If you are looking for a great card game to start playing, either casually or competitively, Magic: The Gathering is a great game to get into! I personally have been playing Magic for over 5 years now and I honestly can say that it is one of the most interesting and innovative games I have ever played.
The way the game works is pretty simple, each player has a sixty card deck and start with twenty health. A player wins by reducing their opponent’s health points to zero. Sounds simple doesn’t it? And that’s the beauty of the game it can be as simple as reducing an opponent’s health to zero and can become more complicated once you are more comfortable with the game.
So in the game there are a couple types of cards:
Lands:Â A player can play one land per turn and lands can “tap” for mana, the currency used in game to play other cards.
Creatures: Creatures are cards that are cast and stay on the battlefield. They can be used to attack or block. When a creature attacks, it usually gets tapped.
Spells:Â There are a few types of non-creature spells, there are thousands of different spells and they all have different effects. Spells are usually cards with one time effects and get put into the graveyard after they have been cast. Some spells do stay on the field however, it just depends on the card.
Each turn has a couple of phases:
Un-tap:Â During this phase, all card that are tapped get un-tapped.
Draw:Â The player draws a card.
Main Phase 1: This is where it starts to get interesting, during the main phase, players can play creatures, cast spells, play lands, or pretty much anything else.
Combat: During combat, players can use their creatures to attack other players, attacking creature become tapped.
Main Phase 2: This is a second main phase, it is the same as the first main phase. After this the turn ends.
This is an oversimplification of how that game works, but it does give the basics.
Magic: The Gathering is a game of both luck and skill. The reason I find this game so appealing is because there are just so many ways a game can go. I also love how I can build a deck and chances are, I won’t find someone else with the same one. With over one hundred sets and around three hundred cards per set, the chances that someone else will build a deck that is the exact same as yours is pretty slim. This game can also be extremely casual, or can be taken seriously and be played at a competitive level. So if any of you guys are looking to play a new card game, I strongly encourage you check out Magic: The Gathering.
