Card type
The card type is printed on a card's type line, directly below its illustration. Each card type has its own rules for how to play with one. The card types are artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, sorcery, and tribal.
Tokens and copies of spells have card types, even though they're not cards.
When an effect changes an object's card type, the new card type replaces all previous card types. If the effect is adding a card type, or allowing an object to retain its card types, it will say so.
Some objects have more than one card type (for example, an artifact creature). Such objects satisfy the criteria for any effect that applies to any of their card types.
Subtypes
A card can have one or more subtypes printed on its type line.
Subtypes are always single words and are listed after a long dash. Each word after the dash is a separate subtype.
Subtypes of a [card type] object are also called [card type] types. For example, creature subtypes are also called creature types. Objects may have multiple subtypes.
Example: "Basic Land - Mountain" means the card is a land with the Mountain subtype. "Creature - Goblin Wizard" means the card is a creature with the subtypes Goblin and Wizard. "Artifact - Equipment" means the card is an artifact with the subtype Equipment.
Artifact, enchantment, land, and planeswalker each have their own unique set of possible subtypes. Instant and sorcery share their lists of subtypes; these subtypes are called spell types. Creature and tribal also share their lists of subtypes; these subtypes are called creature types.
If a card with multiple card types has one or more subtypes, each subtype is correlated to its appropriate card type.
Example: Dryad Arbor's type line says "Land Creature - Forest Dryad." Forest is a land type, and Dryad is a creature type.
Supertypes
A card can also have one or more supertypes. These are printed directly before its card types. If an object's card types or subtypes change, any supertypes it has are kept, although they may not be relevant to the new card type.
Any land with the supertype "basic" is a basic land. Any land that doesn't have this supertype is a nonbasic land.
Example: Note that cards printed in sets prior to the Eighth Edition core set didn't use the word "basic" to indicate a basic land. Cards from those sets with the following names are basic lands: Forest, Island, Mountain, Plains, Swamp, Snow-Covered Forest, Snow-Covered Island, Snow-Covered Mountain, Snow-Covered Plains, and Snow-Covered Swamp.
Any permanent with the supertype "legendary" is subject to the state-based effect for legendary permanents, also called the "legend rule."
Any permanent with the supertype "world" is subject to the state-based effect for world permanents, also called the "world rule."
Any permanent with the supertype "snow" is a snow permanent. Any permanent that doesn't have this supertype is a nonsnow permanent, regardless of its name.
Card Type, Supertype, and Subtype
Cards, tokens, permanents, and spells can all have card types, supertypes, and subtypes. Abilities don't have card types, supertypes, or subtypes. Instead, there are various categories of abilities.
When an object's card type changes, the new card type(s) replaces any existing card types. Counters, effects, and damage affecting the object remain with it, even if they are meaningless to the new card type. Similarly, when one or more of an object's subtypes changes, the new subtype(s) replaces any existing subtypes from the appropriate set (creature types, land types, artifact types, enchantment types, planeswalker types, or spell types). If an object's card type is removed, the subtypes correlated with that card type will remain if they are also the subtypes of a card type the object currently has; otherwise, they are also removed for the entire time the object's card type is removed. Removing an object's subtype doesn't affect its card types at all.
Some effects change an object's card type, supertype, or subtype but specify that the object retains a prior card type, supertype, or subtype. In such cases, all the object's prior card types, supertypes, and subtypes are retained. This rule applies to effects that use the phrase "in addition to its types" or that state that something is "still a [card type]." Some effects state that an object becomes an "artifact creature"; these effects also allow the object to retain all of its prior card types and subtypes.
Example: An ability reads, "All lands are 1/1 creatures that are still lands." The affected lands now have two card types: creature and land. If there were any lands that were also artifacts before the ability's effect applied to them, those lands would become "artifact land creatures," not just "creatures," or "land creatures." The effect allows them to retain both the card type "artifact" and the card type "land."
Example: An ability reads, "All artifacts are 1/1 artifact creatures." If a permanent is both an artifact and an enchantment, it will become an "artifact enchantment creature."
An object's supertype is independent of its card type and subtype. Changing an object's card type or subtype won't change its supertype. Changing an object's supertype won't change its card type or subtype. When an object gains or loses a supertype, it retains any other supertypes it had.
Example: An ability reads, "All lands are 1/1 creatures that are still lands." If any of the affected lands were legendary, they are still legendary.
If an instruction requires choosing a subtype, you must choose one, and only one, existing subtype, and the subtype you choose must be for the appropriate card type. For example, you can't choose a land type if an instruction requires choosing a creature type. (Use the Oracle card reference to determine whether a creature type exists)
Example: When choosing a creature type, "Merfolk" or "Wizard" is acceptable, but "Merfolk Wizard" is not. Words like "artifact," "opponent," "Swamp," or "truck" can't be chosen because they aren't creature types.
