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Within the collectible card game Magic: the Gathering published by Wizards of the Coast, individual cards can carry instructions to be followed by the players when played. To simplify these instructions, some of these instructions are given as keywords, which have a common meaning across all cards.
Most keywords describe a card's abilities, for example, a summoned creature with the keyword "Flying" means it may only be blocked by opponent's creatures with "Flying" or under other special conditions. Some keywords are given as "keyword actions" that describe an action that the player takes when either casting the card or using the card's abilities, such as "Sacrifice" which means to remove a summoned permanent from the game field and put it to the graveyard.
A number of keywords and keyword actions are designated as Evergreen, and apply across all Core sets, blocks and expansions. Keywords introduced in blocks and expansions are called expert keywords, and have typically been developed for the theme of that block or expansion. For example, the "Bushido" keyword was developed for the samurai-themed Kamigawa block. These expert keywords typically are not used again outside those blocks, however, at times, the list of Evergreen keywords will be updated with the release of a new Core set, retiring some keywords and bringing in expert keywords as new Evergreen ones, such as "Scry" from the Fifth Dawn expansion, or otherwise reworking common card rules into a single word.[1]
In general, every card in a Core set includes italicized "reminder text" in parentheses after a keyword to explain its use;[2] In other sets, the use of reminder text depends on available card space, though the rules for all keywords are printed in manuals and available online for players.[2]
This list also includes ability words, which are italicized words that have no rules meaning but are used on cards with similar abilities. Ability words are usually used for non-keyworded block mechanics.
Some of the keyword descriptions reference "power" or "toughness". Certain cards are printed with two numbers on the bottom right, a game mechanic notation expressed as power/toughness. Conflicting cards each deal their power in damage against the opposing card's toughness, with any card taking damage equal to or greater than its toughness being sent to the graveyard.[3]
- ^ "Evergreen Eggs & Ham".
- ^ a b Buehler, Randy (2004-10-07). "Ask Wizards – October 2004". Ask Wizards. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 17 January 2016. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
One of the big differences between Core Sets and Expert-level sets is that every single keyword in the Core Set gets reminder text every time. That way new players will get to learn what all the basic Magic abilities (like flying, first strike, fear, and vigilance) actually do.
- ^ Wizards.com [bare URL plain text file]