Magic: The Gathering Drive to Work Podcast - Drive to Work #352 - Vocabulary

Episode Date: July 29, 2016

Mark tests what Magic vocabulary makes sense to someone who doesn't know Magic well.

I'm pulling on my driveway. We all know what that means. It's time for another drive to work. Okay, so today, Rachel is joining us. Say hi, Rach. Hi. Okay, so we're trying to... So, summer's coming up, and Rachel soon won't be driving with me.

So I've been trying to... I realize there might be a few things I might be able to do with Rachel in the car. So today, I talk a lot about the language of magic, of how the language... People who start playing and learning all the language think, oh, it's so obvious. And I always talk about how it's not that obvious in that you learn the language and it's a vocabulary you have to learn. So what we're doing today is, Rachel, how many times have you played magic, Rachel? You showed me a few times when I was like eight, I think, but not really past then.

Although I do have friends who play magic and sort of watch her over the shoulders, but still, like, I really have no idea what's going on. Okay, so you played maybe a handful of times. Kind of. You really haven't played in years. Not really. Right. Okay, so what we're going to do today is I'm going to give Rachel magic terms, and then

I'm going to, she's going to guess what she thinks they mean. Okay? So we're going to sort of see, okay, in a vacuum, I mean, Rachel has a little bit of knowledge of magic, so it's not that she has zero understanding, but only a little tiny understanding. So I'm going to ask you, I'm going to do keywords, mechanics, and things, and you just tell me, Rachel, what you think it does. Okay. Just give your best description. I'm not expecting you to be technical. Just sort of give a guess, like, well, what kind of thing in the game do you think it would do? All right. Okay, so first we're going to start with creature mechanics.

These are mechanics that go on creatures. Okay, so flying. What do you think a creature with flying would do? They would fly. With wings. Okay, well what... Perhaps, maybe not with wings. Okay, so let's say I have a creature with flying that attacks. Who could block that creature? Anything that's in the air, also flying. Okay, so if I had a flying creature and another creature didn't have flying, could the creature without flying block my flyer?

Or I guess like super tall. But, I mean, I don't know how tall your creatures are. If they're tall enough to reach it on the ground, then like sure, I guess. So if they're tall enough to reach it, then they could stop a flyer. Perhaps. Although I don't know how big your guys' things are. Some things are kind of big, but it depends. I'm guessing probably flying blocks a lot of different things.

Just flying versus flying. So flyers can block flyers. That would make a lot of sense. Okay, you got that right. Flying, by the way, I think is the most obvious word we have in the game. Okay, next. First strike. If a creature has first strike, what does that mean?

They can attack first. Okay. Like, first and strike. So they attack first. First. Okay, no. So let's say we have two creatures that get in a fight, and one creature has first strike. What would that mean for that creature?

They got striked first? Well, no, no. Let's say there's two creatures. Like, strike first or they got striked first? Well, no, let's say there's two creatures. You attack with a creature, and it has first strike. And your opponent blocks with their creature. What do you think first strike lets you do? Kill that creature?

Okay. Like, strike it and it'll knock down some life or something? Okay. But first strike has an ability. Do you think it does something? What's the special ability of first strike? Striking first. Right.

So you would get to do what? Strike first. Strike first. Okay, yes. What does that mean? First strike means when we fight, normally when we fight,

the two creatures fight at the same time, but if I had first strike, I'd get to strike first. I hit you first. And if I kill you, then you never hit me. Ooh, snap.

Okay, so that's pretty good. I'll say you got that one. All right, all right. Okay, trample. What hit you first. Oh. And if I kill you, then you never hit me. Ooh, snap. Okay, so that's pretty good. I'll say you got that one. All right, all right. Okay, trample. What do you think trample is? You trample the creature. You stomp on them. Okay.

You go over the creature. You go over the creature. Okay, so let's say... That's what trampling usually means. Let's say I had a big creature that is trample, and you block with a little creature. What do you think happens?

They will get trampled. What does that mean, you think? They will get squished. They will die? They will get trampled. What does that mean, you think? They will get squished. They will die. They will die. Okay. Anything else? You win?

I don't know. Okay. No, no. You trampled. You're halfway there. So if I have a big creature with a trample and you block with a little creature, I...

Right. I stomp over a little creature, but then I do some damage to the player. Oh, snap. That I trample over the creature. Okay, I'll give you half credit. I think you're half there. All right.

Okay, a creature has haste. What would that mean? Haste. I don't think what the word haste means in the first place. Okay, well, okay, so it's a word you don't even know what it means. So, any idea? I know kind of what haste means. Okay.

Can you give it a sentence or something? There's a famous expression, haste makes waste. Okay, that doesn't help. Haste means quickly. Quickly. I don't know. You quickly fight. You quickly defend.

I don't know. You're quick with something. You're quick with something. Okay, so you have no idea what that means. Quick killing. Not really. You have no idea. So what haste means is,

in the game, normally when you play a creature you're not allowed to attack the turn it comes into play. It has what we call summoning sickness. It's kind of like disoriented from being there. But you're like, no. But haste means, nope, I can attack right away. Ooh, snuffing. Okay, next. Vigilance. Vigilance?

