There are a few things that happen at the end of every turn; players discard down to their maximum hand size, damage on creatures goes away etc. One area that often confuses players is the difference between effects that last until the turn ends and triggered abilities that trigger at the end of a turn.

The ending phase actually has two steps; the end step and the cleanup step. The end step exists for two reasons. The first, and one relevant to this tip, is that it is in this step where abilities that trigger at beginning of the end step will trigger, go on the stack and resolve. Examples of cards with triggered abilities like these would include; Putrefax and Domestication. (The second reason is that this is usually the last chance for all players to play spells and abilities in a turn.) Many cards in the past had abilities that triggered at the beginning of this step but were worded slightly differently. Many of them were worded ‘At the end of turn.’ as opposed to ‘at the beginning of the end of turn step.’ Look at the older printings of Ball Lightning for examples of how this has been worded in the past. How these abilities were worded was changed when Magic 2010 was released. It was at this time that the last phase of a turn was renamed the Ending Phase as well.

Compare the examples of the triggered abilities above to continuous effects that last until the end of a turn. These effects end in the clean up step, which takes place after the end of turn step. Examples of cards that generate effects like these would be Giant Growth, Disfigure and the effect that makes Chimeric Mass a creature. All of these effects end at the same time. Damage is removed from creatures at this time as well.

It is important to note again that triggered abilities that trigger at the beginning of the end of turn will trigger and resolve before effects that last until the end of turn end.