Card types in Magic: The Gathering

In Magic: The Gathering every card belongs to a type, and the type decides what it does and when you can play it. Understanding this is the foundation for avoiding rules mistakes. Let’s start with the most important concept: timing.

Sorcery speed vs. instant speed

• Sorcery speed: only on your turn, during one of your main phases, with the “stack” empty (nobody has a spell waiting to resolve). This is when you can cast most cards.
• Instant speed: at any time you have priority, even on your opponent’s turn or in response to another spell.

With that in mind, let’s go type by type. The ones that stay on the board when they resolve are called permanents (creatures, lands, artifacts, enchantments, planeswalkers). The ones that do their effect and go to the graveyard are the one-shot spells (instants and sorceries).

Lands

What they do: they produce mana, the energy you pay everything else with.

When: only one per turn, at sorcery speed. Playing a land doesn’t use the stack and can’t be responded to.

Creatures

What they do: they’re your attackers and blockers. They have two numbers, power/toughness (e.g. 4/4: deals 4, survives 4 damage).

When: sorcery speed. Also, a freshly summoned creature has summoning sickness: it can’t attack or use tap ({T}) abilities until it’s been under your control for a turn (unless it has haste).

Instants

What they do: a one-shot, direct effect. They resolve and go to the graveyard.

When: at any time, even on your opponent’s turn or in response. They’re the tool of reaction.

Sorceries

What they do: like an instant (one-shot effect, then to the graveyard), but more restricted in timing.

When: only at sorcery speed (your turn, empty stack).

Enchantments

What they do: permanents with an ongoing effect while they’re on the board. A subtype, Auras, attaches to another card to buff or hinder it.

When: sorcery speed.

Artifacts

What they do: permanents representing objects (usually colorless). Many give mana or abilities; Equipment attaches to a creature to boost it.

When: sorcery speed.

Planeswalkers

What they do: you summon a powerful ally with loyalty counters. Each turn you can use one of its abilities, which raise or lower that loyalty. If it hits 0, it dies.

When: cast at sorcery speed, and their abilities activate once per turn, also at sorcery speed. Your opponent can attack it with creatures to lower its loyalty.

Battle — the newest type

What they do: a shared permanent with defense counters that you attack to “defeat”; once it falls, it usually gives you a reward (for instance, casting the card on its back face).

When: sorcery speed. It’s a recent, still uncommon type, but worth knowing.

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Quick summary: lands for mana, creatures to fight, instants to react, sorceries for effects on your turn, enchantments/artifacts for ongoing advantages and planeswalkers for allies that grow. Many of these cards also have abilities; we explain them in the abilities guide. And which of these cards you can actually put in a deck depends on the format you play: every Magic format compared.