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My opponent and I both control a Laboratory Maniac and have no cards in our library. I control an Alms Collector. An effect causes my opponent to draw two cards. Alms Collector changes that to each of us drawing a card. Laboratory Maniac replaces that with each of us winning the game. What happens?

The comprehensive rules cover all remaining players losing simultaneously:

104.4a If all the players remaining in a game lose simultaneously, the game is a draw.

But not all remaining players winning.

doppelgreener
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TheWreckersCompanion
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1 Answers1

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Laboratory Maniac has a ruling for this; the active player wins the game:

If two or more players each control a Laboratory Maniac and each player is instructed to draw a number of cards, first the player whose turn it is draws that many cards. If this causes that player to win the game instead, the game is immediately over. If the game isn't over yet, repeat this process for each other player in turn order.

This is because of this rule:

121.2c If more than one player is instructed to draw cards, the active player performs all of their draws first, then each other player in turn order does the same.

That answers the situation in question. As for the question as worded in the title, my best guess is that there is no way possible for multiple players to win simultaneously. A card would need to be printed with text such as “each player wins the game”, or perhaps “if you would lose the game, you win the game instead”. And if that happened, the rules appear to not cover that situation as written.

Note that the difference between winning and losing, in terms of how the rules work, is that most of the ways that you lose the game are caused by state-based actions, which apply to all players simultaneously. However, there is no state-based action that causes players to win.

GendoIkari
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  • I think I can confirm your guess. The only way to win the game other than having everyone else lose is for a card to say that you win. And every card that says that you win the game other than Laboratory Maniac does it in the resolution of a spell or ability, and there's no way for another player to win while that is happening. – murgatroid99 Mar 14 '22 at 05:34
  • @murgatroid99 Biovisionary can cause two or more players to win the game simultaneously, if they all control four or more copies of one during the End Step. – nick012000 Mar 14 '22 at 11:31
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    @nick012000 That's a triggered ability so resolves in APNAP order. – Philip Kendall Mar 14 '22 at 11:39
  • The proposal explicitly states in the text that it causes both players to win simultaneously. Mind you, it's not tournament legal. – Brian Mar 14 '22 at 13:00
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    With Biovisionary, won't the non-active player win, because the triggers will be put on the stack in APNAP order? – GendoIkari Mar 14 '22 at 13:24
  • Does anyone know if 121.2c was added to the rules when they released Laboratory Maniac? I would think that before that, there wouldn't have ever been a reason to care about simultaneous drawing. It also matters for Miracle, which was added shortly after Laboratory Maniac. – GendoIkari Mar 14 '22 at 15:03
  • No, the rule existed at least already in Magic 2010 rules (as 120.2a). – GendoIkari Mar 14 '22 at 15:16
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    As another historical note, 6th edition rules included "A game ends in a draw if both players lose or win simultaneously." – GendoIkari Mar 14 '22 at 15:21
  • @murgatroid99: Play "Wrath of God" while both players are kept alive by Platinum Angel. – Joshua Mar 14 '22 at 15:27
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    @Joshua That will cause both players to lose at the same time, which is different from both players winning at the same time. This is addressed in the answer itself, with the point about state-based actions causing game loss but not game wins. – murgatroid99 Mar 14 '22 at 15:28
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    @murgatroid99 Actually, there is exactly one card other than Laboratory Maniac that says you win the game and does not do so as a resolution of a spell or ability: Jace, Wielder of Mysteries. However, it has exactly the same effect as Laboratory Maniac, so it’s not particularly interesting. – Austin Hemmelgarn Mar 14 '22 at 20:46
  • @murgatroid99 Jace has 2 separate abilities that let you win the game. The first is a replacement ability exactly like Laboratory Maniac. The other is a regular "you win" on its activated loyalty ability. – GendoIkari Mar 14 '22 at 22:06
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    Yeah, I missed that. @AustinHemmelgarn I am sorry for the tone of my now deleted previous comment. I felt frustrated with the previous responses to my first comment, and I both did not read the card you referenced carefully enough and I responded too harshly. – murgatroid99 Mar 15 '22 at 00:10
  • Besides Unhinged, there are several cards that have win conditions that don't explicitly depend on something resolving, such as Coalition Victory or Maze's End. If there's a way for multiple players to gain control of permanents at the same time, they could win simultaneously. – Acccumulation Mar 15 '22 at 01:36
  • @Acccumulation Except for Maze’s End (which is an activated ability, and thus must resolve), Coalition Victory and Approach of the Second Sun (which are sorceries, and thus must resolve), Laboratory Maniac (which is a replacement effect) and Jace, Wielder of Mysteries (which has both a replacement effect and an activated ability that must resolve), all ‘you win the game‘ effects on cards are triggered abilities (which also must resolve to work). – Austin Hemmelgarn Mar 15 '22 at 01:51
  • Pedantic note: multiple players can win at the same time if they're on the same team (2HG for example). – Allure Mar 15 '22 at 02:43
  • @Acccumulation Coalition Victory is a sorcery that can cause a player to win while a spell (itself) is resolving. Maze's End has an activated ability that can cause a player to win while that ability is resolving. Neither of those is an example of something that does not match what I said. – murgatroid99 Mar 15 '22 at 05:31
  • Wait a second. How is this answer, and indeed that ruling, consistent with rule 614.6? If the card draws never happen, they shouldn't happen in APNAP order. – TheWreckersCompanion Sep 17 '22 at 21:11
  • @TheWreckersCompanion 121.2c refers to when each player is "instructed to draw cards", which does happen here. They never follow that instruction, but their doing something else instead of following that instruction still happens in APNAP order. Their replacement effects can't do anything until the moment when they would go to draw a card, and the player who isn't next in turn order doesn't even get that chance before the game is over. – GendoIkari Sep 18 '22 at 07:29