An all too common error players make with regards to the rules of Magic concerns what the phases and steps of the turn are. In most cases, a perfect knowledge of the turn order is not needed, and most players are able to get through a turn without any difficulty. However, sometimes not quite knowing what happens in a turn can lead to miscommunication or an error.
There are five phases in a turn: the beginning phase, pre-combat main phase (sometimes called first main phase), the combat phase, post-combat main phase (referred to as second main phase) and the ending phase. Three of those phases have additional steps. The beginning phase is broken down into the untap step, upkeep step and draw step. The combat phase is also broken down into the beginning of combat step, the declaration of attackers step, the declaration of blockers step, the combat damage step and the end of combat step. Finally, the ending phase is divided into the end step and the cleanup step.
Apart from the order that this all takes place in, there are a couple additional things to point out. Many game actions take place at the beginning of each of the individual steps. I won’t go into all of them here, but drawing a card at the beginning of the draw step and declaring blockers when the declaration of blockers step are examples.
Another thing to point out is that unspent mana that is floating in your pool will go away at the end of each step and phase. You can no longer float mana from one step to another.
Finally, here are the steps and phases listed in the order that they occur:
Beginning Phase
- Untap Step
- Upkeep Step
- Draw Step
Pre-combat Main Phase
Combat Phase
- Beginning of Combat Step
- Declaration of Attackers Step
- Declaration of Blockers Step
- Combat Damage Step
- End of Combat Step
Post-Combat Main Phase
Ending Phase
- End Step
- Cleanup Step