Answers to the most common Magic: The Gathering rules questions — from combat to the stack to keyword interactions. — 16 questions answered.
The stack is a zone where spells and abilities wait to resolve. When you cast a spell, it goes on the stack. Your opponent can respond by adding their own spells/abilities on top. The stack resolves top-down (last in, first out). This is why a counterspell can stop a spell — it resolves first.
Combat has steps: Beginning of Combat → Declare Attackers (tap attacking creatures) → Declare Blockers (defender assigns blockers) → Combat Damage (simultaneously) → End of Combat. Unblocked attackers deal damage to the defending player. Blocked creatures deal damage to their blockers and vice versa.
When a creature is blocked, the attacker and blocker deal damage to each other simultaneously. If the damage equals or exceeds a creature's toughness, it dies. For example, a 3/3 blocking a 2/2 will kill the 2/2, while the 3/3 survives with damage marked on it (resets at end of turn).
No. Deathtouch means any amount of damage is enough to destroy a creature, but indestructible prevents destruction. An indestructible creature hit by deathtouch takes the damage but won't be destroyed. You need exile effects, -X/-X effects, or sacrifice to remove indestructible creatures.
Yes, in many cases. First strike damage happens before regular damage. If a first strike creature deals enough damage to kill a deathtouch creature in the first strike step, the deathtouch creature dies before it can deal damage back. But if the deathtouch creature survives first strike damage, it will kill the first striker in the regular damage step.
Most abilities cannot be countered by regular counterspells (which only counter spells). However, some cards specifically counter activated or triggered abilities, like Stifle or Disallow. Triggered abilities use 'when/whenever/at' and activated abilities use a colon (:) in their text.
Hexproof means the permanent can't be targeted by spells or abilities your opponents control — but you CAN target it yourself. Shroud means it can't be targeted by anyone, including you. Hexproof is strictly better for the controller since you keep the ability to buff/equip your own creature.
Destroy sends a permanent to the graveyard — it can potentially be brought back with reanimation effects. Exile removes it from the game entirely (to the exile zone) — much harder to recover. Indestructible prevents destruction but does NOT prevent exile. Exile is the stronger removal.
Trample + deathtouch is one of the strongest combat combos. Deathtouch means you only need to assign 1 damage to each blocker to be 'lethal.' Trample lets the rest carry over to the player. So a 6/6 with both keywords blocked by a 5/5 assigns 1 damage to the blocker (lethal via deathtouch) and 5 to the player.
Summoning sickness prevents a creature from attacking or using activated abilities with the tap (or untap) symbol the turn it enters the battlefield. It wears off at the start of your next turn. Creatures with haste ignore summoning sickness entirely. Note: creatures with summoning sickness CAN still block.
Yes. If a creature has both +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on it, they cancel each other out as a state-based action. A creature with three +1/+1 counters that gets two -1/-1 counters ends up with just one +1/+1 counter. This is relevant for persist/undying interactions and proliferate strategies.
Yes, tokens do go to the graveyard when they die — they briefly exist there before being removed as a state-based action. This means 'when a creature dies' abilities DO trigger for tokens. However, tokens cease to exist in any zone other than the battlefield, so you can't reanimate or return them from the graveyard.
A token is a creature (or other permanent) not represented by a regular card — created by spells or abilities. A copy effect (like Clone) creates a permanent that's a copy of another permanent but IS a real card. Tokens that are copies (like those from Populate) have the copied characteristics. Both go to the graveyard when destroyed.
ETB stands for 'enters the battlefield' — it refers to triggered abilities that happen when a permanent enters play. For example, Mulldrifter has an ETB that draws two cards. ETB effects are among the most powerful in Magic because they give value immediately, even if the creature is removed.
No. You can only play lands during your own main phase when the stack is empty, and only one land per turn (unless a card says otherwise). Lands are not spells — they don't use the stack and can't be countered. Cards like Burgeoning or Exploration can let you play additional lands.
Priority is the right to take an action (cast spells, activate abilities). The active player (whose turn it is) gets priority first in each step/phase. After they act or pass, the opponent gets priority. When both players pass priority in succession with an empty stack, the game moves to the next step.