Magic: The Gathering

1 What Is Magic: The Gathering?

Magic: The Gathering (MTG) was invented by mathematician Richard Garfield and published by Wizards of the Coast in 1993. It was the first trading card game ever made, and it's still the most complex and widely played. Over 40 million players worldwide. Billions of cards printed. Tournaments with $100,000+ prize pools.

Each player builds a deck of at least 60 cards from their collection. Decks can contain creatures, spells, and lands in any combination - as long as you follow the format's rules. No two decks are identical, which means no two games are quite the same.

The depth here is staggering. There are over 27,000 unique cards. A single decision about when to attack, which spell to counter, or which card to put in your deck can change everything. But the basic gameplay is genuinely learnable in one session.

2 Card Types

Every card in MTG has a type. Here are the main ones:

3 The Five Colors

MTG has five colors of mana. Each has a distinct philosophy and playstyle. Your deck is defined by which colors you play.

Most decks use 2 colors, some use 3. Pure one-color decks exist but are less common. Your mana base (lands) must support whatever colors you play.

4 How a Turn Works

Each turn has 5 phases, in order:

1. Beginning Phase
   • Untap: Untap all your tapped permanents (lands, creatures, etc.).
   • Upkeep: Some cards trigger "at the beginning of your upkeep." Resolve those.
   • Draw: Draw 1 card from the top of your deck. (First player doesn't draw on turn 1.)
2. First Main Phase - Cast spells and play a land. Most of your deck-building decisions show up here. You can play exactly one land per turn.
3. Combat Phase
   • Declare attackers: Tap any of your creatures to attack your opponent (or their planeswalkers).
   • Opponent declares blockers: They choose which of their creatures block yours.
   • Damage: Each creature deals its power in damage. Creatures with damage equal to their toughness are destroyed.
   • Unblocked attackers deal damage to your opponent's life total.
4. Second Main Phase - Cast more spells (good for sorceries you didn't want to cast before attacking).
5. End Phase - Discard down to 7 cards if you have more. Damage clears from creatures. "Until end of turn" effects end.

5 Combat

Combat is where games are won and lost. Key rules:

• Summoning Sickness: Creatures can't attack the turn they enter the battlefield (unless they have Haste).
• Blocking: You can block with any untapped creature. Blocking doesn't tap the blocker. A creature can only block one attacker (usually). Multiple creatures can block one attacker.
• Trample: If a trampling attacker's power exceeds the blocker's toughness, the excess damage hits the opponent.
• First Strike: Deals combat damage before normal creatures. If the blocker would die, it never gets to deal its damage back.
• Flying: Can only be blocked by creatures with Flying or Reach. Great evasion ability.
• Deathtouch: Any amount of damage from this creature destroys the creature it damages.
• Lifelink: Damage this creature deals also gains you that much life.

6 How to Win

There are three ways to win a standard game of MTG:

1. Reduce opponent to 0 life: The most common win condition. Both players start at 20 life. Attack enough times and deal enough damage.
2. Opponent draws from an empty library: If a player needs to draw a card and their deck is empty, they lose. Some decks are specifically built to cause this (mill decks).
3. Special card effects: Some cards say "you win the game" when a condition is met (e.g., having 10 poison counters kills an opponent; some cards have unique win conditions).

7 Formats

MTG has many ways to play, called formats. Each has different deck-building rules:

8 What to Buy First