Glossary

Stays on the battlefield and can attack and block. The bottom-right numbers are its power and toughness, meaning the damage it deals and the damage it can take that turn.

A one-shot spell you can cast any time, even during the opponent's turn or in the middle of combat. Then it goes to the graveyard.

A one-shot spell you can only cast on your own turn, when nothing else is happening.

A permanent (it stays on the battlefield) with an ongoing effect. Not a creature, so it can't attack or block.

An enchantment you attach to a creature ("Enchant creature"). If that creature leaves the battlefield, the Aura goes to the graveyard.

An enchantment that does one chapter at a time. Chapter I happens when it enters, and after your draw step on each of your turns it moves on to the next chapter (II, then III and so on). After the last chapter it is sacrificed.

An object that stays on the battlefield, such as a weapon or a map. Artifacts are often colorless and cost only generic mana, so any deck can play them. Storied cards count them toward their bonus.

An artifact you attach to your own creature by paying its Equip cost (only on your turn, like a sorcery). The creature gets the bonus while the Equipment is attached. If the creature dies, the Equipment stays behind and you can equip it again.

An artifact that becomes a creature when you Crew it by tapping your creatures with total power N or more.

If you control two legendary permanents with the same name, you choose one to keep and put the other into the graveyard (the legend rule). Many Dwarves are legendary, and legendary permanents count toward an enduring story.

Tap it for one mana. You can play one land per turn. Dual lands (two colors) enter tapped.

A creature or object created by an effect (such as a 1/1 Human Soldier, an Army, a Treasure ). It is not a real card, and it disappears if it leaves the battlefield. A token that goes to the graveyard still dies before it disappears, so "when this dies" abilities trigger.

An artifact token you tap and sacrifice for one mana of any color, so it gives one-time extra mana or fixes your colors.

Put N +1/+1 counters on your Army. If you don't have an Army yet, first create a 0/0 black Goblin Army token. You only ever have one Army, and it keeps growing.

Draw a card, then discard a card. If you discarded a nonland card, you also get a 1/1 white Human Soldier token. (So discard spare lands late in the game, and spells early on to get tokens.) Its draw counts toward "draw your second card each turn".

Triggers when you draw your second card in a turn. On your turn that is the first extra draw after your normal one, from recruit or Plunder the Trollshaws for example. Draw Two decks are built around it.

Storied cards get an extra bonus once you have an enduring story. Count what you have on the battlefield: artifacts (Equipment, Treasure tokens and Axe tokens), legendary cards (the type line says "Legendary", as it does on many Dwarves) and Sagas. The moment that count reaches 3, you "have an enduring story", and you keep it for the rest of the game, even if those cards die later. From then on, every storied card you have gets the bonus written after "As long as you have an enduring story". Example: Ori, Keeper of Songs is normally a 3/3, and with an enduring story it's a 4/3 with vigilance.

A bonus that works while you control a creature with power 4 or greater.

Triggers whenever a land enters under your control (your land drop, or a card that puts a land onto the battlefield).

A creature card with a small spell printed in it. You can cast the spell first. Then the card goes to exile "on an adventure", and later you can cast the creature from there, so one card gives you two spells. You can also cast the creature directly.

Goes on an Equipment. Each one gives the equipped creature +1/+0.

Can only be blocked by creatures with flying or reach.

Can block fliers.

Can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.

If it's blocked, damage beyond what kills the blocker goes through to the player.

Any amount of damage it deals to a creature kills that creature.

Damage it deals also gains you that much life.

Deals its combat damage before creatures without first strike. It can kill a blocker before taking damage back.

Deals combat damage twice, once in the first-strike step and once in the normal step.

Doesn't tap when attacking, so it can still block on their turn.

Can attack and use its abilities the turn it enters. Without haste a creature has to wait until your next turn, which is called "summoning sickness".

Can't attack, so it is only good for blocking.

Turn a card sideways to use it (attacking, or an ability with ). Your permanents untap at the start of your turn.

You can cast this card any time you could cast an instant, for example as a surprise blocker.

When an opponent targets this with a spell or ability, it is countered unless they pay N more mana.

Can't be targeted by the opponent's spells or abilities.

Can't be destroyed by damage or "destroy" effects. It can still be exiled or sacrificed, and -X/-X that takes its toughness to 0 still kills it.

Put your own permanent into the graveyard as a cost or effect. Only the controller can sacrifice it. Sacrificing isn't destroying, so indestructible doesn't stop it, and a sacrificed creature still dies.

Put into exile, a zone apart from the graveyard (older cards called it "remove from the game"). Usually gone for good, but some cards bring a card back, like an Adventure or a flicker.

Your discard pile. Dead creatures and used instants/sorceries go here, face up.

Your deck (draw pile).

Cancel a spell or ability while it waits on the stack, after it is cast and before it resolves. A countered spell goes to its owner's graveyard without doing anything, and the mana paid for it stays spent.

A marker put on a permanent, such as a +1/+1 counter , a hone counter on an Equipment or the quest counters on Last Light of Durin's Day. It stays until something removes it. If the permanent leaves the battlefield, even for a moment, its counters are gone for good.

A marker that gives +1/+1 for as long as it stays on the creature, unlike "until end of turn" boosts, which wear off. If the creature leaves the battlefield, its counters are gone. A +1/+1 and a -1/-1 counter on the same creature cancel out.

Tracks which chapter a Saga is on.

Look at the top N cards of your library. Put any of them on the bottom and the rest back on top in any order.

Look at the top N cards of your library. Put any of them into your graveyard and the rest back on top in any order. No card in this set surveils.

Put the top N cards of a library into the graveyard.

