Glossary

703 terms

• Abandon — To turn a face-up ongoing scheme card face down and put it on the bottom of its owner’s scheme deck. See rule 701.26, “A…
• Ability — 1. Text on an object that explains what that object does or can do. 2. An activated or triggered ability on the stack. T…
• Ability Word — An italicized word with no rules meaning that ties together abilities on different cards that have similar functionality…
• Absorb — A keyword ability that prevents damage. See rule 702.64, “Absorb.”
• Activate — To put an activated ability onto the stack and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect. Se…
• Activated Ability — A kind of ability. Activated abilities are written as “[Cost]: [Effect.] [Activation instructions (if any).]” See rule 1…
• Activation Cost — Everything that appears before the colon in an activated ability’s text. It must be paid to activate the ability. See ru…
• Active Player — The player whose turn it is. See rule 102.1.
• Active Player, Nonactive Player Order — A system that determines the order by which players make choices if multiple players are instructed to make choices at t…
• Active Team — The team whose turn it is in a game using the shared team turns option. See rule 805.4a.
• Adapt — A keyword action that puts +1/+1 counters on a creature that doesn’t have any yet. See rule 701.43, “Adapt.”
• Additional Cost — A cost a spell may have that its controller may pay (or, in some cases, must pay) in addition to its mana cost to cast t…
• Adventurer Card — Cards with a two-part card frame (one part of which is inset on the left) on a single card. See rule 715, “Adventurer Ca…
• Affinity — A keyword ability that reduces how much mana you need to spend to cast a spell. See rule 702.41, “Affinity.”
• Afflict — A keyword ability that makes the defending player lose life for blocking. See rule 702.130, “Afflict.”
• Afterlife — A keyword ability that leaves behind Spirit creature tokens when certain creatures die. See rule 702.135, “Afterlife.”
• Aftermath — A keyword ability that lets a player cast one half of a split card only from their graveyard. See rule 702.127, “Afterma…
• Alternating Teams Variant — A multiplayer variant played among two or more teams of equal size. See rule 811, “Alternating Teams Variant.”
• Alternative Cost — A cost a spell may have that its controller can pay rather than paying its mana cost. See rule 118, “Costs,” and rule 60…
• Alternate Name — A different name used on promotional or alternate-art versions of some cards. This name has no rules meaning. See rule 2…
• Amass — A keyword action that gives you a Zombie Army creature token or grows an Army you already have. See rule 701.44, “Amass.…
• Amplify — A keyword ability than can have a creature enter the battlefield with +1/+1 counters on it. See rule 702.38, “Amplify.”
• Anchor Word — A word that precedes one of two abilities a permanent may enter the battlefield with. See rule 614.12b.
• Annihilator — A keyword ability that can make a creature particularly brutal when it attacks. See rule 702.86, “Annihilator.”
• Ante — 1. A zone used only when playing “for keeps.” 2. To put a card into the ante zone. See rule 407, “Ante.”
• Any Target — A spell or ability may require “any target.” “Any target” is the same as “target creature, player, or planeswalker.” See…
• APNAP Order — See Active Player, Nonactive Player Order.
• Archenemy — 1. A casual variant in which a team of players faces off against a single opponent strengthened with powerful scheme car…
• Archenemy Commander — A Commander game that follows a modified version of the Archenemy rules. See rule 903, “Commander,” and rule 904, “Arche…
• Artifact — A card type. An artifact is a permanent. See rule 301, “Artifacts.”
• Artifact Creature — A combination of artifact and creature that’s subject to the rules for both. See rule 301, “Artifacts,” and rule 302, “C…
• Artifact Land — A combination of artifact and land that’s subject to the rules for both. Artifact lands can only be played as lands, not…
• Artifact Type — A subtype that’s correlated to the artifact card type. See rule 301, “Artifacts.” See rule 205.3g for the list of artifa…
• As Though — Text used to indicate that the game, for some specific purpose, treats a condition as true even though it’s not. See rul…
• Ascend — A keyword causing a player to get the designation of the city’s blessing once they control ten permanents. See rule 702.…
• Assemble — Assemble is a keyword action in the Unstable set that puts Contraptions onto the battlefield. Cards and mechanics from t…
• Assign Combat Damage — To determine how an attacking or blocking creature will deal its combat damage. See rule 510, “Combat Damage Step.”
• Assist — A keyword ability that lets another player help you pay for a spell. See rule 702.132, “Assist.”
• At End of Turn (Obsolete) — A trigger condition printed on abilities that triggered at the beginning of the end step (which is not the last thing to…
• Attach — To take an Aura, Equipment, or Fortification from where it currently is and put it onto a specified object or player. Se…
• Attack — To send a creature into combat offensively. A creature can attack a player or a planeswalker. See rule 508, “Declare Att…
• Attack Alone — A creature “attacks alone” if it’s the only creature declared as an attacker during the declare attackers step. A creatu…
• Attack Left Option — An option that may be used in certain multiplayer variants. See rule 803, “Attack Left and Attack Right Options.”
• Attack Multiple Players Option — An option that may be used in certain multiplayer variants. See rule 802, “Attack Multiple Players Option.”
• Attack Right Option — An option that may be used in certain multiplayer variants. See rule 803, “Attack Left and Attack Right Options.”
• Attacking Creature — A creature that has either been declared as part of a legal attack during the combat phase (once all costs to attack, if…
• Attacking Team — The team who can attack during the combat phase of a multiplayer game using the shared team turns option. See rule 805,…
• Attacks and Isn’t Blocked — An ability that triggers when a creature “attacks and isn’t blocked” triggers when the creature becomes an unblocked att…
• Attraction — An artifact type seen only on nontraditional Magic cards in the Unfinity expansion. See rule 717, “Attraction Cards,” ru…
• Attraction Deck — An optional deck of at least three (in limited play) or ten (in constructed play) Attraction cards that can be used to s…
• Aura — An enchantment subtype. Aura spells target objects or players, and Aura permanents are attached to objects or players. S…
• Aura Swap — A keyword ability that lets you exchange an Aura on the battlefield with one in your hand. See rule 702.65, “Aura Swap.”
• Awaken — A keyword ability that lets you turn a land you control into a creature. See rule 702.113, “Awaken.”
• Background — An enchantment type that, in combination with the “choose a Background” ability, may allow a legendary enchantment card…
• Backup — A keyword ability that lets a creature give +1/+1 counters to itself or another when it enters the battlefield. If a dif…
• Banding, “Bands with Other” — Banding is a keyword ability that modifies the rules for declaring attackers and assigning combat damage. “Bands with ot…
• Bargain — Bargain is a keyword ability that represents an optional additional cost of sacrificing an artifact, enchantment, or tok…
• Base Power, Base Toughness — Effects that change the base power and/or base toughness of a creature set one or both of those values to a specific num…
• Basic — A supertype that’s normally relevant on lands. Any land with this supertype is a basic land. See rule 205.4, “Supertypes…
• Basic Landcycling — See Typecycling.
• Basic Land Type — There are five “basic land types”: Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest. Each one has a mana ability associated w…
• Battle — A card type. A battle is a permanent. See rule 310, “Battles.”
• Battle Cry — A keyword ability that makes other attacking creatures better in combat. See rule 702.91, “Battle Cry.”
• Battlefield — A zone. The battlefield is the zone in which permanents exist. It used to be known as the “in-play” zone. See rule 403,…
• Becomes — A word used in some trigger events to indicate a change in status or characteristics. See rule 603.2f.
• Beginning of Combat Step — Part of the turn. This step is the first step of the combat phase. See rule 507, “Beginning of Combat Step.”
• Beginning Phase — Part of the turn. This phase is the first phase of the turn. See rule 501, “Beginning Phase.”
• Bestow — A keyword ability that lets a creature card be cast as an Aura. See rule 702.103, “Bestow.”
• Blitz — A keyword ability found on creature cards that allows them to be cast for an alternative cost. See rule 702.152, “Blitz.…
• Block — To send a creature into combat defensively. A creature can block an attacking creature. See rule 509, “Declare Blockers…
• Block Alone — A creature “blocks alone” if it’s the only creature declared as a blocker during the declare blockers step. A creature “…
• Blocked Creature — An attacking creature that another creature blocks or that an effect causes to become blocked. It remains a blocked crea…
• Blocking Creature — A creature that has either been declared as part of a legal block during the combat phase (once all costs to block, if a…
• Blood Token — A Blood token is a colorless artifact token with “{1}, {T}, Discard a card, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.” For m…
• Bloodthirst — A keyword ability that can have a creature enter the battlefield with +1/+1 counters on it. See rule 702.54, “Bloodthirs…
• Boast — A special kind of activated ability that can be activated only once each turn if the creature with the boast ability att…
• Bolster — A keyword action that puts +1/+1 counters on the weakest creature a player controls. See rule 701.33, “Bolster.”
• Booster Pack — A group of unopened Magic cards from a particular expansion. Booster packs are used in Limited formats. See rule 100.2b.
• Brawl — An option for the Commander casual variant. See rule 903.12, “Brawl Option.”
• Bury (Obsolete) — A term that meant “put [a permanent] into its owner’s graveyard.” In general, cards that were printed with the term “bur…
• Bushido — A keyword ability that can make a creature better in combat. See rule 702.45, “Bushido.”
• Buyback — A keyword ability of instants and sorceries that can let the spell return to its owner’s hand as it resolves. See rule 7…
• Card — The standard component of the game. Magic cards may be traditional or nontraditional. Tokens aren’t considered cards. In…
• Card Pool — In a Limited format, the cards a player may use, in addition to basic land cards, to build their deck.
• Card Type — A characteristic. Except for abilities on the stack, each object has a card type, even if that object isn’t a card. Each…
• Cascade — A keyword ability that may let a player cast a random extra spell for no cost. See rule 702.85, “Cascade.”
