Magic: The Gathering gameplay

Game play
In a game of Magic, two players play the roles of powerful wizards (planeswalkers) engaging in a magical duel to the death. A player starts the game with twenty life and seven cards in their hand. If a player is reduced to zero life, that player loses the game. The object of Magic is to be the last surviving player.

Players fight each other by casting spell cards by drawing upon mana, or magical energy, from Land cards. There are two basic types of spells: those which create a "permanent", which stay on the table once they have been played, and those which affect the game immediately and are then put into their owners' graveyards. The types of cards are:


 * Lands: Are the most basic resource of the game. A player may only play one land per turn, a feature which regulates the speed of the game by limiting the amount of mana available early.


 * Creatures: Summon a magical creature or warrior that can attack the other player or be used for defense.
 * Artifacts: Represent machines, devices, automatons, magical items, armor, and weapons.
 * Enchantments: Modify the game environment or a specific permanent by generating an effect as long as they are in play.


 * Sorceries: Are spells which have a one-time effect on the game. Sorceries can only be played at specific times during the player's own turn, and are typically more powerful than Instants.
 * Instants: Can be used by the player at almost any time. Instants usually have a small effect on the game, but are valued for their versatility.

Each player has a library, or draw pile; a hand containing cards drawn but not yet played; an area on the table for his or her lands, creatures, etc. that are in play (cards in play are referred to as permanents); and a graveyard, or discard pile. Players may never look into the libraries (unless a card's ability allows you to do so) and may see their own hands only, but may normally view all the other cards on the table without restriction.

Game play is turn-based. During a turn, the active player untaps his tapped cards (returns them to their upright state), draws one card, plays at most one land from his or her hand, casts as many spells as he or she wants to and can afford (with mana), and may attack another player with one or more creatures. In order for a creature to be used as an attacker, it must have been in play before the current turn starts. The attacking player taps the creature card by turning it sideways to indicate he or she is attacking with that creature. The defending player may declare some of his or her creatures as blockers. Attacking creatures deal damage to their assigned blockers (equal to their power) and are likewise damaged by them. A creature that amasses in one turn more than a specific amount of damage (its toughness) dies and goes to its owner's graveyard. Unblocked attackers deal damage to the player they attacked, reducing that player's life points. All damage dealt to creatures that did not die is healed at the end of the turn.

The protocol for resolving spell cards and other abilities is known as the stack, or the LIFO (Last In, First Out) rule. The stack works like this: A player may play any number of successive spells or abilities when he or she has priority. However, none of these actions will resolve (that is, take effect) until the player with priority passes it to the other player, and that player passes in return. If the second player adds anything more to the stack, they go "on top" of the actions already there. When both players pass in succession, the top action on the stack resolves. If both players pass when there are no actions on the stack, the game moves on to the next phase. This protocol may sound complicated in writing, but in practice it is usually instantaneous.

Some spells have effects that override normal game rules (e.g., allow you to play more than one land per turn). Spell effects may contradict each other, and it is one of the more difficult aspects of gameplay to resolve these conflicts. A detailed and thorough rulebook exists to clarify conflicts in sanctioned play while casual play rules do exist for the more friendly games. The so-called "Golden Rule of Magic" is that if a card's text overrides a game rule, follow the card. Because of this very few rules in the game have not been broken. There are numerous cards that change the way combat works, allow players to play spells for free, or even force people to skip parts of their turn.

Deck construction
A player needs a deck ready before he can play a game of Magic. Beginners typically start with only a starter deck; but, over time, more cards are added to the player's stock through purchases or trading with other players. Due to the many possibilities, two players seldom play with the same decks. Normally, decks are required to be at least sixty cards. Players may use no more than four of any named card, with the exception of the "basic land" (staples of Magic).

Spells, and the mana required to play those spells, come in five colors: white, blue, black, red, and green. Each color has a basic land type associated with it: White/Plains, Blue/Island, Black/Swamps, Red/Mountains and Green/Forests.

The colors of Magic
The colors can be seen on the back of the cards, in a circle-like design, figuratively called the "color wheel". Starting from the top, going clockwise, they are: white, blue, black, red, and green. The colors adjacent to each other on the wheel are "allied" and can have similar/complementary abilities or strategic approaches. For example, blue has few efficient, aggressive creatures in general, but does have a relatively large number of flying creatures. White and black, being next to it, also have many flying creatures. Red and green are opposite blue and have very few flyers. The two non-adjacent colors to a particular color are "enemy" colors, and are often thematically opposed. For instance, red is the color of chaos, while white is the color of order.

