List of Magic: The Gathering terms

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

---

Magic: The Gathering players have invented many new terms over the years the game has existed, covering a wide variety of aspects of the game, from deckbuilding to card mechanics. These Magic: The Gathering Terms are listed here.

Contents 1 Terms 1.1 187 1.2 Answer 1.3 Acceleration, Accel 1.4 Aggro 1.5 Alpha Strike 1.6 Archery 1.7 Archetype 1.8 Bear 1.9 Bend It 1.10 Big Butt 1.11 Big Pants 1.12 Black Summer 1.13 Board 1.14 Board Sweeper 1.15 Boltbait 1.16 Bomb 1.17 Bombo 1.18 Bounce 1.19 Broken 1.20 Burn 1.21 Burn Out 1.22 Bury 1.23 Cantrip 1.24 Card Advantage 1.25 Cheese 1.26 Chump Block, Chump-Blocker 1.27 CIP 1.28 Clock 1.29 Combo 1.30 Combo Winter 1.31 Control 1.32 CSA 1.33 Curve 1.34 Curve Out 1.35 Deck Description 1.36 Decking 1.37 Disruption 1.38 Direct Damage 1.39 Dome 1.40 Draw-Go 1.41 Drop 1.42 Dual Land 1.43 Efficient 1.44 Engine 1.45 EOT 1.46 EOTFOFYL 1.47 Fast Effect 1.48 Fatty 1.49 Fetchlands 1.50 Finisher 1.51 Firebreathing 1.52 Fish 1.53 Fix 1.54 Fixer 1.55 Fizzle 1.56 Float 1.57 FTW 1.58 Gas 1.59 GG 1.60 Gift 1.61 Going Infinite 1.62 Goldfish 1.63 Gray Ogre 1.64 Grunty 1.65 Hate 1.66 Hardcasting 1.67 Highlander 1.68 Hill Giant 1.69 Hoser 1.70 House 1.71 Inevitability 1.72 Jank 1.73 Judgeling 1.74 Karoo Lands 1.75 Keeper 1.76 LD 1.77 Lightning Rod 1.78 Lockdown 1.79 Manland, Man Land 1.80 Mana Burn 1.81 Mana Curve 1.82 Mana Drop 1.83 Mana Flood 1.84 Mana Optimization 1.85 Manascrew / Manascrewed 1.86 Manaconverter / Mana Converter 1.87 Mass Removal 1.88 Metagame 1.89 Mill 1.90 Mind trick (or Jedi Mind Trick) 1.91 Mise 1.92 MODO 1.93 Netdeck 1.94 ...On a stick! 1.95 On legs/wheels/wings 1.96 Painlands 1.97 Paint 1.98 Permission 1.99 Ping 1.100 Pitch 1.101 Player Types 1.101.1 Timmy players 1.101.2 Johnny players 1.101.3 Spike players 1.101.4 Vorthos players 1.102 Pop 1.103 Power Nine 1.104 Pump 1.105 Pull 1.106 Raw Dog 1.107 Reanimation 1.108 Recursion 1.109 Red Deck Wins 1.110 Removal 1.111 Response or Responsive strategy 1.112 RFG 1.113 Rip 1.114 The Rock 1.115 Rock, Paper, Scissors of Magic 1.116 Rogue deck 1.117 RTFC 1.118 Sac 1.119 SBE 1.120 Schmoe 1.121 Scoop 1.122 Scrub 1.123 Send 1.124 Shocklands 1.125 Signal 1.126 Sligh 1.127 Spirit Link 1.128 Splash 1.129 Splash damage 1.130 Stax 1.131 Stompy 1.132 Sprat 1.133 Sprat Engine 1.134 Super Trample 1.135 Stuffy Doll 1.136 Swing 1.137 Swiss 1.138 Synergy 1.139 Table 1.140 Tapped out 1.141 Team Small Child 1.142 Tech 1.143 Tempo 1.144 Test Spell 1.145 Threat 1.146 Tier 1.147 Top 8 1.148 Topdeck 1.148.1 Topdeck Mode 1.149 ...to the head/dome 1.150 Tradebait 1.151 Tribe, Tribal 1.152 Trick 1.153 Trix 1.154 Tutor 1.155 Vanilla 1.156 Victory Condition 1.157 Weenie, Weenie Deck 1.158 Win Condition 1.159 Windmill Slam 1.160 Yard 1.161 Zebra 1.162 Zebra Herd 2 Card Nicknames and Abbreviations 2.1 Academy 2.2 AK 2.3 Al 2.4 Antwaan Bramble El 2.5 BEB 2.6 Bob 2.7 Bob Gnarley 2.8 Bolt 2.9 BoP 2.10 Buffy 2.11 Burly Protector 2.12 Cap'n Tickles 2.13 Chimney Pimp 2.14 CoP 2.15 Deed 2.16 Deep Anal 2.17 Dragon 2.18 Drain 2.19 Dr. Teeth 2.20 Edict 2.21 Elvis, Elvis Archers 2.22 ESG 2.23 F/I 2.24 Fetch Lands 2.25 Finkel 2.26 FoF 2.27 Fog Frog 2.28 Force 2.29 Fork of Doom 2.30 FOW 2.31 Frank 2.32 FtK 2.33 Hippie or Hippy 2.34 Hymn 2.35 I am Superman 2.36 Jit 2.37 Jens 2.38 Keg 2.39 Koala 2.40 Larry's Disk 2.41 Lawnmower Elves 2.42 Library of Victory 2.43 Mis-D 2.44 Miss America 2.45 Moxen 2.46 Mox Monkey 2.47 Nevvy's Disk 2.48 Oath 2.49 Ophie the One-Eyed Snake 2.50 Orzhov Enthusiast 2.51 OwN 2.52 REB 2.53 Recall 2.54 Ritual 2.55 Sac Elder 2.56 Sad Robot 2.57 Sex Monkey 2.58 SoFaI 2.59 SoLaS 2.60 SoLoMoxen 2.61 STE 2.62 Stick 2.63 Stinky 2.64 STP 2.65 Stupid Elephant 2.66 Super C 2.67 Superman 2.68 Swords 2.69 The Best Card in Magic 2.70 The Best Creature Ever Printed 2.71 The Best Fatty Ever Printed 2.72 Throat Wolf 2.73 TfK 2.74 Tim 2.75 'Tog 2.76 Tron 2.77 Urzatron 2.78 Welder 2.79 WoG 2.80 Wrath 2.81 YawgWin 2.82 Zippy

[edit] Terms

This is not a list of Magic: The Gathering "keywords". The terms listed below are informal, player-created terms not truly a part of the game rules.

[edit] 187

Derived from the California penal code for murder, 187 refers to destroying a creature or other permanent using a "comes into play" effect, such as when the card Nekrataal comes into play; by extension, "187 effects" are effects which trigger when creatures come into play. A common, incorrect assumption is that the term originated from Nekrataal's collector number in the Visions set (which has only 167 cards and predates the use of collector numbers).

[edit] Answer

The opposite of a threat. An answer is a card used to negate one or more threats. A deck built mainly around answers is a control deck (see Control, below).

[edit] Acceleration, Accel

Mana acceleration - those elements in a deck which allow the player to access mana at a faster rate than the usual one land per turn limit would permit. The most famous acceleration cards are the Moxes and Black Lotus, outlandishly powerful artifacts which have been on the restricted list for almost the game's entire history. The amount of acceleration available in a block in an important factor in setting the tone for Limited, Block Constructed and even Standard play involving that block.

[edit] Aggro

Short for 'aggressive', aggro describes a deck or archetype which simply seeks to reduce the opponent's life total to zero before he or she can set up an effective defense. Usually very dependent on creatures, though direct damage is sometimes an important component as well. One of the three major categories of Constructed tournament decks, along with Combo and Control.

[edit] Alpha Strike

An alpha strike is an attack with all creatures available for combat that aims to deal a lethal amount of damage to the opponent. Since this action leaves the attacker defenseless, it is generally used when the attacking player is positive that his attack will result in victory, or as a last resort. The term comes from the tabletop wargame BattleTech, where it describes the firing all of the player's forward-mounted weapons simultaneously.

[edit] Archery

Short form for the creature ability "T: This card deals 1 damage to target attacking or blocking creature." Almost all creatures with this ability are archery themed, hence the name. For example, "Are you sure you want to attack with that 3/1 shadow creature? Remember, this guy has archery."

[edit] Archetype

Has two meanings. Firstly, refers to a specific branch of very influential or competitive decks in a metagame. Deck archetypes tend to revolve around a particular card, combo, or strategy. Alternatively, refers to the core strategy groups a deck can fall into: control, combo, or aggro (beatdown) (or some hybrid of these "pure" strategies).

[edit] Bear

A bear is a 2/2 vanilla creature for 2 mana, in regards to the iconic Grizzly Bears. While it technically refers to a vanilla creature-- one without any special abilities-- many use the term to refer to any 2/2 creature for 2 mana.

[edit] Bend It

To change the target of a spell or ability. Named for the card Willbender, which does just that, and for David Beckham, who is said to have the ability to "Bend" his soccer kicks. e.g. "Demonfire on me for 8? I bend it onto your Hunted Dragon".

[edit] Big Butt

A creature whose printed toughness is much higher than its power. Big Butt differs from Big Pants (see below) in that one is the card's printed power/toughness and one gives it as an effect.

[edit] Big Pants

Creature enchantments that increase the enchanted creature's toughness, while leaving its power alone or increasing it by a lesser amount. First applied to the card Hero's Resolve (aka Heroic Pants or just The Pants), which gives the creature it enchants +1 power but +5 toughness.

[edit] Black Summer

Black Summer was the summer of 1995, when a popular black deck featuring the card Necropotence dominated the tournament scene. This 'Necro Deck' was perceived as nigh-unbeatable.

[edit] Board

The collection of permanents currently on the table. Each player has their own 'board' and the word also describes the collective 'board.' e.g. "There's a lot of creatures on the board."

See Also: Board Sweeper

[edit] Board Sweeper

A spell which destroys/removes/neutralizes multiple permanents - most commonly, all creatures currently in play. Famous examples include Wrath of God, Akroma's Vengeance, and Plague Wind.

[edit] Boltbait

Boltbait are small, powerful creatures that are rendered impractical to play because they 'attract' removal spells (like Lightning Bolt). That is: they are so potentially dangerous that they are killed as soon as they are played. Hypnotic Specter is a classic example of boltbait. See also: Lightning Rod

[edit] Bomb

Generally used in conjunction with Limited play, a bomb is a card that always makes a large impact on a game in which it is played. Such cards are usually hard to defend against in a limited-card-pool setting. Sometimes, bombs are broken, but not always; in fact, some cards which are bombs in Limited formats are almost useless in normal Constructed formats.

