In the game of Magic, you are a wizard dueling for control of a magical plane. This plane is a parallel dimension. You play with a deck that has a minimum of forty cards. There is no maximum. You begin with 20 life and you try to wear your opponent down to 0. The cards have one of seven types written on the middle of the card, between the picture and the text. These seven are Creature (Summon), Instant (Interrupt), Sorcery, Enchantment, Land, Artifact, and Enchant Creature/ Enchant Land.

There are six colors of magic. These six are Red, Green, Blue, White, Black, and colorless/artifact. There are also Gold cards, but these are just a combination of two colors, not a color on their own. The Colors show you what type of Mana you use to play the card. Mana cost is represented by symbols at the top right of the card. The six types of mana are Mountain (represented by a fireball), Forest (represented by a tree), Island (represented by a water drop), Plains (represented by a sun), Swamp (represented by a skull), and colorless (represented by a gray circle with a number in it). Any kind of land can be used to pay for a colorless cost. Mountains are the land for red, Forests are the land for green, Islands are the land for blue, Plains are the land for white, and swamps are the land for black.

To play the game of magic, you must play lands onto the field. Each land gives you one mana of it's color each turn, this is what you use to play spells. If a cost has one Fireball and a 3 in a gray circle, you need one mountain and 3 of any land to play it. After using a land for mana you must turn it sideways, or "tap" it, this shows that you have used it. You may play only one land per turn, and only on your turn.

Creatures are the major parts of your army. They take the battle right to your enemy and pave the way with your opponent's blood. Each creature has a power and toughness located at the bottom right of the card. This is represented by two numbers on either side of a slash. The creature's power is how much damage it deals. Its toughness is how much damage it takes to kill it. if a creature is a 2/3 it could potentially do 2 damage to your opponent, and it takes 3 damage to kill it. to attack with one or more creatures, you tap them. Your opponent can then declare "blockers," creatures that they are using to stop yours. To be used as a blocker, a creature must be untapped. Creatures can not attack on the first turn they are summoned. If a blocker stops your attacker, both creatures deal damage simultaneously. For example, if a 2/3 is blocked by a 2/2, the 2/3 deals two damage to the 2/2, and the 2/2 deals 2 damage to the 2/3. The 2/2 would die, but the 2/3 would not. No matter how much damage it does, a little creature can stop a big one and keep it from hitting the player. Creatures also have abilities like first strike, flying, trample, shadow, rampage, and regeneration. First strike means that, in combat,that creature hits first. if the enemy survives, they get to hit you back. Flying means that they can block anything, but can only be blocked by other flying. Trample means that if the blocker dies, any extra damage carries over to the player. Shadow means that the creature can only be blocked by creatures with shadow, but can only block other shadows as well. Rampage always has a number beside it, like rampage 2. rampage 2 means that for every creature beyond the first that blocks it, it gets +2/+2. Regeneration lets you keep a creature alive even when it would die by paying a certain amount of mana.

Instants are just spells that can be played on any turn. These spells often have good defensive qualities to save you. You can use counters, a form of instant, to stop your opponent from playing spells.

Sorceries are spells that can only be played on your turn.

Enchantment are only playable on your turn, but they stay out until they are destroyed. Enchant Creatures/Enchant Lands stay until the creature is destroyed or the player who played the spell dies.

Artifacts, like Enchantments and Creatures, are around until they are destroyed. There are also artifact creatures which can be destroyed by a destroy artifact or destroy creature spell.

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