Exchange in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Oko, Thief of Crowns | Illustration by Wesley Burt

Magic: The Gathering offers plenty of ways to trade up… ideally at your opponent’s expense. Sure, exchanging your goblin token for their Eldrazi titan might sound shady to your opponent, but it’s perfectly legal (and delightfully cunning).

But “exchange” isn’t just casual swapping; in Magic, exchange has precise rules and some sneaky details. Understanding these rules can be the difference between a legendary trade-up and a fizzled deal.

So let's break down exactly how exchanging works, and remember: No take-backs allowed.

How Does Exchanging Work in MTG?

Harness Infinity | Illustration by Seb McKinnon

In MTG, exchange is a keyword action that has existed since Alpha, but it was only clearly defined during the Sixth Edition rules change. Keyword actions are strictly defined by the MTG rules, and have a more precise meaning than what the word generally means in English. Exchange only happens with Magic cards that literally spell out “exchange,” like for example Switcheroo.

It means “swap these two things, instantly and permanently.” These swapped things tend to fall into one of three categories:

• Exchange control of some objects on the battlefield or the stack,
• Make some objects exchange game zones, or
• Swap some numbers around (like swapping life totals).

The exchange happens simultaneously. And, importantly, must be fully executable. If a spell tries to exchange control of two creatures on the battlefield, both creatures must be there when the exchange spell resolves. If one of them is gone by that point (because somebody pointed a Path to Exile at it, for example), then the whole exchange fizzles. In other words, even if exchanging your 1/1 token with my Emrakul, the Promised End is kind of a lopsided trade, it still has to be a trade: In Magic, you can't exchange something for nothing.

Many exchange effects follow the principle of “an eye for an eye,” so to speak: Your land for my land, your creature for my creature, etc. But they don't need to be, and the terms of exchange can be pretty different:

Tree of Perdition, for example, exchanges a player's life with the creature's toughness. And Perplexing Chimera exchanges control of a creature (on the battlefield) for control of a spell (on the stack).

Notice that in multiplayer games, the exchanged things don't always need to be yours!

Switcheroo lets you exchange control of any two creatures, so both of them can be creatures controlled by two of your opponents. Confusion in the Ranks even gives you a bonus if you're just the broker in this exchange and none of the creatures are yours!

Last but not least, exchanges last indefinitely (unless the exchange card says otherwise, as in Serene Master‘s or Exchange of Words‘ case). As long as the exchange has been completed, and unless the card explicitly says otherwise, it's irrelevant what happens to the source of the exchange afterward. If you Switcheroo your 1/1 token for my Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, then nothing I do to your token will bring Emrakul back to me.

What Sorts of Things Can Be Exchanged in MTG?

In MTG, the most common exchanges are exchanging control of objects, making objects exchange zones, and exchanging one number for another. But the MTG rules potentially allow for a lot of things to be exchanged, and there are some really crazy cases, like exchanging rules texts!

Remember that, in Magic, it's only an exchange if the card literally says “exchange.” If it doesn't use the word, then it's a different type of effect, and not covered by these rules and examples.

Exchanging Permanents

Swapping control of permanents is one of the most common exchanges. It's usually an “eye for an eye” sort of trade, as with Shifting Grift, but cards like Conjured Currency let you pick any permanent (even lands!).

The exchanged permanents never leave the battlefield; they just “change sides,” so to speak.

Note that anything attached to the exchanged permanents (like auras or equipment) remain attached as long as the attachment is still legal, and the attachments don't exchange controllers.

Suppose I have a 1/1 Hero with Summoner's Grimoire attached to it. If you Switcheroo my token for your Monastery Swiftspear, then the token is now under your control, with my Summoner's Grimoire still attached to it – but during my turn I still get to equip the Grimoire to one of my creatures, and could even attach it to the Monastery Swiftspear you've just given me.

All completed exchanges are permanent, and it doesn't matter what happens afterwards with whatever caused that exchange (unless the card explicitly says otherwise). You can stop the exchange from happening by nuking one of the creatures before the exchange is complete – but afterward, it's permanent. No backsies!

For example, say I cast Gilded Drake and it enters the battlefield. Its exchange ability triggers and goes on the stack. At that point you can Stifle the exchange ability, or getting rid of either the drake or Emrakul from the battlefield (by killing my drake, or saccing your Emrakul, or anything else that removes them from the battlefield). In all of these cases, no exchange will happen.

But if the exchange trigger resolves with both Drake and Emrakul on the field, then Emrakul is now under my control, the Drake is under yours, and nothing that happens to the Drake after that point matters as far as Emrakul is concerned. You can sac the Drake, or suicide-attack with it, exile it, or even remove all its abilities with something like Witness Protection… doesn't matter. All exchanges are final: Emrakul's playing for Team Me now, either until death do us part, or until you regain control of it by some other means.

Exchanging Spells on the Stack

Perplexing Chimera is another example of exchanging control of objects, but in this case you exchange control of a creature (on the battlefield) and spell (on the stack). Neither changes zones during the exchange. I now control your Chimera and it's still on the field, while you now control my Time Walk and the spell is still on the stack.

