Welcome back to the How to Play Magic: The Gathering series from Star City Games. If you’ve missed either of the previous two entries in the series, you can find them below.
Today, we’re going over the steps of a turn, taking you from the untap phase all the way to the cleanup phase.
Taking Turns
In a game of Magic, you alternate taking turns with your opponent. Each turn consists of a handful of phases that you proceed through. There are five phases: the beginning phase, the first main phase, the combat phase, the second main phase, and the ending phase. You will cycle through all five in order each turn, whether you have actions to make in them or not.
The Beginning Phase
We’ll start with the beginning phase because that’s where you start on your turn. The beginning phase is subdivided into three steps: the untap step, the upkeep step, and the draw step.
The Untap Step
The first step is the untap step, where you untap all of your tapped permanents. On the first turn, you won’t have anything to untap, but for the rest of the game, you’ll untap your lands so you can use them again, and your creatures so that they can attack again or be ready to block.
The Upkeep Step
The upkeep step is the second step in the beginning phase. This is the first part of your turn where players can cast instants and activate abilities. Many cards mention this part of the turn for when they trigger. Cards will read, “At the beginning of your upkeep, do [BLANK].” If you control Phyrexian Arena, you will get to draw a card at the beginning of your upkeep and lose one life – a good deal, if you ask me.
The Draw Step
Once all abilities have resolved and both players pass priority, move on to the draw step. The draw step is where you must draw a card from the top of your library, even if you don’t want to. Trust me, you’re going to want to draw a card. If a player can’t draw a card from their library, they lose the game.
The first player in a game doesn’t draw a card on their first turn to make up for getting to cast spells first. Players can cast spells and activate abilities in this step as well.
