MTG Card Types Explained

Reading a card's type line

The type line sits under the artwork and tells you what a card is and when you can play it. It can include a supertype, a card type and subtypes, for example "Legendary Creature - Elf Druid". The card type decides the rules the card follows, so it is the first thing to read.

Permanents

Permanents stay on the battlefield after they resolve. The main permanent types are:

• Creature: attacks and blocks, and has power and toughness. Most decks win through creatures.
• Land: produces the mana you use to cast everything else. You normally play one land each turn.
• Artifact: a colorless permanent, often equipment or a mana source. Some artifacts are also creatures.
• Enchantment: a permanent that provides an ongoing effect, from boosting your creatures to restricting your opponent.
• Planeswalker: a powerful ally with loyalty counters that you activate once per turn. Opponents can attack it.
• Battle: a newer type that you attack to defeat, which then flips into a more powerful card.

Spells that happen once

Instants and sorceries do their job and then go to the graveyard. The difference is timing. A sorcery can only be cast on your own turn when the stack is empty. An instant can be cast at almost any time, including during your opponent's turn, which is what makes tricks, counterspells and combat surprises possible.

Supertypes and subtypes

Supertypes add rules to a type. Legendary means you can only control one permanent with that name at a time. Basic marks the five basic land types. Subtypes describe a card in more detail: a creature's race and class, a land's type, or whether an artifact is Equipment. Many cards care about subtypes, which is why creature types matter in themed decks.

Mana value

Mana value is the total amount of mana in a card's cost, ignoring color. A card with a cost of two generic plus one red has a mana value of three. Lands have a mana value of zero. Mana value is a quick measure of how expensive a card is, and the search tool lets you sort by it to see a deck's curve.

Finding cards by type

The search tool's card type filter covers creatures, instants, sorceries, artifacts, enchantments and lands. Combine it with a color to answer questions like which green creatures cost two or less.