Name And Mana Cost
The card name is at the top, and the mana cost sits beside it. That cost tells you how much mana you need and which colors are required to cast the card.
Magic: The Gathering / Detailed Guide
Advanced Guide
Magic: The Gathering Detailed Guide
This guide expands the basics of Magic and focuses on mana, timing, combat and the vocabulary that makes game states easier to understand.
Card Name
Doctor Doom
Card Number
394
Type
Creature / Human, Scientist, Villain
Rarity
mythic
Read The Card
How to read a Magic card
A Magic card is designed so you can read cost, type, strength and effect text quickly. Once you know where each element lives, the card becomes much easier to evaluate during a game.
Type Line
The type line tells you whether the card is a creature, instant, sorcery, enchantment, artifact or another type. It also shows subtypes, which often matter for synergy and tribal effects.
Rules Text
The main text box explains what the card does. In Magic, exact wording matters a lot, so keywords and triggered abilities should be read carefully and in full.
Power And Toughness
Creature cards usually show power and toughness in the bottom-right corner. These values tell you how hard the creature hits in combat and how much damage it can survive.
Rules Text
When Doctor Doom enters, create two 3/3 colorless Robot Villain artifact creature tokens named Doombot. As long as you control an artifact creature or a Plan, Doctor Doom has indestructible. At the beginning of your end step, you draw a card and lose 1 life.
Mana System
Magic is built around mana efficiency. Your lands create mana, your spells consume it and your turn planning depends on whether you want to commit to the board or leave mana open for interaction.
Card Types And Speed
Creatures and permanents shape the board over time, while instants and activated abilities create tension because they can be used during many different windows. Learning what can happen at instant speed is one of the biggest steps forward for new players.
Combat And Value
Combat is not just about attacking with everything. You are often weighing damage, trades, combat tricks and future crack-backs. Many games are decided by who extracts more value from each card over several turns.
Deck Identity
Decks usually follow an identity such as aggro, midrange, control or combo. Understanding your role in a matchup helps you decide whether to race, stabilize, preserve life or hold removal for a more important target.
Type
Types and categories
Choose a type or category to explore cards and strategic context inside the Magic: The Gathering guide.
Creature
Instant
Sorcery
Enchantment
Artifact
Land
Planeswalker
Artifact Creature
Artifact Enchantment
Artifact Land
Basic Creature
Basic Land
Basic Snow Land
Battle
Conspiracy
Eaturecray
Elemental Instant
Enchantment Creature
Enchantment Land
Hero
Hero Artifact
Host Artifact Creature
Host Creature
Instant Creature
Kindred Artifact
Kindred Enchantment
Kindred Instant
Kindred Sorcery
Land Creature
Land Planeswalker
Legendary Artifact
Legendary Artifact Creature
Legendary Artifact Land
Legendary Artifact Planeswalker
Legendary Creature
Legendary Enchantment
Legendary Enchantment Artifact
Legendary Enchantment Creature
Legendary Instant
Legendary Instant Artifact Enchantment
Legendary Land
Legendary Planeswalker
Legendary Snow Artifact
Legendary Snow Creature
Legendary Snow Enchantment
Legendary Snow Land
Legendary Sorcery
Legendary Universewalker
Ongoing Scheme
Phenome-nom
Phenomenon
Plane
Poly Artifact
Scariest Creature You'll Ever See
Scheme
Snow Artifact
Snow Artifact Creature
Snow Creature
Snow Enchantment
Snow Instant
Snow Land
Snow Sorcery
Stickers
Summon
Summon Dragon
Summon Goblin
Summon Jaguar
Summon Knights
Summon Legend
Summon Licid
Summon Wolf
Tribal Enchantment
Tribal Instant
Vanguard
World Enchantment
Type
Snow Creature cards
Explore sample Snow Creature cards in Magic: The Gathering and open the full list for that category.
Technical Terms
Tempo
The pressure created by using your mana and turns more efficiently than the opponent.
Curve
The spread of mana costs in a deck and how smoothly it uses its turns.
Removal
A spell or effect used to destroy, exile, bounce or otherwise answer a threat.
Stack
The zone where spells and abilities wait to resolve in last in, first out order.