This thread is intended as a resource, mainly for newer users unfamiliar with the Magic area or with message boards systems in general. If you have a question about how the boards work or how they can be used, how to post something, or about where to find things in the Magic area, this is the place to look.
If you find an error or a broken link in this FAQ, or if you think there is something that needs to be covered or answered, please either post here or PM me so that I can fix the problems and am aware of your suggestion. Be aware that I may not respond, and if a suggested change is nitpicky, I might decide to leave it out in the interest of clarity. Please don't post questions here unless you are suggesting that they should be added to the FAQ.
If you have some other comment, PM me if you think it is important. I'm always looking for critique, so I welcome your feedback!
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
FAQs and Reference A forum filled with FAQ and information threads related to Magic's rules.
Returning Player Rules Primer Just what it sounds like: a primer to help bring players who are returning to the game after a leave of absence up to speed on the rules changes that have occured since they left.
Rules Q&A - Main Rules FAQ The Main FAQ for the Rules Q&A forum is an excellent resource for anyone with questions about the rules of the game. It has a number of supplementary FAQs, listed below.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: How do I give myself an avatar? A: Click "Home" on the toolbar at the top of any forum page, then "Change Profile Photo" in the sideboard on the left. From there you may upload an image to use as your community avatar. The maximum size is 160x160, and the image will be resized or cropped for use around the site if it's any larger or not square.
Q: What do the little badges by some users' names mean? A: There are several different tags, and each of them means something different. It's important to note that having some sort of tag does not necessarily mean that a user is affiliated with Wizards of the Coast or in any way "official"--most of the tags denote users without ties of any kind to Wizards.
Scribes are the users who write and maintain the various FAQs and informational threads you'll find posted in most forums. They are volunteers who have no official connection to Wizards of the Coast or special status beyond being responsible for their FAQs.
VCLs (Volunteer Community Leads) are volunteers drawn from the community who work with Wizards of the Coast Community Management team to help make the boards a better place in any of various ways. This may include moving misplaced threads to more appropriate forums, directing discussion, organizing the creation or maintenance of various forum FAQs, distributing official statements or information, or collecting feedback from the community. They're here to help, so don't be afraid to contact one of them if you have any questions about the community.
Forum Guides are users specifically recognized as being helpful, friendly, and reliable. They act in some ways as unofficial assistants to the VCLs. Like the VCLs, they're here to help.
D&D Playtesters are users who are involved in beta testing on the D&D side of the forums.
UnCon Prizewinners are users who have won a prize of some sort during the boards' annual UnCon celebration. They have no connection to Wizards of the Coast whatsoever.
D&D Insiders are simply users who subscribe to WotC's D&D Insider service. They have no connection to Wizards of the Coast whatsoever.
Gamemasters (GMs) are users who are in charge of running certain forums that were created as places to run specific games. Each GM is in charge of organizing game-related activity in one or more specific forums. Note that GMs have no official connection to Wizards of the Coast and do not have the power nor the authority to enforce the Code of Conduct. Only Moderators have that.
Judges are users who are DCI-certified Judges of any level. They do not have any special authority on the boards.
ORCs (also known as WizOs; they're Wizards Community's moderators) are official representatives of Wizards of the Coast Customer Service who enforce the Code of Conduct on the forums. The ORCs are paid employees who have been contracted by Wizards of the Coast to perform these duties.
Staff Members are users employed by Wizards of the Coast in some official capacity. This includes the ORCs, but also the people who actually work at the Wizards of the Coast offices in Renton, Washington, or else are their official representatives in some capacity. Note that while Staff are employed directly by Wizards of the Coast, for most of them being here is not part of their job; they are in no way obligated to post, nor are their thoughts and opinions necessarily reflective of the attitude of Wizards of the Coast as a whole.
Q: How do I search the forums? A: When viewing a forum or thread, there is a search box at the top of the page. Select the appropriate option, enter your search terms, and click Go.
