Permanent

A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield. Permanents are typically at least one (and possibly more) of the following:

• Artifact
• Creature
• Enchantment
• Land
• Planeswalker

A permanent need not necessarily be one of the above types. If a permanent somehow loses all of its types, it is still a permanent.

Rules

From the Comprehensive Rules (June 7, 2024—Modern Horizons 3)

• 110. Permanents
  • 110.1. A permanent is a card or token on the battlefield. A permanent remains on the battlefield indefinitely. A card or token becomes a permanent as it enters the battlefield and it stops being a permanent as it’s moved to another zone by an effect or rule.
  • 110.2. A permanent’s owner is the same as the owner of the card that represents it (unless it’s a token; see rule 111.2). A permanent’s controller is, by default, the player under whose control it entered the battlefield. Every permanent has a controller.
    • 110.2a If an effect instructs a player to put an object onto the battlefield, that object enters the battlefield under that player’s control unless the effect states otherwise.
    • 110.2b If an effect causes a player to gain control of another player’s permanent spell, the first player controls the permanent that spell becomes, but the permanent’s controller by default is the player who put that spell onto the stack. (This distinction is relevant in multiplayer games; see rule 800.4c.)
  • 110.3. A nontoken permanent’s characteristics are the same as those printed on its card, as modified by any continuous effects. See rule 613, “Interaction of Continuous Effects.”
  • 110.4. There are six permanent types: artifact, battle, creature, enchantment, land, and planeswalker. Instant and sorcery cards can’t enter the battlefield and thus can’t be permanents. Some kindred cards can enter the battlefield and some can’t, depending on their other card types. See section 3, “Card Types.”
    • 110.4a The term “permanent card” is used to refer to a card that could be put onto the battlefield. Specifically, it means an artifact, battle, creature, enchantment, land, or planeswalker card.
    • 110.4b The term “permanent spell” is used to refer to a spell that will enter the battlefield as a permanent as part of its resolution. Specifically, it means an artifact, battle, creature, enchantment, or planeswalker spell.
    • 110.4c If a permanent somehow loses all its permanent types, it remains on the battlefield. It’s still a permanent.
  • 110.5. A permanent’s status is its physical state. There are four status categories, each of which has two possible values: tapped/untapped, flipped/unflipped, face up/face down, and phased in/phased out. Each permanent always has one of these values for each of these categories.
    • 110.5a Status is not a characteristic, though it may affect a permanent’s characteristics.
    • 110.5b Permanents enter the battlefield untapped, unflipped, face up, and phased in unless a spell or ability says otherwise.
    • 110.5c A permanent retains its status until a spell, ability, or turn-based action changes it, even if that status is not relevant to it.

      Example: Dimir Doppelganger says “{1}{U}{B}: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. Dimir Doppelganger becomes a copy of that card and gains this ability.” It becomes a copy of Jushi Apprentice, a flip card. Through use of Jushi Apprentice’s ability, this creature flips, making it a copy of Tomoya the Revealer with the Dimir Doppelganger ability. If this permanent then becomes a copy of Runeclaw Bear, it will retain its flipped status even though that has no relevance to Runeclaw Bear. If its copy ability is activated again, this time targeting a Nezumi Shortfang card (another flip card), this permanent’s flipped status means it will have the characteristics of Stabwhisker the Odious (the flipped version of Nezumi Shortfang) with the Dimir Doppelganger ability.

    • 110.5d Only permanents have status. Cards not on the battlefield do not. Although an exiled card may be face down, this has no correlation to the face-down status of a permanent. Similarly, cards not on the battlefield are neither tapped nor untapped, regardless of their physical state.

Non-permanents

Sorceries, instants, triggered abilities and activated abilities which can never enter the battlefield are often called non-permanents.

However some objects like emblems and counters are never considered permanents, even if they are on the battlefield.

The player itself is also not a permanent.