If you are going to make this a series you should do something like extra sifi or extra history, and make it like “extra card games” or “extra bord games”
Boggart of Fortune, a 1/2 Goblin Shaman Creature for {R} to cast. It may tap to have target player shuffle their library. Its flavor text is *"Wanna take that fortune for a wheel?"*
Cost: U Name "Impossible Interruption" Sorcery Counter target spell and draw a card. "When you always move slow, your opponent forgets you can move fast when the need arises."
Something that the Yugioh card game considers too powerful, and that Magic considers such a No Big Deal that it's actually suboptimal for what it does: draw two cards, no caveats. Seriously, ask Magic players how often they use a card whose only effect is to draw two cards.
@@Bluecho4 Doesnt pot of greed have no opportunity cost in Yugioh? I'm not to familiar with it, but if there was a 0 cost draw 2 cards card I'd probably run it pretty frequently in basically any deck thats struggling on card draw
Bluecho4 Perhaps but consider the difference. In yugioh, there is no resource system, so pot of greed is essentially free. The equivalent in magic would be a zero cost sorcery that draws two cards, which if such a thing existed would basically get played in every deck.
@@chompyzilla it's not over there. The cards you are going to draw don't have a cost themselves, while in magic you could draw 2 lands or 2 costly permanent and you're back where you started xD. Still a +1 with 0 mana cost would be op anyway.
Grey numbers or an X in a cost are called generic mana costs. The diamond mana symbol is the Colorless mana symbol, and can be a cost or a type of mana you can generate.
DoctorMckay They could easily make like fifty episodes on Magic: The Gathering. What each color is usually known for, how to bide time with certain other play styles, sets, the explanation of abilities and how to take them in a literal manner, and so much fucking more. Hell, they could just make an Extra Magic series.
@@JMSginoclave Is that the one where you get to re shuffle and then draw but you have one card less? Which you can only do it twice before resetting the shuffle phase?
James actives Instance spell "Developer Procrastination". Instantly counters any workplace duty and adds 2 Lazyness counters. If counters aren't removed in 3 turns the episode is late.
one note about explanation of mana cost at around 2:55. the 3 mana in the costing isn't "any other" color mana, it's just "any" color mana. those 3 mana, for instance, can be paid in white as well as any of the other colors in the game.
Hoe to learn magic: 1.Save all your skill points and use 10 just for level 2 one-handed. 2.Join the Old Camp and the magicians. 3.Learn the 3 circles of fire avalible, buy all of the mana potions and steal all of Gomez's shit for money. 4.Buy fire storm and upgraded mana until 100(don't use permanent mana potions) 5.Kill the Sleeper.
The explanation of the generic mana cost you've given is incorrect. You can pay it with one mana of any type (any type being one mana of any color or collorless mana). So not just with other colors. You don't need one white and three mana of any color but white to cast The Stag. But one white and three mana of any type. Including white and collorless mana. Generic mana tends to be confusing for new players. Thus explaining it right from the beginning is important imo.
need to correct you on something-- there are five phases in a turn: Beginning; Main; Combat; Main; Ending the Beginning Phase is composed of your untap, upkeep, and draw steps. the Combat Phase is composed of the beginning of combat step, declare attackers step, declare blockers step, combat damage step, and end of combat step. If a creature with first strike or double strike is attacking or blocking, an additional combat damage step is injected between the declare blockers and normal combat damage steps. the Ending Phase is composed of the end step and the cleanup step. The end step is the final point during which players are generally able to do anything in a turn. Meanwhile the cleanup step is when damage wears off, "until end of turn" effects end, and so on. Sorry to be so pedantic about it-- I'm a Magic Judge and tend to get a bit... precise. Often too much so for my own good.
Rule 500.1. A turn consists of five phases, in this order: beginning, precombat main, combat, postcombat main, and ending. Each of these phases takes place every turn, even if nothing happens during the phase. The beginning, combat, and ending phases are further broken down into steps, which proceed in order.
I always found the Magic cards beautiful and interesting. But I could never wrap my head around the game. About as complex as I could get was Yu-Gi-Oh. But you're doing great! I understand more about the game now with your videos than I ever did when friends would explain. Thanks Extra!
If I may nitpick, the listed phases aren't quite right (although, it doesn't really matter, especially for a beginner). Actually, those are a mix of steps and phases (the turn is structured in phases which may then be subdivided in multiple steps). There are actually 5 phases (and 3 of those only serve to be group some of the 10 steps): beginning phase . untap step . upkeep step . draw step (precombat or first) main phase combat phase . beginning of combat step . declare attackers step . declare blockers step . combat damage step . end of combat step (postcombat or second) main phase ending phase . end step . cleanup step Some of those steps (upkeep, beginning of combat, end of combat, end step) are mostly there as milestones if you will (for instance, if a card wants to do something just before combat, it'll typically do it in the beginning of combat step: that step is mostly there to provide a convenient moment for those cards to trigger). The untap, draw, combat damage and cleanup steps are steps where the game automatically does something (respectively, you untap, you draw, you assign damage to creatures, and you discard to 7 cards plus end all "until end of turn" effects). Technically, the game also "automatically does something" during the declare attackers and declare blockers step (i.e. ask you whether you want to attack or block). The main phase is just there for you to play your cards (usually your lands and creatures with the occasional enchantment/artifact/planeswalker). It's also worth mentioning that in all those steps and main phases (except untap, and usually cleanup) you'll be able to play instants and activate abilities but we're not there yet... but hopefully soon as it's a big part of MtG's wealth (it's tied to a mechanic called priority that is usually glossed over as the details aren't important to play, the bottom line is that each player will successively acquire priority in both main phases and each of those steps set aside untap and cleanup and you need to have priority to take action: those are like mini-turns inside the turn). And that's it. That's all there is to it to the turn structure. In fact, I talked about quite a lot of details you probably wouldn't need to play.