[edit] Bombo

A combo which might seem like it should work at first glance, but upon further rules clarification is actually discovered to be invalid.

Alternately, a combo which is so far-fetched and difficult to complete that it could not realistically be considered a combo by competitive standards. These bombos are often created intentionally for experimental purposes and/or humour value, and often seek to make use of cards otherwise thought to be underpowered or useless, such as Mudhole or Chimney Imp.

[edit] Bounce

An effect that returns cards from the play area to the player's hand. Bounce effects are generally blue. An example would be Boomerang.

[edit] Broken

An adjective used in reference to a card, or combination of cards, generally regarded as overpowered. To break a card is to find some game situation or card combination in which a normal card becomes broken. Broken can also refer to what happens to tournament formats upon discovering a radically new dominating deck. This is called breaking the format or the deck that broke the format.

For example: Michelle Bush's infamous "Trix" deck took the seemingly harmless cards 'Donate' and 'Illusions of Grandeur,' and created a combo which is considered one of the most powerful (broken) ever to emerge in the game. Consequently, just when Trix was dominating tournaments and unanimously hailed as the best deck in the format, Alan Comer's "Miracle Gro" broke the metagame by crushing the seemingly unstoppable Trix deck.

[edit] Burn

Direct damage not dealt through combat, but rather by spells such Lightning Bolt or abilities like that of Prodigal Sorcerer. Most cards of this nature are red, and much of their flavor involves fire or heat in some way, hence the term 'burn'.

Burn can also be shorthand for "mana burn", which refers to damage taken from unused mana.

[edit] Burn Out

To concede a game by deliberately killing oneself through mana burn. Also used to refer to "burning out one's opponent": finishing the game via direct damage spells rather than combat damage.

[edit] Bury

A term used introduced in Revised Edition and dropped again in Tempest about three years later, 'Bury' referred to destroying a permanent with the added bonus that it was prohibited from regenerating. For instance, Wrath of God used to read "Bury all creatures", whereas now it reads "Destroy all creatures. They can't be regenerated."

[edit] Cantrip

A spell that draws a card when it is cast (or used) in addition to providing other effects; such cards are said to replace themselves. Cantrips are included in decks for varying reasons. A cantrip can effectively thin a deck, so more useful cards can be drawn faster, while at the same time not losing card advantage. It can also inexpensively increase the number of spells played in a turn, which is a key factor in some decks.

Cantrips were introduced in the Ice Age set, where the effect read "draw a card at the beginning of next turn's upkeep." Starting with the set Weatherlight, this was replaced by the simpler and slightly more useful "draw a card." The Ice Age Cantrips are also known as Slowtrips, and made a brief return in the 2006 set Coldsnap.

[edit] Card Advantage

Card advantage may refer to drawing more cards than an opponent, or to the assessment of how efficiently a player is using his responses in relation to an opponent's threats. For example, if a player uses two or more cards to neutralize a single threat, then he lost card advantage; conversely, if a player uses a single card to neutralize two or more threats, then he gained card advantage. In many games, especially between control decks or in the Sealed Deck format, card advantage can be the key to victory.

[edit] Cheese

Cheese is used to refer to any tactic which completely avoids what seems (or seemed) like the meat of the game in order to win or bring oneself closer to winning. Tactics which are easily repeatable and which the opponent has no answer for often show up in limited play, and you will find this used frequently in such situations. ("I pay 11 mana and use my . /gathererlookup.asp?name=Tolarian_Sentinel Tolarian Sentinel/. /gathererlookup.asp?name=Brine_Elemental Brine Elemental cheese again to prevent you untapping next turn.")

In constructed, it is nearly synonymous with Burn, but with an added emphasis on damaging the opponent rather than creatures; so called because doing so is perceived by some as a cheesy way to win. Occasionally a verb ("I cheese you for 6" would mean "I deal 6 damage to you using a card such as . /gathererlookup.asp?name=Fireball Fireball").

[edit] Chump Block, Chump-Blocker

To chump block is to block an attacking creature in such a way that the blocking creature will neither survive the experience nor take the attacking creature with it. A creature (often a token generated by some reusable ability or a creature whose main purpose is its "comes-into-play" or "unmorph" ability) with few uses other than in making such a play is occasionally disparagingly referred to as a chump-blocker. Doing this frequently is the mark of a very inexperienced player; when a good, or even middling, player chump blocks, it is usually either a desperation play or a sign that the creature is more useful dead.

[edit] CIP

Short for "comes into play", used to refer to a variety of abilities which trigger when a creature comes into play. Can also be spelled "CITP" (Comes into the play zone). Its most frequent use is CIPT, "Comes into play tapped".

[edit] Clock

A 'Clock' or 'X Turn Clock' is a threat that will lead to victory over an opponent in a finite number of turns, thus giving the opponent a known time limit in which to either win or answer the threat. For example, if a player is at 20 life and an unblockable creature with a power of 4 is played by their opponent, that player is said to be on a 5-turn clock. . /gathererlookup.asp?name=darksteel_reactor Darksteel Reactor is another example of a "clock" card

[edit] Combo

Any combination of 2 or more cards which produces a beneficial effect greater than the sum of its parts. A combo deck is a deck or archetype which uses a particularly powerful combo as its victory condition, and is designed entirely around setting up and protecting the combo. The latter is one of the three major categories of Constructed tournament decks, along with Aggro and Control.

[edit] Combo Winter

The period beginning in the winter of 1998-1999, after the release of Urza's Saga. Powerful combo decks (see Combo, above), some of them capable of winning before the opponent had taken a turn, dominated most tournament formats. This moved the DCI to ban a large number of cards in December 1998 and again in March 1999, when for the first and only time to date a Magic card was added to the banned list before it was released (namely Memory Jar).

The metagame after the release of Mirrodin block is now sometimes referred to as the second Combo Winter. The popular Affinity archetype succeeded in overpowering most decks in Standard, due in significant part to the cards Skullclamp, Disciple of the Vault and Arcbound Ravager, all of which were eventually banned in multiple tournament formats along with the six Artifact Lands that helped fuel these decks.

[edit] Control

Control usually refers to decks or archetypes, but can also refer to individual cards or elements in a deck; a control deck is one which seeks to dismantle the opponent's strategy, dictating the flow of the game and maneuvering the other player into a position from which he or she cannot win. Often seeks to prolong the game, while (at the tournament level) both aggro and combo decks usually seek to win in the first few turns. Control cards are those which aid this type of strategy, which may include mass removal, countermagic, land destruction, and numerous other categories of cards. One of the three major categories of Constructed tournament decks, along with Aggro and Combo.

Control was also the codename for the large set Ravnica: City of Guilds, along with its small sets Alt (Guildpact) and Delete (Dissension), so named because of the key combination which reboots computers.

[edit] CSA

Characteristic-setting ability. A special type of ability sometimes necessary to define characteristics such as power/toughness, color, and creature type. For example, Lhurgoyf has power equal to the number of creatures in graveyards. Since this is unrepresentable in the small "[power]/[toughness]" box, a CSA is used. Other cards with CSAs include Mistform Ultimus ("~ is every creature type") and Evermind ("~ is blue").

[edit] Curve

The power level of a card can be judged by players as being 'above', 'on' or 'below the curve'. For example, the power and toughness of most 3 casting cost creatures is 2/2. A 2/2 creature with a casting cost of 3 is considered on the curve, while a 3/3 of the same cost would be above the curve and a 1/1 creature would be below the curve. Often, but not always, creatures that are above or below the curve have a corresponding drawback or ability to balance the card. This is slightly different to a creature being over or undercosted; for example, while the card Archivist has a very poor power and toughness for its cmc, it is nonetheless evenly costed due to its ability.

This term is also used as an abbreviation for Mana Curve, below; a deck is considered to have a "low" curve if it has many low casting cost spells. Most aggro decks have low curves, that they might maximize the number of cards they can play each turn. Decks with a lot of "high" casting cost spells are said to have high curves. The most common version of these decks are control decks, which use their control cards to buy time until they can play their expensive spells.

[edit] Curve Out

To 'curve out' is to play a card on a number of turns one after the other equal to the turn number. e.g to play a spell with a casting cost of one on turn one, a two cost spell on turn two, a three cost spell on turn three and so on. This is considered the most optimal way for most decks to work, especially creature based decks, such as aggro or limited decks and is effectively the opposite of mana screw and mana flood. ie: "I got mana screwed on two land and he just curved out for the win".

In deckbuilding, curving out a deck refers to the process of adjusting the number of mana sources and the number of spells of various costs in order to maximize the chance that the deck will curve out in gameplay, as above. Example: "my deck has way too many casting cost 2 spells, I need to curve it out by adding some more expensive spells."

[edit] Deck Description

There are no hard and fast rules to deck-naming, much to the chagrin of many tournament players. Popular decks get their own unique nickname or, through netdecking, can be specified by the event and pilot. But in general, decks can be effectively described by format, color, and archetype. The colors are White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green (W, U, B, R, and G, with a heavy artifact component sometimes denoted by "brown" for older decks and "silver" for newer ones) and the archetypes are Aggro, Control, and Combo (however, Combo decks are usually described by shorthanding the cards that form the actual combo). The term Aggro Control is also oftan used for a deck merging the two archetypes. The most popular sanctioned formats are Vintage (Type 1), Legacy (Type 1.5), Extended (Type X), Standard (Type 2), Block, and Limited. If the deck uses only one color, it gets prefixed with mono. If the deck uses only a small splash, the main color(s) are abbreviated in capital letter(s) and the splash(es) in small letters.

"My Standard deck is monoblue Eye of the Storm combo."
"It's an Extended UGb Aggro-Control deck." (Spoken as blue-green splash black)
"I'm working on my mono-red aggro deck."

Some decks are also named after their designer, or the player that piloted it to the most success. For instance, an R/G aggro deck that Mark "Heezy" Heberholz used to win Pro Tour: Honolulu quickly became known as Heezy Street.

Ever since the introduction of color pair guilds in the Ravnica block, players often say the name of the guild instead of the colors for two-color decks. This is especially true of Boros, Izzet, and Gruul. For example, "I went into that draft telling myself I wasn't going to play Azorius yet again, but within the first pick I already had solidified myself into blue, and a number of great white cards tabled. I was playing it by the 7th card."

[edit] Decking

To 'deck' someone is to run their library out of cards, thus causing them to lose the game for being unable to draw cards when required to do so. The original method of doing this involved the card Millstone, and is therefore also commonly known as milling (see Mill).

