Magic the Gathering For Beginners
Whether you found your parents' stash of cards, picked some up for the art at a yard sale or flea market, or felt the pull of the shiny foil packs at your favorite gaming store or big box retailer, this guide will walk you through the history of the game, the basics of the cards and gameplay and your future with this amazing, fantasy-based strategy game.
WHAT IS MAGIC: THE GATHERING?
Magic: The Gathering (MTG) is a turn-based collectible card game created by Wizards of the Coast in 1993. Widely considered the father of all trading card games, MTG has created an extensive fantasy world in which players battle against each other with customizable decks. What began as a home game quickly expanded to include in-store events and tournaments where players could test their decks and skills to win prizes, money and acclaim.
Since Magic theorycrafting, and gameplay can actually get very complicated (especially when you start including the key words that appear across the breadth of more than 8,000 unique cards), we’re going to simplify things as much as possible in this article. If you already know basic gameplay and are looking for help with theorycrafting, complex rules questions, or deck building, please join our discord where you can get answers directly from our staff as well as other members of the community.
LET'S TALK ABOUT THE CARDS
As we talk about how MTG cards are broken down by type, we will talk about the anatomy of the card itself.
First, the basics. Each card has several parts that tell you what it does and how you can use it (We covered this with more depth here). These parts are:
Title - the name of the spell
Casting Cost - how much mana it costs to cast
Type - tells you the type of spell it is (creature, land, enchantment, instant, etc.) and any specific subcategory (i.e. human, merfolk, vampire, etc.)
Rules Text - this literally tells you how the card may be played and whether it has any special abilities or limitations. Quotes from the canon are italicized and are there purely for flavor.
Power/Toughness - Power is how much damage the creature can inflict, while Toughness is how much damage it can take each turn before dying
Got it? Great.
Trostani Discordant
Costs 5 Mana to cast
Legendary (can only have one) Creature - Dryad (this is its subtype)
This card does a lot of stuff.
Does 1 damage at a time/has the ability to survive until it takes 4 damage in a single turn.
Lands
Think of land cards as your treasury. Spells (cards that do things) all have a casting cost in the upper right corner of your card. Mana is how you pay those costs. You get mana from playing lands of various types to generate mana of various colors.
How can you tell it's a mana card? Its type will always say “Land” in addition to whatever other types or subtypes may show up. In most decks the majority (if not all) of your lands will be “Basic Land” cards.
There are six basic land types:
Swamp (Black)
Mountain (Red)
Island (Blue)
Forest (Green)
Plains (White)
Waste (Colorless)
Spells
Spells can be divided into two categories: permanent and non-permanent. Permanent spells enter the battlefield when cast and typically stay for multiple turns unless your opponent does something to remove them. Creatures are just one example of a permanent spell. Non-permanent spells are typically one-offs that go directly into your graveyard after you’ve cast them.
Creature
Creature cards are, well, creatures you can cast to fight or protect you. Most creatures can only be cast during your turn and have “summoning sickness” for their first turn on the battlefield (e.g. they cannot attack until the next turn).
Ophiomancer can deal 2 damage, has 2 toughness, and, if the conditions are met, gives its controller an additional creature each turn.
Enchantment
These permanent are magical effects that stay on the table until they're destroyed, sacrificed, exiled or removed by other means. These include cards that make creatures fly, gain vigilance or something even more fun, like deathtouch or lifelink.
Phyrexian Arena causes you to draw an extra card and lose one life each turn for as long as it stays on the battlefield
Planeswalker
These complex and powerful permanents are intended to almost simulate another player joining your team. They each can do several different things and pay for those things with their own life totals.
Nissa, Voice of Zendikar enters with 3 life, can gain 1 life and make a creature, lose 2 life and make all its controllers bigger, or lose 7 life and cause its controller to draw cards
Artifact
Artifacts are permanents that usually have no color requirement for casting. These machines and magical objects can be subtyped as creatures, lands, or vehicles in addition to artifacts. Without a subtype, they function similarly to enchantments.
Sol Ring can be tapped to give you two mana
Sorcery
These non-permanent spells can only be cast during your turn and only during a main phase.
Reanimate causes you to move one creature card from your graveyard back onto the battlefield, essentially bringing it back to life
Instant
These are non-permanent spells that can be used at almost any time during gameplay.
Lightning Bolt lets you hit any target for 3 damage at almost any moment during the game
LET'S BUILD A DECK!
Standard play has a minimum of 60 cards in a deck. In this deck, you usually want to include each of the primary types of cards. While it's tempting to add high mana creatures to the deck, you have to remember that since the draw is random, you may not be able to cast any creatures until late in the game (or at all, depending on your opponent's deck!).
