Everything You Need to Know About Priority in Magic

Last updated on July 3, 2024

Priority Boarding | Illustration by Greg Bobrowski

Priority is a fundamental mechanic in Magic: The Gathering that determines who gets to play or cast cards, activate abilities, and other stuff, and when. It creates a dynamic back-and-forth between players, even during your opponent's turn, and it's one of Magic's defining features. Other famous card games, like Hearthstone, have a simpler priority system.

But MTG's priority system can sometimes get a bit confusing – it's the price we pay to enjoy Magic's nuanced system of strategic interaction.

Let's go step by step and explain, one by one, all the building blocks of how priority works in MTG.

What Is Priority?

Now You See Me . . . – Illustration by Sam Hogg

In MTG, priority determines who gets to do what, and when. At every point in a game of Magic, priority answers the question, “Who gets to do stuff right now?” Only one player can have priority at any given time, ensuring that the game flows smoothly.

Imagine priority as a metaphorical ball. Having the ball essentially means you have “permission” to take actions. Once you're done, you pass this metaphorical ball to the next player, and then they get a chance to act; once they're done, they pass the ball to the next player, and so on until the ball gets passed back to you. This back-and-forth continues throughout each turn, and across turns.

One cornerstone of Magic's priority system is that you can take actions even during other players' turns (and they can take actions during yours, of course). That's different from other CCGs (like Hearthstone) in which you can only act during your turn and your opponent can only act during theirs.

Whenever you receive priority (at any time you receive priority, no matter whose turn it is, no matter which phase or step), you can:

• Cast an instant,
• Cast a permanent spell with flash,
• Activate abilities,
• Perform some special actions (these are rare; things like turning a disguised creature face-up),
• Pass priority.

The only requirement to do any of the above is that you have priority (and that you can pay the costs, of course).

When you receive priority, and it's also one of your main phases, and the stack is empty (more about the stack in a bit), you can do all the above and/or:

• Cast non-instant spells namely creatures, enchantments, artifacts, planeswalkers, sorceries, and battles,
• Perform other special actions – the most common in this case is playing a land.

As with everything in Magic, rules text in specific cards can override or modify. The most common exceptions are activated abilities that state that they can only be activated “as a sorcery”.

In this case, “as a sorcery” means “when you have priority during your turn and the stack is empty” (in MTG lingo, this is said to be “sorcery speed”). This is a limitation imposed by these specific cards.

At its core, MTG's priority system is designed to allow players to disrupt each other's plans no matter whose turn it is. As noted, this is in stark contrast with other CCGs like Hearthstone, in which you can only perform actions during your turn (but not during mine), and I can only perform actions during my turn (but not during yours).

This, in turn, heavily influences design. Cards are designed with specific timings and interactions in mind, taking into account how players will pass priority.

That's not to say one system is “better” – many digital CCGs copied Hearthstone's turn structure and are hugely popular thanks to offering a more streamlined experience. But MTG's priority system is one of the things that makes Magic different from other card games.

Priority and The Stack

The stack is one of Magic's game zones; it's where spells, activated abilities, and triggers wait to resolve. The stack is similar to the battlefield in that it's a zone shared by all players (as opposed to hands, graveyards, or libraries, each of which belong to a particular player).

Whenever a player casts a spell or activates an ability that isn't a mana ability, it goes on the stack. The same happens with triggered abilities: They go on the stack whenever their triggering condition is met.

When the next player receives priority, they too have the opportunity to add new effects to the stack. That's why it's called “the stack”: Each new effect is placed or stacked above the previous.

Once all players pass priority without anybody adding anything to the stack, the objects on the stack resolve from the top down, and then the active player receives priority again.

The stack allows for fairly complexinteractions. For instance, you cast a creature, your opponent casts a removal spell to destroy it, and then you cast an instant-speed buff to save your creature in response.

For example, you have a Birds of Paradise in play. Your opponent casts a Lightning Bolt targeting your bird. The Bolt goes on the stack, and your opponent passes priority to you.

At this point, you could allow things to take their course and let the Bolt blast your Bird (in that case you would pass without doing anything, then Bolt would resolve, and your Bird would die).

But if that bird's dear to you, you could cast a Giant Growth in response to your opponent's Bolt. In that case, the Giant Growth goes on the stack on top of the Bolt.

If you pass, and your foe passes in return, then the Growth resolves first, making your Bird swole. Then the Bolt resolves, dealing 3 to your buffed bird, who survives the damage.

But let's say your foe really wants your Bird gone, so after you cast Giant Growth and pass priority to them, they cast a second Lightning Bolt. Their Bolt #2 goes onto the stack on top of your Giant Growth and, if you have no answers, then:

• Their Bolt #2 resolves, roasting your Bird,
• Your Giant Growth fizzles (your Bird is no more, so there's no longer a target for Giant Growth),
• Their Bolt #1 fizzles (your Bird is an ex-Bird now, so Bolt #1 has no target).

When Do Players Receive Priority?

If it's your turn, you're considered the active player. While you're the active player, you receive priority:

• Whenever an object on the stack resolves, no matter who controls said object – if your opponent has a Lightning Bolt on the stack and you’re the active player, you receive priority after the Bolt resolves,
• At the beginning of most (although not all) steps and phases of your turn.

Magic being Magic, there are of course some exceptions and caveats.

For starters, there are two steps when players may not get priority:

• The untap step: Players never receive priority during the untap step. Ever. If anything triggers during the untap step, then those triggers are put on the stack during the upkeep step (which happens right after the untap step).
• The cleanup step: Players usually don't get priority during the cleanup step, but if anything triggers here (due to some “until end of turn” effect, for example), then players can respond to that trigger – the active player gets priority first to do so.

