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Legendary
Legendary
Supertype
Rules A player may not control two or more legendary permanents with the same name.
Statistics
2889 cards
{C} 0.7% {W} 9.6% {U} 8.7% {B} 9.4% {R} 8.8% {G} 8.5% {W/U} 4.4% {U/B} 3.6% {B/R} 3.6% {R/G} 3.8% {G/W} 3.8% {W/B} 3.3% {U/R} 2.9% {B/G} 2.8% {R/W} 3.3% {G/U} 3.3% {M} 12.3% {artifact symbol} 4.4% {land symbol} 2.8%
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type:"Legendary"

Legendary is a card supertype. Any permanent (artifact, creature, enchantment, planeswalker, and land) with the legendary supertype is bound by the "legend rule," which prevents multiple copies of the card with the same name from existing on the battlefield under the same player's control. Legendary may also appear as a supertype on non-permanent cards (instants and sorceries). The rules for these are different: you can't cast a legendary nonpermanent spell unless you control a legendary creature or a legendary planeswalker. Legendary cards are historic.

Description[ | ]

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (March 8, 2024—Fallout)

Legendary
A supertype that’s normally relevant on permanents. See rule 205.4, “Supertypes.” See also Legend Rule.

Flavor-wise, legendary cards represent the key people, places, and objects of a set's story.

Typical Standard-legal expansion sets used to contain no more than ten to fifteen legendary cards, all carrying a rarity of rare or mythic rare.[1][2]. This number went up slightly with Planeswalkers all being classified as Legendaries. That said, both of these rules were broken in later years, with sets like Commander Legends, War of the Spark (through planeswalkers), Dominaria, Dominaria United, Kamigawa block, and The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth used Legendary cards as a mechanical theme, with uncommon Legends to boost up the numbers in Limited play. Even outside of that, Legends, Amonkhet, Throne of Eldraine, Theros Beyond Death, Core Set 2021 and Kaldheim have had cycles and more of uncommon Legendaries for little more than worldbuilding.

Starting in 2023, R&D is lowering the average of legendary creatures in Magic IP sets. Universes Beyond, due to its nature, will still want a lot of legendary creatures as the named characters of an IP are a big draw.[3][4]

The Commander format requires that a legendary creature be selected as one's commander. There are 22 Planeswalkers designed to be commanders, alongside 30 legendary enchantment Backgrounds matching "Choose a Background".

History[ | ]

Legendary was first featured on several land cards in the set Legends. These were supertyped, whereas the creatures were all given the type "Legend". Stronghold introduced the first Legendary artifact. Starting with Champions of Kamigawa it also replaced the creature type Legend.[5]

Historically, before the release of Legends, the idea of the legendary supertype and its restrictions did not exist, nor did those restrictions have any functional equivalent printed on cards at the time. This, compounded with R&D's policy on avoiding intentional functional errata as much as possible, has caused cards that likely should have been printed as legendary (had the supertype and its associated rules existed since the beginning), such as Ali from Cairo, to stay nonlegendary. Although, the introduction of the supertype did not outright end the trend of flavorful legendary subjects being printed as nonlegendary on new cards, as seen with the rare utility tapland cycle from Zendikar, among others. Cards such as those are specifically designed with functionality over flavor in mind.

Card frame[ | ]

Firesong and Sunspeaker

Legendary card frame, as of Dominaria

Starting with Duel Decks: Elves vs. Inventors and Dominaria, all legendary cards, except planeswalkers, have crown-like flourishes on the title bar of the card frame.[6]

Legend rule[ | ]

If a player controls two or more legendary permanents of the same name when state-based effects are checked, that player chooses one of those permanents and immediately puts the others into their owners' graveyards, without any player having an opportunity to respond. This does not destroy the other permanents, does not cause them to be sacrificed, and cannot be prevented by being indestructible or having regeneration.

This version of the rule has been in effect since the release of Magic 2014.[7][8]

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (March 8, 2024—Fallout)

Legend Rule
A state-based action that causes a player who controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name to put all but one into their owners’ graveyards. See rule 704.5j.

From the Comprehensive Rules (March 8, 2024—Fallout)

  • 205.4d Any permanent with the supertype “legendary” is subject to the state-based action for legendary permanents, also called the “legend rule” (see rule 704.5j).

From the Comprehensive Rules (March 8, 2024—Fallout)

  • 704.5j If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are controlled by the same player, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This is called the “legend rule.”

