Keyword Abilities

A keyword ability found on creatures. A creature dealt any amount of damage by a creature with deathtouch is destroyed. Deathtouch has no effect on players or planeswalkers.

A keyword ability found on creatures. Creatures with double strike deal their combat damage twice. When you reach the combat damage step, check to see if any attacking or blocking creatures have first strike or double strike. If so, an extra combat damage step is created just for them. Only creatures with first strike and double strike get to deal combat damage during this step. After that, the normal combat damage step happens. All other attacking and blocking creatures that survived, as well as the ones with double strike, deal combat damage during this second step.

Equipment is a subtype that appears on an artifact that can be attached to a creature. Most Equipment cards have the activated ability “equip” followed by a cost—for example, “Equip (2).” An equip ability can be activated only any time you could cast a sorcery. When you activate an equip ability, you choose a creature you control as its target. When the ability resolves, the Equipment artifact becomes attached to that creature. The creature is then “equipped.” The Equipment remains attached until it’s destroyed, or until the creature it’s attached to leaves the battlefield, or until you activate the equip ability again and move the Equipment to a new creature.

A keyword ability found on creatures. Creatures with first strike deal all of their combat damage before creatures without first strike or double strike. When you reach the combat damage step, check to see if any attacking or blocking creatures have first strike or double strike. If so, an extra combat damage step is created just for them.

Only creatures with first strike and double strike get to deal combat damage during this step. After that, the normal combat damage step happens. All other attacking and blocking creatures that survived, as well as the ones with double strike, deal combat damage during this second step.

A keyword ability found on creatures. A creature with flying can be blocked only by creatures with flying or reach.

A keyword ability found on creatures. A creature with haste isn’t affected by summoning sickness. It can attack as soon as it comes under your control. You can also activate its activated abilities with  in the cost right away.

A keyword ability found on creatures. When a creature you control has lifelink and deals damage, you simultaneously gain that much life.

A keyword ability found on creatures. A creature with reach can block a creature with flying. Note that a creature with reach can be blocked by any kind of creature.

A keyword ability found on creatures. Trample allows a creature to deal excess combat damage to the player it’s attacking, even if the creature is blocked. If you’re attacking with a creature that has trample and it is blocked, you have to assign its combat damage to the creatures blocking it first. If it destroys all of those creatures, then you can assign any excess damage to the player it’s attacking. If an attacking creature with trample is blocked, but there are no creatures blocking it when damage is assigned (for example, if you used a spell to destroy the blocking creature), then all of its damage is assigned to the player it’s attacking. Trample does not work on Planeswalkers, unless the creature has “Trample over planeswalkers”.

A keyword ability found on creatures. A creature with vigilance doesn’t tap to attack. Vigilance doesn’t allow a tapped creature or a creature that entered the battlefield this turn to attack. 

Aura is a subtype that appears on an enchantment that can be attached to a permanent. Each Aura has the keyword “enchant” followed by what it can be attached to—for example, “enchant creature,” “enchant land,” and so on. When you cast an Aura spell, you choose its target. When the Aura resolves, it’s put onto the battlefield attached to that permanent. The Aura stays there until it’s destroyed or until the permanent it’s attached to leaves the battlefield. If the permanent leaves the battlefield, the Aura card is put into your graveyard.

There are five types of basic lands: Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, and Forest. Any land with the Plains subtype has the intrinsic ability “: Add ”W (white mana). Similarly, Islands tap for U (blue mana), Swamps tap for B (black mana), Mountains tap for R (red mana), and Forests tap for G (green mana). If an effect refers to a “basic land card,” it’s referring to a card with the words “basic land” on its type line (basic is a supertype). Other lands are often referred to as “nonbasic lands.”

The five Magic colors are white, blue, black, red, and green. If a spell or ability tells you to choose a color, you must choose one of those five. A card’s color is determined by its mana cost. For example, a card that costs 1U is blue, and a card that costs RW is both red and white.

Lands and most artifacts are colorless. Colorless is not a color. If something tells you to choose a color, you can’t choose colorless.

Countering a spell or ability causes it to have no effect. If a spell is countered, it’s removed from the stack and put into its owner’s graveyard. Once a spell or ability starts to resolve, it’s too late to counter it. Lands aren’t spells, so they can’t be countered. 

Some spells and abilities tell you to put a counter on a permanent. The counter marks a change to the permanent that lasts for as long as it’s on the battlefield with the counter on it. A counter usually changes a creature’s power and toughness, or a Planeswalker’s loyalty. You can use anything you want as counters: many players find that glass beads and dice work best.

Damage reduces a player’s life total and destroys creatures. Attacking and blocking creatures deal damage equal to their power. Some spells and abilities can also deal damage. Damage can be dealt to creatures, players, and planeswalkers. Damage dealt to a player is subtracted from the player’s life total. If a creature is dealt damage equal to or greater than its toughness in a single turn, it is destroyed. Damage dealt beyond a creature’s toughness is “excess damage.” Damage dealt to planeswalkers is subtracted from the planeswalker’s loyalty. 

