Welcome to our definitive guide to Magic: The Gathering slang.

Whether you are new to Magic or a veteran player, the slang and terminology around the game is constantly evolving. This article is your guide to all the terms you might encounter at the table or online.

Gameplay

Cheat "In"

Playing a card, typically with a larger mana cost, without paying that cost

Example: Sneak Attack allows me to cheat Emrakul, the Aeons Torn into play.

Clock

How quickly you anticipate the game to end given the current board state

Example: A Rampaging Baloth on an empty board might represent a two turn clock

Durdle / Spinning Your Wheels

Taking game actions that don't progress the game in a meaningful way

Example: A player who fails to execute a specific strategy would be durdling as they cast multiple spells to generate mana and draw more cards that eventually lead nowhere.

Fizzle

A spell not resolving or a player attempting to combo off unsuccessfully

Example: If I bounce a targeted Creature in response to the burn spell, it will fizzle; a storm player drew through most of their deck but never found Tendrils of Agony and eventually fizzled

Goldfishing

Playing against a hypothetical opponent, like a goldfish in a bowl, to test your deck

Example: When you finish a draft, players will often draw a sample hand and play through a few hypothetical turns before committing to the final deck construction.

Hellbent

When a player has no cards in their hand, originating from the Hellbent ability, which strengthens a card if you have no other cards

See: Demon's Jester

Highlander

Any format in which you are only allowed to include one copy of any nonbasic Land. The name comes from the movie Highlander, it states "there can only be one."

Example: Commander is the most popular Highlander format.

Inevitability

A position where you will win if the game goes long if certain conditions do not change

Example: A burn deck with a Sulfuric Vortex in play has inevitability.

Kitchen Table

Referring to a casual game of Magic: The Gathering. The term comes from many players' first experience with Magic being played somewhere casual as opposed to a store or competitive event.

Pivot

The ability to shift your game plan in the middle of a match

Example: You draw a powerful card on your turn that might allow you to pivot from one role to another.

Poke / Ping

The act of dealing one damage or a very small amount of damage

Example: Zuran Spellcaster is a card that can ping any target.

Reach

A player's ability to conclude a game from a relatively stable board state

Example: A deck with a burn spell such as Fireblast would have reach.

Stabilize

The ability to recover control of a game after being behind

Example: If a control deck casts a Wrath of God against a Creature-based deck, they would have just stabilized the game.

Wincon

An abbreviation for win condition and how your deck is attempting to end a game

Example: The wincon of my combo deck is to resolve Thassa's Oracle with an empty library.

Decks & Strategies

Aggro

A deck that wants to win quickly, typically through damage

Example: A deck with Lightning Bolt and Goblin Guide would be considered Aggro.

Aristocrats

A Midrange deck focused around sacrificing Creatures, it's named after Falkenrath Aristocrat

Example: A typical Aristocrats deck might use Viscera Seer and Mayhem Devil to win the game.

Combo

A deck that wins via a specific interaction, typically a combination of two or more cards

Example: Splinter Twin and Deceiver Exarch is a combo that generates infinite Creatures with Haste.

Control

A deck that wants to slow the game down, control the board state and typically win with one threat in the late game

Example: A classic Control deck used Day of Judgement to clear the board, Sphinx's Revelation to gain life / draw cards, and Elspeth, Sun's Champion to finish the game.

Midrange

A deck with efficient threats, high adaptability, and individually powerful cards

Example: Modern Jund is a classic example of a Midrange deck that included, Tarmogoyf, Bloodbraid Elf, Thoughtseize and Lilliana of the Veil

Ponza

A deck that leverages cards like Stone Rain to destroy an opponents mana base, named after a beloved deep-fried Calzone of the same name

Prison / Stax

A Control deck that attempts to win the game by directly or indirectly shutting down your opponent's resources. The term comes from a vintage deck called The Four Thousand Dollar Solution, or $T4KS, that utilized lock and prison pieces like Smokestack

Example: Ensaring Bridge might lock your opponent out of attacking, and Sinkhole might entirely cut your opponent off from a color.

