MTG Turn Phases Explained: When Can You Cast Spells?

Magic feels simple when Arena handles the timing for you. You untap, draw, cast a creature, attack and pass the turn. Move to a tabletop game, however, and suddenly questions start appearing everywhere. Can you remove a creature before it attacks? Can you cast an instant after blockers are declared? When exactly does an end-step trigger happen? And what does it actually mean when someone says, „I have priority“?

The answer lies in the structure of a Magic turn. Every turn is divided into five phases: the Beginning Phase, first Main Phase, Combat Phase, second Main Phase and Ending Phase. Some of those phases are divided further into individual steps, and the game moves through them in a fixed order whether anything visible happens or not.

You do not need to memorize the Comprehensive Rules to play good Magic. What matters is understanding where you are in the turn and when players receive priority, because priority is what gives you permission to cast most spells and activate most abilities.

If you are still getting comfortable with the basics, our How to Play Magic: The Gathering guide covers the full game flow, card types, combat and the core rules before you dive deeper into turn timing.

MTG Turn Phases at a Glance

A normal Magic turn follows this order:

The main phases are where creatures, sorceries, artifacts, enchantments and planeswalkers are normally cast. Instants and many activated abilities are much more flexible because they can be used whenever you receive priority.

There are two major exceptions beginners should remember immediately: players normally do not receive priority during the Untap Step or Cleanup Step. Everywhere else, there will generally be an opportunity for players to act after the appropriate turn-based actions and triggered abilities have been handled.

The Beginning Phase: Untap, Upkeep and Draw

Every turn begins with the Beginning Phase, but its three steps behave differently enough that understanding them individually is useful.

The Untap Step is automatic. The active player untaps their permanents at the same time, and nobody receives priority during this step. You cannot respond to your opponent untapping lands by suddenly casting a spell before they become untapped. If an ability happens to trigger during the Untap Step, it waits until the next appropriate opportunity before being placed onto the stack.

Then comes the Upkeep Step. Abilities beginning with wording such as „At the beginning of your upkeep“ trigger here. Once those triggers have been placed onto the stack, the active player receives priority, and both players can begin casting instants or activating abilities.

Upkeep is an important timing window because it happens after permanents have untapped but before the active player draws for the turn. If you have an instant-speed effect that you specifically want to use before their draw, this is normally your opportunity.

The Draw Step begins with the active player drawing a card as a turn-based action. Only after that draw happens does the active player receive priority. This means you cannot respond to the normal card draw itself before the card enters their hand, but you can act afterward before the game moves into the first Main Phase.

One mistake in the old version of this guide was using Thoughtseize as an example here. Thoughtseize is a sorcery, so you cannot cast it during an opponent’s Draw Step. An instant-speed discard effect or activated ability could be used in that window, but an ordinary sorcery cannot.

The Main Phases: Where Most Spells Are Cast

After drawing comes the first Main Phase. This is where the active player receives the widest range of options.

If the stack is empty and you have priority during your own Main Phase, you can normally cast creatures, sorceries, artifacts, enchantments and planeswalkers in addition to instants. You can also play a land if you still have a land play available for the turn.

Playing a land is worth distinguishing from casting a spell. A land does not use the stack and is played as a special action, so your opponent cannot „respond“ to the land itself being played.

The second Main Phase happens after combat and works almost identically to the first. If you did not use your land play before combat, you can still use it afterward. You can also cast the permanent spells you deliberately held back while attacking.

This is where timing becomes strategic rather than merely technical.

Suppose your hand contains a creature that provides no immediate combat benefit. Casting it before combat gives your opponent information about how much mana you have left and what you may be planning. Waiting until Main Phase Two keeps more possibilities open during combat.

That does not mean „always cast creatures after combat.“ Sometimes you need a creature’s ability, haste, anthem effect or another benefit before attacking. The point is that you should have a reason for revealing information early.

Cards such as Fable of the Mirror-Breaker often make perfect sense after combat when they are not changing the attack you are about to make.

The Combat Phase: Where Timing Matters Most

Combat creates more timing mistakes than almost any other part of Magic because it contains five separate steps and several actions that happen before anyone receives priority.

The phase begins with the Beginning of Combat Step. After any beginning-of-combat triggers are handled, players receive priority. For the defending player, this is normally the last opportunity to tap or remove a creature before the active player gets to declare it as an attacker. Once the game reaches the actual declaration of attackers, you cannot interrupt that declaration halfway through.

Next is the Declare Attackers Step. The attacking player chooses all legal attackers as a turn-based action. Only after attackers have been declared, costs have been paid and relevant triggers have gone onto the stack do players receive priority.

This distinction matters. If your opponent announces that a creature is attacking and legally completes the declaration, destroying it afterward does not undo the fact that it attacked. Any appropriate attack triggers have already triggered.

Then comes the Declare Blockers Step. The defending player chooses blocks first. Players do not cast combat tricks in the middle of this declaration. Once blocking choices are finished and relevant triggers are placed onto the stack, priority returns.

That is one of the best windows for a card such as Giant Growth. You now know exactly which creatures are blocked, which are unblocked and where your opponent intends combat to happen.

The next step is Combat Damage. Damage assignment and damage being dealt are turn-based actions. You cannot wait until you see the damage being dealt and then insert an instant before that damage happens. If you want to increase toughness, grant indestructible or otherwise change combat damage, you generally need to act during the Declare Blockers Step after blocks are known but before the game advances to damage.

After combat damage is dealt, state-based actions are checked. Creatures with lethal damage may be put into graveyards before anyone receives priority. Players then get an opportunity to act before leaving the Combat Damage Step.

