Adventures in Nerdland: My Experiences with MtG

The Nuances of Trading

2009-03-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

There are many intricate and delicate rules when trading. First off, ask before looking through someone’s rare binder. You wouldn’t just grab someone’s wallet and rifle through it, would you? There isn’t a big difference between doing just that and looking through someone’s rare binder without permission. These cards, after all, cost money and many run around five dollars a card, with some cards priced upwards of 25 dollars. I myself have several cards worth over 20 dollars, including my pride and joy, a 25-dollar Garruk Wildspeaker.

During the actual trade, you usually pull out cards from the binder that you want, then compare your pile of cards to your trading partner’s pile of cards. Usually, your chances of getting a card you want are made better if the other person has more than one of that card. The overall value of a particular card are determined by playing prowess (how powerful it is in winning a game for you; also known as “Kill Cards”), the actual monetary cost of that card, how rare or old it is, and whether or not it is a foil. Trading is a skill, after all, made better by time.

Making New Decks

2009-02-25T12:47:00.000-08:00

Making new decks is always a challenge. It's fun, but it is hard to know how good a deck is until you have actually played it. And there are things you must keep in mind when building a deck: proper land balance, land grab, creature destruction, etc. And you have to think hard when it comes to what cards you put in your sideboard! For example, what if you have a deck built around huge creatures, but someone is running Wrath of God-effect cards? Then you are screwed- unless you have something to make up for it (such as a counter-spell, like Cancel or Countersquall). There's always something to consider. So go out there, make your custom decks, and have fun!

FNM Observations

2009-02-23T19:45:00.000-08:00

I noticed several things about FNM this last friday.

First, nobody cared much about what kind of deck you were running, as long as you didn't just fold in the middle of a game.
Second, while at ABU Games' FNM, swearing was discouraged by the owner, but nobody gave a shit at Outpost 12 (pun intended.)
Thirdly, many of the people at FNM would not fit the nerdly, dork-in-a-basement stereotype. There were many different ages there, from 14 to about 60. And many of the people there were dressed like punks or goths, with chains and everything.

My third point, I think, is the most important. Why would a game normally associated with nerds attract punks, emos and goths? This is a question to ponder. Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?

Obsess Much?

2009-02-19T13:03:00.000-08:00

Part 2 in my random-mtg-questions-bouncing-around-in-my-skull series. I know that for me, Magic the Gathering has always been a point of (minor) obsession. I know that I have always said that you can never be good at Magic the Gathering unless you obsess, at least a little. Is this always true, for everybody? What exactly is an obsession? I know that the definition is not exact. But oh well... any thoughts?

Getting Started

2009-02-19T12:37:00.000-08:00

There's a question that's been bouncing around in my skull for quite a while. How do most of these avid Magic the Gathering players, and even the run-of-the-mill FNM players, get their start playing Magic? I don't know about most people, but I got started after a friend recommended it to me. I didn't really start playing right away, but a little later I bought a starter pack while on vacation in Seattle. I also bought a couple packs of the newest edition (ninth) and figured out how to play with the instruction booklet and a few trial-and-error games, as well as making my own deck using the two starter decks and a couple additional packs. The deck didn't work very well, but hey, it was my first deck. I also had help understanding this new game because I had played the Pokemon Trading Card Game previously. Thus it wasn't a huge stretch to learn this new game. When I came back to Boise, I was able to go to a couple Friday Night Magics, and things went from there. If any people out there want to share their experiences of how they got started playing Magic the Gathering, then feel welcome. 'til next time,

-The Angry Nerd

Types of Cards

2009-02-16T10:49:00.000-08:00

There are many different types of cards. First off, BASIC LANDS provide mana, as I have already covered.

NONBASIC LANDS also provide mana (usually) but can also have added effects, or add more than one color of mana.CREATURES are the little guys you control that attack your opponents, potentially dealing them damage. Creatures are vital to nearly every deck, so make sure you have enough to block the attacking creatures your opponents control! Creatures are permanents, so they stay in play (just like enchantments, artifacts, lands and planeswalkers) until destroyed or otherwise removed from play (e.g. removed from the game).

INSTANTS are spells that can be played at any time in the game, while SORCERIES are spells that can be played only during your turn. Once you play a sorcery or instant, they go in your graveyard. They are not permanents.

ARTIFACTS are permanents that can have a huge variety of affects. Artifacts can be creatures and lands, can generate mana seperate from land, destroy creatures, lands, and just about anything. Artifacts usually cost any color of mana, but some artifacts have a color or are multicolored. Artifacts can also be equipment, which targets creatures.

ENCHANTMENTS are permanents that, like artifacts, can have a large variety of affects. Enchantments can also be auras that target creatures, just like equipment.

