>>109228367Magic's nitty gritty is extremely detailed (the full rulebook is like 900 pages long*) but the basic gameplay is pretty simple.
- each player starts with a life total (amount depends on the type of game being played)
- land cards are free to play, but you can only play one land per your turns
- lands produce mana, your "money" to play other cards. there's 5 colors of mana. those symbols on the top right of cards are the cost to play them.
- use your creatures to attack your opponent, who uses their own dudes to defend. the numbers at the bottom of creatures are its attack and health.
- artifacts, enchantments, and planeswalkers sit on the table to provide effects.
- sorceries and instants go straight to the discard pile after being played. instants (and some card abilities) can be uses "in response" to other stuff, providing gameplay interaction
- if you're playing a commander-type game, you get to keep a special guy off to the side instead of in your deck, so its always availalbe
*
but at least it HAS a full rulebook, unless yugioh 