For anyone wondering about the upkeep step, you usually do not need to do anything unless a card says to do so, usually with the phrase "at the begining [PERSON'S] upkeep......"
My brain kept adding asterisks to EVERY SENTENCE. I swear, no rules are safe. Creature damage? Fog bank! Sorcery speed? Quicken! The phases? Fatespinner! Blinding Angel!! Paradox Haze!!! Anywho, that's why I'm glad you're explaining this so I dont have to.
I watched this episode when it first came out, before hand i didnt care about magic the gathering. Thanks to these episodes that have introduced me to the game i now regularly play on mtg arena and have made friends because of it and i have a couple planeswalker decks irl and go to tournaments! Thanks for the introduction extra credits!
"That whole combo undone by a single car-... I can't talk, I play red/blue" ~Magnus the Red, to Tzeentch, during a game of Paradox-Billiards-Vostroyan-Roulette-Fourth-Dimensional-Hypercube-Chess-Strip-Poker... Also known as "a children's card game" or more simply "Yugioh"
Im so happy you guys are covering this! I hope you guys -after covering the basics- cover other formats so people know the other options if they get into paper magic!
If you really want to confuse people, talk about the layers. A vital part of keeping the game consistent, but has some strange and tricky situations that come up.
Suggested MtG topics: 1. What key game elements enabled MtG to survive for more than two decades unlike other collectible card games? 2. Why are the prices of Alpha, Beta, etc. cards keep going up these past two decades despite being rotated out of tournament play for a looong time?
That sounds to negative - it just seems that everytime writing for the episode is hard the solutions is "lets throw in a cat reference" A year ago it was "less cats more information"...
I've been playing from 2001 onward and I love that you folks at extra credits made videos about this great game. I would say it's easy to learn how to play and takes years to become great at it in a similar light, compareable to chess
It's awesome to see Magic making a come back lately! I played MANY years ago back in high school (more years then I care to admit) and while I don't think I can get back in to the card collecting part, I really want to pick up a video game version of it now.
Zoe should have her own Magic card... here’s some ideas for her ability “instant death to opponent because of cuteness overload” or “revive one ally by purring at them” or “instantly stop all attacking characters in their tracks because they cannot attack you with cuteness overload engaged”
thanks for the series guys i have been playing Yu-Gi-Oh & Pokémon for years & always want to get into Magic, but was never able to, because it sounded so confusing
One of the weird things about MTG that new players often fail to understand is why you wait until Main phase 2 to summon or drop other none-land permanents that don't effect the outcome of the turn's combat phase. I'm glad this video gives at least a nod towards the psychological aspect of the game, which a good player can take full advantage of. I recently played a pick-up game of EDH at the new location of my local store and by intentionally playing badly for the first three rounds I convinced the other players at the table I wasn't much of a threat, well I waited for one of them to pull off a big play. Which happened to be a Narset + Puzzle-box combo lockdown. And well everyone went insane trying to deal with that player I set up my own combo and took the game in one turn using a Yukiro + Draw engine combo into Karn's Temporal Sundering to deal 43 damage to the table and win the match in a single play. I did this not to be a jerk, but because I knew that my deck would become an obvious threat if I played it at its best from turn one. Thus making me the target of three experienced players, so instead I just let the format do what it does best and let them ignore me until the right moment. Stuff like this is how Arena cannot really give you the full experience that is MTG.
Oh! Btw! If by chance you're not familiar with MtG and are interested in playing, there a couple ways to do so (assuming you don't already have friends who play): - Magic the Gathering Arena: F2P, user-friendly, but little to no player interaction (which can be good or bad depending of what you're looking for) and only the most recent cards - Cockatrice(/Xmage/...): those are unofficial online simulators, they're free although not super convenient as they don't handle the rules for you, but arguably the best way to play unusual formats and/or try cards you don't have (or the best format, i.e. EDH) ...set aside good old paper magic of course. You'll need to talk to other players (to find games and play them). - Magic the Gathering Online: basically, the hardcore version of MtGA (not F2P, but with all the cards and more ways to play basically) - Prereleases: those are events that occur whenever a new set comes out, they are very new player friendly and quite convivial (they do cost about 20~25$/€ though, as you'll buy cards to play for the event), unfortunately the next one is in 2 months (throne of eldraine, september 28-29)
Word From The North maybe he got a really bad shuffle and drew 8 mountains and 1 goblin between the initial hand plus his turn 2 draw. If that’s the case, the “Extra Crdits episode due in 1 hour” was a favor Zoey did for him to prevent a slow painful death lol
I've never played or watch someone play Magic before and ngl I'm partially a bit lost. While the video managed to explain the basic concepts well, the video went technically really fast and I sort of lost track. For example I still don't get why Zoe didn't play Pegasus on 6:16? How does playing later affect Mana?
