Legendary
From Magic: The Gathering
Legendary is a supertype that indicates the specialness of a card. It is reserved for iconic characters that appear in the storyline or powerful artifacts. Each Set has between 0 to 83(this is the most in a single pack thus far).
[edit] Rules
The "legend rule" is the following:
- 205.4c Any permanent with the supertype "legendary" is subject to the state-based effect for legendary permanents, also called the "legend rule" (see rule 420.5e).
- 420.5e If two or more legendary permanents with the same name are in play, all are put into their owners' graveyards. This is called the "legend rule." If only one of those permanents is legendary, this rule doesn't apply.
[edit] History
In the past the "legend rule" stated that any legendary permanent with the same name as a legendary permanent already in play could not be played. This caused a lot of agony as legends became stranded in a player's hand. This took a lot away from the legendary status as you didn't want a lot of them in your deck. The biggest problem for the old legend rule came when masques block came around. In constructed there were only two deck choices: rebels and anti-rebels. The rebels deck leaned heavily on Lin sivvi, Defiant Hero (create). In tournaments the game was often decided on who could play the legend first. Wizards of the Coast decided this was not a good situation and the new legend rule was created to make legends more interactive.
This change proved to be quite well. A lot of legends have been created since and there even was a block based on legends: Kamigawa Block.
Now All cards that were once called Legend are now called Legendary Creature, Legendary Land... ect.
