For a long time I've always wanted to learn how to play Magic: The Gathering, it seems like a fun game to play and and since the Escapist Expo is going to be hosting gaming tables and whatnot I feel now might be the best time to finally get into it. Also I just watched this LRR vid [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/loadingreadyrun/2449-Its-Magic] which has got me in the mood to start.
Only problem; I have no idea what I'm doing. At all. As in I know only what I've seen in LRR vids and that's very little so let's go with a blank slate here.
What do I need? Where do I start? How do I play? All these questions need answering please!
starcitygames.com
you can buy one of the starter decks, personally since you're 100% noob I recommend you start playing in the Standard format and that you use a red colored deck, this are the easiest to use and will help you get ground on the rules and how a match plays out
So buy Avacyn Restored and Dark Ascension, you won't be winning matches right away but come October you'll start getting a firm ground since those are soon to replace everything that's been released before, don't bother with Inistrad it'll be gone by the time you learn to play the game
you can also get the Duels of the Planeswalker on PS3,360, PC, and/or soon to be released on the IPad. Its great for learning everything about the game and will teach you about the cards and maybe help you when you go deck building
What you need? A deck. Where to start? Probably hit up a Local Hobby store on a friday evening. Lots of magic going on then and I am sure plenty of people would gladly help you learn the rules. How do you play? Well that can't be answered all that well here... Lots of rules mate.
starcitygames.com
you can buy one of the starter decks, personally since you're 100% noob I recommend you start playing in the Standard format and that you use a red colored deck, this are the easiest to use and will help you get ground on the rules and how a match plays out
So buy Avacyn Restored and Dark Ascension, you won't be winning matches right away but come October you'll start getting a firm ground since those are soon to replace everything that's been released before, don't bother with Inistrad it'll be gone by the time you learn to play the game
you can also get the Duels of the Planeswalker on PS3,360, PC, and/or soon to be released on the IPad. Its great for learning everything about the game and will teach you about the cards and maybe help you when you go deck building
You need cards, you might even want to consider what kind of deck you're going to want to start. From what I can remember
Red: Spell (damage) heavy, uses spells to damage your enemy creatures/summoner and most red creatures go well with that type of play Green: Creature heavy, uses heavy creatures to damage your enemies and defend your summoner green spells typically enhance your creatures. Blue: focuses on deck control, drawing cards and managing your enemies cards (banishing creatures countering spells) are important. White: Focuses on (healing?) usually they allow you to regain lost hit points (this one might not be accurate) Black: Black generally goes for weakening the enemy creatures. As well as graveyard management. (credit to solo-wing for pointing out the error)
I'd say sticking to one magic 'colour' would be a good idea for a beginner with red, green and white being more beginner friendly. You'll need lands; plains = white, swamps = black, mountains = red, islands = blue, forests = green and you use the lands to summon spells/creatures.
[mtg_card=Goblin Assassin]
the number at the top represents the number of lands (of any type) that need to be 'tapped' to use that card and the other symbols (in this case mountains) are the number of lands of a specific type that need to be tapped to use this card both of which need to be met to use the card. (so 2 mountains and 3 lands of any type)
The numbers at the bottom, in this case 2/2 represent your creatures attack/defense in that order. if you attack with this creature you would do 2 damage and if you defend with this creature (can't do both unless specifically stated) you would block 2 points of damage (while killing the creature)
there are a lot of other little rules that might be better suited for someone else to explain (starting HP, turn order) and it's worth mentioning the 'duels of the planeswalker' games do a great job of explaining how to play/turn order and show you how basic decks work together.
from there on it's all about deck-building you need to remember you can't have more than 4 of the same card (excluding lands) in your deck so building one with lots of synergy is important. It's also worth noting that once your deck runs out of cards you lose (which has a lot to do with Blue strategy)
hopefully I answered at least a couple questions, I'm not exactly an expert on the subject. but experimenting is half the fun, I would suggest the duels games to help you learn the basics and buy a 'starter deck' for whatever is the most recent series of cards (and a couple booster packs to pad out your starter)
I've been out of the game for a while, but the dynamic has remained the same as far as I know. It's constantly moving, so the first thing you have to be warned is, it's expensive and consistently so. There are three releases each year that constitute the blocks, the main one in October (or something like that) and two expansions over the rest of the year, as well as the standard releases once every couple of years. With roughly six hundred cards in each block (I think), there's a lot to collect. If you want to be a serious player, be prepared to spend a lot of money to get your fours (max number of non-basic lands of each title you're allowed in a deck).
So if you want to play, but don't want to spend much money, do like how I did and read up on entire sets online (card descs and sporadic analyses on MtG.com) and go to draft tournaments. They're more expensive than the constructed tournaments, but your entry fee covers the cost of the cards that you get at the start (that you get to construct a deck from, typically in about three quarters of an hour). Unfortunately, there aren't really any sanctioned budget deck tournies (i.e. decks with commons only, or no-rares or restricted numbers of uncommons etc.) only clubs' own tournaments.