A keyword ability found on creatures. Creatures with defender can’t attack. 

When a permanent is destroyed, you move it from the battlefield to its owner’s graveyard. Creatures are destroyed when they have taken damage equal to or greater than their toughness. Many spells and abilities can also destroy permanents without dealing damage to them.

To discard, take a card from your hand and put it into your graveyard. If a spell or ability forces you to discard, you get to choose which card(s) to discard unless the spell or ability says another player chooses the cards or you have to discard “at random.” If you have more than seven cards in your hand as your turn ends, you have to discard until you have seven. 

Some spells and abilities can exile permanents on the battlefield or cards in other zones. Exiled cards are set apart from the rest of the game. You can’t interact with cards in exile unless an ability specifies otherwise.

Fight is a keyword action that causes two creatures to deal damage to each other equal to their power. When two creatures fight, each deals damage equal to its power to the other. For example, if your 3/3 creature fights an opponent’s 2/2 creature, your creature will take 2 damage, and the opponent’s creature will take 3 damage.

A keyword ability found on cards. A spell with flash can be cast any time you could cast an instant. 

A keyword ability found on instants and sorceries. A spell with flashback can be cast from the graveyard by paying its flashback cost. The spell’s effects will happen as usual. A spell cast using flashback will be exiled afterward, regardless of whether it resolves or is countered.

A keyword ability found on creatures, artifacts, and other permanents. An indestructible permanent can’t be destroyed by damage or by effects that say “destroy,” but it can still be put into the graveyard for other reasons—such as an effect that reduces its toughness to 0. 

Intimidate is a keyword ability on creatures. A creature with intimidate can only be blocked by artifact creatures and/or creatures that share a color with it. For example, a red creature with intimidate can only be blocked by artifact creatures and red creatures. 

Legendary is a supertype, so you’ll find it written on the type line before the card type. If a player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name at the same time, that player must choose one of those permanents to keep and immediately put the rest into their graveyard. Different players can control legendary permanents with the same name. All Planeswalkers are legendary, but you can control two different versions of the same Planeswalker at the same time (e.g. Jace, Mirror Mage and Jace, Arcane Strategist). 

A keyword ability found on creatures. A creature with menace can’t be blocked except by two or more creatures. 

Mill refers to putting cards from the top of a player’s library directly into their graveyard. When you “mill” a player, you take the top card(s) of their library and put them into their graveyard. This can be a strategy to win by making the opponent run out of cards.

At the beginning of a Magic game, you draw the top seven cards of your library. That’s your starting hand. If you don’t like your starting hand for any reason, you can take a mulligan. The choice to take a mulligan is made after the starting player is determined, but before doing anything else. To take a mulligan, shuffle your hand back into your library and draw a new hand of seven cards. If you are satisfied with that hand, put one card from it on the bottom of your library. If not, you can take another mulligan. You can take a mulligan as many times as you want, but you put one card on the bottom of your library for each mulligan you’ve taken this game. 

A card or token on the battlefield. Permanents can be artifacts, creatures, enchantments, or lands. Once a permanent is on the battlefield, it stays there until it’s destroyed, exiled, sacrificed, or otherwise removed according to the game rules. You can’t remove a permanent from the battlefield just because you want to, even if you control it.

Prowess is a triggered ability found on creatures. Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, creatures with prowess get +1/+1 until end of turn. Noncreature spells include artifacts, enchantments, instants, planeswalkers, and sorceries. 

Regenerate is an ability that allows a creature to avoid being destroyed. When a creature regenerates, it taps (if it's not already tapped), all damage marked on it is removed, and it is removed from combat. The next time the creature would be destroyed that turn, it isn’t destroyed. Instead, you apply the regenerate effect that was set up earlier.

If a spell or ability tells you to sacrifice a kind of permanent, choose one of your permanents of that type on the battlefield and put it into its owner’s graveyard (usually your graveyard, but some spells and abilities allow you to gain control of cards owned by an opponent). You can sacrifice only permanents you control. Sacrificing a permanent is different from destroying it. You can sacrifice a permanent only if a spell or ability tells you to, or if it’s part of a cost. 

A keyword action that allows a player to see the future! “Scry N” means you look at N cards from the top of your library. You can put any number of those cards on the bottom of your library, then you put the rest back on top of your library in any order.

All types of cards (except lands) are spells while you’re casting them. For example, Angler Turtle is a creature card. While you’re casting it, it’s a creature spell. When it resolves, it becomes a creature. Spells can only be cast during your main phase, except for instants, which can be cast anytime.

Some spells and abilities can create tokens. Tokens are always permanents, and they’re affected by all the rules, spells, and abilities that affect permanents. If one of your tokens leaves the battlefield, however, it moves to the new zone (such as your graveyard or your hand) and then immediately vanishes from the game. 

Ward is a keyword ability on creatures that provides protection against spells and abilities controlled by your opponents. If a creature with ward becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter that spell or ability unless the opponent pays an additional cost. The additional cost is specified as part of the ward ability, such as “Ward 2” requiring an additional payment of 2 mana.