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.
In general, every card in a Core set includes italicized "reminder text" in parentheses after a keyword to explain its use; 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.
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 . Conflicting cards each deal their in damage against the opposing card's , with any card taking damage equal to or greater than its being sent to the graveyard.
Evergreen Keyword actions 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, 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 on Auras (see enchant), Equipment (see equip), and Fortifications (see fortify), which provide effects to certain other cards for an indeterminate amount of time. 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 without resolving its effects, putting it directly into its owner's graveyard. Some spells and abilities have an additional clause that replaces the graveyard with another game zone. There are instant spells that will explicitly counter other spells, generally known as "counterspells" after the original card with this effect. Some cards specify that they "cannot be countered".
Exile To exile a card is to put it into the exile zone, usually as part of a card's effect. 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 card Gargantuan Gorilla, but it was not keyworded until Innistrad.
Mill When a player Mills cards, they put the top cards of that library into their graveyard. Mill is an action that has been around since Antiquities with Millstone but was never given a keyword until M21, though the term "mill" had been used informally for years prior to the official keywording.
Sacrifice To sacrifice a permanent is to put it into its owner's graveyard. A player can only sacrifice a permanent they control. 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.
Scry
Scry allows the player to take the top cards from their deck, examine them, and place any number of them on the bottom of their deck and the rest on top in any order desired. Scry originally appeared in Fifth Dawn as a keyword ability, primarily on instants and sorceries as "Scry 2", though it was designed to allow other values. Future Sight added values 1 through 4 and redefined scry to be a keyword action, allowing it to be placed in the middle of an ability rather than as a "tack-on" to other abilities. Scry then appeared in Magic 2011, becoming the first mechanic to be revisited in a core set. Scry also returned in Theros block before becoming an evergreen keyword in Magic Origins.
As of Pro Tour 2015 in Vancouver, the Scry mechanic was introduced to the official tournament rules when taking a mulligan. After all mulligans have resolved, any player whose opening hand contains fewer cards than their starting hand size may Scry 1. This is known colloquially as the "Vancouver mulligan" or "Vancouver rule". However, it has since been changed to a "London mulligan."
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 their control since the beginning of their 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 their most recent turn.
Evergreen keywords
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. Deathtouch appears mostly on black cards and green cards, and is often thematically associated with poisonous or cursed creatures. Prior to the introduction of the keyword, 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 similar or identical abilities, such as Cruel Deceiver, were not changed to gain deathtouch.
Defender Creatures with defender cannot attack. This ability was formerly associated with creature type Wall which had implicit "rules baggage" that prevented attacking. This was simplified with the keyword, which was first used in the Kamigawa block.
Double strike A creature with double strike deals both first strike and normal combat damage. For instance, a creature such as Boros Swiftblade which has 1 power, 2 toughness, and double strike would defeat a creature with 2 power and 1 toughness in combat and survive, unless the latter creature also has first strike or double strike, as the first strike damage would destroy it before it would be able to deal damage. If the latter creature instead has 2 toughness, both creatures will be destroyed as the opposing creature survived the first strike, after which both creatures would simultaneously deal regular combat damage to each other. As with first strike, this keyword appears mostly on red and white cards. It first appeared in Legions and was first used in a Core Set in Tenth Edition.
Enchant This ability is written Enchant (quality) and appears on Auras, a subtype of enchantment spells. An Aura enters the battlefield attached to a permanent spell with the quality of its Enchant ability, and can only be attached to a permanent with that quality. If an Aura is no longer attached to a permanent with the required quality (such as if the object it enchants leaves the battlefield), it is put into its owner's discard pile. 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 artifact spells that first appeared in Mirrodin. A player may pay the Equip cost as a sorcery (only during their own main phase when the stack is empty) to attach it to a creature they control. That creature becomes "equipped" and can then be referenced by the equipment as the "equipped creature". The controller may pay the Equip cost again to move it to another creature. 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 on the battlefield. Equipment does not "fall off" if another player gains control of either the creature or the equipment – the player who controls the equipment may pay the Equip cost to move it to a creature they control.
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. First strike is often found on red and white creatures, especially soldiers and knights who carry pikes or lances.
Flash Flash is the keyword of an ability introduced in 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