The reason she played it later was to keep the lands untapped as a bluff, basically signalling that she could have a instant spell card in hand that would need that mana during the "combat phase" (which is the proper name for it, not the "attack phase"). If she had played the Pegasus before combat, all of her lands would be tapped, she wouldn't be able draw more mana from them to cast spells, and James would know that she wouldn't have any more cards to play and could plan his plays accordingly. Of course, MtG has almost as many exceptions as rules, but I won't get into things like alternate casting costs or phyrexian mana. Those are in the advanced course, not the basics.
Card: Resereved viewer. 2/4 Effect: Defender (it can't be used during attack phase, but can be used as a blocker) Flavour text: "He usually doesn't comment much on a video, untill something catches his eye in the comment section."
I'm a bit disappointed that this isn't more about an analysis of the game's design, but I understand that in order to do that you need to explain the rules. I hope that's where this is headed.
I wish you talked about this 3 years ago! Once you get the super basics down you should make a video about determining the Beat Down. It's a super relevant concept in nearly every competitive game.
I really like where you're heading with this series. I think it would be cool to talk about the different formats of magic, like commander and pauper, once you get the core videos finished.
When I was big into magic in middle school, I had a flying/burn deck. It was awesome! It never played the same way twice. Sometimes I would fly over my enemy. Sometimes I would burn so much damage to my opponent that would win the duke for me.
untap upkeep and draw are all one 'phase', but separate 'steps'. There are five phases in a turn: beginning, precombat main, combat, postcombat main, and ending. Each of these are made of of steps. I have no doubt the EC crew knows this and chose to simplify for sake of explaining but I'll still state the pedantic to maybe educate someone.
Then to learn yugioh we will just walk you through a turn with a cheap new deck, salamangreat. Skipping to the main phase, we will see that we have a salamngreat spinny and salamangreat gazelle in hand. So first we will normal summon spinny (where once per turn we can put a level 4 or lower monster on the field in attacn position). Then since the spinny is a level 4 or lower cyberse monster, we can send it to the grave to summon the link 1 monster salamamgreat balelynx to the extra monster zone. Then when balelynx is summoned it has an effect thst adds a salamangreat field spell to the hand, but since the spinny was sent to the grave to summon it we will also chain the effect of gazelle in hand to special summon itself as well. So following the chain in reverse order, we special summon gazelle and then add the field spell 'salamangreat sanctuary' to our hand from the deck. Then, since gazelle was summoned its other effect activates which lets us send 1 salamangreat card to the graveyard, so we will choose the trap card salamangreat roar. Next since spinny is still in the graveyard and we have a salamangreat on the field, we can use his effect to special summon itself. Now with with both spinny and gazelle as level 3 monsters on the field, we can stack them on top of each other to xyz summon salamangreat mirage Stalin in the zone that balelynx points to (since monsters summoned from the extra deck can only be summoned to the extra monster zone or zones that link monsters point to). We will then use stalio's effect to send the gazelle underneath it to the grave and special summon a salamangreat monster from the deck, which we'll choose salamangreat jack jaguar for. Next, since jaguar and balelynx are both fire effect monsters, we will send both of them to the grave to link summon the link 2 salamangreat sunlight wolf. Next we will play the field spell we added to our hand from balelynx and use its effect to let us summon another sunlight wolf (being sure to put it not above our mirage stalio) using only the current one as tribute. Next we will use jack jaguar's effect in the grave to send back our sunlightwolf in the grave back to the extra deck and then summon jaguar in the zone our field sunlight wolf is pointing to, which triggers one of the wolf's effects to let us add salamangreat gazelle back to our hand from the grave. Next, since this sunlight wolf was summoned using itself as tribute, we can use its other effect to add a salamangreat spell or trap to hand, and we'll add the roar we sent with gazelle. Last we will use jaguar to make another balelynx as extra protection for our trap and set roar (which during the opponents turn we will be able to use to negate and destroy any card effect as long as we have a salamangreat link monster on our field). And then we end our turn... Easy!
That last card of Zoey's is almost as good as how King Arthur and his knights got away from the terrible cave monster: the animator had a heart attack. :)
5:28 it can if something makes it untap before your untap step. Also, it's called Combat Phase, not Attack phase. Glad you mentioned playing stuff in 2nd main phase though. It's a good habit to learn early.
In my forst Magic-game I kept referring to the lands by their symbols, saying that I was gonna "Use my two drops of water" or "plant a tree". It drove my opponent absolutely nuts.
