Targeting

Affected

A Defined parameter states what is receiving the action. Remember this is non-targeted!

To combine multiple entities use &. Example: Defined$ Valid Creature & Player

You can combine Defined with Valid Syntax (explained in the Targets section) like so: {Defined}.{Valid}

Note: Sometimes you might still use both on a single effect if it's affecting more than its targets, e.g. Flumph.

Defined Players

Defined Players are for SAs like "Draw" or "GainLife".

You

The most common of these is Defined$ You. It means exactly what one can expect: "You draw/learn/...".

This is also the default value. But it's important to include this in SAs that have an unclear "Default" value such as Damage.

Opponent

This means "Deals damage to each opponent" or "Each opponent discards."

Player

Each player.

TargetedController / TargetedOwner

AttackingPlayer / DefendingPlayer

Defined Cards

Defined Cards are for SAs like "Pump" or "Regenerate".

Self

The most common of these is Defined$ Self. It means exactly what one can expect: "This creature gains flying" or "Regenerate this creature."

This is also the default value. Again it's important to include this in SAs that have an unclear "Default" value.

Enchanted

Enchanted is often needed on Auras. It means "do this action to the card I'm Enchanted to".

Remembered

Valid

Example: No Rest for the Wicked and the like would use
AB$ ChangeZone | Origin$ Graveyard | Destination$ Hand | Defined$ ValidGraveyard Creature.YouOwn+ThisTurnEnteredFrom_Battlefield | SpellDescription$ Return to your hand all creature cards in your graveyard that were put there from the battlefield this turn.

Targeted

Targeted will usually appear on a SubAbility. It means "Do this action to whatever a parent Ability targeted".

That may sound confusing so here's how an example:

SP$ Untap | ValidTgts$ Creature | SubAbility$ DBPump | SpellDescription$ Untap target Creature. It gains +1/+1 until end of turn.
SVar:DBPump:DB$ Pump | Defined$ Targeted | NumAtt$ +1 | NumDef$ +1

Targets

Each element follows the form: <{CardType/PlayerType}>[{.restriction}{+furtherRestriction}]

CardType may be any type, generally the supertypes like Creature, Artifact, etc. However, it could also be Elf or Goblin - though that would also include Elf Enchantments.
To specify an "Elf Creature", then it should be Creature.Elf. Permanent represents any permanent, Card any card.
All restrictions can be negated by prefixing them with a !.

Try to be precise with your restrictions, e.g. just Elf instead of Card.Elf etc. The engine will thank you!

Some common restrictions other than types/colors that are interpreted: (case sensitive)

• named{String}
• ChosenCard/ChosenType
  For cards that were chosen with ChooseCard/Type API.
• Colorless/Multicolor
• YouCtrl/YouOwn
• Other/Self
• AttachedBy/Attached
• DamagedBy/Damaged
• with{Keyword}
• tapped/untapped
• faceDown
• token
• attacking/blocking
• IsRemembered
• power/toughness/cmc{cmp}{SVar or #}
• counters{cmp}{SVar or #}{Type}

Examples:

• "Artifact or Enchantment" would be represented as 2 elements Artifact,Enchantment
• "non-black, non-artifact creature" would be represented as Creature.!Black+!Artifact
• "creature with flying" is Creature.withFlying
• "creature with four or more level counters" is Creature.countersGE4LEVEL

For the full list of all available properties see the classes CardProperty or respectively PlayerProperty.

TgtZone$ {ZoneType}

Redundant for AF that can only target the Stack or where the specified zone already matches with a Origin$ parameter.

TargetType

TgtPrompt$ {String}

Auto-generated, so try to avoid them when only targeting single word restrictions.
Example: TgtPrompt$ Select target creature that entered this turn

TargetingPlayer$ {Defined}

Some older cards let a different player than the activator choose the target.