A copy gets what is printed on the original: name, mana cost, types, rules text, power and toughness. It doesn't get the original's counters, damage or "until end of turn" effects. A copy of a legendary card is legendary too, unless the card says otherwise, as The Notary Hobbits does for its tokens.

You can cast this card a second time from your graveyard by paying the flashback cost. Then it's exiled.

An optional extra cost you can pay as you cast the spell to get a bigger effect.

Two creatures deal damage equal to their power to each other.

Pay the cost and discard this card to draw a card. With landcycling you search your library for a land of the named type instead (Mountaincycling finds a Mountain) and put it into your hand. Halflingcycling finds a Halfling card the same way.

Bonus while you have 7 or more cards in your graveyard.

Costs less for each X you control.

Show a card of that type from your hand, or choose one you control, to get the bonus.

You may give the opponent something (e.g. a Treasure ) when casting, to get an extra effect.

The total mana cost, colored and generic together. For example, is 3.

Where spells and abilities wait before they happen. Each new one goes on top, and the top one resolves first, so the last spell cast happens first. Playing a land, tapping lands for mana and combat damage don't use the stack.

The right to act. The player with priority may cast a spell or activate an ability, or pass. When both players pass in a row, the top spell or ability on the stack resolves, or, if the stack is empty, the game moves to the next step.

A spell or ability resolves when it leaves the stack and does what it says. That happens only after both players pass in a row, and at that moment it checks its targets again and any "if" in its text.

Players' word for a spell or ability that doesn't resolve because every one of its targets is gone or illegal by then. It does nothing, and a spell goes to the graveyard. If only some of its targets are illegal, it still resolves and skips those.

Checks the game makes on its own whenever a player would get priority, without using the stack. A creature with 0 or less toughness or lethal damage goes to the graveyard, a player at 0 or less life loses, a token outside the battlefield ceases to exist, and the legend rule applies. They are never checked in the middle of a spell resolving.

If you control two or more legendary permanents with the same name, you choose one to keep and the rest go to the graveyard. That counts as dying, so "when this dies" abilities trigger. Your opponent can have one with the same name at the same time.

A creature can't attack or use its abilities until you have controlled it since the start of your most recent turn. It can still block. Haste removes the wait, and a creature that leaves the battlefield and comes back has to wait again.

Is put into a graveyard from the battlefield. Lethal damage, destroy effects, 0 toughness, sacrifice and the legend rule all make a creature die, and a token dies too. Exile and bounce don't, so "when this dies" doesn't trigger for them.

A card that gets rid of an opposing creature or stops it from mattering, with words like destroy, exile, damage, −N/−N or "sacrifices". Most decks want several, and cheap removal is worth an early pick.

A cheap instant you cast during combat to win a fight, such as +2/+2 until end of turn. Cast it after blockers are declared. If the opponent removes your creature in response, the trick does nothing and you lose both cards.

A card, usually rare or mythic, that wins the game by itself if the opponent can't deal with it.

Adding a few cards of a third color to a two-color deck, with a couple of its lands or other fixing. Only worth it for a bomb or strong removal, and risky as a beginner.

The spread of your cards by mana value. You want plays on turns 2, 3 and 4 and a few bigger cards. In a 40-card deck that means 5–6 creatures that cost 2 or less, four or five 3-drops, three or four 4-drops and 2–3 cards that cost 5 or more.

A 40-card draft deck usually has 17 lands and 23 spells. The 23rd card is the last spell you add, so a card we call a 23rd card makes your deck only when nothing better is left for that slot.

Having more cards to use than your opponent, by drawing extra cards or by trading one card for two of theirs. The player with more cards left usually wins a long game.

One card that does the work of two, or a trade where you lose one card and the opponent loses two. An Adventure card is one: Spew Flame deals 5 damage to a creature, and later you cast Smaug, the Great Calamity from exile.

How well you use your mana and turns to stay ahead on the board. A cheap answer to an expensive creature, or a creature sent back to its owner's hand or library, gains tempo even when it gains no cards.

A way to spend spare mana later in the game, usually an ability you can pay for again and again. Guardian of the Halls puts three +1/+1 counters on itself for , and Dwarven Provisioner pumps your creatures for .

Cards that get you mana of colors your lands don't make, such as Treasure , dual lands, Giant's Boulder and Troop of Ponies (which finds basic lands). Fixing helps a two-color deck cast its spells on time and makes a splash possible.

Exile a permanent and return it to the battlefield, right away or at the next end step. It comes back as a new object, so its enters abilities trigger again, its counters and damage are gone, Auras go to the graveyard, Equipment stays behind unattached, and a creature is summoning sick. A flickered token never comes back.

Return a permanent to its owner's hand. The card can be cast again later as a new object, without its counters, damage or attachments, and a bounced token ceases to exist.

An ability that triggers when its permanent enters the battlefield, whether it was cast or put there by an effect. Current cards say "When this creature enters". Flicker and bounce let you use it again.

Something that happens when a permanent goes from the battlefield to any other zone, by dying, exile or bounce. A "dies" trigger is one kind. For example, the permanent that Celebrate the Mountain-king exiles comes back when Celebrate leaves the battlefield.

Draw a card, then discard a card. Your hand stays the same size, but you swap a card you don't need for a fresh one. Thrór's Map loots for and , and recruit is a loot with a bonus.

Discard a card, then draw a card. Unlike a loot, you discard before you see the new card. Óin the Brave rummages for and , and Ragged Short Spear does a bigger version: discard a card, and if you do, draw two.

Playing your deck against an opponent who does nothing, to see how it draws and how fast it wins. The turn the goldfish reaches 0 life is your kill turn.