Layouts and Faces

The layout property categorizes the arrangement of card parts, faces, and other bounded regions on cards. The layout can be used to programmatically determine which other properties on a card you can expect.

Specifically:

• Cards with the layouts split, flip, transform, and double_faced_token will always have a card_faces property describing the distinct faces.
• Cards with the layout meld will always have an all_parts property pointing to the other meld parts.

Layout	Description	Examples
normal	A standard Magic card with one face	Example Cards
split	A split-faced card	Example Cards
flip	Cards that invert vertically with the flip keyword	Example Cards
transform	Double-sided cards that transform	Example Cards
modal_dfc	Double-sided cards that can be played either-side	Example Cards
meld	Cards with meld parts printed on the back	Example Cards
leveler	Cards with Level Up	Example Cards
class	Class-type enchantment cards	Example Cards
case	Case-type enchantment cards	Example Cards
saga	Saga-type cards	Example Cards
adventure	Cards with an Adventure spell part	Example Cards
mutate	Cards with Mutate	Example Cards
prototype	Cards with Prototype	Example Cards
battle	Battle-type cards	Example Cards
planar	Plane and Phenomenon-type cards	Example Cards
scheme	Scheme-type cards	Example Cards
vanguard	Vanguard-type cards	Example Cards
token	Token cards	Example Cards
double_faced_token	Tokens with another token printed on the back	Example Cards
emblem	Emblem cards	Example Cards
augment	Cards with Augment	Example Cards
host	Host-type cards	Example Cards
art_series	Art Series collectable double-faced cards	Example Cards
reversible_card	A Magic card with two sides that are unrelated	Example Cards

Card Faces

Magic cards can include multiple faces on a single piece of card stock. Scryfall includes information about each of these card faces using the card_faces property on API objects. Please note the following types of multi-face cards and how Scryfall will describe them:

Split cards (Comp. rules term) · Example split cards
Split cards are sorceries or instant cards that include two faces and the caster can choose which face to cast. The back of a split card is the normal Magic back.

Flip cards (Comp. rules term) · Example flip cards
Flip cards have two parts of a permanent printed vertically on one side of the card. During play, an ability on the card causes the permanent to flip (rotate 180°) to the other side. The back of a flip card is the normal Magic back.

Double-faced cards (Comp. rules term)
These cards have two faces on different sides of the cardstock that are related to each other. The whole card is a single legal or deckbuilding object. Double-faced cards can either be transforming or modal.

Transforming double-faced cards (Comp. rules term) · Example transforming DFCs
These cards can either transform after entering the battlefield, or can be put onto the battlefield already transformed. Scryfall will use the card_faces object to describe the two different transformed modes of the card, while the root object will contain data that applies to both sides. These cards have their layout field set to "transform".

Modal double-faced cards (Comp. rules term) · Example modal DFCs
Modal DFCs be cast or played as either half of the card. Scryfall will use the card_faces object to describe the two different modes of the card, while the root object will contain data that applies to both sides (such as the color_identity). These cards have their layout field set to "modal_dfc".

Reversible cards (casual term) · Example reversible cards
This term is used by both Scryfall and WotC to describe a piece of cardstock with two distinct Magic cards or tokens printed on opposite sides. The two halves of the card are not related to each other in any way and are treated as two separate objects for gameplay or deckbuilding. The overall Card object will have its layout field set to "reversible_card", while the individual card_face objects will have their own layout fields describing the distinct printings on both sides. Many other fields for a reversible card move into the card_face objects to describe the distinct face.

Multi-faced cards (casual term)
This term has no rules meaning and is used by Scryfall to describe any object with the nested card_faces property.

Double-sided cards (casual term)
This term has no rules meaning and is used only casually to refer to any cards with gameplay information on both sides.