Acies' MTG Guide [Basic Edition]
Introduction
Given
the amount of people as of late who have both mentioned an increased interest
in Magic The Gathering™ and a lack of understanding in some of the mechanics
and or playing. Given that I have missed some updates here and there, and that
I once played regularly with the intention of going on to get certified as a
Rules Advisor (I quit MTG last fall due to the cost of keeping up affecting my
ability to pay tuition), I figure I can impart some useful knowledge. Now, this
game is actually incredibly complex
when you get down to the deeper nuances, but having enough of an understanding
to be able to go out, have some fun, and even win a decent amount of games does
not take nearly the amount of depth that aspiring to conquer major tournaments
will. That said, I’m going to try and avoid really
complex topics like layers and instead focus on basics, keywords, and “The
Stack”.
The Basics
If you already play Magic™, this part of the guide likely
covers topics you already know well. However, if you are just starting out or
on the fence about giving the game a try, this part of the guide can be very
helpful.
Permanents
Permanents are things that remain on the battlefield after
they are cast. Permanents do not go away immediately, though some remain longer
than others. Some might only remain for the turn, while others remain indefinitely,
until removed by an outside force. The following will be a list of permanents.
Lands
Lands are what produce mana (see mana). During each turn,
unless some other effect on the field says otherwise, you can play –one- land
card. This land card is a freebee and it cannot be responded to (when we talk
about it, you will see me mention that land does
not use the stack). As soon as you hit your first main phase (more on
phases later), you can play a land. You can also play a land card during your
second main phase, if you have not played
one during your first. Again, unless you have something else in play
dictating otherwise, you can only play one land per turn.
There are two types of lands, Basic, and Nonbasic
 |
| Taste the Rainbow! |
- Basic lands are the simple lands, they come
out with no additional requirements or stipulations and they produce only one
kind of mana. You have two types of basic lands, though this hardly worth
mention—snowy and regular. Snowy are rare, but can be used all the same. Basic
lands have the unique distinction of being allowed in play no matter what set
they came out of (certain play styles have restrictions on what sets cards come
from- basic lands are excluded from this) and that you can have any amount of each in your deck
(nonbasic are limited to four).
 |
| Shocklands- Very Popular |
- Nonbasic lands are
lands that do something other than produce one color of mana. The differing
abilities vary, but they have some form of drawback. Some lands enter the
battlefield tapped, whereas others only produce colorless mana. Other lands
might cost you a point of life or require putting something else in your hand.
The stipulations vary, but nonbasic lands are helpful insofar as they provide
other benefits. Other factors that make them less free for use is that you are
limited to four of each, and many are not common cards (harder to get, more
value).
Creatures
 |
Grizzly Bears- the 2 mana 2/2 everyone
compares any 2/2 2 mana creature to. |
Creatures are spells (yes, they count as spells, because the
spell “summons” them) you use to attack or defend with (typically). You pay a
required cost and summon them to the field. Most of the time, creatures are
brought out by using a creature card, but some spells allow you to “fetch” a
creature or to put “tokens” on the field. Tokens are creatures, they are just
handled differently- if a token leave the battlefield and goes to another
location, it disappears. Tokens who are exiled can never come back, tokens sent
to the graveyard never come back- as soon as they leave the battlefield, they
cease to exist. For creatures, this is not the case, and as you can imagine,
all kinds of hijinks have come about because of that.
As I pointed out above, creatures have costs. Nearly all of
them have some kind of mana cost (but not always) and the vast majority have a
cost of some kind (but not always). You treat playing a creature card like
playing a spell, by first filling your mana pool with mana, then declaring the
spell and working through “the stack”. If the spell succeeds, your creature
enters the battlefield. Creatures entering the battlefield, unless they have a
keyword ability called “haste”, enter with what is colloquially called “summoning
sickness”—this is basically the most official unofficial term there is in MTG
(judges use it, game designers use it, but they never officially adopted it, go
figure). Summoning sickness means that the creature is unable to attack the
turn they arrived, because “summoning made them sick” (or really, they need to
get situated first). Summoning sickness only
affects things with a creature type. If it is not a creature, it cannot have summoning sickness.
Creatures enter with certain attributes. In addition to
their mana costs, they have what is called an “Attack” and “Toughness” score. A
creature whose total toughness is equal to or less than zero dies as soon as
that effect is official- if they are officially at a zero toughness, they have “died”.
A creature can have a 0 attack—this is often the case for a creature subtype
called “defenders”, who defend instead of attack (like a big wall). When a
creature attacks, you go by their (adjusted if applicable) attack score in
determining potential damage and you use their toughness to determine whether
or not they can survive a certain amount of accumulated damage—damage leaves at
the end of turn.
Tokens
 |
| Someone turned his germ into a "gentlegerm" |
I mentioned tokens, so I will mention them after creatures.
