Rules Q&A and FAQ

[BlackJester]

Table of Contents

{W} How-to Play
   ⚫Beginning/ending the game
   ⚫Areas of play
   ⚫Paying costs
   ⚫Types of cards
{U} Parts of a turn
{B} Timing and The Stack
{R} Keywords
   ⚫Evergreen keywords
   ⚫Keyword actions
   ⚫Multiple Instances
{G} Frequently Asked Questions
{X} Useful Links

[Dudecore]

Beginning/ending the game
^{Basic rules copied from Wikipedia}

Each player uses his or her own deck to play the game. In most formats, a deck must have a minimum of 60 cards; there is no maximum deck size. With the exception of basic lands, only four cards with the same name can be in a deck. Certain formats have exceptions or additional limitations to the above rules. In tournaments, players may be allowed the use of a fifteen card sideboard. Sideboard cards can be swapped for cards in the main deck in between games against the same opponent.

At the beginning of a game, each player shuffles his or her deck. Players then decide who will start, using any mutually agreeable method (flipping a coin, for example). Each player then draws seven cards from his or her library to form his or her starting hand. In turn order, each player may then decide to mulligan; that player shuffles his or her hand and library together and draws a new hand of one less card. A player can do this all the way down to a zero-card hand if he or she wishes, drawing one less card each time. In multiplayer games, players can mulligan for free one time, drawing seven cards a second time. Any further mulligans draw one card fewer each time, as normal.

A player wins the game by eliminating all opponents. Players typically begin the game with 20 life and lose when any of the following conditions are met:

   ⚫That player has 0 or fewer life
   ⚫That player is required to draw a card but has no cards left in his or her library
   ⚫That player has 10 or more poison counters (although poison cards are not printed very frequently)
   ⚫Specific cards may also dictate (or prevent) other ways of winning or losing the game

Areas of play
^{Basic rules copied from Wikipedia}

At any given time, every card is located in one of the following "zones":

Library: The portion of the player's deck that is kept face down and is normally in random order (shuffled). When drawing a card, it is always the top card of the library. This is often erroneously refereed to as a players deck. However, the rules of Magic state that all cards in play (on the battlefield), in a players hand, in the graveyard, exiled by any means, and even in the sideboard technically make up the players "deck."

Hand: A player's hand of cards that can be played. They are kept hidden from other players. If a player has more than seven cards in hand at the end of his or her turn, any extras must be discarded.

Battlefield: The zone where permanents are placed and stay until otherwise removed. (See: Types of cards) Unlike other zones, the battlefield is shared by all players.

Graveyard: A player's discard pile. When a card on the battlefield is destroyed, a card is discarded from hand, or after a single-use card is used, it is put in its owner's graveyard. These cards are face up, and can be examined by any player at any time.

The stack: This is the place for spells and abilities that have been cast or played, but have not yet resolved. While there are any spells or abilities on the stack, no player may play any spells that are not instants or allowed to be played as instants. This zone is also shared by all players. see: timing and the stack. Playing a land does not use the stack.

Exile: Cards that have been exiled by specific effects wind up here. Unless a card says otherwise, cards in this zone are face-up. Comparatively few cards and abilities affect cards in the exile zone.

Command: Used mainly in some variant formats of play, cards that have a special status or abilities within the game are kept here. Examples are the "scheme" cards used in Archenemy or "plane" cards used for a Planechase game. Cards in the Command Zone can be affected by virtually nothing that affects cards in the other zones.

Paying costs
^{Basic rules copied from Wikipedia}

Tapping and untapping
Some spells or abilities require the player to {T} a permanent as part of their cost. To indicate that a card in play has been tapped, it is turned sideways. An ability or spell that requires tapping cannot be used if the permanent is already tapped. Furthermore, a tapped creature cannot be declared as an attacker or blocker.

Instead of a cost, tapping can also be the effect of a spell or ability. In such a case, it makes no difference if that permanent was already tapped. A creature that attacks also gets tapped, unless it has vigilance, but a defending creature does not. Unless stated otherwise, tapping does not stop continuous abilities (e.g. enchantments or equipments) or triggered abilities from taking effect, nor does it disallow the use of abilities that do not require tapping.

At the beginning of each player's turn, that player untaps all cards he or she controls and can be tapped again as normal.

Mana
When a card that can produce mana is tapped for mana, that mana is put in his or her "mana pool". There are five colors of mana: white, blue, black, red and green. Mana can also be colorless.

Mana in the mana pool can be used to pay costs. For example, a player plays a {Swamp}, then taps that swamp to add {B} to his/her mana pool. Then, he/she uses that mana to cast {Dark Ritual}. Dark Ritual adds {B}{B}{B} to that player's mana pool. He/she then uses {B}{B} black mana to cast {Night's Whisper}, which costs {1} generic and {B} mana ({1}{B}). The player has now used {B}{B} of the {B}{B}{B} mana in his/her mana pool. The one left over is "floating," meaning it can be used any time during the remainder of the phase.

Mana costs and colors
Most cards other than lands have a mana cost. This is the amount of mana that must be spent to cast that card as a spell. Each mana symbol in the top right corner of the card represents one mana of that color that must be paid. A number in a gray circle next to the mana symbols represents how much additional generic mana must be paid; this additional mana can be of any color or colorless. For example, the cards {Underworld Dreams}, {Hypnotic Specter}, {Warpath Ghoul} and {Whispersilk Cloak} all cost three mana. However, the first card requires three black mana, while the last can be paid for with three mana of any color or combination of colors. The middle two cards require two and one mana, respectively, that must be black; the remainder can be any color. Note that the first three cards are black, but Whispersilk Cloak is colorless.

