How to Play Magic: The Gathering
Magic the Gathering is a 2-player trading card game where players use the cards in their deck to battle with their opponent. If a player's life total reaches 0 points, they lose. Players use creatures, spells, enchantments, and other types of cards to lower their opponent's life total and defend themselves from attack. To play Magic the Gathering, each player needs a deck of 60 cards designed specifically for the game. At the beginning of the game, each player draws 7 cards from their deck. On a player's turn, they can play cards from their hand face-up on the table to use them in battle. In order to play a card, a player must have enough mana. The mana needed to play a card is shown on the top right corner of the card. To get mana, players must tap special cards called land cards. There are 5 different types of land cards, each with its own color and symbol. Players can play one land card from their hand per turn. Then, players can tap their face-up land cards to get mana, which they can then use to play other cards in their hand. To tap a card, players turn the card sideways. Players receive one mana per land card they tap, and the mana only lasts for that turn, although players can tap the same land cards for more mana in subsequent turns. The main type of cards that players use mana to play are called creature cards. Creature cards can be used to attack your opponent and lower their life total. Each creature card has a certain number of power and toughness. Power and toughness are displayed in the bottom right corner of a creature card. Power is on the left, and toughness is on the right. Power is what a creature uses to attack with, and toughness is what a creature defends with. When a player summons a creature, they must wait until their following turn before they can attack with it. Then, on their next turn, they can choose to attack their opponent with that creature. Players can attack with multiple creatures at once. To attack with a creature, players must tap the creature and turn that card sideways. If a player is attacked and doesn't have any creatures on the field to block with, or any special cards in their hand to defend themselves with, they subtract the attacking creature's power from their life total. For example, if player 1 attacks player 2 with a creature that has 5 power, and player 2 has nothing to block or defend with, player 2 would subtract 5 from their life total. However, if a defending player has a creature on the field, they can choose to block with that creature. Players can block with more than one creature if they have multiple creatures on the field. When a player blocks with a creature, that creature defends with its toughness. If it's toughness is lower than the attacking creature's power, the blocking creature is destroyed and removed from the playing field. If the blocking creature's toughness is higher than the attacking creature's power, it survives but is damaged. The attacking creature's power is subtracted from the blocking creatures toughness. If a creature's toughness reaches 0, it is destroyed. Either way, the defending player does not lose any points from their life total. An attacking creature must also defend from a blocking creature's power in the same way. There are other types of cards that players can play, including sorcery and enchantment cards. Each of these cards has a different special ability, which is explained on the card, that players can use when attacking or defending from their opponent. Sorcery and enchantment cards also cost mana to play. If a player has a card that says “instant” on it, they can play that card at any point in the game, even if it's not their turn. After a player is done attacking their opponent and playing cards from their hand, their turn is over. Then, the other player has the opportunity to do the same. At the beginning of a player's turn, they draw 1 card from their face-down deck. All of the cards they tapped from the previous round are untapped. Play continues back and forth like this until one player's life total has reached 0.
Choose players. Understand that two or more players — but usually only two — square off against one another. You can play games where you fight against two or more players, but the most common way to play is by squaring off against a single player. Assemble different cards into a deck. Your deck is your army, your arsenal. In a "constructed" deck — one that you might use to play friends in an informal setting — the minimum amount of cards is 60, with no upper limit. Players, however, usually choose to stick to the minimum of 60 cards. In a tournament setting, you might play a "limited" deck, which has a minimum number of 40 cards, with no upper limit. A player's 60- or 40-card deck is also called their library. At the beginning of each game, have each player draw 7 cards from his or her library. These 7 cards compose a player's "hand." At the beginning of each turn, a player draws one card and adds that card to their hand. When a player discards a card, uses a card, or when a creature dies or a spell is destroyed, that card is put in a player's graveyard. The graveyard is a face-up pile that players usually place adjacent to their library. Know that each player starts with 20 points of life. During the course of a game, a player can gain or lose life. Generally, having more life is better than having less life. Players deal "damage" to both creatures and to each other. Damage is dealt either by creatures or by spells. Damage is measured by the number of hit points it causes. If player one deals 4 damage to player two, player two loses 4 life. If player two started out with 20 life, she now was only 16 life. (20 - 4 = 16.) Avoid the three ways a player can lose. A player has lost the game when that player loses all of his or her life, or runs out of cards in their deck to draw, or has 10 poison counters. When a player's life total is at or below 0, that player has lost. When, at the