The 10 Rules New Players Get Wrong Most Often

Here are the ten most common rules mistakes and how to get them right.

Key Takeaways

• The stack resolves last-in, first-out. Your opponent’s response resolves before your original spell does.
• Summoning sickness blocks only attacking and tap abilities. A brand-new creature can block the turn it enters.
• Hexproof stops targeting. It doesn’t stop board wipes, which affect “all” permanents without targeting anything.

1. “Tap lands when you need mana, not at the start of your turn”

Tapping your lands and creatures at the start of your turn doesn’t do anything useful, and it actively costs you options. Tapped lands and creatures can’t block. If you tap your mana sources preemptively before you even have a spell to cast, you leave yourself defenseless the moment your opponent swings. Only tap lands and creatures when you’re actually spending the mana or triggering the ability.

2. “Playing a land is not the same as generating mana from it”

Playing a land gives you access to one more mana source, but you still have to tap that land to put mana in your pool. Some players assume playing a land automatically adds mana to their turn. It doesn’t. Playing the land and then tapping it are two separate actions. The land just sits there until you spend it.

3. “Summoning sickness only prevents attacking and tap abilities, it doesn’t stop blocking”

New creatures can’t attack or use activated abilities that require tapping on the turn they enter the battlefield. That restriction is called summoning sickness, and it exists because Magic’s design wanted a consequence for flooding the board with creatures every turn. However, summoning sickness doesn’t prevent a creature from blocking. A creature that just entered the battlefield can block immediately, on the same turn it arrived. This distinction changes combat math significantly, and new players often leave free blocks on the table because they forget.

4. “Blocking trades damage, both creatures fight”

When a creature blocks an attacker, both creatures deal their power as damage to each other simultaneously. A 3/3 attacking into a 2/2 blocker: the 3/3 deals 3 damage to the 2/2 (it dies), and the 2/2 deals 2 damage to the 3/3 (which survives, then dies if toughness is 2). Blocking trades creatures unless the size difference is large enough to prevent one side from dying. Your blocker doesn’t just stop the attack and walk away unharmed.

5. “Damage doesn’t carry over between turns”

If a creature takes 2 damage this turn and survives, that damage doesn’t persist. At the end of the turn, all damage is cleared from every permanent. A 3/4 creature that took 3 damage this turn starts next turn at full health. This rule exists because Magic treats each turn as a fresh state. The exception is effects that say “damage can’t be prevented,” but those are separate from the automatic clearing that happens in the cleanup step.

6. “Deathtouch does not bypass indestructible”

Deathtouch makes any amount of damage lethal. Indestructible means a creature can’t be destroyed by damage or “destroy” effects. So if a creature with deathtouch deals damage to an indestructible creature, the indestructible creature survives. Not because the damage didn’t happen, but because indestructible overrides the “destroy” step that would normally follow lethal damage. Deathtouch still makes the damage lethal in the rules sense. Indestructible still ignores it. These two abilities interact in the way their text says: deathtouch loses.

7. “The stack resolves last-in, first-out, not in the order things were cast”

This is the rule that surprises new players the most. When spells and abilities go on the stack, they don’t resolve in the order they were played. The most recently added item resolves first. If you cast Lightning Bolt targeting a creature, and your opponent responds with Giant Growth on that creature, Giant Growth resolves first, the creature gets bigger, and then Bolt resolves. Many beginners expect the first spell cast to resolve first. It works the opposite way.

The reason the stack works this way is that it models a real conversation: when someone says something, you can respond before their statement takes effect. That response then gets handled before returning to the original statement. Think of it as a last-in, first-out pile where each response sits on top until it resolves.

8. “‘Until end of turn’ effects expire at the end of that turn’s cleanup step”

If a card says “target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn,” that buff lasts until the cleanup step of the turn it was applied. If your opponent pumps one of their creatures during your turn, the buff wears off at your end step, not at the end of their next turn. Know which turn’s end step you’re watching for, because the timing matters for decisions about whether to block.

9. “Planeswalkers can be attacked, they aren’t creatures and they can’t block”

Planeswalkers sit on the battlefield as permanents, but they’re not creatures. Your opponent can choose to attack your planeswalker directly instead of attacking you. When a creature deals combat damage to a planeswalker, that many loyalty counters are removed from it. If the planeswalker hits 0 loyalty, it’s gone. New players sometimes treat their planeswalkers as untouchable engines sitting behind the battle. They’re not. Protect them like the resources they are.

According to the Comprehensive Rules (from Wizards of the Coast), combat damage to planeswalkers removes loyalty counters equal to the damage dealt. A single unblocked attacker can end a planeswalker that took you several turns to build up.

10. “Hexproof prevents targeting, not everything”

A creature with hexproof can’t be targeted by spells or abilities your opponents control. It’s not immune to everything. Board wipes that say “destroy all creatures” don’t target anything, they just affect all creatures. Spells that affect “all” permanents, or abilities that never use the word “target,” affect hexproof creatures normally.

Indestructible is what protects against “destroy” effects. Hexproof protects against targeted effects. Shroud, an older version of hexproof, protects against targeting by anyone, including you. These are three distinct protections, and confusing them leads to misplays on both sides of the table. You can verify all of these interactions directly at Scryfall (scryfall.com), which includes comprehensive rulings for each card.

Getting these ten rules right puts you ahead of most beginners immediately. They come up in almost every game, and understanding them clearly means fewer disputes, better plays, and games that feel fair to everyone at the table.

If you’re playing Commander specifically and want to understand the format’s unique rules around Commander damage, the command zone, and the Command Tax, What Is Commander? A Beginner’s Complete Primer covers all of that in depth. And once the rules feel solid, Lines of Play: How to Think in Sequences, Not Spells will help you start turning rule knowledge into winning decisions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a creature block on the same turn it entered the battlefield? Yes. Summoning sickness only prevents attacking and using tap abilities. A creature that just entered can block immediately, and this is often the right play when your opponent attacks into a board you just developed.

Does hexproof stop a board wipe like Wrath of God? No. Wrath of God destroys all creatures without targeting any of them. Hexproof only prevents effects that use the word “target.” If the board wipe says “all creatures,” hexproof doesn’t apply.

What happens if both attackers and blockers have deathtouch? Both creatures take lethal damage simultaneously, and since both have deathtouch, any amount of damage is lethal. Both creatures die, regardless of their toughness.

When exactly does the stack resolve? Can I respond to my own spell? Yes. After any player adds a spell or ability to the stack, all players get priority to respond before anything resolves. You can respond to your own spells. The stack only begins resolving when all players pass priority without adding anything new.

If my creature takes damage and I regenerate it, does the damage carry over? No. Regeneration removes the creature from combat, taps it, and removes all damage from it as part of the regeneration effect. The damage is cleared immediately, not at end of turn.