If you’ve been following me thus far (and you totally should) you know that I’ve learned a few things about
Magic: The Gathering. The first thing that I learned is that the game is fun to play. The second thing is that it can be really hard to convince an unwilling partner to play. The third thing I learned is how disastrous your first few games of
Magic can be when you’re not familiar with the jargon or the rules.
I want to change the narrative flow of this column to a degree.
The last time I spoke Magic, I mentioned that my partner and I were moving up to 60-card Eventide themed decks after learning some rookie pointers at
Magic’s official website. I’ll still talk about that experience, but I want to break this apart into individual experiences that will impact me to my eventual goal of understanding the game perfectly and competing well in Wizard’s Xbox Live Arcade offering.
Now, I shall digress. Over the last few nights, my partner and I cracked open two
Eventide decks. I grabbed the “Death March” deck, which is a Black/Green hybrid. The point of the deck is to continually regenerate your lesser creatures while waiting for an opportunity to toss out Doomgape, a 10/10 behemoth with Trample equipped. My partner used “Life Drain,” which is a White/Black hybrid. The point of that deck is to control the life points of an opponent while buffering your own. Both decks are wildly different, and we had a few awesome matches.
In the end, I was consistently the victor. Our first match took roughly twenty minutes, because we kept stumbling over blocking and flying rules. I blame videogame role-playing games, but I wanted to attack the creatures as opposed to the player. Also, we were consistently unclear as to how counterspells worked. After a few stumbles and a few searches on the Internet, I believe we worked through the game well. Unfortunately, I was never able to draw Doomgape.
I have a few questions to ask of you guys that know the game better than I:
How long do matches last? Is it typical that a larger card like Doomgate doesn’t get drawn?
Is the cap 60 cards? How many do the professionals use?
Am I becoming a loser?
I wish I can say more about the experience, but it’s hard to describe. We both had fun and found the game to be a better experience on this larger scale. I think we’re both surprised that matches went so quickly and that we weren’t able to see the vast majority of the cards in our decks. I find the sorcery and enchantment cards to be incredibly useful and add that extra “zing” to the game.
Next time I talk
Magic: The Gathering I will talk about my first experience at an official Magic card retailer in my hometown. Wish me luck guys, because I’m afraid.
Brad Nicholson's blog
Follow
RSS
Contact
So yeah, practice with 60 and you'll get better.
40 cards however is used in constructed gameplay. That's the amount you need in your deck if you play in a Booster Draft (You open a pack of cards... a total of three packs together... take one you want, then pass it to another player. You get someone else's pack, take a card, then pass it til 15 cards are sitting in front of you. Then you open the next pack.. then do it again)
Also, matches don't last that long... UNLESS you have two decks that completely counteract one another. I have been in games that have lasted over 2 hours before because someone couldnt get the upper hand and lots of thinking on your turn is involved.
1. It varies on the decks being used (I've made decks with the sole purpose of draging out the game as long as possible). Typically though I think it's somewhere in the area of 30-45 minutes.
2. There is no max cap, 60 is just a good number to shoot for as a good deck size but you have to have at least 40 and no more than four of the same card.
3. Only if you spend a majority of your monthly income on new cards.
I used to have fun playing with my friends but when I moved and started playing with random strangers in card shops all the fun was sucked out of it. So U stopped playing and sold all my cards. I made about $500 though, so not a bad deal.
I might just go pick up a deck just for nostalgia's sake.
As mentioned above, if you have a card (or card combination) that you really want/need to use, make sure you have multiple copies in your deck if you can.
But yeah, magic is pretty fun, just it costs a lot of money.
60 cards minimum in a "constructed" (designed before the match) deck, 45 cards minimum in a "limited" (designed at the match, with cards from booster packs being "drafted" into your deck) deck.
Only 4 of any one card in a deck. The cards are determined by their names, and not what they represent. For example, you can have 4 "Kamahl, Pit Fighters" and 4 "Kamahl, Fist of Krosa" cards in the same deck, even though they're both cards representing Kamahl.
Games can last anywhere from between 5-10 minutes all the way up to a few hours. I had a game once that went on FOREVER because we were both playing very defensive decks and had life totals of over 100.
I'm still pretty "meh" at the game, I think, but I made a bitchin' Sliver deck that beats the crap out of nearly anybody I play. It's kinda cheap (in the sense that most of the creatures cost two mana and in the sense that it's an easy way to win), but it makes me feel better when I get beat down multiple times using another deck.
Oh, and 60 cards is the minimum, but your deck can be as large as you want it to be (provided you can still shuffle).
2) 60 is average, I'm pretty sure the minimum is 40, and there is no real cap, but if you have 200 cards, it's unlikely that you'll get your 1 Doomgape or your 1 Black Lotus out.
3) Depends on what your definition of Loser it. If a loser is someone who has a good time playing one of the best CCGs out there, than yeah, you're a loser :)
But geez it's been probably close to a decade now.
Hmmm maybe with a Live version I might just start getting back into it. Got to check that out.
Too many cards, too much change for me to get back in the game. Also I don't think there's as much money as there was in it. I mean I use to bet like 20$ on games and such, tournaments. In high school magic was my main source of income ;)
Deck wise a balanced deck would have 60 cards, more than that you lower your chances to get your key cards, then again a good deck does not rely on a low number of key cards. Complex combination are to avoid.
Also, invest in a $15 card shuffler. If you shuffle your own deck cautiously so as not to bend or scuff the cards, you can end up hosing yourself when you deal because everything ends up bunched together.
Also, invest in a $15 card shuffler. If you shuffle your own deck cautiously so as not to bend or scuff the cards, you can end up hosing yourself when you deal because everything ends up bunched together.
Also, invest in a $15 card shuffler. If you shuffle your own deck cautiously so as not to bend or scuff the cards, you can end up hosing yourself when you deal because everything ends up bunched together.
Game length largely depends on the type of decks being played. You can make combo decks with old, Type 1 cards that can end a game on turn 1 or 2 with a good draw. Or, you can build control decks that draw the game out until someone runs out of cards -- it really just depends. I'm not familiar with Doomgate (I haven't kept up on new cards in a while), but just because a card is "large" doesn't mean it's good. You need low casting-cost cards for the beginning of the game, or the big ones will never come out. The game isn't all about big cards, it's about exploiting cards that have a disproportionate power-to-mana-cost ratio.
Is the cap 60 cards? How many do the professionals use?
There is no maximum number of cards, because fewer cards is often better. You want to build decks with a particular focus; you want to end games in a consistent manner. The best way to do this is to focus on the synergy of your cards and keep the deck as small as possible to improve your chances of drawing the appropriate cards. That said, the minimum for a constructed deck is 60 cards. However, in booster drafts, decks of 40 cards are allowed.
When building decks you want to focus on one or two colors and try to exploit their strengths (i.e. blue is great for control and card drawing, red is good for direct damage, green is great for creatures and mana production, etc.). You need to understand how card advantage comes into play and how some cards are valuable simply because they thin out your deck and speed up your search for your "win condition."
Am I becoming a loser?
Most likely, yes. Honestly, the game is ridiculously fun and I used to be quite good at it. However, since coming to law school, I've found that I don't have anyone to play with. I'll jump on Magic the Gathering: Online every once in a while and I'll definitely be playing one it hits XBLA. Let me know if you ever want to play some time.
I actually bought a few preconstructed decks a few weeks ago because I wanted to play again. The girlfriend agreed to give it a shot, but it's a lot to learn if you're not really interested.
Go fuck yourself.