Scryfall Card Rulings Scraper

Scryfall Card Rulings Scraper

Scrape Magic: The Gathering card rulings from Scryfall by any search query, up to a million cards per run. Every card comes with its Oracle text, release date, legality, and all associated rulings. No API key required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Scryfall's advanced search syntax is capable, but manually looking up rulings for hundreds of cards is slow. This Actor runs your Scryfall search query, fetches the matching cards, and pulls every official ruling for each one into a single dataset. You get a flat, analysis-ready row for every card-ruling pair, complete with card details and ruling text.

Who uses it	What they scrape Scryfall for
MTG content creators	Build a searchable database of card interactions for deck techs and set reviews.
Competitive players and judges	Audit rulings for specific card interactions before a tournament.
Deck-building app developers	Populate a rulings engine so users see official clarifications alongside card images.
Market analysts	Correlate ruling updates with price movements on the secondary market.

What it does

This Actor collects Magic: The Gathering cards and their official rulings from Scryfall based on a search query, and returns each card-ruling combination as a flat row.

• 🔍 Full Scryfall syntax: use any valid Scryfall query, from simple card names to complex expressions like 't:merfolk cmc=2'.
• 📜 Complete ruling history: every official ruling for each matched card, including the ruling text, source, and publication date.
• 📊 Card metadata included: Oracle text, mana cost, type line, set, collector number, rarity, and legality in every row.
• ⚡ Bulk extraction: fetch up to a million cards in a single run, limited only by your Apify plan.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with Scryfall data

📚 Build a rulings reference site.

A wiki maintainer runs a query for all cards in a new set, scrapes the rulings, and imports them into a community rulings database.

⚖️ Prepare for a judge call.

A tournament judge searches for a specific card interaction, scrapes the rulings, and reviews the official text before the event.

📈 Track ruling changes over time.

A finance analyst scrapes rulings for Reserved List cards weekly, watching for functional errata that might affect prices.

🤖 Train an MTG rules bot.

A developer scrapes rulings for every card in Modern, building a fine-tuning dataset for a question-answering model.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API registration	Scrapes Scryfall's public search and card pages directly, no developer account or OAuth flow needed.
Flat, predictable schema	Every row is one card-ruling pair with all card fields repeated, ready for pivot tables and joins.
Respectful defaults	Runs at a measured pace to avoid burdening Scryfall's servers, with configurable limits for larger jobs.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets Scryfall the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	Scryfall Card Rulings Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When Scryfall changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with any valid Scryfall search query, and the max items limit controls how many matching cards are processed before the run stops. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "searchQuery": "cmc>0",
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "searchQuery": "cmc>0",
 "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.004 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$0.40
1,000 results	$4.00
10,000 results	$40.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the Scryfall Card Rulings Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to Scryfall through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/scryfall-card-rulings-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check your search query syntax. Scryfall queries are case-sensitive for some operators. Try a simpler query first, like a single card name, to verify the Actor is working. Also confirm that maxItems is set high enough to capture results.

The run is taking a long time.

Large queries matching thousands of cards take longer because the Actor fetches each card's detail page for rulings. Reduce maxItems or narrow your search query to a smaller set of cards.

Some cards are missing rulings I know exist.

Scryfall may not have indexed the latest rulings yet. Rulings are published by Wizards of the Coast and then picked up by Scryfall, typically within a day. Re-run the Actor later to capture newly added rulings.

I get an error about my search query.

Scryfall's search parser rejects malformed queries. Test your query directly on scryfall.com first. If it works there, it should work in the Actor. Watch for unclosed parentheses or invalid operator names.

The Actor stopped before processing all cards.

Check your Apify plan limits. Free accounts have usage caps. Also verify your maxItems setting. The Actor stops when it reaches maxItems or exhausts the search results, whichever comes first.

FAQ

Question	Answer
What Scryfall search syntax can I use?	You can use any valid Scryfall search query. This includes card names, type lines, Oracle text, mana costs, color identity, set codes, formats, rarity, and logical operators. The Actor passes your query directly to Scryfall's search endpoint.
Does this Actor return card prices?	No. This Actor focuses on card metadata and rulings. It returns Oracle text, type line, mana cost, set, collector number, rarity, legality, and all associated rulings. Prices are not included in the output.
How many cards can I scrape in one run?	Free Apify users are limited to 10 items as a preview. Paid users can set maxItems up to 1,000,000, though the actual number depends on how many cards match your search query.
What is a 'ruling' in the output?	A ruling is an official clarification published by Wizards of the Coast about how a specific card works. Each row in the output pairs one card with one ruling, so a card with five rulings produces five rows, each containing the full card data plus that ruling's text, source, and date.
Does this Actor need a Scryfall API key?	No. The Actor reads Scryfall's public web pages and API endpoints that do not require authentication. You do not need to register an application or obtain an API key.
Can I filter by set or format?	Yes. Use Scryfall's search syntax in the searchQuery field. For example, 'set:mh3' for Modern Horizons 3, or 'f:standard' for cards legal in Standard. Any Scryfall filter works.
What output formats are supported?	You can export your results to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify dataset tab. The Actor itself returns structured JSON that Apify stores automatically.
How often is the rulings data updated?	The Actor scrapes Scryfall live on each run. Scryfall updates its data within hours of official Wizards of the Coast rulings publications, so a fresh run reflects the latest rulings.
Can I scrape only cards that have rulings?	The Actor returns all cards matching your query. Cards without rulings appear as rows with empty ruling fields. You can filter these out in post-processing if you only want cards with rulings.
Is this Actor affiliated with Scryfall or Wizards of the Coast?	No. This is an independent tool built on Apify. It is not endorsed by or affiliated with Scryfall, LLC or Wizards of the Coast. Scryfall is a third-party fan site, and Magic: The Gathering is a trademark of Wizards of the Coast.

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Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Scryfall, LLC. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.