Your First Turn

The first thing you need to know about how to play magic is the structure of every turn. Every turn in Magic has the same basic structure:

1. Beginning: Untap all your cards, upkeep, draw a card off the top of your library.
2. Main Phase: Play a land, cast creatures, sorceries and any other spells.
3. Combat: Declare attackers, opponent declares blockers, combat damage is dealt to creatures and opponents.
4. Post Combat Main Phase: Another main phase. Don't forget to play your land if you haven't already!
5. End Step: Creatures heal, pass the turn to your opponent.

Lands and Mana

When it's your turn play a land card (Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, or Forest). You may play only 1 land per turn. To extract and use mana from these land cards, tap it (turn it sideways or diagonal to indicate this). This will add mana to your mana pool depending on how many lands you tapped. Mana empties out of your pool between phases so keep this in mind. For example 4 red mana added to your pool in your main phase will remain in your mana pool until you move to the next phase, which is the combat phase. That 4 red mana will not be there to use in the combat phase, and your lands will remain untap until the beginning of your next turn. Using this mana you want to cast the other cards in your deck. Every card that isn't a land is a spell, which you must use mana to cast. Note that playing a card is different from casting a card. Casting means you spend mana to play the card. Playing is something you do free of mana. You play lands, and you cast spells.

Spells and Card Types

Any card with a mana cost on it is a spell. Casting spells with mana is the core gameplay mechanic of every game. Without mana you can't cast any spells, and without spells you can't use your mana. Resource management is the name of the game for your spells! The main types of cards in magic are permanents. These are cards which stick around and stay on the battlefield after they're cast or played. These are artifacts, creatures, lands, enchantments, and planeswalkers. The other card type is nonpermanent spells. These are mainly instants and sorceries. These cards have an effect as soon as they're cast. Instants can be cast at anytime you want, even during your opponents turn, but sorceries can only be cast on your turn.

Creatures

Creatures are the most common permanent card you'll come across. When creatures first hit the battlefield, they succomb to what's called summoning sickness. This means that they can't attack an opponent until your next turn. Creatures can also block other creatures attacking you. In magic, the easiest and most common way of reducing your opponents life total is by attacking your opponent with your creatures. Creatures can also attack planeswalker cards, but not specific creatures. When attacking with your creatures, you declare attacks on an opponent or a planeswalker, not an enemy creature.

Damage

Damage is a vital mechanic to know when playing a game of magic. Damage reduces life totals and creatures toughness. It can be dealt in the form of creatures attacking player, or in the form of sorceries and instants. When a creatue is dealt damage but not killed it will remain on the battlefield and heal at every end step. Damage can be prevented with spells and counter magic.

Counterspells

In magic an spell can be countered using counter spells. A counter spell prevents a spell from hitting the battlefield or having its effect. Creatures, enchantments, instants, planeswalkers, and sorceries can all be countered. You cannot counter someone from playing a land or from paying a cost in a spell though. Counter spells are overwhemingly instants, as they need to respond to powerful spells cast on opponents turns. Blue spells house the most counterspells, so keep an eye out for the blue player on your table!

The Stack

Speaking of counter spells, the stack is a vital concept to understand when interacting with other players spells. In magic when a spell is cast it goes on the stack. if nobody else plays any other spells, the spell resolves and hits the battlefield or its effect happens. While on the stack, a spell can be responded to by any other player. They must simply declare "In response...." and cast there spell. Then there spell goes on the stack on top of the spell they're responding to. So, that means that the most recent spell cast (the one on top of the stack) is the first to resolve. The spell cast before it (the one below it on the stack), then resolves, and so on until all spells on the stack resolve.

Enchantments and Planeswalkers

Enchantments are permanents that kind of act like sorceries. They can be better in certain situations and can provide static effects for you. Think of them as permanent sorceries. Planeswalker cards are permanents that have crazy powerful effects. Planeswalkers are defacto allies and can be attacked by an opposing players creatures. They can have really strong static abilities and powerful final abilities called ultimates which can tip the scales in your favour if you invest in them.

Zones

Graveyard: The graveyard is where cards go when they're removed from the battlefield (from combat damage or any other damage) or are sent there by a specific effect. Instants and sorceries go there right after they're cast and their effect is finished. Exile: Exile is a zone which basically means it's outside of the game. This is a more penultimate zone than the graveyard, as tonnes of cards in magic allow you to retrieve or play cards from the graveyard.

Useful links

• Scryfall Magic card database, find every and any card you need.
• Tappedout Deckbuilding website, good for visualising your decks.
• Magic: The Gathering Wiki For any general magic questions.