MTG Wiki:Manual of Style

MTG Wiki Policies

• Policies and guidelines
• Manual of Style
• Content guidelines
• Lore Policy
• Notability

This Manual of Style is a guide for editing MTG Wiki. This article contains standards for producing articles that share spelling, grammar, and formatting with the other articles on the wiki. By following these rules, articles and the wiki at large become more readable and consistent.

MTG Wiki takes the Wikipedia Manual of Style as a starting point, with the following additions.

American English

American English is preferred. Magic game materials are typically written in American English first, and matching that standard enables smooth transitions between article text and quoted game materials.

References

• All articles should be referenced.
• For lore articles the original source suffices.
• Articles about formats should present non-self referential sources to account for its viability.

Magic products

Card names should always be linked with card tags, but not italicized or otherwise emphasized. It is recommended to link a specific printing of a card, such as {{card|Lightning Bolt||LEA}} Lightning Bolt rather than {{card|Lightning Bolt}} Lightning Bolt. Linking by name alone will give a tooltip to the newest printing of the card, which may be a textless or otherwise unusual printing, and may not be a good example for the purposes of a typical article. This is especially true on pages discussing particular products, where every card link should be specific to that product.

Magic, Magic: The Gathering, and other Wizards of the Coast product names should be italicized. This includes individual card sets, software like Magic Online and Magic: The Gathering Arena, and other Wizards of the Coast media, such as novels or comics.

• Innistrad, italicized, refers to a card set by that name.
• Innistrad refers to the plane of the same name, and links to Innistrad (plane).
• Innistrad block is neither italicized, nor capitalized (except for the proper noun), because blocks are thematic groups of products, but not products themselves.

Magic itself

MTG Wiki is an encyclopedia that exists to cover topics related to Magic. It is often unnecessary to name the game on an article page, and it is also uncommon to need to link the name of the game. Linking Magic is most often appropriate in articles in the Products or Production subject areas.

Consider Wikipedia:MOS:OVERLINK when linking: will adding the link contribute to a typical reader's understanding of the current subject?

Article naming

Nouns

Article names use the singular form of nouns by default. Names of affiliations can be exceptions.

Capitalization

Article names and section headings use sentence case, rather than title case. Except for proper nouns, only the first letter should be capitalized.

Names of fictional characters

The main article for a fictional character should use the name by which that character is best known. Titles, honorifics, epithets, and "of location" descriptors should not be included in the article's name, unless they would help to disambiguate between characters that otherwise share a name. Redirects should be created from other names by which readers are likely to search for articles.

Plane/product name collisions

For the many cases in which a card set shares its name with a plane, the article named Shared Name should describe the set. The article for the plane should be named Shared Name (plane). These articles should be connected by use of Template:About at the top of each.

Name changes

Wizards of the Coast sometimes changes the names of lore elements and products. In general, the most recent name should be used.

External name changes

If a name change is not explained within the lore, the new name should be used throughout the wiki. The sole exception is within the article for the subject, to document the change itself. For example, see Kiora#Name change.

In-universe name changes

When a name change is explained within the lore, use older names as appropriate when covering historical or biographical topics. Examples include Kaladesh to Avishkar, or Argentum to Mirrodin to New Phyrexia (plane). If the subject was meaningfully different before the name change, it may be reasonable to split the article into two, covering it before and after.

It may be appropriate to list both names. For example, Chandra's birthplace is given as "Avishkar (formerly Kaladesh)".

Real people

Articles covering real people should consider the real world privacy interests of those subjects. In particular, adhere to Wikipedia:DEADNAME. Do not deadname, misgender, or out transgender or non-binary persons.

Game terms

Magic rules text has a specific grammar, particularly regarding its rules for capitalization. Game mechanics articles should align with examples set by the Comprehensive Rules, card texts, and other Wizards of the Coast publications.

Types and subtypes

Card types and supertypes, like land, creature, legendary, and basic are not capitalized.

Some subtypes are proper nouns, and should be capitalized regardless of context, like Eldrazi and Phyrexian. Other subtype names are also common nouns, and should be capitalized only when describing the game mechanic.

• Common nouns as game mechanics:
  • The characteristic species for white is Human.
  • Weatherlight is a Vehicle with a Crew cost of .
• Other contexts:
  • Magic is a game played by humans.
  • The Weatherlight was a vehicle that could move between planes.

Race

There are serious social and academic concerns about the appropriateness of using race to describe people. Another Wizards of the Coast franchise, Dungeons & Dragons, stopped using the word in 2022. Magic R&D has historically used a race/class model to describe creature subtypes, but as of 2025 or earlier, they have changed their terminology to use "species" instead of "race".

What does this mean for editors?

• Most references to creature subtypes as races should be updated to label them species instead.
• Writing about the history of the race/class model itself may document the previous name where relevant. References to current development practices should refer to the species/class model.
• In broader contexts, avoid using the word race. When writing about creature types in general, try using phrases like "creature type", "subtype", or the name of the creature type itself.
• Never use the word race when describing a real person. Choose a more precise and neutral term.

Abilities

Keywords and ability words are usually not capitalized, and when they consist of multiple words, tend to follow sentence case. A few exceptions use title case, like More Than Meets the Eye or Will of the Planeswalkers.

Ability words should be italicized in the main text of an article, as they are on cards. Gotcha is the sole exception to this rule.

Keywords should not be italicized.

Formats

The names of formats, like Standard or Commander, are capitalized.

Card tags

See also Help:Card tags.

In most cases, the text of a card tag should match the name of the card, including capitalization.

Deck tags

See also Help:Deck tags.

Within deck tags, add the appropriate card types as sections and alphabetize cards within their section. The sideboard - if existent - should be the last section of the deck.

Uploading images

• If you upload an image, You need either the rights holder's permission or the image needs to qualify under the fair use criteria.
• Images should be Magic related or Magic adjacent.
• Images owned by Wizards of the Coast should be marked with {{WotC}}
• Explicit material is a no.
• Self-promotional material is a general no with some very minor exceptions.

Please be aware that the image cache sometimes is being updated very slowly. If you think you might need to upload multiple versions of the same image, it's advisable to wait a minute.