Some cards may require their owner to pay mana of two or more colors. These cards are multicolored. Some multicolored cards also use hybrid mana, which can be paid with one of two different colors. For example, the card {Golgari Guildmage} can be cast by spending either two black, two green, or one black and one green mana. Some cards have costs which can be paid with any color of mana, but are cheaper when a color requirement is met. For example, {Beseech the Queen} costs either three black mana, two black and two other, one black and four other, or six mana of any color. In all cases, a card's color is determined by the mana symbols in its cost, and not by the specific mana used to cast it.

Abilities
There are three main types of abilities that cards on the battlefield, or "permanents," may have: activated abilities, triggered abilities, and static abilities.

Activated abilities are abilities of a card that are always written in the form "{Cost}: {Effect}". Paying the cost allows a player to produce the effect. Costs may include paying mana, tapping the card, discarding cards, or other things. Like instants, these abilities can be played at nearly any time during the game (see: timing and the stack). Activated Abilities, like instants, go on the stack.

Triggered abilities look for a particular event, time, or game state, and then produce an effect when that occurs. These abilities contain a trigger condition (which will use one of the words "when", "whenever", or "at"), usually at the start of the ability, and then an effect. Whenever the trigger condition is met, these abilities are automatically "triggered", then go on the (stack) and resolve like other spells and abilities. The card may also lay out additional conditions that must be met for the effect to occur (using the word "if"). Note that abilities starting with "as" or "if" are not triggered abilities and therefore do not use the stack. If multiple triggered abilities' conditions are met at the same time, those controlled by the active player (the player whose turn it is) are put on the stack first. Each player chooses the order in which his or her triggered abilities are put on the stack.

Static abilities are general effects that alter cards on the battlefield, or the rules of the game. If an ability is not activated or triggered, it is static. These abilities are always "on". Static abilities only work while the card is on the battlefield, unless otherwise stated or if the ability only makes sense if it applies from a different zone. For example, a card that refers to casting itself from the graveyard will only work from the graveyard; one that refers to casting any other card from the graveyard will not. A static ability takes effect as soon as the card enters the battlefield. Once the card leaves the battlefield, the ability stops working. Static abilities never use the stack, although they may change the game state and trigger triggered abilities.

Types of cards
^{Basic rules copied from Wikipedia}

All objects that remain on the battlefield are called permanents. Types of permanents include lands, creatures, enchantments, artifacts, and planeswalkers. In contrast, sorceries and instants go to the graveyard immediately after they are used.

Land cards tap to produce mana that is used to cast spells and activate abilities. They cost no mana to play; however, a player may play no more than one land per turn, and only during the main phase of his or her own turn. There are five types of basic lands, one for each color. These lands can each be tapped to produce one mana of the appropriate color. Other lands are non-basic and may produce other combinations or amounts of mana, or may have other abilities. Lands are not spells and cannot be countered. Lands are colorless, regardless of what colors of mana they may produce. Playing a land does not use the stack and therefore occurs immediately, with no way for any player to stop it. Players are allowed to have any number of basic lands in a deck, but nonbasic lands follow the usual restriction of four copies of any one card per deck.

Creatures
Creatures represent people or beasts that are summoned to the battlefield to attack opposing players and defend their controller from the attacks of enemy creatures. They normally cannot attack or use an ability with the "tap symbol" on the first turn they enter the battlefield. This is known as "summoning sickness." Creatures have two values that represent their strength in combat, printed on the lower right-hand corner of the card. The first number is the creature's power, the amount of damage it deals in combat. The second number is its toughness; if it receives that much damage in a single turn, the creature is destroyed and placed in the graveyard.

Creatures usually have one or more creature types, located after the word "creature" in the type line. Creature types are simply markers and have no inherent abilities; for example, having the Bird type does not automatically give a creature the "flying" ability. Some non-creature cards have the "Tribal" type, which allows them to have creature types without being creatures themselves.

Enchantments
Enchantments represent persistent magical effects; they are spells that remain on the battlefield and alter some aspect of the game.

Some enchantments are attached to other cards on the battlefield (often creatures); these are known as Auras. They describe what they can be attached to in their "Enchant <something>" ability. For example, an Aura with "Enchant green creature" can only be attached to a green creature. If the card an Aura is attached to leaves the battlefield, or stops matching the Enchant ability, the Aura goes to the graveyard.

Early in Magic, there was a subset of enchantments known as "World Enchantments" that effected all players equally (for example, forcing them to play with their top card of their library revealed). Now, such enchantments need not carry the "World" designations. Later, Tribal Enchantments were introduced, as were Curses, enchantments that targeted one player specifically.

Artifacts
Artifacts represent magical items, animated constructs, pieces of equipment, or other objects and devices. Like enchantments, artifacts remain on the battlefield until something removes them. Many artifacts are also creatures; artifact creatures may attack and block as other creatures, and are affected by things that affect creatures.

Some artifacts are Equipment. Equipment cards enter the battlefield just like any other artifact, but may be attached to creatures using their Equip ability. This ability may only be used at the same time a player would be able to play a sorcery (i.e. only during the main phase of the player who controls it). The player who controls the Equipment pays the Equip cost and attaches it to a creature he or she also controls, unattaching it from any creature it was already attached to. In this way, the Equipment may be "unequipped" from a creature by paying the Equip cost and moving it to another creature. However, it may not be "unequipped" by choosing no creature; if for any reason the Equip ability cannot move the Equipment, it remains attached to its current creature. Like Auras, if control of the equipped creature changes, control of the Equipment does not change, nor is it unequipped. Unlike Auras, if an equipped creature is destroyed or otherwise leaves the battlefield, the Equipment stays on the battlefield unattached to anything; its controller can still attach it to a different creature by activating the Equip ability again. You can only equip equipment to creatures you control.

