Content

• To step
• Part 1 of 5: Understanding the basics
• Part 2 of 5: Understanding the different types of cards
• Part 3 of 5: Understanding gameplay
• Part 4 of 5: Understanding the phases of a turn
• Part 5 of 5: Advanced concepts
• Tips

Magic: The Gathering is a trading card game that combines strategy and fantasy. The premise is as follows: you play as a powerful wizard, a "planeswalker", who summons creatures, spells and weapons to help you destroy other planeswalkers. You can enjoy Magic alone as a trading card collection, or you can play it with friends as an advanced strategy game. Read on to find out how to play the game!

To step

Part 1 of 5: Understanding the basics

1. Select players. Understand that two or more players - usually just two - are playing against each other. You can play a game where you fight against two or more players, but the most common way to play is by playing against a single player.
2. Put several cards together in a pile. Your cards are your army; your arsenal. In a "constructed" stack - one that you would use to play against friends under informal circumstances - the minimum number of cards is 60, with no maximum limit. However, players usually choose to stick to 60 cards.
   • During a tournament you can also play with a "limited" or "limited" stack; these stacks have a minimum number of 60 cards, even without a maximum limit. The difference with these stacks is that they must be assembled on the spot from face-down stacks of 15 cards that are given to the player at the start of a tournament.
   • A player's stack of 60 or 40 cards is also known as his or her "collection".
3. At the start of the game, have each player draw 7 cards from his or her collection. These 7 cards make up the player's "hand". At the start of each turn, each player takes one card to add to his or her hand.
   • When a player discards a card, uses a card, or when a creature dies or a spell is destroyed, that card is placed in the player's graveyard. The graveyard is a pile of cards that have been placed face up, which players usually place next to their collection.
4. Know that each player starts the game with 20 life points. During the game, a player can lose or gain life. In general, it is better to have more life than less life.
   • Players deal "damage" to creatures as well as each other. Damage is done by either creatures or spells. Damage is measured by the amount of damage points dealt.
   • If player number 1 does 4 damage to player 2, player 2 loses 4 life points. If player 2 used to have 20 life points, he or she now only has 16 life points. (20 - 4 = 16.)
5. Avoid the three ways a player can lose. A player has lost the game when he or she has lost all his or her life points, when he or she has no more cards in his or her stack / collection, or when he or she has 10 poison "counters".
   • When a player's health points total 0 or less, they lose.
   • If a player cannot take any more cards from his or her collection at the start of his or her turn, he or she has lost.
   • When a player gets 10 poison counters, they lose.
6. Use different colors in your collection: white, blue, black, red, and green.
   • White is the color of protection and order. The symbol of white is a white sphere. The strengths of the color white are a variety of small creatures that become powerful together; gain life; diminish the powers of opposing beings; and "equalizing" (or "equalizing") cards, which wipe out large numbers of cards from the table.
   • Blue is the color of deception and intelligence. The symbol of blue is a drop of water. The strengths of the color blue are suits; take control of opponents' cards; "counter" or avoid the spells of opponents; and "flying" beings and / or beings that cannot be blocked.
   • Black is the color of death and destruction. Black's symbol is a black skull. The strengths of the color black are destroying creatures; force opponents to discard their cards; make opponents lose health points; and bring creatures back from graveyards.
   • Red is the color of anger and chaos. The symbol of red is a red fireball. The strengths of the color red are to give up aids for great forces; Deal "direct damage" to players or creatures; and destroy artifacts and lands.
   • Green is the color of life and nature. The symbol of green is a green tree. The strengths of the color green are powerful creatures with "trample"; the ability to regenerate or bring back creatures from the graveyard; and land faster.

