So if ‘simple’ keywords exist, I guess they’d have to be:
And the ‘complex’ keywords:
I would assume complex keywords are any keyword that can be followed by text. Remember, Priestess and Dancer don’t just become statsticks. What comes to mind are OG, Bond, DW, and DW.
Simple are the ones that require little to no context. Grow: Rawr, I get bigger (that’s all grow has been so far.). Flying, Celerity, Rush, Provoke, etc just have tooltips. Backstab only ever does more damage and stops counters, too.
It’s really simple if you just pay attention to the keywords described, I put it in laymen terms so anyone could understand it (clearly, I failed you)
Anything that has an activation effect based on a requirement (Opening Gambit, Deathwatch, Dying Wish) that creates another effect (Do the thing in Bold Keyword - Receive non-common effect described by the following) is a complex keyword.
To any Duelyst player, you can tell them oh yea the card has “Deathwatch” or “Opening Gambit” or “Dying Wish” and they’ll go “Huh? That doesn’t tell me anything! WHAT DOES IT DO” making it a complex keyword.
Simple keywords speak for themselves, such as Grow, Backstab, Flying, Blast, Ranged. Sure, some of them have numeric values attached (how much does it Grow? What’s the bonus damage from Backstab) but they’re easy to digest and need no further explanation.
You tell someone “hey this card has Provoke!” and you get it, no further details are necessary.
Keep in mind that our complex keywords aren’t really keywords, but sentence shorteners in that sense (There’s no such thing as Deathwatch in the system in that sense, just says “Whenever a minion dies… do the following effect”) vs an attribute such as, well, Forcefield, which modifies the unit.
I’m sorry if you have a strong misunderstanding of how the game system works. SILVER doesn’t care if the effect is temporary or on the card (frankly, I doubt it even knows) - it simply checks the parameters of “Does it have it? Cool, sharing with my bros”
This has nothing to do with syllables or words, but how Keywords function, which as described above, are actual attributes vs description shortcuts, and how any player might be able to easily digest said information. Just like a human can’t decipher what Infiltrate means by just telling someone “oh it has Infiltrate” - neither can the game engine, it’s not a real effect!
I hope this expands your knowledge in Duelyst
What is the simple version of Grow? Is it defaulted to +1/+1, or does it copy the Grow values attached to it?
Same with backstab, is it defaulted to a value, or is it the same bonus damage of the keyword that is copied?
There’s actually a really cool discoverable thing with Grow and Backstab when it comes to SILVER and how he gives it to his friends!
But I won’t spoil that right now (gotta keep some things discoverable for you guys to check out day 1!). I can tell you that if you had a Dusk Rigger on the field and played SILVER, all friendly mechs would copy his value and have Backstab (2)
This looks about right!
And keep in mind, “simple” vs “complex” isn’t an internal thing we use or anything, just something I made up to describe how these keywords function. Pretty sure there’s a better more official™ term for it somewhere, I’m just kind of rambling here on this thread 
I fully understand your point, but I wanna play the devil’s advocate here. Aren’t all keywords just sentence shorteners?
Forcefield: The first time this minion takes damage each turn, prevent it.
Backstabd: When this minion attacks en enemy from behind, it deals additional damage and cannot be counterattacked.
Afterall, if the keywords were completely intuitive, we wouldn’t have tooptips, now would we? 
Now I want to see a joke card with a super obvious keyword… like “green” just stating the color of the minion. XD
What would happen if you transfer green onto another minion, though? 
This is absolutely true! Technically whatever the text on the card says doesn’t matter because none of it really exists (we can say a card has Provoke + Frenzy, but the engine might read that unit ID and go… “No, it has Provoke, I don’t care what the description says”)
Card text in an online game is definitely more for us than the engine behind it, but some of those keywords (such as the ‘simple’ ones describes) can be considered constants - meaning they’re short descriptions that should not waver in design/goal.
But you’re right, they’re all setence shortners in their own way ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A better way to explain it would be to ask yourself if the keyword is a complete concept without needing additional information.
Forcefield is a set mechanic, dying wish doesn’t mean anything unless you explain what happens after it activates.
Oh… The plot thickens 
Dude, if we could force pallet swaps like that… I’d build a deck around it.
Brother, I’d build an entire new account around it.
Let me guess, Grow and backstab stack with other instances of the keyword? Is that the interaction? That wouldn’t be broken or anything kappa
Darn, I think you just convinced me to craft at least one of these puppies. With these, we can test out a lot about how keywords work in Duelyst.
For example, if a Mech has grow from Primeval Flourish, does that grow transfer over using Silver? What about non-keywords that have their own texture, such as immune, untargetable, and stunned? What about keywords given by zeal, as in Halo Bulwark? So many discoverable elements!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhh yes that makes sense!
So if it is <keyword> : <text> it's complex, and if it's <keyword> <(maybe a number but nothing more)> then it's simple?
Okay that does kinda make sense, thank you!!
Edit: a lot of words had dropped, put it in a block to make them appear.
I now consider keywords in three categories. Simple, Numbered and Complex.
Simple = One word (Provoke Blast etc)
Numbered = One word + number (Backstab, Grow)
Complex = Unique per minion (SILVER, Deathwatch, Zeal, Nocturn)
Something like Elkowl only pulls simple, but SILVER can do Simple and Numbered.
Thank you for the explanation, I understand it now.
I do not appreciate the condescending tone though, but maybe I am misreading that, I hope I am.
Also, as to the tile, I forgot that the tile says ‘minion on top has Grow’, and thought the effect was stored in the tile (like for Lyonar or Abyssian tiles), if I had remembered that I wouldn’t have been surprised.
There’s also the distinction between faction and universal keywords.
Right! Indeed! Now the keyword collection on Elkowl makes a lot more sense too!