What’s the quickest way to teach someone how to play Magic: The Gathering without overwhelming them? The secret is to start simple—focus on the essentials and let the complexity unfold later. Read more after the cut.

Explain that each player is a planeswalker, using lands to summon creatures and cast spells to take down their opponent. Use a small, pre-built 30-card deck with just one or two colors. Skip the technical jargon and complicated mechanics—just cover lands, creatures, and basic sorceries. Let them play a few turns with your guidance, helping them make decisions without diving too deep into every card’s details.

Next, let them experience a full game with those basic decks. Encourage them to think about when to attack, when to block, and how to manage their mana wisely. Keep the atmosphere relaxed—winning isn’t the goal here. What’s important is grasping the flow: draw, play land, cast spells, attack.

As they grow more comfortable, you can start introducing slightly more complex cards, like instants or equipment, but hold off on overwhelming them with terms like “trample” or “hexproof” until they’ve mastered the basics.

Finally, after they’ve played a few games and have a handle on the core mechanics, you can start adding in more rules, abilities, and strategies. Only explain the stack when it’s relevant. Also, encourage them to ask questions and explore at their own pace.

The best way to teach Magic is to keep it enjoyable, low-pressure, and hands-on. You’re not trying to turn them into experts in one session—you’re just helping them enjoy the game enough to want to keep learning.

Thanks for reading and until the next blog post.