pie chart

A Complete Hub Glossary for TappedOut

Vintage* GU (Simic) Primer

legendofa

Edit Live Edit
Edit
Upvote 0
0
Deckcycle Feature Queue
Feature Queue
Playtest v1
Similar Deck Space Card Recommendations

Instant (1)

Sorcery (1)

Enchantment (1)

I put this glossary together to teach myself what all the hubs meant. Most of them I knew, a few I kind of knew but wasn't totally sure about, and a handful I didn't recognize at all. Hopefully everybody can use this and hub with confidence. If I got something wrong or incomplete, or something can be improved, please let me know. If you want to suggest a new hub, head over to this thread and put it there.

Italicized words have their own entry in the glossary.

In November 2020, the hub system received an update. Creature types and ability keywords are now (mostly) selectable individually when editing a deck. Going forward, creature types and ability keywords will not be listed here if they are present in the checkbox list. Additionally, decks or strategies with no presence outside of a single Standard season are no longer selectable.

A ramp strategy that uses Cloudpost, Glimmerpost, and Vesuva or Thespian's Stage to rapidly generate mana.

a discard strategy that deals damage through Shrieking Affliction and The Rack. Usually mono-black.

an aggro deck that uses Goblin Bushwhacker and Reckless Bushwhacker to attack with a number of powerful creatures with haste.

a strategy based around Ad Nauseam that attempts to mill most or all of its deck, staying alive through cards like Angel's Grace or Phyrexian Unlife.

A fast, efficient artifact deck that combines aggressive effects like Arcbound Ravager and Cranial Plating with low-CMC artifacts.

A card or deck that applies overwhelming pressure early, trying to win before the opponent can establish a board presence.

A high-speed ramp deck that combines Amulet of Vigor with abilities and effects that allow extra land plays, commonly Primeval Titan, and lands that would typically enter tapped, like Simic Growth Chamber.

a typically combo deck that relies on setting up and achieving a win condition other than life loss, mill, or poison, using cards like Ramses, Assassin Lord or Second Sunrise.

a deck built for the online Arena game, currently supporting Sealed, Draft, Alchemy, Artisan, Brawl, Historic, Pauper, and Standard formats and hosting all main sets from Ixalan to the present.

A strategy that sacrifices creatures for profit. Named after creatures such as Cartel Aristocrat and Falkenrath Aristocrat.

a deck that relies heavily on the Artifact card type, frequently with abilities like Metalcraft.

a control or midrange strategy that attempts to slow down a match and win by consistently gaining advantages while preventing the opponent from doing the same.

A strategy based on giving creatures with hexproof such as Invisible Stalker enhancements from Aura enchantments to avoid the inherent disadavantage of having an enchanted creature destroyed.

a strategy usually seen in Commander/EDH that attempts to protect itself early while developing a small number of very large, powerful creatures.

a deck with a very low land count, often supported by modal double-faced land cards such as Valakut Awakening  , to deal large amounts of damage from Goblin Charbelcher.

a deck that uses and mana.

a deck that uses , , and mana.

a deck that exiles and returns permanents, usually creatures, to repeatedly trigger "enters the battlefield" and similar abilities.

a control deck that uses control and burn alongside Blood Moon to restrict the opponent's actions.

a deck that uses and mana.

a deck that uses , , and mana.

a deck that uses , , , and mana.

a deck that costs less money than a deck of the same format or strategy. This is a fairly subjective term.

a deck that uses , , and mana.

an aggro deck that uses cheap damaging spells like Boros Charm and small, fast creatures like Goblin Guide.

a deck that uses the act of drawing cards as a resource, using cards like Diviner's Wand and The Locust God to develop advantages.

a deck not intended for sanctioned tournament use.

a strategy usually found in EDH or casual that attempts to exchange control of permanents or randomize effects with cards like Scrambleverse or Wild Evocation.

a strategy related to aikido that tries to copy the owner's or opponents' creatures with cards such as Stunt Double or Evil Twin.

a deck that revolves around flipping coins from cards such as Okaun, Eye of Chaos.

a deck that uses Collected Company to rapidly bring out multiple small creatures.

