What does that slang in Magic: The Gathering mean? I got your back! One of the things I struggled with getting into Magic: the Gathering, specifically Commander, was the language everyone seemed to be using. Yes, learning all of the cards and staples is a constant battle we all have to go through, but understanding when someone says "I'll send 10 to face" is a whole other battle. Here are the slang, their meaning, and an example based on what I hear at my local game store (LGS).

Walk through a typical scenario of Commander with me. You are trying to find a game of Commander. You go to your LGS. You lay out your deck box and playmat and look around. Someone approaches you and asks if you're playing EDH. Don't panic. They're asking if you play Commander. EDH was the old name for Commander before Wizards of the Coast (WOT-C) renamed it. You agree to a game and they say, "We need one more person for a 4-man-pod." (a 4-person-pod means it is a 4-person game. Pod just means group of players).

You find your fourth person for the game. That person asks "What's the power level?" Power Level means: how strong would you say your deck is. Higher numbers are stronger. Player 1 says "it's a 7 and Mono-Red Burn." Mono-Red means the color identity of their Commander is only Red. Burn means the strategy of the deck is to deal damage directly to players.

Player 2 says "I'm playing a Dimir Mill Deck. I durdle until I can combo off. It's more of a five or six."

Dimir is a Blue and Black color identity. Mill is a strategy that puts cards from the tops of libraries to the graveyard. Durdling means that you're prolonging the game with game actions that don't directly win you the game. Comboing off means you are likely assembling cards together with an effect that is likely going to win you the game. Infinite combos are most likely, which means the effect may be repeated an unending amount of times.

Player 3 says "I'm playing 5-Color jank. There is no win-con. It's a chaos deck."

5-Color means the deck can play all five colors. Jank usually means that it's goofy or silly instead of "good." Chaos is similar, except chaos is a strategy to sow discord and randomness to a game that might otherwise have been streamlined. Win-Con is short for win condition. It just means how they intend to win the game.

It's the second turn, or "turn two," and the Jank player plays Nature's Lore and starts searching their deck. You ask what they're doing and they say "ramping." This means they're going up more than the usual one mana through a single land drop per turn. This can be through Sol Ring type of effects: artifact ramp or through cards like Three Visits.

"Must be nice. I'm mana-screwed," says the Dimir player.

They're saying they don't have enough mana.

"That's what you get for keeping a one-lander," says the Burn player. A one-lander or two-lander is keeping an opening hand with only one or two lands respectively. "Well, my hand was straight gas," says the Dimir player. Gas means good cards that will likely help win the game.

On turn four, The Burn player plays Erebor Flamesmith and then Lightning Bolt. "I'm going to send the three to your face and everyone takes one," the Burn player says, pointing to you. This means that all the damage from Lightning Bolt is going to your life total directly and that each player, including you, is losing one life on top of it.

The Jank Player casts Stern Dismissal. "I bounce Erebor Flamesmith to your hand." Bounce means to use an effect or spell to put a card from the battlefield back into someone's hand.

On turn five, at the Burn player's end step, the Dimir player casts Mystical Tutor. Everyone else at the table groans. "They're tutoring for their win-con." Tutoring means to search your library for a card. The Dimir player says "does that resolve?" This means: does this spell get to actually happen?

The Jank Player casts An Offer You Can't Refuse. It is countered. Everyone else is happy with the Jank player for once but the Dimir player is salty. Salty means they're a little upset about what happened.

On turn six, the Jank player has a better board state with all their 4/4 angel tokens. A good board state, or board presence, means it looks like they're in a position to win. "Wrath. The. Board!" says the Burn player over and over. Wrath the board or board wipe means to cast a spell that destroys or exiles all creatures. "Yeah, they're the archenemy. I don't think this deck is actually Jank," says the Dimir player. Luckily, you have a Cyclonic Rift and you've ramped enough to cast it on the Jank player's turn if they attack you.

"I'm going to swing out my nine angels at all of you. 12 damage coming at each of you. I love having evasion," says the Jank player. Swing out means to attack with all of your creatures. Swing just means to attack. Evasion is a creature having something like flying, menace, or skulk making it harder to block.

"I chump with my 2/2 bird. I live at two," says the Burn player. Chump is to block a big creature with a smaller creature to avoid damage. "I'm going to crack clues to see if I can find an answer," says the Dimir player. Crack means to sacrifice something for an effect. Sac also means to sacrifice something.

After drawing two cards, the Dimir player says, "Didn't get there. Didn't draw a Fog." Getting there and didn't get there means you either got the card you were looking for or not. A Fog is something that prevents all combat damage, named after the original effect. This is your time to shine. You cast Cyclonic Rift. There are no responses. Everyone is bittersweet because that makes you Archenemy now. Archenemy means that everyone sees you as the threat and are teaming up to take you down.

"At least they're hellbent," says the Jank player, suddenly no longer the threat. That was the last card in their hand. Topdecking and hellbent mean exactly that, you have to believe in the heart of the cards and draw off the top.

You draw Windfall. You cast it. Everyone groans and the Burn player smiles. "I needed Anger in my grave. Thanks for the wheel." Wheelingis when everyone discards their cards and draws cards. The Dimir Player says "Yeah, I'm going to scoop on my turn. I got no graveyard recursion and that was my win-con." Scooping is when you concede the game.

You draw mostly lands. This is called being flooded, and you know this one so you say it. No one looks sympathetic. You try to go to combat. The Burn player plays Chaos Warp targeting your Commander. You cast Ghostly Flicker on your Commander and your Sol Ring. "Aaaaand that fizzles," says the Dimir Player. A spell fizzles when it no longer has a legal target and is countered.

You go to combat and Hakbal of the Surging Soul triggers. Yeah. You're playing Simic Merfolk. You explore 8 times and each is a land. "What a whiff!" says the Burn player. Whiff is when you miss an effect that is very likely to happen. Whiffs should be unlikely. You crack a fetch land. "Why are you fetching? Just kill us," says the Jank player. Fetching is searching your library for a card.

You swing out and win. Yeah, Hakbal of the Surging Soul is kind of broken, which means very good-too good one might say. With this scenario you should be able to understand the majority of basic Magic: The Gathering slang moving forward.

Let me know if this helps @cashinds on X.