Magic iscomplicated. Even if you master all the rules (ha), the social nature of thegame has spawned an ever-growing network of slang, jargon, and shorthand. Like the Blob, the words keep piling up and consuming what would otherwise be coherent sentences. If you’re a newer player, all this wordplay might scare you. Maybe you wet your pants in fear when you’re at a prerelease and an opponent says, “I chump with my hatebear, tap out, and ping your mana dork.” Well good news! You can stop bringing extra pants, as my article today is filled with all the key technical terms you may encounter in the Magic world.
Aggro – adjective, noun – A deck archetype that involves playing creatures and attacking with them in order to end the game as quickly as possible.
Alpha Strike – noun – To attack with all your creatures.
Bear – noun – Any 2/2 creature for two mana. Named for Grizzly Bears.
Beatstick – noun – A large creature whose job is to attack for lots of damage.
Board – noun – The battlefield. Can be used with a possessive to refer to the cards a player controls on the battlefield (Let’s gang up on Spike because her board is filled with good creatures.)
Bomb – noun – In limited formats, an amazing card that will greatly increase your chances of winning.
Bounce – verb – To return a card to its owner’s hand. Super Bounce is sometimes used to refer to the act of returning a card to the top of its owner’s library instead.
Broken – adjective – A card is broken if it’s overpowered in a given format. When a card is obviously broken, the exaggerated form Bah-roken is often used.
Burn – adjective, noun, verb – A Burn deck uses lots of (usually Red) cards that deal damage directly to a player in order to win as fast as possible. To burn a creature or player is to cast one of these spells on it.
Cantrip – noun, verb – A spell that draws a card in addition to its effect. Also used to refer to that action.
Characteristic Race – noun – A small, humanoid race that’s representative of a color’s philosophies (Merfolk and Elves, for example.)
Chase Rare – noun – A sought-after card that causes people to buy lots of booster packs in hopes of opening the card. The advent of the mythic rarity also means Chase Mythic is a thing.
Chump Block – verb – To block with a creature knowing it’s just going to die. Often just shortened to Chump with [card].
Combo – adjective, noun – A deck archetype that relies on a tight synergy of a few cards to win out of nowhere. A Combo Piece is a card that is used in the combo.
Commander – noun – Casual format that builds 100-card singleton decks around a legendary creature. Learn more here.
Control – adjective, noun – A deck archetype looking to generate card advantage and remove threats in order to win a long game by playing one or two powerful cards.
Crack – verb – To open a booster pack (Crack a pack.)
Cube – noun – A limited format played from a predetermined card pool. This card pool is referred to as the Cube.
Curve – noun, verb – Sequencing of plays based on the plan of playing a land every turn (Playing a one-drop on turn one, a three-drop on turn three, etc.) To curve out nicely is to succeed in this plan.
Decking – verb – To deck someone is to make them lose for not having any cards in their library when they try to draw.
Dome – noun – Used to refer to a player, usually in the context of burn spells (I Lightning Bolt you for three to the dome.)
Draft – noun – A limited format where a pack is opened, a card is selected, and the pack is passed to the next player. This is done until everyone has picked cards out of three packs. Learn more here.
[number]-Drop – noun – Used to refer to a card based on its converted mana cost (A two-drop costs two mana.)
Dual Land – noun – A land that can tap for two different colors of mana. A land that can tap for three different colors is known as a Tri Land.
Durdle – verb – To prolong a game through defensive play in order to reach the long game.
EDH – noun – Acronym for Elder Dragon Highlander, the original name for the Commander format.
Engine – noun – A card that repeatedly trades one resource for another (For example, a card that lets you pay life to draw cards.)
Fatty – noun – A creature with high power and toughness.
Fetch Land – noun – A land that can be sacrificed to “fetch” a land from your library and put it onto the battlefield.
Flicker – verb – To exile a card and return it to the battlefield, either immediately or at the end of the turn.
Gas – noun – Having gas means you have a lot of cards in your hand that will help you win the game.
Group Hug – noun – A multiplayer deck archetype focused on helping other players rather than winning the game itself.
Hate – noun – Hate cards are designed to attack specific strategies. Hatebear refers to a small creature that has a hate ability.
Iconic Race – noun – A large creature printed at rare and mythic rare that epitomizes a color’s philosophy. The five iconic races are Angel, Sphinx, Demon, Dragon, and Hydra.
Janky – adjective – A janky deck is clunky and doesn’t work well. A janky card is bad, difficult to use, and often just junk.
Legacy – noun – Format that includes almost every card ever printed. You can learn more here.
LGS – noun – Acronym for local game store. This is where you buy and play Magic.
Man Land – noun – Any land that can become a creature.