That's like fighting. You're like angry. Okay, well what can you do if you have vigilance? Just destroy them more. Destroy them more? I don't know. Just take life away from the wizard, from the player. From the player. I don't know. It seems really harsh because vigilance

is one of those very harsh words. Okay. So do you think it's a fighting thing? I have a feeling it's a fighting thing because vigilance is like you know vigilance okay so you think it's a fighting thing i think so do you think vigilance makes a creature um a better fighter harder to kill just more angry more angry okay just more rage i'm uncertain what does the word vigilance mean just in english what does the word vigilance mean? Just in English, what does the word vigilance mean? I'm blanking. Like, I've heard it before, but it sounds really angry in my mind.

Okay, well, vigilance means to be watchful, is what the word means. Oh, no. What am I thinking of then? I don't know. I don't know where to think of. It just sounds angry. So what it means in the game is normally when you attack with a creature, you have to, what's called tap it, you turn it sideways, and then you can't use it.

If someone attacks, you can't block with it. But vigilant creatures don't tap. So you can attack with it and block with it. That even though it attacks, it's still vigilant and was watching out and can block for you. That's a smart creature. Okay. How would a creature with reach, what would a creature with reach do? They would reach.

They would reach out to another creature, like help another creature. They would help another creature? Because they're not going to help the opponent. So it's like they creature, like help another creature. They would help another creature? Because they're not going to help the opponent, so it's like they're going to help another creature. Okay, help one of your other creatures? If they reach to them, that's all. Reach is kind of simple. My final answer.

My final answer is a creature that helps another creature. Okay. So it's funny because I gave a hint to this before. When you were flying and you talked about how it can be blocked by flying creatures or creatures that are big enough to grab it, I said, oh, things that could reach it. Reach is you can block flyers even though you don't fly. Oh, okay, so you do have creatures that are tall enough to block me.

Well, it's not necessarily tall enough. Maybe it can be. It might be, for example, a spider that is a web. And the web could catch the flyers. Stuff like that. That's a big web. Well, it's a giant spider. But how giant is a spider? Literally, the card is called Giant

Spider. So that's why I'm having fun. Okay. Okay, so Rich, say that I know you didn't get. Lifelink. The creature is lifelink. What do you think lifelink. The creature has lifelink. What do you think lifelink means? Like a lifeline

who wants to be a millionaire. Like, I'll get help. Gets a call and get help. Calls up his friends. Hey! Can I take my lifelink, please? Hey, battle. I don't know,

like an extra life or something? Like Mario. Okay, so you think it's something new with life? Extra life. There's life in the thing. Linking. I'm pretty sure it's not linking. Unless it was you think it's something that's life? There's life in the thing. Linking. I'm pretty sure

it's not linking. Unless it was like Transformers or something and they just all morphed together. Do you remember in the game that your total

in the game is your life total? Do you remember that? Uh, kind of. Okay, well, your score in the game is called your life total. Oh, so you need to

like build it up or tack the other opponents down? Right, so life link would think life link would or hack the other opponents down? Right, so Lifelink, what do you think Lifelink would do? Knowing that your score is called your life, what do you think Lifelink... It helps your life. Okay, it helps your life. How does it help your life, you think? By giving you more

life. It does give you... You're in the right space. Do you know how it gives you more life? Taking away the other opponent's life. Oh, very good! Yay! That's how it Oh, very good! Yay! That's how it works, really? Well, close. What Lifelink says is, for every damage the creature does, you gain life.

Nice. And usually you do damage to another creature or another player. Oh, now I remember this. Yeah, we did. Yeah, take your case to work to enjoy a zombie griffin, which attacked all the time. We got points for it. That's true. Okay.

I remember this. Okay. Death touch. What does death touch do? You touch them and they die. You touch them and they die. So give me an example in the game. What would that mean? A creature would touch another creature, and the creature got touched, died. Okay.

So how would a creature touch another creature? By fighting. By fighting. Ooh. Winner, winner. That's good. How else would they touch them? Just poke.

I don't know. That's what I'm asking. So death touch means if you get in a fight with another creature, as long as you damage them at all, you kill them. Okay. I don't think the creature's more like poke, but the creature would be like, eh. Right. So some of these words are more obvious.

Death touch is more obvious. It makes a little sense. It makes more sense. Okay. What do you think hexproof is? Well, hex is like a spell, because I always think of hex as in, like, you know, like, hocus pocus, but it's not a thing. So, like,

you can't get any spells put on you. Ah, very good! Very good! He's scaring me. So, hexproof is your proof from hexes. That's a good one, Rachel. That's not something I love. Oh, I just always think of hocus pocus. Hocus pocus is a good movie. No. If you haven't watched it, watch it. Have you not seen Hocus Pocus? Yeah, I saw it with you. Oh, Rachel. That's not something I love. Oh, I just always think of Hocus Pocus. Hocus Pocus is a good movie.

