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Magic: The Gathering
The world's first trading card game! Become a planeswalker and tap Land cards that produce five colors of mana to summon creatures and cast spells against your opponent — the original card-battle game that started it all. Tapping Lands for mana and spending that mana on creatures and spells is the resource-management core of every strategy.
Rules
In this two-player trading card game — the original of the genre — you tap Lands for five colors of mana to cast Creatures and spells, trying to reduce your opponent's starting 20 Life to 0 first. This guide skips specific card combos and format-specific deckbuilding, covering only the components, the five-phase turn structure, mana, combat damage, and the stack needed to play a first game to its conclusion.
Components — the deck and Life total
| Component | Count | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Deck (Library) | 60 cards or more | Any number of basic Lands, plus at most 4 copies of any other card name |
| Sideboard | 0-15 cards | Extra cards swapped into the deck between games of a match (not swapped mid-game) |
| Life counter | 20 starting Life per player | A die, paper, or phone app tracks each player's Life total |
| Coin / die | As needed | Some card effects call for a coin flip or a die roll |
| Counters | As needed | +1/+1 counters, poison counters, and others mark a creature's or player's state |
This is a two-player game; the official Comprehensive Rules set a 60-card minimum for constructed play (each player builds their own deck ahead of time), and a game usually finishes in 20-30 minutes. Cards split into Lands and all other spells, and spells further split into six types: Creature, Instant, Sorcery, Enchantment, Artifact, and Planeswalker.
Setup
- 1Flip a coin or roll dice to decide who plays first (from the second game of a match on, the loser of the previous game decides).
- 2Each player shuffles their own 60-card-plus deck (library).
- 3Draw the top 7 cards of your library into your hand. This is your starting hand.
- 4If you're unhappy with your hand, you may take a mulligan — shuffle your hand back into your library, draw a new 7, then put a number of those cards equal to how many mulligans you've taken on the bottom of your library. Repeat as many times as you like, down to a hand of zero.
- 5Set each player's Life total to 20. The player going first takes the first turn.
The first player doesn't draw on their first turn
In a two-player game, the player going first skips the draw step of their very first turn and draws no card. From the second turn on, both players draw normally.
A turn — five phases
- 1Beginning phase — Untap step (untap all your tapped permanents), then Upkeep step (resolve any 'at the beginning of upkeep' effects), then Draw step (draw 1 card from your library).
- 2Main Phase 1 — you may play one Land card from your hand (once per turn), and cast Creature, Instant, Sorcery, Artifact, Enchantment, or Planeswalker spells you can afford.
- 3Combat phase — Beginning of Combat step → Declare Attackers step → Declare Blockers step → Combat Damage step → End of Combat step, in that order.
- 4Main Phase 2 — the same actions as Main Phase 1 are available. Play your Land here if you haven't already.
- 5Ending phase — End step (resolve 'at the beginning of the end step' effects), then Cleanup step (damage marked on creatures heals, and if you have more than your maximum hand size of 7, discard down to it).
Playing a Land, and casting Creature, Artifact, Enchantment, Planeswalker, or Sorcery spells, can only happen during your own main phase while the stack is empty. Instants are the one exception — you can cast them any time you have priority, even on your opponent's turn.
Mana and Lands — Magic's resource system
Magic has five colors of mana: White (W), Blue (U), Black (B), Red (R), and Green (G). Tapping a Land (turning it sideways) produces one mana of the color tied to its basic Land type — Plains make White, Island makes Blue, Swamp makes Black, Mountain makes Red, and Forest makes Green. Nonbasic Lands may produce multiple colors or colorless mana but usually come with a special condition or ability instead.
| Basic Land | Mana produced |
|---|---|
| Plains | White (W) |
| Island | Blue (U) |
| Swamp | Black (B) |
| Mountain | Red (R) |
| Forest | Green (G) |
One Land per turn
Under the official rules you may normally play only one Land per turn (some card effects increase this). To cast a spell you must pay mana matching the color and amount shown in its mana cost, printed in the top-right corner of the card.