a deck that uses mana. Almost always Eldrazi or artifact.

a deck that uses the interaction between two or more cards as a win condition.

a deck intended for sanctioned tournament use.

a card or deck that focuses on restricting and denying the opponent's resources or actions.

a strategy that uses +1/+1 counters, as with Fathom Mage, -1/-1 counters, as with Blowfly Infestation, or another type of counter.

a deck that uses effects like Natural Order or Quicksilver Amulet to quickly put large creatures onto the battlefield.

a deck that uses very few or no Creature cards.

a deck that seeks to control Dark Depths with no counters, typically through Vampire Hexmage or Thespian's Stage, to create a massive creature.

a tempo deck that exiles and raises the cost of opponents' spells, making them inefficient. Usually mono-white.

a deck that reduces its life total to maximize the power and toughness of Death's Shadow.

a control or tempo deck that uses an early Insectile Aberration   for damage.

a strategy that uses cards with multiple mana symbols to support devotion effects like Gray Merchant of Asphodel or Master of Waves, first seen in Theros.

a deck that uses randomized dice rolling through cards such as Contact Other Plane and Barbarian Class to generate and modify effects.

a strategy that attempts to control the opponent's cards in hand, leaving them without relevant cards to play. This may also refer to self-discard, for madness or reanimator decks.

a usually combo deck that gives permanents to opponents, either as group hug or to gain advantage from cards like Demonic Pact or Zedruu the Greathearted.

a strategy, usually seen in Commander and Legacy, that uses the card Doomsday to reduce the deck to the essentials needed to win quickly or immediately.

a strategy that focuses on filling the graveyard for profit using the Dredge ability or similar effects.

a deck that continuously recycles cheap artifacts like Chromatic Star for mana and card draw, culminating in a damaging effect such as Banefire or a continually-recurred Pyrite Spellbomb.

a deck based around the Enchantment card type, as either normal Enchantments or Auras.

a card or deck like Voltaic Brawler that uses energy counters, first seen in Kaladesh.

a deck that uses , , , , and mana.

a deck intended for use in a sanctioned Friday Night Magic tournament. It is designed to be used in a competitive match, but may be experimental or use a lower-tier strategy.

a deck that uses Food tokens created by cards like Gyome, Master Chef or Gilded Goose, usually with a lifegain element.

a strategy that damages opponents through forced card draw, using cards such as Nekusar, the Mindrazer.

a deck that relies on the flexible card searching of Gifts Ungiven. These decks usually have some graveyard focus, like reanimator, to take advantage of the cards not selected.

a deck that uses individually strong and efficient cards without focusing on their interactions.

a multiplayer strategy that attempts to maintain balance by supporting players at a disadvantage and punishing more advantaged players, so that parity is frequently more important than victory.

a multiplayer strategy that attempts to damage or punish all opponents equally and simultaneously.

a deck that uses and mana.

a deck that uses and mana.

a deck that uses , , and mana.

a deck that uses , , , and mana.

a deck with only cards that have even converted mana costs in the starting deck, built around the Companion Gyruda, Doom of Depths

a deck that uses small, efficient silver bullet creatures that control or disrupt certain strategies, as Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Harsh Mentor.

a deck that forces the opponent to cast undesirable spells like Pact of Negation through Hive Mind.

a format that pits all players against an uncontrolled deck of 100 cards, most of which are tokens. An overview of the format can be found at https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Horde_Magic.

a strategy that uses the infect mechanic first seen in Scars of Mirrodin to place ten poison counters on an opponent, causing a loss.

a combo deck whose centerpiece combo creates a self-sustaining interaction, where each piece supplies the resources necessary to fuel another piece.

a U/R (Izzet) deck that supports Arclight Phoenix and Thing in the Ice   with cheap instants and sorceries that have burn and card manipulation effects.

a slow, awkward, or unreliable deck, usually with the potential for sudden explosive plays.

a deck with no repeated mana symbols in any card's mana cost in the starting deck, built around the Companion Jegantha, the Wellspring.

