Evergreen Actions

Fblthp, Lost on the Range card art

Continuing the series, today I look at evergreen actions (I would say "terminology"). I will use MTG Wiki's list.

An action is something the game instructs you to do. Per MTG Wiki, there are 18 evergreen actions, 13 of which have been used since Alpha (the first set) but only 8 of which have been keyworded since Alpha. These terms are covered in glossary of the official rules and assume you know the zones of the game (which I mention here). Below, quotes from said rules are in italics.

- Activate (To put an activated ability onto the stack and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect.)

- Attach (To take an Aura, Equipment, or Fortification from where it currently is and put it onto a specified object or player.)

- Cast (To take a card from where it is (usually the hand), put it on the stack, and pay its costs, so that it will eventually resolve and have its effect)

- Counter (1. To cancel a spell or ability so it doesn’t resolve and none of its effects occur 2. A marker placed on an object or player that modifies its characteristics or interacts with a rule or ability.)

- Create (To create a token is to put a token onto the battlefield.)

- Destroy (To move a permanent from the battlefield to its owner’s graveyard)

- Discard (To move a card from its owner’s hand to that player’s graveyard)

- Exchange (To swap two things, such as objects, sets of objects, or life totals)

- Exile (1. A zone. Exile is essentially a holding area for cards. It used to be known as the “removed-from-the-game” zone. 2. To put an object into the exile zone from whatever zone it’s currently in. An “exiled” card is one that’s been put into the exile zone.)

- Fight (When two creatures fight, each deals damage equal to its power to the other)

- Mill (To mill a number of cards, a player puts that many cards from the top of their library into their graveyard)

- Play (To play a card is to play that card as a land or cast that card as a spell, whichever is appropriate)

- Reveal (To show a card to all players for a brief time)

- Sacrifice (To move a permanent you control to its owner’s graveyard)

- Scry (To manipulate some of the cards on top of your library)

- Search (To look at all cards in a stated zone and possibly find a card that matches a given description)

- Shuffle (To randomize the cards in a deck (before a game) or library (during a game))

- Tap/Untap (To turn a permanent sideways from an upright position/To rotate a permanent back to the upright position from a sideways position)

Most Magic players know these terms by heart, and would not explain them during a game unless a novice is playing.