beginning of their turn, a player can no longer draw any cards from his or her library, that player has lost. When a player has received 10 poison counters, that player has lost. Incorporate different colors into your deck: White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green. White is the color of protection and order. The symbol of white is a white orb. White's strengths are a host of small creatures that collectively become powerful; life-gaining; reducing the powers of opposing creatures; and "equalizing" cards that wipe large swaths of cards off the board. Blue is the color of deceit and intellect. The symbol of blue is a blue water drop. Blue's strengths are drawing cards; taking control of opponents cards; "countering," or negating opponent's spells; and "flying" creatures or creatures that cannot be blocked. Black is the color of decay and death. The symbol of black is a black skull. Black's strengths are destroying creatures; forcing opponents to discard cards; making players lose life; and returning creatures from graveyards. Red is the color of fury and chaos. The symbol of red is a red fireball. Red's strengths are sacrificing resources for great power; dealing "direct damage" to players or creatures; and destroying artifacts and lands. Green is the color of life and nature. The symbol of green is a green tree. Green's strengths are powerful creatures with "trample"; the ability to regenerate creatures, or bring them back from the graveyard; and getting lands faster. Understand what lands are and where "mana" comes from. Lands are one type of card and are the building blocks of spells. There are five basic lands, each associated with a color. Lands produce magical energy, or "mana," which is the fuel used to cast other spells. The five basic lands are as follows: White lands, or Plains, which produce white mana Blue lands, 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, which produce green mana There are also different kinds of lands (dual- and tri-lands, for example), but the most a beginner needs to know is that basic lands produce mana of one color only, and that irregular lands can produce mana of two or more colors Understand what "sorceries" are. Sorceries are magical incantations that you can only cast during your own turn. You cannot cast a sorcery in response to another spell (you'll learn about this idea later). Sorceries usually go directly into the graveyard after they resolve. Understand what "instants" are. Instants are like sorceries, except you can cast them during the other player's turn in addition to your own, and you can cast them in response to a spell. Instants usually go directly into the graveyard after they resolve Understand what "enchantments" are. Enchantments are like "stable manifestation[s]." Enchantments come in two flavors: either they are attached to a creature, affecting only that one card, in which case they are called an "Aura"; or they sit around the battlefield, close to lands, unattached to any card in particular, but affecting the game in some way for you (and/or possibly for your opponent). Enchantments are "permanents," meaning that they stay on the battlefield, unless they are destroyed. Permanents do not immediately go to the graveyard right after they are cast. Know what "artifacts" are. Artifacts are magical items, and also permanents. Artifacts are colorless, meaning they don't need to be summoned by a particular land or mana type. There are three basic kinds of artifacts: Normal artifacts: these artifacts are similar to enchantments. Equipment artifacts: these cards can be attached to creatures, giving them extra abilities. If the creature leaves the battlefield, the equipment stays on the battlefield; it doesn't follow the creature into the graveyard, even if it was attached to it. Artifact creatures: these cards are creatures and artifacts at the same time. They are just like creatures, except they usually don't take specific mana to summon: you can summon them with any mana you want. Because they are often colorless, most are also immune to certain spells that affect specific colors. Understand what creatures are. Creatures are one of the main building blocks of Magic. Creatures are permanents, meaning they stay on the battlefield until they are destroyed or otherwise removed from the game. The main feature of creatures is that they can attack and block. The two numbers in the bottom right hand corner (4/5, for example) help you determine a creature's attacking and blocking strength, respectively. Creatures enter the battlefield with what's called "summoning sickness." Summoning sickness means that a creature cannot be "tapped," or used, on the same turn it was brought into play. This means it cannot attack or use certain abilities that cause the creature to tap. On the other hand, the creature is allowed to block; blocking is not affected by summoning sickness. Creatures have many special abilities, such as "flying," "vigilance," or "trample" that we'll learn more about later. Know what function planeswalkers play. A planeswalker is a powerful ally that is like a supercharged creature. They are very rare and don't always make appearances in games, and they change the fundamentals of the game slightly when in play. Each planeswalker comes with a certain number of loyalty counters, indicated in the bottom right side by a number. The symbol "+X" means "put X number of loyalty counters on this planeswalker" when you use an ability, while "-X" means "remove X number of loyalty counters from this planeswalker" when you use the ability. You can activate these abilities, and the powers that come with them only when you can use a sorcery, and only once per turn. Planeswalkers can be attacked by your opponent's creatures and spells. You can block the oncoming attack on the planeswalker with your creatures and spells. In the case that your opponent deals damage to a planeswalker, it removes as many loyalty counters as points of damage dealt. Understand how