a deck with creatures only of the Cat, Elemental, Nightmare, Dinosaur, or Beast types in the starting deck, built around the Companion Kaheera, the Orphanguard.

a deck with only land cards and cards with converted mana cost 3 or greater, built around the Companion Keruga, the Macrosage.

a self-mill deck that wins by drawing a card from its own empty library. Named for Laboratory Maniac and Thassa's Oracle.

a strategy that attacks the opponent's mana base with the intent to leave them unable to cast spells.

a deck that focuses on the Land type and its interactions with other cards, with effects like Landfall or Treasure Hunt.

a control deck that works around the casting restriction on Standstill by using non-spell effects that provide a win condition, such as cycling Decree of Justice.

a mill deck that uses Lantern of Insight and Codex Shredder and similar effects to control the opponent's ability to draw relevant cards.

a deck mostly in the Commander format that uses the variety of Legendary cards, which are typically more efficient or powerful than non-Legendary cards.

a deck that tries to mitigate damage and outlast the opponent by consistently increasing its life total.

a combo reanimator deck that fills its graveyard with creatures, typically with cycling, then uses the Cascade ability or similar effect to cast Living End for free.

a Dredge strategy that fills the graveyard with cards that can be cast from that zone, using Life from the Loam to reliably generate mana.

a deck with no permanents above converted mana cost 2 in the starting deck, built around the Companion Lurrus of the Dream-Den.

a deck that has no more than one copy of each nonland card in the starting deck, built around the Companion Lutri, the Spellchaser.

a strategy that uses cards with a self-discard effect to cast spells with the Madness ability like Basking Rootwalla, usually for a reduced mana cost.

a GW (Selesnya) deck that uses tutors to find a selection of aggro or tempo cards to control and advance the battlefield.

a strategy that tries to exert early control before applying pressure with efficient creatures.

a strategy that attempts to force the opponent to draw from an empty library, thereby losing. This can sometimes refer to self-mill, for effects that care about graveyard size or quality, as Lab Man/Thoracle or reanimator decks.

a deck that uses the Monarch ability introduced in Conspiracy to draw cards or encourage aggression. Typically seen in EDH.

a deck that uses mana.

a deck that uses mana.

a deck that uses mana.

a deck that uses mana.

a deck that uses mana.

an artifact deck that uses cards like metalworker and basalt monlith to generate colorless mana quickly.

a deck designed to be used in games of more than two people.

a suicide black deck that uses the value engine Necropotence to convert its life into massive card advantage.

a deck generated from a deck or template, usually competitive, generated by somebody else and posted online.

a five-color strategy that uses Niv-Mizzet Reborn and Bring to Light to flexibly cast a variety of spells.

Not Safe For Work. Can refer to either a deck with a theme or card art perceived as inappropriate or lewd, or to a deck that deliberately creates tension between players.

a deck with only cards that have odd converted mana costs in the starting deck, built around the Companion Obosh, the Preypiercer.

a deck that uses ramp cards to support a creature like Omnath, Locus of Mana or Omnath, Locus of Creation.

a control deck usually seen in Commander/EDH that relies on defensive creatures and enchantments such as Wall of Denial and Propaganda to deter aggression.

a typically black control deck that attacks all of the opponent's resources simultaneously.

a description of how a deck works, usually including descriptions of specific cards or combos, deck strengths and weaknesses, and potential modifications.

a control deck that tries to prevent the opponent from taking any action through effects such as Opposition or Contamination.

a deck that attacks with a creature equipped with Colossus Hammer, using Puresteel Paladin to quickly attach Equipment.

a deck or card that increases mana availability through playing extra lands, as Exploration or generating additional mana, as Llanowar Elves.

a deck that uses , , and mana.

a deck that tries to play powerful creatures from the graveyard, using spells like Reanimate or Unburial Rites.

a mono-red burn deck that attempts to maximize mana efficacy and usage.

a strategy usually seen in Commander/EDH that attempts to turn the opponent's actions against them with steal, copy, or redirect effects like Swerve and Deflecting Palm.

a deck that uses and mana.

a deck that uses , , and mana.

a deck that uses , , , and mana.

