If you’re new to card games, (or if you just missed one) here’s a rundown of terms you might encounter. Please reach out to us if you run into a word you don’t know and can’t find here- we’ll research for you!

1-drop – A unit that costs one. Two drops cost two to play and so on.

1-of – A “One of”, or one-off, is a single copy of a card in a decklist. Same for a “two of” and so on.

Aggro – A deck aiming to end the game quickly through dealing damage early and often. These style decks try to win the game as fast as possible and tend to grow weaker the longer a game goes.

Answer – A card or combination of cards that neutralize a threat.

Archetype – The general styles of decks. Distinct in how they aim to win the game. The standard major archetypes are Aggro, Control, and Combo, typically functioning like rock, paper, scissors.

Board – All the cards currently on the table.

Board State – The overall condition of units and bases on the table.

Board Control – Having a stronger suite of units in play than your opponent.

Bomb – A huge threat that wins the game if unchecked.

Bounce – Bouncing a card returns it to its owner’s hand.

Broken – A card or combo that is too strong that breaks the balance of a game.

Buff (Debuff) – A buff is a temporary improvement to a unit. Buffing anything refers to improving it. A debuff is the opposite. A debuff is also called a “nerf” on occasion. In terms of balance changes, if a card receives a buff, it has been permanently improved by the game’s designers.

Burn – Also known as Direct Damage, Burn is an effect that deals damage directly to the opponent’s base without having to attack. Burn effects ignore the board state and are more common in aggressive strategies.

Card advantage – Having (or having the ability to draw) more cards than your opponent.

Claim – Taking the initiative.

Closer – A big, late-game unit with enough power to clinch the win.

Combo – A combo is a combination of cards that produce an effect that is drastically stronger than the sum of that combos parts.

Control – Control is a deck type aiming to wear their opponent down and outlast them. 

Curve – The term curve is also known as the cost curve; this is the pattern produced by the cards’ cost in a deck related to each other. Cost curves are very important in decks that aim to deploy cards steadily. Aggressive decks will have shorter cost curves than control decks.

Curve Out – Curving out is using all your resources to play a unit of the matching cost on subsequent turns. 

Cut – To cut a card from your deck is to no longer include it. Also, the customary practice of splitting the opponent’s deck after a shuffle and placing the bottom half on top.

Cycle – Place a card on the bottom of your deck in the expectation it will be drawn again later.

Dig – Dig is a term used for aggressively drawing. Usually, digging means trying to find a game-winning or game-saving card. 

Direct Damage – Direct damage, also known as burn, directly damages cards, regardless of the board state.

Disrupt – A disruption is a form of interaction that disrupts or restricts your opponent’s play. 

Dead Draw – A useless card draw.

Durdle – To waste time. Typically, by taking small actions that don’t really change the game state.

Engine – Engines are reusable effects produced by some combination of cards and synergies. Decks are built around engine synergies.

(ETB) Enter the Board – This a common term for what SWU calls “When Played” abilities.

Finisher – A finisher is a threat that can end the game outright by itself. 

Gas – Gas refers to potential threats you have available to play in hand. If a deck frequently runs out of gas, it typically lacks sufficient cards in hand throughout the mid to late game.

Glass Cannon – A deck or strategy that is unusually strong and/or fast but easily disrupted.

God Hand/God Draw – The best possible opening hand or draw a deck can have. Also called having the nuts or nut draw.

Interaction – Interaction describes cards or decks that affect an opponent’s gameplay instead of buffing their own units or building their own engines.

Jank – Jank or janky describes a deck or strategy that has glaring weaknesses or is just ineffective. Some use it to refer to Meme decks. These strategies are usually played for fun and aren’t as competitive. 

Lethal – Reducing your opponent to 0 health and winning the game. Lethal outs win the game when drawn.

Life – The health of a base or unit.

Lock – Locking fits into either a “soft” lock, a situation where there is still potential for escape, or a “hard” lock, essentially game over. These are types of combos that, instead of winning the game outright, prevent their opponents from doing anything meaningful— typically done by removing opponents’ ability to play cards.

Mana – A crossover term from Magic: the Gathering meaning “resource.”

Metagame (Meta) – Metagame, also known as the meta. What cards and decks are being used competitively. Generally, players divide these decks into tiers based on results. The decks you see in a tournament are a good example of the metagame. 

Midrange – Midrange decks are a deck archetype, somewhat of a cross between control and aggressive decks. 

Mill – Milling is discarding cards off the top of a player’s deck. Some decks aim to use milling as their entire game plan, aiming to deck out their opponent as their win condition. The term originated with a Magic: the Gathering card called “Millstone.”

Mirror or Mirror-Match – A Mirror or mirror-match is a matchup where both players are using the same deck. 

Mono – A deck that only uses one color. In SWU, this typically disregards Hero or Villian and only reffers to Red, Blue, Green or Yellow.

Mulligan – A mulligan or “mull” is a game-specific mechanic in which a player trades out cards drawn at the game’s start.

Nerf – Opposite to buff, if a card is nerfed the developers have lowered its power by changing the card.

Nonbo – Nonbo cards that do not function when used together; anti-synergy.

Nuts (The Nuts)– The perfect cards/draw for the situation.

