Are you a relative, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a husband, wife or friend of someone who plays Magic: the Gathering? Have you ever sat listening to them playing a game, or had to pretend to listen to them as they drone on about spells and creatures only find yourself staring at them with a look that tells them you are listening, when in fact you didn't understand anything they said for the last five minutes?
The Magic vernacular is certainly something that exists only within the game of Magic, but with a little help anyone can decipher the slang that the players are using. The following will be an overview of the language of Magic, designed to help everyone speak on the same terms, and avoid being left in the dark.
What are some common words that are used worldwide?
Let's start with talking about land, and the many ways people talk about that. Land is represented in a player's deck by various cards that act as the fuel for a deck. Each of the five colors in Magic has a corresponding land type. Red spells have mountains, which produce red mana, and Green spells have forests which produce green mana. Not all land cards are the same, and not everyone uses land the same way, but every player has to use land and mana generators in some capacity or they will not be able to play spells.
What are some common slang phrases you may hear?
Basic lands- these are as mentioned previously the lands that are associated with each color. Mountain, Island, Swamp, Forest, and Plains.
Dual lands- these are another type of land players will talk about referring to land cards that can produce two different types of mana.
Pain lands- these are a variety of lands that produce more than one type of mana, and will cause damage to the controller when tapped for mana.
Fetch lands- these are yet another variety of land that do not produce mana on their own, but can be sacrificed by the player to search their library for a land card. Some fetch lands have activation costs that act in the same variety a pain land would.
Taplands- these are any non-basic land that will enter the battlefield tapped, rendering it useless until the player's next turn.
Shock Lands- these are a variety of pain lands that will do equivalent damage to the player as the spell "Shock" would do. Shock is a red colored spell that when cast will do two damage to a player or a creature.
Manland- this is a variety of land that has an attached activation cost that will allow the land to transform into a creature for a short period of time.
The commonality between all of these phrases for the common ear, is that they are all lands. For the player these types of cards will be the fuel for their deck, but typically not the interesting and fun parts of a deck. Players will talk about land when describing how matches went with either an indifference, because they had the land they needed or will scorn and hatred because the land was not there and failed them miserably.
The utter disgust for games where land has become a hindrance to the outcome ending positively has produced a number of slang phrases players will use to discuss their contempt.
My personal favorite is the mana screw. Being mana screwed is a terrible feeling because it means you sit there turn after turn trying and hoping to draw more land, with a pile of spells in your hand that you cannot cast. In the mean time, the opponent is usually mopping up.
Mana screw is the same as mana fucked.
On the flip side of being screwed is being flooded. To be mana flooded is to draw so much land that it is too much, and the player gets no spells to cast. Being mana flooded is also a terrible feeling, but not quite so bad as being screwed. Mana flood can also be called a land flood as well.
Another land related term that players will use is ramp. Ramp is a term that describes a players ability to play lands at an accelerated rate. Typically a play is only allowed to play one land from their hand per turn, but their are powerful spells that allow players to get more lands in play, or produce more mana. When this tactic is used by players it is called ramping.
Now that we have discussed a bit about lands and mana related terms, and you have all become fast friends with these bits of slang, let us move on to a different aspect of the game. The players themselves.
Wizards of the Coast has, for quite some time, had psychographic profiles on the three major types of Magic players. As sometimes accurate as these profiles can be, we are forever stuck with the names for better or worse, thanks to the R&D department and Mark Rosewater.
Timmy- A player being referred to as Timmy is player who loves the power and excitement of the game. Timmy players love casting ridiculous spells and wielding ridiculous creatures against opponents. This is a "power" player. Timmy loves to win in big, dramatic style or else it seems rather boring.
Johnny- A player being referred to as Johnny is the creative player. A Johnny is a player who loves to spend just as much time playing as they do building and working on decks. Johnny players love to win with specialized combinations of cards and cards that are "weird" or unique. This is the "creative" player. A Johnny still enjoys winning, but only if they created the right environment for the win to happen.
Spike- A player being referred to as Spike is the competitive player. A player who builds decks in order to win and compete in tournaments. This is the "tournament" player and thus, a player who values cards that are powerful and efficient.
Amongst Magic players there are all sorts of types of decks that players will build. There can be infinite possible ways to combine cards and create decks, but players will agree that the archetypes behind decks are well established.
Aggro- This is a deck type that relies on speed and overpowering opponents. It usually contains creatures that are quick to play and can attack the opponent before proper defenses can be erected.
Control- When players talk about control decks it simply means that the deck is designed to stifle the opponent and their ability to play spells or keep cards on the table. The term control can also be replaced with the term Permission.
Mill- A less conventional type of deck, this is the term used to describe the type of deck that will attack an opponents library making them discard all of their cards until they lose. The term mill is also used in slang as an verb to describe the action of cards being moved from the library to the graveyard.
Tribal- A term to describe a deck that focuses on a singular creature type, such as Goblin, or Elves. There are many "tribes" of creatures that exist within the game of Magic, so there exist many possibilities for various tribal decks.
Burn Deck- This is a type of deck that is focused solely on doing damage to an opponent directly with spells, rather than through creatures. As the name implies, this is largely based around Magic spells that have to do with fire, and lightning.
Combo Deck- This is a way to describe a deck type that focuses on a singular purpose of playing two or more cards together in conjunction with each other to perform a specific action that will win the game. If this criteria is not met than the player's deck will fail.
Rogue- This basically describes any kind of deck that utilizes techniques or cards that are not popular. Rogue decks are typically decks that feature one or two cards that are more Johnny in style (pulling from some previous slang already used).