No. If you haven't watched it, watch it. Have you not seen Hocus Pocus? Yeah, I saw it with you. Oh, yeah. Okay. I thought it was just with Mom or something. No, we watched it on Halloween.

Oh, well, okay. Okay. Hocus Pocus is a good movie. Okay, so go to the next one. Prowess. What do you think prowess does? They prow. I'm trying to think.

They. Do you know what the word prowess means? Not really. Um, prowess talks about, um, skillful is kind of what it means. So it has many skills. It's. Often they talk about prowess. Prowess talks about your skills. A lot of times the prowess might talk about

um how you there's something you can do that's very impressive that people are impressed by your ability to do it so they have a certain skill that you know

is like really good okay so you have no this one you have no idea I don't know like Pokemon evolving I'm kind of a certain here okay well this one's a tough one I don't say

but this one is is there creatures that get better? They get a bonus. So their power and toughness go up a little bit. They get a Christmas bonus. Every time you cast a certain kind of spell. Oh, okay.

So it allows you that you can cast certain spells and they get bigger and they're better in combat and stuff. They do more damage. Okay. Okay, Menace. What does Menace do? Well, I think of Dennis the Menace. I think of somebody who's, like, again,

like, sort of vicious, angry attacking Okay, so they're angry That's I think of menace I mean, Dennis the Menace is all I have to go off of this All you have is Dennis the Menace? All I have is Dennis the Menace

Do you know what menace means? Evil, I don't really know Menace means something dangerous that the reason Dennis was a menace is that... He was very dangerous? It's something that people should kind of be afraid of. That if you're menacing, that it's like, oh, you're very dangerous.

So the creature is dangerous. The creature is dangerous. What does that mean? The creature is dangerous. Let's not fight them. Ah, close. Close. Let's stay away.

What menace says is you won't fight them by yourself. Oh, okay. Because it's so scary. You need to team up. Close. Let's stay away. What Minna says is you won't fight them by yourself. Oh, okay. Because it's so scary. You need to team up. Yeah. But it's nice to team up. Okay. So how about fear?

What would fear do? Scare another creature. Scare another creature? Okay. What would that mean? You fight another creature and they're like, ah, they run away. Close. If they're afraid of you, they won. Close. If they're afraid of you,

if they're afraid of you, they won't block you because they're afraid of you. Ah. How about intimidate? What do you think intimidate does? You intimidate them. Okay,

you intimidate them. I'm staring at them until they back down. Until they back down, okay. So it's funny because fear and intimidate

are old, we don't use those anymore. Menace is the new one, but they all kind of mean the same thing. Okay. That I'm scary is what they're supposed to mean. Right. So it's funny because fear and intimidate are old. We don't use those anymore. Menace is the new one, but they all kind of mean the same thing. That I'm scary. That's what they're supposed to mean. But they don't name it scary. They've got to make it sound like it's scary. Well, I mean, sure.

One day we'll have the scary mechanic. I'm scary. I'm scary. Okay, so next. Flash. What does flash mean? They run really fast? They run really fast They run really fast

Yeah, you're talking about like the flash Or flash is in like bright lights I don't mean I'm just giving you a word Okay, well I'm pretty sure the creatures don't shine bright lights On their phone So I'm going to go with fast

Okay, so they're fast So what do you think that means in the game if they're fast? Like, zoom, zoom, run really fast. They run really fast. So they're hard to block? What do you think? I guess hard to block. Like, you can't really, like, attack them because, you know, they're always, like, running. Okay, so what flash is...

Really fast. You're correct, it means fast, but it allows you to play cards at a time you can't normally play them. Because you're so fast. Because you're so fast. Normally, you have to play things during your turn and only certain kind of spells you can cast on your opponent's turn but anything that is flash can be cast on your opponent's turn

even if you can't normally do that. That's the special ability. That was a hard one. How about double strike? What does double strike do? You strike twice. Okay, what does that mean? You attack once and they lose them, and then you attack them twice. Okay, you attack twice.

So if I attack a player with double strike... You double their impact. That's pretty good. Pretty good. Well, double strike... The only thing that you didn't get, but that's hard, is double strike is you have first strike and then you have an additional strike. You have normal strike and first strike. So double strike also is like first strike, and then you have an additional strike. You have normal strike and first strike.

So double strike also is like first strike, but then you get a second. But you're correct, you get two strikes. So that part you got, that's good. Okay, indestructible. Something's indestructible. You can't destroy them. So what would that mean to the game? You can't destroy them. You can't destroy them. Okay.

That's kind of what indestructible means. Yes, you cannot destroy them. So in the game, there's effects that can destroy things, and indestructible means goes, you cannot destroy me. They make that sound. Kidding. You cannot destroy me. Okay, that's good.

Okay. Let's try, we've got a little harder one here. What does scry mean? Can you spell it please? S? It's like the spelling bee. Yes. S-C-R-Y.

