What does it mean to "mise?" Who are "misers?" What is this "mising" thing all about? These are the questions that have been filling up my inbox for the last couple weeks. As MiseTings readership has grown from a small number of Pro Tour elite and people "in the know" to several thousand regular readers, the percentage of readers who don't know the elite Magic lingo has increased to a point where it is past time to start explaining these things!

Way Back When

The Miser's Cage is a talisman known to bring good luck to it's owner.

The origins of "mise" go back several years, almost to the dawn of the Pro Tour. These were dark times in professional magic. Professional players were playing in PTQs and throwing matches to their friends, or whoever else would throw some cash their way. Cheating was rampant, and judges had no idea what to look out for. You could go to a tournament and fully expect over half of your opponents to be stacking their deck.

Perhaps one great solace for the competive gamer to brighten up his tournament experience was the advent of Magic catch-phrases. Words like "strong," "gas," and "kold" were echoed across tournament halls throughout the country. One phrase that had popularity for a while was "Might as well [optionally, insert verb here], am I right?"

Unnecessary Example

Imagine the following scenario. You are playing a "white weenie" deck vs. a red/white/blue "Tongo" control deck, round 5 of a PTQ. It is game three. There are only 10 minutes remaining in the round, and since both you and your opponent are undefeated at this point, your match has accumulated a bit of an audience. You go first, playing a plains turn 1, and White Knight turn 2, which your opponent responds to with a Tithe. Your opponent untaps, plays a second black bordered dual land, a tundra to match the beautiful beta (original picture!) Plateau he had already in play. He discards down to 7, dropping another beautiful beta Plateau into the "boneyard."

You untap, play a third land, and consider your options. You could play Empyrial Armor on your Knight, or just attack and play another guy. If you go for the Armor, and your opponent has a Swords to Plowshares or a Lightning Bolt in his hand, you will lose the Armor, the Knight, and be set back in tempo. On the other hand, perhaps your opponent has neither card in his hand, as he may have chosen to use his removal spell on his turn, instead of discarding a land to go down to seven cards. However, your opponent is a sneaky one, and it is entirely likely that he is baiting you to try to go for an Empyrial Armor. It is possible that your opponent has a counterspell in hand, in which case now is a great opportunity to try and get Empyrial Armor on the table, as he only has one blue mana up, and will sure drop a second Tundra next turn for counterspell capability. On the other hand, if you play a second guy (either a Soltari Monk or another White Knight), you could open yourself up to be wrecked by a Pyroclasm. Although you have an Armegeddon in your hand, to punish your opponent if he attempted to Pyroclasm next turn, in all likelyhood your opponent would wait until he had at least 4 mana available, so that he could Pyroclasm with Counterspell back-up. Fortunately for you, you do have a wasteland in your hand, so if your opponent waited until he had 2 blue and 2 other mana available to Pyroclasm, you could wreck him with wasteland, then geddon. He could wait until he has 3 blue and 2 other mana available to thwart the wasteland plan, but he might not get to 5 mana in time, even though him discarding a land on turn 2 implies that he indeed has enough mana in his hand to operate. There is one other problem with the "play a guy, Wasteland a blue then geddon" plan: your Wasteland is your only land in your hand. You would have to draw another land in the next 2 turns just in order to pull off the plan, then draw more land to cast spells, though, admittedly if Armageddon resolves, it should hurt your opponent more than it hurts you, as you only need 2 mana to operate.

After considering carefully all of the possibilities, you shrug, turn to the visibly bored group of spectators watching the match, and declare, "Might as well, am I right?" Note that in modern Magic, a gamer would be more likely to use the phrase, "Running it!" in this sort of situation. You proceed to play Empyrial Armor and attack. Your opponent Disenchants it.

Evolution of a Catch-Phrase

While some people were actually saying "Might as well," most were actually saying "Mise well." Pro Tour player Jason Opalka actually thought that "mise" was a word synonymous with "might as." This fueled the use of the word "mise" by many professional players, in friendly mockery of Opalka's ignorance.

