In Magic the Gathering, do you have to untap all of your lands?

Question

My friend has a card that deals each player X damage at the end of their turn where X is the number of untapped lands they control. He says that in order to circumvent this damage he can choose not to untap lands during his untap phase. I say this is mana burn and that he must untap all lands he controlls. The comprehensive MTG rules state "Next the active player determines which permanents he or she controls will untap... Normally, all of a player’s permanents untap, but effects can keep one or more of a player’s permanents from untapping." I believe that this supports my case. However I am not sure if "determines" is meant to be interpreted as chooses. Who is right?

Answer 1

At the untap step, all permanents that can be untapped MUST be untapped. There are about 38 cards in the game that you can choose not to untap. Of those 38, only 6 are lands. They are "storage" lands from Fallen Empires (5) and Ice Age (1) and they all appeared in 5th Edition. Here is where I found them.
http://ww2.wizards.com/Gatherer/index.aspx?term=not%20to%20untap&Field_Name=on&Field_Rules=on&Field_Type=on&setfilter=All%20sets

Otherwise, he could keep his lands tapped, get mana burned but not get dealt damage by the enchantment. And I think the enchantment in question is Citadel of Pain.

At the end of each player's turn, Citadel of Pain deals X damage to that player, where X is the number of untapped lands he or she controls.

The best way to get around this card would be to use Chimeric Idol. It lets you tap all your lands to make it a 3/3 creature. You can do this as many times as you want on your turn. Because it costs 0 to activate, you can pay 0 and tap all your tapped lands to make it 3/3 again and again and again. I know you are probably thinking why. Well, if I have an idol in play, and someone plays Last Gasp (target creature gets -3/-3 until end of turn. I could just pay 0, tap the tapped lands and turn it from the 0/0 back to a 3/3 and they wasted their spell.

Answer 2

Mtg Untap All Lands

Answer 3

Exact wording from the MTG rules:
Beginning Phase

The beginning phase has three steps.

Untap Step
During your untap step, all of your tapped permanents are untapped. No one can play spells or abilities during this step.

Upkeep Step
Abilities that trigger at the beginning of your upkeep go onto the stack. Players can play instants and activated abilities during this step.

Draw Step
At the beginning of your draw step, you draw a card. Players can play instants and activated abilities during this step.

So to answer your question yes he has to untap everything.

Answer 4

Yes, you have to. The untap step is not voluntary, it is mandatory. The only reason to not untap something is if a card says not to do it. In this case, the card punishes you for having untapped pemanents, but does not give you the chance to leave them tapped.

Answer 5

all permanents untap unless a spell is preventing you from doing so or they give you a choice on the card of choosing not to untap

Answer 6

tapped lands untap automatically at the beginning of your untap phase. You cannot choose to leave them tapped. Although there are some cards that cause lands to remain tapped.

Answer 7

They AUTOMATICALLY become untapped during the untap phase UNLESS a specific card says otherwise!

So this WOULD be Mana Burn - unless he has a way to use/store the mana somehow ;);););)

Answer 8

Tapped Lands ALWAYS become untapped during the Upkeep UNLESS there is a card that prevents it so.

Answer 9

you have to untap all cards un your untap phase. there are searton cards that say otherwise though such as "you may choose to keep ___ tapped in your untap phase" that iv seen.
i think hes just trying to make a cheep win off of you.

Answer 10

u r right. if he cooses to play by the rules than he has to in fact untap all of his lands. unless thres another card preventng him from doing this.