This document lists various effects that can occur in Magic: the Gathering. It's probable that many effects from the World of Spells also appear or would at least make sense if they did appear.

Card Types

Before anything else, it's important to be aware of the different kinds of cards. The list follows:

• Artifact - A permanent object that has some sort of effect. Some artifacts are also creatures.
• Creature - Someone who can fight.
• Enchantment - Permanently affects another permanent.
• Instant - Causes an effect right now.
• Interrupt - Interrupts an effect or a card as it's being played to cause another effect.
• Land - Generates mana.
• Permanent - An artifact, creature, enchantment, or land. When a permanent is specified anywhere in this document, it might be a particular kind of permanent.
• Sorcery - Basically an instant that can only be played during your own turn.

Card Costs

There are various costs associated with a card. See the following list:

• Buyback cost - If you pay this cost as you play the card, you can keep the card in your hand after playing it
• Cost to play
• Cumulative upkeep - Upkeep that increases each turn.
• Fade counters - Permanents only. Can be expended by permanents with fade counters.
• Flashback - You can play the card from your graveyard for a certain mana cost. After the card is played, remove it from the game.
• "Kicker" cost - If you pay the kicker cost when you play the card, you gain some extra effect.
• Requirements - If some condition isn't met, you can't play the card. For permanents, it may be that if some condition is no longer met after the permanent is in play, the permanent is buried.
• Special ability cost - This is the cost required for a permanent card to use a special ability.
• Suffers damage - Creatures only. The creature suffers damage.
• Upkeep cost - Permanents only. This must be paid each turn during upkeep or the card is destroyed.

The different costs that can be exacted are as follows:

• Counters if the effect is being caused by a permanent that acquires counters for the purpose of using them to cause the effect
• Mana (possibly of a specific color)
• Remove a permanent from play
• Return a permanent to the top of your library
• Return a permanent to your hand
• Sacrifice a permanent (generally a creature), putting it into the graveyard
• Tap a card (generally the card using a special ability, but it could be another card)
• Variable amounts of mana - The more mana you spend, the greater the effect.

Card Limitations

It's possible for a card to be limitted in some fashion. Presumably, this reduces the cost to play the card.

• An effect has requirements such that the effect occurs only when the requirement is met. Some possible requirements include: the number of permanents the players have in play, the number of cards the players have in their hands, the types of lands in play
• Only affects cards of a specific color(s) or colorless cards (A.K.A. artifacts)
• Only affects cards with enchantements on them
• Only affects tapped/untapped cards

Duration

The duration of an effect varies, but permanents are permanent, until destroyed.

Alot of effects can have their durations increased/decreased by some player (either the owner or an opponent) spending some sort of cost. Some effects can be prevented by spending some sort of cost.

Effects

Typically, effects are caused by one of several things:

• A permanent's special ability, used as an instance
• An instant, usually causing an effect that lasts until the end of the current turn
• An interrupt, used against a spell being cast
• An enchantment
• There's some number of counters on a permanent that are removed each turn or by spending mana. When the counters run out, the permanent is buried.

Note that some effects have multiple targets. Those effects aren't listed seperately.

The targetting can be a little bit odd. It's possible for a card to be played on one card and then have the effect affect something else. In fact, that's fairly normal. So an enchantment cast upon a creature could have an effect that affects the player who owns it, rather than the creature.

Target: Anything

Typically, the target is still something specific, but it could be any particular type of target.

• Becomes the color of your choice or a specified color.
• Changes the text of any card so that one color word is different
• Counter a card as it's being played
• Destroy - Sends the card to the graveyard.
• Remove from game
• Restore a particular type of card from your graveyard to your hand or directly into play
• Return to owner's hand
• Return to owner's library
• Tap and use an opponents card(s)

Target: Artifact

• Make a non-creature artifact into a creature with attack/defense equal to its casting cost