a midrange deck in BG (Golgari) colors, typically using hand disruption and recursion to support its creature base.

a deck that uses , , and mana.

a deck that uses , , and mana.

a deck that uses and mana.

a deck built around enchantment cards with the Saga subtype, introduced in the Dominaria set.

a deck that generates and utilizes tokens of the common Saproling type.

a combo strategy that uses the interaction between Scapeshift and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle to deal large amounts of damage.

a deck that relies on drawing two or more cards per turn to use abilities like Faerie Vandal and Evangel of Synthesis.

a control strategy related to creature cheat that uses Show and Tell to play expensive, powerful cards like Omniscience.

a card with a narrow but powerful use, such as Moat. Silver bullets are often used in sideboards and/or with with specific card search effects like Demonic Tutor or Glittering Wish.

a deck that relies on the Snow subtype or mana.

a lifegain deck that relies on many creatures entering the battlefield to trigger Soul Warden and Soul's Attendant.

a deck that gains advantages through casting instants and sorceries to support aggressive creatures like Nivix Cyclops or card advantage sources like Niv-Mizzet, Parun.

a strategy based around keeping an opponent's permanents tapped through effects like Tangle Wire and Kismet while denying other resources through disruption, sacrifice, or cost increase, such as Smokestack.

a fast aggro deck, typically in mono-green, that sacrifices longevity for damage, similar to zoo or suicide black.

a control deck, usually in WU (Azorius) that uses Stoneforge Mystic to search for powerful equipments.

a combo deck that tries to cast a critical number of spells to maximize the effect of a Storm card like Brain Freeze or Grapeshot.

a typically mono-black deck that invests its life total, land base, and other limited resources into rapid development.

a deck based around the Planeswalker type, usually with support from cards with the proliferate ability.

a strategy that uses cheap spells, usually creatures with controlling effects and efficient stats, to prevent the opponent from developing a board presence.

a control strategy that aims to use an opponent's permanents through cards like Threaten, Enslave, and Blatant Thievery.

a usually casual deck designed around a unifying theme or idea, such as a single artist or only -cost spells. This is a very broad category, as almost any part of the card or strategy can be part of the theme.

a deck that produces many token creatures.

a deck that uses cards like Birthing Pod or Neoform and recursion or copy effects to get increasingly large creatures.

a strategy that uses top deck manipulation through scry, surveil, or draw effects to gain advantage from cards like Garruk's Horde, Counterbalance, or Entreat the Angels.

a deck that attempts to take advantage of creatures with high toughness through cards like Arcades, the Strategist and Phenax, God of Deception.

a deck that creates and uses Treasure artifact tokens to generate mana and use abilities like Magda, Brazen Outlaw.

a deck that uses Urza's Power Plant, Urza's Mine, and Urza's Tower to generate lots of mana quickly.

a strategy that attempts to mitigate and prevent damage, especially combat damage, through cards like Ethereal Haze and Leyline of Sanctity. Named after Fog.

a deck that tries to take many turns in a row, through effects such as Nexus of Fate or Time Warp.

an infinite combo deck that combines Splinter Twin or Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker with a creature that untaps another creature when it enters the battlefield, which generates an arbitrarily high number of creature tokens with haste.

a deck that uses and mana.

a deck that uses , , and mana.

a deck that uses , , , mana.

a deck that uses and mana.

a deck where every nonland card in the starting deck shares a card type, built around the Companion Umori, the Collector.

a card or combo that can repeatedly convert one resource into another.

an artifact deck that relies on the low cost of Vehicle cards such as Smuggler's Copter and Consulate Dreadnought.

a deck, usually in WUB ( Esper), that uses the Venture into the dungeon mechanic to gain advantages through cards such as Barrowin of Clan Undurr and lost mine of Phandelver, first seen in Adventures in the Forgotten Realms.

a deck usually in Commander/EDH that uses Auras or Equipment to make a single very powerful creature.

a deck built around flavor or storytelling rather than mechanics.

a deck that uses and mana.

a deck that casts and improves many small creatures. This deck is usually but not exclusively mono-white.

