Beginner Series
How to Read a Magic Card
A Magic card reads in four bands: the name and cost across the top, the type line under the art, the text box, and a line of small print at the bottom that says exactly which printing you're holding. Here's every part, on a real card from Reality Fracture.
The top: name and mana cost
The name runs across the top left. Every different Magic card has a different name, and reprints keep it, so the name is how players refer to a card and how the four-copy limit is counted in most formats. In Commander the limit is one.
The mana cost sits at the top right. Each colored symbol is one mana of that color, and a number is generic mana you can pay with any color. Hexhaven Invigorator costs four green mana. Add the cost up and you get its mana value, 4 here, which other cards refer to. The colors in the cost are the card's colors. The five colors and what each does →
Under the art: type line and set symbol
The type line says what kind of card it is. Everything before the dash is the card type (Creature, Instant, Land and so on, sometimes with a supertype such as Legendary in front). Everything after it is the subtypes: Hexhaven Invigorator is a Creature, and a Chimera Horror. Cards refer to both, as in "target creature" or "each Horror you control". Every card type, and what each one changes →
The set symbol sits at the right end of the type line. Its shape is the set, and its color is the rarity:
The text box, power and toughness
The rules text is what the card does. Keywords come first, like Vigilance (it doesn't tap to attack), then abilities in full. Text in italics and parentheses is reminder text, a summary of a keyword that changes nothing. Triggered, activated and static abilities →
Flavor text is the italic quote or story line under the rules, set apart from them. It has no effect on the game.
Power and toughness are the two numbers in the bottom right corner of a creature, 6/6 on Hexhaven Invigorator. Power is the damage it deals in combat; toughness is how much damage destroys it in a single turn. Damage wears off at the end of each turn. Planeswalkers show their starting loyalty in the same corner instead. How combat works →
The bottom: the collector line
The small print in the bottom left corner identifies the printing. The same card can be printed in many sets and several ways within one set, and each has its own line. On a current card it reads like this:
The set code and collector number are what you price a card by, because a borderless or showcase version of a card can be worth many times the regular one. They're also what TurnZero HQ's scanner reads first. How the card scanner works →
The small oval foil stamp at the bottom center is the holo stamp. Current rares and mythic rares have one; commons and uncommons don't.
Card versions
The card above has a regular frame. The same card can also come borderless or as a showcase printing, which change the art and the number but nothing about how it plays, and a planeswalker reads differently from a creature. These three cards from Reality Fracture are marked up for what's different about each.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the symbol in the middle right of a Magic card mean?
It's the set symbol, at the right end of the type line. The shape tells you which set the card is from and the color tells you its rarity: black for common, silver for uncommon, gold for rare and orange-red for mythic rare.
What do the letters and numbers at the bottom of a Magic card mean?
That's the collector line. On current cards it gives the rarity letter (C, U, R or M), the collector number, the set code and the language, then the artist. The set code and collector number together identify one printing, which is what you need to price it.
What is mana value?
The total of the mana cost, counting each colored symbol as 1 and adding any number. A card costing four green mana has a mana value of 4. Older cards and guides call it converted mana cost.
How can I tell if a Magic card is foil from the collector line?
On current cards, a foil printing puts a star between the set code and the language (FRA ★ EN) where a nonfoil one has a dot (FRA • EN). Older cards don't print a collector line in this form, so check the card itself.
Is a borderless or showcase card different in play?
No. A borderless or showcase printing has the same name, cost and rules text as the regular one and plays identically. It has its own collector number and is priced separately, often for much more.
How do you read a planeswalker card?
Its loyalty abilities run down the left side of the text box, each with a cost like +1 or -2. Using one adds or removes that many loyalty counters, and each planeswalker can use one loyalty ability per turn, at sorcery speed. The number in the bottom right corner is its starting loyalty. Damage dealt to a planeswalker removes loyalty, and at 0 it goes to the graveyard.
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