Things You'll Need:
- Magic the Gathering Card (40)
- Something to keep track of you 20 life points (most people use a dice but paper and pencil work to)
- Something to keep track of other points (again a dice or two works well but so do small chips or paper and pencil)
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Step 1
The game is started with each player having 20 life points and a library of 40 card. Many players use a 20 sided die but anything can be used to track the life points. I don't recommend using your's or your partners memory, do to the nature of the game.
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Step 2
If you've opted to have die on hand to track your life points, as well as other game values, you now need to role the die to determine who starts. The winner of the roll determines who goes first, they may select to go first or second. If you've opted to forgo the die, then youngest player chooses.
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Step 3
Since you've reached this point, I'm assuming you have your 40 card pre-built Magic the Gathering card deck, both players draw 7 cards from the library; also known as your 40 card deck. The cards are face down so you wont know what cards you getting until you draw them and add them to your hand. If you do not like your hand, ie. you don't draw any mana or you draw all mana, then you will want to shuffle your hand back into the library and draw a new set of card minus 1 (this is a mulligan). First draw is 7, first mulligan draw 6 card, second mulligan draw 5 cards, ets.
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Step 4
So at this point each player has 7 card in their hand, a library of 33 cards, no discards in the 'graveyard', no mana in play, no creatures in play and no other cards in play. The player who won the die roll or is the youngest, starts the game by playing a mana card. Mana is covered in more detail in other articles but its basically that bland looking card that says 'Basic Land - ' under the picture to the left side.
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Step 5
If no other card can be played then its the next persons turn. This is not uncommon for the first player to play a 'Land' card and be done. With only one land card in play, there are few cards that can be played. After playing the mana, the starting player says 'Go' and now its the next players turn.
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Step 6
Unlike the starting player, the second player draws a card from the library then plays a mana card. Each player can only have 7 card in their hand at the end of their turn, so any additional cards will need to be discarded into the discard pile (also known as the 'Graveyard').
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Step 7
The starting player now has his/her second turn. The starting player draws a card and plays another mana if available. At this point the first player should now have 2 mana cards in front of them, if they were able to play mana on both turns. Having two mana available for play gives the player more of a chance to play an additional card, by 'spending' the mana in front of them. This is when a player might play a creature card, instant card, enchantment card, or sorcery card. (Spending Mana: everything has a cost, as you collect man in front of you you can 'Spend' or use it as needed. Mana that has not been spent should be in fron of you vertical, so you can read the 'Basic Land' label. To indicate that its being spent, turn it horizontal in front of you so now the many is on its side.) When you are done with your turn say 'Go' to the next player.
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Step 8
The next player takes his/her turn by setting all of their card horizontal or up-right, drawing a card, playing their mana, playing cards (instant, sourcery, creature, enchantment) and finally attacking or not. At this point the game is on and the person with the best deck and playing skill will win.