Planeswalkers
Planeswalkers are extremely powerful spellcasters that can be called upon for aid. According to Magic lore, the player is a "planeswalker," a wizard of extraordinary power who can travel ("walk") between different realms or universes ("planes"); as such, planeswalker cards are meant to represent scaled-down versions of other players, with their decks represented by the card's abilities, and originally were designed to move through a roster of effects without player control, as though they had a mind of their own. Each planeswalker has a planeswalker type, which is a truncated version of his or her name. Only one planeswalker of each type may be on the battlefield at one time. If two planeswalkers with the same type are on the battlefield, both are put into their owner's graveyards.

Planeswalkers' abilities are based on their loyalty, which is tracked with counters. The number printed in the lower right corner indicates how many loyalty counters the planeswalker enters the battlefield with. Planeswalkers' loyalty abilities each have a positive or negative loyalty cost; this is how many counters must be added (if positive) or removed (if negative) to activate that ability. Abilities with negative loyalty costs may only be activated if there are enough loyalty counters to remove. Regardless of the loyalty costs, a single planeswalker may only use one loyalty ability once per turn, and only on its controller's turn during his or her main phase.

Note that planeswalkers are neither creatures nor players, so most spells and abilities cannot target them directly. There are, however, two ways to deal damage to a planeswalker. If a player uses any spell or ability that would deal damage to an opponent, the player may instead choose to deal the damage to one of that opponent's planeswalkers. Additionally, if a player attacks an opponent who controls a planeswalker, the player may declare any or all of the attacking creatures to be attacking the planeswalker instead. Those creatures may be blocked normally, but if not blocked deal damage to the planeswalker instead of the player. Whenever damage is dealt to a planeswalker, that many loyalty counters are removed from it. A planeswalker with no loyalty counters, either through use of its abilities or through damage, is put into the player's graveyard.

Sorceries and instants
Sorceries and instants both represent one-shot or short-term magical spells. They never enter the battlefield. Instead, they take effect and then are immediately put into their owner's graveyard.

Sorceries and instants differ only in when they can be cast. Sorceries may only be cast during the player's own main phase, and only when the stack is empty. Instants, on the other hand, can be cast at any time, including during other players' turns and while another spell or ability is waiting to resolve (see: timing and the stack).

[Dudecore]

Parts of a turn
^{Basic rules copied from Wikipedia}

Beginning phase
The beginning phase is composed of three parts, or "steps." The first thing a player does is untap all cards he or she controls in the "untap step." Then, any abilities that trigger on the "upkeep step" happen. These often include cards that require mana payments every turn. Then the player draws a card in the "draw step." In two-player games, the player who takes the first turn does not draw a card for that turn.

No player receives priority during the untap step, meaning that no cards or abilities can be played at that time. During the upkeep and draw steps, however, players can cast instants and activate abilities as normal.

First main phase
Most of the Magic happens during the main phase. The main phase occurs immediately after the draw phase. During the main phase, a player may play any card from his or her hand unless that card specifies otherwise, and as long as he or she has the mana to pay its casting cost. This means creature, planeswalker, sorcery, instant, land, and artifact cards are all acceptable to play. This is a player's chance to bring something onto the field.

Usually, players will start their main phase by playing a land. Then, as long as they have the mana to pay the casting cost, they will play any number of cards from their hand, reading the card's name so that other players may hear.

Once a player is ready to attack, he or she may end their main phase by declaring that the combat phase has started, or by simply attacking with their creatures.

Combat phase
The combat phase is split into five steps. It represents a point in the magical duel where the active player sends his or her creatures to attack the opposing player, in the hopes of doing damage to the player or the player's creatures. Aside from instants, activated abilities, and spells that are specifically noted as being able to be played at any time (ie, creatures with flash), players may not cast spells during combat.

Beginning of combat
No specific actions take place at the beginning of combat step. This step mainly exists to allow players to cast spells and activate abilities that may alter how combat progresses. As the most common example, only untapped creatures may attack, so the defending player may cast instants or activate abilities that will tap a creature, preventing it from attacking.

Declare attackers
The player whose turn it is declares which creatures he or she controls will attack the opponent, and/or a planeswalker, directly. In most cases, creatures that are tapped, or that entered the battlefield this turn may not attack. Attacking causes a creature to become tapped.

Declare blockers
After the attacking player declares attackers, the defending player chooses which creatures he or she will block with. A creature must be untapped in order for it to block. Unlike attacking, the act of blocking does not cause the blocking creatures to tap, and creatures with summoning sickness can block. Each creature can only block a single attacker, but the defending player may choose to block an attacking creature with more than one creature.

Combat damage
Attacking creatures that weren't blocked deal damage equal to their power to the player(s) or planeswalker(s) they are attacking. The amount of damage dealt is deducted from the player's life total or the planeswalker's loyalty counters. Attacking creatures that were blocked deal damage equal to their power to the creature(s) that blocked them, and blocking creatures deal damage equal to their power to the attacking creature they blocked. If a creature is blocked by multiple creatures, the attacking player chooses how to distribute the creature's damage among the blockers. Any attacking creature that is blocked, but whose blocker is removed from combat before this step, stays blocked and deals no combat damage. If a creature is dealt damage equal to or greater than its toughness, it is destroyed and is put into its owner's graveyard.

