Teferi's Protection

08/25/17

---------- The following rulings focus on the “protection from” keyword ----------

08/25/17

---------- The following rulings focus on what it means if your life total can’t change ----------

08/25/17

Any one-shot effects that are waiting “until [this] leaves the battlefield,” such as that of Banishing Light, won’t happen when a permanent phases out.

08/25/17

Each Aura and Equipment that phases out attached to a permanent that’s phasing out phases in with that permanent and still attached to it.

08/25/17

Effects that replace an event with having you gain life (like Words of Worship’s effect does) or having you lose life will apply and end up replacing the event with nothing.

08/25/17

If a cost includes causing you to gain life (like the alternative cost of an opponent’s Invigorate does), that cost can’t be paid.

08/25/17

If a token is phased out, it will phase in as your next untap step begins. This is a change from previous rules.

08/25/17

If an effect would cause you to exchange life totals with another player, the exchange won’t happen. Neither player’s life total changes.

08/25/17

If you gain control of another player’s permanent and it phases out, if the duration of the control-change effect expires before it phases in, that permanent phases in under that other player’s control as your next untap step begins. If you leave the game before your next untap step, it phases in as the next untap step begins after your turn would have begun.

08/25/17

If your untap step is somehow skipped as your next turn begins, your phased-out permanents won’t phase in until the next untap step you actually have, but you’ll no longer have protection from everything and your life total can change again.

08/25/17

Nothing other than the specified events are prevented or illegal. An effect that doesn’t target you could still cause you to discard cards, for example. Creatures can still attack you while you have protection from everything, although combat damage that they would deal to you will be prevented.

08/25/17

Permanents that phase out with counters phase in with those counters.

08/25/17

Protection from everything will usually prevent damage if it would be dealt to you, but some damage can’t be prevented. In this case, because your life total also can’t change, that damage has any other effects that it may have aside from causing you to lose that much life (such as effects from lifelink or infect) and triggers and effects can see that damage was dealt even though your life total didn’t change.

08/25/17

While a permanent is phased out, it’s treated as though it doesn’t exist. It can’t be the target of spells or abilities, its static abilities have no effect on the game, its triggered abilities can’t trigger, it can’t attack or block, and so on.