It is tempting to just make them a subheading, but occasionally, you can have
tokens that are not creatures, that is just not the typical case. Tokens are produced by an effect—sometimes a
creature, sometimes a nonpermanent spell, sometimes an enchantment,
planeswalker, you name it- this game has a lot of ways to make them. Tokens
come in three flavors—vanilla creatures, “stand in tokens”, or duplicates of
something.
- Vanilla
creatures are just that- tokens produced to put more cannon fodder on the
ground. These guys typically have lower attack and toughness scores, although
this can vary. They usually have no more than 1-2 keyword abilities, if anyway,
but again, not the case 100% of the time. Some cards produce whole messes of
token, so I like to call permanents who do so “Token-Poopers”. Token-Poopers
can be incredibly helpful, if you get the right one.
- Duplicates
are where some kind of effect says put a token on the field that is exactly the
same as another card. Tokens are an exact
copy of the card they duplicate, meaning they have no abilities or special
effects or buffs that are not printed on the card. Now, the card itself might
have abilities, or triggering abilities, or other effects that come into effect
as soon as or after it hits the battlefield- those go off. But duplicates do
not copy number of additional counters, buffs, equipment, or other outside
effects. In the case that you make a duplicate of a “transforming card”, it
copies the face up side and cannot transform.
- “Stand In” tokens are tokens made to just sort of “stand-in”.
The one example I can think of off the top of my head are “germ tokens”, which
are 0/0 token creatures with the subtype “germ”. These come in with artifact
equipment cards known as “living weapons”, where the equipment comes in already
attached to a creature. This means that you do not have to equip the card to
get use out of it—some living weapons are awesome cards, coming in as a pumped
up creature whose buff you can reassign later. Now, germs are 0/0, which means
they cannot exist without the effect of a buff or without the artifact.
Something has to give it a permanently lasting +1 to toughness. Typically, the
artifact equipment.
Enchantments
 |
MostAuras hit a creature, but this
One can go after any permanent |
Enchantments are cards that stay on the battlefield and
create a lasting effect. There are two types of enchantments: Auras and regular
enchantments.
Auras are enchantments that enchant
something (typically creatures, but some can enchant lands or artifacts). Once
you have successfully cast them, the enchantment attaches itself to that
creature and lasts until it is removed by some other effect—this could be a
stipulation on the card (remove this enchantment if…), someone destroying it,
the creature becoming immune from the color (protection from…) or when the card
it enchants is removed from play. Now, this is not always that straight
forward, as auras have a funny way acting when they are not “cast”, but brought
back into play by some other effect. This is more advanced stuff for later.
 |
| This used to be a big pain in the butt |
Other enchantments are
those that are not an aura- the enter the battlefield and stay, once
successfully cast. They might have an ability that targets something after the
fact (oblivion ring is a good example)
but they do not target before entry.
Some create a curse that effects enemy players or it might be a benefit only
given to you. Some just create an ongoing effect that comes into play every
turn. Others only activate when a cost is paid or something triggers them. The
abilities of Enchantments are quite variable, but the important thing to keep
in mind is that, short of something removing them (destroyed, exiled, effect of
card meeting its end condition), they remain indefinitely.
Artifacts
These are functionally similar to enchantments, in that they
have many of the same interactions, only differing names. There are three types
of artifacts to track.
 |
A living weapon/equipment that used to
give people nightmares. |
Equipment:
Equipment is an artifact that you can attach only to your creature
(exceptions exist) in order to provide it some kind of benefit. A good way to
think of this is giving a creature a better weapon or a superior set of armor
or even a magical item. The equipment lasts until someone destroys it/exiles
it, or some other condition comes to fruition. Unlike auras, equipment cards do
not go to the graveyard once the creature dies (unless stated otherwise), they
just return to the battlefield. In order to equip to a creature, you must pay
an equip cost (sometimes this is free). If the equipment falls off the creature
because the creature leaves or dies, you can reequip the card onto a new
creature by paying the equip cost.
 |
| This is a badass card. |
Creatures: This
artifact is a creature, it is both a creature and artifact. Creatures come in
varying subtypes, so in the case of these creatures, the subtype is “artifact”.
This means the creature is probably made from technology or some similar
process, or perhaps a golem. In most cases, artifact creatures only require
colorless mana.
 |
| Artifact and most expensive mtg card in history |
Standard: Lastly,
you have just plain old artifacts. They do not equip to creatures and they
themselves are not creatures. They might provide you with a static benefit or
they might have an ability you have to activate. An example might be that the
artifact is actually a large machine, so naturally no one is carrying that
around—but it is still at your disposal.
Planeswalkers
What exactly is a planeswalker? Well, you as the player are
one- how about that? Other planeswalkers are allies you summon to come to your
aid. Planewalkers are not creatures,
although some can act as one as an activated power. Planeswalkers enter the
battlefield with a certain number of “loyalty counters”. During each of your
own main-phases, when the stack is empty (no spell is currently waiting to be
completed), you can choose to use one of your planeswalker’s abilities—this is
once per turn per planeswalker. You can use more than one in a turn, but each
one can only act once per turn, as long as it remains on the battlefield.
