Magic: The Gathering Keywords and Abilities Glossary

Magic: The Gathering uses a system of keywords and keyword abilities to compress complex game rules into single printed words — a design philosophy that lets cards like Swiftfoot Boots convey "hexproof and haste" without a paragraph of explanation. This glossary covers the major keyword abilities, evergreen mechanics, and set-specific terms found across Magic's comprehensive rules, with attention to how they interact, where they cause confusion, and what distinguishes one classification from another. Whether a card says "flying" or "cascade," the behavior is governed by Wizards of the Coast's Comprehensive Rules, which are publicly available and updated with each new set release.

• Definition and scope
• Core mechanics or structure
• Causal relationships or drivers
• Classification boundaries
• Tradeoffs and tensions
• Common misconceptions
• Checklist or steps (non-advisory)
• Reference table or matrix

Definition and scope

A keyword in Magic: The Gathering is a word or phrase that substitutes for a longer rules text, defined precisely in the Comprehensive Rules document. As of the document's most recent public revision, keywords are broken into three broad categories: keyword abilities (continuous rules effects on permanents or spells), keyword actions (verbs that describe game actions, like "sacrifice" or "scry"), and ability words (italicized flavor markers that group similar cards without creating a standalone rules meaning).

The scope of what qualifies as a keyword has expanded dramatically since Magic's 1993 debut. The Comprehensive Rules document runs over numerous pages, and a substantial portion of that length exists specifically to define what printed shorthand words actually mean. Evergreen keywords — those that appear in nearly every set — include abilities like flying, trample, deathtouch, and lifelink. Non-evergreen or "deciduous" keywords like kicker and flashback appear regularly but not universally. Keyword abilities specific to a single set or block (like Phyrexia: All Will Be One's toxic) appear for narrative or mechanical flavor and then rotate out of print use.

The comprehensive rules page at magic.wizards.com also hosts the Glossary, which functions as the canonical reference whenever a term appears on a card without full reminder text.

Core mechanics or structure

Keyword abilities divide cleanly into three functional subtypes based on how they generate effects:

Static abilities are always "on" — they create continuous effects that apply as long as the permanent is in the appropriate zone. Flying is the clearest example: a creature with flying can only be blocked by creatures with flying or reach, and that rule requires no trigger or activation.

Triggered abilities wait for a specific event. Lifelink, for instance, causes life gain simultaneously with damage being dealt — this is a characteristic-defining ability that resolves as a static effect, but abilities like "when this creature dies, draw a card" (as reminder text for morbid in some sets) are properly triggered.

Activated abilities require a cost followed by a colon and an effect. The keyword equip is technically an activated ability: paying the equip cost and attaching an Equipment to a target creature you control is an action taken at sorcery speed unless otherwise specified.

The Stack and Priority rules govern how these different ability types resolve — which matters enormously when two triggered abilities occur simultaneously or when a player wants to respond to an activated ability.

Key evergreen keyword abilities and their rules-text translations:

• Deathtouch: Any amount of damage this source deals to a creature is enough to destroy it.
• Double strike: This permanent deals both first-strike and regular combat damage.
• Flash: This spell may be cast any time an instant could be cast.
• Hexproof: This permanent can't be the target of spells or abilities opponents control.
• Indestructible: Effects that say "destroy" don't destroy this permanent; lethal damage doesn't destroy it either.
• Menace: This creature can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.
• Reach: This creature can block creatures with flying.
• Vigilance: Attacking doesn't cause this creature to tap.
• Ward: Whenever this permanent becomes the target of a spell or ability an opponent controls, counter it unless that player pays the ward cost.

Causal relationships or drivers

The design of keyword abilities follows what Wizards of the Coast's head designer Mark Rosewater has publicly described in his Making Magic column (markrosewater.tumblr.com) as "concepting rules space" — the idea that mechanical complexity should serve play experience. Keywords exist because without them, cards would need full rules text for every ability, making cards unreadable and tournament play nearly impossible to learn.

