Terms and acronyms used on the list

There are many terms that are commonly used on the list, either as abbreviations and acronyms, or others to discuss particular strategy ideas. A glossary of the common ones are listed below.

Acronyms and Abbreviations

B, U, G, R, W, T The five colours (Black, blUe, Green, Red, White) and the 'Tap' symbol. Often used to show casting costs. ie: 3WW for the casting cost of a Serra Angel - 3 colorless and two White.

5ML The Five Moxes (Jet, Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby, Pearl) and the Black Lotus. Also known as "the jewellery."

OOP's Out Of Print cards, (or Outrageously Over-Priced).

Power Blue Ancestral Recall, Timewalk, Timetwister, Recall, and Braingeyser.

StP Swords to Plowshares.

BoP Birds of Paradise.

CoP Circle of Protection.

REB, BEB Red/Blue Elemental Blast.

LED Lion's Eye Diamond

Larry's Disk Nevinyrral's Disk, (Larry Niven backwards).

Tim Prodigal Sorcerer, from the movie Monty Python's Holy Grail.

Necro Necropotence, or the deck type that is based upon Necropotence.

Pump Knight The black or white Knights (e.g. Order of the Ebon Hand) that can be made more powerful (pumped) or given First Strike.

Cantrip Any spell in which you draw another card in your next upkeep.

Weenie Small cheap creature.

WW White Weenie.

DD Direct Damage.

LD Land Destruction.

HD Hand Destruction, Discard.

The Deck Weissman Deck, a top Type I deck created by Brian Weissman which focuses on card advantage and control, and relies on only limited offensive capabilities of two Serra Angels and a Braingeyser. See the Schools of Magic or History and Concepts of "The Deck"for more details.

IMHO In My Humble Opinion.

AIH All I Have (referring to the number of cards owned).

Decking To run someone out of cards so that their library is empty and they lose the game on their next draw phase.

Goldfish A method of testing so named because the opponent casts no spells, has no creatures and so never attacks or blocks. The idea is to play your deck normally and see how many turns it takes for you to deal 20 points of damage to the goldfish. Doesn't work for some deck types (Millstoners, lock decks etc.).

AL, BE, UL, RV, 4E, AN, AQ, LE, DK, FE, IA, HL, AL, MI, VI, WL Magic expansions and sets. Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, Revised, 4th Edition, Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, Dark, Fallen Empires, Ice Age, Homelands, Alliances, Mirage, Visions and Weatherlight.

Tournament Rules Rules for types of tournaments supplied by the Duelist Convocation as to allowable formats for sanctioned tournaments.A list of the current rules can be found at http://www.wizards.com/dci/main.asp?x=UTR_Intro

Type 1 Tournament type allowing up to 4 of any card in Magic, but with certain cards restricted to 1 or banned.

Type 2 Tournament type allowing 4 of cards from recent expansions and the current main set, but with certain cards restricted to 1 and banned.

Type 1.5 Tournament type allowing up to 4 of any card in Magic, but with any card restricted or banned in type in type 1 and type 2 banned.

ALICE Tournament allowing 4 of each card from ALliances and ICE age.

Card Advantage The ability to bring more cards to bear on the game, either by eliminating more than one card of the opponent's with one of your own (Hymn to Tourach, Wrath of God, Dust to Dust), or by simply drawing more cards (Jayemdae Tome, Necropotence).

Card Economy Being able to draw and play cards more efficiently. Generally this is acheived by manipulating the draw with cards such as Sylvan Library, deck thinning with cards such as Thawing Glaciers so the cards drawn are more useful.

Mana Curve The Mana curve refers to the amount of Mana available on a particular turn. In general it is equal to the turn for the first 3-4 turns, but may be warped by such cards as Thawing Glaciers and Diamonds. By considering the Mana Curve it is possible to design a deck which uses it's mana much more efficiently, by including the correct mixture of spell casting costs.

Lock A combination of cards that prevents your opponent from taking any action that would bring them closer to winning, thereby allowing you to win by slow damage or by decking. Typical examples are: Kismet/ Stasis/ Storm Cauldron, Zur's Weirding, Winter Orb/ Icy Manipulator/ Kismet and Disrupting Scepter/ Counter spell.

Proactive Placing and creating threats rather than responding to your opponent's.

Permission Controlling what the opponent has in play. This usually involves blue for counter magic and/ or White for Disenchant/ Swords to Plowshares.

Reactive Responding to the threats from an opponents deck rather than creating them yourself.

Sente Having the control of the game. Being in a position where the opponent is reacting to your play.

Metagame The game above the actual game. The psychology of Magic. If someone is "playing the metagame" then they try to build a strategy based not only on the best way to win, but also on the best way to defeat what other people are doing to win, and commonly by making "educated guesses" about what kinds of decks other people are going to be playing. Most commonly these strategies are built into a sideboard, but if you believe enough people will be playing a particular type of deck it may be worthwhile building a strategy against that kind of deck into the main deck.