Scry. Yeah. Do you know what that word means? No. No. Because all I know about that is just S and cry and apparently they don't just

burst into tears and build the game. So I have no idea. It makes your opponent cry. Okay. So I'll tell you what the word means and see if you can come up with what it does in the game. It's a word to talk about seeing the future.

So when you scry. Oh, they can see. They can see. Like your next cards are going to be like in the deck. Like the future. Okay. Like the next card you're going to like pull. That your opponent's going to pull.

Or that you're going to pull. Which one? You look at the next card you're going to pull. Oh, you're going to pull. So what it lets you do is look at the top of your library and then decide if you want... It has a number, so you can look at so many cards from the top of your library. And then you decide if you want them or not. If you don't want them, you've got to put them on the bottom of your deck.

So that you don't get them until later. But no, I think that... I will count that as... I'm going to tell you what Scribant... Once you knew what Scribant... Like half a point. So we'll get like half a point. Okay, how about fight?

What does fight mean? They fight. Okay, so if I say my creature fights your creature, what do you think that means? I win the fight. What do you think creatures do? You fight. I don't know. Well, what would you expect? If my creature fights your creature, what do you think that would mean?

If your creature had fight on it, I bet it'd be... Well, this is something you make things do. If I make two creatures fight... Oh, then they just fight. And then the last one standing wins. So what do you think they would do if they fight? What does that mean? They would fight.

One of them dies. Okay, so they would damage each other. Yeah. And then one of them, or maybe both die, or maybe neither die. Just knock to that at the same time. Right, it forces them to get in combat with each other. Okay, if I say you counter something,

what does that mean? You go against it. Like you stop it, or you also... Okay, so I'll give you an expression, and you tell me what it means. Counter-target spell. Let's back up. What does target mean?

What do you think target means? A specific target person thing. Okay, specific one. That's right. What does counter-target spell mean? You counter the spell from that target. Okay, but what does that mean? I don't know. That target has a spell, and you're like, from that target. Okay, but what does that mean? I don't know.

That target does a spell and you're like, I counter that. Okay, but what... You're just using the word counter. What does that mean? I go against it. I have another spell

and it's like Harry Potter. Oh, so you... Like Voldemort and Harry Potter but like the two I got it. You have a spell. I will counter your spell. Yeah, like Harry Potter

and like Voldemort and Harry Potter and the magic that clashes together. Okay. What counter actually means is I counter your spell. Yeah, like Harry Potter. I'm like Voldemort and Harry Potter. The magic that all clashes together. Okay. What a counter actually means is I stop your spell. Oh. That I keep it from happening. So a counter spell would stop another spell from happening.

Oh. Okay, so now we're going to get into some mechanics. Okay? So the list I've chosen, I did head-to-head Not so long ago For me We're looking at cards Mechanics that got repeated So these are all mechanics We've used multiple times

So these are pretty These are mechanics That we've used A bunch of times Okay Flashback You pull something Out of the graveyard

Like you know Like Oh very good Like throw my Thursday Out of the graveyard Okay so I pull it Out of the graveyard What would I do with it

You fight with it You fight with it Pull it out of the graveyard And you put it do with it? You fight with it. You fight with it? Pull it out of the graveyard and you put it back in your deck? You're correct. So what it is is... You put it back in your deck?

Like, I don't know what you do with it. No, no. Flashback are spells that you can cast out of your graveyard. Oh. You were close.

So does that creature... Does he have something called zombie and they rise from the dead? Yes, there are... There's ways to do that. Here, I'll go backwards. What would you call

taking a creature out of the graveyard and putting it in play? Like raising it from the dead. Zombie. Rise. Night of the Living Dead. Okay. I mean, the informal term for it is reanimate. Reanimate.

Although that's not a technical game term. Okay. Zombie sounds pretty cool, but you guys already have that. We have zombies. We don't have zombies. You can raise the dead. Re-zombie. Re-zombie. Re-zombify. Re-zombify. Okay. Zombie sounds pretty cool, but you guys already have one. We have zombies. We don't have zombies. You can praise the dead. Re-zombie. Re-zombie.

Re-zombify. Re-zombify. Okay. Next. Madness. What do you think madness does? They go nuts. They, like, rip apart your head.

I'm uncertain what madness does. They rip apart your head? Madness. Madness. Like, you have the madness? Like, you have the madness. They have the madness. Okay, let's say you have the madness. What would that mean if you have the madness? Like you have the madness? Let's say you have the madness. What would that mean if you have the madness?

Then I'm mad. Okay, what does that mean? What does madness mean? You're just more vicious. You're more vicious. So madness is something your spells will have, not your creatures. Okay, you turn them mad and they just... You make your opponent mad?

I don't know, man. It's not a good thing. Okay. So madness is a spell where if you're forced to discard it, because there's things in the game that make you discard cards, you can still cast it. Normally you discard a card, it's gone. But with madness, you can cast it while it's being discarded.