OTK – One-Turn Kills are typically the aim of combo-style decks. O.T.K strategies generally ignore winning the game and focus on survival until they can win the game in a single turn.

Out – Outs are the remaining cards in your deck that either win the game for you or save you from losing. Conceding is generally correct when you have no more outs.

Ping – Doing one, and only one, damage. 

Pitch – To pitch a card is to discard it from your hand. 

Play Around – To play around something is to alter your play to lessen the effectiveness of a certain card or effect. One might play around a powerful card one knows is in an opponent’s hand.

Playable – A playable card is strong enough to include in one or more “meta” decks. However, if a card is unplayable, it is terrible and has no business in any deck.

Playset – The maximum number of copies of each card allowed in a deck (three). Owning a playset of a card means you have the maximum you can legally play in a deck. 

Playtest – Practicing a deck, strategy, or matchup.

Proc – To trigger a specific ability.

Proxy – A fake card used to play with an otherwise incomplete deck in the place of its authentic counterpart.

Pull – Pulls are the important cards you pull from packs. Players may describe a card they opened in a pack as pulled, cracked or packed.

Ramp – Ramp decks are a specific sub archetype, but the term ramp can also refer to a play or play pattern. Ramping resources or resource acceleration is using cards that increase your available resources. Ramp decks use this tactic to make very expensive plays early in the game.

Removal – Removal events or effects remove opposing units. The idea that a unit is unplayable because it “dies to removal” is a common joke.

Recursion – Recursion is taking cards that have already been used and then allowing them to be used again. Mostly, this will involve bringing a card from the discard pile back to your hand. Recursion is a common element of combo locks and stall strategies. 

R.N.G. – Random Number Generator. A random effect of any kind. Players often refer to RNG when they feel their luck was below average in a match or tournament.

Rotation – When a game undergoes rotation, the oldest cards legal in that game are no longer officially playable. It makes room for new cards to take their place and ensure formats don’t grow too large. FFG has stated they plan to do rotation in SWU, but have not yet announced the specifics.

Scoop – A slang term for conceding. The term comes from the act of physically scooping up all of your cards from the table when you surrender a match.

Sideboard – A Sideboard is a number of cards kept aside from a constructed deck meant to replace cards between matches. Typically, these cards have a narrow or specialized effect.

Stabilize – Stabilizing means reaching the point where the slower deck in the game is no longer in fear of losing. The point when a deck takes control of the game.

Stall – Stall decks are a type of control decks that aim to survive until their opponent dies. Stall decks may aim to assemble a very slow combo that creates an unlosable position or slowly mill their opponent out. 

Staple – Staple, sometimes referred to as format staples, these are ubiquitous cards in any given format. Their power, consistency, efficiency, and unique effect have been tried and proven very effective. Staples are the most played cards. 

Submarine – Losing the first two rounds of a tournament to then win the remaining games and advance to the top cut or next day of the event.

Tap – To use a resource by rotating it. Opposite of “untap”.

Time Walk – Time walk describes when a player takes an extra turn. Sometimes refers to an effect that allows a player to act again, even if that player is not taking a full second turn. Originated with the Magic: the Gathering card Timewalk.

Tech – Tech cards or a new tech typically describe cards included to beat one specific matchup. Also known as silver bullets or bullets for short. Tech can also be used to describe innovations made to a particular deck. 

Tempo – Tempo is an aggressive deck sub archetype but can also describe a play or a play pattern. Tempo is a play that sacrifices a small amount of card advantage or value to slow down your opponent and make their plays awkward, giving you an advantage on the board. 

Topdeck – Topdeck also called a rip; a topdeck is the card a player just drew. This term refers to when a player draws the perfect card for the situation. Additionally, topdeck mode is when a player has to rely solely on the card they draw each turn.

Token – A token is a game piece generated then put into play by another card. In SWU, these are Shields and Experience.

Trade – A trade occurs when one player uses a card or resource to eliminate their opponents’ cards. Uptrades happen when a cheaper unit eliminates a more expensive unit; trading up is a good way to get better value than your opponent.

Trample – A generic term originating in Magic: the Gathering for the keyword Overwhelm in SWU.

Tribe – A group of unit cards that share a trait. These cards are typically very synergistic with one another (tribal) and used to get the best effect. Examples – Rebels and Imperials.

Trigger – An ability triggers when it goes off or processes. If a player misses a trigger, they made a sequencing error and missed out on an ability firing. 

Tutor – Tutoring cards refer to tools that search through your deck and find a specific card. Term originated in Magic: the Gathering where cards with these effects were literally called tutors.

Untap – To ready a resource. Opposite of “tap.”

Voltron – Enhancing a unit through a series of buff cards to grow the unit, making it harder to deal with, creating an unbeatable threat. 

Whiff – To whiff is to dig for something and not find what you are looking for.

WINCON / Win-Condition – A win-condition is the means by which a deck plans on winning. Aggressive decks don’t have explicit win conditions. They aim to get some damage out of each of their cards until they win. On the other hand, control decks usually have an expensive unit that ends the game as their win condition. 

Win-More – Win-more cards or situations are those that are only helpful when a player is already winning. They do not allow a player to recover if they’re losing.