Imp
03-14-2010, 11:56 AM
I just wanted to do my own quick tutorial on magic the gathering because I just went to that site and went through it's different tutorial videos and I thought to myself that it would be extremely hard for some people to learn how to play this game who have never played it before by only watching those videos. I mean the site is amazingly crafted (Some of the greatest artists in the World work for Magic the Gathering) I will give it that, but it is very technical and some people don't want to learn that way.
So I'm going to break it down real quick into basic understanding that I'm sure most people can understand.
Ok, there are 5 colors to the game, red, white, blue, black, and green. Those are the different color decks you can buy.
Inside of all of those decks comes mana (or lands). The lands are necessary because it is how you use the creatures that come with the decks, and also how you cast the spells and enchantments that come with the decks.
The way I play is, each person playing starts out with 7 cards in their hand. Kind of like poker. All of the other cards from the deck they bought go into their library (kind of like where your extra cards go when you are playing the card game war).
So you have what's in your hand, and you have what's in your library. You can't touch the cards that are in your library except only when it is your turn and you have to draw one card from your library at the beginning of each upkeep. Upkeep is just a fancy way of saying turn. So once your turn is over, you have to wait until it's your turn again to draw another card from your library. Your library cards are face down so you can not see them, but you are allowed to shuffle your library randomly before you start playing the game.
So anyways, the way I play, you are only allowed 7 cards per hand at any time. And if it comes to your turn and you still have 7 cards in your hand, and you have to draw 1 more card from your library (you must draw one card from your library each time it comes to your turn), then you have to discard one of the cards in your hand and put it into your graveyard. Your graveyard is where you put cards that have been destroyed, discarded, or temporarily removed from the game.
Anyways, to bring out green creatures from your deck, you have to use green lands to do so. Or...you can use special lands that equal any color, but those are rare cards. To use green spells, you must also use green lands, and the same goes for green enchantments, etc. The same applies to all colors of the game. You don't have to worry about how many lands you need to have on the battlefield (battlefield = whatever surface you are playing on) in order to bring out a creature or cast a spell, because the card will tell you that in it's description. But you do need a certain amount of lands out on the field before you can either bring out a creature for combat or cast a combat spell.
You are allowed to set 1 colored land on the field per turn (unless you have a special card in your hand that has the ability to search your library for an extra land card and put that card into play) - but otherwise this rule stands. And if you have a creature that requires 3 lands to bring it out, than you must wait 3 turns before you will have enough lands on the field to bring that creature into combat. In order to bring a creature out with the lands you have on the field, you must tap them (turn them to the right) for that turn, and they (the lands) must stay that way until your next upkeep (turn). Once it is your turn again, (after your opponent has done everything he/she can do with the cards that are in his/her hand and out on the field), you may then untap your lands (turn them straight again), and reuse them for whatever else they can be used for (as long as they haven't already been destroyed during your opponent's turn - but cards that can destroy lands are rare). And the same applies for when you are attacking with a creature card you have out on the field, because as long as they haven't been destroyed during your opponents turn, you may untap them (turn them straight) again and reuse them in whatever way you can. It's very easy.
Ok now all of the cards have descriptions on them which tell you how many lands you need to use them, what their ability is, and whether they are a permanent card (one that remains on the field until killed) or a temporary card (one that can only be used once and then must be discarded into your graveyard). So you don't need to get confused about what a card does because it says what it does in the description.
Now, even though there are 5 different color types for decks in Magic, that doesn't mean that you only need to stick with one. You may mix up your colors any way you wish, and you may put in as many different colored creatures in your deck as you want, as many different colored lands in your deck as you want, and as many different colored spells and enchantments in your deck as you want (as long as your deck size you are going to play with does not exceed a maximum of 60 cards) but just make sure that you have the right colored lands in order to bring the right colored creatures out, etc. (Red goes with red, blue goes with blue, etc.).
As I just mentioned, the important thing to remember is that your deck that you use to play the game with can only have 60 cards in it (that's the way we play anyways), so that means that you will start with 7 cards in your hand, and 53 cards in your library. But you are not allowed to have more than 60 cards in your deck per game. So make sure you choose what cards you want to put in your deck wisely before you play the game, and try to use as much strategy as possible when doing it, so that you will have a greater chance of winning. As I mentioned before though, if someone destroys one of your cards in game, then it goes into your graveyard permanently, unless you happen to have a spell in your hand or a spell that you draw from your library in one of your upkeeps (turns) that would have an ability to bring one of your creatures back to life, or to bring back an enchantment from your graveyard to your hand, etc.