to summon a creature or spell. You summon a creature by looking at its casting cost, which is usually a circled number followed by a specific color of mana — either white, blue, black, red, or green. In order to summon a creature, you need to produce mana equivalent to the card's casting cost. Take a look at the card above. You'll notice a "1" followed by a white mana symbol — the white sun. In order to summon this particular card, you need to have enough lands to produce one mana of any color, along with one white mana. Try another example of how to summon. See if you can't figure out how many mana total, and which specific kinds, it takes to summon the following card: The first card, "Sylvan Bounty," costs 5 colorless mana — mana of any kind you want — along with one green mana — mana produced by a forest, for a total of six mana. The second card, "Angelic Shield," costs one white mana — mana produced by a Plains — along with one blue mana. Understand what tapping and untapping are. "Tapping" is how you "use" the mana in lands, or how you attack with creatures. It's denoted by the little right arrow sign. In order to tap, you turn the card sideways. Tapping a card means that you cannot use certain abilities for one turn. If, for example, you tap a card in order to use its ability, it stays tapped until the beginning of your next turn. You can't use its tapping ability again until it is untapped. In order to attack, you need to tap your creature. A creature expends its energy going into battle, causing it to be tapped. You do this unless the card specifically says you should not tap it. (Some cards do not tap when they attack.) You cannot block with a creature that is tapped. When a creature is tapped, it is ineligible to block. Know what power and defense stand for. Creatures have one number for power and another number for defense. The following creature, Phyrexian Broodlings, has a power of 2 and a defense of 2. It's a 2/2. Power is the number of points a creature can deal in combat. If a creature has a power of 5, it deals 5 damage to any creature who chooses to block it in combat. If that creature goes unblocked in combat, it deals 5 damage directly to the opponent, who subtracts that number from his or her total life. Defense is the number of points a creature can withstand in combat before it dies and is sent to the graveyard. A creature with a defense of 4 can withstand 3 points of damage in combat without dying. Once it is dealt 4 points of damage, it goes into that player's graveyard at the end of combat. Understand how damage is assigned in combat. When a player chooses to attack another player in combat, attackers and blockers are declared. Attacking creatures are declared first. The defending player then gets to choose which of his or her creatures s/he wishes to use as blockers, along with which attacking creatures s/he wants to block. Let's say that Anathemancer is attacking and Magus of the Moat is blocking. Anathemancer has a power of 2 and a defense of 2. It's a 2/2. Magus of the Moat has a power of 0 and a defense of 3. It's a 0/3. What happens when they square up for battle? The Anathemancer deals 2 damage to the Magus, while the Magus deals 0 damage to the Anathemancer. The 2 damage that the Anathemancer deals to the Magus isn't enough to kill it. The Magus can withstand 3 damage before it gets put in the graveyard. On the flip side, the 0 damage the Magus deals to the Anathemancer isn't enough to kill it. The Anathemancer can withstand 2 before it gets put in the graveyard. Both creatures survive. Understand how to activate certain abilities that creatures, enchantments, and artifacts have. Much of the time, creatures come with abilities that players get to activate. Using these abilities is much like summoning the creature, in that you need to pay a "cost," in mana, to use them. Look at the following example. Ictian Crier comes with an ability that says: "Put two 1/1 white Citizen creature tokens into play." But there's also some mana signs and text before it. That's the mana cost it takes in order to activate this ability. In order to activate this ability, tap one basic land of any color (that's for the 1 colorless mana), as well as one Plains (that's for the one white mana). Now tap the card itself, Ictian Crier — that's for the "tap" sign after the mana requirements. Finally, discard a card from your hand — any one will do, but you probably want to discard your least valuable card. Now you get to put two 1/1 Citizen tokens into play. These function as basic 1/1 creatures. Understand the different phases of a turn. Each player's turn has five phases, or steps. Understanding what these five phases are and how they work is an essential part of understanding gameplay. In order, the five phases are: Beginning phase. The beginning phase has three different steps: Untap step: the player untaps all his cards unless that card stays tapped during Untap. Upkeep step: not usually used, but sometimes a player has to pay mana — i.e. tap lands — during this step. Draw step: the player draws one card. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/b\/b2\/711701-21.jpg\/v4-460px-711701-21.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/b\/b2\/711701-21.jpg\/aid711701-v4-728px-711701-21.