Stack



The stack is the game zone where spells and abilities are put when they are played and where they wait to resolve.

Description
Spells and abilities are put on top of the stack as the first step is being played, and are removed from it as the last step of resolving.

Any spell or ability that uses the stack can be 'responded to' by all players, meaning players have a chance to play spells and abilities with it still on the stack. Since the stack resolves in order from top to bottom, those spells and abilities will resolve before the spell they were played "in response" to. Spells and abilities on the stack resolve one at a time, with a chance for each player to play spells and abilities in between each resolution. Actions that do not use the stack, such as paying costs, playing mana abilities, or turning a face-down creature with morph face-up, cannot be responded to.

Actions that use the stack

 * casting spells
 * activating or triggering non-mana abilities

Actions that don't use the stack

 * playing a land;
 * tapping a permanent;
 * unmorphing a creature;
 * phasing in and out at the start of the untap step (see rule 302.1);
 * untapping at the start of the untap step (see rule 302.2).
 * drawing a card at the start of the draw step (see rule 304.1);
 * declaring attackers at the start of the declare attackers step (see rule 308.1);
 * declaring blockers at the start of the declare blockers step (see rule 309.1);
 * the active player discarding down to their maximum hand size at the start of the cleanup step (see rule 314);
 * removing damage from permanents and ending "until end of turn" and "this turn" effects at the start of the cleanup step (see rule 314);
 * exiling a card with suspend using its suspend ability.

An action that does not use the stack is called a turn-based action or a special action.

Trivia

 * In flavor terms, the stack is the point when a spell is materializing, the stage between your mind and external reality.
 * The stack was featured as rules card 7 of 9 in the Magic 2011 set.
 * The term stack is used computer science describing the same behavior as in Magic: LIFO (last in, first out).