Part 2 of 5: Understanding the different types of cards

1. Understand what countries are and where "mana" comes from. Countries are a type of map, and are the building blocks of spells. There are five basic countries, with each country related to a color. Countries produce magical energy, or "mana"; the fuel used to cast other spells.
   • The five basic countries are as follows:
     
     • White lands, or Plains (plains), which produce white mana
     • Blue countries, or Islands, which produce blue mana
     • Black lands, or Swamps, which produce black mana
     • Red lands, or Mountains, which produce red mana
     • Green lands, or Forests, that produce green mana
   • There are also other kinds of countries (2- and tri-kind countries, for example), but the most important thing to know for a beginner is that base countries only produce one color of mana, and non-standard countries can produce mana of two or more colors.
2. Understand what "sorceries" are. Sorceries are magical spells that you only use on your own turn can use. You cannot use a sorcery in response to another spell (you will learn more about this concept later). Sorceries usually go to the cemetery immediately after use.
3. Understand what "instants" are. Instants are like sorceries, but they can be used both on another player's turn and on your own, and they can be played in response to a spell. Instants usually go straight to the cemetery after use.
4. Understand what "enchantments" are. Enchantments are a kind of "stable manifestation (s)". Enchantments come in two types: they are either attached to a creature so that they affect only that one card, then they are called an "Aura"; or they are close to the battlefield and land without being tied to a specific card, they affect the game in some way (for you and / or your opponent).
   • Enchantments are "permanents"; this means that they remain on the battlefield unless they are destroyed. Permanents do not go to the cemetery immediately after use.
5. Know what "artifacts" are. Artifacts are magical objects, and perms too. Artifacts are colorless; they do not have to be evoked by some kind of land or mana. There are three basic types of artifacts:
   • Normal Artifacts: These artifacts are similar to enchantments.
   • Equipment Artifacts: These cards can be linked to creatures, giving them extra abilities. If the creature leaves the battlefield, the equipment stays on the battlefield; it does not follow the being into the graveyard, even though it was attached to it.
   • Artifact Creatures: These cards are both creatures and artifacts all at once. They are like beings, except they usually do not require a specific type of mana to be summoned; you can invoke them with any kind of mana. In addition, since they are usually colorless, most artifact creatures are immune to spells that affect certain colors.
6. Understand what beings are. Creatures are among the most important building blocks of Magic. Beings are perms; so they remain on the battlefield until destroyed or otherwise removed from play. The main function of creatures is that they can attack and block. The two numbers in the lower right corner of the card (for example 4/5) show you the creature's attack and defense power, respectively.
   • Creatures enter the battlefield with so-called "summoning sickness". This means that a creature cannot be "tapped" (or used) on the same turn it is placed on the battlefield. This means that the creature cannot attack or use other abilities that require tapping. On the other hand, the creature can block; blocking is not affected by summoning sickness.
   • Beings have many special abilities, such as "flying", "vigilance" (vigilance) or "trample" (trample) which we will learn more about later.
7. Understand the function of planeswalkers. A planeswalker is a powerful ally that resembles a super-powerful creature. They are very rare and do not always appear during a game, and when in play they can change the fundamentals of the game.
   • Each planeswalker comes with a certain amount of "loyalty counters" indicated by a number at the bottom right of the card. The symbol "+ X" means "put X amount of loyalty counters on this planeswalker" when using a skill, while "-X" means "remove X amount of loyalty counters from this planeswalker" when using the skill. You can only use these abilities and the powers that come with them when using a sorcery, and only once per turn.
   • Planeswalkers can be attacked by your opponent's creatures and spells. You can block the attack on the planeswalker with your creatures and spells. In the event that your opponent deals damage to a planeswalker, the same amount of loyalty counters as any damage is done will be removed.