[edit] Disruption

The elements of a deck that stop, delay, or hinder the development of an opponent's deck. Common disruption elements include counterspells (which stop an opponent's spells from resolving), discard (which forces the opponent to discard needed cards from his or her hand), land destruction (which stops an opponent from being able to produce enough mana to cast the spells in his or her hand), or removal (which destroy or otherwise eliminate an opponent's cards in play). Other forms of removal include graveyard removal (which removes cards from an opponent's graveyard to prevent the recursion or reanimation of those cards), library removal (aka "capping", which eliminates specific cards from an opponent's library to eliminate the chance of the opponent being able to use them at some time in the future), control-changing spells (which allow one to gain control of an opponent's cards in play), target-changing (spells or abilities which allow you to change the targets of other spells or abilities, turning them against their original caster), damage prevention and redirection (which do just what their names imply), and cards which disallow specific cards or spells from being played or used at all.

[edit] Direct Damage

Direct damage is the term used to refer to any targeted damage other than combat damage, especially damage dealt directly to an opponent; whereas the term 'burn' generally refers to red spells, direct damage can be caused by any source of any color. Examples of direct damage are Soul Feast, Blaze, and Crossbow Infantry. Note that direct damage has to be targeted to some degree; while Lightning Blast is direct damage, Wildfire is not.

[edit] Dome

See "...to the head/dome".

[edit] Draw-Go

A deck archetype. Draw-go is primarily or entirely blue and characterized by a large number of counterspells along with one or more other control elements, a relatively high land count, some means of drawing extra cards, and very few creatures - in some cases, none. A player running this type of deck will often simply draw their card for the turn and then say "go" (indicating that the opponent may begin his turn) on its own turn, hence the name - such decks play the majority of their spells during the other player's turn rather than their own. Some players find these decks extremely frustrating to play against, and partly as a response to this, recent years have seen a considerable reduction in the power of blue's countermagic and card drawing; while once a very common tournament deck type, Draw-Go has had little tournament presence for the last few years as of 2006.

[edit] Drop

To play a permanent. (To "Drop" it on the table.) Some players use it to refer to the mana symbols, even though only blue mana's symbol is actually shaped like a drop. Both definitions allow its use in the context of "2 drop", "3 drop" etc, referring to the number of mana required for a permanent to be played, which is usually also the number of the first turn it can be played.

[edit] Dual Land

Lands that can produce two different colours of mana. Originally, this referred to a series of lands from (the original Magic basic set) with two basic land types, such as Badlands. Many other sets of dual lands have been printed since, with various drawbacks. Recently, in Ravnica: City of Guilds and its sequels, a new series of similar lands have appeared; many players call these "Ravnica duals", "shock lands" or "new duals". These are widely considered the second-best such set of lands ever printed, and are the only ones since the originals to feature basic land types.

[edit] Efficient

A term used to reference a creature whose power and toughness are generally equal to the amount of mana used to play it. Grizzly Bears is efficient since it cost 2 mana and is a 2/2. Loxodon Hierarch is very efficient, as a 4/4 for 4 mana, and granting 4 life when it comes into play. Some creatures are even larger than their mana cost but require a tradeoff, like Plague Sliver.

[edit] Engine

An engine card is a card that converts one resource into another. For example, Channel converts life points to mana, Mind Over Matter converts cards in hand to untaps of target permanents, Yawgmoth's Bargain converts life into massive card advantage, and so on. Engines often form the heart of combos and, if too effective, may be banned or restricted by the DCI.

Sometimes, this can also refer to a combo (see Combo), especially one that allows a specific action to be performed over and over.

[edit] EOT

End of turn. Magic Online sometimes uses this acronym.

[edit] EOTFOFYL

An acronym for "End of turn, Fact or Fiction, you lose." This acronym comes from the fact that the card Fact or Fiction has such versatility and ability that it can win the game solely by forcing your opponent to give you at least one card that you need from the top five cards in your library. Michelle Bush coined this phrase after playing the card at its debut tournament.

[edit] Fast Effect

An Instant card or an ability that can be played any time an instant could be played; for example, Shock or the activated ability of Shock Troops. The term comes from pre-Sixth Edition magic, when it referred to both instants and interrupts (the latter card type is no longer used under the current rules) as well as abilities that could be played as one of these types.

[edit] Fatty

Refers to a large (usually 4/4 or bigger) creature, generally used offensively. A fatty is the opposite of a weenie.

[edit] Fetchlands

Lands that are sacrificed to search one's library for other lands. Usually refers to those from the Onslaught expansion (Polluted Delta etc), but can also refer to the older series from Mirage (Flood Plain etc). The Onslaught cycle in particular are considered to be among the most useful lands ever printed for their flexibility, deck-thinning effect, and the modicum of protection from land destruction effects that they offer.

[edit] Finisher

"Finisher" is most commonly used to describe the win condition in control decks. During Urza's Block, this was most commonly Morphling, a card with multiple abilities that make it almost unkillable. The most common finishers in use today are the Simic Sky Swallower, a 6/6 blue and green creature that's extremely evasive and hard to kill, and Magnivore, a hasted red creature with power and toughness equal to the number of sorcery cards in graveyards.

Can also refer to a card whose typical use is to deal the last damage needed to win the game; examples include Lava Axe and Kaervek's Spite.

[edit] Firebreathing

Firebreathing is the name commonly given to a creature ability that allows the creature to get a power boost for a certain amount of mana (usually red). The name comes from the card Firebreathing, which grants any creature the ability. The ability also appeared on the Alpha set's Shivan Dragon (and many other dragons since). The concept is that the red mana (fire) turns into a power boost (the fire hurts the creature's enemy more).

[edit] Fish

A blue Aggro-Control deck. Older versions featured a merfolk theme, thus the name.

[edit] Fix

'Fixing' cards is the process used by of the Coast to create less powerful versions of older, popular, but broken (overpowered) cards. For example Shock is considered a fixed version of Lightning Bolt.

Also short for "mana fix(ing)"; see Fixer, immediately below.

[edit] Fixer

The term Fixer is used for cards that help diversify (or "fix") one's mana base. Examples of such cards include Birds of Paradise, the dual lands, Signets, and Harrow, which provide or provide access to multiple colours of mana.

[edit] Fizzle

When a spell or ability gets countered due to lack of targets. Before the Sixth Edition rules update this was an official game term, but has since become slang.

Also refers to a combo failing to go off as planned.

[edit] Float

Refers to mana added to a player's mana pool and not used immediately. For example, a player might tap all of his or her lands for mana, then play Armageddon (destroying all land in play), then use the excess "floating" mana to play some other card.

[edit] FTW

For The Win. Often declared as "X for the win" where X is the card that wins the game (directly or indirectly). For ironic humor purposes, terrible cards are often used with this phrase. e.g. "Chimney Imp for the win!!" The term "FTL" (For the Loss/For the Lose) has come into use as well. e.g. "I revealed Ink-Eyes with Dark Confidant ftl."

[edit] Gas

From the context of "adding gas to the fire," this word is used when a player who is already winning repeatedly draws the appropriate cards to maintain--or increase--the winning momentum (i.e. he was "drawing gas"). Also "Run out of gas", to stop having threatening plays to make after having strong opening plays.

[edit] GG

Stands for "Good Game." Used as a polite term for "I win" or "I lose" (which meaning is intended is supposed to be obvious from context). Also pronounced "geeg" in a more sarcastic form. Saying "gg" to your opponent before you win a game is considered impolite by most players.

[edit] Gift

In a draft, a 'gift' is a card that is normally too powerful to still be in the booster pack when it reaches you. Receiving many gift cards indicates that your deck archetype is underdrafted upstream. See also signal.

[edit] Going Infinite

A certain category of combo deck is designed to put into play a series of cards that interact with each other in such a way that a certain effect may be generated any number of times. When these decks succeed in initiating this sequence, the deck is said to 'go infinite'.

For example, the land Dimir Aqueduct taps for one blue and one black mana, and the creature Tidewater Minion taps to untap target permanent; if one enchants the Tidewater Minion with the card Freed from the Real (an aura that allows one to tap or untap enchanted creature by paying one blue mana), one can 'go infinite' by tapping the Aqueduct and untapping it with the Tidewater Minion, spending the blue mana generated by the Aqueduct to untap the Minion with Freed from the Real. This produces a cycle in which any amount of black mana may be produced.

Note that these cycles are not actually infinite; if a player can produce any number of iterations, they must actually specify a number. Sometimes, though, the game can get into a state in which a set of mandatory actions are to be repeated forever: one triggers the other, which triggers the first, and so on. In these circumstances, unless a player can 'break the loop' somehow, the game ends as a draw.

[edit] Goldfish

When a deck kills someone over the course of a single turn (not necessarily a first turn kill). Also refers to a method of testing an aggro deck or combo deck's speed by seeing how many turns it takes to kill an imaginary opponent who plays nothing.

[edit] Gray Ogre

Named after the card of the same name this is a term used to refer to any 2 power creature, usually with 2 toughness as well, with a casting cost of 3. The morph mechanic has been known to be called this as well, since it costs 3 to play a facedown morph, which is 2/2.

[edit] Grunty

Describes a creature that does the dirty work for you. Can also mean a creature that is good in combat or hard to kill. Most often refers to dwarves.

[edit] Hate

Hate (generally in the context of "hate cards" or "hate for X") refers to altering the composition of one's deck not to make it generally better, but to try to lower the effective power of an opponent's powerful card or deck. For example, in Vintage Magic, blue cards and artifacts are considered to be more powerful than other cards, and decks often include hate for blue or artifacts. In the context of a draft, selecting a card you probably will not play just to keep it from others is called a "Hate Draft" or "Hate Pick." A "Hate Magnet" is any permanent in a multiplayer game that everyone wants / needs removed. See also Metagame and Splash damage.

[edit] Hardcasting

To 'hardcast' a spell is to play it in the normal way (from your hand, by paying its mana cost), as opposed to playing it and/or putting it into play via another method (such as reanimation or a built-in alternative cost such as that of . /gathererlookup.asp?name=Force_of_Will Force of Will). This term is used to describe situations that deviate from the norm or to describe a card's rules text. "I won by hardcasting Darksteel Colossus." "You must hardcast Hypnox for its ability to work."

[edit] Highlander

One of the most popular casual formats. Highlander rules are that, excluding basic land, there can be no two cards with the same name in the one deck. The term has its origins in the catchphrase of the movie Highlander: "There can be only one". The format goes by the name "Singleton" in official of the Coast communications and advertising even though the format is almost exclusively referred to as Highlander by players. This is most likely to avoid any trademark issues that might arise.

[edit] Hill Giant

This term, named from the card Hill Giant, refers to a creature with a power and toughness of three and a casting cost of four.

[edit] Hoser

A Hoser is a card, deck, or style of play that is extremely powerful against another certain deck, archetype or (most commonly) color. i.e. Karma is a black hoser and Wrath of God "hoses" or is a hoser of creature-based decks.