If creatures with first strike or double strike are involved in combat, an extra combat damage step is created, and their damage is dealt first. If a creature without first strike or double strike is destroyed by first strike damage, it will not deal combat damage.

End of combat
Like the beginning of combat, nothing normally happens during this step. Players have a chance to cast instants and activate abilities after combat, but before the main part of the player's turn starts again.

Second main phase
After the combat phase there is another main phase, identical to the first.

Ending phase
The ending phase has two steps: "end step" and "cleanup". During the end step, abilities that trigger "at the beginning of the end step" go on the stack. This is the last chance players have to cast instants or activate abilities this turn.

Then, during the cleanup step, the player whose turn it is discards down to his or her maximum hand size, which is normally seven cards.

[Dudecore]

Timing and The Stack
^{Basic rules copied from Wikipedia}

When a player casts a spell or activates an ability, it does not immediately take effect. Instead, it is placed on the stack. That player then receives priority again, which gives him or her a chance to respond to it with spells or abilities. Each new spell or ability is put on top of the stack in turn, with the newest on top and the oldest at the bottom. A player with priority can add as many spells or abilities to the stack as he or she can pay for, but is not required to; if a player declines to respond to the latest spell or ability, he or she "passes priority" to the next player in turn order.

When all players have passed priority in succession, the top-most spell or ability on the stack resolves. If it was a sorcery, instant, or ability, the player carries out the instructions; if it would create a permanent, it enters the battlefield. Every time a spell or ability finishes resolving, players (starting with the player whose turn it is) can once again add more to the stack; if they don't, the new top-most spell or ability will resolve.

When the stack is empty, the player whose turn it is gets priority first. If all players pass priority while the stack is empty, the game proceeds to the next step or phase of the turn.

Example
Alice is attacking Norman with a {Hill Giant}, a 3/3 creature (meaning it has 3 power and 3 toughness). Norman chooses to block with his {Grizzly Bears}, a weaker 2/2 creature. If nothing else happened, the Hill Giant would deal 3 damage to the Grizzly Bears and kill them, while the Bears would deal 2 damage to the Giant, making Hill Giant "the winner".

However, Norman decides to cast his {Giant Growth} spell to give +3/+3 to his Grizzly Bears before combat damage is dealt. He taps a Forest to pay for the spell, and puts Giant Growth on the stack. Alice, who does not want to give the Grizzly Bears a chance to grow to 5/5 and kill her Hill Giant, responds by casting Shock targeting the Grizzly Bears. She taps one Mountain to pay for the spell, and puts {Shock} on the stack on top of Giant Growth. If Norman had no other spells, then Alice's Shock would resolve first and deal 2 damage to the Grizzly Bears, killing them. His Giant Growth would then go to the graveyard with no effect because the Bears would no longer be on the battlefield and would thus be an illegal target. Fortunately for Norman, he has another spell to cast. He taps a Plains and casts {Mending Hands} targeting his Grizzly Bears. Now Mending Hands is on top of the stack, with Shock and then Giant Growth beneath it.

Since both players are out of spells to cast, the top spell on the stack resolves. Mending Hands creates a "damage prevention shield" that will prevent up to 4 points of damage to Norman's Bears, and is put into Norman's graveyard after it resolves. Neither player chooses to cast anything else at this point, so Alice's Shock resolves. It attempts to deal 2 damage to Grizzly Bears, but Norman's Mending Hands prevents the damage, and Shock is put into Alice's graveyard. Finally, Norman's Giant Growth resolves and makes Grizzly Bears a 5/5 creature until end of turn. Giant Growth then goes to Norman's graveyard.

Once combat damage is dealt, the now 5/5 Grizzly Bears deal 5 damage to the Hill Giant and easily kills it. Hill Giant attempts to deal 3 damage to the Grizzly Bears, but the remainder of Norman's damage prevention shield prevents a further 2 damage (totaling 4 damage) and Grizzly Bears only takes 1 damage.

When Alice's turn ends, the single point of damage is removed from the Grizzly Bears, and the Giant Growth effect wears off at the same time. As Norman's turn begins, his Grizzly Bears are undamaged and 2/2.

[Dudecore]

Evergreen keywords
^{Evergreen Keywords copied from Wikipedia}

These are keywords which may appear in any Magic set, particularly the Core Sets where they are usually the only keywords (though some expert-level keywords may appear occasionally in Core Sets; each Core Set beginning with Magic 2011 has included one expert-level keyword as the "returning mechanic"). They are also used in many expert-level expansions, but in those sets they are printed without reminder text.

Deathtouch
Deathtouch is a static ability that causes a creature to be destroyed as a result of having been dealt damage by a source with deathtouch. In this way, for a creature with deathtouch, any nonzero amount of damage it deals to another creature is considered enough to kill it.

Similar abilities have appeared mostly on green and black cards, but in most cases those abilities were functionally different (typically triggering on combat damage and/or at end of combat). This ability was first printed on a single timeshifted creature from Future Sight, {Thornweald Archer}. Older cards with this ability, such as {Cruel Deceiver}, were not changed to gain deathtouch.

Defender
Creatures with defender can't attack. This ability was formerly associated with Walls, as the creature type Wall had implicit "rules baggage" that prevented such creatures from attacking.

Double strike
A creature with double strike deals both first strike and normal combat damage. For instance, a 1/2 creature with double strike such as {Boros Swiftblade} would defeat a 2/1 creature in combat and survive, due to destroying it with first strike damage. It would also destroy a 2/2 creature, though be destroyed itself because the opposing creature survived the first strike to deal its own damage.