• Case — An enchantment subtype. Cases have a “to solve” ability that set a condition its controller must meet in order for the “…
• Cast — To take a card from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually r…
• Caster (Obsolete) — An obsolete term that referred to the player who cast a spell. In general, cards that were printed with the term “caster…
• Casting Cost (Obsolete) — An obsolete term for mana cost. Cards printed with this text have received errata in the Oracle card reference.
• Casualty — A keyword ability that allows you to sacrifice a creature to create a copy of a spell. See 702.153, “Casualty.”
• Champion, Championed — “Champion” is a keyword ability that lets one creature temporarily replace another. A permanent is “championed” by anoth…
• Change a Target — To choose a new, legal target for a spell or ability. See rule 115.7.
• Changeling — A characteristic-defining ability that grants the object it’s on every creature type. See rule 702.73, “Changeling.”
• Chaos Ability — An ability of a plane card that triggers “Whenever chaos ensues” in the Planechase casual variant. See rule 311.7.
• Chaos Symbol — The chaos symbol appears on the planar die and near some triggered abilities of plane cards in the Planechase casual var…
• Characteristics — Information that defines an object. See rule 109.3.
• Characteristic-Defining Ability — A kind of static ability that conveys information about an object’s characteristics that would normally be found elsewhe…
• Choose a Background — A variant of the partner ability that lets two legendary permanent cards be your commander in the Commander variant rath…
• Cipher — A keyword ability that allows you to encode a card on a creature and cast that card whenever that creature deals combat…
• City’s Blessing — A designation a player can have. The ascend keyword causes a player to get this designation once they control ten perman…
• Clash — To have a mini-contest involving the top cards of players’ libraries. See rule 701.23, “Clash.”
• Class — An enchantment subtype. Classes have a number of class level abilities that increase their level and grant them new abil…
• Cleanup Step — Part of the turn. This step is the second and final step of the ending phase. See rule 514, “Cleanup Step.”
• Cleave — A keyword ability that allows you to pay an alternative cost to remove some of a spell’s text. See rule 702.148, “Cleave…
• Cloak — A keyword action that puts a card onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature with ward {2}. See rule 701.56, “Cloa…
• Clue Token — A Clue token is a colorless artifact token with “{2}, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.” For more information about…
• Collect Evidence — A keyword action. To “collect evidence N” means to exile any number of cards from your graveyard with total mana value N…
• Collector Number — A number printed on most cards that has no effect on game play. See rule 213, “Information Below the Text Box.”
• Color — 1. A characteristic of an object. See rule 105, “Colors,” and rule 202, “Mana Cost and Color.” 2. An attribute mana may…
• Colorless — 1. An object with no color is colorless. Colorless is not a color. See rule 105, “Colors,” and rule 202, “Mana Cost and…
• Color Identity — A set of colors that determines what cards may be included in a deck for the Commander casual variant. See rule 903.4.
• Color Indicator — A characteristic of an object. See rule 105, “Colors,” and rule 204, “Color Indicator.”
• Combat Damage — Damage dealt during the combat damage step by attacking creatures and blocking creatures as a consequence of combat. See…
• Combat Damage Step — Part of the turn. This step is the fourth step of the combat phase. See rule 510, “Combat Damage Step.”
• Combat Phase — Part of the turn. This phase is the third phase of the turn. See rule 506, “Combat Phase.”
• Command — A zone for certain specialized objects that have an overarching effect on the game, yet are not permanents and cannot be…
• Commander — 1. A casual variant in which each deck is led by a legendary creature. See rule 903, “Commander.” 2. A designation given…
• Commander Draft — A casual variant in which players participate in a booster draft and then play multiplayer games. See rule 903.13, “Comm…
• Commander Ninjutsu — A variant of the ninjutsu ability. See rule 702.49, “Ninjutsu.”
• Commander Tax — Informal term for the additional cost to cast a commander based on the number of times a player has cast it previously t…
• Companion — A keyword ability that allows a player to choose one creature card from outside the game as a companion if the restricti…
• Compleated — A keyword ability that causes a planeswalker to enter the battlefield with fewer loyalty counters if a player chose to p…
• Complete a Dungeon — To remove a dungeon card from the game after reaching that dungeon card’s bottommost room. See rule 309, “Dungeons.”
• Concede — To quit the game. Conceding a game immediately causes that player to leave that game and lose that game. See rule 104, “…
• Connive — A keyword action that causes a player to draw a card, discard a card, and then to put a +1/+1 counter on a creature if a…
• Conspiracy — A card type used in Limited formats such as Conspiracy Draft. A conspiracy card is not a permanent. See rule 315, “Consp…
• Conspiracy Draft — A casual variant in which players participate in a booster draft and then play multiplayer games. See rule 905, “Conspir…
• Conspire — A keyword ability that creates a copy of a spell. See rule 702.78, “Conspire.”
• Constructed — A way of playing in which each player creates their own deck ahead of time. See rule 100.2a.
• Continuous Effect — An effect that modifies characteristics of objects, modifies control of objects, or affects players or the rules of the…
• Continuous Artifact (Obsolete) — An obsolete term that appeared on the type line of artifacts without activated abilities. Cards printed with this text h…
• Control, Controller — “Control” is the system that determines who gets to use an object in the game. An object’s “controller” is the player wh…
• Control Another Player — To make all choices and decisions that player is allowed to make, or is told to make, by rules or by any objects. See ru…
• Convert — To turn a double-faced card so its other face is up. See rule 701.50, “Convert.”
• Converted Mana Cost (Obsolete) — An obsolete term for mana value. Cards printed with this term have received errata in the Oracle card reference.
• Convoke — A keyword ability that lets you tap creatures rather than pay mana to cast a spell. See rule 702.51, “Convoke.”
• Copiable Values — Values of an object’s characteristics that are checked by copy effects. See rules 613.2, 707.2, and 707.3.
• Copy — 1. To create a new object whose copiable values have been set to those of another object. 2. An object whose copiable va…
• Cost — An action or payment necessary to take another action or to stop another action from taking place. See rule 118, “Costs.…
• Counter — 1. To cancel a spell or ability so it doesn’t resolve and none of its effects occur. See rule 701.5, “Counter.” 2. A mar…
• Counts As (Obsolete) — Some older cards were printed with text stating that the card “counts as” something. Cards printed with this text have r…
• Craft — Craft is an activated ability that allows a player to exile cards from their graveyard and/or permanents they control to…
• Create — To create a token is to put a token onto the battlefield. See rule 701.6, “Create.”
• Creature — A card type. A creature is a permanent. See rule 302, “Creatures.”
• Creature Type — A subtype that’s correlated to the creature card type and the kindred card type. See rule 302, “Creatures,” and rule 308…
• Crew — A keyword ability that lets you tap creatures to turn a Vehicle into an artifact creature. See rule 301, “Artifacts,” an…
• Crime — Targeting an opponent, anything that opponent controls, and/or any cards in an opponent’s graveyard is a crime. See rule…
• Cumulative Upkeep — A keyword ability that imposes an increasing cost to keep a permanent on the battlefield. See rule 702.24, “Cumulative U…
• Cycling — A keyword ability that lets a card be discarded and replaced with a new card. See rule 702.29, “Cycling.”
• Damage — Objects can deal “damage” to creatures, planeswalkers, and players. This is generally detrimental to the object or playe…
• Damage Assignment Order (Obsolete) — Previously, if a creature blocks or becomes blocked by multiple creatures, the creature’s controller would be required t…
• Dash — A keyword ability found on creature cards that allows them to be cast for an alternative cost. See rule 702.109, “Dash.”
• Day — Along with night, a designation the game can have. See rule 728, “Day and Night,” and rule 702.145, “Daybound and Nightb…
• Daybound — An ability found on the front faces of some double-faced cards. Cards with daybound and nightbound are face up when it’s…
• Deal — See Damage.
• Deathtouch — A keyword ability that causes damage dealt by an object to be especially effective. See rule 702.2, “Deathtouch.”
• Decayed — A keyword ability that means “This creature can’t block” and “When this creature attacks, sacrifice it at end of combat.…
• Deck — The collection of cards a player starts the game with; it becomes that player’s library. See rule 100, “General,” and ru…
• Declare Attackers — To choose a set of creatures that will attack, declare whether each creature is attacking the defending player or a plan…
• Declare Attackers Step — Part of the turn. This step is the second step of the combat phase. See rule 508, “Declare Attackers Step.”
• Declare Blockers — To choose a set of creatures that will block, declare which attacking creature each creature is blocking, and pay any co…
• Declare Blockers Step — Part of the turn. This step is the third step of the combat phase. See rule 509, “Declare Blockers Step.”
• Defender — A keyword ability that prohibits a creature from attacking. See rule 702.3, “Defender.”
• Defending Player — The player who can be attacked, and whose planeswalkers can be attacked, during the combat phase. See rule 506.2. In cer…
• Defending Team — The team who can be attacked, and whose planeswalkers can be attacked, during the combat phase of a multiplayer game usi…
• Defense — 1. Part of a card that only battle cards have. A battle card’s defense is printed in its lower right corner. See rule 21…
• Delayed Triggered Ability — An ability created by effects generated when some spells or abilities resolve, or when some replacement effects are appl…
• Delve — A keyword ability that lets you exile cards from your graveyard rather than pay generic mana to cast a spell. See rule 7…
• Demonstrate — A triggered ability found on some spells that let its controller copy it and choose an opponent to also copy it. See rul…
• Dependency — A system that may be used to determine in which order continuous effects in the same layer or sublayer are applied. See…
• Deploy Creatures Option — An option that may be used in certain multiplayer variants to pass control of creatures between teammates. See rule 804,…
• Destroy — To move a permanent from the battlefield to its owner’s graveyard. See rule 701.7, “Destroy.”
