Rules

The comprehensive rules for Magic is a 238-page document not meant to be read from start to finish (mercifully).  Instead, these rules are provided for situations where it's necessary to get a nuanced rule right or navigate an unusual situation brought on by a certain card combination.  (There are additional rules for official tournaments, too- see this page for details.) I actually enjoy reading the comprehensive rules on occasion- it's a well-organized, well-written document.  But it's not for everyday use, and certainly daunting for the beginner.

I gave the gist of the game on the Intro page, and most people just need the basic rules.  The official site does a good job explaining those, and I won't reinvent the wheel.  So why this page?  Here, I  focus on golden rules, zones, common terms, and keywords.

Golden Rules

We'll start with three important 'golden rules' in Magic, all quoted from the comprehensive rules:

1. Whenever a card’s text directly contradicts these rules, the card takes precedence. The card overrides only the rule that applies to that specific situation. The only exception is that a player can concede the game at any time.
2. When a rule or effect allows or directs something to happen, and another effect states that it can’t happen, the “can’t” effect takes precedence. Example: If one effect reads “You may play an additional land this turn” and another reads “You can’t play lands this turn,” the effect that precludes you from playing lands wins.
3. Any part of an instruction that’s impossible to perform is ignored.

Super fun!  Because the cards can make (and break) the rules (per rule 1 above), you have to understand the cards (see the Cards page for more information).

The next thing to understand is zones. 

Zones

From the comprehensive rules:

A zone is a place where objects can be during a game. There are normally seven zones: library, hand, battlefield, graveyard, stack, exile, and command. 

Most of the zones are intuitive (and were mentioned in the Intro), but 'stack' requires more explanation.

• library: your deck of cards
• hand: where you hold cards you've drawn
• battlefield: where you place permanents
• graveyard: your discard pile
• stack:  Spells (when cast) and abilities (when activated or triggered) are put on the stack. Most types of spell cards (creature, artifact, enchantment, sorcery, planeswalker) can only be cast when the stack is empty.  Once cast, others can play instant spells or use abilities that go on the stack. Once everyone has passed (meaning there are no more spells to cast or abilities to play), things on the stack resolve from top to bottom (so the initially-played spell will resolve last).
• exile: a holding area for objects.  Sometimes put near players' graveyards, but with cards turned sideways to indicate they're in exile.
• command: used in Commander and Brawl formats; we'll discuss those another time.

Next up is terms.

Terms

The comprehensive rules dedicates 11 pages (section 701) to common keywords that represent basic game actions (I call such keywords 'terms'). The below table shows presents the most common terms you need to know, using wording from the official rules where practical, and adds terms from elsewhere in the rulebook I felt necessary to include.

Similar to terms are keywords.

Keywords

There are also keywords that represent abilities. The comprehensive rules summarize:

702.1. Most abilities describe exactly what they do in the card’s rules text. Some, though, are very common or would require too much space to define on the card. In these cases, the object lists only the name of the ability as a “keyword”; sometimes reminder text summarizes the game rule. 

Keywords are abilities that appear on Magic cards that aren't inherently understandable to new players. As the rules state, they were developed for elegance and simplicity, to avoid writing out commonly-occurring abilities every single time.  Magic designer Mark Rosewater listed five reasons for keywords in this 2007 article, saying that they:

1. conserve wordspace
2. conserve mindspace
3. increase elegance
4. don't pull focus
5. add consistency

He's right! Keywords make the cards cleaner and (once you get the hang of it) faster to understand and use. But keywords means more player knowledge is needed . . . so there's a balance. Sometimes, a card has its keyword defined on it.  Other times, it assumes the player knows.  Knowing at least the "evergreen" keywords is an important part of Magic, even for casual players.

Evergreen keywords are those present in almost every set. Other keywords have come and gone with expansions or blocks. All keywords are listed and defined in section 702 of the comprehensive rules, but use that only as a last resort. An exhaustive list can be found here, and below I list the 15 most common evergreen keywords, using wording from the official rules where practical.

This link also lists common terms and keywords.

Check other sections for turn structure, how to play cards, how to attack, making a deck, and more. Here are all posts on this blog tagged rules.