See also: Hate

[edit] House

A card that is extremely powerful, at least in a given environment or situation, is said to be a house; for example, one might say "Ancient Silverback is a house in Ninth Edition sealed deck". Originally only referred to creatures with very high power and toughness (and referred to their sheer size, not necessarily their usefulness) but later expanded in meaning to cover any very powerful card.

[edit] Inevitability

In a given matchup, the deck with inevitability is the one that becomes more and more likely to win as the game continues. While determining who has inevitability is still a theoretical science, inevitability can go to the deck with more threats, a better late game, an unstoppable trump card, or the deck that simply has more cards in its library to prevent decking.

[edit] Jank

A card or deck which isn't very good or doesn't appear to be good. For example, "Tallowisp may look like jank, but in the right deck, its actually very powerful." Also used as in adjective form as 'janky'. 'Jank' is also associated with decks that seem to have no synergy between the cards in them (a pile).

This was also once a commonly used name for the deck type now usually called Zoo. These decks tend to use many small, unimpressive-looking creatures and other cards that superficially seem like jank in the above sense, though their strong tournament performance at various points in the game's history indicates otherwise.

[edit] Judgeling

A level 0 DCI Judge, or Judge-in-training. A judge candidate can expect to work as a judgeling for some time before being offered certification to Level 1.

[edit] Karoo Lands

A land that adds two mana to your mana pool when tapped, but comes into play tapped and requires you to return another land to your hand. Named for Karoo, one of five such lands in the set Visions; ten more, strictly superior to the originals due to producing two colours of mana each, have appeared in the Ravnica block. Also "bounce lands" because of their return-to-hand mechanic.

[edit] Keeper

A deck originally built to abuse the most powerful cards in Vintage. It is now obsolete, but was a long-running archetype, and was often used in discussions of Magic Theory. The name was derived from "Keeper-of-All-Stripes", as it was a deck utilizing all five colors, which was atypical at the time.

Also, a favorable initial hand of cards (one that is kept rather than mulliganed).

[edit] LD

LD is an abbreviation for Land Destruction - a viable but unpopular strategy for victory in which a player uses spells and abilities to destroy an opponent's mana base. Although this is most commonly achieved by actually destroying the opponent's Land cards, the term is considered to apply to other methods of disruption, such as causing the lands to stay tapped, produce a different color of mana, or gaining control of Land. In casual play this strategy is sometimes regarded as unsporting, since the point is essentially to prevent one's opponent from being able to participate properly in the game.

[edit] Lightning Rod

Lightning rods are small, powerful creatures that are rendered impractical to play because they 'attract' removal spells (like Lightning Bolt). That is: they are so potentially dangerous that they are killed as soon as they are played. Hypnotic Specter is a classic example of a lightning rod.

The origin of this comes from the creature Juggernaut. It was a 5/3 creature, and Lightning Bolt dealt exactly three damage, so Juggernaut was a favorite target.

[edit] Lockdown

During a match, lockdown refers to a period where a player, through card interactions, has made it difficult or impossible for the opponent to mount an effective defense. "Breaking out" of a lockdown takes skill and luck, but often an effective lockdown will allow the lockdown player to secure victory before the other player can break out. In many tournament communities, decks are built with the tools to break out of locks, reducing the effectiveness of most lockdown cards. As a result, some decks specialize in lockdown strategies and use an arsenal of locks in order to form an exceptionally strong lockdown, followed by a swift victory.

A "hard lock" is one where the opponent can't do anything, where a "soft lock" is one where the opponent has very few options or the lock may not last until the end of the game. An example of a soft lock is Yosei, the Morning Star and Greater Good. Since you can only have four Yosei, the Morning Star in your deck, you can only repeat four times. A hard lock would include the previous two cards as well as Debtors' Knell and Loxodon Gatekeeper. With them, the same Yosei, the Morning Star keeps recycling itself, and your opponent will never be able to untap and all lands (which they need in order to play spells) will come into play tapped, thus they will be unable to play any more spells or stop you in any way.

[edit] Manland, Man Land

A manland or man land is slang for a land that can change into a creature. The most famous of these is Mishra's Factory from the Antiquities expansion.

[edit] Mana Burn

The loss of life due to having unused mana in a player's mana pool at the end of a phase. Sometimes abbreviated as "Burn". A frequent source of confusion for new players, who often assume it must happen more often than it does (it is actually a very rare occurrence), leading to incorrect assumptions about what causes it.

[edit] Mana Curve

The Mana Curve is the application of Mana Optimization theory (see below) to deck construction. By organizing the cards that are to go into a deck by their casting cost, a player can estimate how likely they are to optimally utilize a given turn's mana (ie: play a card or multiple cards with total costs equal to the mana available on that turn). It is also generally accepted that the better decks' mana curves have more cards with lower casting costs, to maximize the number of playable cards given a certain amount of available mana. Having more cards with lower casting costs is called having a "low mana curve", and having more cards with higher mana costs or approximately an equal amount of low costing cards and high costing cards is called having a "high mana curve".

[edit] Mana Drop

Mana Drop is an unofficial style of gameplay, most often used when there is a very limited amount of time available to play the game. Similar to Lunchroom, Mana Drop is a fast paced game where whenever you draw a land or have a land in your hand, you play (or "drop") each of those lands (regardless of whose turn it is) and draw a number of cards equal to the number of lands put into play. Then repeat this process until you have no lands in hand.

[edit] Mana Flood

During a match, mana flood refers to a situation where a player draws too many land cards and/or acceleration cards, resulting in too much available mana and too few useful spells.

[edit] Mana Optimization

A magic theory that is the basis for the mana curve (see above). Mana optimization theory states that a player who best uses the mana available to them in every turn will win the game. At its most basic level applies to the player who uses the most mana in a turn ie: a player who spends 5 mana in a turn will be able to do more and more powerful things than a player with only 3 mana available. Conversely, the player who spends less resources to produce the same effect will have greater mana optimisation. This, however, is difficult to apply to all decks, especially those utilizing counterspells. The addition of flash creatures, useful as surprise blockers, only compounds this difficulty.

[edit] Manascrew / Manascrewed

To be manascrewed is to have insufficient mana available to play the cards one draws. The closely related problem of drawing mismatched colours of mana and spells is called colourscrew while the reverse problem of drawing too many lands and mana accelerators and not enough cards that actually help to win the game is mana flood. A common complaint about the game is that manascrew and its relatives, which depend solely on random chance, decide a significant percentage of games without the skill of either player being a factor. Though the likelihood of these mana problems can be reduced by sound deck design and careful playtesting, it is simply not possible to eliminate them entirely.

The joke set "Unhinged" has a card called Mana Screw which satires the random nature of manascrew by providing mana at random.

[edit] Manaconverter / Mana Converter

A card capable of turning one colour of mana into another. Bog Initiate and Chromatic Sphere are good examples. Cards that produce more mana than it takes to activate them, such as Golgari Signet, are not generally called mana converters, even if they can change the colour of that mana in the process. "Mana filter" is a synonym. Using one is sometimes called "mana laundering" (a pun on money laundering), especially if the mana ends up being white.

[edit] Mass Removal

A spell that destroys/removes/neutralizes more the one permanent type. Examples: Jokulhaups (artifacts, creatures, and land) and Nevinyrral’s Disk (artifacts, creatures, and enchantments).

Also a spell that destroys multiples of a single type. Example: Wrath of God

[edit] Metagame

Metagame is a highly complex term that refers to the relationship between cards and decks based on how popular those cards and decks are. Top players list metagame calculation among the most important and influential deckbuilding and playing considerations. It is, however, also one of the most confusing and complex. The power of individual cards or entire strategies can be drastically affected by the presence of other cards and strategies in other players' decks. Entire communities, development teams, and fortunes are made by extremely careful consideration of metagame dynamics.

[edit] Mill

Refers to moving cards from the top of a player's library to his graveyard. Derives from Millstone, the first card to have this effect.

[edit] Mind trick (or Jedi Mind Trick)

A mind trick is any action used to disrupt an opponent's mental state, or "mental game". An opponent who is distracted from the game may make play mistakes due to lack of planning ahead or lack of concentration. While some players have voiced the opinion that distracting or toying with an opponent is unsporting, it is a widely used strategy. A common and pervasive mind trick involves the mono-Blue Control deck, which uses counterspells to foil the opponent's useful spells. Counterspells often cost two or three blue mana, so control-deck players often leave them available at all times, and keep one or two cards in his hand even if playing them might put him ahead. Because the opponent thinks the control player has a counterspell, he might withhold cards that would otherwise have put him ahead. What the control-deck player actually has is, of course, a very different question.

[edit] Mise

A very lucky happening, most commonly used to refer to a needed card being drawn at the right moment ("Drawing that Black Lotus was an excellent mise,") or the act of doing so ("I mised that Lotus just in time"). MiseTings (so named for the expression) defined a mise as "something unusually great or unexpected" or the act of obtaining such [1]. The expression "mise" is derived from the phrase "might as well" - as in 'mise well draw that Wrath'. Its meaning has since changed to the usage described above, however. The joke set Unhinged had a card called Mise, which played on this by giving the player great card advantage, but only if that player is lucky enough to know the top card of their library.

See also: Rip, Topdeck.

[edit] MODO

"Magic Online with Digital Objects", the former title of Magic Online.

[edit] Netdeck

Any deck copied from the internet or a published tournament listing and changed to deal with the local metagame is called a netdeck. In some cases, players use the same deck as a winning tournament player without any changes. Netdecking is sometimes considered "cheap", but many successful players use the successful strategies engineered by other players rather than finding brand new strategies. Netdecking does not necessitate a lack of skill; in fact, successful netdeckers refine and otherwise optimize their decks in order to gain the best advantage. The practice of using netdecks is most common among Spike players who wish above all else to win a tournament (see Spike). It is worth mentioning that people who can build the best decks may not be the best players, and vice-versa.

[edit] ...On a stick!

Refers to a non-creature permanent with an activated ability that mirrors either an activated ability on another card or the effect of an instant or sorcery spell. For example, Rod of Ruin is a "Tim on a stick".

In a more recent usage, can also refer to the card imprinted on an Isochron Scepter. Some have also dropped the non-creature requirement, and use this to refer to creatures that duplicate the effects of instants and sorceries (as with "-on legs", below).

[edit] On legs/wheels/wings

A 'card on legs' is a creature which possesses the same characteristics as a non-creature spell which preceded it. For example, 'Holy Day on legs' or 'Fog on legs' is used to refer to Kami of False Hope, which can be sacrificed for the same effect as the instant, Holy Day. Other example include Loxodon Gatekeeper could be described as a Kismet on legs. Sometimes, rather than saying 'Fog on legs', a player will use 'Mr. Fog' for the same meaning. Also used is '(Spell name) on wings' or '(Spell name) with wings', meaning a creature with flying that has the same effect as the spell. Also referred to as (spell name) on wheels.