Enchant
This ability is written Enchant (quality) and appears on Auras, a subtype of enchantments. An Aura enters the battlefield attached to a permanent with the quality of its Enchant ability, and can only be attached to a permanent with that quality. If an Aura is not attached to a permanent that with the required quality (such as if the object it enchants leaves the battlefield), it is put into its owner's graveyard. Like protection, the quality can be almost anything, but it normally has a permanent type associated with it, such as "Enchant creature." This ability was formerly seen in the type line instead of "Enchantment — Aura." The wording changed in the Ninth Edition core set, which introduced the Aura subtype.

Equip
This ability is written Equip (cost). It is found only on Equipment, a subtype of artifacts that first appeared in Mirrodin. A player may pay the Equip cost as a sorcery (only during his or her own main phase when the stack is empty) to attach it to a creature he or she controls. That creature becomes "equipped" and can then be referenced by the Equipment as the "equipped creature." If the Equipment is already attached to a creature, its controller may pay the Equip cost again to move it to another creature. However, the Equipment cannot simply be "dropped" by the equipped creature by paying the Equip cost. When a creature leaves the battlefield or stops being a creature by some effect, any Equipment attached to it "falls off," becoming unattached but remaining in play. Similarly, an Equipment that becomes a creature will "fall off" a creature it is attached to. On the other hand, Equipment does not "fall off" if another player gains control of either the creature or the Equipment. In the first case, the original controller still controls the Equipment, and so can pay the Equip cost to move it to a creature he or she still controls. In the second case, the original controller still controls the creature, but the other player can pay the Equip cost to move the Equipment to a creature he or she controls.

First strike
Creatures with first strike deal damage before other creatures in combat. Therefore, if a creature with first strike deals sufficient damage to kill an opposing creature without this ability, it will not suffer any combat damage from that creature in return.

Flash
Flash is the keyword of an ability that has existed as far back as Mirage. Artifacts, creatures or enchantments with flash may be played any time their controller could play an instant. Older cards with that ability have been updated via rules errata to have flash; this allows them to work with cards such as {Mystical Teachings}.

Flying
Creatures with flying can't be blocked except by other creatures with flying and/or reach. Flying is the most common Magic keyword, and appears in all five colors, but chiefly in blue and white. Creatures with flying are often Dragons, Angels, Birds, and other creatures that have wings.

Haste
Creatures with the haste ability are able to attack and tap to activate abilities on the turn a player gains control of them, instead of waiting until their controller's next turn (an effect dubbed "summoning sickness" prevents a creature from attacking or using abilities with the tap symbol unless its controller controlled it since the start of their last turn). Haste is an example of a retroactive keywording, as cards from almost every earlier set have possessed "may attack the turn [they] come into play" or "unaffected by summoning sickness," which was replaced by the word "haste." It was later changed to include untapping to activate abilities as well. Creatures with haste are most often red.

Hexproof
Hexproof is a static ability of permanents and players. A player or permanent with hexproof cannot be the target of spells or abilities controlled by that player's opponents (or that permanent's controller's opponents). This is similar to shroud, but it does not deny the player (or his or her allies) the ability to target his or her own hexproof permanents. Cards that previously had or granted this ability, such as {Troll Ascetic} and {Imperial Mask}, were errataed to have hexproof with the release of the Commander decks.

Indestructible
A permanent with "(This card) is indestructible" can't be destroyed by effects that say "Destroy" (such as {Doom Blade} or {Wrath of God}) or by lethal damage. They can still be countered, exiled, returned to the hand or library, sacrificed, or killed with effects that give negative toughness. "Indestructible" is not a keyword, but a quality that's true about a permanent. Indestructible first appeared in Darksteel, chiefly among artifacts made of the titular metal, and has appeared in colored creatures in subsequent sets.

Intimidate
A creature with intimidate can't be blocked except by artifact creatures and/or creatures that share a color with it. It first appeared in Zendikar. In 2009, Intimidate was announced as an evergreen keyword to replace fear, though it did not appear in a Core Set until {Hideous Visage} was printed in Magic 2012.

Landwalk
This ability is written as (Land type)walk. A creature with this ability is unblockable if the defending player controls a land with the printed land type (e.g. a creature with swampwalk is unblockable if the opponent has a swamp in play). This ability is somewhat rare, with swampwalk and plainswalk being the most common and least common, respectively. Landwalk is not limited to the five basic lands; for example, cards with legendary landwalk, snow landwalk, and nonbasic landwalk have been printed.

Lifelink
Permanents with lifelink cause their controller to gain life whenever they deal damage. Lifelink as a keyword was introduced in Future Sight, though the ability itself already existed on numerous cards, which were all issued rules errata to have or grant lifelink. Cards with similar abilities, such as {Spirit Link}, were not changed in this way. Lifelink was a triggered ability when it was issued but is now a static ability due to the Magic 2010 rules changes. Cards that previously had a lifelink-like ability have been issued further errata to return them to their original functionality. Lifelink is found mostly on white cards.

Protection
This ability is written as Protection from (quality). A creature with protection from a quality cannot be enchanted, equipped, blocked, or targeted by anything with that quality, and all damage that would be dealt by a source of that quality is prevented, barring exceptions which explicitly state otherwise. For example, a creature with protection from red cannot be enchanted by red Auras, blocked by red creatures, targeted by red spells and abilities, or take damage from red sources. A common mnemonic for which effects are prevented by protection is the acronym DEBT, standing for "Damage, Enchant (or Equip), Block, Target". Note that the protection ability does not prevent effects that do not target. For example, though {Black Knight} has protection from white, it would still be destroyed by {Wrath of God} since Wrath of God does not target a creature.

