You should know what this is but it's still part of the tutorial for people who don't know. You have to know what this is. Tapping activates an affect. For example, if you tap a land you get mana, creatures need to tap in order to attack, and many more things. As you can see on the side, the tapping symbol shows a right-turn arrow, now here's a question to all you genuises out htere, which way does the card turn when it's tapped? If you said right then give yourself a pat on the back, if you said left, call me over so I can slap you across the face. Now comes the hard part. In Magic we believe in recycling. If you tap a land, you're not going to dump it, you can do something called untapping it at the beginning of you next turn so you can use it again. Untapping goes for everything that was tapped unless otherwise stated. Now let's use common sense, okay? If you turn a card to the rightside to tap, then which side do you turn to untap? Very good!! You turn it back to its originally form. Wow, you'll a fast learner!!

LANDS and MANAS

This is the most basic thing in Magic. You need mana to cast most things. Lands produces mana so you are ably to cast things, such as creatures, artifacts, etc. Also the mana that the lands produced goes into the mana pool. Huh, you say? Lands produces mana by tapping and by tapping the mana goes to a special place called a mana pool. You take the mana from the mana pool to cast things. Amazing eh? Then let's continue then. Well almost everything in Magic needs mana to cast them or to put them into play. If you look at a Magic card you would see numbers and symbols on the top-right hand side of the card. Those things tell you how much it cost to put the card into play. If you read the COLOR then you would know that there are 5 colors in Magic. Same goes for mana. There are 5 colors for manas too. Easy eh? Now here's the tricky part. You need the same color mana for the same color card. For example, if you have a black card, then you'll need black mana, which is called a Swamp, to cast that card. However you only need the same amount of black mana as the black symbols. The number in gray circles, which is in front of the symbols, can be paid by any kind of mana. Understand? No? Well here's a example. The Seismic Mage on the left side has 3 . This means you can use any kind of mana to pay for the 3 but you must have a Mountain to pay for the . Is that clear to you now? Good! Then let's go on. Mana Burn The name mana burn is very self explanatory but for all you simple minded people I'll tell you what it is. Whenever you have left over mana in the mana pool, the mana you get from tapping lands, it deals damage to you. How much damage, well that depends on how much leftovers you have. If you didn't use 1 mana it deals 1 damage to you. Understand?

TYPES OF L ANDS

This may come as a shock to you but a black mana is not normally caled black mana. You can't call a black mana a black mana. You'll look like a complete amateur. Why you ask? Well there are names for those lands. Now remember these names nice and well because you'll going to need to know them. Black-Swamps Blue-Islands Green-Forests Red-Mountains White-Plains These names aren't that hard to remember. Sooner or later you'll know these names back and forth. Also remember the symbols of the colors because you're also going to need to know them.

Generic Mana

You know those numbers with circles are them? Those are generic mana. Generic manas can be paid by any kind of mana. Artifacts have those on the top so they can be paid with any kind of mana. This include Swamps, Plains, Islands, etc. You could also combine manas to pay for them. Say you need 3 mana. You could use 2 Island and 1 Swamp to payfor the 3.

PERMANENTS

Permanents include a wide variety of things. These include lands, creatures, artifacts, and enchantments. Permanents comes into play and stay in until it's destroyed, buried, or sacrificed. Permanents comes into play under your control unless otherwise stated. You do not have to pay its cost over and over again every turn. After you paid its cost when it comes into play it stay in play.