• Detain — A keyword action that temporarily stops a permanent from attacking, blocking, or having its activated abilities activate…
• Dethrone — A keyword ability that puts a +1/+1 counter on a creature when it attacks the player with the most life. See rule 702.10…
• Devoid — A characteristic-defining ability that makes an object colorless. See rule 702.114, “Devoid.”
• Devotion — A numerical value a player has, equal to the number of mana symbols of a certain color among the mana costs of permanent…
• Devour — A keyword ability that can have a creature enter the battlefield with +1/+1 counters on it. See rule 702.82, “Devour.”
• Dies — A creature or planeswalker “dies” if it is put into a graveyard from the battlefield. See rule 700.4.
• Discard — To move a card from its owner’s hand to that player’s graveyard. See rule 701.8, “Discard.”
• Discover — A keyword ability that may allow a player to cast a random spell for free. See rule 701.55, “Discover.”
• Disguise — A keyword ability that lets a card be cast face down as a 2/2 creature with ward {2}. See rule 702.168, “Disguise,” and…
• Disturb — A keyword ability that allows a player to cast a double-faced card transformed from the graveyard. See rule 702.146, “Di…
• Doctor’s Companion — A partner ability that allows a player to play with two legendary creature cards as their commander if one of them has D…
• Door — A door is one half of a Room permanent. See rule 709, “Split Cards.”
• Double — A keyword action used in a variety of contexts. See rule 701.9, “Double.”
• Double Agenda — A variant of the hidden agenda ability. See rule 702.106, “Hidden Agenda.”
• Double Strike — A keyword ability that lets a creature deal its combat damage twice. See rule 702.4, “Double Strike.”
• Double-Faced Cards — Cards with two faces, one on each side of the card, and no Magic card back. See rule 712, “Double-Faced Cards.”
• Draft — 1. A Limited format in which players choose cards one at a time from booster packs, then construct a deck solely from th…
• Draft Round — Part of a draft in which each player opens an unopened booster pack and the cards in those booster packs are drafted. Se…
• Draw — 1. To put the top card of a player’s library into their hand as a turn-based action or as the result of an effect that u…
• Draw Step — Part of the turn. This step is the third and final step of the beginning phase. See rule 504, “Draw Step.”
• Dredge — A keyword ability that lets a player return a card from their graveyard to their hand. See rule 702.52, “Dredge.”
• Dungeon — A card type found on nontraditional Magic cards. A dungeon card is not a permanent. See rule 309, “Dungeons.”
• During (Obsolete) — Some older cards used the phrase “during [phase], [action].” These abilities were called “phase abilities.” In general,…
• Echo — A keyword ability that imposes a cost to keep a permanent on the battlefield. See rule 702.30, “Echo.”
• EDH (Obsolete) — An older name for the Commander casual variant. See rule 903, “Commander.”
• Effect — Something that happens in the game as a result of a spell or ability. See rule 609, “Effects.”
• Embalm — A keyword ability that lets a player exile a creature card from their graveyard to create a mummified token version of t…
• Emblem — An emblem is a marker used to represent an object that has one or more abilities, but no other characteristics. See rule…
• Emerge — A keyword ability that lets a player cast a spell for less by sacrificing a creature. See rule 702.119, “Emerge.”
• Emperor — The middle player on each team in an Emperor game. See rule 809, “Emperor Variant.”
• Emperor Variant — A multiplayer variant played among three-player teams. See rule 809, “Emperor Variant.”
• Enchant — A keyword ability that defines what an Aura spell can target and what an Aura permanent can be attached to. See rule 303…
• Enchantment — A card type. An enchantment is a permanent. See rule 303, “Enchantments.” See also Aura.
• Enchantment Type — A subtype that’s correlated to the enchantment card type. See rule 303, “Enchantments.” See rule 205.3h for the list of…
• Encoded — A term that describes the relationship between a permanent and a card exiled by a cipher ability. See rule 702.99, “Ciph…
• Encore — A keyword ability that lets a player exile a creature card from their graveyard to, for each opponent, create a token th…
• Encounter — To move a phenomenon card off the top of a planar deck and turn it face up. See rule 312, “Phenomena.”
• End of Combat Step — Part of the turn. This step is the fifth and final step of the combat phase. See rule 511, “End of Combat Step.”
• End Step — Part of the turn. This step is the first step of the ending phase. See rule 513, “End Step.”
• End the Combat Phase — To “end the combat phase” as the result of an effect is to perform an expedited process that skips everything else that…
• End the Turn — To “end the turn” as the result of an effect is to perform an expedited process that skips nearly everything else that w…
• Ending Phase — Part of the turn. This phase is the fifth and final phase of the turn. See rule 512, “Ending Phase.”
• Energy Symbol — The energy symbol {E} represents one energy counter. To pay {E}, a player removes one energy counter from themselves.
• Enlist — A keyword ability that allows a creature that could have attacked to support another creature. See rule 702.154, “Enlist…
• Enter — In rules text, to enter the battlefield. See “Enters the Battlefield.”
• Enters the Battlefield — A nontoken permanent enters the battlefield when it’s moved onto the battlefield from another zone. A token enters the b…
• Entwine — A keyword ability that lets a player choose all modes for a spell rather than just the number specified. See rule 702.42…
• Epic — A keyword ability that lets a player copy a spell at the beginning of each of their upkeeps at the expense of casting an…
• Equip — A keyword ability that lets a player attach an Equipment to a creature they control. See rule 301, “Artifacts,” and rule…
• Equipment — An artifact subtype. Equipment can be attached to creatures. See rule 301, “Artifacts,” and rule 702.6, “Equip.”
• Escalate — A keyword ability on some modal spells that adds a cost for choosing additional modes. See rule 702.120, “Escalate.”
• Escape — A keyword ability that lets a player cast a card from their graveyard. See rule 702.138, “Escape.”
• Eternalize — A keyword ability that lets a player exile a creature card from their graveyard to create an eternalized token version o…
• Evasion Ability — An ability that restricts what creatures can block an attacking creature. See rules 509.1b–c.
• Event — Anything that happens in a game. See rule 700.1.
• Evoke — A keyword ability that causes a permanent to be sacrificed when it enters the battlefield. See rule 702.74, “Evoke.”
• Evolve — A keyword ability that lets you put a +1/+1 counter on a creature when a larger creature enters the battlefield under yo…
• Exalted — A keyword ability that can make a creature better in combat. See rule 702.83, “Exalted.”
• Exchange — To swap two things, such as objects, sets of objects, or life totals. See rule 701.10, “Exchange.”
• Exert — A keyword action that stops a permanent from untapping during the next untap step of the player who exerted it. See rule…
• Excess Damage — Damage dealt to a creature greater than what would be lethal damage or damage dealt to a planeswalker greater than its l…
• Exile — 1. A zone. Exile is essentially a holding area for cards. It used to be known as the “removed-from-the-game” zone. 2. To…
• Exhaust — A special kind of activated ability that may be activated only once. See rule 702.177, “Exhaust.”
• Expansion Symbol — A card’s expansion symbol is a small icon normally printed below the right edge of the illustration that has no effect o…
• Expend — A word found on some abilities that care how much mana a player has spent to cast spells this turn. See rule 700.14.
• Exploit — A keyword ability that lets you sacrifice a creature for a benefit. See rule 702.110, “Exploit.”
• Explore — A keyword action that causes a player to reveal the top card of their library and then to take different actions dependi…
• Extort — A keyword ability that lets you gain life and have opponents lose life whenever you cast a spell. See rule 702.101, “Ext…
• Extra Turn — A turn created by an effect of a spell or ability. See rule 500.7. For rules about extra turns in a multiplayer game usi…
• Fabricate — A keyword ability that lets you choose whether to create Servo tokens or put +1/+1 counters on a creature. See rule 702.…
• Face a Villainous Choice — A keyword action that causes a player to choose one of two listed choices. See rule 701.53, “Face a Villainous Choice.”
• Face Down — 1. A card is “face down” if it’s physically positioned so the card back is showing. Cards in some zones are normally kep…
• Face Up — 1. A card is “face up” if it’s physically positioned so the card front is showing. Cards in some zones are normally kept…
• Fading — A keyword ability that limits how long a permanent remains on the battlefield. See rule 702.32, “Fading.”
• Fateseal — To manipulate some of the cards on top of an opponent’s library. See rule 701.22, “Fateseal.”
• Fear — A keyword ability that restricts how a creature may be blocked. See rule 702.36, “Fear.”
• Fight — When two creatures fight, each deals damage equal to its power to the other. See rule 701.12, “Fight.”
• Finality Counter — A counter that exiles the permanent it is on if that permanent would go to the graveyard from the battlefield. See rule…
• First Strike — A keyword ability that lets a creature deal its combat damage before other creatures. See rule 702.7, “First Strike.”
• Flanking — A keyword ability that can make a creature better in combat. See rule 702.25, “Flanking.”
• Flash — A keyword ability that lets a player play a card any time they could cast an instant. See rule 702.8, “Flash.”
• Flashback — A keyword ability that lets a player cast a card from their graveyard. See rule 702.34, “Flashback.”
• Flavor Text — Text in italics (but not in parentheses) in the text box of a card that has no effect on play. See rule 207.2.
• Flavor Word — An italicized word with no rules meaning that provides a flavorful description of an ability. See rule 207.2d.
• Flip Cards — Cards with a two-part card frame (one part of which is printed upside down) on a single card. See rule 710, “Flip Cards.…
• Flipped — A status a permanent may have. See rule 110.5 and rule 710, “Flip Cards.” See also Unflipped.
• Flipping a Coin — A method of randomization with two possible outcomes of equal likelihood. See rule 705, “Flipping a Coin.”