If my spell had targets you also get to choose new targets, but that's an additional effect. That is to say, the re-targeting is not part of the exchange process itself; it's just something else that Perplexing Chimera does.

A resolved instant or sorcery spell goes to its owner's graveyard, no matter who was controlling it. In the above example, my Time Walk that you exchanged control of will give you an extra turn when it resolves, because it's under your control. But after resolving it will go my graveyard, because I'm still the card's owner.

(And, no, of course it's not a legit Time Walk, just a proxy!)

Exchanging Life Totals

Another very common type of exchange is life totals, but this one has a couple of twists.

To begin with, the adjustments from this exchange are considered life gains and life losses, and they will trigger any relevant ability. For example, say Player A is at 35 life, Player B is at 25, and you point your Axis of Mortality at them. In this case, Player A loses 10 life (and goes down to 25), while Player B gains 10 life (and goes up to 35). If you have an Exquisite Blood in play, Player A's life loss will trigger your Exquisite Blood‘s ability.

Like exchanging control of permanents or spells, life exchanges are final – if somebody points a Boseiju, Who Endures at your Axis of Mortality after the exchanges are complete, the life totals don't exchange back.

The plot thickens if somebody has a Rampaging Ferocidon in play, though:

Now Player B can't gain life when your Axis of Mortality triggers, and you'd be exchanging something for nothing, so nothing gets exchanged in this case.

Exchanging Cards in Different Zones

Three cards let you exchange your whole hand, graveyard, or library with one another. These are the exceptions to the “can't exchange something for nothing” rule: These exchanges are explicitly allowed to happen even if your graveyard, library, or hand is empty.

For example, if you cast Harness Infinity as the last card in your hand, you still get to put your whole graveyard into your hand (while putting nothing in your graveyard).

According to the MTG rules, these zone exchanges can only happen if all the cards are owned by the same player; there are a couple of silver-bordered cards (like Mirror Mirror) which let you exchange objects between zones from different players, but silver-bordered cards are not covered by the rules.

Exchanging Different Stats

A few exchange cards swap life totals for some other variable, like a creature's toughness or power.

The exchange is considered a life gain or life loss for the player, so it won't happen if players can't gain or lose life. The exchange will also fizzle if the creature is gone before the exchange takes place, but afterward it will be permanent (even if the creature is removed from the field).

Anything that modifies the creature's stats will count towards the exchange. If Tree of Perdition is equipped with Cultist's Staff (which gives it +2/+2) and the player is at 9, then after the exchange Tree of Perdition becomes an 11/11 creature, and the player’s life total will now be at 15.

Exchanging Text Boxes

The craziest exchange effect of them all is swapping whole text boxes! Deadpool, Trading Card‘s art is even showing you how that's done: Pretty much as if you grabbed scissor, cut one box, pasted it over the other card's box, and vice-versa (although I don't advise doing that with a real Magic card – that's what print-at-home proxies are for!).

The text box does not include the statline, power, toughness, name, or casting cost; those remain the same. But anything on the box gets swapped.

For example: If I have Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow in play, and you drop Deadpool, Trading Card and exchange text boxes, now my Yuriko is still a 1/3 human ninja that costs , but their text box is now Deadpool's (and vice-versa).

You probably know this at this point, but just in case: If Deadpool resolves, the swap is permanent. Deadpool will keep Yuriko's abilities for as long as it remains on the battlefield, regardless of what happens to Yuriko. And, likewise, Deadpool getting nuked or bounced won't reset Yuriko.

Also, once an object leaves zones it reverts to its original text.; as soon as you kill, bounce, exile, blink, or shuffle Deadpool back to your deck it reverts to its original state. But Yuriko remains swapped and Deadpool'd!).

One more note: Deadpool, Trading Card‘s ability is a replacement effect (you can spot this because the ability starts with “As…”). This is not a triggered ability, and does not target, so hexproof won't protect Yuriko. On top of that, because replacement effects modify events immediately as they happen (rather than being a trigger that goes to the stack), there's no window to respond to the exchange once Deadpool enters the battlefield.

What’s the Point of Exchanging in MTG?

In general, you exchange to trade up while forcing your opponents to trade down. Switcherooing your 1/1 token for my big battlecruiser can be back-breaking!

Some exchanges can literally be game-ending: If you send me your Demonic Pact with only the fourth option left, I'm one upkeep away from losing.

Some cards, like Zedruu the Greathearted, specifically reward you for letting your foes control your permanents. Zedruu also has an activated ability that lets you “donate” your stuff to others (this is not an exchange; more about this in a bit), but of course exchange cards can make the swapping go much faster.

There's also multiplayer politics. Several exchange cards let you be the broker of exchanges where you don't control anything, which can provide you with quite a bit of leverage to close a deal. And sometimes exchanges can sow the right amount of chaos to keep things fun and fresh. Games can get unpredictable real fast with a Confusion in the Ranks in play!

What Happens if Something’s Not There When an Exchange Happens?

