Magic: The Gathering glossary
The terms every Magic player runs into, each defined in a sentence or two. They’re grouped by the ManaScholar course that teaches them, so you can see where to go to learn more.
- Mana
- Mana is the resource you spend to cast spells and activate abilities in Magic: The Gathering. It is usually produced by tapping lands, and comes in five colors (white, blue, black, red and green) plus colorless.
- Mana value
- Mana value is the total amount of mana in a card's mana cost, regardless of color. A card costing {2}{U} has a mana value of 3. It was formerly called converted mana cost.
- Type line
- The type line sits below a card's illustration and lists its card types, subtypes and supertypes, such as “Legendary Creature — Human Wizard.” The card type decides when you can play the card and how it behaves.
- Permanent
- A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield. Artifacts, battles, creatures, enchantments, lands and planeswalkers become permanents; instants and sorceries never do.
- Summoning sickness
- Summoning sickness is the informal name for the rule that a creature can't attack, or use abilities with the tap or untap symbol in their cost, unless you've controlled it continuously since the start of your most recent turn. Haste removes this restriction.
- Instant speed
- Instant speed means acting at any time you have priority, including during your opponent's turn and in response to other spells. Instants and most activated abilities are played at instant speed; sorceries and most permanents are not.
- Trample
- Trample lets an attacking creature assign combat damage beyond what is lethal to its blockers to the player, planeswalker or battle it is attacking.
- First strike
- A creature with first strike deals its combat damage in a separate, earlier combat damage step, before creatures without first strike or double strike.
- Deathtouch
- Deathtouch means any amount of damage the creature deals to another creature is enough to destroy it. Combined with trample, one point of damage counts as lethal to each blocker.
- The stack
- The stack is the zone where spells and abilities wait to resolve. The last object put on the stack resolves first (last in, first out), which is why you can respond to a spell before it takes effect.
- Priority
- Priority is the permission to cast a spell or activate an ability. The active player receives it first; when all players pass priority in a row, the top object of the stack resolves, or the game moves to the next step if the stack is empty.
- Triggered ability
- A triggered ability starts with “when,” “whenever” or “at” and happens automatically when its trigger event occurs. It goes on the stack the next time a player would receive priority.
- Activated ability
- An activated ability is written as “cost: effect.” You choose to activate it by paying the cost, and it uses the stack unless it is a mana ability.
- Replacement effect
- A replacement effect changes an event as it happens, usually signaled by the word “instead.” It doesn't use the stack, so it can't be responded to.
- Layers
- The layer system is the rule that decides the order in which continuous effects apply: copy effects, control, text, type, color, abilities, and finally power and toughness. Within a layer, effects usually apply in timestamp order.
- Card advantage
- Card advantage is having more useful cards and resources available than your opponent. A spell that removes two opposing creatures, or draws two cards, is a classic source of card advantage.
- Tempo
- Tempo is how efficiently you use your mana and turns to affect the board. Spending two mana to undo a play that cost your opponent five mana gains you tempo.
- Beatdown and control roles
- In any matchup, the beatdown is the player who should be dealing damage quickly, and the control player is the one who should survive and win the long game. The idea comes from Mike Flores' 1999 article “Who's the Beatdown?”
- London mulligan
- The London mulligan is the current mulligan rule: you shuffle your hand away and draw seven new cards, then put one card on the bottom of your library for each mulligan you've taken.
- Sequencing
- Sequencing is the order in which you play your lands and spells within a turn and across turns. Good sequencing hides information, keeps options open and makes the most of your mana.
- Mana curve
- A deck's mana curve is how its spells are spread across mana values. A low curve plays out fast, while a high curve has more powerful spells that arrive later.
- Archetype
- An archetype is a general style of deck with a typical game plan. The three classic archetypes are aggro (win fast), control (answer threats and win late) and combo (win with a specific card interaction).
- Commander
- Commander is a multiplayer format where each player builds a 100-card singleton deck led by a legendary creature, their commander. Players start at 40 life, and every card must match the commander's color identity.
- Limited
- Limited formats, such as booster draft and sealed deck, have you build a deck from cards you open at the event. Limited decks have a minimum of 40 cards.
- Sideboard
- A sideboard is a set of up to 15 extra cards in constructed formats that you can swap into your deck between games of a match to adapt to your opponent.