Acronyms and Abbreviations
B, U, G, R, W, T	The five colours (Black, blUe, Green, Red, White) and the 'Tap' symbol. Often used to show casting costs. ie: 3WW for the casting cost of a Serra Angel - 3 colorless and two White.
5ML	The Five Moxes (Jet, Sapphire, Emerald, Ruby, Pearl) and the Black Lotus. Also known as "the jewellery."
OOP's	Out Of Print cards, (or Outrageously Over-Priced).
Power Blue	Ancestral Recall, Timewalk, Timetwister, Recall, and Braingeyser.
StP	Swords to Plowshares.
BoP	Birds of Paradise.
CoP	Circle of Protection.
REB, BEB	Red/Blue Elemental Blast.
LED	Lion's Eye Diamond
Larry's Disk	Nevinyrral's Disk, (Larry Niven backwards).
Tim	Prodigal Sorcerer, from the movie Monty Python's Holy Grail.
Necro	Necropotence, or the deck type that is based upon Necropotence.
Pump Knight	The black or white Knights (e.g. Order of the Ebon Hand) that can be made more powerful (pumped) or given First Strike.
Cantrip	Any spell in which you draw another card in your next upkeep.
Weenie	Small cheap creature.
WW	White Weenie.
DD	Direct Damage.
LD	Land Destruction.
HD	Hand Destruction, Discard.
The Deck	Weissman Deck, a top Type I deck created by Brian Weissman which focuses on card advantage and control, and relies on only limited offensive capabilities of two Serra Angels and a Braingeyser. See the Schools of Magic or History and Concepts of "The Deck"for more details.
IMHO	In My Humble Opinion.
AIH	All I Have (referring to the number of cards owned).
Decking	To run someone out of cards so that their library is empty and they lose the game on their next draw phase.
Goldfish	A method of testing so named because the opponent casts no spells, has no creatures and so never attacks or blocks. The idea is to play your deck normally and see how many turns it takes for you to deal 20 points of damage to the goldfish. Doesn't work for some deck types (Millstoners, lock decks etc.).
AL, BE, UL, RV, 4E, AN, AQ, LE, DK, FE, IA, HL, AL, MI, VI, WL	Magic expansions and sets. Alpha, Beta, Unlimited, Revised, 4th Edition, Arabian Nights, Antiquities, Legends, Dark, Fallen Empires, Ice Age, Homelands, Alliances, Mirage, Visions and Weatherlight.
Tournament Rules	Rules for types of tournaments supplied by the Duelist Convocation as to allowable formats for sanctioned tournaments.A list of the current rules can be found at http://www.wizards.com/dci/main.asp?x=UTR_Intro
Type 1	Tournament type allowing up to 4 of any card in Magic, but with certain cards restricted to 1 or banned.
Type 2	Tournament type allowing 4 of cards from recent expansions and the current main set, but with certain cards restricted to 1 and banned.
Type 1.5	Tournament type allowing up to 4 of any card in Magic, but with any card restricted or banned in type in type 1 and type 2 banned.
ALICE	Tournament allowing 4 of each card from ALliances and ICE age.
Card Advantage	The ability to bring more cards to bear on the game, either by eliminating more than one card of the opponent's with one of your own (Hymn to Tourach, Wrath of God, Dust to Dust), or by simply drawing more cards (Jayemdae Tome, Necropotence).
Card Economy	Being able to draw and play cards more efficiently. Generally this is acheived by manipulating the draw with cards such as Sylvan Library, deck thinning with cards such as Thawing Glaciers so the cards drawn are more useful.
Mana Curve	The Mana curve refers to the amount of Mana available on a particular turn. In general it is equal to the turn for the first 3-4 turns, but may be warped by such cards as Thawing Glaciers and Diamonds. By considering the Mana Curve it is possible to design a deck which uses it's mana much more efficiently, by including the correct mixture of spell casting costs.
Lock	A combination of cards that prevents your opponent from taking any action that would bring them closer to winning, thereby allowing you to win by slow damage or by decking. Typical examples are: Kismet/ Stasis/ Storm Cauldron, Zur's Weirding, Winter Orb/ Icy Manipulator/ Kismet and Disrupting Scepter/ Counter spell.
Proactive	Placing and creating threats rather than responding to your opponent's.
Permission	Controlling what the opponent has in play. This usually involves blue for counter magic and/ or White for Disenchant/ Swords to Plowshares.
Reactive	Responding to the threats from an opponents deck rather than creating them yourself.
Sente	Having the control of the game. Being in a position where the opponent is reacting to your play.
Metagame	The game above the actual game. The psychology of Magic. If someone is "playing the metagame" then they try to build a strategy based not only on the best way to win, but also on the best way to defeat what other people are doing to win, and commonly by making "educated guesses" about what kinds of decks other people are going to be playing. Most commonly these strategies are built into a sideboard, but if you believe enough people will be playing a particular type of deck it may be worthwhile building a strategy against that kind of deck into the main deck.