Planeswalkers have numerous abilities, having anywhere from three to four
things they can do. As long as you can pay the exact cost, you can use the
ability—you cannot bring a planeswalker down to negative counters. Once a
planeswalker hits zero counters, they go to the graveyard. It used to be that
only one planeswalker of the same name type (Jace, Sorin, etc) could be on the
field period; revisions as of last summer now make it that each player can have
one of each name on the field. If you play a second one, you get to choose
which one goes to the graveyard.
 |
This card makes people poop themselves
No, seriously. I'd lose my bowels in a tourney
if I had to deal with this. Like, table-flip time. |
Planeswalkers are not creatures, so they do not have a
toughness or attack. Instead, doing damage to a planeswalker results in them
losing loyalty counters. Enemy players can choose to redirect their attack from
you to the planeswalker, and you can choose to block creatures attacking the
planeswalker. Spells that do “damage” can be redirected to the planeswalker,
but spells that cause loss of “life” can only affect the player—only players
have life.
Once more, Planeswalkers
are not creatures.
Non-permanents
Non permanents are things that you can use, but they do not
stay on the battlefield. These really fall into two classes: Spells and
Emblems. Spells are instants and sorceries, while emblems are created by
planeswalkers. The spell cards, like the majority of other spell cards, go to
the graveyard when they are removed from play. Emblems on the other hand, never
go anywhere. Include emblems in the non-permanents section, but in reality,
they are sort of a hybrid between the two.
Instants and
Sorceries
 |
| An instant- classic red |
These are spell cards more in line with how most people
probably think of “spells”. These are cards whose cost you pay in order to
evoke an effect. The effect can be a onetime thing or it can create a condition
that lasts through the rest of the turn- it varies. Once the instant or sorcery
is resolved, they are put in the graveyard (unless something else stipulates
otherwise)—using an instant or sorcery is a onetime deal. Instants and
sorceries are very similar, but they differ in one very important way: Sorceries
can only be played when “the stack is empty” and it is in your main phase,
whereas instants can be played “almost any time”.
What does “The stack is empty mean”—it means no one has played anything yet. A
player cannot play a sorcery if someone else has played a card and it has not
yet resolved itself. Someone can play a card in response to your sorcery, and
it will have no bearing on the casting itself, as the sorcery is already cast
(as soon as you declare it and pay the cost, it is on the stack). Sorceries
come with more restrictions, but these are typically the “More bang for your
buck” kind of cards: as a rule (exceptions exist galore), sorceries are going
to do more for less mana. In exchange for that, you lose a lot of flexibility.
Instants do not care about the stack. What does affect an
instant is
priority.
 |
| Blue likes to fuck with your mind |
In order to play anything,
a player must have priority. Now, priority does not mean you are faster, or
better, or have some other super-ability; it just means that it is your turn to
do something in the middle of the mess. I will go more in depth in priority
when we talk about the stack, but let me put it simply here: If a player casts
a spell, and then passes priority, you have it, and can cast a spell in
response. There are two times where no players have priority, and one instance
where players do not have to pass it after completing an action:
Untap Step and Cleanup Step: These are the bookends of a turn. Untap step
happens automatically and cannot be messed with, so once you enter the untap
step, everything untaps without interruption. During the cleanup step,
creatures lose their damage counters, players discard excess cards, and then
the turn fully ends- this is another part of the game that is (if ever, very
rarely) not messed with. During these two times, nobody has priority.
The other situation where a person cannot gain priority is
after someone plays a land for their turn (their one free land). When they play
a land, this is not considered playing a spell, so therefore there is nothing
to react to. The player never gives up their priority because they themselves
have not yet used it—they can still pass it over at any time.
Emblems
 |
| This emblem stacks easily. |
Some planeswalkers create what are called “Emblems”, an
effect similar to an enchantment, only it is not a permanent. Emblems exist in
what is known as the command zone, which is where you the player reside as
well. To date, no spell affects emblems, and this emblems never go away unless the game ends. You can have any
number of emblems and some emblems in fact have stacking abilities.
Example:
Other Basic Things
These are some other things I want to cover before moving on
to the topics of “the stack” and key terms. I am going to cover what “mana” is,
and then “zones” of play.
Mana
You know how a lot of games have some kind of magic system
where if you have a finite amount of magic you can use before you use it up?
Sometimes its spells per day, other times it might be “power”, or “essence”, or
sometimes “mana”—well, this is the same idea. Most (exceptions exist) “spell” cards require mana. What are spell
cards? Well, spell cards are pretty much everything that isn’t a land, but
again, there are some odd exceptions out there. You know a card takes mana when
they have one of these symbols in the top right corner:
 |
| This lacks Phyrexian Mana- a later time perhaps. |
How do you get mana you ask? Lands mostly.