• Flying — A keyword ability that restricts how a creature may be blocked. See rule 702.9, “Flying.”
• Food Token — A Food token is a colorless artifact token with “{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: You gain 3 life.” For more informati…
• For Mirrodin! — A keyword ability that creates a 2/2 red Rebel creature token and then attaches the Equipment with the ability to that t…
• Forage — To pay a cost of exiling three cards from your graveyard or sacrificing a Food. See rule 701.59, “Forage.”
• Forecast — A keyword ability that allows an activated ability to be activated from a player’s hand. See rule 702.57, “Forecast.”
• Forest — One of the five basic land types. Any land with this subtype has the ability “{T}: Add {G}.” See rule 305.6.
• Forestcycling — See Typecycling.
• Forestwalk — See Landwalk.
• Foretell — A keyword ability that lets a player exile cards from their hand and cast them for an alternative cost on future turns.…
• Foretold — A card exiled using the foretell special action becomes foretold. Other effects can also make an exiled card foretold. A…
• Fortification — An artifact subtype. Fortifications can be attached to lands. See rule 301, “Artifacts,” and rule 702.67, “Fortify.”
• Fortify — A keyword ability that lets a player attach a Fortification to a land they control. See rule 301, “Artifacts,” and rule…
• Frenzy — A keyword ability that can make a creature better in combat. See rule 702.68, “Frenzy.”
• Free-for-All — A multiplayer variant in which a group of players compete as individuals against each other. See rule 806, “Free-for-All…
• Freerunning — A keyword ability that allows certain spells to be cast for an alternative cost. See rule 702.173, “Freerunning.”
• Friends Forever — A variant of the partner ability that lets two legendary creature cardss be your commander in the Commander variant rath…
• Full Party — A player has a full party if the number of creatures in their party is four. See rule 700.8.
• Fuse — A keyword ability that allows a player to cast both halves of a split card. See rule 702.102, “Fuse.”
• Fused Split Spell — A split card on the stack that has been cast using the fuse ability or a copy of such a card. See rule 702.102, “Fuse.”
• General — Any player in the Emperor multiplayer variant who isn’t an emperor. See rule 809, “Emperor Variant.”
• Generic Mana — Mana in a cost represented by numerical symbols (such as {1}) or variable symbols (such as {X}) that can be paid with ma…
• Gift — A keyword ability that allows a spell’s caster to choose an opponent as to receive a benefit as the spell resolves or wh…
• Global Enchantment (Obsolete) — An obsolete term for a non-Aura enchantment. Cards printed with this text have received errata in the Oracle card refere…
• Goad — A keyword action that causes a creature to be goaded until a player’s next turn. See rule 701.38, “Goad.”
• Goaded — A designation a permanent can have. Goaded creatures are forced to attack and to attack a player other than the player t…
• Gold Token — A Gold token is a colorless artifact token with “Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.” For more informati…
• Graft — A keyword ability that has a permanent enter the battlefield with +1/+1 counters on it and can move those counters to ot…
• Grand Melee — A multiplayer variant in which a large group of players (usually ten or more) compete as individuals against each other.…
• Gravestorm — A keyword ability that creates copies of a spell. See rule 702.69, “Gravestorm.”
• Graveyard — 1. A zone. A player’s graveyard is their discard pile. 2. All the cards in a player’s graveyard. See rule 404, “Graveyar…
• Hand — 1. A zone. A player’s hand is where that player holds cards they have drawn but not played yet. 2. All the cards in a pl…
• Hand Modifier — A characteristic that only vanguards have. See rule 211, “Hand Modifier.”
• Haste — A keyword ability that lets a creature ignore the “summoning sickness” rule. See rule 702.10, “Haste,” and rule 302.6.
• Haunt — A keyword ability that exiles cards. A card exiled this way “haunts” a creature targeted by the haunt ability. See rule…
• Hexproof — A keyword ability that precludes a permanent or player from being targeted by an opponent. See rule 702.11, “Hexproof.”
• Hidden Agenda — A keyword ability that allows a conspiracy card to be put into the command zone face down. See rule 702.106, “Hidden Age…
• Hidden Zone — A zone in which not all players can be expected to see the cards’ faces. See rule 400.2. See also Public Zone.
• Hideaway — A keyword ability that lets a player store a secret card. See rule 702.75, “Hideaway.”
• Historic — An object is historic if it has the legendary supertype, the artifact card type, or the Saga subtype. See rule 700.6.
• Horsemanship — A keyword ability that restricts how a creature may be blocked. See rule 702.31, “Horsemanship.”
• Hybrid Card — A card with one or more hybrid mana symbols in its mana cost. See rule 202.2f.
• Hybrid Mana Symbols — A mana symbol that represents a cost that can be paid in one of two ways. See rule 107.4.
• Hybrid Phyrexian Mana Symbols — A mana symbol that represents a cost that can be paid in one of three ways. See rule 107.4.
• Junk Token — A Junk token is a colorless artifact token with {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Exile the top card of your library. You ma…
• If — See Intervening “If” Clause.
• Illegal Action — An action that violates the rules of the game and/or requirements or restrictions created by effects. See rule 730, “Han…
• Illegal Target — A target that no longer exists or no longer meets the specifications stated by the spell or ability that’s targeting it.…
• Illustration — A picture printed on the upper half of a card that has no effect on game play. See rule 203, “Illustration.”
• Illustration Credit — Information printed directly below the text box that has no effect on game play. See rule 213, “Information Below the Te…
• Impending — An ability on some creatures that allows them to be cast for an alternative cost. If cast for its impending cost, it isn…
• Imprint — “Imprint” used to be a keyword ability. It is now an ability word and has no rules meaning. All cards printed with the i…
• Improvise — A keyword ability that lets you tap artifacts rather than pay mana to cast a spell. See rule 702.126, “Improvise.”
• In Play (Obsolete) — An obsolete term for the battlefield. Cards that were printed with text that contain the phrases “in play,” “from play,”…
• In Response To — An instant spell that’s been cast, or an activated ability that’s been activated, while another spell or ability is on t…
• Incubate — A keyword action that creates an Incubator token with a specified number of +1/+1 counters on it. See rule 701.51, “Incu…
• Incubator Token — An Incubator token is a transforming double-faced token. Its front face is a colorless Incubator artifact with “{2}: Tra…
• Independent — See Dependency.
• Indestructible — A keyword ability that precludes a permanent from being destroyed. See rule 702.12.
• Infect — A keyword ability that affects how an object deals damage to creatures and players. See rule 702.90, “Infect.”
• Ingest — A keyword ability that can exile the top card of a player’s library. See rule 702.115, “Ingest.”
• Initiative — A designation a player can have. Some effects instruct a player to take the initiative. The player with the initiative v…
• Instant — A card type. An instant is not a permanent. See rule 304, “Instants.”
• Instead — Effects that use the word “instead” are replacement effects. The word “instead” indicates what an event will be replaced…
• Interrupt (Obsolete) — An obsolete card type. All cards printed with this card type are now instants. All abilities that, as printed, said a pl…
• Intervening “If” Clause — A specially worded condition checked as a triggered ability would trigger and again as it would resolve. See rule 603.4.
• Intimidate — A keyword ability that restricts how a creature may be blocked. See rule 702.13, “Intimidate.”
• Investigate — A keyword action that creates a Clue artifact token. See rule 701.36, “Investigate.”
• Island — One of the five basic land types. Any land with this subtype has the ability “{T}: Add {U}.” See rule 305.6.
• Islandcycling — See Typecycling.
• Islandhome (Obsolete) — An obsolete keyword ability that meant “This creature can’t attack unless defending player controls an Island” and “When…
• Islandwalk — See Landwalk.
• Jump-Start — A keyword ability that lets a player cast a card from their graveyard by discarding a card. See rule 702.133, “Jump-Star…
• Keyword Ability — A game term, such as “flying” or “haste,” used as shorthand for a longer ability or group of abilities. See rule 702, “K…
• Keyword Action — A verb, such as “destroy” or “cast,” used as a game term rather than as its normal English meaning. See rule 701, “Keywo…
• Keyword Counter — A marker placed on an object that modifies its characteristics by granting it a keyword. See rule 122, “Counters.”
• Kicker, Kicked — Kicker is a keyword ability that represents an optional additional cost. A spell has been kicked if its controller decla…
• Kindred — A card type. Whether or not a kindred is a permanent depends on its other card type. See rule 308, “Kindreds.”
• Land — A card type. A land is a permanent. See rule 305, “Lands.”
• Land Type — A subtype that’s correlated to the land card type. See rule 305, “Lands.” See rule 205.3i for the list of land types.
• Landwalk — A generic term for a group of keyword abilities that restrict whether a creature may be blocked. See rule 702.14, “Landw…
• Last Known Information — Information about an object that’s no longer in the zone it’s expected to be in, or information about a player who’s no…
• Layer — A system used to determine in which order continuous effects are applied. See rule 613, “Interaction of Continuous Effec…
• Learn — A keyword action that lets a player add a Lesson card to their hand from outside the game or discard a card to draw a ca…
• Leaves the Battlefield — A permanent “leaves the battlefield” when it’s moved from the battlefield to another zone, or (if it’s phased in) when i…
• Legal Text — Information printed directly below the text box that has no effect on game play. See rule 213, “Information Below the Te…
• Legend (Obsolete) — An obsolete creature type. Cards printed with this subtype have been given errata in the Oracle card reference so they h…
• Legendary — A supertype that’s normally relevant on permanents. See rule 205.4, “Supertypes.” See also Legend Rule.
• Legend Rule — A state-based action that causes a player who controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name to put all bu…
• Lethal Damage — An amount of damage greater than or equal to a creature’s toughness. See rules 120.4a, 120.6, 510.1, and 704.5g.