A series of five articles written by Mark Rosewater describing each color in depth can be found at the game's official site at MagicTheGathering.com: The Great White Way, True Blue, In The Black, Seeing Red, and Its Not Easy Being Green

Variant rules

 * Multiplayer &mdash; The core game rules support one-on-one play, but the most popular play variants involve many players.  The simplest form is the "melee", where players sit in a circle and combat those around them to be the final surviving player.  Some melees involve attacking in one direction or the other (sometimes called "Assassin"), or can be played as a free-for-all.  One popular variant called "Rainbow" involves exactly five players, each one playing one of the colors of Magic and trying to defeat the diametrically opposed ones.  Team-based play is also extremely popular.  Teams of two (often called "Two-Headed Giant" (or "Ogre")) share many resources and have the common goal of defeating the other team.  In "Emperor", two teams of three or more players each play to ensure their central player (the emperor) outlasts the other. An official set of multiplayer rules is in the works.


 * Alternate deck contruction &mdash; Like chess, many variant forms of playing the game abound. In one system, players are allowed to use only one of each card instead of the usual limit of four – this is called "Singleton" or "Highlander" ("There can be only one").  In the "Pauper's Deck" or "Peasant Magic" variants, the more powerful rare cards are not allowed, and players must construct decks using only the more commonly available cards as a way of balancing the games away from players who have access to more resources.  In "5-Color" or "Prismatic Magic", players must build very large decks (at least 250 cards) and accommodate a minimum number (about 20) cards of each color.  In order to alleviate problems with the mana resource system, some play variants include rules for building decks without lands.  These often include other compensating controls, such as restricting players to one spell per turn or in using spell cards themselves to be played as lands and produce matching colored mana. In "Mental Magic", a common stack of random cards is used as decks for each player. Play is as normal except that the cards in their hand can be played as any card in the game with the same mana cost, but each such card can only be named once per game.

Playing Magic on the Internet

 * Magic Online &mdash; The official Internet-based version of Magic, provides for play against other people connected to the Internet. It recreates Magic: The Gathering gameplay closely, enforcing an extensive and actively updated knowledge of the game rules, provisions for social and card trading interactions, visual presentation of the same card art as the physical cards, and near-parallel release of new card sets both as physical and online cards. Magic Online does not charge for time online or per game played. Instead, the online cards must be purchased. Prices for online cards are comparable to prices for physical cards, at least in the United States. Each player's purchased cards "reside" on game servers.
 * Magic-League.com &mdash; Magic can be played online free of charge through Magic-League. The software used is a freeware programs called "Apprentice" and "NetDraft". Magic-League has its own ranking system and player base.
 * Generic Collectible Card Game (in beta testing as of October 2004) &mdash; GCCG is a program intended to support online play of multiple collectible card card games. It is a free open source program running on Linux, Mac OS and Microsoft Windows. Every player starts with the same amount of money (not real money), that can be used to buy closed card sets or cards from other players. Players create decks with these cards and then play against other players for money, cards or fun.
 * Magic Workstation &mdash; This shareware program (not affiliated with DCI or Wizards of the Coast) is a powerful tool that enables users to build decks and compete in online play.
 * OCTGN (pronounced Octagon) &mdash; is short for: Online Card and Tabletop Games Network. Allows you to play Magic and other games with up to 10 or more other players. It includes a deck editor and allows you to play with actual card images. OCTGN 1.0 is open source and currently being maintained and imporoved. OCTGN 2.0 is under development and promises an open protocol and clients for many operating systems, among other improvements.

Organized play

 * Main article: Duelists' Convocation International

Magic tournaments are arranged almost every weekend in gaming stores. Larger tournaments with hundreds of competitors from around the globe sponsored by Wizards of the Coast are arranged many times every year. Large sums of money are paid out to those players who place the best in the tournament, and the winner receives sums upward of US$30,000. A number of websites report on tournament news, give complete lists for the most currently popular decks, and feature articles on current issues of debate about the game. The Duelists' Convocation International (or DCI) is the organizing body for professional Magic events. The DCI is owned and operated by Wizards of the Coast.

There are two basic types of organized play, Constructed and Limited.

Constructed
In Constructed tournaments, each player comes with a pre-built deck. Decks must consist of no fewer than 60 cards, and no more than four of any one card (the basic land cards may be used in any quantity), just as in the standard game rules. Various tournament formats exist which define what card sets are allowed to be used, and which specific cards are disallowed.

Additionally, a 15-card sideboard is permitted, from which a player may tweak his or her deck during a match to better deal with their opponent's strategy. Following the first game of a best-of-three match, each player is permitted to replace any number of cards in his or her deck with an equal number of cards from his or her sideboard. The original deck configuration is restored at the conclusion of the match.

Limited
Limited tournaments are based on a pool of cards which the player receives at the time of the event. In sealed deck tournaments, each player has 75 cards from which to build their deck; in drafts, 45 cards. Any number of basic lands may also be added to the deck. The decks in limited tournaments need only be 40 cards; all the unused cards function as the sideboard.