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"<div class=\"mw-parser-output\"><p>License: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noreferrer noopener\" class=\"external text\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/3.0\/\">Creative Commons<\/a><br>\n<\/p><p><br \/>\n<\/p><\/div>"} First main phase. During this phase, a player may put down one land from his or her hand. Also during this phase, a player may choose to play a card from his or her hand by tapping lands to produce mana. Combat phase. This phase is split into five steps. Declare attack: this is where the player first declares attack. The defender may play spells after the attack has been declared. Declare attackers: after attack has been declared, the attacking player chooses which creatures he wishes to attack with. Attacking player cannot choose which defending creatures he wishes to attack. Declare blockers: the defending player chooses which, if any, attacking creatures s/he wishes to block. Multiple blockers can be assigned to a single attacker. Assign damage: creatures deal damage to one another during this step. Attacking creatures with equal (or higher) power compared the blocking creature's defense destroy that blocking creature. Blocking creatures with equal (or higher) power compared the attacking creature's defense destroy that attacking creature. It is possible for both creatures to destroy each other. End of combat: nothing much happens during this phase; both players are given the opportunity to cast instants. Second main phase. After combat, there is a second main phase, identical to the first, in which the player can cast spells and summon creatures. Ending phase, or cleanup. During this phase, any abilities or spells that "trigger" take place. This is a player's last chance to cast instants. During this phase, the player whose turn is about to end discards down to 7 cards if s/he has more than 7 cards. Understand what "flying" is. Creatures with flying cannot be blocked by creatures without flying. In other words, if a creature has flying, it can only be blocked by another creature with flying or a creature that can explicitly block creatures with flying, such as a creature with reach. Creatures with flying, however, can block creatures without flying. Understand what "first strike" is. First strike is a concept in attacking. When one creature is attacking and a player chooses to defend that attack with a blocker, you measure their strengths and toughness against one another. The strength of one is measured against the toughness of the other, and vice versa. Usually, damage is assigned at the same time; if the attacking creature's strength overpowers the defending creature's toughness, and the defending creature's strength overpowers the attacking creature's toughness, both creatures die. (If neither creature's strength is higher than the opponent's toughness, both creatures stay alive.) If, however, one creature has first strike, that creature is given a "first chance shot" at knocking the other creature out with impunity: if the creature with first strike can kill the defending creature, the defending creature dies immediately, even if the defending creature would otherwise kill the attacking creature. The attacking creature stays alive. For example. if an Elite Inquisitor (a 2/2 with first strike) blocks a Grizzly Bear (a 2/2 with no abilities), the Inquisitor deals damage before the Bear can, so the Bears dies and the Inquisitor survives Understand what "vigilance" is. Vigilance is the ability to attack without tapping. If a creature has vigilance, it can attack without tapping. Normally, attacking means that you need to tap your creature. Vigilance means that a creature can attack and block in successive turns. Normally, if a creature attacks, it cannot block the next turn. With vigilance, a creature can attack and then block the next turn because it isn't tapped. Know what "haste" is. Haste is the ability to tap and attack the very same turn a creature gets into play. Normally, creatures must wait a turn to tap and attack; this is called "summoning sickness." Summoning sickness does not apply to creatures with haste. Understand what "trample" is. Trample is an ability creatures have to deal damage to opponents even if that creature is being blocked by an opponent's creature. Normally, if a creature is blocked, the attacking creature only deals damage to that blocking creature. With trample, the difference between the trampling creature's strength and the blocking creature's toughness is dealt to the opponent. For example, let's say that 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 back to the Mauler. Both creatures die, but the Mauler manages to sneak in 2 damage to the opponent. Why? Because the Valesk's toughness is only 2, and the Mauler has trample, which means 2 of its 4 damage gets dealt to the Valesk, and 2 gets dealt to the opponent. Understand what "deathtouch" is. A creature dealt damage by a creature with deathtouch dies, no matter how much damage that is. For example, a Frost Titan (a 6/6 creature) blocking a Typhoid Rats (a 1/1 creature with deathtouch) will die. The Rats will also die. Understand "double strike". Double strike is like first strike, in that the creature with double strike deals damage first. Then it attacks again... before the defending creature has a chance defend the first strike. Then, the turn proceeds as usual, where the second strike's attack damage is resolved at the same time as the defender's damage (as in normal combat). 
Choose players. Assemble different cards into a deck. At the beginning of each game, have each player draw 7 cards from his or her library. Know that each player starts with 20 points of life. Avoid the three ways a player can lose. Incorporate different colors into your deck: Understand what lands are and where "mana" comes from. Understand what "sorceries" are. Understand what "instants" are. Understand what "enchantments" are. Know what "artifacts" are. Understand what creatures are. Know what function planeswalkers play. Understand how to summon a creature or spell. Try another example of how to summon. Understand what tapping and untapping are. Know what power and defense stand for. Understand how damage is assigned in combat. Understand how to activate certain abilities that creatures, enchantments, and artifacts have. Understand the different phases of a turn. Beginning phase. First main phase. Combat phase. Second main phase. Ending phase, or cleanup. Understand what "flying" is. Understand what "first strike" is. Understand what "vigilance" is. Know what "haste" is. Understand what "trample" is. Understand what "deathtouch" is. Understand "double strike". 