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How to Play Magic: The Gathering

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff | Reader-Approved
Updated: July 27, 2019

Magic: The Gathering is a trading card game that combines strategy and fantasy. The premise is this: you play a powerful
wizard, called a planeswalker, who summons creatures, spells, and weapons to aid you in your destruction of other
planeswalkers. Magic can be enjoyed alone as a trading card collection, or with friends as a sophisticated strategy game.
Read on to find out how to play.

Part
1 Understanding the Basics

1 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.

2 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.

3 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.

4 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.)

5 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.

6 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.

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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.

Part
2 Understanding the Different Kinds of Cards

1 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

2 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.

3 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

4 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.

5 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.

6 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

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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.

7 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.

Part
3 Understanding Gameplay

1 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.

2 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.

3 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.

4 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.

5 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?

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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.

6 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.

Part
4 Understanding the Phases of a Turn

1 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:

2 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.

3 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.

4 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.

5 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.

6 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.

Part
Advanced Concepts
5

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1 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.

2 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

3 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.

4 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.

5 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.

6 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.

7 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).

Community Q&A

Question

Do I need to tap land to produce mana?

Community Answer

Not always. Many cards, such as artifacts and creatures, can tap for mana just as a land can. In addition, some
cards may give you mana for the short time of one use.

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Question

After a creature battles but survives, does the life of the creature reset on the next turn?

Community Answer

Yes, the life of the surviving creature heals at the end of the turn. So if your blocking creature survives an attack
from your opponent, it will be at full health when you attack your opponent during your turn.

Question

Does each plot of land count as one mana?

Community Answer

Each basic land card produces one mana of its color every time that land is tapped. Then there are non-basic lands
that will give you specific numbers, such as mizzium blast furnace which gives you two red each time you tap it.

Question

How does one play Magic with three people?

Community Answer

A common way is to simply play a three-way game, where each person takes turns to target and attack whomever
they want. Another common is where two people team up against one person. It is a great way to introduce new and
inexperienced players into the game, and help them learn how to play.

Question

When a creature is "defeated," and it goes to the graveyard, does the manna go with it or does it just stay on
the table?

Community Answer

The manna is never attached to a creature (unless specified) even when you summon it. So no, it would not, and it
stays on the table.

Question

How do I know how rare a card is?

Community Answer

Many cards have a symbol located in the middle right hand side of the card, almost always below the picture of the
card. Rarity of the card in the newer series is identified by black for common silver for uncommon and gold for rare.
Then you also get red for mythic there are a few cards that will have different colors but these are very few. The
beginning series were not rated by a color index and will always be black in color rather there common uncommon
or rare.

Question

What do face-down creatures mean in Magic the Gathering?

Community Answer

Face-down are creatures known as creatures that are "morphed." If you have a creature in your hand and it has a
ability called morph, you may cast it as a face-down creature that is a 2/2 morph for 3 mana. There should be a
specific cost to turn the card face-up to its original form, and there may be a effect after doing so.

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Question

What does renowned/renown mean on enshrouding mist?

Community Answer

Renown is a keyword that some creatures have. When a creature with renowned deals combat damage to a player,
if it isn't already renowned, the creature receives a +1/+1 counter and becomes renowned. Enshrouding Mist is
ideally used with creatures that have renown.

Question

Do I have to tap after attacking?

Community Answer

If the creature that is attacking has vigilance, attacking doesn't cause it to tap. Otherwise, the creature would
become tapped as you declare that it is attacking, not after combat.

Question

What are counters in Magic: The Gathering, and what is "exiling" a card?

Community Answer

Counters have many uses. For example, you can have poison counters (for an alternate win condition), +1/+1 or
-1/-1 counters which affect a creature's power and toughness, or loyalty counters which act as a sort of health for
planeswalker cards. Exiling a card basically means it's removed from play that game. Very few cards can bring back
things from exile, while many black decks can get things back from the graveyard easily.

Tips

If you do not like your hand, you may shuffle it back into your library (called a mulligan), and draw a new hand with
one fewer card than before. Be wary, as you're going to lose some card advantage every time you choose to
mulligan.
It takes practice, if you don't understand it or get it the first time, keep working at it. The game becomes super fun
when you know what to do.
Try to have as many cards of the same mana as you can, to allow faster access to spells and creatures.
Try to get a case or card protectors for your cards.
If you must use a standard binder (don't) to store your cards, use a D-ring binder. Common ring binders can
permanently mark cards and decrease their value. Instead of using a conventional binder or D-ring binder, use a
"Sideloading Pro-binder" to store your cards (at least for your rare cards)
Try using combinations.

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