Part 3 of 5: Understanding gameplay

1. Understand how to summon a creature or spell. You summon a being by looking at its summoning cost; this is usually a circled number followed by mana of a particular color - white, blue, black, red, or green. To summon a creature you will need to produce mana equal to the summoning cost of the card.
   • Have a look at the map above. You will be one 1 followed by a white mana symbol - the white sun. In order to summon this specific card, you will need enough land cards to produce one mana of any color, along with one white mana.
2. Try out another example of how to paging. See if you can figure out how many mana you need in total, and what specific kinds, to summon the following card:
   • The first card, "Sylvan Bounty", costs 5 colorless mana - mana of any color - along with one green mana - mana produced by a Forest, to produce a total of six mana. The second card, "Angelic Shield", costs one white mana - produced by a Plains - along with one blue mana.
3. Understand what "tapping" and "untapping" are. "Tapping" is how you use mana in lands, or how you attack with creatures. It is indicated by the small right arrow symbol. To tap, turn your card to the side.
   • When you tap a card, it means that you cannot use certain skills for one turn. For example, if you tap a card to use its ability, that card will remain tapped until the start of your next turn. You cannot use the tap skill again until the card is untapped.
   • In order to attack you have to tap your creature. A creature uses its power to fight, so it must be tapped. You always do this unless the card specifically tells you not to tap it (some cards are not tapped before they attack).
   • You cannot block with a creature that has been tapped. When a creature is tapped it cannot block.
4. Know what strength and defense stand for. Creatures have one number for strength and another number for defense. The next creature, "Phyrexian Broodlings", has 2 strength and 2 defenses. This is a 2/2 creature.
   • Strength is the amount of damage a creature can do in battle. If a creature has 5 strength, it can deal 5 damage to any creature that chooses to block it during combat. If that creature is not blocked while fighting, it deals 5 damage directly on the opponent, who then subtracts that number from his or her total life.
   • Defense is the amount of damage a creature can withstand before dying and being sent to the graveyard. A creature with a defense of 2 can withstand 3 points of damage in battle before dying. When it has withstood 4 damage it goes to that player's graveyard at the end of the battle.
5. Understand how damage is assigned in battle. When a player decides to attack another player in battle, attackers and blockers are declared. Attacking creatures are declared first. The defending player may then choose which of his or her creatures he or she wants to use as a blocker, along with which creatures he or she wants to block.
   • Let's say "Anathemancer" is attacking and "Magus of the Moat" is blocking. Anathemancer has a strength of 2 and a defense of 2. It's a 2/2. Magus of the Moat has a strength of 0 and a defense of 3. It's a 0/3. What happens when they get ready to fight each other?
   • The Anathemancer deals 2 damage to the Magus, while the Magus deals 0 damage to the Anathemancer.
   • The 2 damage the Anathemancer did to the Magus is not enough to kill him. The Magus can withstand 3 damage before being sent to the graveyard. On the other hand, the 0 damage the Magus does to the Anathemancer is also not enough to kill him. The Anathemancer can withstand 2 damage before being sent to the graveyard. Both creatures survive.
6. Understand how to activate certain creature, spell and artifact abilities. Often times, creatures have abilities that players can activate. Using these abilities is a bit like summoning the creature, because you have to pay a "price" in mana to use them. Consider the following example:
   • "Ictian Crier" has a skill that says "Put two 1/1 white Citizen creature tokens into play." ("Put two 1/1 white Citizen creature tokens into play.") But there are also some mana symbols and a text in front of it. Which is the mana prize required to activate this skill.
   • To activate this ability, tap one base map of any color (this is for the 1 colorless mana), and one Plains (for the 1 white mana). Now tap the card itself, Ictian Crier - this is before the "tap" symbol after the manaben supplies. Now remove a card from your hand - any card is good, but you will probably want to remove your least valuable card. Now you may put two 1/1 Citizen tokens into play. These function as basic 1/1 beings.

Part 4 of 5: Understanding the phases of a turn

1. Understand the different stages of a turn. Each player's turn has five phases, or steps. Understanding what these five stages are and how they work is an essential part of understanding the game. The five stages, in sequence, are:
2. Start phase. The start-up phase has three different steps:
   • "Untap" step: The player untaps all of his or her cards unless that card remains tapped during "untap".
   • Upkeep step: usually not used, but sometimes a player has to pay mana - eg tapping countries - during this step.
   • Draw step: the player draws a card.
3. First main phase. During this phase, a player may place one card from his or her hand. During this phase, a player may also choose to play a card from his or her hand by tapping lands to produce mana.
4. Battle phase. This phase is split into five steps:
   • Declare attack: the player declares his or her attack for the first time. The defender may cast spells after the attack has been declared.
   • Declaring attackers: After an attack has been declared, the attacking player may choose which creatures he or she wants to attack with. The attacking player cannot choose which defensive creatures he or she wants to attack.
   • Declare blockers: the defending player chooses which attacking creatures he or she wants to block. Multiple blockers can be assigned to a single attacker.
   • Deal damage: creatures deal damage to each other during this step. Attacking creatures of equal (or higher) power against the blocking creature's defense destroy that creature. Blocking creatures of equal (or higher) power against the attacking creature's defense destroy that creature. It can be that both beings destroy each other.
   • End of the battle: little happens during this phase; both players get the chance to play instants.
5. Second main phase. After the battle, there is a second main phase, exactly the same as the first, in which the player can cast spells and summon creatures.
6. Final phase, or cleanup. During this phase, the skills or spells that are "triggered" happen. This is the player's last chance to play instants.
   • During this phase, the player whose turn it is must remove cards until he or she has 7 cards left if he or she has more than 7 cards in his or her hand.

