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Hey Jake, If you have a card that says something like "Put a 1/1 green Saproling creature token into play" then you would place something on the play table to represent a 1/1 green Saproling. It doesn't need to be a token card and indeed, and until recently token cards weren't at all easy to come by. We tend to use gem stones and try and stick close to colour so in the green Saproling's case we'd put a green gem stone to represent and just make sure everybody knows what the gem stone is representing. Some people like to use dice and set the dice to represent the power or toughness of the creature it is representing.

Creature tokens stay in play until they die just like any other creature unless the card says otherwise. When the token is dead it does not go to the graveyard so anything you have that pings on a graveyard entry will not be activated.

alright thanks a bunch :]

and if a token was "returned to your hand" or put back in the library in any way, it is is instead simply removed from the game.

Can someone verify that tokens don't touch the graveyard? I thought they did and it's an important difference if they don't.

they don't go into the graveyard, anything that would result in them being moved to the graveyard simply removes them from the game.

basically: tokens only exist on the battlefield('in play')...if they get shifted anywhere else(library,hand,graveyard,exile) they just stop existing.

so grave pact would not apply to tokens? I've seen many players play this differently (which doesn't mean that it's correct but I did not find anything about tokens and the graveyard in the rules).

it's a bit tricky....it does trigger effects as "a creature going to the graveyard" without actually going into the graveyard.

ie: it 'goes' to the graveyard, but it never makes it there.

yeah that's what I meant by touching the graveyard, they touch it, trigger effects and vanish.

yeah tokens hit the grave and then disapper

Seras, that's not technically accurate. Tokens hit the graveyard for a quick second...then get removed when state-based effects are checked. It's enough to trigger death triggers.

[QUOTE=jakeleeroy]im pretty new to magic.
i dont understand the whole token thing really.

how long do they stay in play?
and do you really need to have the token card to use it? or is it just an imaginary ?/? (any number) creature that i can attack and block with?
and when do they leave play? when they die or after the turn is up?[/QUOTE]

for friendly play you can also use cards in your graveyard (the card that made the token, facedown i.e) that you cant access, just make sure every one knows what it is. In my opinion anything that can tap and does not cause confusion will do.

note also as mentioned above that a token "hits" the graveyard so you'll get life from Deathgreeter but you won't be able to resurrect it as it cant exist outside the battlefield zone of the game.
Should your token end op on your hand and you're using a graveyard card the card goes to the graveyard and the token is no more.

http://www.wizards.com/magic/rules/EN_MTGM11_Rulebook_LR_Web.pdf

check out page 32, it's pretty cut and dry.

Token
Some instants, sorceries, and abilities can create creatures.
Th ese creatures are represented by tokens. You can
use anything you want as a token, but you should use
something that can be tapped.
Tokens are considered creatures in every way, and
they’re aff ected by all the rules, spells, and abilities that
aff ect creatures. If one of your token creatures leaves the
battlefi eld, however, it moves to the new zone (such as
your graveyard) and then immediately vanishes from the
game.

[QUOTE=gribble]http://www.wizards.com/magic/rules/EN_MTGM11_Rulebook_LR_Web.pdf
If one of your token creatures leaves the
battlefield, however, it moves to the new zone (such as
your graveyard) and then immediately vanishes from the
game.[/QUOTE]

Rule 110.5g states:
A token that has left the battlefield can’t come back onto the battlefield. If such a token
would return to the battlefield, it remains in its current zone instead. It ceases to exist the next time state-based actions are checked.

So technically, it stays where it was sent for a very short while, but there's really nothing you can do with it anyway.