RDW

An acronym for "Red Deck Wins," a mono-Red Aggro strategy that combines cheap Creatures and burn spells to end the game quickly

Spellslinger

A deck that attempts to win by casting numerous efficient non-Creature spells in combination with effects that trigger off those spells

Example: Guttersnipe and Monastery Mentor are both popular pay offs for a spellslinger deck.

Stompy

A Creature-based strategy focused on big, typically Green, Creatures

Tempo

A Midrange deck focused on timing and efficiency to find opportunities to win

Example: A Dimir Tempo deck might try to attack with Psychic Frog each turn by protecting it with Counterspell and removing blockers with Fatal Push.

Tin Fins

A Combo deck that combines Renimate effects with Griselbrand, it's named after an episode of Sealab 2021 of the same name that features a fictional restaurant called Grizzlebee's.

Toolbox

A Midrange deck that combines situationally powerful cards and numerous ways to find them

Example: A Birthing Pod deck might find a Scavaging Ooze to deal with the graveyard or a Collector Ouphe to stop artifacts.

Typal

A deck that focuses on a specific Creature type

Example: A deck with Muxus, Goblin Grandee and Krenko, Mob Boss is a Goblin Typal deck.

White Weenie / Death & Taxes

A Creature-based strategy focused around small, often disruptive White Creatures that tax your opponent's resources. Death & Taxes references a classic saying that, "only two things in life are certain." Magic players expanded the saying by adding third certainty, White Weenie a deck filled with small White Creatures that showed up at every tournament regardless of what new cards were printed.

Example: Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Esper Sentinel are popular examples of Creatures in Death & Taxes.

Zoo

An Aggro deck that focuses on playing aggressively costed, often multicolor, Creatures

Example: A classic Modern Zoo deck utilized Kird Ape, Loam Lion, and Wild Nacatal in combination with Naya () Shocklands.

Combat & Board States

Alpha Strike / Flunge

The act of attacking with all your Creatures

Example: "I'm not sure if you're dead here, but I'm going to flunge and see what happens."

Board Stall

A state in which combat has locked up and neither player is incentivized to attack

Example: Commander games can often lead to board stalls where no one wants to attack.

Chump Block

Blocking with a Creature that will not trade to prevent damage

Example: I'm going to chump block your Grave Titan with my squirrel token.

Crack Back

The counterattack that can occur if you attack

Example: "If I attack with my flier, the crack back will be lethal."

Go Wide

Building a board state with many small Creatures

Example: "I drafted a bunch of token generators, I'm planning on going wide."

Swing

To attack

Example: "I'm just going to swing with the 2/2."

Trade

When Creatures kill each other in combat

Example: Flametongue Kavu trades with Eternal Witness in combat.

Types of Cards

Bear

A two-mana 2/2 Creature

See: Grizzly Bears

Burn

A card that deals direct damage

See: Lightning Bolt

Cantrip

A card that replaces itself by also drawing a card

See: Gitaxian Probe

Dork

A small Creature, often one attached to a mana producing ability, known more specifically as a mana dork

See: Llanowar Elves

Eggs

An Artifact that can be sacrificed to draw a card or gain mana

See: Darkwater Egg

Fixing

A card that provides improved access to colors

See: Tundra

French Vanilla

A Creature with only evergreen abilities

See: Serra Angel

Hate (Card)

A card that is particularly effective against specific strategies and colors

Example: Collector Ouphe is a hate card for artifacts.

Mana Rock

An Artifact that produces mana

See: Sol Ring

Mana Sink

A card that provides you with opportunities to spend excess mana

See: Kenrith, the Returned King

Vanilla

A Creature with no ability text

See: Hill Giant

With Legs / On a Stick

A card with a popular effect attached to it

Example: Angus Mackenzie is a Fog with legs; Seal of Cleansing is Disenchant on a stick.