Finally, the newest type of card, introduced in lorwyn, are PLANESWALKERS. Planeswalkers act like secondary players, independent of yourself. They can be targeted like a player (by any card that says it targets a player) or attacked with creatures. They start with a certain amount of loyalty counters and have abilities that gain and lose loyalty counters. Planeswalkers can be a very powerful ally in a game.

You probably noticed that many of the above cards say things on them that I didn't cover. These are abilities, and they vary from set to set. There are certain abilities that are always around (e.g. trample, haste, first strike) and other abilities that are set or block-specific (e.g. buyback, unearth, bushido).

Friday Night Magic Events vs. Tournaments

2009-02-12T12:56:00.000-08:00

Friday Night Magic is the best way to get more experience playing Magic the Gathering. It is a laid back, relaxed, and fun way to meet people who play Magic the Gathering.

Friday Night Magic usually consists of 4 rounds, each of which is played to the best 2 out of 3 games. They circulate the players based on how they are doing in the tournament, so the player who is doing the best usually plays the player who is doing the next best in the tournament. Usually there is a $3-$5 entrance fee, but you stand to win some packs of cards if you win. But these tournaments are mostly for fun and experience, and not as serious as the official DCI qualifiers or the Worlds MtG Tournaments.

In the more formal tournaments, the rules are tightened and losing is a bigger deal, because you stand to lose much more. You usually play many more rounds, and the tournament can go for days. You usually play the best of 3 out of 5 games, instead of 2 out of 3.

Now that you know more, you can look up your local comic book shops and see if they host Friday Night Magic. Be sure and ask them what the format is, because certain formats are more expensive than others. Usually they will use Type 2 Standard Constructed, which is the basic format for MtG. You use a 60-card deck of the newest 3 blocks of Magic, as well as the newest edition. You can use a 15 card sideboard, as well. Then you bring your cards, shuffle up and play!

Magic the Gathering Worlds Tournament Finals Round 1

2009-02-12T12:32:00.000-08:00

Here's a demonstration of some professional Magic the Gathering players doing what they do best.

Fundamentals of Gameplay.

2009-02-10T12:29:00.000-08:00

Magic the Gathering is a game that is fairly easy to learn but very difficult to master. The basics is that each player starts with a 60 card deck, shuffles it and draws seven cards. Each player starts with 20 life. A typical first turn would go like this: the first player puts down a land, which generate mana to spend on spells. You can only put one land down a turn, unless you have a card that says otherwise (such as spring growth, which says that TARGET PLAYER MAY PLAY UP TO THREE LANDS THIS TURN) or a card that says SEARCH YOUR LIBRARY FOR A BASIC LAND CARD AND PUT IT INTO PLAY. Think of mana like money, and the cost at the top right corner of each card is the mana cost. For example, if you have a mountain and a card called goblin mountaineer, whose mana cost is one red mana, then you can play that card. But if you also have a card named shock, which is a 1-cost sorcery, you cannot play that card as well. Because you must tap mana to play a spell, you would need 2 mana to play both of those cards. You tap a land to indicate it is being played for mana, or a creature to indicate it is attacking. Note that creatures without haste cannot attack on the first turn they are played. Normally, your turn would be over after playing your mountain and your goblin mountaineer. On your opponent's turn, they would draw a card (since they went second, and the first person to play in the first turn of the game doesn't draw a card), then put down a land, and continue as above. Let's say they put down a plains, but the cheapest spell they have is a 3-cost artifact creature. They would end their turn. On your turn, you would draw a card and put down a mountain. You choose to attack with the goblin mountaineer, and since they have nothing to block with, you use two instants (spells that can be cast at any time) that give your 1/1 creature +3/+3, for a total of +6/+6. You can do 7 damage to that player, reducing their life total to 13! This would go on until one of the players had 0 life or less, then that player would lose the game. This is the very basic way to play a game.

Colors of Magic the Gathering Cards

2009-02-03T12:10:00.000-08:00

Magic the Gathering is seperated into five distinct colors. This doesn't mean that they can't mix- but we'll get into that later.

First of all is white, the color of order. The basic land used to generate white mana is a plains.

The second color is blue, the color of illusion. The basic land used to generate blue mana is an island.

The third color is black, the color of death. The basic land used to generate black mana is a swamp.

The fourth color is red, the color of chaos. The basic land used to generate red mana is a mountain.

The fifth and final color is green, the color of nature. The basic land used to generate green mana is a forest.

There are many different types of cards as well. I'll delve more into instants, sorceries, creatures, artifacts, non-basic lands, enchantments, and planeswalkers later.

Magic the Gathering for N00bs

2009-01-29T12:45:00.000-08:00

Sick of our economy, political bullshit, the crap in the Middle East, and everything else that sucks in our world? Ever just wanted to take a journey into a world where you can do anything? Welcome to Magic the Gathering! In my following entries, I will discuss everything that has to do with Magic the Gathering, which is a trading card game played by about 6.5 million people worldwide. First thing I will go over is the colors of magic.