Card types — permanents and one-shot spells
| Card type | Stays on the battlefield? | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Creature | Yes (a permanent) | Fights in combat, attacking or blocking. Power/toughness is printed in the bottom-right corner |
| Artifact | Yes (a permanent) | A magical object. Usually colorless; some are both an Artifact and a Creature |
| Enchantment | Yes (a permanent) | A spell whose effect lingers. Some Enchantments attach to another permanent and move with it |
| Planeswalker | Yes (a permanent) | A powerful ally that fights alongside you; activate one loyalty ability per turn |
| Instant | No | Resolves and goes straight to the graveyard. Can be cast any time you have priority, even on an opponent's turn |
| Sorcery | No | Resolves and goes straight to the graveyard. Can only be cast during your own main phase |
| Land | Yes (a permanent, but not a spell) | A required mana source in every deck; played straight onto the battlefield without using the stack |
This guide covers only the concept of each card type. Subtypes (creature types, Enchantment 'Auras,' and so on) and the full card pool are out of scope.
Combat and damage calculation
- 1Declare Attackers step — choose which of your creatures attack and tap them all (a tapped creature, or one that entered the battlefield this turn, can't attack unless it has haste). Choose each attacker's target: your opponent, or an opposing Planeswalker.
- 2Declare Blockers step — your opponent chooses whether to block each attacker with an untapped creature they control. Normally one creature blocks one attacker, but multiple creatures can gang up to block a single attacker. Blocking is optional.
- 3Combat Damage step — attacking and blocking creatures deal damage equal to their power simultaneously to each other. An unblocked attacker deals its damage straight to whatever it's attacking (a player or Planeswalker).
- 4A creature that has taken damage equal to or greater than its toughness is destroyed and goes to the graveyard. Damage marked on creatures is removed at the end of the turn (during Cleanup).
Creatures can never attack another creature directly — an attack always targets a player or a Planeswalker, and the defending player decides which creatures, if any, block it.
The stack — the order spells and abilities resolve
Casting a spell or activating an ability doesn't take effect immediately. It's placed on the stack, a waiting line, and each player in turn gets priority to respond by adding another spell or ability of their own on top. Once nobody adds anything further, the stack resolves starting from the top — that is, whatever was added most recently resolves first.
Playing a Land is a special action and never uses the stack — it goes straight onto the battlefield. Creature, Instant, Sorcery, Artifact, Enchantment, and Planeswalker spells all use the stack.
Win conditions
| Loss condition | Description |
|---|---|
| 1. Life at 0 or less | If combat damage or a spell effect brings your Life to 0 or below, you lose the next time any player would receive priority |
| 2. Can't draw from an empty library | If you have no card to draw during your draw step, you lose immediately (decking out) |
| 3. 10 or more poison counters | If you accumulate 10 or more poison counters, you lose |
In a two-player game, your opponent losing means you win. Reducing their Life to 0 through combat is the most common route, but decking them out or poisoning them are valid strategies too.
Losing at the same instant is a draw
If combat or an effect causes every remaining player to lose at the same moment, the game is ruled a draw.
Strategy tips
- Since only one Land can be played per turn, planning your deck's Land count and color balance in advance raises the odds you'll have the right color mana when you need it.
- Because Instants can be cast on your opponent's turn too, holding one until the most impactful moment — right after they declare attackers, or just before combat damage — is often stronger than casting it early.
- Since the stack resolves last-added-first, get in the habit of deciding whether to respond as soon as your opponent casts something, before anything else happens.
- Whether to take damage unblocked or trade a creature in combat depends on how much Life you can spare and what losing that creature would cost you.
Always track Life separately
Life starts at 20 and often swings by several points per combat, so logging it immediately with a die, calculator, or notepad reduces mental-math mistakes.