[edit] Painlands

Lands that deal damage to you when you tap them for mana; usually offers you the choice of two different types of mana.

[edit] Paint

To change the colour of a spell or permanent. For example, . /gathererlookup.asp?name=Aurora_Griffin Aurora Griffin's ability paints permanents white.

[edit] Permission

A style of play that involves /dedicated counter-magic. The permission player attempts to counter every important spell the opponent plays, and simply to draw plenty of extra cards to ensure more counters are available. The term "permission" comes from the way the opponent will end up asking whether each of his/her spells resolves or is countered.

[edit] Ping

To deal one point of damage with a targeted effect, such as a Tim card (see below).

[edit] Pitch

To discard, or remove from the game, a card in your hand, especially to pay the alternate cost of cards like Force of Will. For example, a variant of the infamous deck "Long" has been created and dubbed "PitchLong" due to its heavy use of this sort of spell, specifically the aforementioned Force of Will and Misdirection.

[edit] Player Types

Over the history of Magic's development, the research and development at of the Coast noticed that Magic: The Gathering players could be characterized by four general stereotypes or psychographic profiles. Cards then and since have usually been designed with one of these four players in mind. Some cards appeal to two groups; . /gathererlookup.asp?name=Verdant_Force Verdant Force has been cited (see the Rosewater article linked below) as a rare "triple threat" that appeals to all three of the original types, and . /gathererlookup.asp?name=Ghost_Council_of_Orzhova Ghost Council of Orzova is a plausible example of appealing to all four. References to them in casual Magic play are usually in jest, but most players do nonetheless tend to subscribe to one of the styles, or a conglomeration of the four.

The definitive description of the first three of these player types can be found in [http:// . . /default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mr220b an article written by Lead designer Mark Rosewater], who invented the terms "Timmy", "Johnny" and "Spike"; "Vorthos" is a later contribution by Matt Cavotta. "Pierre", the community's old name for Vorthos players which was then ousted, is commonly used when someone tries to define a fifth stereotype.

[edit] Timmy players

The first player type to be given a name, Timmy is most associated with playing for fun, and all kinds of huge creatures, fantastic spells, and mythical enchantments. He is the most social archetype, enjoying the interaction that Magic provides. A stereotypical Timmy is usually a younger player with a simple (yet fun for him) deck. Timmies who don't like large creatures might instead enjoy a spell with a chaotic effect that makes the game crazy. Timmy does not care whether he wins or loses, he simply wants to have fun playing really big effects. Timmies see Johnnies as overthinkers and Spikes as boring and unpleasant to play with.

[edit] Johnny players

Johnny, the second named archetype, plays for the mental challenge that Magic presents. He likes to find interesting combinations of cards that can win the game or give him an advantage. For Johnny, though playing may be fun, the real game of magic lies in deckbuilding. Johnny may be a player who seeks niche cards, or cards widely reputed as bad, and tries to "break" them, exploiting them in ways to give abnormal power and win the game. He is also a combo player, sometimes choosing for elaborate but ineffective win conditions. Johnny is happiest when his decks work and he wins his way; for him, one in many leaves him happy, if that win is on his own terms. Johnny is just as happy if after the match, he sees a way he could have played and won; Rather than kicking himself for failing to make that play, he congratulates himself for building the deck that would have won, had he made that play. Johnny comes to a tournament with a rogue deck, often designed to either surprise people with a combo they hadn't thought of, or to work well against the popular decks of the format. If Johnny's deck idea works out and it catches on as a popular deck, he will almost certainly stop playing it. Johnnies see Timmies as simplistic and Spikes as uptight and unoriginal.

[edit] Spike players

Previously called the tournament player, R&D chose "Spike" as a name that sounded aggressive and competitive. Spike is not interested in fun. Spike is not interested in innovation. Spike plays to win. He will find the best deck in the format, which almost always requires copying another innovator's work (see Netdeck). Spike's cards are effective, designed to secure a fast and effective victory over opponents, or alternately a long and drawn-out but guaranteed victory. When Spike goes to a tournament, he is probably playing the same deck as many people there, and as such his matches often come down to play skill rather than deck metagame - and this is just how Spike likes it. If Spike plays several games and loses only one, but feels he should have won it, he will be upset (Whereas Johnny in the same situation says to himself, "Well, my DECK would have won, it just needed someone to play it better"). Conversely, if Spike loses a game he could not possibly have won due to draw luck, he won't care (Johnny would take it as an indication that he has failed at deckbuilding and perhaps be depressed). Spikes see Timmies as rookies who don't really get the game and Johnnies as eccentric and annoying.

[edit] Vorthos players

Vorthos enjoys the flavor of the game, including artwork, storylines, characters, locations, flavor text, and how they all tie together. Vorthos was the last archetype to get a name, dubbed by Matt Cavotta in the article [http:// . . /default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mc2 Snack Time With Vorthos]. The player community generally used 'Pierre' to refer to the Vorthos player before this name was attributed. Vorthos won't read flavor text until he's finished reading the relevant novels. Vorthos plays decks that make thematic sense rather than necessarily playing good cards or synergistic cards. Essentially, Vorthos can have fun with magic while not even participating in the game.

[edit] Pop

The act of sacrificing a permanent to its own ability, usually for an effect. e.g. 'Popping' the artifact . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=pyrite%20spellbomb Pyrite Spellbomb to deal two damage to a target. Synonymous with other words carrying the same connotations, such as 'bust', 'break' (in this context), and 'crack'. For example, a player might note that they are removing the last counter from a . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=gemstone%20mine Gemstone Mine to generate green mana by saying "Bust for green".

[edit] Power Nine

The most expensive (monetarily, as opposed to mana-wise) cards in Magic as well as the most powerful in Alpha, Beta and Unlimited. Includes: Black Lotus, Mox Sapphire, Mox Ruby, Mox Emerald, Mox Jet, Mox Pearl, Time Walk, Timetwister and Ancestral Recall. Sometimes Library of Alexandria is included as the ninth in place of Timetwister, the weakest of the original nine, or, more often, as the tenth card in the "Power Ten".

[edit] Pump

To temporarily increase the power, toughness, or potentially both attributes of a given creature. The term 'Firebreathing' (above) refers to a mana-fueled pump of power alone.

[edit] Pull

To receive a card or cards from a booster pack, most notably the contents of your first pack in a draft. e.g. "The guy to the right of me pulled a Masticore."

[edit] Raw Dog

Running a card when it won't gain you an advantage that it could have gained you if you had played it at a different time. For instance, playing a Pit Keeper when you have no creatures in the graveyard would be 'raw dogging' it. (Term definition adapted from the [http:// . . /default.asp?x=sideboard/gpnj02/names Grand Prix New Jersey 2002 list of team names].)

[edit] Reanimation

Reanimation effects return cards from a graveyard directly to play. A "reanimator" deck is one that puts one or more large creatures into the graveyard and then reanimates them, typically to circumvent a prohibitive mana cost.

[edit] Recursion

Recursion spells allow a player to return needed cards from his or her graveyard to his or her hand or library, allowing them to be reused.

[edit] Red Deck Wins

A red deck featuring burn and cheap, aggressive creatures. Sometimes abbreviated RDW. It was granted this name because the types of cards that are printed for red usually always help the same goal, and misplaying/misbuilding red is difficult. New versions of the deck, splashing white or green, are labeled Boros Deck Wins (BDW) or Gruul Deck Wins (GDW) after the corresponding Ravnica guilds.

[edit] Removal

Removal is a term referring to spells and abilities used to remove permanents from play permanently, either by putting the permanent in the graveyard or by removing it from the game. Cards that remove only specific problem cards (rather than an entire class of cards at once) are sometimes called "spot removal". Cards that remove multiple cards at once are "mass removal."

Removal generally refers to creature removal. Cards such as Terror, Putrefy, and Last Gasp are called spot removal, because they remove only one creature at a time. Cards that remove multiple creatures are called mass removal, such as Wrath of God or Pernicious Deed.

This is sometimes also used to refer to less obvious effects. For example . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=faith's%20fetters Faith's Fetters might be considered creature removal in light of the fact that the target is unable to participate in combat, while . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=azorius%20guildmage Azorius Guildmage achieves the same effect by repeatedly tapping said creature. Note that these are typically considered weaker forms of removal, as the opponent may yet use removal of their own to neutralize these hindrances.

[edit] Response or Responsive strategy

Refers to plays made in order to neutralize an opponent's threat. Responsive cards form the strategic base of any control deck (See Control). Also referred to as reactive answers or disruption, as contrasted to proactive answers or disruption.

[edit] RFG

Short for 'Removed from Game'. It is usually used to describe when a card is in the removed-from-game zone, or used as a verb to express that an action is being taken to move a card to said zone.

[edit] Rip

See Topdeck.

[edit] The Rock

A term to describe most Black/Green control decks. Short for "The Rock and His Millions," a term referencing WWE wrestler The Rock, who always spoke of his millions of fans. The original version of the deck abused the combo of . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=recurring%20nightmare Recurring Nightmare and . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=deranged%20hermit Deranged Hermit.

[edit] Rock, Paper, Scissors of Magic

Aggro, Combo, and Control, as generally described here, form the rock, paper, and scissors of Magic: The Gathering. Aggro tends to beat control because it develops an advantage by playing too many threats for control to handle. Control tends to beat combo because it needs to disrupt only the most important pieces of the card combo, leaving the combo player with weak cards. Combo tends to beat aggro because the combo player can set up their combo engine largely unimpeded, and "go off" while the aggro player is still trying to eat through their life total. Wise deckbuilders are aware of these tendencies and seek to build decks that can compensate for their traditional weaknesses in some way, often by becoming hybrids of two or even all three deck types; for example, many successful combo decks contain just enough control elements to protect the combo from the forms of control they expect to run into the most often. It should also be noted that this hybridization often has the tradeoff of weakening the dedicated nature of the "pure" forms in return for better odds in less favorable matchups.

Rock, Paper, Scissors was also featured in a three-card series of artifact creatures in the parody Magic: The Gathering series, Unglued; Rock Lobster (also a possible reference to a song by The B-52s), Paper Tiger, and Scissors Lizard. Each one had an ability that would render the corresponding 'weak' creature unable to attack or block.

[edit] Rogue deck

Rogue deck refers to a tournament deck which doesn't seem to follow the trends of a particular metagame. Rogue decks are often attributed to Johnny players, and are generally not believed to be able to compete with the more popular decks in the metagame. However, rogue decks often benefit from being a surprise to a well-established metagame, thus giving an advantage to the player. Rogue decks are the origins of netdecks, developing into popular archetypes once the effect is noticed.