• Level — A numerical designation a permanent may have. A Class enchantment’s level determines what other abilities it has. See ru…
• Level Symbol — A symbol that represents a keyword ability indicating abilities, power, and toughness a leveler card may have. See rule…
• Level Up — A keyword ability that can put level counters on a creature. See rule 702.87, “Level Up.” For class level abilities of C…
• Leveler Cards — Cards with striated text boxes and three power/toughness boxes. See rule 711, “Leveler Cards.”
• Library — 1. A zone. A player’s library is where that player draws cards from. 2. All the cards in a player’s library. See rule 40…
• Life, Life Total — Each player has an amount of “life,” represented by that player’s “life total.” Life may be gained or lost. See rule 119…
• Life Modifier — A characteristic that only vanguards have. See rule 212, “Life Modifier.”
• Lifelink — A keyword ability that causes a player to gain life. See rule 702.15, “Lifelink.”
• Limited — A way of playing in which each player gets a quantity of unopened Magic product and creates their own deck on the spot.…
• Limited Range of Influence — An optional rule used in some multiplayer games that limits what a player can affect. See rule 801, “Limited Range of In…
• Linked Abilities — Two abilities printed on the same object such that one of them causes actions to be taken or objects to be affected and…
• Living Metal — A keyword ability found on some Vehicles that turns them into a creature during your turn. See rule 702.161, “Living Met…
• Living Weapon — A keyword ability that creates a 0/0 black Phyrexian Germ creature token and then attaches the Equipment with the abilit…
• Local Enchantment (Obsolete) — An obsolete term for an Aura. Cards printed with this text have received errata in the Oracle card reference.
• Lock — To remove an unlocked designation from a permanent that has one or more unlocked halves. See rule 709.5g.
• Locked — One half of a split permanent is “locked” if it doesn’t have the appropriate unlocked designation. See rule 709.5.
• London Mulligan — Informal term for the current system of mulligan rules. See rule 103.5.
• Loop — A set of actions that could be repeated indefinitely. See rule 729, “Taking Shortcuts.”
• Lose the Game — There are several ways to lose the game. See rule 104, “Ending the Game,” rule 810.8 (for additional rules for Two-Heade…
• Loyalty — 1. Part of a card that only planeswalker cards have. A planeswalker card’s loyalty is printed in its lower right corner.…
• Loyalty Ability — An activated ability with a loyalty symbol in its cost. See rule 606, “Loyalty Abilities.”
• Madness — A keyword ability that lets a player cast a card they discard. See rule 702.35, “Madness.”
• Main Game — The game in which a spell (or ability) that created a subgame was cast (or activated). See rule 726, “Subgames.”
• Main Phase — Part of the turn. The first, or precombat, main phase is the second phase of the turn. The second, or postcombat, main p…
• Mana — The primary resource in the game. It is spent to pay costs, usually when casting spells and activating abilities. See ru…
• Mana Ability — An activated or triggered ability that could create mana and doesn’t use the stack. See rule 605, “Mana Abilities.”
• Mana Burn (Obsolete) — Older versions of the rules stated that unspent mana caused a player to lose life; this was called “mana burn.” That rul…
• Mana Cost — A characteristic, and part of a card. A card’s mana cost is indicated by the mana symbols printed in its upper right cor…
• Mana Pool — Where mana created by an effect is temporarily stored. See rule 106.4.
• Mana Source (Obsolete) — An obsolete card type. All cards printed with this card type are now instants. All abilities that, as printed, said a pl…
• Mana Symbol — An icon that represents mana or a mana cost. See rule 107.4.
• Mana Value — The total amount of mana in a mana cost, regardless of color. See rule 202.3.
• Manifest — A keyword action that puts a card onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature. See rule 701.34, “Manifest,” and rul…
• Manifest Dread — A keyword action that puts one of the top two cards of your library onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature. Se…
• Map — A Map token is a colorless Map artifact token with “{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Target creature you control explo…
• Match — A multiplayer game or a two-player series of games (usually best-two-of-three) played in a tournament. See rule 100.6.
• Max Speed — 1. A player has max speed if their speed is 4. See rule 702.179, “Start Your Engines!” 2. A keyword ability that grants…
• Maximum Hand Size — The number of cards in hand a player must discard down to during their cleanup step. See rule 402.2 and 514.1.
• Megamorph — A variant of the morph ability that puts a +1/+1 counter on the creature as it turns face up. See rule 702.37, “Morph.”
• Meld — To turn two members of a meld pair so their back faces are up and combined into one oversized Magic card. See rule 701.3…
• Meld Cards — Cards with a Magic card face on one side and half of an oversized Magic card face on the other. See rule 712, “Double-Fa…
• Melee — A keyword ability that improves an attacking creature based on the number of opponents you attacked. See rule 702.121, “…
• Menace — An evasion ability that makes creatures unblockable by a single creature. See rule 702.111, “Menace.”
• Mentor — A keyword ability that lets your bigger creatures power up your smaller creatures when they attack together. See rule 70…
• Merged Permanent — A card or token may merge with a permanent to form a merged permanent. This merged permanent is represented by more than…
• Mill — To mill a number of cards, a player puts that many cards from the top of their library into their graveyard. See rule 70…
• Minimum Deck Size — If a rule or effect states that a player’s deck must contain at least a specific number of cards, that number is the pla…
• Miracle — A keyword ability that lets you cast a spell for a reduced cost if it’s the first card you draw in a turn. See rule 702.…
• Modal, Mode — A spell or ability is “modal” if it has two or more options in a bulleted list preceded by instructions for a player to…
• Modal Double-Faced Cards — One of two kinds of double-faced cards. Modal double-faced cards can be played with either of their two faces up and can…
• Modified — A modified creature is a creature that has a counter on it, is equipped, or is enchanted by an Aura its controller also…
• Modular — A keyword ability that has a permanent enter the battlefield with +1/+1 counters on it and can move those counters to ot…
• Monarch — A designation a player can have. Some effects instruct a player to become the monarch. The monarch draws a card at the b…
• Mono Artifact (Obsolete) — An obsolete term that appeared on the type line of artifacts with activated abilities that caused the artifact to become…
• Monocolored — An object with exactly one color is monocolored. Colorless objects aren’t monocolored. See rule 105, “Colors,” and rule…
• Monocolored Hybrid Mana Symbols — See Hybrid Mana Symbols.
• Monstrosity — A keyword action that puts +1/+1 counters on a creature and makes it become monstrous. See rule 701.31, “Monstrosity.”
• Monstrous — A designation given to a creature whose ability including a monstrosity instruction has resolved. See rule 701.31, “Mons…
• More Than Meets the Eye — A keyword ability that allows some cards to be cast converted. See rule 702.162, “More Than Meets the Eye,” and rule 701…
• Morph — A keyword ability that lets a card be cast face down as a 2/2 creature. See rule 702.37, “Morph,” and rule 708, “Face-Do…
• Mountain — One of the five basic land types. Any land with this subtype has the ability “{T}: Add {R}.” See rule 305.6.
• Mountaincycling — See Typecycling.
• Mountainwalk — See Landwalk.
• Move — To remove a counter from one object and put it on a different object. See rule 122.5. Some older cards used “move” with…
• Mulligan — To take a mulligan is to reject a prospective opening hand in favor of a new one. See rule 103.5.
• Multicolored — An object with two or more colors is multicolored. Multicolored is not a color. See rule 105, “Colors,” and rule 202, “M…
• Multikicker — Multikicker is a variant of the kicker keyword ability. It represents an optional additional cost that may be paid any n…
• Multiplayer Game — A game that begins with more than two players. See section 8, “Multiplayer Rules.”
• Mutate — A keyword that lets a creature card be cast as a mutating creature spell. See rule 702.140, “Mutate.”
• Mutating Creature Spell — A creature spell cast using the mutate keyword ability. As it resolves, if its target creature is legal, it merges with…
• Myriad — Myriad is a triggered ability that effectively lets a creature attack in all possible directions. See rule 702.116, “Myr…
• Name — A characteristic, and part of a card. A card’s name is printed in its upper left corner. See rule 201, “Name.”
• Night — Along with day, a designation the game can have. See rule 728, “Day and Night,” and rule 702.145, “Daybound and Nightbou…
• Nightbound — An ability found on the back faces of some double-faced cards. Cards with daybound and nightbound are face up when it’s…
• Ninjutsu — A keyword ability that lets a creature suddenly enter combat. See rule 702.49, “Ninjutsu.”
• Nonbasic Land — Any land that doesn’t have the supertype “basic.” See rule 205.4, “Supertypes.”
• Nontraditional Magic Card — A card not included in players’ decks. It may be oversized or have a card back other than a “Deckmaster” back. See rule…
• Object — An ability on the stack, a card, a copy of a card, an emblem, a token, a spell, or a permanent. See rule 109, “Objects.”
• Offering — A keyword ability that modifies when you can cast a spell and how much mana you need to spend to do it. See rule 702.48,…
• Offspring — A keyword ability that allows you to pay an additional cost as you cast a creature spell to create a 1/1 token that’s a…
• One-Shot Effect — An effect that does something just once and doesn’t have a duration. See rule 610, “One-Shot Effects.” See also Continuo…
• Ongoing — A supertype that appears only on scheme cards. See rule 205.4, “Supertypes.”
• Opening Hand — The hand of cards a player starts the game with, once the player has decided not to take any further mulligans. See rule…
• Opponent — Someone a player is playing against. See rules 102.2 and 102.3.
• Option — An additional rule or set of rules that can be used in a multiplayer game. See rule 800.2.
• Oracle — The reference that contains the up-to-date wordings (in English) for all tournament-legal cards. A card’s Oracle text ca…
• Outlast — A keyword ability that allows a creature to grow larger over time. See rule 702.107, “Outlast.”