CREATURES

These guys are your army. They do all of the dirty work for you and if your going to win you're most likely going to need these guys. The concept of creatures are very simple. There are many types of creatures but most of them can do the same thing attack and block. The guy on the left, Waterfront Bouncer, is a example of a creature. It's a Spellshaper, that's what it says in the middle (next to creature), and its power and toughness is 1/1. The power of the creature is how much damage the creature could do in this case it's 1 so the creature can deal 1 damage if it attacks and doesn't get blocked. Now the toughness is a bit tougher to explain. Follow me through very carefully. The toughness is how much damage a creature can take before dying. The Bouncer has a toughness of 1 so it would die when it blocks anything with a power over 1. When a creatures blocks it also deals damage to the attacker. Are you still with me? No? Well here's an example. If I attack with the Bouncer, which is a 1/1, and you block with a 2/1 creatures then both creatures dies.Why you ask? You might be thinking that since the 2/1 creature is bigger it should survive right. This isn't the case. Damages are simultaneosly dealt. That means the Bouncer's 1 damage is dealt the same time as the 2 damage the 2/1 creature. Since both creatures have a toughness of 1, that means they can only take 1 or more damge before dying, they both die. Are you still with me because if you're not you can always e-mail me for more info. In another scenario if I attack with a 3/3 creature and you block with a 2/5 creature then what happens? The correct answer, if you've understood anything I said, is nothing. The 3/3 creature could deal enough damage to to kill the 2/5 creature because its toughness is 5. In the same way the 2/5 creature could kill the 3/3 creature because it only dealt 2 damage when the 3/3's toughness is 3. Another thing you have to know is that creatures can't do anything that requires it to tap when it comes out. This is called summon sickness. It'll be unfair if you could attack on the first turn. Blocking doesn't cause a crerature to tap but attacking and regenrating does cause a creature to tap. Summoning Sickness A creature has summon sickness on the first turn it comes into play. What's summon sickness you ask, well summon sickness prevents a creature from tapping on the first turn. This includes attacking, regenerating, etc. This promotes fair play because you have a chance to destroy creatures with regenrtion. Some creatures have this ability called haste that makes it able to attack on the first turn. How Long Does The Damage Last? That's a good question. Okay, you've dealt the damge, now what? Well the damage only last for 1 turn. If your opponent attacks and you block and your creature survives then the damage the creature does will go away. That means if your 4/4 creature blocks a 2/5 creature, the 2 damage that was dealt to the 4/4 will disappear on your turn.

Walls

These are a kind of creature that are called walls. They can't attack and are generally used to block. Even though they can't attack they are still creatures. That sucks doesn't it? These are wall for god sakes!! How can walls be creatures?!? Well according to the rulebook they are creatures so I'll have to live with it.

CREATURE ABILITIES

Hey,it would be pretty boring if all a creature could do is attack and block, right? So those creative people at Wizards of the Coast made some creatures have abilities. Take the Waterfront Bouncer on the left for example. He's a creature but if you've read the bottom part you'll notice what abilities he has. The Bouncer can put a creature back into someone's hand for a and discarding a card. Some of these abilities are super powerful and some are just plain sucks. How do you judge if a creature is good or bad, well that counts on your experience of whether that card is useful or not. Well let's get back to the subject okay. There are many things a creature could do but some of the most known abilities a creature has are first strike, trample, regeneration, flying, haste, and the most recent one, "when a creature comes into play untap blah blah blah lands". Now the last one has been abused the most and people should know that you couldn't get "infinite" mana off of it. You could read my explanation if you don't know what I'm talking about.

Flying

This is a very simple concept to comprehend. A creature with flying can block creatures as normal but creatures without flying cannot block creatures with flying. If you read it twice you might be able to understand it. Okay, a creature with flying can block anything, that part you understand. A creature without flying can't block a creature with flying because, here's when common sense is need, if you use animals to represent flying and non flying creatures you'll get it. A bird is flying and a dog is a nonflying creature. The dog can't reach the bird because it's in the air but a bird could reach the dog. Understand now? Only flying creatures can block flying creatures. The battle takes place in the air so only flying creatures could play.

First Strike

Now this is a ability a lot of creatures have. This ability involves two steps in the attacking and blocking damage distribution. Didn't understand a word I was saying right? Well me too. Remember how the damage is done, well creatures with first strike have the advantage. If a 2/2 creatures with first strike, such as the Black Knight, attacks and another 2/2 creature without first strike, such as the Grizzly Bear, blocks then you would assume they both die because of simultaneously damage dealt to each of the creature right? Wrong. The Black Knight with first strike deals the damage first and the Grizzly Bear dies. In other word, creatures with first strike gets to do the damage first before the other creatures deals its damage. If the damage is enough to kill the creature then the creature dies before it deals its damage. The Black Knight kills the Grizzly Bear because the 2 damage got to the Grizzly Bear first. What about when a creature with first strike blocks? It's the same thing, if the Grizzly Bear attacks and your Black Knight blocks then the Bear will still die because the Knight will always deal its damage first. Now I wonder what will happen if both creatures have first strike? Well then they deal their damage as if they were ordinary creatures because both have first strike and one can't deal damage before another one. It just won't be fair. For a final tip first strike only makes a creature able to deal damage first, it does not increase the power of the creature. A 1/1 first strike creature cannot possibly kill a 2/2 creature without first strike. It just doesn't work that way. First strike is a very powerful ability and you should include some if possible.

