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In a game of Magic, two (or sometimes more) players play the roles of so-called planeswalkers (powerful wizards) engaging in a magical duel to the death. Every player has a number of life points; once these reach zero (depleted by damage or by life loss) he or she loses. In addition, if a player is unable to draw a card from his library (the deck of cards he started with) when required, or if the player has accumulated ten or more poison counters, that player loses. Specific cards may add other ways to win or lose the game. The last surviving player is declared the winner.
Players fight each other by playing lands and spells from their hand. Spells are played by drawing upon mana, or magical energy, which is generated by land cards. There are thousands of different spell cards, which come from collectible sets (hence the term collectible card game or trading card game). There are two basic types of spells: those which create a "permanent" and those which effect the game immediately and are then discarded. The types of cards are:
In detail, playing spells or abilities of cards works like this: The player announces the spell or abilty; then he or she chooses any modes, variables, alternative or additional costs, etc.; then he or she declares targets (if any), and decides in which way the spell will affect each target; then the cost of the spell is determined and fixed, there is a time to get mana, usually by tapping (turning sideways) a number of land cards; and at last he or she pays all costs. ("Tapping" a card indicates that its resources are being expended for the duration of the current turn.) Typical lands produce one mana of a particular type or color. There are five basic lands, and each produces a specific color of mana: Plains generate one white mana, Islands one blue mana, Swamps one black mana, Mountains one red mana, and Forests one green mana. This mana is added to the player's mana pool. The cost of the spell is most often a mana cost, displayed in the upper-right corner of the card. Some cards have alternate or additional costs.
Each player has a library where cards from the deck that have not yet been drawn are kept; 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 where spent spells or destroyed permanent cards are discarded. 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 view all the other cards on the table without restriction. There are also lesser-used zones called the "phased out" zone and the removed from game zone; in both cases only a few cards make use of it.
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. 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, even forcing people to skip parts of their turn.
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