.  Interrupts take effect as soon as they are cast. Instants take effect only after all fast effect reactions have been announced.

Timing of Special Abilities: Tapping a creature to use a special ability is an instant; it may be done during your opponent’s turn.
Example: Your opponent is attacking you with Merfolk of the Pearl Trident, a 1/1 creature.  You block it with your Mon’s Goblin Raiders, also a 1/1 creature.  However, you also have a Samite Healer in play.  This creature has the ability to prevent 1 damage to any target.  So you can tap your Healer to prevent the Merfolk from damaging the Goblin.  Your Goblin still does 1 point of damage to the Merfolk, killing it.  If you had only the Healer in play, you could still block with the Healer, and then tap it to prevent the damage to itself.  However, a creature that is tapped after it is announced as a blocker—the Healer, in this case—does not deal damage, so neither creature would take damage this turn.