Effects Named after Cards

Clone

An effect that copies a Creature

See: Clone

Exile

Removing a card from the game, specifically so it does not go to the graveyard

See: Exile

Flicker / Blink

Removing a card from the game then returning it to the battlefield

See: Flicker & Momentary Blink

Fog

An effect that prevents all combat damage for a turn

See: Fog

Loot

Drawing a card then discarding a card

See: Merfolk Looter

Mill

The act of putting the top card of a library directly into a graveyard

See: Millstone

Naturalize

An effect that destroys an Artifact or Enchantment

See: Naturalize

Ramp

A card or effect that accelerates your access to mana

See: Rampant Growth

Rummage

Discarding a card then drawing a card

See: Rummaging Goblin

Stone Rain

An effect that destroys a land

See: Stone Rain

Tutor

A card that searches your library

See: Demonic Tutor

Wheel (Card)

A card or effect that makes players discard and draw new hands

See: Wheel of Fortune

Resources

Blank

A card rendered useless

Example: An Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobiteunder my opponents control would blank your two toughness Creatures.

Brick

An unhelpful draw

Example: "I bricked when I drew a basic land on turn 15."

Card Advantage

Having more quantitative resources than an opponent, typically in the form of cards in hand

Example: Ancestral Recall is one of the best ways to gain card advantage.

Churn

The act of aggressively filtering through your deck through pseudo card draw effects

Example: Grizzly Salvage churns through your deck.

Decking

The act of drawing a card when you have none left in your library

Example: A Mill deck tries to win by having an opponent deck themselves.

Topdeck

A card drawn for the turn, or a state in which a player is reliant on their next card draw

Example: If two players were hellbent, they would be in Top Deck mode.

Virtual Card Advantage

Having more qualitative resources than an opponent, often in the form of disrupting or negating an opponent's resources

Example: Ophiomancer can produce an effective blocker each turn and thus providing its controller with virtual card advantage.

2 for 1

Trading one card for two of an opponent's cards, creating card advantage

Example: Arc Lightning would be a 2 for 1 if it killed a 1/1 and a 2/2 Creature.

Interaction

Bounce

The act of returning something to a player's hand

See: Unsummon

Combat Trick

An Instant that protects or grows a Creature during combat to make the outcome more favorable

See: Giant Growth

Hard Removal

An unconditional and permanent form of removal

See: Path to Exile

Spot Removal

Single target removal

See: Doomblade

Mass Removal

A card or effect that removes all Creatures from the battlefield. Sometimes, you'll see this called a board wipe, or Wrath.

See: Wrath of God

Soft Removal

Conditional and/or temporary removal

See: Pacifism

Tax

An effect or ability that makes spells cost more

See: Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Draft Terms

Archetype

A supported draft strategy.

Bomb

An extremely powerful card in a draft environment often capable of winning the game on its own

Example: Grave Titan was a bomb in M11 Limited.

BREAD

Acronym for Bombs, Removal, Evasion, Aggro & Duds, a common draft strategy for newer players

Cutting

Drafting cards of a specific color to disincentivize other players from choosing those colors during a draft

Example: If I only draft Red cards in my first pack, I would cut the players to my left off the color red.

Hate Draft

Drafting a card that you can't play but don't want to play against

Example: If I was a White Weenie deck, I might hate draft a Toxic Deluge from a pack if there were no other cards in my color available.

P1P1

Shorthand for pack one pick one, meaning the first card you pick in a draft

Signal

Info about what colors are open

Example: If I saw Wrenn and Six wheel around the table, I would take that as a signal that those colors were open.

Signpost

A card in each draft environment that informs players about available strategies

Example: Stormcatch Mentor is a signpost card that an Izzet spellslingers is an available strategy.

Splash

Including a small number of off color cards in your deck

Example: If my deck was primarily Blue/Red but included one powerful White card, I would be splashing for White.

Staying Open

The act of waiting as long as possible to commit to specific colors and strategies during a draft

Wheel (Draft)

A card that you pass in a draft that is eventually passed back to you later in the draft

Example: If there are two cards in a pack that I want for my deck, I would draft one and hope to wheel the other.

Commander Terms

Archenemy (Commander)

The state at which one player becomes the biggest threat and other players align themselves to defeat them. The name is taken from the Magic format of the same name that pits three players against one.

