The five colors, how turns work, what Commander is, and a playable mono-red budget deck to get you started.
The Five Colors of Magic
Magic's entire design philosophy flows from the five colors. Each color represents a philosophy, a playstyle, and a mechanical identity. Most powerful strategies combine two or three colors, but mono-color decks are excellent for learning.
⚪ White — Order and Law
Small creatures, removal spells, life gain, mass board wipes (Wrath of God), group protection. Values structure. Best at controlling the board.
🔵 Blue — Knowledge and Control
Counterspells, card draw, flying creatures, bounce effects. Reactive and reactive. Draws cards, says no to everything. Tempo and control archetypes.
⚫ Black — Power and Ambition
Discard, removal of any permanent, reanimating creatures from the graveyard, tutor spells (search your library). Pays life as a resource freely.
🔴 Red — Chaos and Aggression
Burn spells (Lightning Bolt), fast small creatures, haste, direct damage to opponents. Wins games before opponents set up. Explosive and linear.
🟢 Green — Nature and Growth
Mana acceleration (ramp), large creatures, trample, fighting, destroying artifacts and enchantments. Gets ahead on resources and overwhelms.
The Color Wheel
Adjacent colors on the wheel are allies and share some overlap (White/Blue both care about order; Green/White both care about community). Opposite colors are enemies and philosophically opposed (Red is chaotic, White is lawful; Green grows slowly, Blue manipulates). Two-color decks often take the name of their guild pairing: Blue-Black is "Dimir," Red-Green is "Gruul," etc.
Card Types Explained
Lands: Your primary mana source. You play one land per turn from your hand. Basic lands (Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, Forest) tap for one mana of their color.
Creatures: Permanents that stay on the battlefield and can attack or block. They have Power (damage they deal) / Toughness (damage they can absorb before dying), shown as 2/3, etc.
Instants: Can be cast at any time — even on your opponent's turn or in response to other spells. One-time effects that go to the graveyard.
Sorceries: Like instants but can only be cast on your own turn during a main phase. One-time effects.
Enchantments: Permanent spells that stay on the battlefield. Can modify the game rules, creatures (Auras), or create ongoing effects.
Artifacts: Colorless permanents — equipment, mana rocks, utility pieces. Any deck can run them.
Planeswalkers: Powerful allies with loyalty counters. Each turn you can activate one loyalty ability: [+X] adds loyalty, [−X] removes it. At 0 loyalty they die.
Turn Structure — All Phases
A complete MTG turn has five phases, some with multiple steps. Understanding the phases is essential for knowing when you can cast spells and activate abilities.
Beginning Phase: Three steps — Untap (untap all your permanents), Upkeep (trigger "at the beginning of your upkeep" effects), Draw (draw one card).
First Main Phase: Play one land, cast sorceries, cast creatures, cast artifacts, cast enchantments, cast planeswalkers. Both players can cast instants and activate abilities at any point opponents receive priority.
Combat Phase: Declare attackers (tap attacking creatures), opponent declares blockers, then damage is dealt simultaneously. Trample pushes excess damage through. Flying creatures can only be blocked by flyers or creatures with reach.
Second Main Phase: Same as first main phase. Useful for casting creatures after combat so they can attack next turn with haste, or for using mana you didn't spend attacking.
End Phase: Two steps — End step (last chance to cast instants before cleanup), Cleanup (discard to maximum hand size of 7, remove damage from creatures, end "until end of turn" effects).
Priority Tip
After each action, the active player receives priority to cast spells or activate abilities. If they pass, the non-active player receives priority. When both players pass in succession without acting, the game moves to the next step or phase. This is how instants can be cast "in response" to other spells.
Mana and the Mana System
Mana is the fundamental resource of Magic. Lands tap to produce mana; spells cost mana to cast. The number in the upper-right corner of a card is its mana cost. A card costing {2}{R}{R} requires two generic mana (any color) and two red mana.
Converted Mana Cost (CMC) / Mana Value: The total numeric value of a spell's cost, counting all symbols. A {2}{R}{R} spell has mana value 4.
