List of obsolete terminology
Some types of cards, supertypes, subtypes or mechanics have been removed or changed either because of flavor reasons or rules modifications.
Obsolete card types
- Local enchantments
- Enchant Artifact
- Enchant Creature
- Enchant Dead Creature
- Enchant Land
- Enchant Wall
- Enchant World (still works, but no longer used)
- Interrupt
- Mana source
- Summon
- Mono, Poly, and Continuous Artifacts
- "Tribal" (the card type), replaced by "Kindred".
Obsolete creature types
Especially in older sets, many cards were printed with creature types used on very few, or even zero, other cards. Beginning with Revised, many updates have provided errata to replace rare types, such as Folk of An-Havva, with more standardized creature types, like Human. The largest collection of such changes occurred in the Grand Creature Type Update.
- Abomination
- Aboroth
- Aesthir
- Aladdin
- Albatross
- Alchemist
- Ali-Baba
- Ali-from-Cairo
- Alligator
- Ambush-Party
- Ancestor
- Anemone
- Ant
- Anteater
- Archaeologist
- Asp
- Autocrat
- Avenger
- Avizoa
- Ball-Lightning
- Bandit
- Banshee
- Barishi
- Bee
- Behemoth
- Being
- Blinking-Spirit
- Bodyguard
- Brother
- Brownie
- Bull
- Butterfly
- Caravan
- Carnivore
- Carriage
- Caterpillar
- Cavalry
- Cave-People
- Cheetah
- Clone
- Cobra
- Constable
- Crusader
- Dandân
- Dead
- Dervish
- Devouring-Deep
- Doppelganger
- Dragonfly
- Drill-Sergeant
- Eater
- Eel
- Effigy
- El-Hajjâj
- Enchantress
- Entity
- Erne
- Essence
- Evil-Eye
- Exorcist
- Falcon
- Fallen
- Farmer
- Fiend
- Flying-Men
- Folk-of-An-Havva
- Force
- Frostbeast
- Fungusaur
- Gaea's-Avenger
- Gaea's-Liege
- Gatekeeper
- General
- Ghost
- Ghoul
- Gorilla-Pack
- Guardian
- Gypsy
- Harlequin
- Hell's-Caretaker
- Heretic
- Hero
- Hipparion
- Hippopotamus
- Hornet
- Horseman
- Hound
- Hunter
- Infernal-Denizen
- Inquisitor
- Island-Fish
- Keeper
- Kelp
- King
- Legend
- Legionnaire
- Lemure
- Leper
- Lichenthrope
- Lion
- Lord
- Lord-of-Atlantis
- Lurker
- Lycanthrope
- Mage
- Maiden
- Marid
- Master
- Medusa
- Lost-Soul
- Mana-Bird
- Mantis
- Martyr
- Meerkat
- Merchant
- Mindsucker
- Minor
- Miracle-Worker
- Mist
- Mob
- Mold-Demon
- Mosquito
- Monster
- Mummy
- Murk-Dweller
- Naga
- Nameless-Race
- Nature-Spirit
- Narwhal
- Necrosavant
- Nekrataal
- Niall-Silvain
- Night-Stalker
- Paladin
- Peacekeeper
- People-of-the-Woods
- Phantasm
- Pig
- Pigeon
- Pikemen
- Pixie-Queen
- Poison-Snake
- Poltergeist
- Preacher
- Priest
- Pyknite
- Python
- Rag-Man
- Raider
- Rider
- Robber
- Roc
- Rock-Sled
- Rooster
- Rukh
- Sage
- Scavenger
- Scavenger-Folk
- Shadow
- Shyft
- Sindbad
- Singing-Tree
- Sister
- Smith
- Sorcerer
- Sorceress
- Speaker
- Sprite
- Spuzzem
- Squire
- Stangg-Twin
- Strider
- Swarm
- Tactician
- Tarpan
- Taskmaster
- Thief
- Thundermare
- Tiger
- Titan
- Toad
- Tombspawn
- Tortoise
- Tracker
- Twin
- Uncle-Istvan
- Undead
- Viashino
- Viper
- Vulture
- Walking-Dead
- War-Rider
- Warthog
- Wasp
- Whippoorwill
- Wight
- Wiitigo
- Wildcat
- Wildebeest
- Will-O'-The-Wisp
- Witch
- Wirefly
- Wolverine-Pack
- Wolves-of-the-Hunt
- Wood
- Wretched
- Wyvern
Obsolete keywords
- Landhome is no longer a keyword, and its component rules are written out in full.
- Substance was temporarily added to the Oracle text of certain older cards as a reaction to a rules update that broke their intended functionality. Later rules updates made it unnecessary, and none of the affected cards was ever reprinted with the keyword present.
- "Totem armor", replaced by "Umbra armor".
Obsolete rules
Obsolete concepts
- Batches, replaced by the stack.
- Bury, replaced by destroy and sacrifice.
- Damage using the stack.
- Mana burn.
- Carrying mana over to another phase.
- Phase abilities. Some older cards used the phrase “during [phase], [action]. Replaced with abilities that trigger at the beginning of a step or phase.
- Phased-out zone, replaced with the phased-out status.
- Indestructible (as in "is indestructible"), became a keyword ability with the same name ("has indestructible").
Obsolete terminology
- "Caster", replaced by "controller".
- "Casting cost", replaced by "mana cost".
- "Converted mana cost", replaced by "mana value".
- "Counts as", cards with this text have received errata to state that the card actually is that thing.
- "In-play zone", replaced by "battlefield".
- "Comes into play", replaced by "enters the battlefield".
- "Leaves play", replaced by "leaves the battlefield".
- "Is put into a graveyard from the battlefield", replaced by "dies".
- "Phase abilities", cards received errata so they have abilities that trigger at the beginning of a step or phase.
- "Put a token onto the battlefield", replaced by "Create a token".
- "Remove(d) from the game", replaced by "exile(d)".
- "Silver-bordered", replaced by "Acorn".
- "Unblockable", replaced by "can't be blocked".
- "Unaffected by summoning sickness", replaced by haste.