Magic: the Gatheringby Richard Garfield Games in One Page by Steve Lewis

Magic: The Gatheringby Richard Garfield Games In One Page by Steve Lewis

Published by Wizards of the Coast, 1993-v1.0 pub8/28/16

In Magic: The Gathering, you will pay mana to cast spells from your hand to summon Creatures and other effects. Generally, the goal of the game is to reduce your opponent’s life total to 0, or force your opponent to draw a card while they have none in their library. There are many formats of Magic with different restrictions and win/lose conditions(for example, Standard, where each player has a 60-card deck and 20 life points); this tutorial discusses the basic rules and turn structure common to almost all formats.

Each player shuffles their library (draw pile) and draws seven cards. Each player may choose to keep their hand of seven cards to play, or take a “mulligan”and shuffle them back into their library and draw a new hand of cards, minus one for each time they have mulliganed. If a player mulligans, after deciding to keep their hand, they scry one card (look at the top card of their deck, and decide whether to place it back on the top or bottom of their deck).

Most of the action in Magic revolves around casting spells (playing cards) from your hand. Casting spells and attacking your opponent force you to tap cards (turn them sideways, to indicate they’ve been used this turn); tapped cards do not become untapped until the start of your next turn.The turn order is as follows:

Untap – At the start of your turn, untap any Landor Creature cards that were tapped since the start of your last turn.
Upkeep – Some cards have effects that occur or costs that must be paid during this step.
Draw – Draw the top card of your library.
First Main – During this phase, you may play one Land card from your hand onto the battlefield (play area). Most Land cards produce one mana each, of a specific type. Land cards you’ve played on this and previous turns can be tapped to play spells from your hand, for their mana cost listed in the top-right corner (a mana symbol indicates that specific mana must also be spent; a number indicates how many additional mana of any kind must also be spent).
Combat–You may attack your opponent. Combat takes place in several steps, alternating control between you and your opponent. You (and your opponent) can only cast Instants during this phase.
Declare Attackers – Choose which creatures you want to attack your opponent with; tap these creatures.
Declare Blockers – Your opponent chooses which creatures they want to block your attackers with, and which each creature blocks; these creatures are not tapped.
Combat Damage – Choose the order in which your creatures deal damage. If an attacking creature is unblocked, it deals damage to your opponent equal to that creature’s power. If an attacking creature is blocked by one creature, it does damage equal to its power to that creature. If an attacking creature is blocked by more than one creature, you choose the order in which the attacking creature does damage to the blocking creatures, and how much damage it does to each blocker. If a creature takes damage equal to or greater than its toughness, it is removed from the battlefield and put in its owner’s graveyard (discard pile).
Second Main – This phase is the same as the First Main phase. If you didn’t play a Land card before, you may play one now.
End–Both players get one final opportunity to cast Instant spells. Then, if you have more than seven cards in hand, you must discard down to seven cards. All combat damage dealt to creatures is removed.

After you finish your End step, it is your opponent’s turn.

Important Notes:

The starting player does not draw on their first turn; this is done to neutralize the advantage of going first.
Some cards have activated abilities, which can be triggered at any time, usually by paying a cost (such as tapping mana or sacrificing another creature). These abilities can be activated at any time, as if they were Instant spells.
If, at any time (not necessarily in combat), a creature takes damage equal to or greater than their toughness, or if their toughness is otherwise reduced to zero or below (such as with effects that reduce a creature’s toughness), the creature is placed in the player’s graveyard.
Some cards or abilities may put a creature into exile. A player’s exile zone is an area separate from the graveyard, but functionally similar (this is a HUGE generalization). However, it is usually much more difficult to retrieve cards from exile.

Common Card Types:

Creatures are permanent cards (which stay on the battlefield until destroyed) that can attack your opponent in combat. Creatures have a power (how much damage a creature deals) and toughness (how much damage a creature can take before it dies), which are found in the lower-right corner of the card (listed as power/toughness). However, creatures cannot attack on the same turn in which they are cast (a rule referred to as “summoning sickness”).

Sorceries are one-time effect cards. After they are cast and their effects are resolved, they are put in the player’s graveyard (discard pile). Instants are also one-time effect cards played and resolved in a similar way, but they may be played at any time during your turn or your opponent’s turn.

Enchantments are permanent effects that remain on the battlefield until destroyed. Some enchantments are Auras, which can be attached directly to another card for an additional effect; if the card the Aura is attached to is removed from the battlefield, the Aura is removed with it.

Equipment, like Auras, are objects that can be attached to creatures; you must first pay the mana cost to put an Equipment card onto the battlefield, then an additional cost to equip the card on a creature. If that creature dies, the equipment remains on the battlefield and may be equipped on another creature.

Planeswalkers are permanent cards similar to creatures, except they cannot attack during combat, but can be the target of an opponent’s attack. Planeswalkers begin with a number of loyalty counters on them, equal to the number in their lower-right corner. Once per turn, you may activate one of the planeswalker’s abilities, increasing or decreasing the corresponding number of loyalty counters. If, at any time, a planeswalker has no loyalty counters, it is placed in that player’s graveyard. In combat, you may also target another player’s planeswalker with attacking creatures; if a planeswalker is dealt damage, it loses loyalty counters equal to the damage taken.

If a player’s life points are reduced to 0 (or below), they lose the game, and their opponent wins. If a player has to draw a card (such as during their Draw step or as the result of a spell), but they have no cards in their library, they also lose the game.

@FirstGameRule