How do lands give you mana? Fine question. Basic lands give you one specific type
of mana correlating with the type of land it is. There are 5 basic lands (10 if
you count the snowy ones, but those are just special versions of basic land
cards); Swamps, Islands, Forests, Mountains, and Plains. Each of these lands
will give you a specific mana color, which allows you to cast spells. I will
put a picture below that shows you what each of these basic land cards look
like, and what type of mana they produce.
 |
| Also shows planeswalkers of each. |
This is not the only way to get mana. Sometimes, creatures
provide mana after paying a cost—costs can be anything from “tapping it”, “sacrificing
it”, or doing some other thing with it. Sometimes, they give you mana just for
playing it. Other things that can give you mana include artifacts and
enchantments- things that remain on the field and might give you mana each turn
or might do so as a onetime deal- it varies on the card. While there are these
other things that can give you mana, the most common source will be your lands.
Paying mana costs:
Now that you know how to get your mana, you have to know how paying costs
works. You can acquire mana even when you have no spell to play—this is “adding
mana to your mana pool”. This means you can build up a ton of mana before you
even start playing cards, which might be a way to make your opponent think
something big is coming and affect the way the react. If you add mana to your
mana pool before casting the spell, you must remember: Once you go from one
phase to another, the mana is lost. This
means that if you add mana to your mana pool during your first main-phase and
then declare yourself entering combat, you have lost the mana. Do not fill your
mana pool with mana you do not intend to use.
Before you cast a spell, you do need some mana in that mana
pool (again, you do not have to play a spell, let it finish, then cast another-
you could just fill your pool and then let one spell resolve before starting a
second). When you go to play a spell, first fill your mana pool with what you
need, then declare that you are using this spell, which takes this mana cost
(some spells have other costs, but we are covering mana). As soon as you declare you are casting this spell, and you legally can do so, the mana is
spent. You cannot take it back, it is gone (casual games may allow “take-backs”).
You can think of it as being like a bank: You have $100 on
hand and $0 in the bank. You want to make purchases online using your debit
card. Well, if you try to order something, the bank will reject the purchase
because you have $0 in the bank. Seeing as how you want to buy a $25 item, you
need to go put at least $25 in the bank. Now, you could choose to put all of it
in there—perhaps while shopping, you intend to make another $75 in purchases,
so having all $100 in there at once is a good idea. You might spend it all in
one place, thus filling your online basket with $100 in goods; or you might
spend it in more than one place, thus making separate purchases. Just keep in
mind, this bank periodically dumps funds and runs (so why are using that bank?
Because this is a silly example, that’s why!), so make sure you do not put more
in there than you intend to spend soon.
Zones of Magic
You might hear this one tossed around “The ‘insert name here’
zone”. There are numerous locations in MTG, and I have used some of them above.
I’m going to clarify these below.
- The Command Zone
is much like it sounds like—where command is coming from. You are in the
command zone, as are emblems. Nothing in the command zone can be sent anywhere
else (graveyard, exile, etc) and the only thing in the command zone that can be
targeted is you the player. The command zone itself is largely a non-operative
zone—nothing can affect the command zone itself.
- Your hand is just
that, your hand. Some things affect “your hand” and as such, it is treated as a
separate location. This comes into play when a token might be sent to “your
hand”. Tokens that enter any other zone instantly disappear. Other cards can be
returned to your hand, including cards on the stack, if a spell specifies as
much (eg. “Counter target spell, return that spell to owner’s hand).
The Library is where all the cards you can draw are located
(unless you are pulling graveyard shenanigans). The library is best thought of
like being “your mind”, as it is where you can draw your spells. This is why
blue spells often muck with your library—because blue is the manipulating
color, the color that uses psychic abilities to mess with what is in your head.
Cards can go on, back into, or from your library. Some effects cause you to
dump cards from the library to exile, or the graveyard, or to your hand. The
big thing to keep in mind is if you must draw (card says to, draw step, etc)
and you cannot (out of cards), you lose the game. - The battlefield is
the location with all the permanents- this is where lands and creatures and all
the rest of the long standing stuff hangs out. Basically, the battlefield is
the battlefield, where this “duel of the planeswalkers” is taking place. The
battlefield is the only place where tokens can exist.
- The Graveyard is
where things that “die” go to; anytime a card does not say otherwise, a card
that is destroyed goes to the graveyard. This includes creatures, artifacts,
enchantments, planeswalkers, and anything else than can permanently exist on
the battlefield, unless something else says otherwise (because you know, this
game is nothing if not contradictions). The Graveyard is a very accessible location
however, probably being the easiest to target and utilize place other than the
battlefield and *maybe* a player’s hand. The sheer number of cards that can
manipulate a graveyard are staggering, and would take days to talk about. Let’s
just say that if something is in the graveyard, depending on the deck, it may
be within reach.
- Exile is where
cards go when they are “removed from play” or specifically sent to “exile”. The
term exile is relatively new, previously just referred to as the place where
cards removed from play go to (changed as of M10). M10 made the change as there
were cards that started to interact with exile more, though for the most part,
things do not directly interact with exile itself. If a card is sent to exile
by a spell, it’s pretty much gone (I know of one creature where this has an
exception, but otherwise this holds pretty well). A creature who is exiled by
an enchantment typically returns once the enchantment is gone. Sometimes, an
effect only sends the creature to exile for a specified amount of time and then
brings it back. I suppose the best way to think of exile is like being in
limbo. You just hang out there.
