Play with your friends in a game that lets you explore rich worlds, discover unique strategies, and develop your skills. Each player starts the game with 20 life. Get your opponent's 20 life points down to 0 and you win the game.
Here you'll find everything you need to learn how to play Magic: The Gathering.
In MTG, a spell is any type of card cast by a player. Spells are usually cast from your hand, but in special cases can be cast from other areas of the battlefield like your library or your graveyard. Land cards are the only type of card that is not considered a spell.
Start playing Magic with the easiest way to learn: Jumpstart! These decks are ready to play straight out of the pack! Just mix, match, and start a little mayhem!
Play with the latest and greatest Magic cards! Build the ultimate deck, then duel your opponent and reign victorious. Standard format is available to play in person or online.
Play with up to six players! Pick a Commander and build a deck around them. Choose a legendary creature and see if you have what it takes to be the last one standing!
A great way to level the playing field! No matter your skill level, improvise as you open packs and build unique decks on the spot. You'll battle with the cards you open!
Download MTG Arena and play the tutorial at home or on-the-go!
Available OnThis section describes the actions you'll take during a game, including tapping your cards, casting spells, and attacking/blocking with creatures in combat.
To tap a card is to turn it sideways to show that it has been used for the turn. You do this when you use a land to make mana, when you attack with a creature, or when you activate an ability that has the symbol as part of its cost ( means "tap this permanent"). When a permanent is tapped, you can’t tap it again until it’s been untapped (turned back upright). As your turn begins, untap your tapped cards so you can use them again.
To cast a spell, you must pay its mana cost (located in the upper right corner of the card) by tapping lands (or other permanents) to make the amount and type of mana which that spell requires. For example, if you were casting Serra Angel, which costs 
, you could tap three basic lands of any type to pay plus two Plains to pay .
Once a spell has been cast, one of two things happens. If the spell is an instant or a sorcery, you follow the instructions on the card, and then you put the card into your graveyard. If the spell is a creature, artifact, or enchantment, you put the card on the table in front of you. The card is now on the battlefield.
Cards on the battlefield are called permanents to differentiate them from instants and sorceries, which are never on the battlefield.
The most common way to win the game is to attack with your creatures. If a creature that is attacking an opponent isn’t blocked, it deals damage equal to its power to that opponent.
The middle phase of each turn is the combat phase. In your combat phase, you choose which of your creatures will attack, and you choose which opponents they will attack. Tap your creatures to show that they are attacking. Your opponents then choose which of their creatures will block, if any. Tapped creatures can’t be declared as blockers.
Once all blockers have been chosen, each creature—both attackers and blockers—simultaneously deals damage equal to its power (the number on the left side of the slash in the lower right corner of the card).
If damage is dealt to your opponent, they lose that much life.
If one of your attacking creatures is blocked by multiple creatures, you decide how to divide its combat damage among them. You must assign at least enough damage to the first blocking creature to destroy it before you can assign damage to the second one, and so on.
If a creature is dealt damage equal to or greater than its toughness over the course of a single turn (whether it be combat damage, damage from spells or abilities, or a combination of both), that creature is destroyed, and it goes to its owner’s graveyard (or "dies"). If a creature takes damage that isn’t enough to destroy it in a single turn, that creature stays on the battlefield, and the damage wears off at the end of the turn.
Eager Construct deals 2 damage to you. 
Eager Construct is destroyed. 
Both creatures survive. 
Dwarven Priest is destroyed.
In this example, Mesa Unicorn is attacking, and you have two creatures that can block. When you block one attacker with two or more creatures, your opponent must choose the order in which your blockers will take damage. Remember, the attacking player always chooses the order in which blocking creatures receive damage.
Eager Construct and Dwarven Priest will deal a total of 4 damage to Mesa Unicorn, which is enough to destroy it. Meanwhile, Mesa Unicorn can deal enough damage to destroy Eager Construct, but not enough to destroy Dwarven Priest. Since your opponent’s Mesa Unicorn will be destroyed in either case, they order Eager Construct before Dwarven Priest so that at least one of your creatures will be destroyed.
