Old school rule question.
Asked by -Orvos- 5 years ago
Was there ever a rule where you couldnt play the same named card more than once a turn?
I just had an experience playing with someone who hasnt played since magic first came out and they said I couldn't.
What happened was... I played a creature. Sac'd it and managed to get it returned to my hand via Athreos, God of Passage. Then i tried to play that same creature again and he said i couldn't. Was there ever a rule like this?
"This problem" being the 20 Black Lotus, 20 Plague Rats deck problem. It's possible your friend new this as a house rule from his group of finds that came up with a different answer than wizards "new" deck construction rule. My understanding is most groups had settled on the 4 of rule, but it wouldn't be surprising if other groups found your friend's rule as a good answer.
Caerwyn says... Accepted answer #1
It was not a rule in the original rulebook, the entire text of which has been transcribed here.
I don't think such a rule was added. Instead, Wizards approached this problem by limiting decks to having four copies of any given card (which was not in the original rules).
My guess? They learned the game incorrectly. As someone who started playing Magic in the dial-up days--a world before Google, when finding web resources was pretty difficult in and of itself--I can attest how difficult it was to learn the game properly. Without useful internet sources, the person who played the most Magic often was the keeper of the rules--and if they learned things wrong, an entire local group could be corrupted. That's still the case today, but correcting these errors is much easier thanks to easier internet access and better resources.
October 22, 2018 10:46 p.m. Edited.