- The stack too is a
playing zone, it is where spells that have not yet “resolved” (completed) sit.
Once you cast a spell, you have put it “on the stack”. I will go more into this
when we talk about the stack, but it is good to note here that the stack is,
and should be thought of, as a place where something exists. Only certain cards
can interact with things on the stack, but you can interact with things on the
stack. It’s just doing so can go from simple to ugly and complicated quickly.
That's it for basics, let's talk about Key Terms
Key Terms
To make these easier, I am going to skip out on those that are no longer in use (often replaced) and those that are really obvious (attack, block, etc), divide these into two sections (functions vs mechanics) and do each section alphabetically for ease of use. I really do not suggest trying to memorize all of these in a day. I will put stars by the ones that are the most common and best to get down as soon as you are able. The rest you can learn about as you go.
Functions
Functions are terms you will here in relation to the game itself. There are less of these than terms associated with mechanics, but it will help to get these out of the way first, as it allows one to have a better understanding of mechanics when they understand functions.
Abilities:
- Activated: Activated abilities are abilities you consciously choose to use or not use. If you choose
to use this ability, you will have to pay an associated cost, which can range
from paying a mana, to tapping the card, or something more costly. Lands are a
good example of cards with an activated ability, as a mana ability is an
activated ability. Once you activate the ability, it goes on the stack and
waits to resolve.
- Static: Static abilities are abilities that are ongoing and
constant; you do not choose whether they are in effect, because they always
are. The card “tempered steel” (Pictured above) is a good example of a card
with a static ability—all artifact creatures receive a constant +2/+2 to their
toughness and attack. This is ongoing and does not change until the card is
removed. Of course, other outside factors might affect the ability, but the
ability itself is constant, as long as it is active.
- Trigger(ed): Triggered abilities are those that will not work until they
are triggered. The card itself will tell you what the trigger condition is and
then (if you are playing in higher level leagues), it is considered all parties’
responsibility to remember triggered abilities, as they must happen. Some triggered abilities have a choice tied in to them—wording
like “You may do this” at the time of a trigger does mean you can choose not to
use the ability. However, other triggered abilities do not necessarily say
this, and not all triggered abilities are helpful to the player who owns the
card. Sometimes, the trigger is a requirement to pay an ongoing cost to keep a
big creature on the field.
Actions
- Activate:* Once you read the above, this becomes a little more obvious- activate means you are activating an ability. Activating entails paying the cost and putting the ability on the stack.
- Attach:* Attach refers to anything you can attach. When you use an aura, you enchant; when you use an equipment, you equip. Attach is a broader term to refer to either.
- Cast:* Any card that is not a land is a spell that must be cast, meaning outside of a rare exception, it will have to have costs (unless it is a rare example of a free card) paid and then be put on the stack. Most of the time, spells you cast will be from your hand, but some spells can be cast from the graveyard and others directly from the Library (rarer) or even exile (very rare).
- Copy: When you create a copy, you are creating a duplicate of a card, creating a new object with exactly the same values as seen on the card. A copy effect can only copy what is printed on the card it copies, and what is visible- thus, with two sided cards, you can only copy the face-up side.
- Counter:* This is the action counter, not the object. Countering is canceling a spell (rarely, an ability), preventing it from resolving and thus not allowing any of its effects to occur.
- Detain: When a creature is detained, it is unable to attack, block, or activate any of its activated abilities until the detaining player's next turn. This is an ability some creatures have (triggered or activated) and it can be caused by certain spells.
- Dies:* This for the longest time was a slang term, but as of M12 it became a part of the official vernaculer. All it means is that a creature was both destroyed and then sent to the graveyard. If a creature is exiled instead, it did not "die". This is an important distinction, as some effects are triggered specifically by a creature "dying" and not being exiled.
- Exchange: Exactly as it sounds, swapping two things. Sometimes this is creatures, other times it might be life totals.
- Exile:* Exiling a creature is removing it from play and sending it to the exile zone. It is very rare for anything to interact with the exile zone or to allow you to cast a spell from exile (I only know of one card). Typically, exile serves as a zone for objects to be removed from play temporarily (exiled for part of a turn and then returned ((sometimes called flickering)), or exiled by a permanent and will return when the permanent leaves) or permanently. See exile above for more about that zone.
- Flashback: This ability allows a card to be cast from the graveyard, for a specific cost. Some cards' flashback costs are the same, while others cost more and a certain few cost less. Regardless, once an card is "flashed back", it is exiled.
- Fight: An ability more common to green and red, this means you take the creature who activated this ability (or affected by a spell) and have it face another card of your choosing. Both creatures, upon resolution (creatures can be pumped) apply their attacks against each other's toughness, resulting in damage dealt. Any creature with 0 toughness or less leftover is dead.