Battlecruiser

A slower deck that is focused on building up resources to cast big Creatures and splashy spells and typically attempt to win with one or two big combat steps

Example: Zacama, Primal Calamity is a popular example of a Battlecruiser Commander, that costs a lot, untapped your mana, and does big, splashy things.

cEDH

A highly optimized and competitive version of Commander that prioritizes winning over social gameplay, currently categorized as Bracket 5 in the Commander Bracket system

EDH

An abbreviation of Elder Dragon Highlander, the original title of the Commander format

Group Hug

A deck that is less focused on winning and more focused on "helping" other players at the table

Example: Glunch, the Bestower is a popular Group Hug Commander.

Group Slug

A deck that tries to win by damaging each opponent equally

Example: Purphoros, God of the Forge is a popular Group Slug Commander.

Kingmaking

The act of helping someone win when you can no longer win

Example: I would be Kingmaking if both of my opponents are able to win through combat damage on their next turn and I choose to Fog one of them.

Pillow Fort

A deck that focuses on building up defensive resources to survive as long as possible and let your opponents kill each other

Example: Propoganda and Ghostly Prison are popular cards in a Pillow Fort deck.

Politics

Negotiations at the table that influence the play patterns of your opponents

Example: I would be engaging in politics if I convince an opponent to attack someone else at the table.

Rule 0

A pre-game talk focused on setting expectations about the types of experiences and cards players are interested in having prior to deck selection

Sandbag

Holding cards instead of playing them to avoid attention

Superfriends

A control deck that includes a high number of Planeswalkers as a wincon

Example: Pramikon, Sky Rampart is a popular Superfriends Commander because it limits the number of Creatures that can attack your planeswalkers during combat.

Voltron

The act of suiting up one Creature with Equipment and Enchantment auras as a means to win through commander damage

Example: Uril, the Mistalker is considered one of the original Voltron Commanders, when paired with cards like Ethereal Armor and Rancor.

Competitive Terms

Grinder

A nickname for a player who frequently participates in tournaments

Johnny / Jenny

A nickname for a player who enjoys combos and creative deck design

Meta

A shortened version of metagame, which represents the expected field of decks at a given event

Mirror Match

The act of playing against the same deck as yours at a tournament

Netdeck

The act of copying the decklist you found online as opposed to building your own

Rogue Deck

An unexpected deck choice at a tournament

Spike

A nickname for a highly competitive player

Tech

A smart card choice given a specific meta

Example: If I expected to face a lot of Storm decks at a tournament, Deafing Silence would be a good piece of tech.

Timmy / Tammy

A nickname for a player who enjoys big splashy plays

Slang

EV

Abbreviation of Expected Value, usually attributed to your expected return on investment for entering a tournament or opening a sealed product

Face / Dome

Assigning damage directly to an opponent

Example: "I'm going to send Lightning Bolt to the face."

F6

The state at which a player is passing their priority. This term was taken from the F6 shortcut on Magic Online that passes priority.

Glass Cannon

A strategy that is extremely powerful but fragile

God Hand

The perfect opening hand

High Roll

A very lucky draw or series of events

Jank

Something that is unoptimized but fun

Low Roll

A very unlucky draw or series of events

Mana Flood

Having too much mana

Mana Screw

Having too little mana

Nonbo

Cards that work poorly together, as opposed to a combo

Nut Draw

The best possible draw in a given situation

Salt

Player frustration

Scoop

The act of conceding the game

Tilt

Playing worse due to frustration

Ultimate

A Planeswalkers final ability

WotC

Abbreviation for Wizards of the Coast

Yard / Bin

The graveyard

Color Combinations

• Abzan : White, Black & Green
• Azorius : White & Blue
• Bant : Green, White & Blue
• Boros : Red & White
• Dimir : Blue & Black
• Esper : White, Blue & Black
• Golgari : Black & Green
• Grixis : Blue, Black & Red
• Gruul : Red & Green
• Izzet : Blue & Red
• Jeskai : Blue, Red & White
• Jund : Black, Red & Green
• Mardu : Red, White & Black
• Naya : Red, Green & White
• Orzhov : White & Black
• Rakdos : Black & Red
• Selesnya : Green & White
• Simic : Green & Blue
• Sultai : Black, Green & Blue
• Temur : Green, Blue & Red
• WUBRG: An acronym representing all five colors in Magic: The Gathering - (W)hite, bl(U)e, (B)lack, (R)ed & (G)reen

Last Updated by: Adam Melfa.