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MTG Rule Guide - How To Play & Build Your Deck

The world of Magic: The Gathering (MTG) is vast, exciting, and, let’s be honest, a little bit intimidating when you first look at the rulebook. We’re here to reassure you that, once you peel back the layers of Magic: The Gathering’s standard rules, it is actually a super intuitive, fun game.

Consider this your friendly field guide. We’re going to walk through how to build your first deck, what those cards actually mean, and how a turn actually plays out. Let’s get into it!

How To Build Your First MTG Deck

Before you can cast a single fireball, you need a deck. In a "Constructed" game - which just means a deck you build at home before the match - there are a few golden rules you need to follow.

Table Of Content

How To Build Your First MTG Deck
MTG Rules - How To Play Magic: The Gathering Standard Step-by-Step
Got The MTG Rules - Now What?
Try Out Magic: The Gathering At Thistle Tavern!

How Many Cards Can You Have In An MTG Deck?

In standard play, your deck must have a minimum of 60 cards. While there is technically no maximum size (as long as you can shuffle it yourself!), we always recommend sticking to exactly 60. Why? Because the fewer cards you have, the more likely you are to draw your best ones!

Additionally, you can have no more than 4 copies of any specific card, except for Basic Lands (those are unlimited). This keeps the game varied and prevents people from just playing 20 copies of the same broken spell.

Note: Your player deck is called a library - any card that refers to the library refers to your remaining deck of cards.

Master the Mana Curve

This is where most beginners trip up. You might have 10 giant, world-ending dragons in your library, but if they all cost 7 mana to play, you won’t be able to make any plays the first six turns!

A good deck follows something called a Mana Curve. This means you should have:

Lots of low-cost cards (1–2 mana) to play early.
A solid middle (3–4 mana) to keep the pressure on.
A few "finishers" (5+ mana) to end the game.

Deck Archetypes

In terms of mechanics and playstyle, MTG decks usually fall roughly into one of the following categories:

Aggro - win fast with cheap, efficient creatures.
Control - win by disrupting your opponent's plans and playing a few powerful threats later in the game.
Midrange - balance of creatures and spells to adapt to the game state.

Combo - win by assembling a specific combination of cards that creates a powerful, often game-winning, effect.

There are no rules here - choose the playstyle that suits you best!

Card Types

You should know about three main types of cards - lands, creatures, and spells. More advanced decks will include additional cards called Planeswalkers, with special abilities and their own health pool.

Lands

In MTG, you generate Mana by using Lands - here are the five basic lands, each producing a different Mana colour:

Plains - White Mana (supports mechanics revolving around order, justice, healing, and small, aggressive creatures)
Island - Blue Mana (supports mechanics revolving around knowledge, trickery, control, and flying creatures)
Swamp - Black Mana (supports mechanics revolving around ambition, death, sacrifice, and powerful, but often costly, spells)
Mountain - Red Mana (supports mechanics revolving around freedom, chaos, speed, and direct damage)
Forest - Green Mana (supports mechanics revolving around nature, growth, big creatures, and mana acceleration)

Your starter deck will likely have one type of ‘land’ or colour theme - like Red, Black, White, Green and Blue. More advanced Magic: The Gathering decks can include any combination of colours - but let’s stick to the basics for now.

Creatures

Creatures will be your main attacking and defending units. They have a power (how much damage they deal) and a toughness (how much damage they can take before being destroyed).

Creature cards are straightforward enough to read:

How many creatures should you have in an MTG deck? On average, a deck might have around 20-25 creatures, but there is no strict guideline for this. There are some crazy combos you can unleash when you experiment with different deck compositions!

Spells

There are a few types of spells in MTG: we’ve got Instants and Sorceries, Artifacts, and Enchantments.

Instants and Sorceries are spells with one-time effects that go to the graveyard after they resolve. Instants can be played at almost any time (including as a response to another player’s move), while Sorceries can only be played during your main phase.

Artifacts and Enchantments are permanent spells that stay on the battlefield and provide ongoing effects.

Planeswalkers

Planeswalkers are powerful allies with multiple abilities you can use each turn, and with their own "loyalty" (health). They are game-changers, so protect them!