Oh. That's a hard one. Okay, echo. What do you think echo is? You copy what they're doing. Oh, you copy what they're doing. That's a good guess. That's a hard one. Okay, echo. What do you think echo is? You copy what they're doing. It's like, oh, you copy what they're doing. That's a good guess.

That's not right. That's a good guess. So what echo is, is things you have to pay for twice. Oh. So you pay for it, and the reason you pay for it twice is you get it cheaper.

It's like, normally it would cost more, but I'll make you pay less. You just have to pay for it over two turns. Oh. Does that sound like a fun mechanic? No. It doesn't sound like a fun mechanic.

It is not well-liked. It's kind of boring. I'd rather go all big, all out. That's the way that people ought to go. Echo not the most popular mechanic. Okay, convoke. What does convoke mean? They convoke.

I don't know what convoke means. They convoke. They conv convoke. I don't know what convoke means. They convoke. You don't know what... They convoke. I don't know what convoke means. You don't know what the word convoke means? No. Convokes is something like you throw up.

You're like, convoke. It has to do with casting spells. They cast spells. I don't know. Well, so the mechanic lets your creatures help you cast spells. How could a creature help you cast a spell? By harnessing energy into you. I don't know. you cast spells. How could a creature help you cast a spell? By harnessing energy into you.

I don't know. Okay, so what you can do is normally when you cast a spell you have to tap mana. You have to tap land to cast it. But with Convoke you can also tap creatures

to help cast it. Besides just land. So your creatures can help you cast a spell. Okay. Morph. Can you bring two creatures together to get an ultimate creature, like Transformers? There are ways to do that, but that could work.

That would be really cool. Are we still on Convoke? I thought we were on Convoke. We're on Convoke. Now we're going to morph. What is morph? Now we're going to morph. Oh, what is morph?

Can you morph two creatures together? Oh, I see. You're saying morph is combining. Yes. Oh, and that's... I mean, so the word morph... That's a sweet creature. You're letting me, like, morph them combining. Yes. Oh, and that, I mean, so the word morph. That's a sweet creature. You're letting, like,

morph them together. You are correct in sort of what morph means because you could morph two things together. That's not what morph means in the game of Magic. Oh, yeah.

So. You should do that. Petition. Petition? Okay. Petition. I'll put it on the list. I'll put it on the list.

Okay. Just combine two creatures. Okay, so the word morph. So what do you get from the word? What do you think the word morph means? Morph means, like, two things go together. So it's like, I the word morph. So what do you get from the word? What do you think the word morph means? Morph means like two things go together, so it's like...

Well, morph actually means change, although you're correct. Two things can change into each other, so two things can morph together. But a thing can morph by itself. Can you change like another creature? Well, a creature has morph, so a creature that has morph... So what happens is, normally when you play a card, you play it face up. But with morph, you've got to play it face down. And while it's face down, it's a 2-2 creature.

It's got two power and two toughness. And then if you spend a certain amount of mana, you can turn it face up. So the idea is, when you face a morph creature, you don't know what it really is. You just know that it's kind of hidden from you. And that it's a 2-2 that can turn into something else. But you don't know what that something else is. Interesting. Okay.

Interesting. Does that sound cool? It's like in the movie. Okay. It'd be better if two creatures really clicked together. That's why thumb up or thumbs down. Flashback.

Did that sound like a cool mechanic? You can cast cards on your graveyard. That sounds pretty sweet. Okay. Madness. When things are discarded, you can play them.

Does that sound cool or not? It's kind of similar to flashback. How is it different from flashback again? Well, discarded, you can play them. Does that sound cool or not? It's kind of similar to Flashback. How is it different from Flashback again? Well, Madness, you can cast them when you're discarding them. Normally, we discard cards. Oh, yeah, sure. Keep it. So Echo, you said no.

Echo didn't sound... Echo sounds lame. You get paid for twice. I'm sorry. Convoke. Your creatures can help you cast your spell. That sounds pretty sweet, though. Okay.

Morph is the one where your creatures are face down, and then, ha-ha, it's secretly this. It'd be better if the two creatures could morph together, like we said, like with the zombie griffin. Like a zombie and a griffin. A zombie griffin. Or like a vampire. I will keep that in mind. Maybe we got a mechanic that I can make. That'd be sweet, though.

Okay, next. Shadow. It's shadow. It's something like behind it. It's like helping. It's like. Okay. Well, what does shadow do? Shadow, I mean, shadow's like behind someone, I mean. Okay. Well, what does shadow mean? I just, I just want to know. Well, you know what a shadow is. Yeah. Okay. So what do you. I am uncertain. It's like something that's like behind you, something that's like exactly you. Okay. So it so some sort of dark copy of you or something?

Kind of like Peter Pan's shadow, which kind of does whatever its own thing. Okay, so it's some living thing that's a, some sort of, it's similar to the thing. Some kind of replica that's like not as strong. Okay. Not even remotely close. Okay, what shadow is and magic is, it's kind of like flying. That if you have shadow, you are not quite here and you walk through the shadow realm. So only creatures with shadow can block you.