- Monstrosity: This is a brand new one, and it is an odd exception in that it is considered an action keyword despite the word -not- being a verb. It came out with Theros, and what it allows the person to do is to make their creature "monstrous", where if it is not already monstrous, you add a specified amount of +1/+1 counters and make it monstrous. Some gain additional abilities as well. If the creature is already monstrous, activating the ability again does nothing.
- Populate: This ability (sometimes done through a spell) allows you to put an additional token on the field that is an exact copy of another token. Thus, you might use this to make a second token of a 3/3 beast token.
- Proliferate: When you proliferate, you look at -anything- that has a counter on it, and then add one. This does not care what kind of counter it is (poison counter on player, planeswalker, +1/+1 on creature, etc), it only cares that there is a counter.
- Regenerate: This is an activated ability, or a spell that allows you to save a creature. If a creature has taken lethal damage, you may choose to pay the cost (or play the instant) to "regenerate" the creature. The creature does not actually die, but instead loses all their damage before state based effects takes place and declares it dead. The creature is then tapped, but it has 0 damage. Because it never left the field, Auras and Equipment remain on the creature.
- Reveal: As it sounds, you must reveal something. Most often, this is a mandate to reveal your hand, but sometimes it might be to reveal part of your library.
- Sacrifice:* This is where you are purposefully removing a card or forced to do so, sending that card to the graveyard. For creatures, this means it "dies". Creatures who are sacrificed cannot be regenerated. Sacrificing is sometimes the cost for an ability, or other times it might be forced upon you by another player.
- Scry: This ability allows you to look at a specified number of cards on the top of your library, and then put them back in any order. Some scry cards allow you to put cards on the bottom of the library and some let you draw cards as well.
- Search: As it sounds, this means you have to search the affected zones. Most often this is your library, but it can include your hand and graveyard. I have never seen search applied to "exile" or "The battlefield"
- Transform: Cards who transform have an activated and/or triggered ability to transform, where transforming makes them into a more potent creature. The transformation cards are two sided, so on one side is the original card and the other side is the transformed creature.
Mechanics
Mechanics (as I define them here) are keywords that represent some type of ability. Some are activated, some are triggered, and others are constant (static). Some of these create entirely new effects while others have what is called a "replacement effect"- it replaces one function with another.
- Affinity: If a card has affinity, it means that for every card of the same type (on the field), the spell costs less to cast. Common with enchantments or artifact creatures.
- Battalion: This is a triggered ability, where anytime three or more creatures attack together, battalion triggers. The effects of battalion varies with the creature.
- Battlecry: If a creature has battlecry, all other creatures attacking with it get +1/0.
- Bloodrush: This is an ability on a creature card that is an activated ability that can only be played from the hand. You pay the associated mana cost, discard the creature, and then bestow the bonuses and abilities the card specifies on a target creature. Typically, bloodrush bonuses are related to what the card's creature abilities were (a 3/3 creature with trample might give +3/+3 and trample).
- Bloodthirst: If an opponent has taken damage that turn, creatures with bloodthirst allow you to put a specified amount of +1/+1 counters on the creature.
- Buyback: Buyback is a static ability on a sorcery or instant card that allows you the option of paying extra mana in exchange for getting to keep the card after casting the spell. Spells, once cast, typically go to the graveyard. If you pay the buyback, you get to put it back in your hand.
- Changeling: A changeling is something that is all creature types at the same time.
- Convoke: This allows you to tap either a creature with the same color as a mana required to summon a creature, or any other colored creature to reduce costs of summoning by an equal amount of mana. If you were to summon a creature with a cost of 2GG, and you tap two green creatures and two creatures of any other color, that creature is summoned for free (assuming it has convoke of course)
- Cumulative Upkeep: Each upkeep, you must pay an increasing cost to keep that creature on the battlefield.
- Cycling: This allows you to discard the card (with this ability) and pay an associated cost in order to draw a card.
- Deathtouch:* This a static ability that creates what is known as a replacement effect. A replacement effect changes the property of a thing. In this case, any damage caused by this creature is instantly fatal- as soon as the other creature has taken damage from this creature, and state-based effects kick in (happens after the chance to regenerate), the creature dies. Deathtouch does not affect players.
- Defender:* Creatures with defender cannot attack. Typically, they have high toughness scores or other special defensive properties and rarely do they have any kind of attack score.
- Doublestrike:* In any given battle, there are actually two damage steps: The first strike damage step, and then the regular one. Creatures with doublestrike get to participate in both. Because there are only two damage steps, multiple instances of doublestrike are redundant and provide no benefit.
- Dredge: This ability on a card in the graveyard allows you to forgo drawing a card, put a specified number of cards from your library into the graveyard, and then draw this card instead. You can use this anytime you have the ability to draw a card.
- Entwine: If a card has entwine, it has two choices, where paying the normal cost allows you to choose one. If you pay the entwine cost, you can cast both.
- Evolve: Evolve is a triggered ability, where if a creature with a higher toughness and/or attack enters the battlefield than the creature with evolve (who is already on the battlefield), the evolving creature ets a +1/+1 counter.