Mana Dork – noun – Any creature that can add mana to your mana pool.
Mana Fixing – noun – A card that helps you get access to more colors of mana, not necessarily more mana.
Mana Rock – noun – Any artifact that can add mana to your mana pool.
Mana Screw – noun – When you don’t draw enough lands or lands of the wrong color to play your spells.
Midrange – adjective, noun – A deck archetype that balances efficient and aggressive creatures with removal and card advantage methods. Midrange decks are flexible and can apply pressure while controlling the opponent’s options.
Mill – verb – To force a player to put the top cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard. Self-mill is when you do this to yourself.
Modern – noun – Format that includes all cards from 8th Edition to the present that were once legal in Standard. You can learn more here.
Netdeck – verb – To build a deck exactly like one you saw on the Internet. Usually a derogatory term, even though the prevalence of Internet inspiration in this day and age is perfectly fine.
___ On a Stick – noun – Refers to a creature with an ability (usually an enter-the-battlefield trigger) that mimics a sorcery (Shriekmaw is Terror on a stick.)
Pauper – noun – Format that is restricted to only cards that were printed at the common rarity. Popular on Magic Online. You can learn more here.
Ping – verb – To deal a small amount of damage (almost always 1) to another creature using your own creature’s ability. Creatures that can do this are known as Pingers.
Playset – adjective, noun – Having four of a card, from the limit imposed during deck construction.
Poop – verb – The action of putting creature tokens onto the battlefield, usually by another permanent (I’ll poop out three tokens with Elspeth, Sun’s Champion.)
Pop – verb – Shorthand for sacrificing a permanent (I’ll pop my Simic Cluestone to draw a card.)
Pump – verb – To give a creature +N/+N, either temporarily or for good.
Ramp – noun, verb – A deck archetype that involves tutoring for lands in order to accelerate mana production. This extra mana is used to play powerful cards turns earlier than normal. Also the action itself of tutoring for these lands.
Removal – noun – Cards that remove permanents from the battlefield.
Sac – verb – Shorthand for sacrifice.
Scoop – verb – To concede a game, after the act of scooping all your cards off the table in one motion.
Sealed – noun – A limited format in which you open six booster packs and build a deck out of the cards you open and any number of basic lands. You can learn more here.
Shock Land – noun – A cycle of ten dual lands with basic land types that can enter the battlefield untapped if you pay 2 life (the equivalent of casting Shock on yourself). They are listed here.
Splash – verb – To add a small amount of another color to your deck in order to run a handful of specific cards. Usually done in limited to fill a hole in your deck.
Standard – noun – Format that currently includes the last two-ish years of expansions. Soon, Standard’s rotation schedule shifts to include three blocks total while rotating twice a year instead of just once. You can learn more here.
Sweep – verb – To destroy all of one kind of permanent on the battlefield, but usually referring to creatures. Cards that do this are known as Sweepers.
Swing – verb – To attack with a creature.
Tapped Out – noun – When a player has no access to mana because all their mana-producing cards are tapped, they are referred to as being tapped out.
Tiny Leaders – noun – A casual format that builds 50-card singleton decks around a legendary creature. All cards in the deck must have a converted mana cost of three or less. You can read more about it here.
Topdeck – verb – To draw the exact card you need at the exact right time. Topdeck Mode refers to the point in the game where you have no hand except for the one card you draw at the beginning of your turn.
Tuck – verb – To remove a card by putting it on the bottom of its owner’s library or by shuffling it into its owner’s library.
Tutor – noun, verb – To search your library for a card and put it into another zone, almost always your hand. Cards that do this are called Tutors.
Ultimate – noun – A planeswalker’s last ability, which is usually the most powerful one.
Vanilla – adjective – A creature is vanilla if it has no abilities. French Vanilla creatures have a basic ability like flying or trample. Virtual Vanilla creatures have an ability that triggers once but then doesn’t affect the game.
Vintage – noun – A format where almost no cards are banned. Some cards are restricted to only allow one copy in a deck. You can learn more here.
Voltron – noun – A deck archetype that involves playing a bunch of Auras and Equipment onto one creature in order to make it bigger, protect it, and attack with it.
Weenie – noun – A deck archetype that tries to attack with a swarm of very small creatures, usually 1/1’s and some 2/2’s.
Yard – noun – Shortcut for graveyard.
Well, so one said it was easy to learn a whole subculture of slang. Magic is a game full of words, from card text to game actions to the deepest lore. It’s no wonder that so many words have been built up around the game over the years (and this list leaves off a whole bunch of terms that aren’t really used anymore!) I’d like to encourage anyone who has a word to add to this list to reblog and tack it on!
Until next time, planeswalkers, may your bomby beatsticks always swing to the dome.
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