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 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!

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).