If your dying to know how to play then you've come to the right site! Alright here's how to play.
Each player gets 1 deck containing a minimum of 40 cards, and start off with 20 life. Both players decide who goes first.
There are different card types in Magic. Here are the different card types:
Lands: These cards stay in play, and you may only play one each turn. Lands have different colours: Black, White, Green, Red, and Blue. The modern lands simply have a picture of their element in the text box, but older cards have had the text "Tap: add (land type) to your mana pool." Lands tap for mana of their colour, Forests tap for green, Swamps tap for black and so on. Mana is required to play any spell. For example, a card called Glory costs 3WW, that means 3 generic, or colourless mana, which can be payed by tapping anything, it wouldnt matter. However, the mana that matters is the WW, which would be the 2 plains mana it requires. This means you have to tap 2 plains, then 3 of anything else.
Creatures: These cards stay in play and have a power/toughness, which is located at the bottom right corner of the card. They may attack and block, and can have text that alters the game or has a special effect.
Sorceries: These cards are a one time use card and go into the graveyard after resolving. They have a number of effects and can only be played on your turn.
Instants: Instants are also a one time use card, and go into the graveyard after resolving. But the advantage to these is that you may play them whenever you want, as long as you get priority.
Enchantments: Enchantments are special cards that stay in play and have an effect on the game. They can have special abilities, or give creatures pluses or minuses.
Enchant ____: Enchant ____ are initially enchantments, but the difference is that Enchant ____ can enchant just about anything. A specific card type goes into the blank, for example, Enchant Land, or Enchant Creature. The enchantments sort of 'enchant the player'. An Enchant ____ stays in play enchanting the card it enchants.
Artifact: Artifacts are other cards that stay in play, but are very different from other card types. They are similar to enchantments since they can also have numerous effects. A difference is that most artifacts have the ability to tap. They are like an enchantment manifested into an object. There are also Artifact Creatures that count as both an Artifact and a Creature, and whatever creature type it may have. This means that you can destroy it with a Disenchant.
Whoever goes 1st doesn't draw because he/she has card advantage, EX: player 1 can have a land out, then play a spell right away. Here is how the turn goes:
Untap:
The current player untaps all permanents in play he or she controls. Permanents are cards that stay in play, these include enchantments, creatures, lands, and artifacts.
Upkeep:
Abilities that trigger at the beginning of upkeeps occur in this step. Players may also play instants and abilities on this phase.
Draw:
The current player draws a card.
Main Phase 1:
The current player may play land cards, instants, sorceries, enchantments, artifacts, or creatures on this phase.
Combat Phase:
This phase is where the current player's creatures may attack. Keep in mind that a creature played on this turn may not attack unless it has haste. To put it in old terms, it has 'summoning sickness' where it cannot attack or tap for abilities if it came into play on the same turn.
Declare Attackers:
The current player declares which creatures he or she will attack with. Later changes to this declaration may not be made. Instants and abilities may be played now.
Declare Blockers:
The defending player now chooses which of his or her creatures may block the current attacking creatures. He or she may choose not to block any of them. He or she can also decide to 'gang' up on an attacking creature. Attacking creatures do not get to decide what they attack, since their main target is the defending player that player may choose to block or not to block. Instants and abilities may be played on this phase.
Combat Damage:
This step is where the assigned damage takes effect. Instants and abilities may also be played at this phase.
Main Phase 2:
This phase is just like the first main phase, where you can play lands, creatures, enchantments, spells, and artifacts. You can still only play one land per turn.
End of Turn:
This phase is also the clean-up phase. Mana pools empty, and if you have 8 or more cards you are required to discard until you have 7.
There are 5 diffrent colours such as,swamp (black),plains (white),island (blue),mountain (red),forest (green). Each of these colours has a certain style, environment, and behaviour. When players build decks, they take these elements into consideration, as well as the cards that they currently have. Depending on which cards work well together, as well as the colours, players can build decks that are meant to stand against anything, a specific type or colour, or the deck can be made to just have fun, without the intention of winning, just to put some 'spice' into games.
Normally a Magic game is a one on one duel, but a game can also have multiple players, as a free-for-all, a team battle, or however players wish to play. Casually, players can also decide to raise or lower the life totals if certain players are more skilled than others.
Well, now that that is done through, there are certain abilities that creatures can have. There are many abilities that creatures in Magic possess, but there are some abilities that are the most common:
Flying: This creature may not be blocked except by creatures with flying
Trample: This is an ability that allows the creature's damage to carry over. Subtract the defending creatures toughness from the attacking creatures power, and that is how much damage goes through to the player, and the defending creature dies. EX: Brawn is 3/3 and has trample, and a Defiant Elf is a 1/1 with trample. If the Brawn attacks, and the Elf defends, 2 damage goes through to the player. Trample only takes effect on attacking creatures.
First Strike: This ability allows the creature to deal its combat damage first, before any other combat damage takes place. It is also known as first strike combat damage.
Haste: This ability lets the creature attack or tap for abilities on the turn that it is played.
Fear: This creature may not be blocked except by artifact creatures or black creatures.
There are also some other abilities, such as protection. Usually creatures of the later sets have protection from a colour. For example, let's say a creature card has protection from red. What this does is the creature may not be blocked by other creatures that are of the defined colour, red. It also means that red spells cannot target it (when a spell targets a creature, it says so on the card..."target creature", but if it says all or each then the protection fails to protect the creature from that, since it's a global effect), and it prevents any damage that comes from a red source. A source can be a spell, ability on the stack, or a permanent.
As for some little reminders, in the combat damage step, if a creature of high power destroys a creature of lower toughness, the damage doesnt go through. The creature assigns all its damage to the blocking creature(s), unless it has trample, then it must deal enough damage to kill the blocking creature(s), then whatever damage is leftover goes through to the opponent.