An introduction to "Magic: The Gathering"

Introduction

This article is intended to cover the basic concepts and terminology behind the collectible card game "Magic: The Gathering," published by Wizards of the Coast. I am a casual player, not an expert, but I wanted to share the basics I have learned while finding my way into the hobby to help newcomers.

If you're planning to start playing the game with friends, or just want to know enough about the game to understand the terms and concepts, this article is for you. If you're an active Friday Night Magic player who maintains a tournament-legal standard deck, this article is probably not for you, but might help you introduce others to the hobby.

At the time of posting, this Quick Start Guide covers the basic rules of the game and offers a detailed explanation of the different parts of a card.

Game Concepts

Players take the role of "planeswalkers," which are essentially powerful wizards able to travel between the various worlds that make up the multiverse in Magic: The Gathering. The game represents a sort of wizards duel. Your deck is your spellbook, and is constructed by choosing cards that you think will give you the best chance to defeat other players.

Your draw pile is called your library, your discard pile is called your graveyard, and your hand is. . . your hand. Big surprise there. Playing a card is called casting, in keeping with the magical wizardy theme. The game progresses in turns until one player loses the game by suffering too much damage, being unable to draw a card due to an empty library, conceding defeat, or by meeting various other conditions the cards in play may invoke. In games with more than two players, the game ends when all players but one have lost.

Some cards are played and remain on the table to be used in successive turns. Any card that remains in play after being played is called a permanent. Other cards create an immediate effect in the game when played, and are then placed in the graveyard. Whenever a card is played, it creates a stack. All players have the option to respond to a card being played by playing an appropriate card from their hands, or using an ability listed on a card already in play. The stack resolves with the most recently played effect taking place first.

Land Ho!

On each turn, the active player may play a land card on the table, where it can be used as a resource called mana to cast spell cards. Land cards are the primary resource used to summon creatures and cast spells. There are five types of basic land: Plains, Islands, Swamps, Mountains, and Forests. These produce mana of the colors white, blue, black, red, and green respectively. These colors are often abbreviated as W, U, B, R, and G when people are using shorthand to describe their decks. There are also many non-basic lands that may offer alternative effects, bonuses, multiple colors, or even mana with no color at all.

This Spells Trouble

If a card isn't a land, it's a spell. Spells can typically only be cast at specific points during a turn. Spells require mana in order to be cast, and have symbols in the casting cost listing which color(s) or mana are required. There are many different spell types:

Creature - Spells that summon a person or animal to do battle on your behalf. Creatures have a power and toughness rating marked on the card. Creatures can be used to attack an opponent, or block attacks by an opponent's creatures. Some also have special abilities, such as producing mana like a land card, providing bonuses to other creatures on the table, or dealing direct non-combat damage.

Artifact - A card that represents something constructed. This might be devices to support your plans, equipment for your creatures, or mechanical creatures.

Enchantment - Spells that enhance your creatures, harm your opponent's cretaures, or affect players.

Sorcery - A wide category of spells that take effect when cast. Sorceries are not permanents.

Instant - Like sorceries, instants can include a wide variety of cards that take effect when cast. However, they can also be cast at any time, including in response to spells cast by other players on their turn!

Plainswalker - These cards represent powerful allies who can be called upon to support a player with special abilities. They have loyalty points rather than the toughness values that creature cards use, and can be directly attacked by an opponent's creatures. Damaged planeswalkers lose loyalty. If loyalty is reduced to zero, the card is placed in the graveyard.

Deck Construction

A player may have any number of basic land cards in his deck of cards. In most game formats, players may have up to 4 copies of each spell or non-basic land in their decks, and each deck must have a minimum of 60 cards. Typically, around 1/3 of a deck consists of lands. Thus, a deck might contain 22 lands, 8 different spells with 4 copies of each, and a final 6 cards bearing few other spells with perhaps only one or two copies of each. Players are usually allowed to have more than 60 cards if they wish.

A sideboard is frequently used to adjust a deck. This is exactly 15 cards that are set aside to be exchanged between games to tune a deck to better combat a specific opponent. For example, if you discover that you occasionally face an opponent who plays artifact-heavy decks, you might include a selection of artifact-destroying instants and sorceries in your sideboard specifically to have a better chance against that opponent.

Common Game Formats

Standard - Uses only cards from the most recently released sets. This is the version typically played at Friday Night Magic events at game shops around the world. I don't play this format because it's too expensive to keep up and keep competitive, in my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

Modern - Uses only cards from 8th edition (2003) through the most recent release. I enjoy this format due to the increased flexibility of deck construction and the relative ease of construction outside the chaotic turnover of Standard.

Legacy - Allows cards from almost all sets ever released.

Singleton, AKA Highlander - A variant that allows only a single copy of any card other than basic lands, because "there can be only one." These typically have a specific deck size requirement, and 100-card decks are most common.

Commander - originally known as EDH, or Elder Dragon Highlander, this format is officially supported by Wizards of the Coast with special pre-constructed decks, but it's more fun to build your own. This format uses a 100-card singleton deck with a Legendary Creature card nominated as a "general" or "commander," and several special rules apply. For more information, click here.

This list is certainly not comprehensive. Many other formats exist, and new variants are frequently created as players exchange ideas via the internet.

Conclusion

If any key introductory ideas have been left out, kindly comment below so I can either edit this article or cover more information in a following post. I do intend to write at least one more article covering some ideas that may help beginners build better decks, so input is welcome on that subject as well.