Trample

A very powerful ability found mostly in green creatures. Creatures with trample can deal damage to the opponent even when it's blocked. How could this be you ask. Well imagine this, a 6/6 trampling creature attacks and a 3/3 creature blocks it. The 6/6 of course kills the 3/3 creature but it only took 3 damage to kill it. What happened to the 3 damage unused? Well if a creature with trample uses the leftovers to give to the opponent. In this case the 3 extra damage goes to the opponent. this 6/6 trampler killed the 3/3 and did 3 damage to the opponent. This is a very powerful ability and only creatures with trample get use the extra damage on the opponent. A creature without trampling can't use the extra damage on the opponent.

Regenration

One of my favorite ability of creatures. This makes a creature extremely hard to kill and a great blocker too. Regenration is a ability that allows a creature to regenrate itself, that means if a creature receives enough damage to kill it, it could regenrate and not die. A creature that regenrates must tap as a side affect not as a part of the cost, that means a creature can regenrates as many times as it wants because you could still tap a creature that's already tapped. You can only regenrate when a creature is about to die, not the turn after that, and a creature in the graveyard cannot regenrate and come back to life. Also a creature that's buried or sacrificed cannot be regenrated. Fog of Gnats is a black creature with regenration that reads " : Regenerate Fog of Gnats". If it just reads Rengenrate then it regenrates itself and not another creature. This is a great ability for creatures in a defensive deck because it takes a while to kill these guys.

Protection

Creatures with protection are amazingly powerful. They are largely immune to affects to that thing (usually a color). Creatures with "protection for black" for example cannot be affected or damaged by black sources.They are: black creatures cannot be assigned to block it all damage dealt to it by a black source is reduced to 0 it cn't be targeted by black spells, abilities, or enchantments. That means almost nothing from black can touch your creature. Of course there has to be exceptions to be fair. Spells and abilities that don't target your creature or don't dealt any point damage can get to your creature. For example if a creature reads "protection from white" and you cast a Wrath of God, which buries all creatures, then your creature dies. This is because it doesn't target your creature and it doesn't dealt any point damage, it only buries it. If a creature has "protection from black" and you pop your Pestilence, which is a black card that deals X damage to each creature and player, then your creature is immune to the damage because even though it doesn't target your crerature it deals point damage and any point damage is reduced to 0. Also note that if your protection from a color creature is in the graveyard then the ability wears off and it could be targeted. Another thing are enchantments. If your creature has "protection from green" and a green enchantment is put on it then the enchantment goes to the graveyard.

Haste

Haste is a creature ability that removes summoning sickness. With haste a creature can attack on the first turn which makes it a pretty powerful ability. Some creatures have haste and returns back to your hand at the end of turn. An example is Viashino Sandstalker. That combination makes it even deadlier.

"Free Creatures"

I personally hate these cards and this ability mostly appear in blue. See the Palinchron on the right? Well it takes 7 mana to cast and when it comes into play it untaps seven mana. So technically it's free. Well here's where the trouble comes in. This card usually comes with green combined with enchantments that adds a green mana to a land when it's tapped, so it comes in untaps the mana then return it back to your hand for only 4 mana and does that over and over again until all the mana is untapped. This is very wrong, a new errata has came out that the lands a creatlure untaps can only be the ones used to cast it. That means you can only untap the lands used to cast the Palinchron. I mean it's a very useful ability but people are exploiting it in the most extreme manner. That's what annoys me the most.

