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On [[[Spawnsire of Ulamog]]], the text "from outside the game" appears. Once, before the word "Exile" was used, it meant "Cards that have been removed from the game (exiled) or that are in your sideboard" (in sanctioned events).

Does the word "outside of the game" include exile now? Aren't exiled card still "in the game"?

[[Cunning Wish]] [[Spawnsire of Ulamog]]

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2 Answers

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Short answer

Yes, exiled cards are now in the game; so, no, "outside the game" does not include exiled cards anymore.

Long answer

According to the Comprehensive Rules:

400.1. A zone is a place where objects can be during a game. There are normally six zones: library, hand, battlefield, graveyard, stack, and exile. Some older cards also use the ante zone. Some casual variants use the command zone.

400.10. An object is outside the game if it isn't in any of the game's zones. Outside the game is not a zone.

108.5. Nontraditional Magic cards can't start the game in any zone other than the command zone (see rule 408). If an effect would bring a nontraditional Magic card into the game from outside the game, it doesn't; that card remains outside the game.

When you bring your deck into the game, it starts as your library. Cards then move to the hand, battlefield, graveyard, stack, exile, and ante zones during the course of play. There is (currently) no way for a card that has ever been part of the game to no longer be in one of these zones, so all of the cards in your deck stay in the game.

Note in particular that this changed during the Magic 2010 rules changes. Before then, the exile zone was called the removed-from-the-game zone, and was explicitly considered "outside the game." Given the number of cards moving things back and forth between that zone and the battlefield, R&D got fed up with its terminology. Given that "exile" doesn't feel nearly as outside the game, and the fact that certain exiled cards had significant in-game effects, they felt like weakening nine cards was worth bringing the zone fully within the game.

The command zone is only used for nontraditional cards (vanguard, plane, and scheme cards, at the moment). They're explicitly not allowed in any other zone, and are explicitly prohibited from being brought into the game mostly because nobody wants to deal with the consequences of Wishing one up.

For tournaments, the Magic Tournament Rules add a significant extra restriction in section 3.5:

Certain cards refer to “a (card or cards) you own from outside the game.” In tournament play, a card “you own from outside the game” is a card in that player’s sideboard.

The contents of your sideboard are governed again by the Comprehensive Rules:

100.4a In constructed play, sideboards are optional, but must contain exactly fifteen cards if used. The four-card limit (see rule 100.2a) applies to the combined deck and sideboard.

100.4b In limited play involving individual players, all cards a player opens but doesn't include in his or her deck are in that player's sideboard.

100.4c In limited play involving the Two-Headed Giant multiplayer variant, all cards a team opens but doesn't include in either player's deck are in that team's sideboard.

100.4d In limited play involving other multiplayer team variants, each card a team opens but doesn't include in any player's deck is assigned to the sideboard of one of those players. Each player has his or her own sideboard; cards may not be transferred between players.

Note that for games after the first in a match, if you have moved cards between your sideboard and your deck, "outside the game" refers to your current sideboard, not your original one.

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+1 Very well constructed, detailed answer. – CodeSavvyGeek May 8 at 0:47
accepted as yours is more detailed. – ripper234 May 8 at 3:34
superb answer!! – ubes Jun 7 at 22:13
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In casual play, it'll mean any Eldrazis you have around. In a tournament setting, it means cards in your sideboard.

And yes, exiled cards are still inside the game. If it was refering to exiled cards, it'd say so.

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"you have around"? This wording used to included what's known today as 'exiled'. Did this change? Can you give a comprule quote? – ripper234 Apr 12 at 4:43
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The rulings on the "wishes" (see for example the ones for [[[Cunning Wish]]]) explicitly say that exile is one of the game's zones so exiled cards are still "in the game", and that "cards outside the game" include any card you own that isn't in your deck (in a non-sanctioned event), or just your sideboard (in a sanctioned event). Ciberon, you might want to quote the relevant rulings in your answer to make it more robust :) – Avish Apr 12 at 7:24
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From the gatherer extra rulings: 10/1/2009 You can't acquire exiled cards because those cards are still in one of the game's zones. 10/1/2009 In a sanctioned event, a card that's "outside the game" is one that's in your sideboard. In an unsanctioned event, you may choose any card from your collection. – MagicSearch Apr 12 at 18:34

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