How a Magic: The Gathering Turn Works

Magic: The Gathering has been around since 1993, and its turn structure is older than most of its fans. That is good news for a newcomer. The rhythm of a turn stays steady even as thousands of new cards arrive. Learn the rhythm once and you can follow almost any game.

This guide explains a Magic turn in plain language, then walks through a short example with four classic cards. It is an overview, not a rulebook. The full rules come from Wizards of the Coast, and they get updated over time, so use the official rules when you need an exact answer.

The goal and your life total

Each player is a wizard, called a planeswalker in the game's story. You and your opponent each start with a life total, and the common starting number in two-player games is 20. You win by dropping your opponent to zero life. You also win if they have to draw from an empty deck, and a few rare cards offer other ways to win.

You reduce life with creatures that attack and with spells that deal damage straight to a player. You protect your own life with blockers, removal spells and the occasional card that gains life.

Players build their own decks before the game. Constructed decks commonly hold sixty cards, and each player starts by drawing seven. Casual games may use other sizes or rules, so ask your group.

Lands, mana and the five colors

Almost everything in Magic costs mana. Mana is the game's fuel, and you make it with land cards. In a normal turn you can play one land from your hand. Lands stay on the table, and each one can be tapped, which means turned sideways, to produce one mana.

The game has five colors, shortened to WUBRG: white, blue, black, red and green. Each color has a personality, and our page on mana and the five colors goes deeper. Here is a quick summary in everyday words.

White favors order, protection and small armies.
Blue favors knowledge, tricks and stopping the opponent's plans.
Black favors power at a cost, and is happy to pay life or sacrifice things.
Red favors speed and direct damage.
Green favors big creatures and growth.

Each basic land produces one color, and the cost in the corner of a spell tells you how much of each color you need. A number in the cost means generic mana, which any color can pay. A colored symbol means that color specifically. A deck can use one color or several, but the more colors you add, the harder it is to produce the right mana at the right time.

The structure of a turn

A turn has a fixed order. Think of it as a short checklist you repeat.

Untap. You turn all your tapped cards upright again. Nobody can cast anything here, so you simply refresh the table.
Upkeep. A short window in which some cards trigger, and players may respond with fast spells. For a new player it is often empty.
Draw. You draw a card. In a two-player game, the player who goes first usually skips this on the first turn.
Main phase. The big planning step. You can play a land, cast creatures and cast sorceries.
Combat. You decide whether to attack with creatures. We cover this in its own section below.
Second main phase. A second chance to play a land or cast spells after combat is over.
End step and cleanup. The turn wraps up and some effects happen. Then, in the cleanup step, you discard down to seven cards if you hold more than that, and damage on creatures wears off.

Why two main phases? Because holding a spell until after combat can hide information from your opponent. If you cast a creature before attacking, they know what is on the table. If you wait, they have to guess.

Card types and what stays on the table

Magic cards fall into a few types, and our card types page gives a broader look. The ones you will see first are these.

Land cards make mana. They are not cast. You simply put one into play.
Creature cards are your attackers and blockers. They have power, which is the damage they deal, and toughness, which is how much damage they can take before they die.
Sorcery cards are one-time spells you cast only in your own main phase, when nothing else is happening.
Instant cards are one-time spells you can cast almost any time, including on the opponent's turn.
Artifact and Enchantment cards are objects and lasting effects that stay in play.
Planeswalker cards are powerful allies that arrived in 2007.

It helps to separate permanents from spells. A permanent is a card that stays on the table after it resolves: lands, creatures, artifacts, enchantments and planeswalkers. A spell is a card while you are casting it. Instants and sorceries are spells that do their job and then go to the graveyard, which is the discard pile.

Casting spells and the stack

To cast a spell, you show the card, pay its cost by tapping lands, and put it on the stack. The stack is a waiting line for spells. When you cast something, your opponent gets a chance to respond, usually with an instant. If they cast a spell, it lands on top of yours. The line then resolves from the top down, so the last spell cast happens first.

A simple picture: you stack plates, and you can only take off the top one. Our page on instants and the stack goes through it with more detail.

This is why timing matters so much in Magic. A burn spell can answer a creature before it does anything. A counterspell can stop another spell from happening at all. And a creature with flash can appear at a surprising moment. The order you cast things in changes the result.

One more habit helps new players. Before you cast anything, say out loud what you are doing, then pause. If your opponent wants to respond, this is their moment. Friendly tables use that pause all the time, and it prevents arguments about what happened first. Experienced players do the same thing, which is how the stack stays fair even in casual games with no judge.