[edit] RTFC

Abbreviation for "Read the Fucking Card" (sometimes bowdlerized as "Read the Friendly Card" or "Read the Full Card"). Common response to rules questions easily answered by simply paying closer attention to the text of the card in question.

[edit] Sac

Refers to the act of sacrificing a permanent. As an example, a player might remark, "I'll sac my Chromatic Sphere to my Grinding Station." A sacrifice is often paid as a cost, so a player might also say "I sac two Mountains to play Fireblast."

[edit] SBE

State-based effect. An effect generated by the game rules in order to maintain a legal game state. These effects occur and are resolved before any player can react to them.

Examples of a SBEs are a creature being placed in its owners graveyard because its toughness is 0 or less or a player losing the game because he/she has 0 or less life.

[edit] Schmoe

A term used to refer to a token creature created during the course of a game. Schmoes rarely have abilities and are often used for Chump Blocking. Older players may use the term "Dude", tokens produced from the "Dude Ranch" (Kjeldoran Outpost) - A land that could generate multiple creature tokens over the course of many turns. Also simply "Chump".

[edit] Scoop

To concede the game. Named for the first action typically done after doing so (gathering one's cards up to return them to his or her deck). Sometimes verbalized as entering one's "Scoop Phase".

[edit] Scrub

A player that makes consistent, unwise choices; whether in regard to construction of a deck or decisions made during gameplay. Usually, this is someone who is relatively inexperienced with tournament play. Scrub can also be used to describe an adept player who makes (a) significant player error(s) during a game or tournament. In that situation, the player in question is said to have "scrubbed out". Another characteristic of such a player is the outright refusal to improve or even recognize their poor play decisions.

[edit] Send

To attack with a creature. ie "I send Juggernaut. Take 5."

[edit] Shocklands

Dual lands printed in the Ravnica block: Blood Crypt, Breeding Pool, Godless Shrine, Hallowed Fountain, Overgrown Tomb, Sacred Foundry, Steam Vents, Stomping Ground, Temple Garden, and Watery Grave. Named so because of the loss of 2 life that sometimes occures from using them, which is the same result as playing the spell Shock. Sometimes referred to as "Nuals", a portmanteau of new and duals.

[edit] Signal

Refers to the ways in which, during a draft, a player may communicate to the other players which colour(s) s/he is focussing on via which cards are passed on to those players rather than being drafted. Players are not allowed to speak during a draft, and so this is the only available means of broadcasting such information. For example, if a player is passed an extremely powerful red card as a potential third pick, that player should suspect that neither of the previous two players is taking red cards, and may thus wish to move into red himself. Neighboring players who cooperate with each other by sending signals will have better decks and than either would if they fought over the same colours. The ability to send clear signals and interpret those of others accurately is an important factor in separating an excellent drafter from a merely good one.

[edit] Sligh

A mono-red aggro deck that usually wins by gaining tempo on the opponent by playing cheap creatures, followed by red damage spells that are either used to destroy possible blockers or to damage the opposing player. The original "sligh" deck was the first instance of a deck designed around a mana curve in tournament Magic.

[edit] Spirit Link

A term often used as an abbreviation for the creature ability "Whenever this creature deals combat damage, you gain that much life"; So named after the card Spirit Link, a white Aura that gives enchanted creature the ability listed above.

[edit] Splash

A term used in deck construction. To 'Splash' is to add cards of another color or strategy to a deck predominantly of another color (or colors) or strategy. E.g "My deck is white blue splash red."

[edit] Splash damage

Splash damage is said to occur when hate against a popular deck hurts the strategies of other decks, even though the hate may not have been directed at them. This is an important consideration for deckbuilders.

See also: Metagame

[edit] Stax

A Type 1 decktype named after a once central piece of the deck, Smokestack, that uses various powerful artifacts to slow/lock down gameplay, generally winning with few threats over a long period of time.

[edit] Stompy

An aggressive green deck with lots of mana acceleration and large creatures, such as Llanowar Elves and Thorn Elemental respectively. Stompy also often uses some potent combat tricks and auras to make their mana-accelerating creatures useful as offensive threats.

[edit] Sprat

A 0/1 or 1/1 creature token that has no abilities and are used to overrun opponents.

[edit] Sprat Engine

Usually referring to Nusiance Engine or Orochi Hatchery, a sprat engine is any artifact capable of summoning vast quantities of sprats.

[edit] Super Trample

The short term for the ability "This creature may deal combat damage to defending player as though it weren't blocked", which is so far exclusively green. However, whereas creatures with trample must first assign enough damage to kill the blocking creature(s) first, super trample does not need to fulfill this requirement. An example of this is . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=thorn%20elemental Thorn Elemental. Note that this is not the same as being unblockable, as an attacking creature with super trample can still be blocked and will be dealt damage normally by the blockers.

Its opposite, "Untrample" or "Backstab" allows an unblocked creature to deal its damage to a creature instead. This is seen on white and red cards such as . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=dwarven%20vigilantes Dwarven Vigilantes and . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=zealot%20il-vec Zealot il-Vec.

[edit] Stuffy Doll

The voodoo doll frequently seen in illustrations by Richard Thomas, such as the one for Black Vise. Was finally given its . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=stuffy%20doll own card (with art by Dave Allsop, not Thomas) in the set 'Time Spiral'.

[edit] Swing

Swing has two meanings:

• To attack with creatures.
• A dramatic change in the game such that one player who was previously losing is now winning.

[edit] Swiss

In tournament play, Swiss refers to a scoring and pairing that allows large-scale card tournaments to be played through in a relatively short period of time. Players are matched with other players according to their record in the tournament, with players with similar records being paired against each other. At the end of any arbitrary number of Swiss rounds, the eight players with the most Swiss points advance to a separate single-elimination tournament called the Top 8 bracket. See also: Top 8, Swiss system tournament

[edit] Synergy

Synergy refers to the small, positive interactions of individual cards in a deck. A "synergistic" deck is one where every card benefits from every other card in some way or fashion. Even a deck full of seemingly bad cards can be a good deck if it showcases potent synergy. Tribal decks (i.e. Goblin or Elf decks) and the infamous Affinity deck rely on synergy to win games. An example of cards with good synergy would be . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=underworld%20dreams Underworld Dreams, . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=teferi's%20puzzle%20box Teferi's Puzzle Box and . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=cerebral%20vortex Cerebral Vortex. A deck is said to have good synergy if it contains several such interactions.

In contrast, cards that work at cross-purposes suffer from "disynergy", "negative synergy", or "anti-synergy" . An example might be playing cards with high casting costs (such as . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=darksteel%20colossus Darksteel Colossus) in the same deck as Dark Confidant.

[edit] Table

In a draft, a card that 'tables' is one that is still in the booster pack after it makes a full circle back to a given player (there being 15 cards in a pack and only 8 players in each draft pod, 7 cards from the first pack will "table"). Expert drafters can memorize packs and determine which cards were chosen from the cards that have tabled.

[edit] Tapped out

When a player is 'tapped out', it means that he or she has run out of usable sources of mana, and therefore is unable to play any more spells or utilize most abilities.

[edit] Team Small Child

A term used to globally refer to the a younger participants in a Magic tournament. Team Small Child is generally less than 16 years old. It is a point of great shame to 'Lose to Team Small Child', unless you yourself are a member.

[edit] Tech

Tech generally refers to an individual's innovation to a deck or archetype using a card or strategy that is not commonly seen, or that is used in a different manner than that which is common in the current metagame. Tech often appears in large tournament events and serves to throw other strategies off balance by changing some part of how a deck usually works. Tech is generally researched in secret by an individual or a team prior to a large tournament in order to keep competitors from knowing what tricks will be put into a competing deck.

Tech is usually a single card that is strong against a common archetype that a player has reason to believe will appear in a tournament.

Another use of the term refers to a card that interacts very strongly with other cards in the deck, or embodies the deck's main strategy; see Synergy.

[edit] Tempo

Tempo is a complex and difficult term to define in Magic theory. Tempo is a ratio of the pace of executing a strategy in relationship to an opponent's ability to respond to that strategy. If a player can play threats faster than their opponent can answer them, they are gaining tempo over their opponent. One universal way for decks to gain tempo is by using mana acceleration.

Tempo is frequently contrasted with Card Advantage. Tempo concerns itself with the more proactive aspects of a game of Magic while Card Advantage is more reactive and concerns itself with responding to threats with answers. Generally speaking, faster decks try to win with Tempo while slower decks try to win via Card Advantage.

[edit] Test Spell

A test spell is a spell played, usually against mono-blue control, to see if your opponent has any answers to that spell. It is often a fairly powerful spell, but not actually the one you want to play on that turn. Sometimes a test spell is used to either get a threat onto the table against the blue player, or tap them out so that you can play your stronger spells without fear of them being countered. Also called "counter-bait", as you are "baiting" out the opponent's counterspells.

[edit] Threat

Any card which, if successfully played and not (soon enough) met with an Answer, can lead to its controller winning the game. Most decks built mainly around threats are aggro decks, though (if "threat" is defined somewhat loosely) this could also describe some combo decks.

[edit] Tier

Refers to the popularity of a certain deck or deck archetype. Tier 1 decks are the most popular decks, Tier 2 decks are less popular, Tier 3 decks are the least popular. Tier is often confused with the power level of a certain deck. Although it's often true that more popular decks are more powerful, many powerful decks do not achieve a high Tier level. Also, cards tend to be referred to similarly, based on their popularity in these decks. For example, a Tier 1 card is one that shows up in many top level decks, and is easy to trade or sell.

[edit] Top 8

In tournament play, a Top 8 tournament refers to a single-elimination tournament whose participants are chosen from those of a previous Swiss tournament. Players who win will play each other, and so will players who lose. This format is commonly used to determine the exact ranking of tournament players. However, placing anywhere in the top 8 is widely seen as a success for the player, their deck, and their team.

[edit] Topdeck

Topdecking is the act of a player drawing the exact card they need at exactly the time they need it. Many superstitious "techniques" have been developed to perform a perfect topdeck, the most commonly seen being a quick knock on the top of the player's deck. Topdecking can also refer to the illegal action of a player sneaking a look at the top of his deck when others aren't looking his way.

[edit] Topdeck Mode

'Topdeck Mode' is a situation where a player has no cards in hand and relies solely on the cards they draw each turn to be able to play effectively. Players usually try to avoid this, as it means the player is forced to rely entirely on luck.

See also: Mise, Rip

[edit] ...to the head/dome

'X to the head/dome' is a term used to announce damage dealt directly to a player instead of a creature. e.g 'Deal 3 to the head' or 'Fireball for 6 to the dome'. The phrase "In/to the face" or "nug" is also used.

[edit] Tradebait

Tradebait are cards which a player trades for not because they want them for a deck or their collection, but because they might be able to trade them later on to someone else for cards that they actually want.

