Hello new MTG players! - MTGZone
This post is primarily intended to refresh this community so it shows up in
other Lemmy instances! But it’s also great information taken from the Reddit MTG
community
[https://old.reddit.com/r/mtg/comments/1n886vo/hey_new_player_how_to_get_into_magic_a_guide/]
that could be helpful here as well! ### What is Magic: the Gathering A bit
backwards but these are your best friends from now on. Here’s how to get the
“advanced basics” down: * The Comprehensive Rules of the game:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/rules [https://magic.wizards.com/en/rules]. You
don’t need to read or know it by heart. You only need to understand how to find
information from it. Good luck. * The MTG Wiki: https://mtg.wiki/
[https://mtg.wiki/] - has a lot of information about the game but most
importantly the pages summarize key concepts and rules in layman’s terms. *
Individual Rulings for cards: https://scryfall.com/advanced
[https://scryfall.com/advanced] — this is the Advanced Search page. You can
search for multiple things but the important bit about this bullet point is to
search for a card, go to the card’s page and scroll down a bit to find the
section called “Rulings”. Rulings explain how the card interacts with other
cards in edge cases. Use this if the Comprehensive Rules cannot answer your
question. Example: Artisan of Kozilek’s Rulings - this link leads straight to
the Rulings section. * Ask MTG questions here or at /c/mtg! Head over to the
more active https://mtgzone.com/c/mtg [https://mtgzone.com/c/mtg] — it’s very
new player friendly. * MTG rules community on Reddit:
https://reddit.com/r/mtgrules [https://reddit.com/r/mtgrules] - here you can ask
for rules help. A semi-quick and usually very accurate way of getting answers. *
The MTG Live Judge Q&A Chat: https://web.libera.chat/#magicjudges-rules
[https://web.libera.chat/#magicjudges-rules]. This chat has judges that can
answer your questions. Sometimes there are no judges online so it’s a bit of a
toss of a coin. Usually there are and this is your best bet in getting a quick
ruling. I’d still prefer posting on the Rules subreddit mentioned directly
above. * Don’t be afraid to ask questions, ever. If you feel like you don’t
understand what’s going on—ask someone. This is the best way to learn: play a
lot of games and make sure you always understand what is happening. As stated
above, these are mostly ways to gain knowledge about the inner workings of the
game. It’s good to know these resources exist but you don’t have to go and read
the entire Comprehensive Rules PDF, for example. ### Commander Commander (also
known as EDH) is hands down the most popular format right now. Don’t be fooled -
it’s one of the more difficult ways to get into Magic. It’s also a lot of fun
and it’s easy to find Commander games both online and in real life (at your
Local Game Store, for example). This is to say it’s a bit of a double-edged
sword. Out community is [email protected] [/c/[email protected]], and on Reddit it
is r/edh. Take the following things into account when considering Commander as
your first format: * Commander is a multiplayer game. While you don’t absolutely
need four players the suggested and “truest” Commander experience is to have
four players that play with similarly powered decks using their deck building
skill, interactions knowledge and a vast understanding of the rules of the game.
* Commander is also a multiplayer game which requires you to navigate your way
through social situations, make deals and put down some table politics in order
to win. * Commander is yet again a multiplayer game of four people. Your
expected win rate is thus 25% which by default means that you’ll lose the vast
majority of your games. That can be a bit depressing; not getting the euphoria
of winning. * Commander is a singleton format. This means that you have 60-100
different cards (depending a bit on how you choose to build your deck) in your
deck. The deck always has 100 cards but there can be up to around 40 Basic Lands
that have next to no Rules text. This means that not only you have to understand
60+ cards worth of Rules but also your opponents’ interactions with your cards
as well. It’s a lot to take in at once. * Some cards legal in Commander are old.
