Quick Start Guide (Ideal Magic)

Ideal Magic is built for easy print-and-play sessions and smooth paper tracking.

What You Need

Essential Components

• Decks: Each player needs a 60+ card deck
• Life tracking: Pen & paper or a d20 (start at 20 life)
• Counters & tokens: Dice or markers for +1/+1, lore (Sagas), and Quest counters; tokens for Clues
• Play area: Table space for lands, battlefield, graveyard, and exile

Optional but Helpful

• Card sleeves to protect prints
• Extra dice for Ward taxes, temporary effects, and turn markers
• Reference sheet: Use the Quick Reference at the end
• Timer for events (typical round: ~45 minutes)

Game Overview

Spend mana to cast spells, develop your board, and win via combat and smart interaction. Goal: Reduce your opponent from 20 life to 0, or have them attempt to draw from an empty library.

Pre-Game Setup

Deck Requirements

• Constructed: Minimum 60 cards (no maximum); up to 4 copies of any one card name (basics excepted)

Starting the Game

1. Shuffle both decks thoroughly.
2. Decide first: Randomize (die roll/coin flip), then winner chooses to play or draw.
3. Draw opening hands: Each player draws 7.
4. Mulligans — London Mulligan: You may mulligan any number of times. Each time, draw 7, then put a number of cards equal to mulligans taken on the bottom of your library in any order.
5. Set life totals: Both players start at 20.
6. First turn: The player who goes first skips their first draw step only.

Turn Structure (at a glance)

1. Beginning Phase

   • Untap → Upkeep (resolve “at the beginning of upkeep” triggers) → Draw

2. Precombat Main

   • Play one land (per turn), cast spells, activate abilities

3. Combat Phase

   • Begin combat → Declare attackers → Declare blockers → Combat damage → End combat

4. Postcombat Main

5. End Step / Cleanup

   • “At end step” triggers → discard to hand size (7) → remove damage, end “until end of turn” effects

Priority & the Stack: The active player gets priority first in each step/phase. Spells/abilities resolve last-in, first-out.

Playing the Game

Lands and Mana (no bookkeeping traps)

• Play a land during your main phase when the stack is empty (max one/turn).
• Add mana by tapping lands (and some artifacts/creatures). You add mana only when you activate a mana ability—there is no automatic mana generation.
• Mana empties at the end of each step and phase (no carrying over).
• Different spells require specific colors of mana (W/U/B/R/G); colorless is flexible but often less efficient.

Casting Cards

• Creatures/Artifacts/Enchantments/Sagas: Cast in your main phases (stack empty).
• Instants: Any time you have priority.
• Sorceries: Your main phases, stack empty.
• After an instant or sorcery resolves, it goes to your graveyard (unless it says otherwise).

Combat Basics

• Attacking: Tap your creatures to attack (unless they have vigilance).
• Blocking: Defending player assigns blockers; the attacker then sets the damage order if multiple blockers.
• Damage: Simultaneous (first strike/double strike change timing). Trample lets excess damage hit the defending player/planeswalker.
• Ward: If a permanent has Ward — cost, opponents must pay that cost to target it or the spell/ability is countered.

The Ideal “Glue Suite” You’ll See Often

These popular, paper-clean mechanics appear frequently:

• Scry N / Surveil N — Smooth draws (top-deck filtering or graveyard selection).
• Cycling [cost] — Discard to draw a card.
• Kicker [cost] — Pay more for an upgraded effect.
• Flashback [cost] — Cast from your graveyard, then exile it.
• Foretell — Pay {2} to set aside now; cast later for its foretell cost.
• Adventure — Cast the spell side first, then later cast the creature from exile.
• Investigate — Create a Clue: “{2}, Sacrifice: Draw a card.”
• Landfall — Triggers when a land enters under your control.
• Sagas — Add a lore counter as they enter and each precombat main; resolve that chapter’s effect.

Also supported (appears regularly but in controlled doses): Rebound, Surge, Raid; Buyback (rare, conservatively costed); Emerge (small curated clusters).

Key Concepts (fast fundamentals)

Mana & Efficiency

• Plan land drops and colors early.
• Tap only what you need; remember that mana empties each step/phase.
• Use Scry/Surveil/Cycling/Clues to avoid mana screw/flood.

Card Types (quick)

• Lands: Your main mana sources.
• Creatures: Attack, block, use abilities; have power/toughness.
• Instants/Sorceries: One-time effects (instants at any time; sorceries only on your turn, main phase, stack empty).
• Artifacts/Enchantments/Sagas: Ongoing effects; Sagas tick with lore counters.

Interaction & Timing

• Hold up instants for combat tricks or counterplay.
• Ward taxes opponents’ targeted interaction—bait it or pay it.
• Learn common windows: end step, after blocks, and shields-down moments.

Sample Turn Walkthroughs

Turn 1 (on the play)

1. Beginning: Untap (nothing), no draw (first turn on the play).
2. Main: Play a land. Tap it to cast a 1-mana creature.
3. Combat: None (summoning sickness).
4. End: Pass. (Cards in hand: 6; Life: 20.)

Turn 3 (showing smoothing & tempo)

1. Beginning: Untap, Upkeep (resolve triggers), Draw.
2. Main: Play a land (Landfall trigger, if any). Cast a Foretell spell face-down for {2}; then cast a 2-drop.
3. Combat: Attack with your 1-drop; opponent blocks—use an instant to win combat.
4. End: If you Investigated this turn, you may keep the Clue for later or crack it on a future turn when you can spare {2}.

Winning the Game

• Primary: Reduce your opponent to 0 life (combat/spells/abilities).
• Secondary: Opponent tries to draw from an empty library.
• Some cards may have alternate wins; follow their text.

Common Beginner Pitfalls (and fixes)

• Too few lands/smoothing → Add lands, Cycling, Scry/Surveil, or Clues.
• All top-end → Include impactful 2s/3s to affect the board earlier.
• Ignoring interaction → Pack removal/counterplay; respect Ward costs.
• Forgetting the stack → Remember: last-in, first-out; pass priority clearly.
• Floating mana across phases → You can’t; mana empties each step/phase.

Quick Reference

Turn Order

Beginning (Untap → Upkeep → Draw) → Main 1 → Combat → Main 2 → End

Essentials

• Start: 20 life, 7-card hand
• Mulligan: London (draw 7 each time; bottom cards equal to mulligans taken)
• Deck: 60+ cards; up to 4 copies/card name
• Hand size: Max 7 at end step (discard down)
• Lands per turn: 1
• Mana: Added by tapping; empties at end of each step/phase

Timing

• Sorceries/Creatures/most Permanents: Your main phase, stack empty
• Instants: Any time you have priority
• Abilities: As written; mana abilities don’t use the stack

Mechanics You’ll See Often

Kicker, Cycling, Flashback, Foretell, Adventure, Landfall, Sagas, Investigate Plus Rebound, Surge, Raid (with conservative Buyback and small Emerge clusters)

Next Steps

Deepen Your Knowledge

• Comprehensive Rules — Full rules and policy
• Game Formats — Ways to play (Constructed, Limited, Cube)
• FAQ — Common questions

Prepare for Play

• Card Gallery — Browse and plan decks
• Printing Guides — From home prints to premium
• Community Showcase — Decks and builds

Connect

• Discord — Strategy, LFG, judging help
• Local groups — Bring Ideal Magic to your play night
• Event prep — Best-of-three, ~45-minute rounds, London Mulligan