Exile

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Exile
Zone
Public Yes
Shared Yes
Ordered No
Keyword Action
Introduced Alpha (mechanic)
Magic 2010 (keyword)
Last used Evergreen
Scryfall Statistics

Exile is a game zone outside the field of play. It is also a keyword action, meaning "put into the exile zone".[1]

Exile was known as "removed from the game" before it was renamed as part of the Magic 2010 rules update.[2]

Description

The exile zone is used by a wide variety of abilities as a tool to make the ability work as intended. The Comprehensive Rules describe exile as "essentially a holding area for objects" which can be temporary or permanent. Interactions with exile are dictated almost exclusively by abilities - exile is never involved in the core game flow of turn-based actions, playing cards and combat unless an ability is at work. Additionally, extremely few cards can bring another card out of exile that it didn't exile itself. Together, these properties allow for ability designs that place cards in exile, and potentially dictate further actions that will happen to them, with almost no chance of interference or complication by any other effects.

The zone is often used as a temporary holding place for cards, as with the mechanics Adventure, Flicker, Foretell, Imprint, Madness, Plot and Suspend. Depending on the exiling ability and abilities linked to it, the exiled card may be returned to where it came from or moved to another zone, be copied, have its attributes referenced by other abilities, or be played from exile, among other options. These actions may happen immediately, or after a delay. Sometimes counters are used on such cards; exile is the only zone other than the battlefield in which cards often have counters.

Exiling is also a form of removal, as in the classic Swords to Plowshares. This is stronger and more permanent than putting cards into the graveyard, since there are few preventive measures compared to damage or destruction, and there's little chance of getting the card out of exile later. It is extremely difficult to protect against a non-targeted exile card like Final Judgment, since abilities like Indestructible don't prevent exile. The "imprisoning" form of exile removal, which is now common among white enchantments and creatures, allows for more counterplay: the removal can be reversed if the exiler is itself eliminated.

Exile can serve as a "graveyard for the graveyard" - a zone cards go to which is even more final than the graveyard. Graveyard hate cards do this to prevent opponents from retrieving cards from it (Tormod's Crypt, Decompose). Graveyard cards can also be deliberately consumed as resources (Frankenstein's Monster, Escape), or exile themselves after being used from the graveyard to avoid being re-used repeatedly (Flashback, Academy Rector). Some cards even exile themselves immediately upon resolution, to prevent any re-use, most often with easily recurring or powerful spells (All Sun's Dawn, extra turn spells).

Only a few cards, such as Pull from Eternity, Riftsweeper or Binding Negotiation, can access a card in exile without having exiled it themselves. Battle for Zendikar notably inverted the usual pattern by using the exile zone as a resource through the Ingest ability and a series of Eldrazi Processor cards that moved cards from exile into the graveyard, albeit only the opponent's cards. Head designer Mark Rosewater tries to limit such cards, and does not believe a theme like exile-as-a-resource is likely to be re-used in future sets.[3][4]

Exiling primarily occurs among white, black, and colorless cards.

The one use of exile by the game rules themselves rather than in connection to card abilities is in multiplayer games. Cards that were controlled by a player that has left the game, but owned by a player still in the game, remain in the game but move to the exile zone.

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (July 25, 2025—Edge of Eternities)

Exile
1. A zone. Exile is essentially a holding area for cards. It used to be known as the “removed-from-the-game” zone.
2. To put an object into the exile zone from whatever zone it’s currently in. An “exiled” card is one that’s been put into the exile zone.
See rule 406, “Exile.”

From the Comprehensive Rules (July 25, 2025—Edge of Eternities)