Sometimes the text on the card itself is extremely confusing, outdated and
sometimes even straight up misleading or wrong. You always need to check the
official Rules text online. * Commander games take a long time. Some people who
are familiar with the game and each others’ decks can finish a game in less than
an hour. Sometimes - especially when you’re new to the format and need to read a
lot of the cards being played - games take 3+ hours to finish. It’s irritating
if you’re in a pod with one or more abrasive personalities and may feel like
wasted time. Playing against decks / archetypes you haven’t seen before can be a
total brain fry, too. #### Preconstructed decks There exist preconstructed decks
for Commander specifically. They’re not made equal - some pack more punch than
others and without knowing a bit about the game it’s hard to gauge that. If you
end up playing with uneven decks the experience may be sour and feel like you
didn’t even get a chance or couldn’t make an impact. * These preconstructed
decks are not introductory products to Magic - they’re simply an easy way to get
going in Commander without having to spend a lot of time researching cards and
building a deck. * Some preconstructed decks are incredibly expensive for
varying reasons. If you’re planning on upgrading your deck this is now the point
of no return. You can throw all the cash in the world at Commander and still
feel like there’s more to do. It’s sometimes a fun thing but you’ve been warned.
#### Deckbuilding and power level Commander as a format has guidelines on how to
assess your deck. It’s called the Bracket System and it categorizes decks into
five categories based on the play experience you’re looking for. There is a
correlation when it comes to how efficient the decks in each Bracket are but the
system isn’t necessarily a 1:1 power scale. As a new player you’ll probably end
up playing Bracket 2 (a very relaxed and casual bracket looking to maximise
fun). Higher Brackets are often faster paced and jumping straight into those may
be a rough experience as it’s usually expected that people have more advanced
game knowledge. More info on the Bracket System: * This is the initial release
article:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/introducing-commander-brackets-beta
[https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/introducing-commander-brackets-beta].
It covers the basic idea and intent behind the Bracket System. * This is the
update article:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/commander-brackets-beta-update-april-22-2025
[https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/commander-brackets-beta-update-april-22-2025].
It covers some minor tweaks to the original guidelines. So… starting with
Commander is rough due to the steep learning curve but the social aspects of it
are rewarding and may outweigh the difficulty of learning to play this way.
Personally I advice against learning through Commander and would use either one
of the options below. You can also alternate between these methods of learning
and playing Commander in conjunction with them to get the best of both worlds.
### Magic: The Gathering Arena and online play Magic: The Gathering Arena (also
known as MTGA) is an online version of Magic. The official information package
can be found at https://magic.wizards.com/en/mtgarena
[https://magic.wizards.com/en/mtgarena]. You don’t play against your friends but
certain features of MTGA are very helpful in learning the basics of the game by
yourself. Out community is [email protected] [/c/[email protected]] and the
dedicated subreddit for MTGA is r/MagicArena. #### General features * The
tutorials and bots that you can play against. This is the most important part
that we will focus on. You can skip the rest of the bullet points safely unless
you’re curious what MTGA is actually intended for. * Mainly used to play
different kinds of Magic formats, often competitively. Namely: * Standard - the
way Magic was designed to be played shortly after the release of the game. There
are a limited number of sets (Magic expansions) that are legal at a time and
they rotate when new sets come out. * Alchemy - an online-exclusive format with
mechanics that only work in a game engine that does certain things for you. *
Historic - a format where you play cards that are no longer Standard-legal but
once were. * Brawl - a two-player format similar to Commander in some aspects. *
Timeless - a format where any card in MTGA’s engine is legal to play. The card
pool is huge. * Draft - a format where you are given packs of random cards that
you construct a deck out of. The deck construction phase includes you passing
Booster packs and picking cards from each pack that’s passed to you. Then you
play against other people who have done the same. This explanation cuts a lot of
the nuances of the format but you get the main idea, I hope. You use different
kinds of in-game currencies to build your decks and participate in events.
Ranked games where you can become the best of the best on a scoreboard of sorts.
