Library

Card Types

Every card game divides its cards into types that follow different rules. Here is how the three games we cover compare.

Card types by game

Pokémon: The creatures that battle. Cards show a stage (Basic, Stage 1 or Stage 2), a type, Hit Points, attacks, a Weakness, a Resistance and a Retreat Cost.
Trainer: Support cards that do not battle. Modern sets divide them into Item, Supporter, Stadium and Pokémon Tool.
Energy: Cards that power attacks. Basic Energy comes in types that match the Pokémon types, and Special Energy adds extra effects.

Creature: Cards that stay on the battlefield, attack and block.
Instant: A spell that can be cast almost any time and then goes to the graveyard.
Sorcery: A spell that can only be cast on your own turn, in the main phase.
Artifact: A permanent that often provides mana or a utility effect, and has no color of its own.
Enchantment: A permanent that creates an ongoing effect.
Land: The cards that produce mana. Most decks include a large number of them.
Planeswalker: A permanent with loyalty abilities, introduced in 2007.

Normal Monster: A monster without a special effect. Its description is flavor text.
Effect Monster: A monster with a special ability.
Extra Deck Monsters: Fusion, Synchro, Xyz and Link Monsters are kept in the Extra Deck and summoned by their own methods.
Spell: A card that creates an effect when activated, mostly on your own turn.
Trap: A card that is set face down first and used on a later turn, often in response to the opponent.

When you open a card, find the type first. It tells you how and when the card can be used. Our guide to reading a card shows where to look.

The card explorer has a Card type filter that lists every type used on the site.