Once blockers have been ordered, damage is dealt. Mesa Unicorn deals 2 damage to Eager Construct, destroying it.
One of the most fun and interesting aspects of the Magic game is the tremendous number of unique cards you can play with, which in turn provide an incredibly wide range of things that could happen in any given game. This section is a reference for when you need to know more details about the rules of Magic.
Some spells and abilities use the word "target" to describe something that the spell or ability will affect. You must choose all targets for a spell when you cast it, and for an ability when it triggers or when you activate it. If you can’t meet the targeting requirements, you can’t cast the spell or use the ability. For example, if a spell has the text "Destroy target creature," but there are no creatures on the battlefield, you can’t cast that spell because it has no valid targets.
If a spell "deals damage to any target," you can choose any creature or player (or planeswalker, if a player has one) as a target for that spell.
Once you choose targets, you can’t change your mind later. When the spell or ability resolves, it checks the targets to make sure they’re still legal (that is, they’re still there and they still match the requirements of the spell or ability). If a target isn’t legal, the spell or ability can’t affect it. If none of the targets are legal, the spell or ability does nothing at all.
The stack is a game zone shared by all players (like the battlefield) where spells and abilities wait to resolve. Resolving a spell or ability simply means that its effect happens.
Using the Stack
When you cast a spell or activate an ability, it doesn’t resolve right away—it goes on the stack. Spells and abilities remain on the stack until both players choose not to cast any new spells or activate any new abilities. Triggered abilities also go on the stack until they resolve.
When you have finished putting spells and abilities on the stack, priority then passes to the next player in turn order, who may want to use a spell or ability of their own in response. Subsequent players (including you) can then respond to that player’s response, and so on—the result is a "stack" waiting to resolve. Spells and abilities remain on the stack until all players choose not to cast any new spells or activate any new abilities.
A general rule is that spells and abilities on the stack resolve one by one, beginning with the last one put on the stack.
Responding to Spells and Abilities
When you cast a spell or activate an ability, it doesn’t resolve right away—it goes on the stack. Spells and abilities remain on the stack until both players choose not to cast any new spells or activate any new abilities. Triggered abilities also go on the stack until they resolve.
Each player has an opportunity to cast an instant spell (or activate an activated ability) in response to any spell or ability that goes on the stack. If a player does decide to respond, their spell or ability goes on the stack on top of what was already waiting there. When all players pass—that is, decline to do anything more—the top spell or ability on the stack will resolve.
After a spell or ability resolves, both players again get the chance to respond. If no one does, the next thing waiting on the stack will resolve. If the stack is empty, the current step of the turn will end, and the game will proceed to the next step.
Example of Spells on the Stack
Your opponent casts Shock targeting your Eager Construct, a 2/2 creature. Shock goes on the stack. You respond to Shock by casting Titanic Growth. Titanic Growth goes on the stack on top of Shock. You and your opponent both decline to do anything else.
Titanic Growth resolves, making Eager Construct a 6/6 until the end of the turn. Then Shock resolves and deals 2 damage to the pumped-up Eager Construct, which is not enough to destroy it.
What would happen if Titanic Growth were cast first?
The Shock would go on the stack on top of Titanic Growth, which means it would resolve first this time. Shock would still deal 2 damage to Eager Construct, but this time that damage is being dealt before Titanic Growth can resolve and take effect—so 2 damage is enough to destroy Eager Construct!
Each turn proceeds in the same sequence. Whenever you enter a new step or phase, any triggered abilities that happen during that step or phase trigger and are put on the stack. The active player (the player whose turn it is) gets to start casting spells and activating abilities, then each other player in turn order will too. When all players decline to do anything more and nothing is on the stack waiting to resolve, the game will move to the next step.
-->