#### Tutorials The tutorials and bots that you can play against are the most
important aspect here. You’re given preconstructed decks with relatively easy
mechanics and your opponent is a bot that plays similarly powered decks. The
tutorial offers you a very comprehensive walkthrough of how to play Magic. This
tutorial will cover some core aspects of the game: * How to read cards and their
rules text. (Often reading the card explains the card…) * What kind of things
you need to have in your deck for it to function. * How the game begins and what
kind of things you can do (mostly Mulliganing i.e. drawing a new starting hand
if you didn’t like the previous one). * What the turn structure is and how you
can play cards during players’ turns. * Basics of “the stack” - a fundamental
part of the game. The stack is a system that lets you react to game events.
These can be your own plays, your opponent’s plays, a triggered event, and so
forth. * Basics of “threat assessment”. This is an important part of the game:
you need to learn how to identify what game actions your opponent(s) do are
bigger threats than others. You learn to react to those actions accordingly.
This is the strategic aspect of the game. * And a bit more. All in all it’s a
somewhat comprehensive package to get you playing. The game walks you through
most of the stuff you need to know, step by step in detail. You don’t have to
care about the other formats on MTGA at all - you can just do the tutorial and
uninstall the game. Alternatively you can play games against other beginners to
get a feel of how things work with other humans. The “proper” formats in MTGA
aren’t technically pay-to-win but realistically you have to spend some real
world money to get started and/or play daily to grind those in-game currencies
mentioned before. The tutorial part is completely free, which is why it’s
recommended often as a good way to get into the game. Magic Foundations Beginner
Box ### Magic Foundations Beginner Box For getting into paper Magic with a
friend or many friends I suggest the following product:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/foundations-beginner-box-contents
[https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/foundations-beginner-box-contents]
The link leads to a page that describes the box and its contents. This part may
change as new products are released but to my knowledge this is the most recent
beginner-oriented introductory product in Magic. About the product: * It’s a
self-contained box that you don’t upgrade. * It’s a special “format” with
40-card decks, played by two people. * There are pre-determined 20-card packs in
the box i.e. their content is known. These are not Boosters with random cards. *
You take two packs, combine them and play with a 40-card deck against an
opponent who does the same. * The box also contains basic instructions on how to
play. There are multiple benefits to buying this product: * The cards have
mechanics that are simpler than your average card. You don’t have to remember a
lot of things, you don’t have to read a lot of rules text and cross-reference
the Comprehensive Rules and Card Rulings to understand what they do. It’s all
explained in the instructions in the box. * This is self-contained and
non-upgradeable. The resulting 40-card decks are balanced to be played against
the other packs in the box. You don’t have to worry about knowing deck
compositions, possible upgrade routes and balancing the deck power levels with
your friend(s). * It’s designed for two people. Commander as outlined above is a
four-player game by design so it might be hard to get a good feel of what a
Commander game looks like with just two people if you’ve got only one friend to
play with. * The box is always ready to play which means you can bring it with
you and you’re good to go with anyone. You don’t have to spend lots of money
with your friends collectively to buy expensive Commander Precons. * The box is
also always ready to play in the future, too, because it’s self-contained all
the time. You can introduce other people to the game with this box any time and
since it’s easily approachable it’s a bit more fun for the new beginner you’re
teaching the game to. You’ll have to find out yourself where you can buy it,
sorry. It was released in November 2024 so not every place has it anymore. I
suggest checking out https://cardkingdom.com/ [https://cardkingdom.com/] or
https://tcgplayer.com/ [https://tcgplayer.com/] (North America), or
https://cardmarket.com/ [https://cardmarket.com/] (EU) to see if someone is
selling it. Otherwise, try your Local Game Store or worst case scenario: Amazon.
Amazon is very unreliable when it comes to new product and expensive product so
don’t use it otherwise. Do not buy Commander Precons from Amazon, for example.
You’re almost guaranteed to get scammed, delivered the wrong product or have
your order cancelled. ### Questions? Make a new post in this community or
anywhere at mtgzone.com [http://mtgzone.com]!