The practical effect is that a single printed word carries substantial rules weight. "Cascade," for example, generates a triggered ability that triggers when the spell is cast, exiles cards from the top of the library until a nonland card with a lesser mana value is found, and then allows casting that card without paying its mana cost — all condensed into one word with reminder text only on earlier printings.

The card types and subtypes system interacts directly with keywords: some abilities only apply to specific permanent types (equip targets creatures; fortify targets lands), and the rules text of a keyword sometimes references card type as part of its function.

Classification boundaries

The distinction between a keyword ability and an ability word matters more than players often realize. Ability words — italicized terms like landfall, constellation, or magecraft — have no rules meaning whatsoever. They are organizational flavor labels. A card with the ability word landfall isn't getting any rules benefit from that word; the actual effect is fully written out in the text below.

By contrast, a keyword ability like prowess has a precise definition in the Comprehensive Rules: "Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn." The word alone carries that full definition. This is why printing a card with incorrect ability words is a cosmetic issue, but misusing a keyword ability is a rules error.

Keyword actions represent a third classification — these are verbs. "Scry 2" instructs a player to look at the top 2 cards of their library and arrange them in any order, returning some to the top and others to the bottom. The word "scry" is the keyword action, and it's distinct from a keyword ability because it describes something a player does, not a property a permanent has.

Tradeoffs and tensions

Not all keyword abilities play nicely together. Deathtouch and trample have a well-known interaction: when a creature has both, it only needs to assign 1 point of combat damage to each blocking creature to satisfy the "lethal damage" assignment requirement, letting all remaining damage trample through. This is sometimes called the "one-damage trample trick" and has been contentious since the deathtouch rules changed in 2010.

Indestructible and exile represent a fundamental tension in the design space: indestructible creatures can still be exiled, because exile effects don't use the word "destroy." This creates a reliable counterplay axis but also occasionally blindsides newer players.

Hexproof vs. shroud is a classic case of keyword evolution: shroud (which prevents all targeting, including by the controller) was largely phased out in favor of hexproof starting around Magic 2012, but older cards with shroud still exist in formats like Legacy and Vintage. A player who tries to equip a shroud creature controls will find that equip is a targeted ability — it won't work.

The formats overview shapes which keywords see play, since sets rotate in and out of formats like Standard, and mechanics like cycling or mutate may be legal in Modern or Pioneer but absent from Standard.

Common misconceptions

"Lifelink stacks" — this is accurate, but the mechanism is often misunderstood. Multiple instances of lifelink on a single creature do not cause double life gain; the ability is redundant on a single source. However, if two separate creatures with lifelink deal damage simultaneously, both trigger independently.

"Deathtouch works on players" — it does not. Deathtouch only affects creatures. Dealing 1 damage to an opponent with a deathtouch creature does exactly 1 damage, no more.

"Flash lets you cast at instant speed from anywhere" — flash only modifies when a spell can be cast; it doesn't change from where. A creature with flash in the graveyard still can't be cast from the graveyard unless another ability grants that specifically.

"First strike and double strike are the same" — first strike creatures deal damage only in the first combat damage step. Double strike creatures deal damage in both the first-strike step and the regular combat damage step. Against a 3/3 with no special abilities, a 2/2 with first strike kills it before it can deal damage; a 2/2 with double strike kills it and deals 2 damage in the regular step (to nothing, since the blocker is already dead).

"Keyword abilities granted by an Aura or Equipment disappear instantly when the equipment is removed" — correct. Keyword abilities granted by Equipment or Auras are part of a continuous effect that depends on the object remaining attached. When Lightning Greaves is unattached, haste and shroud vanish immediately.

Checklist or steps (non-advisory)

How keyword ability interactions are resolved during a game:

1. Resolve the stack in last-in, first-out order (Stack and Priority rules apply).

Reference table or matrix

For a deeper look at how abilities trigger, activate, and resolve in sequence, the triggered, activated, and static abilities reference page covers the rules framework in full.

The broader context for how keywords fit into Magic as a game system is explained in the conceptual overview at /how-recreation-works-conceptual-overview, and a full introduction to Magic is available on the main index.