In several steps, there's often something happening immediately after the step starts and before the active player receives priority: turn-based actions.

And what the heck are those?

Glad you asked!

Turn-Based Actions

Turn-based actions are game actions that happen automatically when certain steps or phases begin. Examples of turn-based actions are putting lore counters on a saga (immediately after a player's precombat main phase begins), declaring attackers (immediately after the declare attackers step begins, during the combat phase), or discarding down to seven cards (immediately after the cleanup step begins). Turn-basedactions don't use the stack, and they’re completed before players receive priority.

If you're not the active player, you receive priority whenever the active player passes it to you.

(A player can't avoid passing priority, by the way; for the game to progress, you have to pass at some point).

Once everybody passes in succession, the top object of the stack resolves until it's clear, and the active player receives priority.

If everybody passes in succession while the stack is empty, the game moves to the next step or phase.

What Is Holding Priority?

In casual tabletop games, players are assumed to pass priority after taking an action. This is done to speed things up and avoid players having to keep repeating “pass, pass, pass,” when there's really nothing for them to do. This is what’s known as taking shortcuts, and it’s the norm in most games.

However, you can explicitly say “I'll hold priority” (or any words to that effect) to indicate that you want to take another action before your opponent gets a chance to respond. That's to say, if you have priority to put stuff on the stack, you can keep stacking as much stuff as you want (as long as you have the cards and mana to do so, of course) before you pass.

(Note that, MTG Arena handles things a bit differently; “Holding priority” would be similar to “Full Control” mode.)

How Does Holding Priority Affect the Stack?

When you hold priority, you can continue adding objects or effects to the stack without passing priority to the next player.

Holding priority has no effect other than this; you’re just telling other players, “Hey, I want to put a bunch of things on the stack; so please wait until I explicitly say that I pass for you to do anything.” You eventually need to be done, and pass priority.

For example, let's say you have Ulalek, Fused Atrocity in play, and you want to play a Kozilek's Command. Ulalek triggers its spell-copy ability when you cast the command (because it's an eldrazi kindred spell), so you may want to first put other spells and triggers on the stack and then cast Kozilek's Command, so Ulalek copies them all. To do this on a casual tabletop game, you'll probably announce that you'll hold priority until you have all these triggers on the stack.

When Can You Hold Priority?

Whenever you have priority.

For clarity's sake: If we were following the rules by the letter, we’d always have to say, “I pass,” before the other could take an action.

Since that would be tedious and cumbersome, players adopt shortcuts that usually assume that players pass after taking an action, unless they hold priority.

But, technically speaking, you can hold priority whenever you want, and “holding priority” means “wait until I explicitly pass priority before acting.”

What Is Passing Priority?

In the context of Magic, “passing” means “I'm done; your move.” It means you’re done taking actions (for the time being), and that it's your opponent's opportunity to do so.

When a player passes, priority moves to the next player in turn order, allowing them to take actions or pass priority as well.

When all players pass without doing anything they are said to have “passed in succession”. When this happens:

• If there's anything on the stack, then the topmost object on the stack resolves,
• If the stack was empty, then the current phase or step ends, and the next step or phase begins.

What if Multiple Triggers Happen at the Same Time?

When multiple triggered abilities trigger at the same time, like for example multiple creatures dying during combat, the active player (the player whose turn it is) puts their triggers on the stack in whatever order they choose. Then, the non-active player does the same.

In Magic lingo, triggers are said to be placed on the stack in APNAP (Active Player, Non-Active Player) order.

Since the active player puts their triggers on the stack first, followed by the non-active player, then the non-active player's triggers resolve first (because they’re the ones at the top of the stack).

Once all triggered abilities have been added to the stack, the active player receives priority and can take further actions or pass priority to resolve the Stack.

Does Using Mana Abilities Require Priority?

Mana abilities are a special case, so we'll have to look very closely at the rules, but in general (although not always) you do require priority to activate mana abilities. What makes mana abilities different is that they don't use the stack.

According to the rules, you may activate a mana ability:

• Whenever you have priority,
• Whenever you’re casting a spell or activating an ability that requires a mana payment, or
• Whenever a rule or effect asks for a mana payment, even if it’s in the middle of casting or resolving a spell or activating or resolving an ability.

A mana ability doesn’t go on the stack, so it can’t be targeted, countered, or otherwise responded to. And mana abilities don't require you to pass priority before they resolve – rather, they resolve immediately after activation or triggering.

This has an interesting ramification: It means that any cost associated with mana ability can't be interacted with.

If you decide to sacrifice a Treasure token for mana, the mana ability doesn't go on the stack, so I can't cast Stifle to interrupt your treasure's sacrifice, I can't target your Treasure with some form of artifact destruction, etc.

This refers to only mana abilities, though, and doesn't extend to other ways to generate mana. In particular, a spell can never be a mana ability, even if it could put mana into a player’s mana pool when it resolves. Those spells behave exactly like any other spell.

For example, if I cast a Pyretic Ritual, it goes to the stack like any other spell before resolving, and you can counterspell it.

Wrap Up

One Last Job | Illustration by Caroline Gariba

The priority system is one of MTG's defining features. Other card games have found great success by simplifying this system and thus streamlining their games, but I’d argue that the trade-off has been a loss of strategic depth and tactical tension.

After all, being able to foil our foe's plans on their turn has to be one the best feelings in Magic!

I hope you've enjoyed this mechanical deep dive, and if you have comments or questions please drop a comment below, or stop by the Draftsim Discord for a chat.

And good luck out there!