[edit] Tribe, Tribal

"Tribe" refers to any creature type which is used frequently on cards and designed so that multiple creatures of that type work well together in a deck. Such a deck is occasionally called a tribal deck, or more often named for the tribe around which it is built (e.g. "Goblin deck", "Zombie deck"). Goblins are probably the most popular and successful example; Rebels, Elves, Slivers and even Merfolk have also been featured in tribal decks with significant tournament presence at one time or another.

This term has also been used to refer to cards which gain effectiveness based on the control of different permanents, such as . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=worldly%20counsel Worldly Counsel and . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=tribal%20golem Tribal Golem.

A more rigorously-defined "Tribal" format exists in Magic Online. In this format, at least 1/3 of the cards in a player's deck must be creatures of a particular type; the deck must otherwise conform Standard or Classic format's deckbuilding rules, depending on the specific event.

[edit] Trick

A 'Trick' or 'Combat Trick' is a spell or ability used by a player to alter the outcome of a combat. Common ways in which this is achieved include increasing or decreasing a creature's power and/or toughness, by granting or removing abilities from a creature, or even removing the creature entirely from combat or play.

[edit] Trix

A combo deck based around the interaction of Illusions of Grandeur and Donate. Followed a then-common trend of combo decks being named after breakfast cereals.

[edit] Tutor

Tutoring is slang for any number of cards that allow you to search your deck. Comes from the many cards with deck searching ability that end in "Tutor". This term is used whether the searched-for card winds up in the player's hand or is placed on top of a shuffled deck. The value of a tutor is determined by limitation on what it can search for, and where it is places (in hand is typically preferred to the top of the library).

[edit] Vanilla

A vanilla creature is any creature without rules text (text that grants the creature extra abilities). Unless its creature type is somehow useful, the creature's only use is for attacking and blocking, or as a sacrifice to another card.

[edit] Victory Condition

Sometimes also called the "Win Condition", a Victory Condition is shorthand for the card(s) or combo(s) used to win in a deck. This term tends to be used in reference to Control or Combo decks, which tend to have a small number of cards which the deck depends upon to win. One of the strengths of aggro decks is the typically high number of such cards.

[edit] Weenie, Weenie Deck

Weenie refers to a small creature, with low power and toughness. Depending on their cost and abilities, these range from among the worst cards in the game to among the best. Any archetype or deck which seeks to win by overwhelming the opponent with a swarm of such creatures is referred to as a Weenie Deck; such decks have had a strong tournament presence on and off throughout the game's history, usually in white or red.

[edit] Win Condition

See Victory Condition.

[edit] Windmill Slam

Triumphant motion made when a player drafts an outlandishly powerful card, or draws a card that demolishes the current opponent's strategy. By extension, may refer to any event so fortunate as to be just cause for performing this motion. Consists of raising the card high in the air and then slamming it down; some players are capable of spinning the card horizontally as they do so, producing a "windmill" effect. Sometimes seen as bad sportsmanship if done during a game rather than during drafting.

[edit] Yard

Short for graveyard.

[edit] Zebra

Zebra refers to a DCI Judge. The term originates from the Black & White referee style uniform of DCI Judges.

[edit] Zebra Herd

Refers to a group of DCI Judges, normally on a tournament floor. Occurs most often during investigations and very quiet periods of tournaments, when judges will stand together to discuss rulings, policy or the weather. Generally Zebra Herds of 3 or more are frowned upon and can cause bad judge coverage of the tournament floor.

[edit] Card Nicknames and Abbreviations

The Magic community has given many nicknames to cards, and a number of those nicknames have passed into the mainstream and become part of M:TG terminology.

[edit] Academy

Short for Tolarian Academy, widely considered the most overpowered land in the game.

[edit] AK

Short for Accumulated Knowledge.

[edit] Al

. /gathererlookup.asp?name=Samite_Healer Samite Healer, and by extension any creature with a similar ability. So-called because it is arguably a mirror image of Tim (juxtaposing the two names is a reference to the television show Home Improvement).

[edit] Antwaan Bramble El

Bramble Elemental.

[edit] BEB

Short for Blue Elemental Blast.

[edit] Bob

Refers to the card, Dark Confidant, created by Bob Maher Jr. when he won the 2004 Invitational Tournament. This has become the dominant definition, replacing:

Refers to cards that get around blue counter spells. (Beats on Blue) such as Treetop Village because the ablility allows the controller to play a creature with very limited options for a blue control deck to counter it or keep it from coming into play.

[edit] Bob Gnarley

Gnarled Mass.

[edit] Bolt

Short for Lightning Bolt. Can also refer to Chain Lightning and other 3-damage burn spells, such as Incinerate.

[edit] BoP

Short for Birds of Paradise. Also referred to as birds

[edit] Buffy

Nickname for the legendary creature Rashka the Slayer, as this card was originally designed to block and kill a fresh Sengir Vampire. The nickname is derived from the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as the TV show first aired after the Homelands set was released.

[edit] Burly Protector

Nickname for . /gathererlookup.asp?name=Steel_Golem Steel Golem. Usually used in the phrase "Spring forth, Burly Protector, and save me!", a quote from The Simpsons. One famous story also uses this phrase in connection with . /gathererlookup.asp?name=Kaervek's_Spite Kaervek's Spite.

[edit] Cap'n Tickles

Giant Solifuge.

[edit] Chimney Pimp

Refers to the disgustingly underpowered and overcosted card Chimney Imp from the Mirrodin set, and is often written in a variant of leet speak (such as 7he p1mp, t3h p!mp, etc). In a similar manner as Throat Wolf, it became a common joke in the . /forumdisplay.php?f=144 official Magic forums that The Pimp was an extremely broken card because "it untaps for free", which in fact is a trait shared by almost all permanents.

[edit] CoP

Short for the Circles of Protection. For example, CoP: Blue would mean Circle of Protection: Blue.

[edit] Deed

Short for Pernicious Deed.

[edit] Deep Anal

Short for Deep Analysis.

[edit] Dragon

Though there are over sixty different creatures of type Dragon in the game, this usually refers to . /gathererlookup.asp?name=Worldgorger_Dragon Worldgorger Dragon or a specific combo deck built around it.

[edit] Drain

Short for Mana Drain or . /gathererlookup.asp?name=Drain_Life Drain Life.

[edit] Dr. Teeth

Psychatog, whose illustration somewhat resembles the Muppet of the same name. By nearly any measure one of the most powerful creatures in the game. Sometimes this card is announced as "The doctor's in."

[edit] Edict

A card that forces players to sacrifice a creature, especially Diabolic Edict, Chainer's Edict, Cruel Edict, or Imperial Edict.

[edit] Elvis, Elvis Archers

. /gathererlookup.asp?name=Elvish_Archers Elvish Archers - a pun on their name (as the earliest of many cards with "Elvish" in their names) and possible dig at their pre-Seventh Edition hairdo. The joke card . /gathererlookup.asp?name=Elvish_Impersonators Elvish Impersonators may be a reference to this nickname.

[edit] ESG

Short for Elvish Spirit Guide.

[edit] F/I

Short for Fire & Ice which is considered to be the most powerful of the Invasion Block split cards.

[edit] Fetch Lands

Also known as "Fetches" or "Fetchies", refers to a cycle of rare lands from the Onslaught expansion including Windswept Heath, Wooded Foothills, Bloodstained Mire, Flooded Strand, and Polluted Delta. Each fetch corresponds to an allied color pair, and allows its controller to tap it, pay 1 life, and sacrifice it to search his/her library for a land of a basic land type corresponding to one of the colors in that pair, and put it into play. The main advantages to playing fetches are thinning one's deck and easier access to dual lands, since duals have basic land types and therefore are valid targets for fetches.

[edit] Finkel

Shadowmage Infiltrator, the card made by Invatational winner Jon Finkel in the Odyssey set. Finkel's Cloak refers to the card Sleeper's Robe, as it grants the Shadowmage Infiltrator's abilities onto any other creature, even though the Robe was printed earlier than the Infiltrator itself. Occasionally called "infilmage finkletrator" as an affectionate play on the name.

[edit] FoF

Acronym for Fact or Fiction.

[edit] Fog Frog

. /gathererlookup.asp?name=Spore_Frog Spore Frog (its effect when sacrificed is identical to that of the earlier card Fog).

[edit] Force

Short for Force of Will.

[edit] Fork of Doom

A nickname for Umezawa's Jitte, the powerful equipment from Betrayers of Kamigawa.

[edit] FOW

An acronym for Force of Will.

[edit] Frank

. /gathererlookup.asp?name=Lord_of_the_Pit Lord of the Pit

[edit] FtK

Short for Flametongue Kavu, a creature from the Invasion expanion that deals 4 damage to a creature when it comes into play.

[edit] Hippie or Hippy

A derivative of Hypnotic Specter's name.

[edit] Hymn

Short for Hymn to Tourach.

[edit] I am Superman

Refers to . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=pemmin's%20aura Pemmin's Aura. As described in an article on [http:// . . /magic/welcome.asp MtG.com], the card was named as a tribute to Morphling, sometimes known as "Superman", since it was an enchantment giving the enchanted creature the same incredible set of activated abilities as Morphling (also, notice that the enchanted creature shown in the art sports the same tiny wings and tail Morphling has). "Pemmin's Aura," is an anagram for the phrase "I am Superman." When asked "Who's Pemmin?" the designer simply responded "the guy who made the aura," as there was no background for said character. Pemmin did show up again, though, in the flavor text of another card in the Scourge expansion: Stifle.

[edit] Jit

A mispronunciation of jitte (and misspelling based on its phonetic inaccuracy), referring to the card . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=umezawa's%20jitte Umezawa's Jitte. The infamous artifact gains counters when dealing damage to either a player or opposing creature, which can be used to enhance the creature wielding it (+2 power and toughness per counter), depower another creature (-1 power and toughness per counter), or give the controller of the equipped creature 2 life. Because of the versatility of its counters, it is often described as broken. Its only weakness is that only one copy of Umezawa's Jitte can be used at a time.

[edit] Jens

Name of Jens Thoren's Solemn Simulacrum, the card he created when he won 2002s Invitational Tournament. See also Sad Robot.

[edit] Keg

Short for Powder Keg.

[edit] Koala

Nickname for Kami of Ancient Law - KoAL (the abbreviation of Kami of Ancient Law) became KoALa.

[edit] Larry's Disk

See Nevvy's Disk; this version is an even more direct reference to Larry Niven.

[edit] Lawnmower Elves

Nickname for Llanowar Elves.

[edit] Library of Victory

Library of Alexandria; playing one early in the game was regarded as a near-automatic win for the first few years of Magic's existence.