What is a shadow realm? Imagine if things were... Do you know what phasing is? No. No. Phasing means like making guns? No, you know what immaterial means? Material. Immaterial means? Material.

Immaterial. Immaterial. Like you can walk through walls and things. Oh, yeah. So imagine creatures that aren't quite on our universe, but you can see them, but you can't touch them. Can't touch them. You can't touch them. You can't touch them.

So they're ghosts. Sort of, but they only can be blocked by other ghosts, if you will. So they can block each other, but a normal ghost can't block a normal creature. A creature with, like a creature with flying can block anybody, but a creature with shadow can only block creatures with shadow. So it's, it's slightly worse flying. Okay. Shadow seems kind of weird.

So, shadow's not a cool mechanic or no? Eh. Eh? Okay. Like, like in the middle, like, like he could, but like there's other Eh? Okay. Like, in the middle. Like, he could, but there's other people. Okay, landfall. What does landfall do? The land falls.

I'm poor time. I'm acceptable. Okay, landfall. Land, like, you take away land from your opponent. You take away land from your opponent? Something with land and falling. I'm not certain. Well, it has something to do with land.

But what does fall mean, you think? What does falling have to do with land? Autumn. It becomes fall. I don't really know. Okay, so it has something to do with land autumn it becomes fall okay so yeah something to do with land you got that something with land do you think it's positive for you or negative for your opponent it sounds like negative for your opponent like falling it's more positive for you so what landfall is is whenever you play a land and you play up to one land per turn it makes something happen so a creature with landfall might say, every time you play a land, blah happens.

I get bigger or I draw a card or something happens. Okay. So it says every time I play a land, I get to do something. No. Does that sound cool or no? Meh. It's meh good or meh bad? Meh means I don't really care.

You don't really care. Okay, the middle. Okay, imprint. What does imprint do? You... I kind of know what imprint means, but I have no idea what the mechanic is. What does imprint the word mean?

Imprint, like, if you have, like, your hand and, like, cement, you, like, put your hand in the cement, and it's like... Okay, well, sure. I mean, that's a more physical version of imprinting. More commonly imprinting talks about how a creature or something... uh, they talk about like a baby will imprint the mother's face.

The idea that like, uh, in your brain that you'll become a... Oh yeah, like memory, like, like you'll remember. Right. Normally an imprint has to do with memories and stuff. Oh. Okay, so this is a hard one. Okay. I didn't, I didn't expect you to get this one.

Imprint is, it tells you to go get a card from somewhere, your hand, your library, and then you remove it from the game, your ex was going to exile it, and then the card cares about the card you've removed. So, for example, there's one card that, it's like a clone machine, and so what you do is you choose a creature from your hand, and you put it inside this, and then it makes copies of that. So, Imprint cares about the card that that you used. That it refers to it. It's a complicated mechanic.

Does it sound cool or no? You don't understand it. I don't understand it. Okay. You can copy things. It allows you to say this spell is connected to this other card and I can use that card to reference it. Sometimes it copies it. Sometimes

it cares about it in different ways. It's a complicated mechanic. It is a complicated mechanic. Okay, storm. What does storm do? You cause a storm. You cause a storm. What does that do?

I don't know. Rain, hail, lightning. Okay, but what... You use Mother Nature. Mother Nature. You use Mother Nature. What impact would it have on the game, you think? Soak your opponent. You soak Mother Nature. So what impact would it have on the game, you think? It would soak your opponent.

You soak your opponent? I don't know. You cast Nature on the opponent. Okay. You're far, far off on this one. I don't know. So what Storm is, it's a mechanic that cares about how many spells you've cast this turn. And then for every spell you've cast this turn, it copies this spell. So let's say I... It's another copy?

Let's say I had a spell... We like copying better. Let's say I had a spell that said I do one damage to my opponent. But if it had storm, I would copy it for as many times as many spells as I cast this turn. So let's say I cast five spells this turn, then I would make five copies of the spell and I would do

five damage to my opponent. Better than the imprint one, but still could be better. So does this sound like an interesting mechanic to you? Maybe. Okay. Giving it the next go. Does it sound like it might be a powerful mechanic? Most likely, yes.

Yes, it's a very powerful mechanic. In fact, it's one of the most powerful mechanics we've ever made. One could argue the most powerful mechanic we've ever made, although there's contenders for that. Okay, next. Bloodthirst. What does bloodthirst do? They want their blood.

Think of the vampire mechanic? Okay, what would a creature with bloodthirst do? You want their blood. You want to just, like... So what do you do with their blood? What do you think you do? You parade on it. I don't know.

Dance on their ashes. Dance on their ashes. I don't know what you do with bloodthirst. I don't know why you do with Bloodthirst. I don't know why you Okay, so Bloodthirst is a mechanic that says when you play the creature, if you damage your opponent

this turn, then this creature comes in play with a couple what we call plus one, plus one counters. It's bigger. So it gets excited

that you've spilled blood of your opponent. Yay. Does that sound cool? It sounds like the history of Europe doesn't split. It's not the history of Europe. Just blood. Okay.