Combat basics

Combat is where creatures do their work. It has a clear order too.

Declare attackers. You choose which of your untapped creatures attack. Attacking taps them, with a few exceptions.
Declare blockers. The defending player may block an attacker with an untapped creature of their own. Each blocker stops one attacker.
Damage. Attackers and blockers deal damage equal to their power. An unblocked attacker hits the player.
End of combat. Combat wraps up. Creatures that took damage equal to their toughness have already died and gone to the graveyard as soon as the damage was dealt.

Damage on a creature wears off at the end of the turn. A creature that survives combat starts the next turn fresh.

Some creatures have keyword abilities that change this. Flying is the best-known: a creature with flying can only be blocked by another creature with flying or with a related ability. That makes flyers hard to stop for decks without them. Another example is vigilance, which lets a creature attack without tapping, so it can still block on the next turn.

Finally, there is the idea of summoning sickness. A creature that came under your control this turn cannot attack, and it cannot use abilities that require tapping, until your next turn begins. Creatures with haste are the exception. The rule keeps a new creature from doing anything until it has been on the table for a full turn.

A worked example: four classic cards

Let us follow a small game. This is a general description, not a literal quote of any card, so look at the real cards for their exact words. Two players sit down. Anna plays green and red. Ben plays white and blue. All four cards below come from the very first set, Limited Edition Alpha.

Anna's first turn. She untaps, which does nothing yet, and skips the draw because she is going first. In her main phase she plays a Forest, which gives her one green mana. She casts Llanowar Elves, a small green creature that can later tap itself for green mana. It has summoning sickness, so it cannot tap for mana this turn. It sits there quietly.

Ben's first turn. He draws, plays an Island and passes. He has nothing to cast yet.

Anna's second turn. Now the Elves can work. Anna plays a Mountain and has a Forest, a Mountain and the Elves, which makes three mana. That is one more than a normal second turn. This is why cards that make extra mana are so popular. She holds Lightning Bolt, a cheap red instant that deals a small amount of direct damage. She does not use it yet, and she keeps mana open.

Ben's later turn. After a few turns Ben has five lands, two of them Plains and the rest able to pay for the generic part of the cost. He casts Serra Angel, a white creature with flying and vigilance. He taps his lands, and he leaves none open, because the angel costs everything.

The Angel attacks. On Ben's next turn, the Angel attacks Anna. She has no flyer, so she cannot block it. The Angel hits her for its full power. And because it has vigilance, it did not tap, so it can still defend on Anna's turn.

The answer. Anna wants to stop the Angel. Lightning Bolt alone is not enough, because the Angel is tougher than the Bolt's damage. So she waits, builds her own board and plans a turn where the Bolt joins other damage. This is a real decision in Magic: sometimes the best play is to hold a spell until it can do the most.

The counter. Later, Anna casts a big spell. Ben has two blue lands open and a copy of Counterspell. In response, he casts it. It goes on the stack above Anna's spell, resolves first and cancels it. Anna's spell goes to the graveyard without doing anything. This single exchange shows the stack, the value of leaving mana open and why blue is called the color of control.

Look back at what the example taught. Mana growth let Anna act early. A creature with flying and vigilance pressured Anna while still guarding at home. An instant held in reserve changed the result of a turn. Those three ideas, tempo, evasion and timing, show up in nearly every Magic game, whatever the cards are.

Common beginner mistakes

Missing a land drop. You can play one land per turn. If you have one in hand and skip it, you fall behind on mana.
Tapping out when you did not need to. Holding mana for an instant keeps your opponent guessing. Using everything on your own turn can leave you open.
Forgetting summoning sickness. A creature you just cast cannot attack, so do not plan a surprise attack around it.
Attacking with everything. If you tap all your creatures to attack, nothing is left to block. Keep a defender when you are racing close.
Too many colors. A deck of three or four colors needs many lands of each kind. New players usually do better with one or two colors.
Casting a spell too early. A removal spell used on the first weak creature may be missing when a stronger one arrives.
Skipping the response window. When you cast something, give the opponent a moment to answer. When they cast something, ask if you can respond before it resolves.

Where to go next

You now know the full loop of a Magic turn: untap, draw, build your board, fight, then clean up. To keep exploring, try these pages.

The Magic: The Gathering hub
Magic Alpha: A Deep Dive into the First Set
Snapcaster Mage, a good card for seeing how flash works
Pokémon vs. Magic vs. Yu-Gi-Oh!