• Outside the Game — An object is “outside the game” if it isn’t in any of the game’s zones. See rule 400.11.
• Overload — A keyword ability that allows a spell to affect either a single target or many objects. See rule 702.96, “Overload.”
• Owner — The player who (for purposes of the game) a card, permanent, token, or spell belongs to. See rules 108.3, 110.2, 111.2,…
• Paired — A term that describes a creature that’s been affected by a soulbond ability. See rule 702.95, “Soulbond.”
• Paris Mulligan — Informal term for a previous system of taking a mulligan. Using the Paris mulligan, a player who took a mulligan shuffle…
• Partner, “Partner with [name]” — A keyword ability that lets two legendary creatures or planeswalkers be your commander in the Commander variant rather t…
• Party — Some cards refer to the number of creatures in your party. A player’s party includes up to one each of Cleric, Rogue, Wa…
• Pass — To decline to take any action (such as casting a spell or activating an ability) when you have priority. See rule 117, “…
• Pass in Succession — All players “pass in succession” if each player in the game (starting with any one of them) opts not to take an action u…
• Pawprint Symbol — A symbol shaped like a pawprint that is used to indicate the modes on some modal spells. See rule 700.2i.
• Pay — To perform the actions required by a cost. This often means, but is not restricted to, spending resources such as mana o…
• Permanent — A card or token on the battlefield. See rule 110, “Permanents.”
• Permanent Card — A card that could be put onto the battlefield. See rule 110.4a.
• Permanent Spell — A spell that will enter the battlefield as a permanent as part of its resolution. See rule 110.4b.
• Permanently (Obsolete) — An obsolete term used to indicate that a continuous effect has no duration and thus lasts until the end of the game. Car…
• Persist — A keyword ability that can return a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield. See rule 702.79, “Persist.”
• Phase — 1. A subsection of a turn. See section 5, “Turn Structure.” 2. A permanent “phases in” when its status changes from phas…
• Phased In, Phased Out — A status a permanent may have. Phased-in is the default status. Phased-out permanents are treated as though they do not…
• Phasing — A keyword ability that causes a permanent to sometimes be treated as though it does not exist. See rule 702.26, “Phasing…
• Phenomenon — A card type seen only on nontraditional Magic cards in the Planechase casual variant. A phenomenon card is not a permane…
• Phyrexian Mana Symbol — A mana symbol that represents a cost that can be paid either by spending colored mana or by paying life. See rule 107.4.
• Phyrexian Symbol — A symbol used in rules text to represent any of the five Phyrexian mana symbols. See rule 107.4g.
• Pile — A temporary grouping of cards. See rule 700.3.
• Placed — (Obsolete) Some spells and abilities previously referred to a counter being “placed” on a permanent. These cards have re…
• Plains — One of the five basic land types. Any land with this subtype has the ability “{T}: Add {W}.” See rule 305.6.
• Plainscycling — See Typecycling.
• Plainswalk — See Landwalk.
• Planar Deck — A deck of at least ten plane cards needed to play the Planechase casual variant. See rule 901.3.
• Planar Die — A specialized six-sided die needed to play the Planechase casual variant. See rule 901.3.
• Plane — A card type seen only on nontraditional Magic cards in the Planechase casual variant. A plane card is not a permanent. S…
• Planechase — A casual variant in which plane cards and phenomenon cards add additional abilities and randomness to the game. See rule…
• Planeswalk — To put each face-up plane card or phenomenon card on the bottom of its owner’s planar deck face down, then move the top…
• Planeswalker — A card type. A planeswalker is a permanent. See rule 306, “Planeswalkers.”
• Planeswalker Symbol — The Planeswalker symbol appears on the planar die in the Planechase casual variant. See rule 107.11.
• Planeswalker Type — A subtype that’s correlated to the planeswalker card type. See rule 306, “Planeswalkers.” See rule 205.3j for the list o…
• Planeswalker Uniqueness Rule (Obsolete) — Older versions of the rules stated that a player who controlled two or more planeswalkers with the same planeswalker typ…
• Play — 1. To play a land is to put a land onto the battlefield as a special action. See rule 116, “Special Actions,” and rule 3…
• Player — One of the people in the game. See rule 102, “Players.”
• Plot — A keyword ability that lets a player exile cards from their hand and cast them without paying their mana cost on future…
• Plotted — A card exiled using the plot special action becomes plotted. Other effects can also make an exiled card plotted. See rul…
• Poison Counter — A counter that may be given to a player. See rule 122, “Counters,” and rule 704.5c.
• Poisoned — Having one or more poison counters. See rule 122, “Counters.”
• Poisonous — A keyword ability that causes a player to get poison counters. See rule 702.70, “Poisonous.”
• Poly Artifact (Obsolete) — An obsolete term that appeared on the type line of artifacts with activated abilities that didn’t cause the artifact to…
• Populate — A keyword action that creates a copy of a creature token you control. See rule 701.30, “Populate.”
• Postcombat Main Phase — A main phase that occurs after a combat phase. See Main Phase.
• Power — 1. Part of a card that only creature cards have. A creature card’s power is printed before the slash in its lower right…
• Powerstone Token — A Powerstone token is a colorless artifact token with “{T}: Add {C}. This mana can’t be spent to cast a nonartifact spel…
• Precombat Main Phase — The first main phase of a turn. See Main Phase.
• Prevent — A word used by prevention effects to indicate what damage will not be dealt. See rule 615, “Prevention Effects.”
• Prevention Effect — A kind of continuous effect that watches for a damage event that would happen and completely or partially prevents the d…
• Priority — Which player can take actions at any given time is determined by a system of “priority.” See rule 117, “Timing and Prior…
• Prize — An additional reward for visiting some Attractions. See rule 702.159, “Visit.”
• Proliferate — To give an additional counter to any number of players and/or permanents of each kind they already have. See rule 701.27…
• Protect, Protector — Each battle has a player designated as its protector, and that player protects that battle. See rule 310.8.
• Protection — A keyword ability that provides a range of benefits against objects with a specific quality. See rule 702.16, “Protectio…
• Prototype — An ability which allows a prototype card to be cast with a secondary set of characteristics. See rule 718, “Prototype Ca…
• Prototype Card — Cards with a two-part card frame (one part of which is inset under the type line) on a single card. See rule 718, “Proto…
• Provoke — A keyword ability that can force a creature to block. See rule 702.39, “Provoke.”
• Prowess — A keyword ability that causes a creature to get +1/+1 whenever its controller casts a noncreature spell. See rule 702.10…
• Prowl — A keyword ability that may allow a spell to be cast for an alternative cost. See rule 702.76, “Prowl.”
• Public Zone — A zone in which all players can be expected to see the cards’ faces. See rule 400.2. See also Hidden Zone.
• Rad Counter — A type of counter a player can have that causes that player to mill cards at the beginning of their precombat main phase…
• Rampage — A keyword ability that can make a creature better in combat. See rule 702.23, “Rampage.”
• Range of Influence — See Limited Range of Influence.
• Ravenous — A keyword ability found on some creature cards with {X} in their mana cost. The creature enters the battlefield with X +…
• Reach — A keyword ability that allows a creature to block an attacking creature with flying. See rule 702.17, “Reach.” See also…
• Read Ahead — A keyword ability found on some Sagas that allows their controller to choose which chapter it starts on. See rule 702.15…
• Rebound — A keyword ability that allows an instant or sorcery spell to be cast a second time. See rule 702.88, “Rebound.”
• Reconfigure — A keyword ability that allows an Equipment creature to temporarily stop being a creature and become attached to another…
• Recover — A keyword ability that lets a player return a card from their graveyard to their hand. See rule 702.59, “Recover.”
• Redirect (Obsolete) — Some older cards were printed with the term “redirect” to indicate a redirection effect. Such cards have received errata…
• Redirection Effect — A kind of replacement effect that causes damage that would be dealt to one creature, planeswalker, or player to be dealt…
• Reflexive Triggered Ability — An ability that triggers based on actions taken earlier during a spell or ability’s resolution. See rule 603.12.
• Regenerate — To replace a permanent’s destruction with an alternate sequence of events. See rule 701.15, “Regenerate.”
• Reinforce — A keyword ability that lets a player put +1/+1 counters on a creature. See rule 702.77, “Reinforce.”
• Reminder Text — Parenthetical text in italics in the text box of a card that summarizes a rule that applies to that card, but is not act…
• Removed from Combat — Certain events can cause an attacking or blocking creature, or a planeswalker that’s being attacked, to be “removed from…
• Remove from the Game, Removed, Removed-from-the-Game Zone (Obsolete) — “Remove [something] from the game” is an obsolete term for “exile [something].” “The removed card” is an obsolete term f…
• Renown — A keyword ability that makes a creature stronger after it deals combat damage to a player. See rule 702.112, “Renown.”
• Renowned — A designation given to a permanent as a result of the renown ability. See rule 702.112, “Renown.”
• Replacement Effect — A kind of continuous effect that watches for a particular event that would happen and completely or partially replaces t…
• Replicate — A keyword ability that creates copies of a spell. See rule 702.56, “Replicate.”
• Requirement — An effect that forces one or more creatures to attack or block. See rules 508.1d and 509.1c.
• Resolve — When the spell or ability on top of the stack “resolves,” its instructions are followed and it has its effect. See rule…
• Restart the Game — To immediately end the current game and restart it. See rule 104, “Ending the Game.”
• Respond — To cast an instant spell or activate an ability while another spell or ability is already on the stack. See rule 117.7.
• Restriction — An effect that precludes one or more creatures from attacking or blocking. See rules 508.1c and 509.1b.
• Retrace — A keyword ability that lets a player cast a card from their graveyard. See rule 702.81, “Retrace.”