- Exalted: This ability allows any creature attacking by itself to receive a +1/+1 for every instance of exalted on the field.
- Extort: For every instance of extort you have on the field, you may pay one W or B (white or black mana) every time you cast a spell. If you have three cards with extort, and you cast a spell, you may pay up to 3 mana (black or white) to activate extort. Extort causes an opponent (of your choice) to lose 1 life and you gain it.
- Fear: If a creature has fear, only black creatures and artifacts can block it when it attacks.
- First Strike*: As explained in doublestrike, there are two damage steps, first strike and regular. First strike allows you to do your damage during the first strike round--basically, you do damage to creatures before any other creatures without first strike or doublestrike, which may allow you to kill a creature before it can do damage to you.
- Flanking: If a creature with flanking is blocked by a creature without flanking, the blocking creature gets -1/-1 until the end of turn. Multiple instances of flanking stack, but a creature needs only have flanking once to undo the effect.
- Flash:* This allows you to play a card that is not an instant like it is an instant.
- Flying:* A creature with flying is a creature who flies- as such, it cannot be blocked by creatures who do not have flying and/or reach.
- Forecast: This an ability that can only be used by a card in the player's hand and during their upkeep step. If you pay the forecast cost, you get an effect, often related to the card itself. The card must be revealed as part of the cost and remain revealed until the end of upkeep. You can only do this once per turn per card.
- Haste:* Creatures who entered the battlefield during this turn have "summoning sickness" but creatures with haste overcome that and may attack the turn they came out.
- Haunt: Haunt is an ability found on some cards, in that when you play the card, it has an effect. After it would go to the graveyard, it instead "haunts" a creature. When that creature dies, the card has its effect for the second time.
- Hellbent: Hellbent is an ability where a creature gains bonuses for your hand having no cards in it.
- Hexproof*: Creatures with hexproof cannot be the target of spells or abilities that other players control. You can target your own creature.
- Indestructible:* Creatures who are indestructible cannot be "destroyed". This means they do not die due to damage, destroy cards, or deathtouch. However, they do die due to sacrifice or having a toughness reduced to below 0 (not due to damage).
- Infect: Creatures with infect do "infect" damage- this is a replacement effect, replacing normal damage. Creatures deal damage to other creatures as -1/-1 counters (for every point of damage) and deal poison counters to players. If a player hits 10 poison counters, they lose.
- Intimidate:* Creaures with intimidate can only be blocked by creatures of their own color and artifact creatures.
- Kicker: A kicker is an extra cost that may be paid, and in doing so, you get an extra effect.
- Landwalk: You rarely see the word "landwalk" and instead see the specific type of land named. If the creature has "x-walk" it means it can walk through land X, allowing it to attack without being blocked.
- Level-up: Leveling up involves a creature with a leveling ability. If it has a leveling ability, you may pay a required amount of mana to increase the level of a creature, bestowing it with more abilities and better attack/toughness. You can only level up as a sorcery, but you can do as much as your mana can support in a turn. The level up ability uses "Level up counters".
- Lifelink*: Another static ability, this one means that every time you deal damage with a creature (damage of any kind), you gain as much life as you did in damage. It does not stack, so multiple instances are useless.
- Madness: This creates an alternate cost with a card. If you are required to discard and discard the card with madness, you may pay its madness cost instead, allowing you to cast a spell cheaper.
- "Mill": Another "unofficial" term, named after the first card do this (Mill Stone). When you are "milled", you are required to put a specific number of cards from your library into your graveyard.
- Overload: This is an alternate cost you may pay on a sorcery or instant. If you do, it applies to all creatures you could target (beneficial cards target yours, harmful ones only enemies) instead of just one target.
- Protection:* Protection grants a permanent protection from a specified color or from artifacts. Some creatures have protection at all times, or it might be an equipment, enchantment (aura), or an ability conferred for the turn by a spell card. In any case, the best way to remember how protection works is to remember this mnemonic device: DEBT (D= Cannot take damage from that source; E= Cannot be enchanted/equipped by that source ((If enchanted/equipped already, it falls off)); B= Cannot be blocked by creatures of that type; T= Cannot be targeted by spells/abilites of that type.
- Radiance: This ability of a card makes it that it affects not only the target, but all other creatures who share a color with the target, are affected by the spell.
- Reach*: This allows a creature without flying to block a creature with flying.
- Replicate: Spells with replicate have an additional cost you can pay to copy the spell for a second time. The cost is variable.
- Scavenge: Any time you can use a sorcery, you can activate scavenge if the card is in the graveyard. You pay the cost and exile the card, allowing you to put a specified number of +1/+1 counters on a creature.
- Shroud: Shroud is like hexproof, only nobody can target that creature.
- Soulbond: Soulbond is an ability that allows you to connect two creatures. When they are connected, they both gain an ability that either one without would not have. Some gain attack and toughness, others flying, or trample, or death touch, to name a few examples.
- Storm: When you cast a spell with storm, you may copy it once for how many spells you cast before it. If the spell is the third one cast this turn, you can have three instances of the spell occur.