ACKCHYUALLY Magic turn has 5 phases: -Beginning phase (untap, upkeep, draw) -Pre-combat main phase -Combat phase (way too much stuff to write in a few words) -Post-combat main phase -Ending phase (end step, cleanup step)
@@serpent268 "No Fun Allowed". W/B designed with sets of Pillary of the Sleepless, Ring of Oblivion, and Faith's Fetters. I tie all your creatures down while casting Wrath of God or one of a small handful of duplicate effects. I Dredge the graveyards and slow down the game until I get 1-2 Debtor's Knells out. Then I dropped a Desolation Angel and let the game continue while resummoning an Angelic army from the dead. It was very effective, at least at first. Faster deck types would beat it, naturally. But it served me well for a long while.
I never learned how to play to Magic the Gathering as kid and I have always thought that I was too old to learn how to play. Maybe these videos might make me go out a finally pick up a pack of cards and see what I'm missing. Over the past few years I've played some virtual collector card games on and off to dip my toes into that world. (The one I played the most was Decromancer and I only got into because it was on one of the "James Recommends" videos.)
This series is definitely the most on-the-nose sponsorship EC has done, but as a Hearthstone vet it was sorta interesting seeing which mechanics Blizzard decided to borrow from MtG and which they decided to leave behind.
What does your (real or hypothetical) custom-made MTG card do in a game? What's the flavor text?
Extra Credits how was this posted 23 hours ago I thought you posted the vid a few secs ago
Holy hell.
My favourite RUclips channel.
Making a video about my favourite card game.
SIGN ME THE FRICK UP!!!
If you are going to make this a series you should do something like extra sifi or extra history, and make it like “extra card games” or “extra bord games”
Boggart of Fortune, a 1/2 Goblin Shaman Creature for {R} to cast. It may tap to have target player shuffle their library. Its flavor text is *"Wanna take that fortune for a wheel?"*
Cost: U
Name "Impossible Interruption"
Sorcery
Counter target spell and draw a card.
"When you always move slow, your opponent forgets you can move fast when the need arises."
*has played mtg for the past 11 years*
*watches tutorial video anyway*
I learned when Ice Age was new and so much has changed that I basically need to watch these to see wtf the game is now.
But what does Pot of Greed do?
Something that the Yugioh card game considers too powerful, and that Magic considers such a No Big Deal that it's actually suboptimal for what it does: draw two cards, no caveats.
Seriously, ask Magic players how often they use a card whose only effect is to draw two cards.
@@Bluecho4 Doesnt pot of greed have no opportunity cost in Yugioh? I'm not to familiar with it, but if there was a 0 cost draw 2 cards card I'd probably run it pretty frequently in basically any deck thats struggling on card draw
Bluecho4
Perhaps but consider the difference. In yugioh, there is no resource system, so pot of greed is essentially free.
The equivalent in magic would be a zero cost sorcery that draws two cards, which if such a thing existed would basically get played in every deck.
@@chompyzilla it's not over there. The cards you are going to draw don't have a cost themselves, while in magic you could draw 2 lands or 2 costly permanent and you're back where you started xD. Still a +1 with 0 mana cost would be op anyway.
silence and listen. we must learn their ways!
2:15 The single most common typer of card you'll see in magic. Land.
*magic players
laughing in the backgrownd followed by some sobs*
To clarify, when there is a gray cost on a card, ANY mana type will work, including ones that the card requires.
As long as the gray cost has a number and isn't instead a diamond. :o
Grey numbers or an X in a cost are called generic mana costs. The diamond mana symbol is the Colorless mana symbol, and can be a cost or a type of mana you can generate.
@@connorhamilton5707 You da real MVP
Real Zoey does not seem nearly as devious as her cartoon equivalent suggests. But perhaps that's the ruse...
Definitely a ruse - as a cat owner, I can testify that cats are secretly plotting against us
If you look closely, you can see that as the final shot ends she's toppling an entire deck of cards. Don't mistake sleight of hand for passivity.
@@Lionstar16 one does not own a cat, one is owned by the cat
Cats are like harry potter wands.
You dont choose a cat, a cat chooses you
@@TonksMoriarty Tell me about it :)
I've been playing this game for 14 years now. I still like watching good tutorials like this.
DoctorMckay I like your profile picture
DoctorMckay They could easily make like fifty episodes on Magic: The Gathering. What each color is usually known for, how to bide time with certain other play styles, sets, the explanation of abilities and how to take them in a literal manner, and so much fucking more. Hell, they could just make an Extra Magic series.
...EXTRA MANA!
DoctorMckay Me too
More "experienced" players should, especially the "only edh" people.
3:10
"James drops *a mountain* to the table"
Man he's gotta be ripped if you can casually do that.
He op
Must be a tough table
Laughs in tapping 1 land for 243 mana due to mirror image x nyxbloom ancient
The worst thing to happen to you in Magic, is when you draw all lands and no permanents, and have to mulligan and only get permanents
The worst thing to happen to you in Magic, is having to play against an elitist who never showers, but that's a close second
Where I'm from, we call that being mana-screwed.
Dude....you have too many lands then. Swap out the lands with cheap creatures who can get you more mana. Stop just stacking mana.
Hey, on the plus side, there's the London mulligan now, unless you're unlucky as all hell.
@@JMSginoclave Is that the one where you get to re shuffle and then draw but you have one card less? Which you can only do it twice before resetting the shuffle phase?