As time went by, the phrase was used more and more often, in virtual every situation you can imagine.

• "Mise well draft mono-red, am i right?"
• "Mise well first pick a Rolling Thunder..."
• "Mise well yank this Anoint out of my graveyard and slip it into my hand.."
• "Mise well TD exactly what I need, EVERY turn!"
• "Mise well attempt to play a second land this turn so that I can go off with my Bloom deck.."

Also, as time went by, the phrase has metamorphasized from "Mise well, am I right?" to "Mise well, right?" to "Mise well" and finally to the base form, "mise" that we all know and love. It has long been theorized that the word may make future transformations into an even purer form, from "mise" to "mi" and finally to just "mmm."

What Does "Mise" Mean Today?

The meaning of "mise" has evolved from it's original usage years ago. Today, "mise" has a myriad of meanings. The most common meaning of "mise" is as follows:

mise - 'mIz

verb - "to obtain something that is unusually great or unexpected"
noun - "something unusually great or unexpected"


miser - 'mI-z&r


noun - "someone who mises"

Some examples of the word in context:

• "Your girlfriend is such a mise!"
• "I had to mise my last fireblast off the top to win the match, and I did! I'm such a miser!"
• "I can't sleep, as my roommate and her boyfriend have been mising all night long in the next room. =("
• "'Mise!' he cheered gleefully when he learned that his opponent had misregistered his deck."
• "The tournament organizer forgot to collect my money, so I mised a free draft."
• "With all the holiday shoppers, I can't believe that I mised a front row parking space!"

One important thing to note is that "mise" always has a positive connotation, except perhaps if it used sarcastically. Generally, one doesn't "mise" gonorrhea, a match loss, or a kick to the groin. Perhaps the definition should be: "something unusually great or something unexpected, but still pretty good."

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!

What does it mean to "mise?" Who are "misers?" What is this "mising" thing all about? These are the questions that have been filling up my inbox for the last couple weeks. As MiseTings readership has grown from a small number of Pro Tour elite and people "in the know" to several thousand regular readers, the percentage of readers who don't know the elite Magic lingo has increased to a point where it is past time to start explaining these things!

Way Back When

The Miser's Cage is a talisman known to bring good luck to it's owner.

The origins of "mise" go back several years, almost to the dawn of the Pro Tour. These were dark times in professional magic. Professional players were playing in PTQs and throwing matches to their friends, or whoever else would throw some cash their way. Cheating was rampant, and judges had no idea what to look out for. You could go to a tournament and fully expect over half of your opponents to be stacking their deck.

Perhaps one great solace for the competive gamer to brighten up his tournament experience was the advent of Magic catch-phrases. Words like "strong," "gas," and "kold" were echoed across tournament halls throughout the country. One phrase that had popularity for a while was "Might as well [optionally, insert verb here], am I right?"

Unnecessary Example

Imagine the following scenario. You are playing a "white weenie" deck vs. a red/white/blue "Tongo" control deck, round 5 of a PTQ. It is game three. There are only 10 minutes remaining in the round, and since both you and your opponent are undefeated at this point, your match has accumulated a bit of an audience. You go first, playing a plains turn 1, and White Knight turn 2, which your opponent responds to with a Tithe. Your opponent untaps, plays a second black bordered dual land, a tundra to match the beautiful beta (original picture!) Plateau he had already in play. He discards down to 7, dropping another beautiful beta Plateau into the "boneyard."