Cycling. Just like the world history. What do you think cycling does? Cycles. It's another cop in one. Another what? Another cop in one. No, it's not a cop in one.

Are there any more cop in ones? Yes, there's a cop in one. Cycling. I don't know what you do with cycling. Bicycle. Bicycle you late. Cycling means that if the card's in your hand, you can spend mana and get rid of it to draw a new card.

Oh, okay. That makes sense. You can turn it and you can cycle it into another card. That's good. You should call it garbage, though. Call it garbage? Yeah. Well, sometimes... It's not necessarily a bad spell, it's just it's not good right now. You'd rather have something else right now.

Yeah, it makes sense. You can call it garbage. That's your new beginning. Okay, so cycling sound cool or no? Yeah, it sounds cool. Yes, okay. Rebound. Is it similar to flashback? Uh, kind of.

Like rebound from the grave. Rebound from the grave. Kind of, kind of. Rebound from the grave. If a spell rebounds, what do you think it does? If you rebound a spell, you do it again. Correct. Very good.

Hooray. So rebound is when you cast it, it goes off this turn and it goes off next turn. So it goes off two turns. Flashback, you can choose when it goes off the second time. You have to cast it again. But rebound, you just pay for it once and it goes off two times. Once now and once next turn. Does that sound fun?

Yeah. Yeah, okay. How about kicker? What does kicker do? You kick your opponent. You kick your opponent. You kick your opponent? Okay, so it hurts your opponent? So if a spell has kicker, what do you think a spell does if a spell has kicker?

It kicks. I don't know. It kicks up the power. It kicks up the power. Yay! Yay! You got it. When my actual sarcastic comments start to be correct.

It makes it better. Yeah, so a kicker means there's an extra cost to pay, and if you pay the extra cost, it makes the spell better. So you kick it up. You kick it up a notch. Is that what you guys named it that way? Because you kick it up a notch? I think so.

I don't know. I didn't name it. Bill named it, but... Oh, sorry. Do you like the name? Do you like the name kicker? Does that sound like a fun mechanic? I guess.

It sounds like a fun mechanic. Okay. Flinking. Flinking. What does flanking do? it sounds like plinking and I'm pretty sure your character just doesn't lay on the ground it's not plinking

that's true flanking what is do you know what the word flanking means? all I can think of is flank steak and we're hearing all her like steaks in the apartment okay so something

in between planking and flank steak meat lying on the ground flanking means is it's a fighting term Her, like, stinks in the opponent's mouth. Okay, so something in between planking and flank stink. Okay. Me, lying on the ground. No, but planking means is it's a fighting term that means when I... Is flank an actual word? Yeah, it's an actual word. What? These are all actual words, but, well, landfall's not.

Most of these are... No, landfall, you reach landfall. I guess that's a word. What does flank mean? Flanking is to have tactical advantage in a fight. Usually involved in swords. So, in the game, all the creatures that are flanking are on horseback. So what that means is they're fighting you, but they have the tactical advantage because they're above you.

Oh, that makes sense. It's harder to fight someone higher than you. Like knights. Like knights, exactly. So flanking means whenever you block a creature, as long as you don't have flanking, whenever you block a flanking creature, you have a disadvantage in a fight whenever you fight someone who has flanking. The mechanic's okay. The name's sweet, though.

I like the name. You like the name flanking? Flanking. Stamp approval. Stamp approval. Okay. Next. Buy back.

You buy back something from the grave. Uh, close. I mean, you have to buy back something. If you buy it back, what would happen? You buy a back. I don't know. Well, you're close. Buy back. What do you think happens with buy back? You buy back something that's, like, dead? You buy a back. I don't know. Well, you're close. Buy back.

What do you think happens with buy back? Buy back. You buy back something that's, like, dead. You buy back something from, like... Oh, so you think you get a dead thing. I don't know. You buy back... You buy back something.

Okay. Well, you do buy it back. How does that have a buying... So what would happen? If you bought that as... If you have a spell with buy back, what do you think happens? You... Once the spell's done, you can buy it back to use it again.

Right. You can use it again. Okay. so it's a spell you can use again but it's not in the graveyard so what buyback says is when you cast a spell if you pay the buyback cost instead of discarding it it stays in your hand so you can use it again so it allows you to keep your card

and not get rid of it does that sound like a fun mechanic? does it sound like a powerful mechanic? I gotta think about this. I bet it probably could. It is. It's a very powerful mechanic. Yeah.

In fact, the reason we haven't redone it too many times, it's quite powerful. Okay. The last mechanic I'm going to ask you today is exalted. That sounds like something from like the exorcist. Exalted. What does exalted mean? I don't know. It's like exalted. Exalted. But like exalted. That sounds like something from like The Exorcist. Exalted. What does exalted mean? I don't know. It's like exalted, salted, but like exalted.

You have no idea what I mean. You throw salt in them and they burn and flip. They're fire mechanics. You throw salt in them. That's salted. They're fire mechanics. Okay, exalted. Exalted means honored.