This video gets a like for the wizard duel picture alone. That's my favorite scene from The Sword in the Stone!
Video about Magic TG
Advertisement about Hearthstone.
I LOVE RUclips
blizzard pays advertisements to appear on videos tagged with card games. so magic and yugioh videos get lumped with this.
Roboshi makes sense, thanks.
The "James, you have an Extra Credits episode due in an hour" card is completely broken and unbalanced, game literally unplayable.
Yes, but it only works on people named James, so I'm fine with it.
James actives Instance spell "Developer Procrastination". Instantly counters any workplace duty and adds 2 Lazyness counters. If counters aren't removed in 3 turns the episode is late.
What happens if the card gets countered?
>"And you'll use mana to do everything in the game!"
M A N A L E S S D R E D G E
And that’s why we’ll never see dredge printed again. Even though I love it!
@@TheCheeseman1983 That's what I thought for the longest time, but then Shenanigans happened.
And by that I mean the card Shenanigans.
*Laughs in Phyrexian mana*
RIP Bridge from Below
Banned in modern :(
I Love This Abomination of a Deck
"All work time is crunch time when you have a war hammer."
-- Goblin Motivator
"you can do some tricky things the instants"
*FLASHBACKS OF MONO BLUE*
you haven't witnessed the true evil until you've played against lantern control
one note about explanation of mana cost at around 2:55. the 3 mana in the costing isn't "any other" color mana, it's just "any" color mana. those 3 mana, for instance, can be paid in white as well as any of the other colors in the game.
Still not quite right, since colorless is a thing.
It can also be colorless, which isn't an “other color” as well.
"We'll use mana to do everything in this game"
*laughs in manaless dredge*
JK, I play burn
Can I just say how much I love episodes which incorporate Zoie? These are just the best
My cat dori plays too. She loves field wipes lol
OUCH! Seriously at 2:55 VERY bad wording. 3 of any mana, not 3 of any OTHER mana. I can cast it with WWWW thank you.
I think a lot of people end up doing just that, unless you have 3 or more types in your deck
@@TrueFlameslinger my point is that the video, as written, says you CANT.
You are correct my friend. Bad phrasing.
Hoe to learn magic:
1.Save all your skill points and use 10 just for level 2 one-handed.
2.Join the Old Camp and the magicians.
3.Learn the 3 circles of fire avalible, buy all of the mana potions and steal all of Gomez's shit for money.
4.Buy fire storm and upgraded mana until 100(don't use permanent mana potions)
5.Kill the Sleeper.
The explanation of the generic mana cost you've given is incorrect. You can pay it with one mana of any type (any type being one mana of any color or collorless mana). So not just with other colors. You don't need one white and three mana of any color but white to cast The Stag. But one white and three mana of any type. Including white and collorless mana. Generic mana tends to be confusing for new players. Thus explaining it right from the beginning is important imo.
Holy heck but cartoon Zoey does *not* do justice to how cute the real deal is. Such an affectionate beast.
Recently got into MTG, and I'm working on building my first deck, Blue/White. Of course I still suck, but I live and learn
How is your magic journey going?
need to correct you on something-- there are five phases in a turn: Beginning; Main; Combat; Main; Ending
the Beginning Phase is composed of your untap, upkeep, and draw steps.
the Combat Phase is composed of the beginning of combat step, declare attackers step, declare blockers step, combat damage step, and end of combat step. If a creature with first strike or double strike is attacking or blocking, an additional combat damage step is injected between the declare blockers and normal combat damage steps.
the Ending Phase is composed of the end step and the cleanup step. The end step is the final point during which players are generally able to do anything in a turn. Meanwhile the cleanup step is when damage wears off, "until end of turn" effects end, and so on.
Sorry to be so pedantic about it-- I'm a Magic Judge and tend to get a bit... precise. Often too much so for my own good.
Newbie here.....
Do untap only lands? Starter set is not clear on this.
@@KortovElphame creatures as well, they are tapped when you attack; so they are untapped along with lands at the beginning of your turn
"Drops a mountain on the table"
Best out-of context quote ever
I've been playing for 17 years, but I'll still watch the whole tutorial serie. I so much wish I could have had such a good tuto when starting.
MTG Community: Black Lotus is the most powerful card to ever be created.
Zoey: Meow*
*Hold my cream!
We finally get to see the illustrious Zoey!
A Goblin Motivator anime would be something else.
"All work time is crunch time when you're transported into a fantasy world."
Rule 500.1. A turn consists of five phases, in this order: beginning, precombat main, combat, postcombat main, and ending. Each of these phases takes place every turn, even if nothing happens during the phase. The beginning, combat, and ending phases are further broken down into steps, which proceed in order.
My Dad is really good at magic, he did the disappear trick and he won’t show up.
"gas stationus cigarettus"
Did he ever come back with the milk
I always found the Magic cards beautiful and interesting. But I could never wrap my head around the game. About as complex as I could get was Yu-Gi-Oh. But you're doing great! I understand more about the game now with your videos than I ever did when friends would explain. Thanks Extra!
I literally just started playing this game last month. So, happy these started showing up.
