One of the more difficult skills to master in Magic the Gathering is the art of timing your spells.  Imagine a hand of seven cards consisting of creatures, sorcerys, instants and enchantments.  You may even have artifacts and enchantments in play which have their own abilities that can be put on the stack as an instant at any time.  How do you decide which turn to play that sorcery on?  Do you put out your creatures first or do you put out the enchantment that enhances your creatures first?  The number of situations you can find yourself in are truly infinite and therefore we cannot address them all here.  In this article we will go over some common mistakes and simple tips to help you choose better spell order and manage phases more effectively.

The first deficit I'll mention the "playing in your own little sandbox" syndrome.  A game of magic includes at least 2 players.  Often times wizards will forget this and be so focused on their own little "master plan" that they'll miss opportunities to irrevocably sabotage their opponent's plan.  You need to pay attention to what your opponent is trying to do. When a player throws down Enchanted Evening its probably not because they love enchantments; it may just be the cog, that if disrupted, will bring down their entire scheme.  You'd be surprised how many players simply charge forward assuming you will either be ignorant of their intentions or simply too focused on your own game.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Nothing to see here.. just carry on with your turn."][/caption]

You may simply not be playing with cards that can deal with an enchantment (which I would consider a flaw in a deck, grab a versatile removal spell or two) or your deck may rely on raw speed but there are still many advantages to paying attention to what your opponent is doing.

Even in mono-red or black decks (colors with very limited enchantment or "spot" removal other than creature destruction) you can still force your opponent to do things he or she does not want to do if you stay aware of their intentions.  Learn to use that pyroclasym or infest at the most devastating of times.  Put yourself in your opponent's shoes and ask yourself "what would be the worst thing that could happen to me right now?"  If you can make that thing happen, do it.  If it would be more destructive to play the card in a turn or two, hold on to it.  Don't get caught up in your own little plan and forget that your opponent could be completely shattered if that expensive enchantment was dispelled or that critical creature was destroyed.  Often times, removal cards are so cheap that you can not only play them during your opponents turn, you can use them on your own turn and still have mana enough to do your own thing!

You can even put these disruptive cards on the stack after your opponent has declared attackers.  Imagine disenchanting a Coat of Arms after your opponent has sent three 4/4, now 1/1 elves your way only to get blocked by your now superior creatures.  Not to mention it is now your turn. If you had played that spell before the attack, your opponent would not have declared.  Now you've gotten rid of an opponent's expensive artifact and maybe even a few creatures as well.  They've wasted an entire turn and all it cost you was 2 little mana that might have been left over from last turn anyhow.

Be sure your deck is somehow able to deal with your opponent's spells.  There's no worse feeling than watching an opponent put out a huge creature or potentially game shattering enchantment and knowing that your deck is not equipped to deal with it.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="200" caption="Draw comes after upkeep?!"][/caption]

By now, most of us know the rules.  Fewer of us truly comprehend the rules well enough to use them to our advantage.  Let's get back to basics for a minute.  The order of phases (listed to the left) is critical to deciding when you are going to play that instant or sorcery card.  Your opponent has 6 life and you have an Incinerate in your hand- When does your opponent take that Rack damage?  What if there are two different cards that trigger "at the beginning of your upkeep"?  These questions are easily answered by a comprehensive understanding of the rules.

Consider the following rule:

300.2 - A phase or step ends when the stack is empty and all players pass in succession. No game events can occur between turns, phases, or steps. Simply having the stack become empty doesn't cause the phase or step to end; all players have to pass with the stack empty. Because of this, each player gets a chance to add new things to the stack before the current phase or step ends.

Realize that both players have the opportunity to do something on each of the phases.  If Player A decides it is the end of their upkeep phase, Player B now has priority to play whatever instant card he or she wishes.  Take advantage of these opportunities.  Play that incinerate before the player's draw phase if possible!  You don't want him drawing a Healing Salve to play on top of your coup de' grace.

Another common mistake I've noticed is a player's tendency to play spells in a turn before drawing cards.  If you have an artifact, plainswalker, or other effect that is going to allow you to draw cards; be sure to do so before you start playing the cards currently in your hand, you never know, you might draw something better than what you had planned on playing.

The bottom line here is that simply being aware of the order of phases and your right to play spells at the end of each one, is critical to deciding when you are going to play your spells.  There are infinite possibilities in the game of magic and it is up to you to manipulate those possibilities to your benefit.  Do this by understanding the order of phases, and not only having the cards in your deck that are able to deal with anything, but playing those cards at the most crucial of times.