[edit] Mis-D

Short for Misdirection.

[edit] Miss America

Lightning Angel. So named because of her Red, White, and Blue colors. Was played in a deck called "Star-Spangled Slaughter".

[edit] Moxen

Short for Mox Pearl, Mox Sapphire, Mox Jet, Mox Ruby, and Mox Emerald. Can also refer to Mox Diamond or Chrome Mox. Because the five original cards are all restricted in Vintage, on more casual deck lists players will often simply write, “Moxen 5,” rather than write out each one separately. 'Moxen' is also the plural of 'Mox'

[edit] Mox Monkey

The Gorilla Shaman, with the ability to destroy low-costed artifacts quite inexpensively, is called the "Mox Monkey" because he can destroy (or often "eat") the oft-used Moxen for a minimal cost, netting a great card advantage.

[edit] Nevvy's Disk

Short for Nevinyrral's Disk. Named in tribute to author Larry Niven, as Nevinyrral is Larry Niven backwards.

[edit] Oath

Short for Oath of Druids, or a deck featuring the card.

[edit] Ophie the One-Eyed Snake

Ophie, known in print as Ophidian, was a card that powered many Blue control decks to victory with its card-drawing mechanic which could be used every turn. Its art depicts a one-eyed snake, giving him the nickname among control players and their opponents.

[edit] Orzhov Enthusiast

The Orzhov Enthusiast's printed name is Orzhov Euthanist, but he is almost universally known as an Enthusiast, probably because of natural confusion with the less common term "Euthanist" and also because of the humorous aspect of what is basically a murderer being very enthusiastic about his task of killing. Matt Cavotta addressed this renaming in a short section of [http:// . . /default.asp?x=mtgcom/daily/mc33 an article] on the official of The Coast website.

[edit] OwN

Short for One with Nothing, a card from the Saviors of Kamigawa expansion which is widely perceived to have no practical purpose (it compels its player to discard his entire hand, and has no other effect), though it is occasionally used to trigger the "Hellbent" mechanic from Dissension. Some players also suggest it as an answer to the "Owling Mine" deck that gained prominence after Pro Tour Honolulu 2005. It is sometimes, ironically, used as a pun of the term owned. if an opponent has Adamaro, first to desire in play, it is now a custom to play OwN and say "i OwN you". Arguably, if one pays full retail price for a pack of Saviors and opens One With Nothing, one has been pwnt.

[edit] REB

Short for Red Elemental Blast.

[edit] Recall

Short for Ancestral Recall. Some players may find this nickname confusing, as there are cards named Recall and Hurkyl's Recall as well; however, as Ancestral Recall is by far the most played card of the three, most players feel comfortable with the nickname. The popularity of the term in reference to Ancestral Recall is due to its widespread use in Type 1 Magic decks.

[edit] Ritual

Short for Dark Ritual, or when plural ("Rits") means Cabal Ritual as well. Sometimes further shortened to "Rit", although "Dark Rit" is not unheard of, either.

[edit] Sac Elder

Short for Sakura-Tribe Elder, which is usually sacrificed (see "sac") for mana acceleration (see "accel"). Other nicknames include Steve, Saccy Tribe Elder, Tribe-Elder, and sometimes just 'Elder. Also more commonly STE, and sometimes Stewie or Sac Me Elder. "Rampant Snake" is sometimes used, as it mimics Rampant Growth, and the creature type includes 'snake'.

[edit] Sad Robot

Yet another name for Jens Thoren's Solemn Simulacrum, the card he created when he won the 2002 Invitational Tournament.

[edit] Sex Monkey

The art on the Uktabi Orangutan card depicts monkeys in a position that resembles the sexual act in its background, hence the appellation. The background was noticed during the reign of the "Artifact" block, where it became quite popular because of its ability to destroy an opponent's artifacts. In the joke set Unhinged, there was a parody of the card, called "Uktabi Kong", with a larger version of the original Orangutan in the foreground, and an expectant pair of monkeys in the background, playing on the original art and its implications. The effects of that card are relevant as well, allowing two apes to be tapped to generate another one. Uktabi Orangutan is also known as "Fuktabi Orangutan". There have been other creatures in magic since then with the same or similar power and toughness, mana cost, and comes into play ability. These cards are often referred to using the same nickname, such as "Sex Shaman" (Viridian Shaman).

[edit] SoFaI

Short for Sword of fire and ice. Alternatively 'SoFI', pronounced 'Sophie'.

[edit] SoLaS

Short for Sword of Light and Shadow

[edit] SoLoMoxen

Short for Sol Ring, Black Lotus, and the five Moxen from Alpha.

[edit] STE

An acronym for Sakura-Tribe Elder. See also Sac Elder.

[edit] Stick

Refers to Isochron Scepter, a powerful card in the Mirrodin set which allows a player to imprint an Instant on the Scepter and activate the Scepter to play a copy of that card. The name is derived from the card's art, which shows a humanoid woman holding the scepter (which, obviously, looks like a stick).

"[Card] on a stick" refers to any noncreature permanent which duplicates the ability of the named card, including but not limited to an Isochron Scepter with that card imprinted on it.

[edit] Stinky

Short for Stinkweed Imp.

[edit] STP

An acronym for Swords to Plowshares. See also Swords.

[edit] Stupid Elephant

Loxodon Hierarch, despised by many players for being overpowered in their opinions. When a player uses Congregation At Dawn to fetch three copies of Loxodon Hierarch (effectively neutering many Aggro deck strategies), this action is usually referred to as "Three Stupid Elephants". Similarly, when played in conjunction with a series of tutors, the Elephants could be said to be "going on parade." Mike Flores referred to the Elephant as the "Panacea Pachyderm"

[edit] Super C

Counterspell; from the promotional name of the video game Super Contra, sequel of Contra.

[edit] Superman

Refers to Morphling, a very powerful creature which received the name because it could fly and was practically invulnerable. Would give birth to the nickname I am Superman which was in turn used in the name for the enchantment, Pemmin's Aura, which duplicates Morphling's abilities, and which is an anagram for that phrase. It has also been known as "Jesus" and "Cardboard Jesus."

[edit] Swords

Short for Swords to Plowshares, considered one of the best creature removal spells ever printed. Creatures targeted by a Swords to Plowshares are said to be "Swordsed" or "Plowed." Sometimes also verbalized as "So-and-so goes farming" due to the card name and . /gatherer/CardDetails.aspx?name=swords%20to%20plowshares art. Sometimes abbreviated STP.

[edit] The Best Card in Magic

Seldom heard today, this was once a common nickname for . /gathererlookup.asp?name=Impulse Impulse.

[edit] The Best Creature Ever Printed

Slang for the ridiculously overpowered Psychatog. Sometimes abbreviated as TBCEP. See also 'Tog; Doctor Teeth.

[edit] The Best Fatty Ever Printed

Slang for Verdant Force, abbreviated as TBFEP, made popular by Jamie C. Wakefield, the "King of the Fatties," in his book "Tournament Reports for Magic: The Gathering." Recently has come into use to describe Akroma, Angel of Wrath also.

[edit] Throat Wolf

Throat Wolf is a non-existent card. Shortly after the release of the first large expansion set, Legends, a couple of players on usenet decided to pull a prank and start rumors about this card.[2] Since this was before the ubiquity of the Internet, many players didn't have access to full card lists and spoiler lists, and so had no way of knowing whether this card was real or not. Later, the term was used in a variety of in-jokes, and Magic developers occasionally use it as a temporary name for a card in development, this led to the development of Heart Wolf.Various versions circulate on the internet, many with obscure or technically impossible rules text. The main ability that seems consistently attributed to the throat wolf is effectively 'double first strike' or 'firstest strike', worded in various ways. In an article in the Duelist #9, Throat Wolf was described 5 colorless mana for a 4/4 Summon Throat Wolf. The abilities read, "Firstest Strike. Throat Wolf may attack during your opponent's untap phase. Attacking does not cause Throat Wolf to tap." The flavor text read "The most feared of Dominia's mythical creatures, the Throat Wolf is wylie and unpredictable. Its incredible speed and attack abilities have prompted many net. to wonder if it is real. Ask the Throat Wolf, he'll tell you..." The creator of the card (Dan Stephans II) presented the card pictured in Duelist #9 to Tom Wylie of of the Coast at GenCon 1995. Tom was the USENET representative for of the Coast at the time. Only 5 printings of the card were made (thus the 5 colorless mana), one was given to Tom, one kept by Dan, one traded to a GenCon attendee and the other two were stolen.

In the short story Chef's Surprise by Sonia Orin Lyris in the Magic: The Gathering anthology Distant Planes, the main character, Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar, works as a chef for the demon Vincent, Lord of the Pit. All of the meals she cooks for him are actual cards from the game (for example, atog pate on honey-soaked ironroot bark; Atog and Ironroot Treefolk are both creature cards) except one: Barbequed Throat Wolf ribs.

The ability usually attributed to Throat Wolf finally made it onto several real cards in the Onslaught block and since, in the form of Double Strike.

[edit] TfK

Abbreviation for Thirst for Knowledge.

[edit] Tim

Prodigal Sorcerer, and by extension other cards with the same (or a very similar) ability, and thus, roughly synonymous with "Pinger". The name is a reference to Tim the Enchanter of Monty Python fame, who has a similar ability of damaging things from a distance.

"Tim" can also be a verb meaning to use such an ability.

[edit] 'Tog

Any creature of type Atog, but especially (and perhaps, nearly exclusively in recent years) Psychatog, generally considered one of the most powerful creatures in Magic.

[edit] Tron

See "Urzatron."

[edit] Urzatron

Urzatron refers to the three cards Urza's Mine, Urza's Power Plant, and Urza's Tower. These cards are popular in several kinds of decks because of their ability to accelerate the player's mana development. Also commonly called "the 'Tron," or just "Tron."

[edit] Welder

Short for Goblin Welder.

[edit] WoG

Abbreviation of Wrath of God, which has been a staple card due to its ability to destroy many creatures using only one card. Also Woggy, The WoGginator, etc.

[edit] Wrath

Abbreviation of Wrath of God.

[edit] YawgWin

YawgWin or Yawgmoth's Win refers to the card Yawgmoth's Will. Yawgmoth's Will allows all previously played cards to be played a second time, netting an enormous advantage, and usually wins the game for its caster immediately. Considered one of the best cards in Magic, it is restricted in Vintage and banned everywhere else.

[edit] Zippy

Zippy refers to the card Zephyr Spirit, an extraordinarily underpowered and overpriced creature from the Ravnica block, considered the worst printed creature since "Chimney Imp"

Also an alternate name for Psychatog, a reference to his resemblance of the Rainbow character of he same name.

Much earlier, was used to refer to Zephyr Falcon, often in the phrase "Zippy the Chicken".