Literally nothing happens if something's not there when the exchange effect resolves. If any part of an exchange is missing or invalid when the exchange would occur, the entire exchange fails. For example, if you activate Tree of Redemption to exchange your life total with its toughness, and someone destroys the Tree in response, no exchange happens at all. Your life stays as it was.

The exception is zone-exchanging cards like Harness Infinity. You can put your whole graveyard in your hand even if your hand is empty (and thus you give nothing back to your graveyard).

How Does Exchanging Life Totals Work?

Each player gains or loses the exact amount needed so that their new total equals the other player’s former total. Anything that triggers when players lose or gain life will trigger at this point.

Does Exchanging Life Totals Count as Lifegain or Life Loss?

Yes, it does! If your life total increases because of an exchange, you've gained life. If it decreases, you've lost life.

If an effect says that a player can't gain life, though, that player can't make life exchanges and therefore the whole deal is down: The other player's life won't change, either.

How Does Exchanging Spells on the Stack Work?

When exchanging spells on the stack, you just exchange control of the spell – it remains on the stack until it resolves or gets countered, but now under somebody else's control.

As of right now, the two stack-exchanging cards (Perplexing Chimera and Sudden Substitution) also allow for retargeting, but that's an additional effect on the card and not part of the exchange process itself.

Does Taking Control of a Creature Count as Exchanging?

This is a case of “all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares.” There are lots of ways of gaining or losing control of a creature (that would be the rectangle in this example), but not all of them are exchanges.

Take our friend Zedruu the Greathearted from a previous example. Zedruu's activated ability lets you donate one of your permanents to your opponent, but you get nothing back. This is not a bilateral exchange, just a gift from your end.

Threaten effects let you gain control of a creature for a turn, and effects like Expropriate let you gain control permanently, but none of them are exchange effects.

The trick to tell them apart is very simple: If the effect doesn't literally say “exchange,” then the MTG rules don't consider it an exchange.

Do Exchanged Creatures Have Summoning Sickness?

Yes, they do!

Any creature has summoning sickness if it hasn't been continuously under your control since the start of your most recent turn. So if you gain control of a creature during your first main phase (via an exchange, or via any other method) it will be summon-sick.

The usual workaround is haste, which lets creatures attack or tap right away regardless of summoning sickness. That's why temporary theft effects like Threaten give haste to the “borrowed” creature.

What Does It Mean to Exchange Text Boxes?

Exchanging text boxes swaps all rules text and abilities from one creature with another. A card’s text box is everything below the type line and above the power/toughness box—rules text, keywords, reminder text, and even the ”Draw me like one of your French cards” flavor text in Deadpool, Trading Card.

When exchanging text boxes, the creatures don’t swap zones, names, mana costs, power, or toughness. They don't exchange control, either; just their text boxes. If one creature leaves the battlefield after the exchange, the other keeps its borrowed text.

Are “Exchange Text Box” Cards Legal?

Yes, both text-exchanging cards currently in print (namely Deadpool, Trading Card and Exchange of Words) are legal in Eternal formats: Commander, Legacy, Vintage, and Oathbreaker.

Even though Exchange of Words was part of an Un-set, they are both black-bordered cards without an acorn stamp, making them both very real Magic cards.

Does Switching Power and Toughness Count as an Exchange?

No, switching and exchange are different effects according to Magic's Comprehensive Rules. This is a very clear example of something you'd normally call “an exchange” in everyday usage, but that the Magic rules defines differently.

In particular, Rule 701.10g is the rule which deals with exchanges that swap two numerical values. And it specifically states that: “This rule does not apply to spells and abilities that switch a creature's power and toughness.”

Effects that switch a creature’s power and toughness are handled by the layer system (specifically by layer 7d of rule 613.4, for those of you who would like to dig deeper), and are not considered exchanges.

What Happens to Objects Attached to Exchanged Permanents?

Gaining control of a permanent doesn’t cause you to gain control of any auras or equipment attached to it, as long as they are still legally attached.

And, importantly: The attachments themselves don't exchange controllers in this case. Even if you gain control of my Aragorn, the Uniter, I still control the Mithril Coat that is attached to it. You can attack with Aragorn during your turn now, but I can still re-equip the Coat to one of my creatures during my turn.

The “legally attached” clause may come up precisely because one object changes controller while the attachment doesn't:

Mantle of the Ancients enchants a “creature you control.” And auras go straight to the graveyard the moment they enchant an illegal object. If you exchange control of either the creature or the aura (but not both), then Mantle of the Ancients won't be enchanting a “creature your control,” and in that case the aura will be removed from the battlefield.

Wrap Up

Deadpool, Trading Card | Illustration by Justine Cruz

Alright! We've reached the end of this exchange!

A lot of things can be swapped in an exchange (life totals, control, spells, even the words on the card). And unless the card explicitly says so, all exchanges are final and irreversible once completed.

Just remember that exchange is a very specific keyword action: If the cards doesn't explicitly say “exchange,” then it's something else.

I hope you've enjoyed this mechanical deep dive, and if you have comments or questions please drop a comment below, or stop by the Draftsim Discord for a chat.

And good luck out there!