Oh and then there is life. Your life is how you determine who wins the game. You can start out with as much life as you want (all you need is a piece of paper and a pen to keep track) but we usually start out with 20 for each player. However, each player must start out with exactly the same amount of life, that is the rule of the game. Once your life is up, you are dead, and the game is over. It's simple addition or subtraction with your life because some cards increase your life and then there are cards that take away your life. But once you are attacked for say, 5 points of damage, if you can't block that damage, then you must take away 5 points of life from the 20 that you started with (so you would just cross out the 20 on the paper and write 15 under it). This is really easy to understand too.
And last for now would be attacking. You can only attack with a creature you have on the field when it is your turn, all you can do with your creatures out on the field while it is your opponent's turn is block with them. The only kinds of spells you can use when it is your opponent's turn are instant spells (it will say that on the card's description), but your opponent has the ability to counter those if he has an instant counter spell in his hand. But for creatures, you can only use them to attack when it is your turn, and to block when it is your opponent's turn. And to use a creature that is already out on the field, you don't need to tap any lands or use any spells, all you need to do is tap your creature (turn it to the right), and it will attack for whatever damage it says it can do in the description. You must leave your creature tapped though until it is your turn again, and you can not block with a creature that is already tapped, until you untap it during your next turn. The only creatures you can block with are the ones you didn't attack with yet when it was your turn (unless you have certain special creature cards that don't need to be tapped in order to attack, but those are rare also).
Those are the basics of the game. With that knowledge, you can read the playbook that comes with the deck that you buy, and will be much better able to put that information with this information and be able to play the game. Another good way to learn how to play the game though is to ask someone who works at the game store that sells magic cards at, or to go to a tournament where people are playing and to simply watch and ask questions. Believe it or not many people who play this game are more helpful than you might think.
Another thing to add is that there is no limit to the amount of people who can play this game at one time. You can do a 1 vs 1, a 2 vs 2, a 3 vs 3, and so on. You can even do a free for all (everyone vs everyone). You could play with 20 people at once if you wanted, but the more people who are playing at once, the harder it is to keep track of what everyone is doing, and the more room there is for people to cheat.
I hope that gives you guys (those who have never played it before) a better understanding of the basic way to play the game though. It's really not very hard to learn it, and once you've played even just one game, you'll know a whole lot more about how to do it.
So I'm going to break it down real quick into basic understanding that I'm sure most people can understand.
Ok, there are 5 colors to the game, red, white, blue, black, and green. Those are the different color decks you can buy.
Inside of all of those decks comes mana (or lands). The lands are necessary because it is how you use the creatures that come with the decks, and also how you cast the spells and enchantments that come with the decks.
The way I play is, each person playing starts out with 7 cards in their hand. Kind of like poker. All of the other cards from the deck they bought go into their library (kind of like where your extra cards go when you are playing the card game war).
So you have what's in your hand, and you have what's in your library. You can't touch the cards that are in your library except only when it is your turn and you have to draw one card from your library at the beginning of each upkeep. Upkeep is just a fancy way of saying turn. So once your turn is over, you have to wait until it's your turn again to draw another card from your library. Your library cards are face down so you can not see them, but you are allowed to shuffle your library randomly before you start playing the game.
So anyways, the way I play, you are only allowed 7 cards per hand at any time. And if it comes to your turn and you still have 7 cards in your hand, and you have to draw 1 more card from your library (you must draw one card from your library each time it comes to your turn), then you have to discard one of the cards in your hand and put it into your graveyard. Your graveyard is where you put cards that have been destroyed, discarded, or temporarily removed from the game.
Anyways, to bring out green creatures from your deck, you have to use green lands to do so. Or...you can use special lands that equal any color, but those are rare cards. To use green spells, you must also use green lands, and the same goes for green enchantments, etc. The same applies to all colors of the game. You don't have to worry about how many lands you need to have on the battlefield (battlefield = whatever surface you are playing on) in order to bring out a creature or cast a spell, because the card will tell you that in it's description. But you do need a certain amount of lands out on the field before you can either bring out a creature for combat or cast a combat spell.
