Q&A for How to Play Magic: The Gathering

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

No. Only that creature is destroyed. Unless the card has trample, only the creature is affected.

Deathtouch does not affect players or Planeswalkers. It only affects creatures. If a card with Deathtouch is not blocked, it will do the damage that is specified on the bottom right-hand corner.

There are two ways to tell who the illustrator is. Occasionally, there is a signature on the card, though this is unreliable. In the bottom lefthand corner, right next to the rarity, you should be able to find the illustrator's name.

One. You go through all the steps of your turn, and then your opponent gets a chance to take his or her turn.

Yes, they work in very similar fashions. Mana is used in summoning creatures and spells as well as in some abilities. just like energy in Pokémon.

No, but you do need mana to summon the creature for defense.

Yes, you untap the card at the start of your next turn.

All of them, if you have sufficient lands to lay down another card.

The first number is power, the second is defense. So if your creature has 2/3, they have 2 power and 3 defense. This means they can kill any creature that has a defense of 2 or less.

When your opponent declares attackers, you declare blockers, and then creatures do combat damage as normal. For example, if your opponent is attacking with 1/1 rat and you block with 2/2 soldier, the rat deals 1 damage to the soldier but does not kill it, and the soldier deals 2 damage to the rat, killing it.

Unless the card says otherwise, you only have to pay the mana cost for a card once. Also, unless the card says otherwise, it doesn't cost any mana to attack or defend with a creature.

God cards are special cards and very rare, too. You cast it like a normal creature, and it can attack and block normally. But it says on a god card that, for example, "If your devotion to blue is more than seven, _____ isn't a creature." This means that if you have more than seven blue islands and island symbols in your cards' mana cost on the battlefield, your god card turns from a legendary enchantment creature to a legendary enchantment. Now it cannot attack or block anymore, nor die from combat damage, and the card's other abilities affect you and your creatures as an enchantment.

There are many places you can buy Magic cards. Most gaming stores and comic book stores carry them.

Planeswalkers do not require tapping. There is an artifact that taps planeswalkers, but it doesn't really mean anything.

Lands are only discarded whenever you or another player plays a card telling you to destroy (discard) a land.

Tokens are cards that are put aside at the start of the game, and when a card says to summon them, take one and put onto the battlefield. When a token dies, it goes back in the token pile, not the graveyard. If you don't have the token that the card specifies for, you can just use coins, dice, and even magic cards that aren't being used for the match (be sure to use the backside).

You could use cards that generate mana that are not lands, but you need mana in the first place to cast them, so it is pretty much impossible to play and win effectively without land cards.

If you don't have anyone to play Magic with, you can download MTGO (Magic the Gathering Online) and play the game digitally there. You can't play the game by yourself since the goal of the game is to kill the person you are playing against. It would be like playing yourself in a chess match.

No, you cannot attack the opponent's creatures. The only thing you can target with your creatures are players and/or planeswalkers.

It depends on the cards you have. If you have basic, easy-to-cast cards and understand basic strategy, you can be a good player against those at your level, but you will have a harder time beating experienced players.