ARTIFACTS

Artifacts are one kind of permanent and they are usually colorless that means can use any kind of mana to pay for it. These guys are used in most decks because you can use any kind of mana to pay for it. Artifacts have abilities such as the the Mercadian Atlas on the left. The Atlas doesn't need to tap to do anything but some such as the Nevinyrral's Disk. Its ability is " 1 : Destroy all non-land permanents." That artifacts needs to tap in order to destroy all non-land permanents. And finally, there are also artifact creatures. These guys act as a normal creature except that their colorless.There are artifacts and there are artifact creatures. Masticore, the creature on the left, is an example of an artifact creature. It's no difference from a ordinary creature. It has a power/toughness, abilities, etc. The only difference is that it can be cast with any any kind of mana. That's the advantage.

ENCHANTMENTS

Enchantments are another permanent and they do not need to tap to cause any affect. There are global enchantments and there are local enchantments. What do you mean by global and local enchantments? Global enchantments affect everything such as creatures, players, etc. Tainted Aether is an black enchantment that reads "When a creature comes into play, its controller sacrifice a crerature or land." Tainted Aether affects everybody that plays a creature. Global enchantments are simply put into play. Local enchantments on the other hand only affects what it enchants. It comes into play attached on a certain permanent. The Overgrowth is a green enchantment that is also a land enchantment. It only affects lands. It reads "Whenever enchanted land is tapped for mana, it produces an additional ." What makes it a local enchantment you ask, well it only affects one land and not a whole group of lands. There are also creature enchantments that affect one creature.

SPELLS

Spells are anything that is being played that is not a land. Spells include everything such as enchantments, artifacts, and creatures. Creatures that are being played are called summon spells. Spells also include instants, sorceries, etc. In short spells include everything that is not a land.

INSTANTS

These are spells that last just a turn. They come and go. They affect could affect anything, from creatures to sorceries. An example of an instant is the Misdirection. It makes the target of a single target targets another target. In short it makes a target go somewhere else. Of course as I said before instants don't last. That means they don't stay in play, once their used they go to the graveyard. The effects they cause do last unless stated. The Giant Growth gives a creature +3/+3 UNTIL END OF TURN. That means the affect only last until end of turn. Other instants such as Incinerate, deals 3 damage to a creature or player, does last. The affect last that is. The 3 damage done to your opponent will stay. Now instants aren't like other spells. Other spells can only be played on your turn but instants can be played at any time. This includes your opponent's turn. That's why instants are so powerful. They can be played anytime!!

SORCERIES Sorceries aren't like most spells. Most spells stay in play until their destroyed but sorceries go to the graveyard after it's done with what it's suppose to do. Unlike instants you can only play these on your turn. Collective Unconscious is a sorcery that allows you to draw a card for every creature you control. The Unconscious will go to the graveyard after it's done. Which means it doesn't remain in play and can only be played on your turn

Your Life and How You Could Lose

You have 20 lives. Each damage counts as losing 1 life. What happens if you have 5 life and your opponent deals 10 damage to you? Then you go down to -5. You would have to gain 6 lives in order for the game to go on. You could lose by going to 0 or lower and running out of cards from your library. You lose not when you run out of cards but when you can't draw any more cards. So your library is empty but you don't lose yet. You lose the next turn, when you can't draw any more cards. Understand?

BEGINNING A MATCH

There are certain phases you have to go through each turn.
1.Untap No affects are allowed and all you permanents untaps. They untap simutaneously, which means they don't take turn untapping. They untap together.
2.Upkeep This phase is made for certain affects that have untap costs. Some permanents also have "until end of upkeep" or "during upkeep" affects.
3.Draw This phase is where you draw your card. You can only draw one card a turn. At the beginning of the game each player draws 7 cards.
4. Main This phase is where all the action takes place. You cast your spells, permanents, and attack with your creatures in this phase.
5. Discard This phase is almost toward the end of the turn. If you have more than 7 cards then you have to discard down to 7 cards. YOU HAVE TO!! Understand?!?!
6.End of Turn This is the end of your turn and the beginning you your opponent's. Fast effects are allowed in this phase. This tutorial only includes the very basic of Magic the Gathering so for more details read the official booklet. Of course if you don't understand, which is a one in five chance, you can e-mail me.I will answer any specific questions you have on the game.

Links

Magic official site


MagicResource List


D' Angelo's Magic Page