Setup
Bring a 60-card deck (Standard/Modern/Pioneer/etc.) or a 100-card singleton deck for Commander.
Each player shuffles, then draws seven cards. You may mulligan (shuffle back and draw seven again, then put one card on the bottom) as many times as you want.
Starting life is 20 in most formats, 30 in Brawl, 40 in Commander.
Randomly decide who goes first. The player going first skips their first draw step.
How to play
- 1
Cards fall into two groups: lands (your resources) and spells (creatures, instants, sorceries, enchantments, artifacts, planeswalkers, and battles).
- 2
Each turn you may play one land. Tap lands to produce mana in one of five colors — White, Blue, Black, Red, Green — plus colorless.
- 3
Spend mana to cast spells. Creatures stay in play (the battlefield) and can attack. Instants and sorceries resolve once, then go to the graveyard.
- 4
During combat, you declare attackers, your opponent declares blockers, and damage is dealt simultaneously.
- 5
Instants and abilities go on the stack — a last-in, first-out queue — and both players get a chance to respond before anything resolves.
- 6
The active player has one main phase before combat and another after, either of which can be used for sorcery-speed plays like casting creatures or sorceries.
- 7
Reduce your opponent's life total to zero, deck them out, or trigger an alternate win condition.
Anatomy of a turn
- 1
Beginning phase
Untap your permanents, resolve any upkeep triggers, then draw a card (first player skips draw on turn 1).
- 2
Precombat main phase
Play a land, cast creatures, sorceries, enchantments, artifacts, or planeswalkers. This is the only phase (other than main 2) where sorcery-speed spells can be cast.
- 3
Combat phase
Beginning of combat → declare attackers → declare blockers → combat damage → end of combat. Instants and abilities can be used at any step.
- 4
Postcombat main phase
A second window for sorcery-speed spells. Useful after seeing how combat resolved.
- 5
Ending phase
End step (last chance for instants), then cleanup: discard down to seven and remove damage from creatures.
Rules to know
The stack
Spells and triggered/activated abilities go on the stack and resolve last-in, first-out. Every time something is added to the stack, both players get priority to respond before anything resolves.
Timing: sorcery vs instant
Sorcery-speed spells (creatures, sorceries, enchantments, planeswalkers) can only be cast during your own main phases with an empty stack. Instant-speed spells and abilities can be used any time you have priority.
Summoning sickness
A creature you control can't attack or use tap abilities the turn it entered the battlefield, unless it has haste.
Colors and mana
Each color has its own personality: White protects and rebuilds, Blue counters and draws, Black kills and reanimates, Red burns and rushes, Green ramps and grows. Multicolor decks combine those tools.
Commander format
100-card singleton decks led by a legendary creature (your commander). Start at 40 life; 21 combat damage from a single commander eliminates a player. Your commander's colors define which cards you can play.
Zones
Library (deck), hand, battlefield, graveyard, exile, stack, and command zone. Cards move between zones as they're cast, resolve, die, or are removed from the game.
Win conditions
Reduce your opponent's life total to zero (or below).
Force your opponent to draw a card when their library is empty.
Give your opponent ten poison counters.
In Commander, deal 21 combat damage to a player with a single commander over the course of the game.
Alternate win conditions on specific cards (Approach of the Second Sun, Thassa's Oracle + Consultation, Laboratory Maniac, etc.).
Play smarter, faster
Never skip playing a land on turns 1–4 if you can — mana is everything early.
Hold up mana on your opponent's turn if you have instant-speed answers — telegraphed answers are wasted answers.
Learn what your opponent's deck wants to do before you commit removal. Killing a mediocre creature can leave you defenseless against the real threat.
In Commander, remember politics — attacking the strongest player often earns favors from the rest of the table.