You can also search for posts or threads made by a specific user; click the little bust icon beside that user's username in the postbit. (The bar that shows the poster's name, avatar, and so on.) In the dropdown that comes up, "Find all posts by [user]" will allow you to search up all of that user's posts. You can also go to their public profile, where there will be an option to do the same from there.
Unfortunately, the search feature is currently fairly limited, and can only find individual posts, not threads.
If the forum's own search function isn't quite good enough, and you can't quite find what you want, you can try using Google; just add "inurl:community.wizards.com" after your search terms and it will only find pages within the community.
Q: How do I edit the title of my thread? A: You cannot. The current boards software simply doesn't allow users to do that. You can, however, ask a VCL to have it changed for you, and they should be happy to oblige.
Q: How do I move around the forums quickly? A: Near the top and bottom of every forum or thread is the "Jump Menu" box. It will take you to any forum you want to go quicker than by browsing through the forum structure manually.
Q: How can I create folders for PMs? A: Click on "Home" in the toolbar near the top of any forum page, then on "Messages" in the sidebar, and then "Manage Custom Folders". You can add or delete custom PM folders from this page.
Q: I don't like the color scheme. Can I change it? A: Click on "Home" in the toolbar near the top of any forum page, then on "Profile" in the sidebar, and then "Theme Selection".
Q: How do I delete or move my posts or threads? A: You can't move your posts or threads; normal users don't have the ability to do that. You can, however, delete your posts; the option should be right beside the option to Edit in the bar above your post.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: What are tags and how do I use them? A: Tags are special codes you can put into your posts to instruct the boards to apply certain formatting to the things within them. For example, tags can make your text bold or italic, create links, post images, or do a variety of other things.
Q: What font colors can I use? A: Any color that your browser can recognize. To start with, there are an immense number of keyworded colors that all web browsers recognize that you can use. You can find a list of these colors here.
In addition to the named colors, you can use hexadecimal color codes to create almost any color you can think of. Just put its RGB values (in hexadecimal) into the tag, preceded by a pound sign (#).
The first pair of digits represents the amount of red in the color, the second the amount of green, and the third the amount of blue. More color means the color is brighter, ranging from 00 (no color) to FF (full color).
Q: Which fonts are available? A: Any font that your browser or operating system knows are available; however, if someone else looks at your text and their browser or operating system doesn't know those fonts, they won't display correctly--usually they'll just see a normal "default font" instead.
Some of the more common fonts are:
Arial, Arial Black, Arial Narrow, Batang, Bookman Old Style, Comic Sans MS, Courier New, Garamond, Haettenschweiler, Impact, Lucida Console, Lucida Sans, Lucida Sans Unicode, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Verdana
Q: What are the maximum and minimum font sizes? A: Normally, your browser should know seven size steps:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
That's the standard, but some browsers know more or less than that. Generally, a size greater than 5 should probably be avoided except in headlines and the like. Large font is like using all capital letters: it gives the impression of shouting.
Q: How do I post pictures in my post? A: You can either use HTML to hotlink an image that's hosted on a different site, or you can upload an image to the Wizards Community site directly using the "Insert Photo" button just below the post box.
Q: How do I post Magic symbols, such as the mana symbols? A: The mana cost tags can allow you to do that. Simply place the appropriate letter or number for the symbol you want to display between [mc] tags. Use parentheses to enclose multi-letter symbol codes. The translation is as follows: Symbol codesShow
Basic colors: w u b r g =
Colorless symbols: x y z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 (10) (11) (12) (13) (14) (15) (16) =
Q: How do I include card images in my post? A: You can use the HTML tags to post card images taken from Wizards' official site; to do so, simply use this URL:
...and replace "cardname" with the name of the card you want to link to, replacing all spaces and hyphens with underscores and removing all other punctuation. (For split cards, put two underscores between the two halves of the name, not just one.)
