playbasic

How to Play: The Basics

Before any actual playing can begin, we have to define a few terms:

Tap: To tap a card, you don't actually tap it with your finger: You turn it sideways. All cards automatically untap during the untap phase of your turn (see phases for more information on the untap phase). Once a card has been tapped, it usually remains tapped until the untap phase of your turn, though there are some cards that untap themselves or other cards.
Tapping can also be represented by the arrow symbol:

Mana: Mana is a magical energy that allows Planeswalkers to use their spells and summon their creatures. Mana comes in 5 types: White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green. Each color has a different flavour, or general theme, to its cards. The themes are as follows:

White is the color of peace and protection. White heals, defends, and aids. In game terms, white has alot of spells that make creatures tougher and several that prevent damage or give protection.

Blue is the color of mystery and intrigue. Blue mages are mysterious and unpredictable, not inherently evil, but as changing as the waves of the sea. Blue has few land-based creature, but it has many fliers and birds. Blue spells deny opponents their spells, and take control of them when they can.

Black is the color of death and decay. Black will rot your skin off your bones, then pick them up and turn them into a skeleton. Black has many ways of killing creatures, as well as a number of creatures with unusual abilities. Black spells kill or destroy, as well as taking things from the graveyard or weakening creatures.

Red is the color of anger and haste. Red is quick, vicious, and brutal. Red has ALOT of cheap, fast damage spells that can hurt your opponent or their creatures.
Red doesn't have very many large creatures, but it does have a fair number of small, fast ones. Primarily, red's strength is fast damage.

Green tranquility and strength in numbers. Green will crush you under root and talon. Green has alot of creatures (some of the largest in the game), but not too many spells. Green spells primarily focus on powering up creatures, either by making them stronger or giving them extra abilities. Green is life.

Where to Start

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Land: A land is a card that produces mana. The easiest way to find out if a card is a land or not is to look at its type (the words just below the picture). If it says land, then it's a land. There are five lands that don't have any text on them, just a symbol. These are known as basic lands. Their names (and corresponding mana types) are:

Plains

Island

Swamp

Mountain

Forest