MTG Rules - How To Play Magic: The Gathering Standard Step-by-Step

Starting Set-up

You’ve got your deck, you’ve picked your colours, and your opponent is staring you down. Now what?

Both players start with 20 life.
Shuffle your library (your deck).
Draw 7 cards.

MTG Mulligan Rules

Don't like your hand? Maybe you have zero lands? You can "Mulligan." You shuffle back and draw 7 new cards. However, for every time you do this, you must put one card from your hand on the bottom of your deck. If you mulligan once, you keep 6; twice, you keep 5. We’ve all been there—sometimes the luck of the draw just isn't on our side!

Hands holding a deck of Magic: The Gathering cards

Once the game starts, each turn follows a simple order: beginning phase (untap, draw), main, combat, second main, and end step.

Beginning Phase

Untap Step: Untap all of your cards that are "tapped" (turned sideways).
Upkeep Step: A brief step for certain card abilities to trigger.
Draw Step: Draw a card from your library.

Main Phase 1

You can play one land, play creatures, and cast any spells.

Keep in mind that a creature cannot attack or use abilities that require tapping on the same turn it enters the battlefield (also known as Summoning Sickness). You can, however, use it to block attacks on your opponent's next turn.

Some creatures come with the Flash keyword, which means you can play them and use them immediately!

So, where do your cards go here?

The Play Area, Explained

Hand: Your secret stash of cards. You start with seven and usually draw one per turn.
Library: Your draw pile (your deck).
Battlefield: The "table" where the action happens. This is where your lands, creatures, and artifacts sit while they are in play.
Graveyard: The discard pile. This is where spells go after use and where creatures go when they die.
Exile:A "removed from game" zone. Unlike the graveyard, cards sent here are usually gone for good and can’t be brought back.

Combat Phase

This is where the war happens, but it’s a bit different from other games:

Declare Attackers - you choose which creatures to send in. Note: You attack the player, not their creatures!
Declare blockers - your opponent chooses which of their untapped creatures will jump in the way to protect their life total.
Damage - creatures deal damage to each other. If a creature’s toughness hits 0, it goes to the graveyard.

Main Phase 2

A second main phase to play spells and your one land for the turn (if you didn't in Main Phase 1).

End Phase

End Step: A brief step for end-of-turn abilities.
Cleanup Step: Discard down to your maximum hand size (usually 7 cards).

Thistle Tavern Weekly Schedule

Room and table bookings are available for your own games | Chat to us in store or find details at thistletavern.com

Open on Weekdays from 4PM - 11PM | Open on Saturdays & Sundays from 12PM-10PM

6:30 PM £5.00 Entry Fee

Constructed

6:30 PM £7.50 Entry Fee

Advanced

1:00 PM £8.00 Entry Fee

Commander

5:00 PM £5.50 Entry Fee

Fighting Games

5:00 PM

Standard

6:00 PM £7.50 Entry Fee

Got The MTG Rules - Now What?

Magic is easy to learn, and you'll feel comfortable with the gameplay loop after just a few matches. The real fun begins as you master your deck’s unique combos and strategies, though you'll always need a bit of luck to avoid "dead" hands and make the most of your draw.

So, how do you actually start playing?

Decide how you will play - you can choose the standard, 60-card deck game, or go for the Commander experience.
Build your first deck - buy a pre-built deck, a starter kit, or crack open booster packs and craft a deck with what you find!

All that’s left is finding someone to play. Whether you start with a friend, at your local games store or by playing the digital version MTG Arena online, practice will make perfect.

Note: Find your closest local games store using the Wizards Store & Event Locator.

Try Out Magic: The Gathering At Thistle Tavern!

Magic: The Gathering is a journey. You’ll make mistakes, you’ll forget to untap, and you’ll occasionally lose to a lucky top-deck. But that’s the "Magic" of it! The more you play, the more you’ll see the deep strategy and the incredible combos that make this game the king of TCGs.

If you’re based around Aberdeen, you’re in luck - at Thistle Tavern, we organise regular meet-ups for MTG, Flesh and Blood, and other popular TCGs, where people can come test out their decks, or even loan out decks to give this game a try. It’s the perfect place to find your peers and experience all this game has to offer - why not come for a visit?

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