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. For more on how to play Magic: The Gathering, including how to put together a winning deck, read on!