Thank you for the Disney Sword in the Stone reference :)
If I may nitpick, the listed phases aren't quite right (although, it doesn't really matter, especially for a beginner). Actually, those are a mix of steps and phases (the turn is structured in phases which may then be subdivided in multiple steps). There are actually 5 phases (and 3 of those only serve to be group some of the 10 steps):
beginning phase
. untap step
. upkeep step
. draw step
(precombat or first) main phase
combat phase
. beginning of combat step
. declare attackers step
. declare blockers step
. combat damage step
. end of combat step
(postcombat or second) main phase
ending phase
. end step
. cleanup step
Some of those steps (upkeep, beginning of combat, end of combat, end step) are mostly there as milestones if you will (for instance, if a card wants to do something just before combat, it'll typically do it in the beginning of combat step: that step is mostly there to provide a convenient moment for those cards to trigger).
The untap, draw, combat damage and cleanup steps are steps where the game automatically does something (respectively, you untap, you draw, you assign damage to creatures, and you discard to 7 cards plus end all "until end of turn" effects). Technically, the game also "automatically does something" during the declare attackers and declare blockers step (i.e. ask you whether you want to attack or block).
The main phase is just there for you to play your cards (usually your lands and creatures with the occasional enchantment/artifact/planeswalker).
It's also worth mentioning that in all those steps and main phases (except untap, and usually cleanup) you'll be able to play instants and activate abilities but we're not there yet... but hopefully soon as it's a big part of MtG's wealth (it's tied to a mechanic called priority that is usually glossed over as the details aren't important to play, the bottom line is that each player will successively acquire priority in both main phases and each of those steps set aside untap and cleanup and you need to have priority to take action: those are like mini-turns inside the turn).
And that's it. That's all there is to it to the turn structure. In fact, I talked about quite a lot of details you probably wouldn't need to play.
For anyone wondering about the upkeep step, you usually do not need to do anything unless a card says to do so, usually with the phrase "at the begining [PERSON'S] upkeep......"
20+ years playing Magic and EC finally makes Summoning Sickness make sense to me, with a giant magic hand tossing the creature around
My brain kept adding asterisks to EVERY SENTENCE. I swear, no rules are safe.
Creature damage? Fog bank! Sorcery speed? Quicken! The phases? Fatespinner! Blinding Angel!! Paradox Haze!!!
Anywho, that's why I'm glad you're explaining this so I dont have to.
It's important to understand what the rules are, before you use any of the thousands of cards that break them.
This series was one the reasons I started playing MTG Arena.
Never been so bored in an extra credit video
I watched this episode when it first came out, before hand i didnt care about magic the gathering. Thanks to these episodes that have introduced me to the game i now regularly play on mtg arena and have made friends because of it and i have a couple planeswalker decks irl and go to tournaments! Thanks for the introduction extra credits!
This vid is so wholesome it hurts
"That whole combo undone by a single car-... I can't talk, I play red/blue"
~Magnus the Red, to Tzeentch, during a game of Paradox-Billiards-Vostroyan-Roulette-Fourth-Dimensional-Hypercube-Chess-Strip-Poker... Also known as "a children's card game" or more simply "Yugioh"
Im so happy you guys are covering this! I hope you guys -after covering the basics- cover other formats so people know the other options if they get into paper magic!
Just waiting for a couple episodes later when you try to describe the stack and priority without confusing everyone.
If you really want to confuse people, talk about the layers. A vital part of keeping the game consistent, but has some strange and tricky situations that come up.
for years I have heard people talk about "tapping" things, and now I finally know what it means. thank you extra credits ;)
Suggested MtG topics:
1. What key game elements enabled MtG to survive for more than two decades unlike other collectible card games?
2. Why are the prices of Alpha, Beta, etc. cards keep going up these past two decades despite being rotated out of tournament play for a looong time?
Magic explained by a cat?
10/10 best video of the year
For some reason I don't like this cat focus that took over the channel. Maybe because I'm not single with a cat as companion 🤷♂️
That sounds to negative - it just seems that everytime writing for the episode is hard the solutions is "lets throw in a cat reference"
A year ago it was "less cats more information"...
I have no plans to play magic, but this was recommended to me and sometimes you just don't question the RUclips gods.
I've been playing from 2001 onward and I love that you folks at extra credits made videos about this great game. I would say it's easy to learn how to play and takes years to become great at it in a similar light, compareable to chess
9:50 zoey is so adorable
It's awesome to see Magic making a come back lately! I played MANY years ago back in high school (more years then I care to admit) and while I don't think I can get back in to the card collecting part, I really want to pick up a video game version of it now.
Zoe should have her own Magic card... here’s some ideas for her ability “instant death to opponent because of cuteness overload” or “revive one ally by purring at them” or “instantly stop all attacking characters in their tracks because they cannot attack you with cuteness overload engaged”
I love your humor! I have such laughs when watching your episodes.
This episode had much cat cuteness involved. You have exceeded your cute quota by 500%. Congratulations.
-_I'll Be Lurking, Friend._
That was cute, and fun to watch! I'll be keen to watch the rest soon.
Zoe is an adorable little planeswalker!