Target: Creature

• +X/+Y, +X/-Y, or -X/+Y to attack/defense. In some cases the bonus is only gained when the creature attacks, defends, or is blocked.
• +X/+Y to attack/defense when one of the following events occurs: the creature becomes the target of an opponent's spell or ability, or the creature takes damage but isn't killed by the end of the turn.
• All creatures gain +X/+Y
• All creatures able to block target attacking creature must block it
• Any non-wall creature blocked by or blocking this creature is destroyed after dealing damage
• Attacking doesn't cause creature to tap
• Banding - Banding creatures + 1 non-banding creature can band together to distribute damage among themselves. The attack/block as 1.
• Can block Flying/Shadow/Watever Creatures - Can block creatures of that type even though it isn't of that type.
• Can only be blocked by or can only block a specific type of creature
• Can't attack if target opponent has a creature with power greater than X
• Can't attack/block
• Can't be assigned to block creatures of power greater than X
• Can't be blocked by a specific type of creature
• Create multiple (weak) creatures
• Creature is destroyed at the end of combat when it attacks or blocks
• Doesn't untap as normal during untap phase
• Decrease/increase attack/defense.
• First Strike - During combat, creatures with first strike inflict damage first.
• Flying/Shadow/Whatever - Can only be blocked by creatures of that type.
• Gain control of creature
• Gains attack/defense based upon what lands its owner controls
• Has the ability to inflict X damage upon any target
• Haste - The creature can attack the turn it comes under your control
• Land-limitted - Creature can't attack unless the target controls a land of the specified type. In some cases, the creature dies if its owner doesn't control the appropriate land type.
• Landwalk - Can't be blocked by creatures owned by players who have that kind of land in player.
• Must attack every turn
• Neither inflicts nor recives damage during combat.
• Poisonous - Causes poison counters when it attacks a player. 10 poision counters kills a player.
• Protection from Color - The creature never takes damage from any creature or effect of the specified color.
• Protection from Creature Type - The creature never takes damage from the specified creature type.
• Rampage - When the creature is blocked, it gains +X/+Y attack/defense (sometimes for each creature blocking it) and usually gains trample.
• Regenerate the creature when it takes fatal damage, restoring it to full health but tapping it (if it isn't tapped already).
• "Tide" Counters - The creature's attack/defense depends upon the number of "tide" counters on it. The number of tide counters increases during each upkeep. Typically, when there's a certain number of tide counters, they're all removed.
• Trample - When blocked, any damage not absorbed by the blocker hits the player.
• Unstable Mutation - The creature gains +X/+Y. Each turn, a -A/-B counter is placed on the creature.
• When creature becomes blocked, it may deal damage equal to its power to a target creature instead of inflicting combat damage.

Target: Creature or Player

• Do X damage to target. Some effects drain life points while inflicting damage to a target.
• Prevent damage to the target
• Redirect damage from one target to another

Target: Enchantment

• Swaps an enchantment from one target to another

Target: Land

• Changes the land to a basic land type
• Convert the land into a creature
• Produces extra mana

Target: Permanent

• Copy a permanent. Enchantments on the permanent aren't copied.
• Fade Counters - The creature starts with a specified number of fade counters. During upkeep, remove one fade counter unless there are no fade counters left (in this case, sacrifice it).
• If the permanent is buried, the permanent's controller suffers loss of life equal to the permanent's casting cost.
• Permanent can create other permanents (usually represented by counters) by expending some sort of cost
• Permanent may not be the target of spells or effects
• Removes another effect
• So long as the permanent is in play and the effect is in effect, the permanent's controller suffers some effect
• Steal a permanent
• Tap/untap
• The card now requires upkeep

Target: Player

• Discard/draw X cards
• Look at player's hand One possible effect is to inflict 1 point of damage to the player for each card of a specific color in her hand.
• Look at top X cards of the player's library and put them back in the same order. May be coupled with effects that allow you to do other things to the cards.
• On the player's next turn, all his creatures that can attack you must do so
• Player can't play cards of a specific type. Alternatively, player must pay some sort of cost to play cards of that type
• Player does not get an untap phase
• Player draws an extra card during each draw phase
• Player gains/loses life each turn based upon some stupid condition about how man cards of some particular type someone has
• Player's attacking creatures can't be blocked by less/more than X creatures
• Provides mana

Target: World

Any effect can be made into a "world" effect that causes it to affect every applicable card in the world, but some common effects are listed below.

• All cards of a specific type now require upkeep
• All creatures of a specific type get +/- X/Y to attack/defense
• All damage done by flying/non-flying creatures or by spells is reduced to 0 at end of turn
• Damage all creatures, players, or both
• Inflicts damage to any player who has a certain number of cards in his hand, loses a land, and/or puts a land into play
• No combat damage is dealt or recieved during combat this turn
• Spells of a specific color cost less/more mana to play
• Whenever a specific event occurs, some other event happens

Copyright (C) 2005 Steven Fletcher. All rights reserved.