Tapping: Rotating a card 90° to indicate it's been used. Lands tap for mana; creatures tap to attack or activate tap abilities. Tapped permanents cannot attack or block.
Mana Curve: The distribution of mana costs in your deck. Aggressive decks want low curves (1–3 mana); control decks can afford higher curves with mana acceleration.
How to Win
Each player starts at 20 life. The most common win condition is reducing your opponent's life total to 0 through combat damage or burn spells. Other win conditions include:
Alternate win conditions: Cards like Thassa's Oracle (win if library is empty) or Approach of the Second Sun (cast it twice).
Decking: If a player must draw from an empty library, they lose.
Poison counters: If a player accumulates 10 poison counters (from Infect creatures), they lose regardless of life total.
Formats Overview
Standard: The rotating competitive format. Only the most recent 2–3 years of sets legal. Rotates annually. The cheapest entry point for competitive play.
Pioneer: Cards from 2012 onward, no rotation. Larger card pool than Standard, smaller than Modern.
Modern: Cards from 8th Edition (2003) onward. Deep, complex format. Expensive but stable.
Legacy: Almost everything legal except a banned list. The Power Nine are not legal (restricted in Vintage). Dual Lands required.
Vintage: Everything legal with a small Restricted list. Power Nine decks exist. Extremely expensive.
Commander (EDH): 100-card singleton format, multiplayer. See below.
Draft / Sealed: Limited formats using booster packs. Levels the playing field — great for learning.
Commander (EDH) Explained
Commander is the most popular way to play Magic. It's designed for 4 players in a free-for-all, though 1v1 Commander is also played. Each player starts at 40 life.
The Rules
100 cards total, singleton (only 1 copy of each card, except basic lands)
One Commander — a legendary creature (or certain planeswalkers) that starts in the Command Zone, can be cast from there for its mana cost, and returns to the Command Zone when it dies (with an extra 2 generic mana added to its cost each time — "Commander Tax")
Your deck's cards must only use mana symbols that appear in your Commander's color identity (the colored mana symbols in its cost and rules text)
Commander damage: If a single Commander deals 21 combat damage to one player, that player loses, regardless of life total
Why Commander Is Popular
Commander games last 2–4 hours and feel like political sessions — alliances shift, table dynamics matter, and single powerful cards feel impactful rather than being countered every turn. Casual Commander pods don't require expensive cards to be fun; cEDH (competitive EDH) is a hyper-optimized variant with its own meta.
Budget Mono-Red Burn Deck (Modern Legal)
Mono-red burn is one of Magic's oldest and most consistent strategies: deal damage with cheap spells and fast creatures, win before your opponent stabilizes. This budget version runs under $50 and teaches the core gameplay loop.
Count
Card Name
Role
4
Goblin Guide
1-mana 2/2 haste creature
4
Monastery Swiftspear
1-mana 1/2 haste, prowess
4
Eidolon of the Great Revel
Burn both players for cheap spells
4
Lightning Bolt
3 damage for {R} — the best burn spell
4
Lava Spike
3 damage to opponent for {R}
4
Rift Bolt
3 damage, suspend 1 for {R}
4
Searing Blaze
Damages player and creature
4
Skullcrack
3 damage, stops life gain
4
Light Up the Stage
Spectacle {R}: exile top 2, play until next turn
4
Shard Volley
3 damage for {R} + sac a land
4
Inspiring Vantage (budget alt: Sacred Foundry)
Fast land (or shock land)
16
Mountain
Basic land
4
Fiery Islet (budget: Sunbaked Canyon)
Horizon land / cantrip land
Sideboard (15 cards)
4× Smash to Smithereens (vs. artifacts)
4× Roiling Vortex (vs. life gain, cascade)
3× Searing Blood (vs. small creatures)
4× Deflecting Palm (vs. Tron, combo one-shots)
Playing the Deck
Your goal is to deal 20 damage before turn 4. Always lead with a haste creature turn 1. Burn spells go face (at the opponent's life total) unless a creature threatens to block and survive — removal is secondary to winning the race. Track their life total aggressively; knowing when 7 damage is lethal with two cards in hand is the skill of burn.
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