If a creature gains protection while some of these effects are present, different things may happen. Any Aura, Equipment, or Fortifications attached to it that are no longer legally attached to it "fall off", becoming unattached (for example, a creature with a red Aura gains protection from red or a creature with an Equipment attached gains protection from artifacts). Auras that are not attached to anything are then put into their owners' graveyards, while Equipment and Fortifications stay on the battlefield. Any spells of that quality (or abilities of permanents of that quality) that target it lose that creature as a target (for example, a creature gained protection from red in response to being targeted with {Lightning Bolt}). If they no longer have any legal targets, the spell "fizzles" and is countered by the game rules. However, a creature gaining protection in response to being blocked by a creature does not cause it to become unblocked, though it will prevent all damage that blocking creature would do to the creature with protection.

Initially this ability was limited to "Protection from (color)," but was later expanded to allow "Protection from artifacts" in Urza's Legacy, and officially expanded to allow "Protection from (quality)" in Invasion with the printing of {Shoreline Raider}. In Conflux, a card called {Progenitus} has "Protection from everything" -- meaning it cannot be blocked, cannot be equipped or enchanted, cannot be targeted by spells or abilities, and cannot be dealt damage. Most cards with protection are either white or an an enemy color from the color of protection offered (i.e. most cards with protection from blue are blue's enemies of red and green).

Reach
Reach is an ability which allows a creature to block creatures with flying. The keyword was introduced in Future Sight, and the flying rules themselves were changed to clarify this interaction. Older cards with the ability to "block as though [they] had flying" were issued rules errata to have reach instead. Reach is found primarily in green creatures, especially Spiders.

Shroud
A player or permanent with shroud cannot be the target of spells or abilities (even his or her own). While the keyword "shroud" was introduced in Future Sight, the ability itself existed long before, first appearing on {Spectral Cloak}; cards which featured this ability were all issued rules errata to have or grant "shroud." Creatures with shroud are most often blue or green. Today it has been supplanted completely by the more flexible Hexproof.

Trample
Creatures with trample may deal "excess" damage to the defending player if they are blocked. For example, under normal circumstances, if a 6/3 attacker is blocked by a 1/1 creature, the attacker's 6 damage is all directed at the defending creature, despite it being only able to take 1 damage before being killed. If, however, the attacker has trample, the attacking player may choose to have the difference (in this case, 5) between the attacker's power and the defenders' total toughness "trample over" and be assigned to the defending player; this choice is to be made by the attacking player, and circumstances can arise in which "overkilling" the blocking creature is a more advantageous move. Even if the blocker does not take the damage (if it is prevented, for instance) the trample damage is still assigned to the defending player. Trample only applies when a creature with trample is attacking; if a 6/3 creature with trample blocks a 1/1 attacker, the blocker's extra 5 damage cannot be assigned to the attacking player. Creatures with trample are most often green or red.

Vigilance
Vigilance is a keyword of an ability that existed as far back as Limited Edition Alpha with {Serra Angel}, but was retroactively keyworded beginning with the Kamigawa block. Creatures with vigilance do not tap to attack (Prior to being keywording, these creatures' rules text read "Attacking doesn't cause this creature to tap"). Most creatures with vigilance are white.

Keyword actions
^{Evergreen Keywords copied from Wikipedia}

Keyword actions are not keyword abilities, but rather specialized verbs that describe a common game action. This category of keywords was created with the release of Future Sight. This section contains the most common keyword actions, namely those that occur in the Core Sets. Other keyword actions are listed with the other keywords from expert-level expansions.

Attach
The term attach is used primarily on cards which can provide effects to certain other cards for an indeterminate amount of time, particularly Auras (see Enchant), Equipment (see Equip), and Fortifications. These types of cards are used by designating something (usually a permanent) for them to be "attached" to.

Counter
To counter a spell or ability is to remove it from the stack, usually placing it in its owner's graveyard. This prevents the spell or ability from resolving. A spell can be countered in one of two ways. First, another spell can resolve that explicitly counters it. A spell that can "counter" another spell in this way is often referred to as a "counterspell," after the original {Counterspell}. Or, if all the targets of a spell or ability have become illegal (for example, a creature targeted by a black spell gained protection from black), the game rules counter the spell. A spell that is countered this way is said to have "fizzled." Some cards specify that they "cannot be countered by spells or abilities." This only prevents the explicit method of countering spells; such a spell can still be countered by the game rules.

Exile
To exile a card is to put it into the exile zone, usually as part of a card's effect. With few exceptions, exiled cards can no longer have an effect on the game. Starting from the Magic 2010 rules changes, cards that "remove [something] from the game" or "set [something] aside" were issued errata to say "exile [something]" instead.

Fight
When two creatures fight each other, each creature deals damage equal to its power to the other creature. Multiple creatures may fight each other at the same time. Fight is a keyword action that has been sporadically printed in some form since the promotional card {Arena}, but it was not keyworded until Innistrad.

Regenerate
Regenerate describes a replacement effect for destruction, is generally written as "Cost: Regenerate (this permanent)", and is an ability only held by permanents. When the ability is activated, a "regeneration shield" is set up on the permanent. The next time that permanent would be destroyed, instead (if applicable) all damage is removed from it, it is removed from combat, it is tapped, and a regeneration shield is removed from it. Otherwise, the regeneration shield remains until the end of the turn. This ability is generally found on creatures, though any permanent can be regenerated.

