MTG Rule Guide - How To Play & Build Your Deck

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, or 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:

• Name: The card's name.
• Mana Cost: The resources you need to spend to cast the spell.
• Card Type: Determines the role of the card in the game.
• Card Subtype: Further defines the characteristics of a card.
• Set Symbol: Indicates the card’s rarity (by colour) and which set it is from (by symbol).
• Keywords: Special rules that affect how the card works.
• Rules Text: Explains any special effects of the card.
• Power and Toughness: Only creatures have this box. Power is the damage dealt; toughness is how much damage it can take in a turn before being destroyed.

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 rule. Some powerful strategies use very different ratios!

Spells

There are a few types of spells in MTG: 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 they have 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 take a mulligan. Shuffle your hand back and draw 7 new cards. However, for each 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 cards; twice, you keep 5. Sometimes the luck of the draw just isn't on your side!

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

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, cast creatures, and play other spells.

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

Some creatures have the Flash keyword, which means you can cast them at instant speed.

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. Lands, creatures, and artifacts sit here while in play.
• Graveyard: The discard pile. Spells go here after use, and creatures go here when they die.
• Exile: A removed-from-game zone. Cards sent here are usually gone for good.

Combat Phase

• Declare Attackers: You choose which creatures attack. You attack the player, not their creatures.
• Declare Blockers: Your opponent chooses which of their untapped creatures will block.
• Damage: Creatures deal damage to each other. If a creature’s toughness is reduced to 0, it goes to the graveyard.

Main Phase 2

A second opportunity to cast spells and play your land for the turn (if you didn’t during 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).