MTG Glossary

A spell that destroys, exiles, or otherwise removes most or all creatures (and sometimes other permanents) in play, resetting the board state. Common in slower control decks and a key tool against wide, aggressive boards.

Competitive Elder Dragon Highlander: an optimized, high-power subset of the Commander format built around fast, resilient combos and efficient interaction, played with the explicit goal of winning rather than casual multiplayer fun.

A specific card in a set valuable or sought-after enough that collectors specifically buy product hoping to pull it, driving box-opening demand independent of that card's actual gameplay power level.

A singleton, 100-card multiplayer format built around one legendary creature (or planeswalker) that defines the deck's color identity and sits in a dedicated 'command zone.' The most-played way to enjoy Magic casually as of 2026, and the main format Wizards designs precon products around.

Shorthand for 'enters the battlefield,' the trigger condition on abilities that fire the moment a permanent comes into play, such as a creature that draws a card or deals damage when it enters.

A keyword ability that lets a card be cast at instant speed, i.e. any time a player could cast an instant, including during an opponent's turn. Flash creatures and spells are prized for ambushing opponents and holding up interaction without losing tempo.

Formats where players build a deck on the spot from a fixed pool of cards opened at the table, either by drafting packs pick-by-pick or opening sealed product. Tests raw card evaluation and deckbuilding skill more than a prebuilt constructed deck.

The distribution of a deck's cards by mana cost, usually visualized as a bar chart from 1 mana up to 6+. A smooth curve weighted toward cheap spells lets a deck reliably do something on every turn instead of flooding out on expensive cards.

A nonrotating constructed format that includes every card printed from the Eighth Edition/Mirrodin era onward, giving it a much deeper and more stable card pool than Standard.

Wizards of the Coast's official free-to-play digital client for Magic, supporting Standard, Historic/Explorer, and Limited play with its own economy separate from paper card collections.

The process of shuffling an opening hand back into the library and drawing a new one. Under the London Mulligan rule, a player draws a fresh 7 each time but puts one additional card on the bottom of the library per mulligan taken.

Physical, printed Magic cards played at a table, as distinct from digital clients like MTG Arena. Paper is where the secondary market, local game stores, and most Commander play still live.

Wizards of the Coast's top-level invitational competitive circuit, where the strongest qualified players compete in high-stakes constructed and Limited events that shape the broader tournament metagame.

Effects that generate extra mana or put additional lands into play, letting a player cast bigger spells ahead of schedule. Central to green strategies and most Commander decks, which need enough mana to cast expensive singleton bombs.

Any spell or ability that destroys, exiles, bounces, or otherwise neutralizes an opposing permanent, most often a creature. Efficient removal (low mana cost relative to what it answers) is one of the most valuable resources in constructed formats.

The likelihood that a card's secondary-market price will drop because Wizards reprints it in a new set, Secret Lair, or Commander product, increasing supply. A core concept for anyone buying singles as a long-term hold rather than to play immediately.

A direct-to-consumer product line of alternate-art reprints and occasional new cards, sold in limited drops outside the normal set-release calendar. A frequent source of reprint risk for cards that were previously scarce.

The rotating constructed format that only allows cards from a defined recent window of sets (roughly the last two to three years), refreshed as new sets enter and older ones rotate out. The primary format Wizards designs new Standard-legal sets to support.

The advantage gained by proactively developing board presence and pressure while forcing an opponent to react, as opposed to trading resources evenly. A tempo play might not be the most 'efficient' card individually, but it costs the opponent a turn to answer.

The last-in-first-out zone where spells and abilities wait to resolve. Because the stack resolves top-down, the most recently cast spell or activated ability always resolves first, which is why responses can 'fizzle' or change the outcome of something already on the stack.

The single-elimination bracket stage of a tournament that begins once Swiss rounds conclude, taking the eight highest-ranked players or teams. A deck's 'top 8 rate' at recent events is a common shorthand for how strong it currently is in the metagame.

Wizards of the Coast's branding for Magic sets built around licensed non-Magic intellectual property, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Marvel, The Hobbit, and Star Trek in the 2026 schedule. These crossovers pull in collectors from outside the core Magic audience.