Sacrifice
To sacrifice a permanent is to put it into its owner's graveyard. A player can only sacrifice a permanent he or she controls. Note that this term is separate from other ways permanents can be put into their owners' graveyards, such as destruction (meaning regeneration has no effect on sacrifice) and state-based actions (a creature having 0 toughness, for example). Players are not allowed to sacrifice unless prompted to by a game effect.

Tap/Untap
To tap a permanent is to rotate the card 90 degrees. This indicates it is being used, often as a cost, or to indicate that a creature is attacking (except for creatures with vigilance). Creatures a player controls that have not been under his or her control since the beginning of his or her most recent turn are said to have "summoning sickness" and cannot be tapped for their abilities that include the "tap symbol," nor can they attack, but they can be tapped for costs that use the word "tap" (for example, "Tap two untapped creatures you control").

To untap a permanent is to return it to a vertical orientation, allowing it to be tapped again. A tapped permanent must be untapped before it can be tapped again. However, as introduced in the Shadowmoor block, untapping can also be a cost for activated abilities. It has its own special untap symbol (often called "Q"), and is separate from normal untapping. To pay a cost including the untap symbol, the permanent must be already tapped. If that permanent is also a creature, then, as with the tap symbol, that ability can only be used if the creature has been under its controller's control since the beginning of his or her most recent turn.

Multiple Instances of these keywords are not redundant
^{"stackable" keywords copied from BlackJester}

Rampage
Cumulative Upkeep
Flanking
Amplify
Provoke
Storm
Affinity
Modular
Sunburst
Bushido
Soulshift
Bloodthirst
Replicate
Graft
Ripple
Vanishing
Absorb
Fortify
Frenzy
Gravestorm
Poisonous
Conspire
Exalted
Cascade
Annihilator
Battlecry

Other Keyword abilities are Redundant. i.e - Having Double Double Strike.
If a spell/creature/permanent has multiple instances of [ KEYWORD ], each of them applies/triggers separately.

[Keyeto]

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

In this section, I'm going to cover the questions I've noticed most asked here on iMtG. This, of course, means that it is subject to additions. If there seems to be a question that starts coming up more frequently, I'll be sure to add it on here! Also, if there's a question you've noticed comes up a lot, and I don't have it on here, feel free to pm me, and I'll see what I can do about adding it on here.
As of right now, I feel the things I see in question the most are the following topics:

⚫ The Stack (how it works)
⚫ Priority (When a player receives it, what a player can do with it)
⚫ Activated Abilities (Independence from source)
⚫ Combat Damage (Blockers removed, Trample)
⚫ Double Strike (Blocker dying after first strike)
⚫ Targeting/Hexproof/Shroud and Board Wipes (How they tie together)

All of these topics, I will attempt to answer in a simple way, that a player of any level of understanding can comprehend. The hope is that beginners and seasoned players alike can have a better understanding of the way these topics work. So let's get right into it! Beginning with a favorite of mine:

The Stack

Understanding how The Stack works is possibly the most important weapon in the arsenal of any Magic player. It's a pretty basic concept really: First in, Last out.
How Does The Stack Work?
A great way to explain this is the way Coffee Vampire explained it. I will post his analogy about how the stack works, and split second cards, as it seemed to help a lot of players understand how the stack works. Pancake time!

The stack is like a plate, and spells are pancakes. Casting a spell is like placing a pancake on the plate (stack). And eating a pancake is resolving a spell. BUT WAIT. There's a catch! You cannot eat a pancake if another one is on top of it. When you place a pancake on the stack, you let the other person get a chance to place one. Once no player has any more pancakes to place on the stack, it starts to get eaten FROM THE TOP DOWN! Here is a visualization:

So say the plate (stack) is empty. But I decide to cast {Thought Scour}. When I do this, I place one pancake (spell) on the stack. So the {Thought Scour} pancake is ready to be eaten (resolved). But oh no, before you eat your thought scour pancake, your buddy decides to cast a {Think Twice} pancake in response!

So now let's look at the plate (stack). On the bottom is your thought scour pancake. Sitting on top is the {Think Twice} pancake. Remember, the stack must be eaten (resolved) from the top down. No exceptions!

So {Think Twice} is eaten first! This means the my opponent draws a card. Once he does, my {Thought Scour} is the only pancake left on the stack. But wait a second...my opponent isn't done yet. He decides to place another pancake on the stack: {Lightning Bolt}

So now there are 2 pancakes again! This is because when there are 2 or more spells on the stack, you can let the first one resolve and then respond to the one that's left! Cool, huh?

So the lightning bolt pancake is eaten and I take 3. There is now once again, one pancake on the stack! My lovely thought scour. Now my opponent has no more responses, so I can eat it. Now I mill myself 2 and draw a card because my thought scour pancake was finally eaten (resolved)!

Now for split second cards. When a split second pancake is on the plate (stack), NO OTHER PANCAKES MAY BE PLACED ON THE PLATE!!! Think of split second cards as nasty pancakes that no other pancakes want to share the stack with. So if you cast a split second spell, NO PLAYERS may cast spells until the split second one resolves. This means it can't be countered, or responded to.