Finally, there is the End of Combat Step. Combat is mostly finished, but creatures are still considered attacking or blocking until this step ends. That creates a niche but occasionally important timing window for effects that specifically care about attacking or blocking creatures.

Our separate MTG combat guide goes deeper into blocking, multiple blockers, first strike, trample and combat damage if you want to understand what happens inside these steps rather than just when they occur.

What Does Priority Actually Mean?

Priority sounds more complicated than it is.

In simple terms, priority determines who currently has the opportunity to take an action. When a step or phase begins and turn-based actions have been completed, the active player usually receives priority first. If they do nothing, priority passes to the next player.

When all players pass priority in succession while the stack is empty, the game moves to the next appropriate step or phase. If something is on the stack and everyone passes, the top object on the stack resolves instead.

This is why an opponent cannot simply skip from their Main Phase into damage before giving you an opportunity to act. The game passes through the appropriate combat steps, and you receive timing windows along the way.

Casting a spell also does not mean your opponent immediately gains control of the game. After you cast something, priority eventually passes around the table so other players can respond before that spell resolves.

This back-and-forth is the foundation of the stack.

It is also why Arena sometimes appears to „stop“ at strange moments. The client is recognizing a priority window where your cards give you a legal action.

Instants, Sorceries and „Sorcery Speed“

A useful shortcut is to think of spells in two broad categories.

Instants can normally be cast whenever you have priority.

A traditional sorcery, along with most creatures, artifacts, enchantments and planeswalkers, is more restricted. You normally need to be in one of your own Main Phases, have priority and have an empty stack.

Players often describe this as sorcery speed, although that phrase is shorthand rather than an actual speed built into the rules.

This is why you cannot respond to an opponent’s spell with Thoughtseize. Even if it is your turn, the stack is not empty while their spell is waiting to resolve.

By contrast, an instant can usually be cast in response because receiving priority while something is already on the stack is perfectly normal.

Flash changes this equation for permanents. A creature with flash can normally be cast whenever you could cast an instant, making it possible to deploy threats during combat or on an opponent’s End Step.

The Ending Phase: End Step and Cleanup

After the second Main Phase, the turn enters its final phase.

The End Step is a normal priority window. Abilities beginning with „At the beginning of the end step“ trigger here and are put onto the stack before players begin taking actions.

This is also one of the most useful moments for instant-speed play.

Imagine you have an instant card-draw spell and expect to need all of your mana on your own turn. Casting the spell during your opponent’s End Step allows you to wait as long as possible before spending mana. If something more important happens earlier in their turn, the mana remains available for interaction.

The same logic applies to creatures with flash. Deploying them at the end of an opponent’s turn minimizes the amount of information you give away and lets you untap almost immediately afterward.

The final part of the turn is the Cleanup Step. The active player discards down to their maximum hand size if necessary, damage marked on permanents is removed and effects lasting „until end of turn“ expire.

Normally nobody receives priority during Cleanup.

There are rare exceptions. If something triggers or a state-based action creates a reason for the game to handle additional events during Cleanup, players can receive priority, and another Cleanup Step will occur afterward. For ordinary gameplay, however, you can think of the End Step as the final normal opportunity to cast something before the next player’s turn begins.

The Timing Windows That Matter Most

You do not need to announce all ten steps during every casual game. Most turns move through several of them without anyone wanting to act.

What matters is recognizing the windows that commonly affect decisions.

If you want to stop a creature from attacking, act before attackers are declared, usually during Beginning of Combat.

If you want to use a combat trick after seeing how your opponent blocks, act after blockers are declared but before combat damage.

If you want to use mana on an instant while leaving your options open for as long as possible, the opponent’s End Step is often the natural window.

If you want to cast a creature or sorcery, you will normally be doing it during one of your Main Phases while the stack is empty.

And if something is currently resolving, you cannot interrupt the middle of that resolution. Players receive priority before or after spells and abilities resolve, not halfway through their instructions.

Once those ideas become instinctive, the turn structure stops feeling like a collection of obscure rules and starts becoming one of the most useful strategic tools in the game.

Common MTG Turn-Timing Mistakes

One of the most common mistakes is saying „before you attack“ only after attackers have already been declared. At that point, it is too late to prevent the creature from being declared as an attacker. You can still remove it before damage, but any relevant attack triggers have already happened.

Another is trying to pump a creature after combat damage has already been dealt. If lethal damage has killed it through state-based actions, there is no window to retroactively cast Giant Growth and save it.

Newer players also frequently assume that everything done during an opponent’s turn must be a „response.“ It does not. You can cast an instant onto an empty stack whenever you legally receive priority. You do not need to wait for the opponent to cast something first.

And finally, Arena players sometimes become accustomed to the client passing through irrelevant steps automatically. At a physical table, those same steps still exist. If you genuinely need to act during upkeep, beginning of combat or end of combat, communicate that before the game has clearly advanced beyond the window.

Final Thoughts: Learn the Windows, Not the Rule Numbers

You do not become better at Magic by memorizing that the Beginning of Combat Step is rule 507 or knowing every obscure cleanup interaction.

You become better by understanding when decisions become locked in.

Attackers are chosen before players get another chance to act. Blocks are chosen before the next priority window. Combat damage happens before players can react to the result. Main phases give you access to your sorcery-speed cards, while the End Step is often the safest place to spend leftover mana on instant-speed effects.

Once you understand those windows, priority becomes much less intimidating. You stop asking whether you are „allowed“ to act and start thinking about when acting gives you the greatest advantage.

That is the real purpose of learning the MTG turn phases.