Currently, only a handful of cards circumvent the "legend rule":

Other versions of the legend rule[ | ]

From Legends to Champions of Kamigawa[ | ]

Originally, only one creature of the same name, with the creature type Legend, could be in play at the same time. For a while, they were even on the restricted list, meaning there could be only one creature of the same name in each deck. This was changed around the time of Ice Age.[9][10][11]

Any person could play a Legend provided that that Legend wasn't already on the battlefield. If it was, that card was stuck in its owner's hand. They could cast it if they wanted to, but the newest one would immediately be put into the graveyard, so there was usually no incentive to do so.

This issue came to great prominence during the Masques block because Rebel decks centered around Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero were dominant at the time. The card was so key to the deck that when two Rebel decks played one another, the first person to get Lin Sivvi out had an unfair advantage.[12] Tom LaPille laid out the various disagreements about the rules change in his article.[13]

From Champions of Kamigawa to Magic 2014[ | ]

The second version of the rule checked to see if any other legendary permanent of the same name existed on the entire battlefield (regardless of the permanents' controllers) and sent all of those permanents (including the one which initiated the situation) to their owners' graveyards.[14][15] In effect, each legendary permanent served two purposes: its original purpose and the removal of all instances of that permanent already on the battlefield.

Planeswalker uniqueness rule[ | ]

From the Comprehensive Rules (March 8, 2024—Fallout)

  • 306.4. Previously, planeswalkers were subject to a “planeswalker uniqueness rule” that stopped a player from controlling two planeswalkers of the same planeswalker type. This rule has been removed and planeswalker cards printed before this change have received errata in the Oracle card reference to have the legendary supertype. Like other legendary permanents, they are subject to the “legend rule” (see rule 704.5j).

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (March 8, 2024—Fallout)

Planeswalker Uniqueness Rule (Obsolete)
Older versions of the rules stated that a player who controlled two or more planeswalkers with the same planeswalker type would put all but one of those planeswalkers into their owners’ graveyards. This rule was called the “planeswalker uniqueness rule” and no longer exists.

Although different, planeswalker cards used to have a similar rule: If a player controls two or more planeswalkers that share a planeswalker type, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners’ graveyards. This was called the “planeswalker uniqueness rule.”[16]

Before the above update, the original rule acted as the legend rule did from Champions to Magic 2014 until this was changed at the same time the legend rule was; it looked at the battlefield and didn't care which player's control they were under. The most recent copy remained while all others were sent to the graveyard. This allowed, for example, someone to play Jace Beleren as a removal spell for Jace the Mind Sculptor as they shared the same subtype "Jace". [17][18]

Starting with Ixalan, this rule was abandoned.[19] All planeswalkers past, present, and future gained the supertype legendary and became subject to the "legend rule". Thus, if a player controls more than one legendary planeswalker with the same name, that player chooses one and puts the other into their owner's graveyard. This means for example that if you control Jace, Unraveler of Secrets and cast Jace, Cunning Castaway, both Jaces now can exist under your control.

The change was made to simplify gameplay.[20][21][22]

Rosewater version[ | ]

Mark Rosewater has stated multiple times that he considers legendary to be a mechanical downside that he would rather get rid of.[23] If he was starting over he would make legendary a supertype with no rules baggage. He would create a keyword, called something like "unique", for things that needed for gameplay reasons to be restricted to having only one in play.[24][25] The rest of R&D doesn't concur with Rosewater's idea, or feels it is too late for the change.[26]

Legendary spells[ | ]

From the Comprehensive Rules (March 8, 2024—Fallout)

  • 205.4e Any instant or sorcery spell with the supertype “legendary” is subject to a casting restriction. A player can’t cast a legendary instant or sorcery spell unless that player controls a legendary creature or a legendary planeswalker.

Legendary sorceries[ | ]

Dominaria debuted legendary sorcery cards that capture extraordinary moments from characters' pasts. These powerful spells can be unleashed only with the assistance of a legendary creature or planeswalker on your side of the battlefield.[27]

You can't cast legendary sorceries unless you control a legendary creature or a legendary planeswalker. Once you begin to cast a legendary sorcery, losing control of your legendary creatures and planeswalkers won't affect that spell. Other than the casting restriction, the legendary supertype on a sorcery carries no additional rules.[28]

Legendary instants[ | ]

Although covered by the rules for legendary sorcery cards, legendary instants were not featured in Dominaria. It would take another five years before the first legendary instant card was released as part of The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earthIsildur's Fateful Strike.[29]

Legendary enchantment[ | ]

The first legendary enchantments were the Honden cycle and Night of Souls' Betrayal from Champions of Kamigawa. The non-legal Heroes of the Realm card The Legend of Arena is a Legendary Enchantment - Saga.