Priority

I see a lot of confusion about Priority. This one can be tricky, but, if you follow a few simple rules, you need not worry about priority ever again! First off, I'm not a huge fan of the term "Priority"; it really doesn't explain what it is, and can quickly become a burden in any players mind. I'll put it simply: Priority is the way players take turns performing actions. I'll cover the two most common questions about priority: At what time a player receives priority, and what a player can do when they have priority.
When Does a Player Receive Priority?
A player receives priority at the following times:

1) The Beginning of Phases or Steps (with the exception of the Untap Step)
2) When a player plays a spell or a ability, that player retains priority until they pass it to the other player
3) When a spell resolves, the active player (the player whose turn it is) receives priority
4) When a player with priority passes it to another player

That's it! Those are the times a player will receive Priority. Keep in mind, that if both players pass priority in succession, the spell on top of the stack will resolve.
Now, what can a player do with Priority?

The answer is quite simple:

1) Play a spell or ability
2) Pass priority to the other player (do nothing)

That's it! If you can remember that much about Priority, you should have no issues regarding the subject.

Activated Abilities

The question at hand here:
Why does an activated ability still go off when I kill its source?
This is something that isn't as widely known as it should be, and isn't well explained on any card or ability. The reason is that activated abilities, in general, are independent from their source.
The best way I can explain this is with, none other than, archers!

Think of the source of your activated ability as an archer, with an arrow drawn. You want to activate its ability? Well alright!
The first thing you have to do is pay the costs for the ability, or draw the arrow.
Once the arrow is drawn, use that ability! Treat this ability as the arrow, flying through the air.
Now, let's say your archer is killed. Perhaps a {lightning bolt} strikes him! This isn't going to stop the arrow, as the arrow, much like activated abilities, is independent from its source, the archer.
Your creature (or whatever the source may be) being destroyed isn't going to stop its ability from going off. Once the ability is activated, it goes on the stack (flies through the air) and waits to resolve (hit its target), whether or not the source is still alive.

Combat Damage (Trample and Removed Blockers)

Two questions about combat damage I've seen quite frequently:
How does Combat Damage work with trample?
Not too difficult a topic here. When a creature has Trample, it only needs to deal lethal damage to any creature(s) blocking it. The rest is divided as the attacking player chooses, between the blockers and the player or Planeswalker they are attacking. It's as simple as that!

Deathtouch plus trample. How do they work together?
Deathouch modifies the assignment of damage. When a creature with deathtouch assigns damage to a creature or multiple creatures it needs to only assign one point of damage to each to be considered "lethal." Trample damage may be assigned to the defending player as soon as "lethal" damage has been assigned to any and all blockers of that creature. Regardless of toughness, protection, or indestructability trample and deathtouch will allow any remaining damage be assigned to the defending player after one point has been assigned to all that creature's blockers.

What happens if a blocker is removed from combat?
A blocked creature is considered blocked. Whether or not the blocked creature is present at the time damage is dealt is irrelevant. The blocked creature will deal no damage. There is one exception, however: Trample.
When a creature with Trample is blocked, and its blocker is removed, it assigns all of its combat damage straight to the face of whatever it's attacking. This is because of how trample works, as stated above, any leftover damage from its battle with a creature is able to go right to whatever it's attacking. If the leftover damage happens to be everything (since it didn't have to deal any damage to its blocker) all of its damage goes through!

Double Strike

I'm going to tackle a pretty common question here:
What happens if a creature with double strike destroys a blocking creature before the second strike?

First off, a brief description of double strike:

A creature with double strike deals first strike damage, then normal damage. Simple as that.

So what happens when the first strike damage destroys the blocking creature? Does the rest of the damage go through?

Assuming the creature does not have Trample, no. As stated earlier in this FAQ, a creature that is blocked remains blocked, even if the blocking creature dies. If the creature has trample, then Trample damage is assigned as normal. In that case, the "second" strike will take into consideration how much damage the first one did.

Targeting, Hexproof, Board Wipers

This is a fun one! Kind of killin three birds with one stone here. I'll be answering the following:

⚫ What is targeting, and how do I know if a spell/ability targets?
⚫ How are Shroud/Hexproof creature affected by spells/abilities?
⚫ Why can board wiping spells ({Damnation} type effects) destroy creatures with Shroud/Hexproof?

Targeting
What is targeting?
To "target" something is to choose it a the recipient of a spell or ability. Some spell target creatures, some target player, the list goes on.

How do I know if a spell or ability targets?
Magic is a pretty literal game, for the most part. That being said, we can answer this question very plainly. If the card says, "target", it targets. If it doesn't, then it doesn't target. When it comes down to it, that's really it. This can be applied to any spell or ability, Wizards was careful to be specific about this.

How can Shroud/Hexproof creatures be affected by spells/abilities?
Creatures with Shroud/Hexproof cannot be the "target" of spells/abilities. This means that any ability that doesn't target is able to hit them. A common example:
{Clone} is able to copy a creature with Shroud/Hexproof, whereas {Cackling Counterpart} cannot. Notice the difference (other than counterpart only copying creature you control) is that {Clone} does not say target, whereas {Cackling Counterpart} does.

Why can board wiping effect hit creatures with Shroud/Hexproof?
This can be tied into the above question, but it deserves its own spot. Notice the similarities within these cards: {Damnation}, {Wrath of God}, {Blasphemous Act}.....none of them say target! They hit "all" creatures, or "each" creature, no targeting involved! Again, if it doesn't say "target" it does not target. Now, that's not to say every spell that hits multiple permanents doesn't target, ({Hex}), but in general they do not. Just look for the word!

[Dudecore]

Additional Resources

⚫ Basic Rulebook - Wizards of the Coast
⚫ Magic: The Gathering Rules - Wizards of the Coast
⚫ Rules Q&A Keyword FAQ - Wizards of the Coast
⚫ The Stack - iMtG
⚫ Timing is everything - iMtG
⚫ Which Keyword Abilities "Stack"? - iMtG