At 12/24/14 01:58 AM, w00tw00 wrote:
Can someone just simplify it here? Just the basic stuff.
Big text ahead, go ahead right down to the list if you just want to know how to play, and not why it all seems so confusing.
What kind of videos are you watching? If you just watch high-level play and fast-paced stuff, it's gonna be tough to get into it. That's how my buddy tried to get me into the game years ago and failed miserably; lending me one of his decks and explaining nothing but the bare essentials before stomping me 2 or 3 times with his main deck insisting that I would "get it after a few games". Of course, it just put me off playing it and thinking I would never understand the game because it seemed so complicated when he would just fly through his turn knowing exactly what to do when I didn't even know what most of my cards did. Don't get intimidated, it's a lot easier than it might seem.
When you say you don't "get it", there's a few things you could be referring to but I'm gonna just do a quick brief of everything and maybe link to this post for anyone else that's having issues getting into the game. Below is a card with a few bits of information highlighted.
1. Mana Costs
A card's mana costs generally have 2 parts: coloured and colourless mana. The colourless mana can be paid with mana of any colour, but the coloured mana cost (as you probably guessed) must be paid with matching coloured mana. In my example, I would have to have 1 green mana and 1 colourless mana before placing it on the field from my hand. I'll explain mana generation a bit later.
2. Power/Toughness
These are the stats that define a creature's combat potential; how much damage they'll do, and how much damage they can take. Derived from a combination of their other abilities and their mana costs, Power/Toughness can range from 0/1 to 20/20.
3. Abilities
These are the fun parts. There's an absolutely massive range of abilities, but don't be daunted by them. They are often activated by tapping the card (as the arrow beside my example's third ability represents), paying mana, or both. It's completely possible that your deck has no more than 4 or 5 that you have to remember outside of noncreature cards, so you can buy/build a very easy deck. These abilities do all sorts of things for all sorts of prices, and this (combined with noncreatures) is how people create deck themes.
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Each turn, you are allowed to play one land card, which around a third of your deck should consist of, for free. This land can be tapped (turned sideways until your next turn) for one mana of a corresponding colour. This part's easy enough:
Forest=Green
Island=Blue
Swamp= Black
Plains=White
Mountain=Red
Before any card comes into play, you must tap land until you have enough mana to pay the creature's costs. You can then place the creature onto the field (technically the stack, but don't worry about that). When a creature comes onto the field, they must wait until your next turn to attack or use any ability that requires them to tap.
Generally, the idea of the game is to most efficiently use your mana to summon creatures and support them with noncreature cards until you are able to topple your opponent. The easiest way to get a feel for the game is to just go to your local game store (often referred to as LGS), buy an intro deck, and play a few practice hands against no one. Just draw a hand and go through the paces as if you had an opponent that skipped each of their turns.
I hope this was enough to explain the game to you, but if you have any questions be sure to ask!
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