General Rulings - 902

• 902.1 - In the Vanguard variant, a vanguard card allows each player to play the role of a famous character. Each player will have one face-up vanguard card whose abilities and other characteristics affect the game. The Vanguard variant uses all the normal rules for a Magic game, with the following additions. [CompRules 2009/10/01]
• 902.2 - A Vanguard game may be a two-player game or a multiplayer game. [CompRules 2009/10/01]
• 902.3 - In addition to the normal game materials, each player needs a vanguard card. Each vanguard card is placed face up next to its owner's library before the game begins. All vanguard cards remain in the command zone throughout the game. [CompRules 2009/10/01]
• 902.4 - Each player's starting life total is 20, as modified by the life modifier of his or her vanguard card. [CompRules 2009/10/01]
  Example: The life modifier of a player's vanguard card is -3. That player starts the game with 17 life. [CompRules 2009/10/01]
• 902.5 - Each player draws a hand of seven cards, as modified by the hand modifier of his or her vanguard card. [CompRules 2009/10/01]
• 902.5a - If a player takes a mulligan in a Vanguard game, just like in a normal game, that player shuffles his or her hand back into his or her library, then draws a new hand of one fewer cards than he or she had before. (In a multiplayer game, a player's first mulligan is for the same number of cards as he or she had before.) [CompRules 2009/10/01]
  Example: The hand modifier of a player's vanguard card is +2. That player starts the game with a hand of 9 cards. If the player takes a mulligan, he or she draws a new hand of 8 cards. The next mulligan is for 7 cards, and so on. [CompRules 2009/10/01]
• 902.5b - A player's maximum hand size is seven, as modified by the hand modifier of his or her vanguard card. [CompRules 2009/10/01]
  Example: The hand modifier of a player's vanguard card is -1. That player's maximum hand size is six. If that player has more than six cards in his or her hand as the cleanup step begins, he or she will discard all but six of them. [CompRules 2009/10/01]
• 902.6 - The owner of a vanguard card is the player who started the game with it in the command zone. The controller of a face-up vanguard card is its owner. [CompRules 2009/10/01]
• 902.7 - Any abilities of a face-up vanguard card in the command zone function from that zone. The card's static abilities affect the game, its triggered abilities may trigger, and its activated abilities may be activated. [CompRules 2009/10/01]