Magic: The Gathering
What if I told you that our world, even our galaxy, was simply part of a vastly greater multiverse filled with magnificent creatures and monsters? That there was a great war going on between the forces of good and ultimate evil waging all around this multiverse? There is Zendikar, with its gravity-defying landscapes and magnificent scenery, plagued by the parasitic Eldrazi who strive to devour the plane. There is Theros and its sky-realm of Nyx, where the gods walk the skies and gaze down on the movements of monsters and humans alike. Then there is the gloomy plane of Innistrad, where humankind is haunted by shades and zombies and poltergeists; Vampires look on while werewolves howl at the moon and Angels work to maintain the balance between the light of day and the Dead of night. Ravinica, Shadowmoor, Mirrodin, Lorwyn, Alara, those and many more planes inhabit the multiverse known as Dominia. And across these planes tread the Planeswalkers. Individuals possessing the Planeswalker's Spark who can traverse the planes at will and are known and feared as some of the most powerful beings in Dominia. Jace Beleren with his mind-altering illusions, Liliana Vess and her hordes of death-defying minions, Gideon Jura and Elspeth Tirel and the light they dedicate their lives too. In the wilds walk Sarkhan Vol followed by his dragons, Garruk Wildspeak and his hungry beasts, and Venser and his communal Slivers. The Plainswalkers manipulate, maintain, and sometimes toy with the balance of good and evil in the multiverse.
This is the world that Magic: The Gathering the card game and its board game companion draws you into. A rich series of planes full of krakens, leviathans, bears and hydras and gods and vampires, werewolves, zombies, and dragons. As an honorary Planewalker, you control a deck full of your own hand-picked creatures, backed up by a cadre of enchantments and sorcery spells, and all infused by the power of the five elements.
Me and my wife have been into Magic: The Gathering (MTG) for a long time. I started playing back in 2008 while overseas in Malaysia. I introduced my wife to it shortly after we met and with her Pokemon background she took to it like a fish to water. Recently we have gotten our niece and nephew into the game, and I fully intend to get my daughter playing when she gets at least old enough to read.
I can tell you a few things right off the bat, MTG is fun, intricate, competitive, and very expensive. Me and my wife own a few Plainswalker cards that are valued at between $90-$150. I have had the good fortune to acquire the good portion of my collection from friends or sheer luck. But to sully invest in the game you can expect to spend at least a good $800 every couple months, maybe more during a set release.
First published in 1993, Magic consists of a card game between two players and their deck of "spells". Each player starts with 20 life points (24 in a Malaysian variation), and through a battle waged with the creatures, artifacts, enchantments and sorcery spells in their "library"(deck). You play your cards with the use of "mana" or "land" cards that fuel the creatures and other spells they associate with. Blue "Island" mana is used to play blue creatures, black "swamp" mana is used to play black creatures, green is for "forests", red is "mountains", and white is "plains".
Within the colors there are different focal points. Blue tends to focus on controlling of your opponent's creatures and cards, black tends to be nasty traps and devices to cause your opponents pain, white prevents damage and gains your life points, green likes to focus on making big creatures bigger, and red deals a lot of damage and adds modifiers to creatures, The cards have a multitude of abilities and special effects that affect you, your opponent, both of your creatures, and pretty much every other part of the game you can think of. The whole point of the game is to bring your opponent's life points to zero before your own are neutralized.
The strategies of the game are complex, and depending on how you have built your deck and the luck of the draw the game can take any number of twists and turns. Just the other week me and my wife played a 4-way duel with our niece and nephew and my wife had her life reduced to just barely alive before making a spectacular comeback and beating all of us.
Just last year a Magic: The Gathering board game "Arena of the Planeswalkers" was released, shortly followed by the "Return to Zendikar" expansion pack. I'll post about that at a later date, and now that I've introduced MTG to The Den I'll will post about miscellaneous cards, strategies, and the decks me and my wife have built or played.
For now, I think I'll sign off. I just re-acquired "Dragon Age: Inquisition" for my 360 and I want to get reacquainted before going to bed. (And yes, before you ask, "Inquisition" will be a subject of a future Den post)
So for now, this is Planeswalker Josh Shipman, signing off.
This is the world that Magic: The Gathering the card game and its board game companion draws you into. A rich series of planes full of krakens, leviathans, bears and hydras and gods and vampires, werewolves, zombies, and dragons. As an honorary Planewalker, you control a deck full of your own hand-picked creatures, backed up by a cadre of enchantments and sorcery spells, and all infused by the power of the five elements.
Me and my wife have been into Magic: The Gathering (MTG) for a long time. I started playing back in 2008 while overseas in Malaysia. I introduced my wife to it shortly after we met and with her Pokemon background she took to it like a fish to water. Recently we have gotten our niece and nephew into the game, and I fully intend to get my daughter playing when she gets at least old enough to read.
I can tell you a few things right off the bat, MTG is fun, intricate, competitive, and very expensive. Me and my wife own a few Plainswalker cards that are valued at between $90-$150. I have had the good fortune to acquire the good portion of my collection from friends or sheer luck. But to sully invest in the game you can expect to spend at least a good $800 every couple months, maybe more during a set release.
First published in 1993, Magic consists of a card game between two players and their deck of "spells". Each player starts with 20 life points (24 in a Malaysian variation), and through a battle waged with the creatures, artifacts, enchantments and sorcery spells in their "library"(deck). You play your cards with the use of "mana" or "land" cards that fuel the creatures and other spells they associate with. Blue "Island" mana is used to play blue creatures, black "swamp" mana is used to play black creatures, green is for "forests", red is "mountains", and white is "plains".
Within the colors there are different focal points. Blue tends to focus on controlling of your opponent's creatures and cards, black tends to be nasty traps and devices to cause your opponents pain, white prevents damage and gains your life points, green likes to focus on making big creatures bigger, and red deals a lot of damage and adds modifiers to creatures, The cards have a multitude of abilities and special effects that affect you, your opponent, both of your creatures, and pretty much every other part of the game you can think of. The whole point of the game is to bring your opponent's life points to zero before your own are neutralized.
The strategies of the game are complex, and depending on how you have built your deck and the luck of the draw the game can take any number of twists and turns. Just the other week me and my wife played a 4-way duel with our niece and nephew and my wife had her life reduced to just barely alive before making a spectacular comeback and beating all of us.
Just last year a Magic: The Gathering board game "Arena of the Planeswalkers" was released, shortly followed by the "Return to Zendikar" expansion pack. I'll post about that at a later date, and now that I've introduced MTG to The Den I'll will post about miscellaneous cards, strategies, and the decks me and my wife have built or played.
For now, I think I'll sign off. I just re-acquired "Dragon Age: Inquisition" for my 360 and I want to get reacquainted before going to bed. (And yes, before you ask, "Inquisition" will be a subject of a future Den post)
So for now, this is Planeswalker Josh Shipman, signing off.
Comments
Post a Comment