The basics of Magic: The Gathering

The goal of the game

You usually play 1-on-1. Both players start with 20 life, a deck of at least 60 cards, and an opening hand of 7 cards. You win as soon as one of these things happens to your opponent:

Life to 0

Bring your opponent's life from 20 to 0, usually with creatures and direct damage.

Empty deck

A player who has to draw a card while their deck is empty loses.

10 poison counters

Some cards give poison counters. At 10 you lose.

The card types

A card's type determines what it does and when you play it. Lands, creatures, artifacts, enchantments, planeswalkers, and battles stay on the table (permanents). Instants and sorceries do their effect once and then go to the graveyard.

Land

Produces mana, your resource. You may usually play 1 per turn.

Creature

Can attack and block. Has power/toughness: attack strength and hit points.

Instant

A spell you may play at any time, even during your opponent's turn.

Sorcery

A spell you can only play during your own main phase, when the stack is empty.

Enchantment

A lasting effect that stays on the table.

Artifact

Usually a colorless object; can do all sorts of things, sometimes an Equipment.

Planeswalker

An ally with loyalty abilities; you use one per turn.

Battle

A newer type that players attack or defend together.

Building a deck

Most formats are "constructed": you build your own deck beforehand. The basic rules for that apply to almost all 1-on-1 formats (Standard, Modern, Legacy, and so on):

At least 60 cards

There's no maximum, but most players keep it around 60.

Maximum 4 per card

You may include at most 4 copies of any card; basic lands are unlimited.

Sideboard (optional)

Up to 15 extra cards to swap in between games of a best-of-three.

Each format also decides for itself which cards are allowed (the card pool) and which are banned (the banlist). Formats like Commander deviate quite a bit from this; see the Formats tab.

Mana and the five colors

Mana is the resource you use to play cards. You get it by tapping your lands. Magic has five colors, each with its own style, plus colorless mana.

W White

Order and protection: small creatures, gaining life, answers to problems.

U Blue

Knowledge and control: drawing cards, counterspells, bouncing things back to hand.

B Black

Power at any cost: removal, sacrifice, life as a resource.

R Red

Speed and chaos: direct damage, haste, and aggressive creatures.

G Green

Nature and growth: big creatures and extra mana (ramp).

C Colorless

Mana without a color, from many artifacts and nonbasic lands, among other things.

The mana cost is shown in the top right of a card. So {2}{U} means two mana of any color plus one blue. The total amount is called the mana value.

Where cards live: the zones

A card is always in one of these places:

Deck (library)

Your face-down draw pile.

Hand

The cards you hold; by default you draw 1 per turn.

Battlefield

Everything that is in play: lands, creatures, and so on.

Graveyard

Where cards go when they die, expire, or have been used.

Exile

Set aside, usually completely out of the game.

The stack

Where spells and abilities briefly wait before they resolve (see further below).

A turn step by step

Every turn runs through fixed phases. Simplified:

1. Untap

You untap all of your tapped permanents.

2. Upkeep and draw

Some effects trigger; then you draw a card.

3. First main phase

Play lands, creatures, and other spells.

4. Combat

Attack with your creatures (see the next chapter).

5. Second main phase

Play any more cards you want.

6. End step

The turn ends; if you have more than 7 cards, discard down to 7.

Combat

Attacking works like this: you choose which creatures attack and tap them. Your opponent chooses which creatures block. Then combat damage is dealt simultaneously: a creature deals damage equal to its power. An unblocked creature hits the player, a blocked creature hits its blocker. If a creature takes damage equal to or greater than its toughness this turn, it dies.

Keywords like flying, trample, and first strike change how combat works. Look them up under Keywords.

The stack and timing

When you play a spell or activate an ability, it first goes on the stack instead of resolving immediately. Both players may respond with instants. Then the top (most recently added) resolves first, then the next one, and so on. That way a cheap instant can still intercept an expensive spell.

Rule of thumb: you can play instants and abilities almost anytime, even during your opponent's turn. Lands, creatures, sorceries, and most other cards you only play during your own main phase, when the stack is empty.

Handy terms

Tapping

Turning a card 90° to show it has been used (a land for mana, or an attacking creature). Turning it back is called untapping.

Summoning sickness

A creature that just came under your control can't attack or tap that turn, unless it has haste.

Target

Many spells choose a target. Without a legal target you can't play them.

Counters

Markers on a card, for example a +1/+1 counter that makes a creature bigger.

Token

A cardless game object created by an effect, for example a 1/1 Soldier token.

Mana value

The total amount of mana in a card's cost (formerly "converted mana cost").