Formats and the Korean market
Beyond the constructed (base) format this guide covers, the official Comprehensive Rules define several variant formats. Commander uses a 100-card singleton deck (no duplicate cards) plus one commander card and starts at 40 Life; multiplayer variants like Two-Headed Giant use different starting Life totals. Limited play (Booster Draft, Sealed Deck) sets a 40-card minimum deck size instead of 60.
In Korea, Hasbro Korea handles official marketing and Asmodee Korea handles distribution. However, Korean-language printing of tabletop Magic cards stopped in July 2022, so physical cards currently distributed in Korea are English-language. Magic: The Gathering Arena, the digital client, continues to support a Korean interface, and an annual 'Nationals' tournament each summer decides Korea's top player.
Digital clients may differ in some rules and terms
Digital clients such as Magic: The Gathering Arena and Magic Online follow the same Comprehensive Rules as the physical TCG, but their format lineup and which cards are included can differ from the physical game.
Frequently confused rules
Q. Does the first player still draw a card on their first turn?
No. In a two-player game, the player going first skips the draw step on their very first turn and draws no card. From the second turn on, they draw normally.
Q. Can I play a Land during the combat phase?
No. A Land can only be played during your own main phase (1 or 2) while the stack is empty.
Q. How many cards do I draw on a mulligan?
Under the current official rule (the London mulligan), you draw a full 7 cards every time you mulligan. However, you must put a number of those 7 cards on the bottom of your library equal to how many mulligans you've taken so far.
Q. Can both Instants and Sorceries be cast on my opponent's turn?
Only Instants can. An Instant can be cast any time you have priority, even on your opponent's turn, while a Sorcery — like Creature, Artifact, Enchantment, and Planeswalker spells — can only be cast during your own main phase.
Q. Does an unblocked creature deal no damage at all?
It's the defending player's choice. If they choose not to block an attacker with any creature, that attacker deals its full power as damage to whatever it's attacking (a player or Planeswalker).
Q. Does the stack resolve in the order spells were added?
No. The stack is last-in-first-out — whatever was added most recently resolves first. If your opponent responds to your spell with another spell, their spell resolves before yours.
History and scope
Magic: The Gathering was created by Richard Garfield and first released by Wizards of the Coast at Gen Con in the United States in August 1993, making it the world's first trading card game. Wizards of the Coast was acquired by Hasbro in 1999, and Magic has continued releasing new sets ever since. A Hall of Fame was established in 2005 to honor the game's notable players.
The five-color mana system has remained the game's foundation since its 1993 debut, though detail rules such as the mulligan procedure have changed over the years (the London mulligan was introduced in 2019). This guide does not cover format-specific detail rules, the card pool, or banned/restricted lists, focusing only on the basic turn structure and win conditions.
Scope of verification
BoardGameGeek lists this entry (463) as a two-player game. Detail rules for variant formats such as Commander, the card pool, banned/restricted lists, and tournament regulations fall outside this guide.
Sources
Official English Comprehensive Rules PDF (Wizards of the Coast) — dated 2026-09-25Official English How to Play page (current destination of the Basic Rules link)Official Korean Basic Rules PDF (Wizards of the Coast) — M15 Quick Start booklet (2014)BoardGameGeek 463 — Magic: The GatheringWiki cross-check — English Wikipedia: Magic: The GatheringWiki cross-check — Namuwiki: Magic: The Gathering (Korean)Rule summaries are reference content written by us, not quotations from the official rulebook. Always check the official rulebook for exact rules. Diagrams are original schematics, not rulebook illustrations.
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Last updated 2026-10-11
💡 Master tip
During the combat phase, the psychological edge of always keeping a Land or two untapped in reserve — in case your opponent has an Instant — often decides the game. Planning your Land distribution in advance, so you can reliably draw the colors of mana you need, is the foundation of deckbuilding.
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