Now that we have covered some of the basics and fundamentals that Magic players live with whenever they are playing and discussing Magic, let us delve deeper into the world of Magic and look at some of the more conversational slang that occurs amongst players while they are playing the game. The game of Magic, is a game full of conversation. In that, it is a very social game, and through those social gatherings a common usage of slang is formulated and unintentionally born. Many of the words are based on acronyms, or shortening words. In some instances combining words, or drawing reference to pop-culture. Whatever their origins, they become standard fare and spread like wild fire throughout local playgroups, the internet, and beyond.
One of my personal favorites is: Board-wipe. This odd sounding phrase is actually quite literal, as it defines a cleaning up of the battlefield of creatures and/or other permanents that are in play. There are many cards that produce said effect and are quite popular in decks that fit within the control-style scheme. Conversely people who are playing the aggro-style theme would feel quite adverse to a card producing board-wiping effects on the game battlefield.
Scoop- This is another of my favorites, as this is also quite literal in that it describes the act of a playing taking all of his cards, with the obligatory cussing or grumbling, off of the battlefield and back to their hand to re-shuffle prematurely. The act of conceding, in other words. While I myself do employ this tactic from time to time, I am not the connoisseur of this that some people are.
Popping, Cracking, Sacking- These are all rather interchangeable for use when using a fetch lands ability to sacrifice itself in order to search your library for a land. I try not to use the same one over and over, and I always emphasize the word while I am doing it to whoever I am playing against. It adds a different dimension to an otherwise rather mundane act.
Chump Block- this quaint little term is used to describe the act of one player defending an attack with a weak creature, to prevent being damaged by a massive creature controlled by the opponent. The creature dies, but your own life is saved...temporarily.
Dead Draw- this is simply the act of drawing a card into your hand, to find that it is a completely useless card within the context of the game that is currently being played.
Top Decking- this is another draw related phrase that is used when a player has no cards in their hand, and they must rely on luck-of-the-draw to get the cards they need each turn.
Playset- this term is describing someone having four copies of one card. In a Magic deck, the maximum amount of a single spell that can legally be played in a deck is four. When four copies are owned by a player that is considered having a playset of that card.
Pop or Go Off- this phrase is referring to a deck that relies on a particular combo in order to win the game. A player would say that once their combo "goes off" they will win the game.
WinCon- this is simply an abbreviated version of winning condition, usually meant to describe what it would take for a particular deck to win within a certain set of constraints.
Tilt or On Tilt- this is used to describe the act of a player making a bad decision, or rash decision because of them being upset with regard to the game being played.
To the Face- this is a phrase used exclusively when a player casts a spell that does damage directly to an opposing player. It is pretty much mandatory that it be said, and possibly spit in their face when pronouncing it to if possible to rub salt in the wound.
Ball Hit- this phrase would be used any time that you incur damage as a result of something you do to yourself. The pain lands are a wonderful example of something that you are doing, that causes yourself damage. This would be an appropriate time to say it.
Snape Smash, or simply Smash- would be the act of destroying anything directly. There are many spells that denote that a particular target can simply be destroyed and aggressively announcing that you are doing so is a good way to win lots of friends.
Jace-Down- this is a reference to the Planeswalker named Jace Beleren, who is very powerful. When people use his abilities it removes some of his loyalty which is why people have appropriated his name in usage with the loss of loyalty. I think this could eventually be used with all Planeswalkers.
Pro or Prot or COP- these are all referring to a player having an ability to protect themselves against a particular type of color or damage. There are many sources that this can be gained from but the usage remains the same throughout.
Tims- this refers to an older card named Prodigal Sorcerer, but is still appropriated today when talking about any creature spell that when in play can deal direct damage to an opposing player. The name was originally taken from Monty Python's movie Quest for the Holy Grail.
Jank- this refers to odd cards that seem terrible when reading them, and seem terrible when playing them.
Hardcast- this is a term to describe the act of paying a cost entire converted mana cost, which on every spell is listed in the upper right-hand corner.
Bounce- this is a term used to describe the act of playing a spell that returns a card to a player's hand, where it could be conceivably re-played at a later time.
Broken- this term is typically used when describing a card that by itself seems ridiculously overpower, or a combination of cards that when played together seem too powerful and not in the least way fun at all.
Proxy- this is when the use of a placeholder card, representing a different card, is used in a deck. This could be done when playtesting ideas, or when playing a deck that has valuable cards in it that could otherwise be damaged or devalued through physical play.
Splash- this refers to players building decks with multiple mana colors present in the decks. If a deck is primarily one color but contains a small amount of another color, this would be considered splashing the secondary color into the deck.
Tutor- this term is describing an action of a player casting a spell or using an ability that allows the searching of their library for a particular spell.
This is certainly not a comprehensive list, nor is it meant to be. I do not even know if the ultimate Magic Lexicon of Slang words exists. What I do know is that if you were to read this and become familiar with some of the terms you could certainly read through a blog such as this one and have a much clearer idea of what is being written about.
Or maybe not.
Either way, it is certainly a fun exercise to wade through the dynamic world of slang within a sub-culture that exists throughout the world.
A special thanks goes out to all the members of the website Tapped Out, and especially Sir Caley: www. tappedout.net
They were tremendously helpful in coming up with familiar slang terms I knew about but would not have otherwise remembered. A second thanks goes out to Wizards of the Coast for providing the community with such gems as Timmy, Johnny and Spike.
Enjoy.
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