Starter Set
The Starter Set is the best entry point for new players. It contains everything you and your friend need to enter the marvellous world of Magic: The Gathering.

• 2 decks featuring illustrated cards of creatures and spells
  
• a 15-card pack with more advanced cards for expanded game play
  
• A collectible premium card featuring exclusive art
  
• 2 play guides to take you and your opponent through the game step by step
  
• An easy-to-read rulebook for complete reference
  
• 2 playmats with scorekeeping counters
  
• A CD-ROM (PC) featuring exciting games that cover the key aspects of magic play

• Magic Online

Themed Decks
Pre-constructed Themed Decks are pre-set decks of 60-cards constructed by the experts and based on particular strategies or ‘themes’. They are powerful and ready-to-play, the perfect next step into the greater world of Magic: The Gathering.

Booster Packs
The ultimate satisfaction in Magic is to come up with your own deck and build it around the strategies that you prefer and fill it with nasty surprises for your opponents. The 11-card booster packs are the best way to do this. Booster packs contain 11-random cards, 1 of which is always rare and 3 of which are always uncommon!

Tournament Decks
Tournament decks are ready-to-play with decks containing 75 cards. The cards are random but the combination of lands to spells is standard, allowing you to open a packet and play. This randomness is extremely fun and challenging in tournaments!

New Expansions
New cards keep Magic: The Gathering alive as new spells, creatures and tactics change the face of the game. Every 3 months a new set of cards is released, offering new options and possibilities that give a unique flavour to the game. New cards come in Boosters and Decks.

Magic: The Gathering is a fantastic game and pretty easy to learn too. If you are completely new you can download a custom-made demo of the game from Wizards of the Coast site.

Magic in ten steps
In Magic you and your opponent each have a deck of cards, representing the spells that you have available as wizards. There are 3 types of cards in a Magic deck: Spells, Creatures and Lands. Lands are there to give you the necessary energy (called ‘mana’) to cast Spells and Creatures. Creatures and Spells are there to enable you to beat your opponent.

Magic is played on a playmat and takes place in turns, with each player taking one turn at a time.

Setup:

• Step 1: Shuffle your deck
  Step 2: Put you deck face down to one side. This is called your ‘Library’ and you take new cards from here each turn.
  
• Step 3: Take the first 7 cards of the Library in your hand and you are ready to play.
  The Game Starts and every turn you:
  
• Step 4: Take a card from your library.
  
• Step 5: Untap (i.e. flip vertically) any cards that have been used the previous turn and are therefore in a horizontal position (turn 2 onwards only)
  
• Step 6: Play a land (if you have any)
  
• Step 7: Play spells or creatures if you have enough lands on the table.
  
• Step 8: Resolve combat (only creatures can attack)
  
• Step 9: Any spells that are used up or creatures that are killed go into a separate pile called the ‘Graveyard’. Don’t worry, there are ways for them to arise the again!
  
• Step 10: Turn ends, it’s your opponent’s turn