Q: How do I post a card image from a specific set? A: If you want to display an image from a specific set, simply do as in the previous question, but replace "general" in the URL from the above question with the directory name for that set. Directory Listing:Show
Starter, Promo, and many single-word sets use their full set name as the directory name; the codes for the remainder are listed below. (e.g. the directory for Invasion is "invasion" and the directory for Alpha is "alpha".)
Both Starter sets use the "starter" directory.
Alara Reborn = ARB Conflux = CFX Shards of Alara = ALA Eventide = EVE Shadowmoor = SHM Morningtide = MOR Lorwyn = LRW Future Sight = FUT Planar Chaos = PLC Time Spiral Timeshifted = TSB Time Spiral - TSP Coldsnap = CSP Ravnica: City of Guilds = RAVNICA Saviors of Kamigawa = SOK Betrayers of Kamigawa = BOK Champions of Kamigawa = CHK Fifth Dawn = FD Mercadian Masques = MM Urza's Destiny = UD Urza's Legacy = UL Urza's Saga = UZ Ice Age = IA Fallen Empires = FE The Dark = DARK Arabian Nights = AN 10[sup]th[/sup] Edition = 10E 9[sup]th[/sup] Edition = 9E 8[sup]th[/sup] Edition = 8E 7[sup]th[/sup] Edition = 7E 6[sup]th[/sup] Edition = 6E 5[sup]th[/sup] Edition = 5E 4[sup]th[/sup] Edition = 4E Portal: Second Age = PORTAL2 Portal: Three Kingdoms = P3K Battle Royale = BR
Q: How do I post card images using alternate art? A: The Brothers Yamazaki , basic lands, promo cards, and cards from the Fallen Empires, Alliances and Homelands sets may have different art versions. You can easily post these by doing as above, except adding 2, 3, or 4 (as appropriate) to the card name. So to see both versions of the AlliancesStorm Shaman you would use:
Q: How do I use mana symbols and the tap symbol? A: The various mana symbols, as well as the other Magic-related symbols, are available on the boards as smilies; simply click the icon in the editing box that looks like a yellow circle with a brush drawing a face, find the symbol you want (they're on the final few pages), and double-click it. If you know the code for that specific symbol already, you can type it directly without going through the dialog box.
Q: How do I make spoiler blocks? A: Using sblock tags. Whatever you surround with the tags will be enclosed in the spoiler block. You can also use the tag's = property to set a custom title for the block. [sblock]How are you?[/sblock] becomes:
Basically, in a deck tag the deck's title is in the equal property. Any line that starts with a number gets parsed as a card. You can also put other text into the tag and even nest other tags into it.
Q: How do I show tags? A: For bbcode tags (the ones that use square brackets), break them up with other tags. For HTML tags, replace the angle brackets with curly braces or some other form of brackets.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: What is the Code of Conduct and where can I find it? A: The Code of Conduct is the set of rules you must agree to follow when signing up for an account in order to gain posting rights. There's a link to it near the bottom of every page near the middle of the screen, in the 'Corporate' column, but in case that's too much work, click here
Violating the Code of Conduct can lead to moderator action against your posts or your account, including post editing, post deletion, and account locking, depending on the severity of the offense.
Q: Where do I go to get help building or improving decks? A: There are several entire sections of forums devoted to deckbuilding; whether you're looking for help with a plain old casual deck or want to play to win in sanctioned tournaments. If you want help with your decks, those are the places to look; choose the appropriate forum for the deck you have or want to build and jump right in.
Q: Where do I go to ask rules questions? A: The Rules Q&A forum is an excellent resource for anyone who needs rules-related help. It's not uncommon for threads posted there to receive answers within two minutes. (Though, if it takes a little longer, don't fret; it's almost never very long.)
The Rules Q&A FAQ and its supplemental FAQs are another excellent starting point if you're looking for answers.
