Do's and Don't's For Teaching Someone To Play Magic the Gathering

by Julian

I was watching Nerdcore Rising the other night (documentary about a nerdy DJ called Frontalot) and one scene has a time lapse video of a dude teaching someone Magic the Gathering and stumbling through about 2 hours in the attempt.  It was sad to watch but I’ve seen others struggle with the same problem.  Now I know Magic has about a million and half rules, but explaining it really does not have to be such a daunting task.  It doesn’t require a detailed flow chart matrix and a weekend seminar.  You can teach your friend, your mom, or your kid to play magic in 15-20 minutes by using the right kind of decks and ignoring a whole host of rules they won’t really need until much much later.

Frustrated? Confused?  I'm here to help.

BUILDING THE DECKS

First start with the right decks.  This goes a long way to making the game easy to explain.  You don’t have to debate the complexities of Ice Cauldron if it isn’t the deck.  I recommend building two training decks for explaining to the new player.  Here are some do's and don’t's for the deck building:



I love this card and I'm still unsure about how it works!

DO build mono-colored decks with only basic land.  Need a mana, tap a land. Any land.

DON’T include non-land mana sources or lands that do special effects.  Keep the equation symbol.   Mana comes from tapping lands and this is the only thing lands do. Period.

DO include these five types of cards: lands, creatures, enchantments, sorceries, and instants.  New players need to get familiar with the different card types.

DON’T include artifacts or planeswalkers.  Artifacts come in a variety of types and basically mimic other card types like lands, creatures, or enchantments.  Players will easily get artifacts once they understand the other cards.  Don’t bog them down for now.  Plansewalkers should also be avoided as they are extremely rare and work like no other card.

DO include lots of creatures.  Make it a creature heavy deck.  If new players only get one solid thing out of their first few games it should be the basics of how combat works.

DON’T include creatures with tap effects.  Again, keep it simple.  Creatures tap to attack. That’s it.

DO build a deck with a strong theme and cards that work together.  New players should see how cards can build on other cards as part of the fun of Magic.  Tribal decks can be a good choice.

DON’T build a deck with complex cards, upkeep, or alternate win conditions.  To start, Magic is about summoning creatures and fighting it out.  A few spells for variety and creature boosting is fine, but don’t make them deal with fancy graveyard effects, deck milling, or anything that requires an upkeep.  Focus on solid, straight forward effects.

TEACHING THE GAME

Now that you’ve good built good decks for explaining the game, here are some tips for actually teaching it:

Shove aside your vast Magic knowledge and focus on the basics.

DO tell them the story of magic, but make it quick and simple.  You are both wizards summoning creatures and casting spells to try and defeat your opponent.  Tell them the theme of the deck they are about to play to help them be excited about the type of wizard they are.

DON’T explain their entire deck before they start.  They don’t need to know every card or special ability.  Tell them about haste or deathtouch when a creature hits the battlefield that has it. 

DO explain the cards in this order: Lands (you play one a turn and they are how you cast any spells). Creatures (you summon them, they stick around and your main way of attacking your opponent).  Enchantments (these are permanent effects that modify the game or specific creatures).  Sorceries and Instants (These are effects that happen right now and go away.  They are essentially the same card types except instants you can play out of turn, in response to things, and during combat).

DON’T explain the stack or resolving multiple card effects until it comes up in the course of play.

DO explain the following basics of combat.  Creatures tap to attack.  The defending player may assign untapped creatures to block.  If unblocked, attacking creatures deal their power in damage to the defender.  If blocked, an attacking creature fights the creature that blocked it.  They each hit each other at the same time with their power.  Any creature that takes a hit equal to or greater than its toughness dies and goes to the graveyard.

DON’T explain blocking one attacker with multiple creatures.  For the first game or two, just let it be that one creature blocks one attacker.

DO play with hands revealed for the first few games or at least the first several turns.  New players will have lots of questions about their cards and this will just speed up the explanations.  Likewise, they can see what you are considering and you can explain your choices and why you made them.

DON’T tell them what to do on every single turn.  Give them guidance for the first several turns, answer any questions they ask, and then let them explore their own deck.  Part of the fun of magic is discovery and you will ruin their first play experience if you hold their hand every step of the way.

Please let me know if you find these tips helpful or not and share any tips of your own in the comments!