If something's exalted... Like you die with honor? Well, no. If something's exalted, you have great respect for exalted... Like you die with honor? Well, no. If something's exalted, you have great respect for it. What do you do with it? Well, I'm telling you what the word exalted means.

Okay. So you have a creature. This is a creature mechanic. So if a creature's exalted, it means others have great respect for it. So what do you think that would mean?

It goes after your opponent harder for, like, more vengeance. For revenge. Oh, maybe. Kind of there. I don't know. It fights harder for like more vengeance. For revenge? Um, kind of there. It fights harder for the thing that dies. It fights harder, so, but what it does is, um,

well, it's a mechanic that says if I have exalted, um, if as long as I only attack with one creature, that creature gets better for every creature I have with exalted. That the exalted helps you... It says if only one creature is fighting, I get to make it better. And so all the Exalted guys help improve the one creature to make it better.

Okay. So does that sound fun? It's in the middle. It's in the middle? Okay, of all the mechanics I said today, what sounds the most fun? Flanking's a fun word. I just don't know if it's the best mechanic. Okay.

I'd say which sounds... Which sounds cool? I don't know. Hexproof seems pretty cool. Okay, so here's my final word of the day. Okay? All right. So this is not even a technical term.

This is something we... It's slang. But I'm curious what you think it means. Okay. If I mill you... Mill. M-I-L-L. I mill you.

What does that mean? You run them over. I run over you? I don't know. You mill. Because all I think of a mill is like the little windmill. Like a windmill. Okay.

As long as I don't think of a mill, it's like a little wind and like like a windmill okay as long as I don't think of a mill it's like a little windmill that makes like you know flour and it's like ruffles toast and like

right but what is it you know what a mill does I don't it grinds you up it grinds yeah so a mill is usually

two stones that you grind things between them so you can mill it allows you to grind your creature take wheat or something and grind it up

so that you can then you're turning into flour yeah but how do you grind the creature because it's grind it up so that you can then turn it into flour. Yeah, but how do you grind the creature with its wheat? Okay, so what do you think that means? You grind the creature. You grind the creature. I don't know. What if I said I mill target player, not target creature?

You grind the player? You grind the life? I'm just wondering. So you think they lose life? I guess they lose life. If I say I mill target player, what do you think that means? They lose life. They lose life. Am I correct? No, no, you're not.

Well, you're not going to give them life. I'm not going to give them life. Okay, so what if I said you mill target library? What do you think you would do? You grind up the hand they have. You grind up their hand? Their deck. I don't know. Well, what would you do to their deck? You shuffle it up.

You shuffle it. Okay. Am I correct? No, no. Oh, man. What milling means is you take cars from the top of a library and put it into their graveyard. That doesn't sound as fun as shuffling, though. It's kind of like a mystery. It makes sense.

Shuffling makes sense. One of the reasons I asked you that is that a lot of people this is a term we don't have a technical term for yet. It's just a nickname

and a lot of people are used to that because that's our nickname for it and they want us to make it the official term and the point

I always make is if you don't understand why we call it that it doesn't make any sense which you've just proven here with your... Well, why do you call it mill? Because the very first card that ever did it was a card called millstone. And so the term comes from a card.

So the confusing thing is, a millstone is exactly what I said. It grinds wheat and stuff. So it was metaphorical to begin with. So it was... You should do a card roll shuffle and you should shuffle. It makes sense. So, what word would you use? If the idea is that I'm going

to make you lose cards out of your library, what word would you use for that? What am I doing to you? I don't know if there's a word for that. That's a fine question. That's the real question because you can't have this long phrase. It's just a word for that? I don't know the word for that. That's a fine question. That's the real question, because you can't have this long phrase, you know, just a word.

And flanking seems to be taking that category so far. Okay, so we're almost through school, obviously. So how'd you find today? How easy or hard was it to try to understand words? The beginning was kind of easy. If you have words that make sense, but when you start getting into, like, millstone or whatever, like,

I mean, I'm 16 and I don't really play magic so i i have a feeling that i probably did okay with stuff but i mean i don't know like i mean if you ask someone who's like older right but still doesn't play magic i don't know you did halfway do some of the evergreen words which are meant meant to be hopefully as simple as simple as possible. Yeah. Simple stuff, and then once you start getting into the whole, like, you know, reverse and... I don't know. Well, anyway, you did a very noble job today, Rachel, and we're now at your school. Thank you very much. So, thank you, Rachel, for your

participation in our exercise today. I'm hoping, the point of today, guys, is to sort of see that the words and vocabulary we use, it's nowhere near as simple as people seem to think. It really is new things people have to learn. That's kind of the point of today. And it was fun making you say Rachel, so thank you, Rachel.

You're welcome. So anyway, we're not Rachel's school, so we know what that means. This is the end of my drive to work. So instead of making magic, it's time for me... Sorry. Instead of talking magic, it's time for me to be making magic. I'll see you guys next time. Bye-bye.