Q: Where do I go to talk about unreleased sets and spoilers? A: That would be the Future Set Speculation forum. All unmarked discussion of spoilers for unreleased cards or sets is restricted to that forum. If you must mention such things outside of the Future Set Speculation forum, please clearly mark spoiler threads as such; if you're posting within an existing thread, use [sblock] tags to keep spoilers hidden from casual viewing.
Q: Where do I go to look for players in my area? A: You need to go to the TCG Gamer Classifieds forum. Remember to read the stickies there, as there's a specialized format you should post threads in within that forum.
Q: Where do I go to buy and sell cards or conduct trades with other members? A: The Magic Cards Marketplace group is your go-to spot for everything related to buying, selling, and trading cards online.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
Q: Why do some people have special titles? A: In the past, Custom Titles (CTs) were awarded as prizes for various contests around the boards. In addition, certain users, such as artists who have done work for Magic, have been awarded special titles to identify them. However, due to the limitations of the current boards software, they are not being distributed right now.
Q: Why aren't I allowed a custom title without being given one? A: The forum software doesn't really allow it; the ones we have already were basically hacked in.
Q: How can I get rid of a custom title I don't like? A: Unfortunately, the same limitations that stop us from granting CTs also prevent us from removing existing ones. Sorry.
Q: Why can't I talk about third-party programs for playing Magic over the internet? A: Because Customer Service does not wish to allow discussion of such programs on these forums. Wizards have never explicitly stated why this is the case, but it is thought that Wizards believes such programs infringe on its copyrights.
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?" You know, anyone who's read a children's book knows that love makes things real. If you love a word, use it! That makes it real. Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction; it doesn't make the word any more real than any other word. If you love a word, it becomes real. --Erin McKean, Redefining the Dictionary
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Scribes are the users who write and maintain the various FAQs and informational threads you'll find posted in most forums. They are volunteers who have no official connection to Wizards of the Coast or special status beyond being responsible for their FAQs.
VCLs (Volunteer Community Leads) are volunteers drawn from the community who work with Wizards of the Coast Community Management team to help make the boards a better place in any of various ways. This may include moving misplaced threads to more appropriate forums, directing discussion, organizing the creation or maintenance of various forum FAQs, distributing official statements or information, or collecting feedback from the community. They're here to help, so don't be afraid to contact one of them if you have any questions about the community.
Forum Guides are users specifically recognized as being helpful, friendly, and reliable. They act in some ways as unofficial assistants to the VCLs. Like the VCLs, they're here to help.
D&D Playtesters are users who are involved in beta testing on the D&D side of the forums.
UnCon Prizewinners are users who have won a prize of some sort during the boards' annual UnCon celebration. They have no connection to Wizards of the Coast whatsoever.
D&D Insiders are simply users who subscribe to WotC's D&D Insider service. They have no connection to Wizards of the Coast whatsoever.
Gamemasters (GMs) are users who are in charge of running certain forums that were created as places to run specific games. Each GM is in charge of organizing game-related activity in one or more specific forums. Note that GMs have no official connection to Wizards of the Coast and do not have the power nor the authority to enforce the Code of Conduct. Only Moderators have that.
Judges are users who are DCI-certified Judges of any level. They do not have any special authority on the boards.
ORCs (also known as WizOs; they're Wizards Community's moderators) are official representatives of Wizards of the Coast Customer Service who enforce the Code of Conduct on the forums. The ORCs are paid employees who have been contracted by Wizards of the Coast to perform these duties.
Staff Members are users employed by Wizards of the Coast in some official capacity. This includes the ORCs, but also the people who actually work at the Wizards of the Coast offices in Renton, Washington, or else are their official representatives in some capacity. Note that while Staff are employed directly by Wizards of the Coast, for most of them being here is not part of their job; they are in no way obligated to post, nor are their thoughts and opinions necessarily reflective of the attitude of Wizards of the Coast as a whole.