You are allowed to set 1 colored land on the field per turn (unless you have a special card in your hand that has the ability to search your library for an extra land card and put that card into play) - but otherwise this rule stands. And if you have a creature that requires 3 lands to bring it out, than you must wait 3 turns before you will have enough lands on the field to bring that creature into combat. In order to bring a creature out with the lands you have on the field, you must tap them (turn them to the right) for that turn, and they (the lands) must stay that way until your next upkeep (turn). Once it is your turn again, (after your opponent has done everything he/she can do with the cards that are in his/her hand and out on the field), you may then untap your lands (turn them straight again), and reuse them for whatever else they can be used for (as long as they haven't already been destroyed during your opponent's turn - but cards that can destroy lands are rare). And the same applies for when you are attacking with a creature card you have out on the field, because as long as they haven't been destroyed during your opponents turn, you may untap them (turn them straight) again and reuse them in whatever way you can. It's very easy.
Ok now all of the cards have descriptions on them which tell you how many lands you need to use them, what their ability is, and whether they are a permanent card (one that remains on the field until killed) or a temporary card (one that can only be used once and then must be discarded into your graveyard). So you don't need to get confused about what a card does because it says what it does in the description.
Now, even though there are 5 different color types for decks in Magic, that doesn't mean that you only need to stick with one. You may mix up your colors any way you wish, and you may put in as many different colored creatures in your deck as you want, as many different colored lands in your deck as you want, and as many different colored spells and enchantments in your deck as you want (as long as your deck size you are going to play with does not exceed a maximum of 60 cards) but just make sure that you have the right colored lands in order to bring the right colored creatures out, etc. (Red goes with red, blue goes with blue, etc.).
As I just mentioned, the important thing to remember is that your deck that you use to play the game with can only have 60 cards in it (that's the way we play anyways), so that means that you will start with 7 cards in your hand, and 53 cards in your library. But you are not allowed to have more than 60 cards in your deck per game. So make sure you choose what cards you want to put in your deck wisely before you play the game, and try to use as much strategy as possible when doing it, so that you will have a greater chance of winning. As I mentioned before though, if someone destroys one of your cards in game, then it goes into your graveyard permanently, unless you happen to have a spell in your hand or a spell that you draw from your library in one of your upkeeps (turns) that would have an ability to bring one of your creatures back to life, or to bring back an enchantment from your graveyard to your hand, etc.
Oh and then there is life. Your life is how you determine who wins the game. You can start out with as much life as you want (all you need is a piece of paper and a pen to keep track) but we usually start out with 20 for each player. However, each player must start out with exactly the same amount of life, that is the rule of the game. Once your life is up, you are dead, and the game is over. It's simple addition or subtraction with your life because some cards increase your life and then there are cards that take away your life. But once you are attacked for say, 5 points of damage, if you can't block that damage, then you must take away 5 points of life from the 20 that you started with (so you would just cross out the 20 on the paper and write 15 under it). This is really easy to understand too.
And last for now would be attacking. You can only attack with a creature you have on the field when it is your turn, all you can do with your creatures out on the field while it is your opponent's turn is block with them. The only kinds of spells you can use when it is your opponent's turn are instant spells (it will say that on the card's description), but your opponent has the ability to counter those if he has an instant counter spell in his hand. But for creatures, you can only use them to attack when it is your turn, and to block when it is your opponent's turn. And to use a creature that is already out on the field, you don't need to tap any lands or use any spells, all you need to do is tap your creature (turn it to the right), and it will attack for whatever damage it says it can do in the description. You must leave your creature tapped though until it is your turn again, and you can not block with a creature that is already tapped, until you untap it during your next turn. The only creatures you can block with are the ones you didn't attack with yet when it was your turn (unless you have certain special creature cards that don't need to be tapped in order to attack, but those are rare also).
Those are the basics of the game. With that knowledge, you can read the playbook that comes with the deck that you buy, and will be much better able to put that information with this information and be able to play the game. Another good way to learn how to play the game though is to ask someone who works at the game store that sells magic cards at, or to go to a tournament where people are playing and to simply watch and ask questions. Believe it or not many people who play this game are more helpful than you might think.
Another thing to add is that there is no limit to the amount of people who can play this game at one time. You can do a 1 vs 1, a 2 vs 2, a 3 vs 3, and so on. You can even do a free for all (everyone vs everyone). You could play with 20 people at once if you wanted, but the more people who are playing at once, the harder it is to keep track of what everyone is doing, and the more room there is for people to cheat.
I hope that gives you guys (those who have never played it before) a better understanding of the basic way to play the game though. It's really not very hard to learn it, and once you've played even just one game, you'll know a whole lot more about how to do it.