• Reveal — To show a card to all players for a brief time. See rule 701.16, “Reveal.”
• The Ring — An emblem that may be created at the time the Ring tempts you. See rule 701.52, “The Ring Tempts You.”
• The Ring Tempts You — A keyword action that causes a player to choose a creature they control to be their legendary Ring-bearer and may cause…
• Ring-bearer — A designation that a creature can be given as the Ring tempts you. See rule 701.52, “The Ring Tempts You.”
• Riot — A keyword ability that lets a player choose whether certain creatures enter the battlefield with haste or with a +1/+1 c…
• Ripple — A keyword ability that may let a player cast extra cards from their library for no cost. See rule 702.60, “Ripple.”
• Role — Roles are colorless enchantment tokens. Each one has the Aura and Role subtypes and the enchant creature ability. If a p…
• Roll a d20 — To roll a twenty-sided die. Similarly, a d4 is a four-sided die, a d6 is a six-sided die, and so on. See rule 706, “Roll…
• Room — 1. A subsection of a dungeon card. See rule 309, “Dungeons.” 2. An enchantment subtype found on some split cards. See ru…
• Room Ability — A triggered ability that triggers whenever a player moves their venture marker into a room of a dungeon card. See rule 3…
• Rules Text — A characteristic that defines a card’s abilities. See rule 207.1.
• Sacrifice — To move a permanent you control to its owner’s graveyard. See rule 701.17, “Sacrifice.”
• Saddle — A keyword ability that lets you tap creatures to make another creature “saddled” until end of turn. See rule 702.171, “S…
• Saddled — A designation given to a creature whose saddle ability has resolved. See rule 702.171, “Saddle.”
• Saga — An enchantment subtype. Sagas have a number of chapter abilities that take effect over a number of turns to tell a story…
• Scavenge — A keyword ability that allows you to exile a creature card from your graveyard to put +1/+1 counters on a creature. See…
• Scheme — A card type seen only on nontraditional Magic cards in the Archenemy casual variant. A scheme card is not a permanent. S…
• Scheme Deck — A deck of at least twenty scheme cards needed to play the Archenemy casual variant. See rule 904.3.
• Scry — To manipulate some of the cards on top of your library. See rule 701.18, “Scry.”
• Search — To look at all cards in a stated zone and possibly find a card that matches a given description. See rule 701.19, “Searc…
• Secondary Title Bar — A smaller name line with the Oracle reference name of a card which has an alternate name in its upper left corner. See r…
• Set Aside (Obsolete) — “Set [something] aside” is an obsolete term for “exile [something].” Cards with that text have received errata in the Or…
• Set in Motion — To move a scheme card off the top of your scheme deck and turn it face up. See rule 701.25, “Set in Motion.”
• Shadow — A keyword ability that restricts how a creature may be blocked and which creatures it can block. See rule 702.28, “Shado…
• Shard Token — A Shard token is a colorless enchantment token with “{2}, Sacrifice this enchantment: Scry 1, then draw a card.” For mor…
• Shared Life Total — In the Two-Headed Giant multiplayer variant, each team has a “shared life total” rather than each player having an indiv…
• Shared Team Turns Option — An option that may be used in certain multiplayer variants, such as Two-Headed Giant and Archenemy. See rule 805, “Share…
• Shield Counter — A counter that protects a permanent from being damaged or destroyed. See rule 122.1c.
• Shortcut — A mutually understood way for the game to advance forward a number of game choices (either taking an action or passing p…
• Shroud — A keyword ability that precludes a permanent or player from being targeted. See rule 702.18, “Shroud.”
• Shuffle — To randomize the cards in a deck (before a game) or library (during a game). See rule 103.3 and rule 701.20.
• Sideboard — Extra cards that may be used to modify a deck between games of a match. See rules 100.4.
• Siege — A battle subtype. Only an opponent of a Siege’s controller can be its protector. When the last defense counter is remove…
• Silver-Bordered — Cards in certain sets and certain promotional cards are printed with a silver border. Silver-bordered cards are intended…
• Skip — Effects that use the word “skip” are replacement effects. The word “skip” indicates what events, steps, phases, or turns…
• Skulk — A keyword ability that restricts how a creature may be blocked. See rule 702.118, “Skulk.”
• Slivercycling — See Typecycling.
• Snow — A supertype that’s normally relevant on permanents. See rule 205.4, “Supertypes.”
• Snow Mana Symbol — The snow mana symbol {S} represents a cost that can be paid with one mana produced by a snow source. It can also represe…
• Snow-Covered (Obsolete) — Some older cards were printed with the term “snow-covered” in their rules text. Except when referencing card names, such…
• Solved — 1. A designation a Case may have, allowing its last ability to affect the game. See rule 719, “Case Cards.” 2. A keyword…
• Sorcery — A card type. A sorcery is not a permanent. See rule 307, “Sorceries.”
• Soulbond — A keyword ability that makes creatures better by pairing them together. See rule 702.95, “Soulbond.”
• Soulshift — A keyword ability that lets a player return a card from their graveyard to their hand. See rule 702.46, “Soulshift.”
• Source of an Ability — The object that generated that ability. See rule 113.7.
• Source of Damage — The object that dealt that damage. See rule 609.7.
• Source of Mana — The spell that produced mana or the source of the ability that produced mana. See rule 106.3.
• Space Sculptor — A keyword ability that splits creatures on the battlefield into sectors. See rule 702.158, “Space Sculptor.”
• Special Action — An action a player may take that doesn’t use the stack. See rule 116, “Special Actions.”
• Spectacle — A keyword ability that allows certain spells to be cast for an alternative cost if an opponent has lost life. See rule 7…
• Speed — Speed is a value that a player can have. See rule 702.179, “Start Your Engines!”
• Spell — A card on the stack. Also a copy (of either a card or another spell) on the stack. See rule 112, “Spells.”
• Spell Ability — A kind of ability. Spell abilities are abilities that are followed as instructions while an instant or sorcery spell is…
• Spell Type — A subtype that’s correlated to the instant card type and the sorcery card type. See rule 304, “Instants,” and rule 307,…
• Splice — A keyword ability that lets a player add a card’s rules text onto another spell. See rule 702.47, “Splice.”
• Split Cards — Cards with two card faces on a single card. See rule 709, “Split Cards.”
• Split Second — A keyword ability that makes it nearly impossible for a player to respond to a spell. See rule 702.61, “Split Second.”
• Spree — An ability found on some modal spells that allows you to choose one or more modes and requires you to pay additional cos…
• Squad — A keyword ability that creates copies of a creature when it enters the battlefield. See rule 702.157, “Squad.”
• Stack — A zone. The stack is the zone in which spells, activated abilities, and triggered abilities wait to resolve. See rule 40…
• Start Your Engines! — A keyword ability that gives a player a speed of 1 if they have no speed. Once a player has speed, their speed increases…
• Starting Deck — After a player has set aside their sideboard, their remaining deck becomes their starting deck. See rule 103.2a.
• Starting Hand Size — The number of cards a player draws as a game begins. In most games, each player’s starting hand size is seven. See rule…
• Starting Life Total — The amount of life a player has as a game begins. In most games, each player’s starting life total is 20. See rule 103.4…
• Starting Player — The player chosen to take the first turn of a game. See rule 103.1.
• Starting Team — The team chosen to take the first turn of a game using the shared team turns option. See rule 103.1.
• State-Based Actions — Game actions that happen automatically whenever certain conditions are met. See rule 704, “State-Based Actions.”
• State Trigger — A triggered ability that triggers when a game state is true rather than triggering when an event occurs. See rule 603.8.
• Static Ability — A kind of ability. Static abilities do something all the time rather than being activated or triggered. See rule 113, “A…
• Status — The physical state of a permanent. See rule 110.5.
• Step — A subsection of a phase. See section 5, “Turn Structure.”
• Sticker — A marker placed on an object that modifies its characteristics or interacts with a rule or effect. See rule 123, “Sticke…
• Sticker Kicker — A kicker variant that can add a sticker to the spell with the ability and give a player a ticket counter. See rule 702.3…
• Sticker Sheet — The collection of stickers found on an insert in Unfinity booster packs. See rule 123, “Stickers.”
• Storm — A keyword ability that creates copies of a spell. See rule 702.40, “Storm.”
• Stun Counter — A counter that stops a permanent from untapping. See rule 122.1d.
• Subgame — A completely separate Magic game created by an effect. See rule 726, “Subgames.”
• Substitute Card — A game supplement with a Magic card back that can be used to represent a double-faced card or meld card. See rule 713, “…
• Subtype — A characteristic that appears after the card type and a long dash on a card’s type line. See rule 205.3, “Subtypes.”
• Successfully Cast (Obsolete) — A term that was printed on some older cards. In general, cards that referred to a spell being “successfully cast” have r…
• Summon (Obsolete) — Older creature cards were printed with “Summon [creature type]” on their type lines. All such cards have received errata…
• Summoning Sickness Rule — Informal term for a player’s inability to attack with a creature or to activate its abilities that include the tap symbo…
• Sunburst — A keyword ability that can have a permanent enter the battlefield with +1/+1 counters or charge counters on it. See rule…
• Supertype — A characteristic that appears before the card type on a card’s type line. Most cards don’t have a supertype. See rule 20…
• Supervillain Rumble — A Free-for-All game in which each player is an archenemy. See rule 806, “Free-for-All,” and rule 904, “Archenemy.”
• Support — A keyword action that lets you put +1/+1 counters on creatures. See rule 701.35, “Support.”
• Surge — A keyword ability that provides an alternative cost to cast a card if you or one of your teammates has cast another spel…
• Surveil — To manipulate some of the cards on top of your library, sending some of them to your graveyard and rearranging the rest.…
• Suspend — A keyword ability that provides an alternative way to play a card. See rule 702.62, “Suspend.” A card is “suspended” if…
• Swamp — One of the five basic land types. Any land with this subtype has the ability “{T}: Add {B}.” See rule 305.6.