Friendly to legendary permanents[ | ]

White is the color that most interacts with legendary permanents. It can search the library for them and get them back from the graveyard, among other positive interactions.[30]

Legendary matters[ | ]

"Legendary matters" effects may appear in all colors.[31] Examples:

Megalegendary[ | ]

Megalegendary was introduced on a test card in the Mystery Booster set (Your deck can have only one copy of this card.) If you're fortunate enough to have two copies of a megalegendary card in a Limited event, you can still put only one into your deck. The other remains in your sideboard.[32]

References[ | ]

  1. Aaron Forsythe (November 24, 2006). "Preserving the Coolness of Legends". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  2. Mark Rosewater (March 01, 2018). "The printing of legendary creatures at uncommon in the Masters Series.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  3. Mark Rosewater (July 31, 2023). "How likely or even possible is a set with very few (like, fewer than 10) legendary creatures?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  4. Mark Rosewater (January 24, 2024). "Why are you guys making effort to lower the amount of legendary creatures?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  5. Mark Rosewater (May 09, 2011). "The Issue Is Legen—Wait for It—Dary". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  6. Aaron Forsythe (March 21, 2018). "Dominaria Frame, Template and Rules Changes". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  7. Matt Tabak (May 23, 2013). "Magic 2014 Core Set Rules Preview". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  8. Sam Stoddard (May 23, 2013). "Legendary Rule Change". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  9. Magic Arcana (July 26, 2002). "Restricted Legends". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  10. Mark Rosewater (September 02, 2017). "At any point in Magic's history, was it ever considered to make Legendary a deckbuilding restriction instead of a gameplay one?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  11. Mark Rosewater (September 03, 2017). "Could you give us a quick rundown of all the variations of the Legend Rule?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  12. Mark Rosewater (May 09, 2011). "The Issue Is Legen—Wait for It—Dary". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  13. Tom LaPille (May 13, 2011). "A Legendary Disagreement". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  14. Aaron Forsythe (September 10, 2004). "Legendary Rules Changes". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  15. Mark Rosewater (October 04, 2004). "Change For the Better". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  16. Matt Tabak (June 22, 2015). "Magic Origins Mechanics Article". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  17. bimmerbot (July 11, 2013). "M14 Rules Changes! The Planeswalker Uniqueness Rule". Magic Judge.
  18. Matt Tabak (May 23, 2013). "Magic 2014 Core Set Rules Preview". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  19. Matt Tabak (August 28, 2017). "Ixalan Mechanics". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  20. Mark Rosewater (August 28, 2017). "Why was there a need to make planeswalkers legendary?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  21. Mark Rosewater (August 28, 2017). "Having multiple versions of the same planeswalker character out seems 'wrong'.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  22. Mark Rosewater (September 02, 2017). "Do you think it's a flavor fail to be able to summon more than one of the same legendary character from the Multiverse?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  23. Mark Rosewater (October 14, 2016). "Can't you just drop the mechanical baggage and just use it as a "story marker"?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  24. Mark Rosewater (September 02, 2017). "Why do you want the Legendary rule gone?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  25. Mark Rosewater (August 29, 2017). "So basically you wish Legendary didn't exist.". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  26. Mark Rosewater (August 29, 2017). "Now that planeswalkers use the legendary rule". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  27. Dominaria Release Notes
  28. Mark Rosewater (March 10, 2018). "Why introduce legendary sorceries if they fundamentally can never work the same way as legendary permanents?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  29. MTGxLOTR Exclusive Preview! - Isildur's Fateful Strike (Video). Playing With Power MTG. YouTube (June 5, 2023).
  30. Mark Rosewater (October 18, 2021). "Mechanical Color Pie 2021 Changes". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  31. Mark Rosewater (March 06, 2020). "Do all colors have access to "legendary matters" effects?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  32. Eli Shiffrin (November 11, 2019). "Mystery Booster Release Notes". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
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