magic graveyard destroy bury remove from game exile kill countered

[kip]

Do all these mean the same thing if yes then why do we need so many words?

graveyard destroyed buried removed from game exiled killed counter

[seba1983]

no the do not mean the same.

graveyard is where you put your cards if they are destroyed, sacrificed, discarded countered or "put into owners graveyard". its a game zone.

destroy means that a permanent that is destroyed will be put into the graveyard. regenerate can save the permanent and indestructable permanents can not be effected by destroy effects.

buried is an old wording that is no longer used. i was the short form of "destroy ... it can not be regenerated".

remove from game means that something is not put into the graveyard but set aside compleatly and can not be retrived by cards that bring things back from the graveyard.

exile is the new word for "removed from game" introduced in magic 2010. it also introduces the exile zone. now things that are exiled are not just set aside but moved to the exile zone. this works just like the old remove from game but when you get deeper into the rules jungle you will learn how that makes a diffrence. for most players there will be no diffrence at all.

killed is not a "game-word". the otheres can all be found on cardtext killed can't. players often use the word killed as a substitute for "put into owners graveyard" when they mean that a creature was put there by any effect not just a "put into owners graveyard"-effect but also by a destroy or sacrifice effect. note killed is only used if the effect came from an opponent or in conjunction with "my own". e.g. "he tried to take control of my [own] creature so i had to kill it in response."

counter is when a card is being cast. a counter can then prevent the spell "from happening". it is instead put into its owners graveyard.

so appart from buried and "removed from game" yes we do need all these words ^^.

[rkho]

No, they do not.

Graveyard: The discard pile.

Destroy: Destroy the artifact/creature/enchantment/land/etc. It is placed into the graveyard.

Bury: The old term used for destroy. Burying a creature means it cannot regenerate (as how Wrath of God states it). This term is obsolete.

Removed from the game: Another obsolete term. Places the permanent (A permanent is a card that is not an Instant or a Sorcery) into the "removed from game" zone. This term is now called Exile.

Exile: See above.

Killed: Obsolete term.

Counter: Can be taken in two contexts. The first one is "place a +1/+1 counter on this creature". These are notation markers to denote something. The other is "counter target spell". Countering a spell means that the spell being countered does not resolve and instead is placed into its owner's graveyard. Countermagic is the most powerful type of spell in the game.

edit: meh, sarnath'd