- Trample:* Trample changes how damage works for a creature. When that creature is blocked, any damage that is in excess of the blocking creature(s) toughness goes overtop the defending creatures and can still do damage to the player and/or planeswalker. Trample with death touch is a deadly combo.
- Transform: This refers to flip cards. When the condition is met (trigger or activated ability), the card flips over, becoming a superior creature. Many cards of this nature are "werewolves".
- Undying: This is a special ability in that, when the creature dies (goes to the graveyard), it's ability is triggered. Once resolved, it returns to the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on top of it. If the creature dies with one or more +1/+1 counters on it, Undying does not trigger.
- Unleash: This is an ability you must choose to use at the time you summon the creature. If you do, it comes out with a +1/+1 counter on top of it, but in exchange, the creature cannot block.
- Vigilance*: Creatures with vigilance do not tap to attack. They still must be untapped to attack and block, but attacking does not require them to become tapped.
There may be some that I missed, but it it was a lot of work digging up this many. 0_0
The Stack
If you have trouble with figuring out "The Stack"--fret not, so do many other people. The stack can be a convoluted pain in the ass if you aren't used to figuring things out. As I explained above, "The Stack" is a zone of play all of its own, where the only things that can interact with it are other things that go on the stack. This has to do with organizing play, so that people cannot just throw cards out willy-nilly and then argue about whose works first and whose works last.
Here is what you need to know about the stack:
1. If it is a spell, it uses the stack (very rare exceptions exist)
2. If it is a non-mana ability, it uses the stack
3. Mana Abilities (tapping anything for mana) does not use the stack
4. Paying costs does not use the stack- if you are paying a cost, it cannot be responded to.
5. Flipping a morph card does not use the stack.
Most things use the stack. Before we go on with that discussion though, I will expand a little on what does no use the stack and how that applies.
Using mana abilities does not use the stack. This means, if it is your turn, you can tap a creature, an artifact, a land, or anything else that has a mana ability, to produce mana, without interference. This does not use the stack, the very act of doing so allows it to happen immediately. No one can stop you from acquiring mana. This means if a creature has an ability that says, "Sacrifice me and get X mana", a person cannot respond to you declaring you sacrifice him by trying to destroy him first.
That said, paying costs goes through instantly as well. This becomes important in similar cases to the above. An unknowledgeable player might try to respond to your sacrificing of a creature as part of a spell cost by first destroying it--they cannot do that. When declare you are going to play a spell, you must pay any associated costs before it even goes to the stack. Because of that, no one can respond to you paying a cost. You pay your costs before adding a spell to the stack.
As for morph cards- that's old stuff and rarely comes up anymore--moving on.
Another mnemonic device for you to remember:
APNAP
This means- "Active Player, Non-Active Player".
The active player is whose turn it is. As the active player, you have priority (the right to do something first) during each given step. What is important to remember is that as you move from one step to the next, even if you do not declare it, you are technically passing priority to the non-active player, giving them a chance to do something even if you do not. You might decide to go from your draw phase straight to combat, but before you can do that, you have to allow the person to decide if they want to do anything during that draw step and then the main phase, and then the pre-combat phase. They may choose to do something at a specific point as a spell might not work until that time, so remember- even when you are done, your opponent gets a chance to respond.
Now, let's say you do cast a spell. You declare it, pay for it, and put it on the stack- this is where any spell that has been paid for and legally cast will always go, short of something else saying otherwise. Once it is on the stack, the active player still has priority--you can decide to cast a spell in response to that one if you choose to do so. If you do not, you must pass priority to the non-active player. Now, they have an opportunity to respond to the spell by casting one of their own, if they have the ability and wish to do so. If they choose to cast a spell, it too goes on the stack.
As you cast a spell first, it went on the bottom of the stack--you can literally think of this as a stack or a pile. When the other person casts a spell, it goes "on top of the stack" or on top of the spell that was last cast. If they cast a spell and pass priority, you once again have the opportunity respond. If you do, your new spell will go on "top of the stack", on top of all other spells. Once you are done, you must pass priority. If the other person says they are through, the stack begins resolving.
Spells resolve in order of the top of the stack to the bottom- so the most recently cast to the first thing cast. It is like undoing your stack or pile- pulling one card off at a time.
Here is an example:
Active Player: I pay for and cast "Grizzly Bears". I pass priority.
Non-Active: I pay for and cast, "Cancel", targeting Grizzly Bears. I pass priority.
Active Player: I pay for and cast: "Counter-spell", targeting cancel. I pass priority.
Non-Active Player: I pass priority.
When both players pass priority, the stack resolves itself.
The last spell cast is counter-spell, targeting cancel. Counter spell resolves, and thus counters "cancel" (cancel is, well, cancelled). As cancel is sent to the graveyard without resolving, the stack moves on to Grizzly Bears. Grizzly bears resolves, and now enters the battlefield.
That, is how the stack works.
Hope this guide is helpful!
Posts
