Glossary

The essays use the working vocabulary of competitive Magic. Here is what those words mean, in plain terms, so the strategy is the only hard part.

Bear

Slang for a plain two-mana 2/2 creature. Even a "bear" does real work: it uses your mana, attacks, and forces answers.

Beatdown

The role of the deck that needs to win the race by applying early pressure. Its cards get worse the longer the game goes, so it wants the game to be short.

Bomb

A card powerful enough to win the game on its own if you reach the mana to cast it. Common in Limited.

Card advantage

Having more usable cards than your opponent over the course of a game. More cards usually means more options and more staying power.

Clock

How fast a deck can reduce the opponent to zero life, measured in turns. A "faster clock" kills sooner.

Control

The role of the deck that wins the long game with bigger spells, more land, sweepers, and card advantage. It wants time.

Curve

The spread of mana costs in your deck, and the habit of spending your mana every turn. Playing "on curve" means using each turn's mana efficiently.

Engine

A card or combination that generates repeated value each turn, such as drawing extra cards every cycle.

Gas

Slang for meaningful action or threats. A hand "out of gas" has drawn only lands or blanks and can no longer pressure the opponent.

Goldfish

Playing out your hand as if the opponent does nothing, to test how fast or smooth your draw is. A hand can look great in a goldfish and still be a mulligan against real pressure.

Hate card

A card included specifically to attack one strategy, such as graveyard hate against a graveyard deck.

Initiative

Here, the general edge of acting first that the player on the play holds. (It is also the name of a specific card mechanic, but this site uses it in the plain sense.)

Kingmaking

Making a play in a multiplayer game that decides who wins without winning the game yourself, often out of spite rather than strategy.

Land count

How many lands your deck runs. Seventeen lands in a 40-card Limited deck is the usual default so you reliably hit your land drops.

Leak

A Hot Magic term for a common, avoidable mistake that quietly costs games, like mulliganing a functional hand because it is not pretty.

Linear deck

A proactive deck that runs its own plan with little interaction, trying to be faster or more consistent than the opponent can answer.

London mulligan

The current mulligan rule. Each time you mulligan you draw a fresh seven, then put a number of cards on the bottom of your library equal to how many times you mulliganed. You lose cards, but not card selection.

Mulligan

Shuffling your opening hand back to draw a new one because the hand cannot carry out your plan.

On the draw

Taking the second turn. You get an extra card, which is a resource you spend on answers or catching up on the board.

On the play

Taking the first turn. You skip your first draw, so early development and pressure are worth more.

Over the top

Winning a long game by deploying threats bigger or more impactful than the opponent can match.

Sideboard

The fifteen extra cards you can swap into your deck between games in a match. Every sideboard card should have a matchup it comes in for and a card it replaces.

Sweeper

A spell that removes many creatures at once, such as a board wipe. Control decks use sweepers to survive against go-wide aggression.

Tempo

The value of time and board position. A tempo play advances your plan while setting the opponent back a step, even if it does not gain you cards.

Threat assessment

The multiplayer skill of figuring out which player is closest to winning so you spend your answers in the right place.

Toolbox

A set of single-copy cards you can search up, each answering a specific situation. A "one-of" is a card you run exactly one copy of.

Turn the corner

The moment a control deck stops defending and starts closing out the game, usually once it has stabilized and has mana to spare.

Two-drop

A card that costs two mana. Two-drops matter because they let you use your second-turn land and start affecting the board early.

Two-for-one

A play that trades one of your cards for two of the opponent's, putting you ahead on cards.

Vancouver mulligan

The older mulligan rule. You drew one fewer card each time you mulliganed, then scried 1. It was harsher because every mulligan cost you a card up front.

Winning line

The specific sequence of plays that actually wins the game. If you cannot name it, you are guessing.

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