Part 5 of 5: Advanced concepts

1. Understand what "flying" is. Beings with flying cannot be blocked by creatures without flying. Thus, if a creature has flying, it can only be blocked by another creature flying, or a creature that can specifically block flying creatures, such as a creature with "reach".
   • However, creatures with flying can block creatures without flying.
2. Understand what "first strike" is. First strike is a concept in attacking. When a creature is attacking and a player decides to defend that attack with a blocker, you measure their strengths and defenses against each other. The strength of the one is measured against the defense of the other, and vice versa.
   • Usually damage is assigned at the same time; if the attacking creature has more power than the blocking creature's defense, and the blocking creature's power is greater than the attacking creature's defense, then both creatures die. (If both beings have a power that not is greater than the other's defense, both beings survive.)
   • However, if one creature strikes first, that creature gets a first chance shot to take out the other creature with inviolability: if the creature can destroy the defending creature with first strike, the defending creature dies, even if otherwise kill the attacking creature. The attacking creature survives.
   • For example, if an 'Elite Inquisitor' (a 2/2 with first strike) blocks a 'Grizzly Bear' (a 2/2 with no skills), the Inquisitor deals damage before the Bear can do it, causing the Grizzly Bear to die and the Inquisitor survives.
3. Understand what "vigilance" is. Vigilance is the ability to attack without tapping. If a creature has vigilance, it can attack without tapping. Usually, attacking means tapping your creature.
   • Vigilance means that a creature can both attack and block on consecutive turns. When a creature usually attacks, it cannot block the next turn. With vigilance, a creature can attack and block the next turn because it didn't have to tap.
4. Know what "haste" is. Haste is the ability to tap and attack on the same turn that the creature is brought into play. Usually creatures have to wait a turn to tap and attack; this is called "summoning sickness". Summoning sickness has no effect on haste creatures.
5. Understand what "trample" is. Trample is an ability that creatures have to deal damage to the opponent, even if the creature is blocked by a defending creature. When a creature is usually blocked, the attacking creature only deals damage to the blocking creature. With trample, the difference between the force of the being with trample and the defense of the blocking creature is done on the opponent.
   • For example, let's say "Kavu Mauler" is attacking, and "Bonethorn Valesk" decides to block it. The Mauler is a 4/4 with trample, while the Valesk is a 4/2. The Mauler deals 4 damage to the Valesk while the Valesk deals 4 damage to the Mauler. Both creatures die, but the Mauler can do 2 more damage to the opponent. Why? Because the Valesk's defense is only 2, and the Mauler has trample, which means that 2 of its 4 damage is dealt to the Valesk, and the remaining 2 damage is done to the opponent.
6. Understand what "death touch" is. A creature on which damage is done by a creature with deathtouch dies regardless of the amount of damage.
   • For example, a "Frost Titan" (a 6/6 creature) blocking a "Typhoid Rats" (a 1/1 creature with death touch) will die. The Rats will die too.
7. Understand "double strike". Double strike is like first strike, because the creature with a double strike deals damage first. It then attacks again ... before the defending creature has a chance to block the first attack. Then the turn continues as usual, with the damage from the second attack being resolved at the same time as the damage from the blocker (as in a normal battle).

Tips

• If you're not happy with your hand, you can shuffle it back into your collection (this is called a "mulligan") and take a new hand, with one less card. Be careful with this; you will lose some card power every time you choose a mulligan.
• The game takes practice; if you don't quite get it the first time, keep playing. The game becomes super fun when you know what to do.
• Try to have as many cards with the same mana as you can to get faster access to spells and creatures.
• Try to buy a file or card protector for your cards.
• If you have to use a standard folder (don't do that) to store your maps, use a D-ring folder. Regular binders can permanently mark cards and reduce their value. Instead of a normal folder or D-ring folder, use a sideloading pro-binder to hold your maps (at least for your rare maps).
• Try to use combinations.