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Card name
A card's name appears in its upper left corner.
Card pool
The cards you have available for building Constructed-format decks.
Your card pool includes all cards shown on the Deck Editor screen
when you select the My cards check box.
Card type
Every card is one of six types: artifact,
creature,
enchantment,
instant,
land,
or sorcery. A card's type is found under
its illustration.
Some cards also have a subtype, such as "Goblin" in "Creature
Goblin."
See also Subtype.
Casual play
Any Magic game that doesn't affect your Magic Online
rating.
You can begin a casual game by starting a new game in the Casual Play
room or by challenging another player.
See also Challenge.
Challenge
One way to start a two-player casual game in Magic Online.
See Challenge for more
information.
Choose one
When you see the phrase "Choose one " on a card, you have to choose
one option on the card when you play it. You can't change your mind and
choose something else later on, even if your first choice doesn't work
out.
Clan
A group of players who band together to participate in special clan
events and tournaments. You can create a new clan in the Clans room
or be invited to join a clan by that clan's captain. You can only be a
member of one clan at a time.
See Clans for more information.
Cleanup
step
The second (and last) step of the end phase. Three things happen during
the cleanup step:
Color
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 these five.
A card's initial color is set by its mana cost. For example,
if a card costs 
,
it's blue. If a card costs 
,
it's both blue and black. Since lands and artifacts have no colored mana
in their costs, they're colorless. Colorless isn't a color.
Colorless
A card with no color is colorless. Lands are colorless because they
have no mana cost. Artifacts are colorless because they have no colored
mana in their mana costs. A colorless permanent can be given a color by
an effect.
See also Color.
Combat
Attacking, blocking, and anything that happens only during the combat
phase.
See also Attack,
Block,
Combat
phase.
Combat damage
Damage dealt by creatures during the combat damage step. Damage from
creatures' abilities doesn't count as combat damage. For example, when
you play Prodigal Sorcerer's ability, it deals 1 damage. But when it attacks,
it deals 1 combat damage (because its power is 1).
Combat
damage step
The fourth step of the combat phase. This is when attacking and blocking
creatures deal their damage.
Combat
phase
The third phase of each turn. This is when attacking and blocking happens.
The combat phase has five steps:
Comes into play
When certain types of spells resolve, they come into play as permanents.
These types are artifacts, artifact creatures, creatures, enchantments,
and lands.
A lot of triggered abilities start with "When [something]
comes into play, . . ." This ability only triggers if the permanent actually
comes into play. If the spell is countered, it doesn't trigger at all.
Also, if you take control of a permanent your opponent controls, that doesn't
count as coming into play.
Some cards say they come into play tapped. These cards
don't enter play untapped and then become tapped; they're already tapped
by the time they're in play.
See also Triggered
ability.
Common
See Rarity.
Concede
You may concede a game or match to your opponent at any time. A conceded
game counts as a win for your opponent and as a loss for you.
See also Winning
the game.
Constructed
A play format in which players bring their own decks. Constructed decks
must contain a minimum of sixty cards. There is no maximum deck size. If
a player wishes to use a sideboard, it must contain exactly fifteen cards.
A player's deck and sideboard combined may not contain more than four of
any individual card (except basic lands).
The most common Constructed formats in Magic
Online are
Standard and Block
Constructed.
Magic Online players build Constructed decks
using the Deck Editor screen.
See also Deck
Editor, Sideboard.
Continuous effect
An effect that lasts for some duration. These are different from one-shot
effects, which just happen once.
You can tell how long a continuous effect lasts by reading
the spell or ability it came from. For example, it might say, "until end
of turn." If the continuous effect comes from a static ability, it lasts
as long as the permanent with the ability is in play.
See also Static
ability.
Control
You control spells you play and permanents that came into play on your
side. You also control abilities on permanents you control.
Only you can make decisions for things you control. If
you control a permanent, only you can play its abilities. Even if you put
an enchantment on your opponent's creature, you control the enchantment
and its abilities. For example, if you enchant your opponent's creature
with Regeneration ("
:
Regenerate enchanted creature.") your opponent can't pay
to regenerate the enchanted creature. Only you can.
Some spells and abilities let you gain control of a card.
Most of the time, this means the card will move from your opponent's side
to yours. But for enchantments attached to other cards, the controller
changes but the enchantment doesn't move. If you gain control of your opponent's
Regeneration, it stays on the same creature, but only you could play its
ability.
See also Controller.
Controller
The player who played a spell or ability. For permanents, the controller
is the player who played it unless another spell or ability changes who
controls it.
See also Control. Compare
Owner.
Converted mana cost
The total amount of mana in a card's mana cost, regardless of color.
For example, a card with a mana cost of 
has a converted mana cost of 5. A card with mana cost 
has a converted mana cost of 2.
Compare Mana cost.
Cost
A general term for what you pay to play a spell or an ability.
See Activation
cost, Mana cost.
Counter (noun)
A marker placed on a permanent, either modifying its characteristics
or interacting with an ability. For example, some creatures come into play
with a number of +1/+1 counters.
Counter (verb)
To cancel out a spell so it has no effect. Remember that spells exist
only on the stack. Once they leave the stack, they can't be countered.
Creature
A type of permanent that represents a person, animal, or monster that
you control. Creatures can attack your opponents and block attacking creatures.
Every creature has power and toughness, which you can find in the lower
right corner of the card. Many creatures also have abilities.
Creatures exist only while they're in play. In your hand,
library, and graveyard, they're creature cards. While you're playing them,
they're creature spells. Once they're in play, they're creatures.
You can play a creature spell only during one of your
main phases when the stack is empty.
Creature token
Some spells and abilities create creature tokens. These tokens are
considered creatures in every way, except that when a token creature leaves
play, it's removed from the game. Creature tokens are affected by all the
rules, spells, and abilities that affect creatures, but they're not "cards."
Creature type
This tells you what kind of creature a creature is, such as Goblin,
Elf, or Wall. You can find a creature's type in the middle of the card
after "Creature ." If a creature has multiple words after the dash, the
creature has each of those creature types.
Some spells and abilities affect all creatures with a
certain type. For example, Goblin King reads, "All Goblins get +1/+1 and
have mountainwalk." All creatures in play with the Goblin creature type
are affected by Goblin King's ability.
Some artifact creatures have a creature type, too.