Rules & Info
Glossary
Terms of art, with official CR vocabulary and common community slang marked distinctly, each linked to its governing rule.
- The Stackofficial
- The zone where spells and abilities wait to resolve. Objects resolve last-in, first-out; players get priority to respond before anything resolves.
- CR 405CR 608
- Priorityofficial
- The right to take an action (cast a spell, activate an ability). The active player receives priority at most points; nothing resolves and no step ends while a player holds priority and wants to act.
- CR 117
- State-Based Actions (SBA)official
- Automatic checks the game performs whenever a player would receive priority — e.g. a creature with lethal damage is destroyed, a player at 0 life loses. They don't use the stack.
- CR 704
- Mana Valueofficial
- The total amount of mana in a card's mana cost, regardless of color. {X} counts as 0 except on the stack. Formerly "converted mana cost".
- CR 202.3
- Replacement Effectofficial
- A continuous effect using "instead" or "as … enters" that watches for an event and replaces it. It doesn't use the stack and applies before the event happens.
- CR 614
- Summoning Sicknesscommunity
- Community term for the rule that a creature can't attack or use {T}/{Q} abilities unless its controller has controlled it continuously since their most recent turn began. Haste ignores it.
- CR 302.6Keyword ↗
- ETB (Enters the Battlefield)community
- Community shorthand for triggered abilities that fire when a permanent enters the battlefield ("When ~ enters …").
- CR 603.6
- Commander Taxofficial
- In Commander, casting your commander from the command zone costs an extra {2} for each previous time you've cast it from there this game.
- CR 903.8
- Color Identityofficial
- A card's colors plus any colored mana symbols in its rules text and color indicator. Used to determine which cards are legal in a Commander deck.
- CR 903.4
- The Command Zoneofficial
- A zone for objects with special game-wide effects — commanders, emblems, and certain other cards begin or live here.
- CR 408
- Tuckcommunity
- Community term for putting a permanent (often a commander) into a library rather than destroying it, bypassing indestructible and death triggers.