As a beginner, pick one color and pull out 23 lands. This leaves you at with 27 empty slots to fill with spells.
Depending on what color you choose, you have to decide if you want to build a strong army with community ties (I'm looking at you, Ajani's Pridemate) or if you want cannon fodder (goblins). Once you decide, then you can fill those 25 slots with creatures and spells.
The most important thing to remember: your deck is a dynamic creation.
So if it doesn't play well, you can edit and adjust it between games until it does. And never be afraid to ask for help! Lots of Magic players love looking at deck lists and working with each other to build the best deck possible. Unless you’re in a highly competitive environment, your opponents will be happier playing a deck that functions well and will be really glad when you take their advice.
PLAY SPACE LAYOUT
We're almost ready to play, but before you shuffle and pull your first hand, we need to talk about where everything will go in front of you:
Library & Graveyard
On either side of your playspace, place your library facedown. This is where you'll draw your cards during the game. Your graveyard goes the empty space below the library. This is where cards go when a creature dies or after a non-permanent spell is cast, this is where it goes. Essentially, this is your discard pile.
Hand
At the beginning of every game, you will choose seven (7) cards from the top of your library. You are only allowed a max of seven (7) cards in your hand at the end of your turn. If you have more than seven, you will be forced to discard into your graveyard.
Image credit: https://magic.wizards.com/en/magic-gameplay
Battlefield
The battlefield is the area between you and your opponent. Place your mana cards right in front of you. Above them, you put your creatures and artifacts (and all associated enchantments).
LET'S PLAY!
In just about every format of MTG, each player starts with 20 life points. Remember that, since all you have to do to win is to remove all of the opponent's life points, you can use your life points as part of your strategy.
After the decision is made about who goes first (usually determined by high rolling dice), all that should be on the table is your library and your life counters. You can use a 20-sided die, 20 markers, or pen and paper. The method doesn't matter, as long as you can track your life points.
Pull seven (7) cards from your library. If you have zero or all lands in your hand, you can mulligan by announcing that you will not be keeping your hand. Mulliganing means you simply shuffle your hand back into your deck and draw seven more cards, and if it’s a hand you can keep, put one card on the bottom of your library. If you don’t need to “mull,” tell your opponent you’ll be keeping your hand and begin play.
When it's your turn, you will move forward through five core phases:
1. Upkeep
Untap any tapped mana and/or creatures
Pay any upkeep costs (these will be listed on your cards)
Draw one card
Note: You must draw a card. If you cannot draw a card, you forfeit the game.
2. Pre-Combat Main Phase
Lay down one (1) new mana from your hand
Cast any creatures, artifacts, or enchantments. When you do this, you will tap (or turn) the mana you need. If you don't have any untapped/available mana, you cannot cast anything else.
Your opponent can cast instants and activate any available abilities now.
3. Combat Phase
All creatures have summoning sickness and cannot attack in the round they were summoned. If a creature has haste, they do not suffer from summoning sickness and can attack.
Creatures who no longer have summoning sickness can attack. Tap them unless they have vigilance, which doesn't cause them to tap.
Your opponent can then decide if any of their creatures will be blocking your attack. If they decide not to block, all damage hits them directly and reduces their life points.
How to decide damage: Remember the power/toughness stats in the lower right corner? The power of the attacking card subtracts from the toughness of the blocking card. If it brings the number down to zero, the creature dies and is removed to the owner's graveyard. If the attacking creature has trample, any remaining points of power after the destruction of a blocking creature goes directly to your opponent and reduces their life points.
4. Post-Combat Main Phase
This phase is just like the pre-combat main phase.
5. End step
Any 'end of your turn' abilities activate now
If you have more than seven (7) cards, discard now.
Declare your turn over.
Rinse and repeat until the game is won!
Final Thoughts
Will there be times when the learning process is really frustrating? Yes.
Will you get mad at your deck? Yes. Often. Usually because lands.
Will you feel like it's unfair to play with someone more experienced than you? Absolutely, but they’ll probably help you if you ask and you won't be a newbie forever (lands will always be tilting, sorry!).
Eventually you'll find your deck's happy place, become more comfortable with the flow, and will no longer need to reread your cards every round.
Welcome to the adventure.
Confused?
Don’t worry, we’re here to help! For more information about cards, rules and tournaments, contact us!
Join our discord community to see what others saying and follow us @alatomtcg on your preferred social media platforms. If you’re reading this after January 15, 2022, stop by our shop in Pleasant Valley, NY!! We’ll make sure you have all the information you need to feel comfortable playing the games that interest you.
