Turn Structure

Phases, steps, and the things that only happen at a specific point in the turn.

The rules are CR 500–514. Phases and steps are 500–501, the untap step is 502, cleanup is 514, and the first-turn draw rule is 103.8.

A turn is always five phases, in this order, and every one of them happens every turn even if nothing occurs in it:

  1. Beginning — untap, upkeep, draw
  2. Precombat main
  3. Combat — beginning of combat, declare attackers, declare blockers, combat damage, end of combat
  4. Postcombat main
  5. Ending — end, cleanup

The beginning, combat and ending phases break down into steps. The two main phases have no steps — a main phase simply ends when all players pass in succession with an empty stack.

The untap step is a dead zone

Three turn-based actions happen: phasing, the day/night check, then the active player untaps their permanents. And then the step just ends, because no player receives priority during the untap step. Nothing can be cast, activated or resolved.

Anything that triggers during untap is held, and goes on the stack in the upkeep step, alongside the "at the beginning of your upkeep" triggers — the order they triggered in doesn't matter. This is why so many cards say "at the beginning of your upkeep" rather than "as you untap": upkeep is the first moment in your turn where anybody can actually do anything.

The first-turn draw is a two-player rule

In a two-player game, the player who goes first skips the draw step of their first turn. In multiplayer games — Commander included — nobody skips it. The only multiplayer exception is Two-Headed Giant, where the team going first does skip.

This is one of the most commonly misplayed rules at a casual table, and it costs the starting player a card every game it happens.

Mana empties constantly

Unspent mana empties from your pool at the end of every step and every phase, not once per turn. Mana floated in your upkeep is gone by your draw step. It's a turn-based action that doesn't use the stack, so there is no window to respond to it.

The end step and the cleanup step are different

The end step is a normal step: the active player gets priority, and "at the beginning of the end step" triggers happen here.

One trap: if a permanent with an "at the beginning of the end step" ability arrives during the end step, that ability won't trigger until next turn's end step. The step doesn't back up. This applies only to triggered abilities, though — a continuous "until end of turn" effect you create during the end step is still in effect for the rest of the turn.

The cleanup step is where the turn is tidied, in a specific order:

  1. The active player discards down to maximum hand size (normally seven).
  2. Simultaneously: all damage marked on permanents is removed, and all "until end of turn" and "this turn" effects end.

Step 2 being simultaneous is exactly why a +3/+3'd creature with 4 damage on it survives the turn. If the pump wore off first it would momentarily be a 2/2 with 4 damage and die. Because both happen at the same instant, there is never a moment where lethal damage sits on a smaller creature.

Normally nobody gets priority in cleanup. But if that discard causes something to trigger, or a state-based action needs performing, the game handles those, players do get priority, and then another cleanup step begins.

One more piece of timing trivia that matters

"Until end of combat" effects expire at the end of the combat phase — not at the beginning of the end of combat step, despite the name. So an "until end of combat" pump is fully in effect for the whole end of combat step.

28 questions in this track, checked against the 2026-06-19 Comprehensive Rules.

Rules covered: 102.1, 103.8a, 103.8c, 106.4, 117.4, 402.2, 500.1, 500.2, 500.4, 500.5, 500.5a, 500.7, 500.8, 501.1, 502.1, 502.2, 502.3, 502.4, 503.1, 503.1a, 504.1, 504.2, 505.1, 505.2, 505.5, 506.1, 507.1, 508.1, 510.4, 511.1, 512.1, 513.2, 514.1, 514.2, 514.3, 514.3a, 603.3, 614.1a, 703.4q, 800.4j, 800.7.