a strategy related to forcefeed that forces all players to repeatedly discard and draw their hands using effects like Reforge the Soul.

a deck that uses and mana.

a deck that uses , , and mana.

a deck that uses , , , and mana.

a deck that uses cheap card draw to reduce the number of lands needed and generate card value.

a deck with at least twenty more cards in the starting deck than the required minimum, built around the Companion Yorion, Sky Nomad.

a deck with no permanents that do not have an activated ability in the starting deck, built around the Companion Zirda, the Dawnwaker.

an aggro deck based on low-cost powerful creatures like Wild Nacatl paired with cheap removal. Zoo generally uses creatures as a primary win condition, while burn is more spell-focused.

Resources Used

These are the resources I used while specifically creating this list. Thank you to everyone who wrote an article, posted a decklist, told me what I wanted to know, or taught me how to play the game before I got the idea to make this list. Special thanks to SynergyBuild, enpc, and user:DarkStarStorm for suggestions and definitions, and an early but equally special thanks to everyone else who puts a hub idea forward and offers advice, clarification, and general support.

https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/deck-of-the-day-amulet-titan-modern/

https://www.channelfireball.com/articles/legacy-guide-part-v-prison-decks/

http://commandertheory.com/post/95663747292/what-exactly-is-an-aikido-deck-i-havent-been

https://www.coolstuffinc.com/a/carlosgutierrez-082912-eggs-101

https://edhrec.com/themes/spellslinger

https://www.hipstersofthecoast.com/2017/09/mtg-legacy-mud-deck-tech/

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/beyond-basics/building-your-engine-2017-01-05

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/designing-rise-2010-04-26

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/maverick-legacy-2013-06-25

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/solar-flare-2012-06-15

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/ub-trippin%E2%80%99-2005-04-21

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-academy/introduction-inevitability-2007-05-05

https://magic.wizards.com/en/mtgarena/faq

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/mtg-arena/mtg-arena-formats

https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Stompy

https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Horde_Magic

https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Landstill

https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Prison_deck

https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Red_Deck_Wins

https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Silver_bullet

https://mtgdecks.net/Modern/izzet-phoenix-decklist-by-thomas-hendriks-794569

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-gruul-adventures-eld#paper

http://www.mtgmintcard.com/articles/writers/huang-hao-shan/guide-to-amulet-bloom

https://www.mtgsalvation.com/articles/15234-off-topic-deck-engines

https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-general/325991-what-is-solar-flare

https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/202072-your-definition-of-a-good-stuff-deck

https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/204260-the-stax-primer

https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/commander-edh/769600-aikido-as-an-archetype

https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/legacy-type-1-5/established-legacy/midrange/179841-deck-maverick

https://mtgtop8.com/archetype?a=232

https://mtgtop8.com/archetype?a=24

https://www.reddit.com/r/EDH/comments/4qxodh/what_is_a_battlecruiser/

https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/bsfawf/what_is_a_xerox_deck/

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/standard/12799_The_History_of_Solar_Flare.html

https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/mtg/channelmagic-articles/ad-nauseam-deck-guide/

https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/mtg/channelmagic-articles/deck-of-the-day-legacy-mudstax/

https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/mtg/channelmagic-articles/deck-of-the-day-modern-ad-nauseam/

Suggestions

Updates Add

Spoiler Timeline
Card Odds v1 Draw hand
Add to folder Copy
Download / Export / Embed Code

Comments View Archive

Attention! Complete Comment Tutorial! This annoying message will go away once you do!

Hi! Please consider becoming a supporter of TappedOut for $3/mo. Thanks!

Important! Formatting tips — Comment Tutorial — markdown syntax

Please login to comment

Top Ranked
  • Achieved #14 position overall 5 years ago
Date added 6 years
Last updated 6 months
Legality

This deck is not Vintage legal.
Rarity (main - side)

1 - 0 Rares

2 - 0 Commons
Cards 3
Avg. CMC 2.33
Folders informative, Resource, o_o, Basic References, Source Material, Lists, Resources, awesome decks, .Resources, Resource
Votes
Ignored suggestions
Shared with
Views