Card Games
How to play Magic: The Gathering
Use lands for mana, cast spells and attack with creatures. Reducing the opponent to zero life is the usual victory route, but precise card text and other loss conditions matter.
What you need
Two ready-to-play decks for the same format, life trackers and tokens/counters required by those decks
Set up the game
- For this constructed introduction use at least 60 cards, normally no more than four of one name except basic lands and card exceptions. Standard also restricts legal sets and bans. Commander uses different deck construction and life totals.
- Start at 20 life, choose first player and draw seven. The London mulligan redraws seven, then puts one card on the bottom per mulligan taken. First player skips their first draw in a two-player game.
Playing Magic: The Gathering
- Beginning phase: untap, upkeep, draw. Main phase: normally play one land per turn and cast spells whose costs you can pay. Lands are played, not cast.
- Tap suitable sources to generate mana and pay exact colored/generic requirements. Lands usually remain on the battlefield after use and untap next turn.
- During combat declare attackers, usually tapping them. Creatures cannot attack or use tap-symbol abilities unless controlled continuously since your turn began, unless haste applies.
- Defender chooses untapped blockers; blocking does not itself tap them. Creatures deal their power as damage, generally simultaneously, with card abilities creating exceptions. Unblocked creatures damage the attacked player.
- A second main phase follows combat, then ending phase. Cleanup normally removes marked creature damage and discards down to seven; other effects can change hand size. Lose at zero or less life, attempting a required draw from an empty library, ten poison counters, or a specified card condition.
A blocked attacker does not automatically hurt the player
Your 3/3 attacks and is blocked by an ordinary 2/2. With no abilities or other effects, it deals three to the blocker and receives two. The 2/2 dies; the 3/3 survives and loses that marked damage at cleanup. The defending player takes no damage merely because three exceeds two; trample would be a separate relevant ability.
Responses use the stack
When players receive priority they may add eligible spells/abilities. After all pass, the top object resolves first; responses cannot be inserted halfway through resolution. Costs, targets and legal timing all matter. Card text overrides a general rule when expressly stated, but not every restriction can be ignored.
Learn the cards in front of you
This guide establishes a first-game sequence, not every keyword or corner case. Read the actual deck’s abilities in Wizards’ glossary/card database and consult Comprehensive Rules for interactions. A normal match may be best-of-three; one learning game is also sufficient if agreed.
Beginner decisions
- Leave a potential blocker untapped when the opponent threatens a lethal return attack. An aggressive turn needs a plan for the next turn too.
- Use matching beginner decks while learning mana and combat; unrelated formats can create a poor first game even when each deck is legal somewhere.
Common rule mix-ups
- Treating lands as single-use cards discarded for mana.
- Assuming a newly cast creature can attack immediately without haste.
Questions about this game
Can I cast any spell on an opponent’s turn?
No. Instants and spells with flash have more flexible timing; ordinary creature/sorcery spells normally need your main phase and an empty stack.
Does one point of damage permanently weaken a creature?
Damage is normally cleared at cleanup. Counters and continuous effects are different.
Sources and edition notes
Two-player 20-life constructed Magic introduction, using Wizards’ basics and September 25, 2026 Comprehensive Rules; not Commander, Limited or a full rules replacement.
Sources and stated format checked October 14, 2026. This records a document check, not a claim of hands-on testing.
- Wizards: learn to play
- Wizards: Comprehensive Rules, September 25 2026
- Wizards: Standard format/deck rules