1: I love the fact that there are so many cats
2: I love this channel
thanks for the series guys
i have been playing Yu-Gi-Oh & Pokémon for years & always want to get into Magic, but was never able to, because it sounded so confusing
Just download Magic Arena and play
I just love how I went from reviewing the Cuban missile crisis to learning how to play magic without changing the channel
One of the weird things about MTG that new players often fail to understand is why you wait until Main phase 2 to summon or drop other none-land permanents that don't effect the outcome of the turn's combat phase. I'm glad this video gives at least a nod towards the psychological aspect of the game, which a good player can take full advantage of.
I recently played a pick-up game of EDH at the new location of my local store and by intentionally playing badly for the first three rounds I convinced the other players at the table I wasn't much of a threat, well I waited for one of them to pull off a big play. Which happened to be a Narset + Puzzle-box combo lockdown. And well everyone went insane trying to deal with that player I set up my own combo and took the game in one turn using a Yukiro + Draw engine combo into Karn's Temporal Sundering to deal 43 damage to the table and win the match in a single play.
I did this not to be a jerk, but because I knew that my deck would become an obvious threat if I played it at its best from turn one. Thus making me the target of three experienced players, so instead I just let the format do what it does best and let them ignore me until the right moment.
Stuff like this is how Arena cannot really give you the full experience that is MTG.
I like it, looking forward to the rest of the series!
Two game-related videos in one week? Nice!
Oh! Btw! If by chance you're not familiar with MtG and are interested in playing, there a couple ways to do so (assuming you don't already have friends who play):
- Magic the Gathering Arena: F2P, user-friendly, but little to no player interaction (which can be good or bad depending of what you're looking for) and only the most recent cards
- Cockatrice(/Xmage/...): those are unofficial online simulators, they're free although not super convenient as they don't handle the rules for you, but arguably the best way to play unusual formats and/or try cards you don't have (or the best format, i.e. EDH) ...set aside good old paper magic of course. You'll need to talk to other players (to find games and play them).
- Magic the Gathering Online: basically, the hardcore version of MtGA (not F2P, but with all the cards and more ways to play basically)
- Prereleases: those are events that occur whenever a new set comes out, they are very new player friendly and quite convivial (they do cost about 20~25$/€ though, as you'll buy cards to play for the event), unfortunately the next one is in 2 months (throne of eldraine, september 28-29)
the skip add comment made me spit all over my keyboard. luckily, i got a washable one but still, not nice! :D
Oof, sucks when you overreact eh?
Gotta say James, two mountains and only one creature on the field? That's not a very well-balanced Goblin deck. /s
Word From The North maybe he got a really bad shuffle and drew 8 mountains and 1 goblin between the initial hand plus his turn 2 draw. If that’s the case, the “Extra Crdits episode due in 1 hour” was a favor Zoey did for him to prevent a slow painful death lol
Thank you. My son has been wondering how to play and we looked at the video and learned
I never played nor heard of this game. But ohhhhh boy ! You got me hooked by simply explaining the rules.
I just love how they explain things.I hope they make a programming tutorial in the future.
Thank you so much for teaching me this amazing game and having me become a more social person
I appreciate this series.
1:07 Or literally, if you're in an anime
I've never played or watch someone play Magic before and ngl I'm partially a bit lost. While the video managed to explain the basic concepts well, the video went technically really fast and I sort of lost track.
For example I still don't get why Zoe didn't play Pegasus on 6:16? How does playing later affect Mana?
The reason she played it later was to keep the lands untapped as a bluff, basically signalling that she could have a instant spell card in hand that would need that mana during the "combat phase" (which is the proper name for it, not the "attack phase"). If she had played the Pegasus before combat, all of her lands would be tapped, she wouldn't be able draw more mana from them to cast spells, and James would know that she wouldn't have any more cards to play and could plan his plays accordingly.
Of course, MtG has almost as many exceptions as rules, but I won't get into things like alternate casting costs or phyrexian mana. Those are in the advanced course, not the basics.
I decided to have a comeback to Magic after 10 long year of hiatus after seeing this.
Card: Resereved viewer.
2/4
Effect: Defender (it can't be used during attack phase, but can be used as a blocker)
Flavour text: "He usually doesn't comment much on a video, untill something catches his eye in the comment section."
Mana cost?
@@SpektralJo 1 black (for toxicity reasons) 2 of any kind
I'm a bit disappointed that this isn't more about an analysis of the game's design, but I understand that in order to do that you need to explain the rules. I hope that's where this is headed.
The correct answer to what color is blue. And then maybe something else.
Loved it and keep this series going also my favorite card is Kraul harpooner
James:doesn't cast rage fire on adjanis pridemate
Everyone else in the room:*visible concern
I think the kid dev is so cute! With long sleeves is so cute!
MtG is a marvelous game. Commander format for the win!
I wish you talked about this 3 years ago! Once you get the super basics down you should make a video about determining the Beat Down. It's a super relevant concept in nearly every competitive game.
I really like where you're heading with this series. I think it would be cool to talk about the different formats of magic, like commander and pauper, once you get the core videos finished.
This is actually a really great guide.
