Magic The Gathering is the original trading card game. Being created in 1993 by Richard Garfield, Magic has lasted decades of pop culture and varying degrees of popularity. Continually seeing play as new sets and cards come out every year and organized events at local game stores as well as larger tournaments keep the fanbase engaged.
Drew started playing Magic on and off since 2014 and loves the game. The artwork, mechanics, and story all can be talked about and highlighted in their own right. However, this article isn’t about that, it is instead about whether the game is worthwhile to play or not. This comes from his attempts to get Kay to play and her reactions and feelings.
The core game itself is not hard to play. Each player has a deck of 60 cards and 20 life. Your goal is to either run your opponent out of life or out of cards. You do this by casting spells or summoning creatures. You play them by using colored mana. The color corresponds to general play styles. Red is considered more aggressive and is burn(direct damage) heavy. Green is focused more on creature power and growth. White is aimed at life gain and pacifism. Black deals in death and shadows. Blue is all about control and card draw. The different play styles allow there to be a little for everyone.
The game is easy to start, hard to master. As the game aged, mechanics and cards were added that made things quite a bit more complex. Alternate win conditions, infection counters, and suspending cards are a few of the complex things added. The thing with cards as well is you get them through packs, which are random so getting a specific card you want is hard. If you want to stay current and competitive then you need the best cards, and those are expensive to acquire. Playing casually is much easier to do and will be less of a burden on the wallet.
Kay’s first time playing was with a set of duel decks. Duel decks are two decks made to play against each other and are relatively balanced. She was ok with it and learned the game fine. The problem came when we started using other decks, and she was quickly overwhelmed. We recommend starting simple. Buy a premade deck or starter set and go from there.
Final Thoughts:
Play casually first and find a good group to play with. Also, look into formats (different ways to play the game) that sound appealing to you. If you do want to play competitively be prepared to spend a lot of money, but it will be worth it if you enjoy the game.
Two Spartans 