  • 406. Exile
    • 406.1. The exile zone is essentially a holding area for objects. Some spells and abilities exile an object without any way to return that object to another zone. Other spells and abilities exile an object only temporarily.
    • 406.2. To exile an object is to put it into the exile zone from whatever zone it’s currently in. An exiled card is a card that’s been put into the exile zone.
    • 406.3. Exiled cards are, by default, kept face up and may be examined by any player at any time. Cards “exiled face down” can’t be examined by any player except when instructions allow it. However, if a player is instructed to look at a card and then exile it face down, or once a player is allowed to look at a card exiled face down, that player may continue to look at that card until it leaves the exile zone or is part of a pile of cards that are shuffled, even if the instruction allowing the player to do so no longer applies.
      • 406.3a A card exiled face down has no characteristics, but the spell or ability that exiled it may allow it to be played from exile. Unless that card is being cast face down (see rule 708.4), the card is turned face up just before the player announces that they are playing the card (see rule 601.2).
      • 406.3b Some spells and abilities allow a player to cast spells with certain qualities from among face-down cards in exile. A player may cast such a spell only if they are allowed to look at the face-down card in exile and if the resulting spell has the specified qualities.
    • 406.4. Face-down cards in exile should be kept in separate piles based on when they were exiled and how they were exiled. If a player is instructed to choose an exiled card, the player may choose a specific face-down card only if the player is allowed to look at that card. Otherwise, they may choose a pile of face-down exiled cards, and then a card is chosen at random from within that pile. If choosing such a card is part of casting a spell or activating an ability, the chosen card isn’t revealed until after that cost is fully paid. (See rule 601.2i.)
    • 406.5. Exiled cards that might return to the battlefield or any other zone should be kept in separate piles to keep track of their respective ways of returning. Exiled cards that may have an impact on the game due to their own abilities (such as cards with haunt) or the abilities of the cards that exiled them should likewise be kept in separate piles.
    • 406.6. An object may have one ability printed on it that causes one or more cards to be exiled, and another ability that refers either to “the exiled cards” or to cards “exiled with [this object].” These abilities are linked: the second refers only to cards that have been exiled due to the first. See rule 607, “Linked Abilities.”
    • 406.7. If an object in the exile zone becomes exiled, it doesn’t change zones, but it becomes a new object that has just been exiled.
    • 406.8. Previously, the exile zone was called the “removed-from-the-game zone.” Cards that were printed with text that “removes [an object] from the game” exiles that object. The same is true for cards printed with text that “sets [an object] aside.” Cards that were printed with that text have received errata in the Oracle card reference.

From the Comprehensive Rules (July 25, 2025—Edge of Eternities)

  • 701.13. Exile
    • 701.13a To exile an object, move it to the exile zone from wherever it is. See rule 406, “Exile.”

Obsolete terminology

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (July 25, 2025—Edge of Eternities)

Remove from the Game, Removed, Removed-from-the-Game Zone (Obsolete)
“Remove [something] from the game” is an obsolete term for “exile [something].” “The removed card” is an obsolete term for “the exiled card.” The removed-from-the-game zone is an obsolete term for the exile zone. Cards with that text have received errata in the Oracle card reference. See Exile.

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (July 25, 2025—Edge of Eternities)

Set Aside (Obsolete)
“Set [something] aside” is an obsolete term for “exile [something].” Cards with that text have received errata in the Oracle card reference. See Exile.

Flavor

Due to the multiple uses of the exile zone, there is no unified flavor of exile, though the flavor of exiling cards from the battlefield is often of disappearance or transformation. The exile zone itself often represents oblivion, a region beyond death.[5][6] However, the zone can also represent any of various states of inaccessibility not related to a player's graveyard, such as on Swords to Plowshares or Grimoire Thief.

Because graveyard interaction is often flavored as a form of necromancy, spells that kill and exile creatures are often flavored as making the creature unable to be revived, either by way of exorcising spirits (such as Rest in Peace) or by reducing the creature to a state that its body cannot possibly be reanimated (such as Lava Coil).

Examples

Example 1

Erase White mana
Instant
Exile target enchantment.

Example 2

Exile 2 generic manaWhite mana
Instant
Exile target nonwhite attacking creature. You gain life equal to its toughness.

Capping

"Capping" is a slang term of a special type of exile, which refers to searching an opponent's library for specific cards and exiling them in order to deny the opponent of their use at some future time. It is named after the card Jester's Cap, the first card to use the effect. It is related to Lobotomy, but is less specific.

List of Capping spells

Trivia

References

  1. ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 8, 2015). "Evergreen Eggs & Ham". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  2. ↑ Mark Rosewater (August 17, 2009). "In My Day". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  3. ↑ Mark Rosewater (July 16, 2017). "Are we likely to see more cards that interact with the 'exile' zone?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
  4. ↑ Mark Rosewater (2016-11-21). "Storm Scale: Zendikar and Battle for Zendikar". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
  5. ↑ Doug Beyer (December 10, 2008). "The Flavor of Zones". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2019-11-06.
  6. ↑ Doug Beyer (August 19, 2009). "Our Path to Exile". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2020-11-12.
 
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