When I was big into magic in middle school, I had a flying/burn deck. It was awesome! It never played the same way twice. Sometimes I would fly over my enemy. Sometimes I would burn so much damage to my opponent that would win the duke for me.
untap upkeep and draw are all one 'phase', but separate 'steps'. There are five phases in a turn: beginning, precombat main, combat, postcombat main, and ending. Each of these are made of of steps. I have no doubt the EC crew knows this and chose to simplify for sake of explaining but I'll still state the pedantic to maybe educate someone.
Best informative show ever
the cat at the end is adorable.
Then to learn yugioh we will just walk you through a turn with a cheap new deck, salamangreat. Skipping to the main phase, we will see that we have a salamngreat spinny and salamangreat gazelle in hand. So first we will normal summon spinny (where once per turn we can put a level 4 or lower monster on the field in attacn position). Then since the spinny is a level 4 or lower cyberse monster, we can send it to the grave to summon the link 1 monster salamamgreat balelynx to the extra monster zone. Then when balelynx is summoned it has an effect thst adds a salamangreat field spell to the hand, but since the spinny was sent to the grave to summon it we will also chain the effect of gazelle in hand to special summon itself as well. So following the chain in reverse order, we special summon gazelle and then add the field spell 'salamangreat sanctuary' to our hand from the deck. Then, since gazelle was summoned its other effect activates which lets us send 1 salamangreat card to the graveyard, so we will choose the trap card salamangreat roar. Next since spinny is still in the graveyard and we have a salamangreat on the field, we can use his effect to special summon itself. Now with with both spinny and gazelle as level 3 monsters on the field, we can stack them on top of each other to xyz summon salamangreat mirage Stalin in the zone that balelynx points to (since monsters summoned from the extra deck can only be summoned to the extra monster zone or zones that link monsters point to). We will then use stalio's effect to send the gazelle underneath it to the grave and special summon a salamangreat monster from the deck, which we'll choose salamangreat jack jaguar for. Next, since jaguar and balelynx are both fire effect monsters, we will send both of them to the grave to link summon the link 2 salamangreat sunlight wolf. Next we will play the field spell we added to our hand from balelynx and use its effect to let us summon another sunlight wolf (being sure to put it not above our mirage stalio) using only the current one as tribute. Next we will use jack jaguar's effect in the grave to send back our sunlightwolf in the grave back to the extra deck and then summon jaguar in the zone our field sunlight wolf is pointing to, which triggers one of the wolf's effects to let us add salamangreat gazelle back to our hand from the grave. Next, since this sunlight wolf was summoned using itself as tribute, we can use its other effect to add a salamangreat spell or trap to hand, and we'll add the roar we sent with gazelle. Last we will use jaguar to make another balelynx as extra protection for our trap and set roar (which during the opponents turn we will be able to use to negate and destroy any card effect as long as we have a salamangreat link monster on our field). And then we end our turn...
Easy!
That last card of Zoey's is almost as good as how King Arthur and his knights got away from the terrible cave monster: the animator had a heart attack. :)
5:28 it can if something makes it untap before your untap step.
Also, it's called Combat Phase, not Attack phase.
Glad you mentioned playing stuff in 2nd main phase though. It's a good habit to learn early.
I assume that is so your opponent doesn't know what your plan is, since you'll still have mana available to you?
In my forst Magic-game I kept referring to the lands by their symbols, saying that I was gonna "Use my two drops of water" or "plant a tree". It drove my opponent absolutely nuts.
ACKCHYUALLY Magic turn has 5 phases:
-Beginning phase
(untap, upkeep, draw)
-Pre-combat main phase
-Combat phase
(way too much stuff to write in a few words)
-Post-combat main phase
-Ending phase (end step, cleanup step)
The black cat is the assistant of a witch's magic so she knows all
This brings me back. Too bad my favorite deck isn't legal anymore.
There is probably a format where it is legal
What’s the deck? Infection? Some broken thing in modern?
@@serpent268 "No Fun Allowed". W/B designed with sets of Pillary of the Sleepless, Ring of Oblivion, and Faith's Fetters. I tie all your creatures down while casting Wrath of God or one of a small handful of duplicate effects. I Dredge the graveyards and slow down the game until I get 1-2 Debtor's Knells out. Then I dropped a Desolation Angel and let the game continue while resummoning an Angelic army from the dead. It was very effective, at least at first. Faster deck types would beat it, naturally. But it served me well for a long while.
I never learned how to play to Magic the Gathering as kid and I have always thought that I was too old to learn how to play. Maybe these videos might make me go out a finally pick up a pack of cards and see what I'm missing. Over the past few years I've played some virtual collector card games on and off to dip my toes into that world. (The one I played the most was Decromancer and I only got into because it was on one of the "James Recommends" videos.)
This series is definitely the most on-the-nose sponsorship EC has done, but as a Hearthstone vet it was sorta interesting seeing which mechanics Blizzard decided to borrow from MtG and which they decided to leave behind.
very nice I might show this to a few friends to get them interested and dust off a few decks in the process man I miss playing magic!
As a casule magic player i mostly knew this but learned a few things. For example, I learned that at the end of your turn you discard down to 7 cards.
THE END IS PERFECT!