You untap, play a third land, and consider your options. You could play Empyrial Armor on your Knight, or just attack and play another guy. If you go for the Armor, and your opponent has a Swords to Plowshares or a Lightning Bolt in his hand, you will lose the Armor, the Knight, and be set back in tempo. On the other hand, perhaps your opponent has neither card in his hand, as he may have chosen to use his removal spell on his turn, instead of discarding a land to go down to seven cards. However, your opponent is a sneaky one, and it is entirely likely that he is baiting you to try to go for an Empyrial Armor. It is possible that your opponent has a counterspell in hand, in which case now is a great opportunity to try and get Empyrial Armor on the table, as he only has one blue mana up, and will sure drop a second Tundra next turn for counterspell capability. On the other hand, if you play a second guy (either a Soltari Monk or another White Knight), you could open yourself up to be wrecked by a Pyroclasm. Although you have an Armegeddon in your hand, to punish your opponent if he attempted to Pyroclasm next turn, in all likelyhood your opponent would wait until he had at least 4 mana available, so that he could Pyroclasm with Counterspell back-up. Fortunately for you, you do have a wasteland in your hand, so if your opponent waited until he had 2 blue and 2 other mana available to Pyroclasm, you could wreck him with wasteland, then geddon. He could wait until he has 3 blue and 2 other mana available to thwart the wasteland plan, but he might not get to 5 mana in time, even though him discarding a land on turn 2 implies that he indeed has enough mana in his hand to operate. There is one other problem with the "play a guy, Wasteland a blue then geddon" plan: your Wasteland is your only land in your hand. You would have to draw another land in the next 2 turns just in order to pull off the plan, then draw more land to cast spells, though, admittedly if Armageddon resolves, it should hurt your opponent more than it hurts you, as you only need 2 mana to operate.

After considering carefully all of the possibilities, you shrug, turn to the visibly bored group of spectators watching the match, and declare, "Might as well, am I right?" Note that in modern Magic, a gamer would be more likely to use the phrase, "Running it!" in this sort of situation. You proceed to play Empyrial Armor and attack. Your opponent Disenchants it.

Evolution of a Catch-Phrase

While some people were actually saying "Might as well," most were actually saying "Mise well." Pro Tour player Jason Opalka actually thought that "mise" was a word synonymous with "might as." This fueled the use of the word "mise" by many professional players, in friendly mockery of Opalka's ignorance.

As time went by, the phrase was used more and more often, in virtual every situation you can imagine.

• "Mise well draft mono-red, am i right?"
• "Mise well first pick a Rolling Thunder..."
• "Mise well yank this Anoint out of my graveyard and slip it into my hand.."
• "Mise well TD exactly what I need, EVERY turn!"
• "Mise well attempt to play a second land this turn so that I can go off with my Bloom deck.."

Also, as time went by, the phrase has metamorphasized from "Mise well, am I right?" to "Mise well, right?" to "Mise well" and finally to the base form, "mise" that we all know and love. It has long been theorized that the word may make future transformations into an even purer form, from "mise" to "mi" and finally to just "mmm."

What Does "Mise" Mean Today?

The meaning of "mise" has evolved from it's original usage years ago. Today, "mise" has a myriad of meanings. The most common meaning of "mise" is as follows:

mise - 'mIz

verb - "to obtain something that is unusually great or unexpected"
noun - "something unusually great or unexpected"


miser - 'mI-z&r


noun - "someone who mises"

Some examples of the word in context:

• "Your girlfriend is such a mise!"
• "I had to mise my last fireblast off the top to win the match, and I did! I'm such a miser!"
• "I can't sleep, as my roommate and her boyfriend have been mising all night long in the next room. =("
• "'Mise!' he cheered gleefully when he learned that his opponent had misregistered his deck."
• "The tournament organizer forgot to collect my money, so I mised a free draft."
• "With all the holiday shoppers, I can't believe that I mised a front row parking space!"

One important thing to note is that "mise" always has a positive connotation, except perhaps if it used sarcastically. Generally, one doesn't "mise" gonorrhea, a match loss, or a kick to the groin. Perhaps the definition should be: "something unusually great or something unexpected, but still pretty good."

Discuss this article in the Magic: the Gathering Forums!