• Swampcycling — See Typecycling.
• Swampwalk — See Landwalk.
• Tap — To turn a permanent sideways from an upright position. See rule 701.21, “Tap and Untap.”
• Tapped — A status a permanent may have. See rule 110.5 and rule 701.21, “Tap and Untap.” See also Untapped.
• Tap Symbol — The tap symbol {T} in an activation cost means “Tap this permanent.” See rule 107.5.
• Target — A preselected object or player a spell or ability will affect. See rule 115, “Targets.”
• Team — A group of players who share a common victory condition in a multiplayer game. See rule 808, “Team vs. Team Variant,” ru…
• Teammate — In a multiplayer game between teams, a player’s teammates are the other players on their team. See rule 102.3.
• Team vs. Team Variant — A multiplayer variant played among two or more teams, each of which sits together. See rule 808, “Team vs. Team Variant.…
• Text Box — Part of a card. The text box is printed on the lower half of the card and contains the card’s rules text, reminder text,…
• Text-Changing Effect — A continuous effect that changes the text that appears in an object’s text box and/or type line. See rule 612, “Text-Cha…
• Threshold — “Threshold” used to be a keyword ability. It is now an ability word and has no rules meaning. All cards printed with the…
• Ticket Symbol — The ticket symbol {TK} with no numbers in it represents one ticket counter. The ticket symbol with a number in it repres…
• Time Travel — To add a time counter to or remove a time counter from any number of permanents you control with a time counter on them…
• Timestamp Order — A system used to determine in which order continuous effects in the same layer or sublayer are applied. See rule 613.7.…
• Token — A marker used to represent any permanent that isn’t represented by a card. See rule 111, “Tokens.”
• Tombstone Icon — An icon that appears in the upper left of some Odyssey block cards that has no effect on game play. See rule 107.9.
• Total Casting Cost (Obsolete) — An obsolete term for mana value. Cards printed with this term have received errata in the Oracle card reference.
• Total Cost — What a player actually has to pay, in practical terms, to cast a spell or activated ability: the mana cost, activation c…
• Totem Armor (Obsolete) — An obsolete keyword ability that has been renamed. See rule 702.89, “Umbra Armor.”
• Toughness — 1. Part of a card that only creature cards have. A creature card’s toughness is printed after the slash in its lower rig…
• Tournament — An organized play activity where players compete against other players. See rule 100.6.
• Tournament Rules — Additional rules that apply to games played in a sanctioned tournament. See rule 100.6.
• Toxic — A keyword ability that causes a player to get poison counters due to combat damage from creatures with the ability. See…
• Traditional Magic Card — A Magic card that measures approximately 2.5 inches (6.3 centimeters) by 3.5 inches (8.8 centimeters) and is included in…
• Training — A keyword ability that means “Whenever this creature and at least one other creature with power greater that this creatu…
• Trample — A keyword ability that modifies how a creature assigns combat damage. See rule 702.19, “Trample.”
• Trample Over Planeswalkers — A variant of trample that modifies how a creature assigns combat damage if it’s attacking a planeswalker. See rule 702.1…
• Transfigure — A keyword ability that lets a player search their library for a replacement creature card. See rule 702.71, “Transfigure…
• Transform — To turn a double-faced card so its other face is up. See rule 701.28, “Transform.”
• Transforming Double-Faced Cards — One of two kinds of double-faced cards. Transforming double-faced cards default to their front faces but can transform t…
• Transmute — A keyword ability that lets a player search their library for a replacement card. See rule 702.53, “Transmute.”
• Treasure Token — A Treasure token is a colorless artifact token with “{T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Add one mana of any color.” For more…
• Tribal (Obsolete) — An obsolete card type that has been renamed. See rule 308, “Kindreds.”
• Tribute — A keyword ability that allows an opponent to choose between a creature entering the battlefield with +1/+1 counters or a…
• Trigger — Whenever a game event or game state matches a triggered ability’s trigger event, that ability automatically “triggers.”…
• Trigger Condition — The first part of a triggered ability, consisting of “when,” “whenever,” or “at” followed by a trigger event. See rule 6…
• Triggered Ability — A kind of ability. Triggered abilities begin with the word “when,” “whenever,” or “at.” They’re written as “[Trigger con…
• Trigger Event — The event that a triggered ability looks for. Whenever the trigger event occurs, the triggered ability triggers. See rul…
• Turn-Based Actions — Game actions that happen automatically when certain steps or phases begin, or when each step or phase ends. See rule 703…
• Turn Markers — Markers used to keep track of which players are taking turns in a Grand Melee game. See rule 807.4.
• Two-Headed Giant Variant — A multiplayer variant played among two-player teams that each have a shared life total and take a simultaneous turn. See…
• Type — 1. An object’s card type or, more broadly, its card type, subtype, and/or supertype. See rule 205, “Type Line,” and sect…
• Type Icon — An icon that appears in the upper left of some Future Sight cards that has no effect on game play. See rule 107.10.
• Type Line — Part of a card. The type line is printed directly below the illustration and contains the card’s card type(s), subtype(s…
• Type-Changing Effect — An effect that changes an object’s card type, subtype, and/or supertype. See rules 205.1a–b, 305.7, and 613.1d.
• Typecycling — A variant of the cycling ability. See rule 702.29, “Cycling.”
• Umbra Armor — A keyword ability that allows an Aura to protect the permanent it’s enchanting. See rule 702.89, “Umbra Armor.”
• Unattach — To move an Equipment away from the creature it’s attached to so that the Equipment is on the battlefield but is not equi…
• Unblockable (Obsolete) — A term that meant “can’t be blocked.” Cards that used this term have received errata in the Oracle card reference.
• Unblocked Creature — An attacking creature once no creature has been declared as a blocker for it, unless an effect has caused it to become b…
• Undaunted — A keyword ability that reduces the cost of a spell based on the number of opponents you have. See rule 702.125, “Undaunt…
• Undying — A keyword ability that can return a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield. See rule 702.93, “Undying.”
• Unearth — A keyword ability that lets a player return a creature card from their graveyard to the battlefield. See rule 702.84, “U…
• Unflipped — A default status a permanent may have. See rule 110.5 and rule 710, “Flip Cards.” See also Flipped.
• Unleash — A keyword ability that allows a creature to enter the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it and stops it from blocking…
• Unless — A word used to indicate a certain style of cost. See rule 118.12a.
• Unlock — To give an unlocked designation to a permanent that has one or more locked halves. See rule 709.5f.
• Unlocked — One half of a split permanent is “unlocked” if it has the appropriate unlocked designation. See rule 709.5.
• Untap — To rotate a permanent back to the upright position from a sideways position. See rule 701.21, “Tap and Untap.”
• Untap Step — Part of the turn. This step is the first step of the beginning phase. See rule 502, “Untap Step.”
• Untap Symbol — The untap symbol {Q} in an activation cost means “Untap this permanent.” See rule 107.6.
• Untapped — A default status a permanent may have. See rule 110.5 and rule 701.21, “Tap and Untap.” See also Tapped.
• Upkeep Step — Part of the turn. This step is the second step of the beginning phase. See rule 503, “Upkeep Step.”
• Vancouver Mulligan — Informal term for a previous system of taking a mulligan. Using the Vancouver mulligan, a player who took a mulligan shu…
• Vanguard — 1. A casual variant in which each player plays the role of a famous character. See rule 902, “Vanguard.” 2. A card type…
• Vanishing — A keyword ability that limits how long a permanent remains on the battlefield. See rule 702.63, “Vanishing.”
• Variant — An additional set of rules that determines the style of a multiplayer game. See rule 800.2.
• Vehicle — An artifact subtype. Vehicles can become artifact creatures. See rule 301, “Artifacts,” and rule 702.122, “Crew.”
• Venture into [Quality] — A variant of the venture into the dungeon ability that allows a player to bring a dungeon card with [quality] into the g…
• Venture into the Dungeon — A keyword action that can bring dungeon cards into the game from outside the game or move a player’s venture marker. See…
• Venture Marker — A marker used to track which room of a dungeon card a player is currently in. See rule 309, “Dungeons.”
• Vigilance — A keyword ability that lets a creature attack without tapping. See rule 702.20, “Vigilance.”
• Visit — A keyword ability found on Attraction cards. It provides an effect whenever you roll to visit your attractions and get c…
• Vote — Some cards instruct players to vote from among given options. See rule 701.32, “Vote.”
• Walker Token — A Walker token is a 2/2 black Zombie creature token named Walker. For more information on predefined tokens, see rule 11…
• Wall — A creature type with no particular rules meaning. Older cards with the Wall creature type but without defender had an un…
• Ward — A triggered ability that can counter spells or abilities that target the permanent with ward. See rule 702.21, “Ward.”
• Win the Game — There are several ways to win the game. See rule 104, “Ending the Game,” and rules 810.8 (for additional rules for Two-H…
• Wither — A keyword ability that affects how an object deals damage to a creature. See rule 702.80, “Wither.”
• Wizardcycling — See Typecycling.
• World — A supertype that’s normally relevant on enchantments. See rule 205.4, “Supertypes.” See also World Rule.
• World Rule — A state-based action that causes all permanents with the world supertype except the one that has had the world supertype…
• X — A placeholder for a number that needs to be determined. See rule 107.3.
• Y — See X.
• You, Your — Words that refer to an object’s controller, its would-be controller (if a player is attempting to cast or activate it),…
• Zone — A place where objects can be during a game. See section 4, “Zones.”
• Zone-Change Triggers — Trigger events that involve objects changing zones. See rule 603.6.