*shrug* all the best, have fun, gawp at the awesome artwork and say goodbye to your wallet!
But seriously, in the past eight years-ish, the card artwork has been phenomenal. Chippy, you're a fucking genius! =P
Im afraid I cant be that much help but I can tell you how I learnt to play which is I bought a box of cards read the rulebook cover to cover then played a few games with a friend the game really isnt that hard to pick up really sometimes on rare occasions you will have to get a bit picky with rules but not often.
I dont think they print this rulebook anymore (I started in 4th edition) but I just had a quick check and there is a basic rulebook online from wotc which you can download I reccomend you do so and read it all then find opponents. I started with a black deck I made but red and green are probably the easiest to play in general but as long as you dont try and immediately make combo decks or very tactically specific decks at the beginning you should be fine with whatever.
Trying the MTG games on PS3/360 may be an idea to get a feel for the rules as it wont allow you to break them.
I would still play but unfortunately its not so easy to find the time now I used to love making crazy combo decks though My favourite was a combo involving the wishes which allowed me to theoretically cast and play an infinite number of cards in one turn by supplying me with infinite resources, it was way to unreliable for competitive play (plus they placed restrictions on the wishes in tournaments as it was sideboard only) but damn that was a fun deck.
Oh and standards where its at really as you have to adapt a lot more.
my general overview of the colours would be (very general)
RED: Direct damage, Land destruction, Haste creatures
GREEN: Life gain, Fast mana, big Trample/regen creatures
BLUE: Disruption spells, Card drawing, Flying Creatures
WHITE: Defensive magic/creatures, Artifact/enchantment destruction, First strike creatures
BLACK: Hand Destruction, Creature Destruction, Fear creatures
For a long time I've always wanted to learn how to play Magic: The Gathering, it seems like a fun game to play and and since the Escapist Expo is going to be hosting gaming tables and whatnot I feel now might be the best time to finally get into it. Also I just watched this LRR vid [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/loadingreadyrun/2449-Its-Magic] which has got me in the mood to start.
Only problem; I have no idea what I'm doing. At all. As in I know only what I've seen in LRR vids and that's very little so let's go with a blank slate here.
What do I need? Where do I start? How do I play? All these questions need answering please!
Going to your local card shop and picking up a intro deck is a good start, it is pretty much a pre-made deck that comes with stuff that will also teach you how to play the game along with tips to how to run the deck you just bought.
Wizards also has a downloadable demo along with videos to help out players like yourself.
I think the steam Duel of the planeswalkers2012 game might be a good start because it can act as a interative playthru so you get your bearings against AI, and are able to hone your skills and learn what does what, and how things interact, before you get mixed up in deck building
plus it goes on sale on occasion, so there is that.
The only advice I can give is don't put too many cards in your deck, that cost me more then a few games way back in the day, hand full of awesome but no mana.
Once you get some experience under your belt with the above examples, you can look up a card database to see specifically which cards would play to your strategy. Then it can be a simple task of finding those cards on ebay.
For a long time I've always wanted to learn how to play Magic: The Gathering, it seems like a fun game to play and and since the Escapist Expo is going to be hosting gaming tables and whatnot I feel now might be the best time to finally get into it. Also I just watched this LRR vid [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/loadingreadyrun/2449-Its-Magic] which has got me in the mood to start.
Only problem; I have no idea what I'm doing. At all. As in I know only what I've seen in LRR vids and that's very little so let's go with a blank slate here.
What do I need? Where do I start? How do I play? All these questions need answering please!
I suggest going to a hobby store or find some place that has starter decks. They come with all the rules and whatnot included. Also, after a little experiment you'll be able to find the strategy that you like best.
starcitygames.com
you can buy one of the starter decks, personally since you're 100% noob I recommend you start playing in the Standard format and that you use a red colored deck, this are the easiest to use and will help you get ground on the rules and how a match plays out
So buy Avacyn Restored and Dark Ascension, you won't be winning matches right away but come October you'll start getting a firm ground since those are soon to replace everything that's been released before, don't bother with Inistrad it'll be gone by the time you learn to play the game
you can also get the Duels of the Planeswalker on PS3,360, PC, and/or soon to be released on the IPad. Its great for learning everything about the game and will teach you about the cards and maybe help you when you go deck building
I started with an artifact no creature control deck. My friend who taught me how to play thought it was funny. Got the hang of the deck about a dozen games in, and he was suddenly wondering why he's getting roflstomped. He learned a valuable lesson that day: I learn very quickly.
OT: If you plan on playing with more than friends, I suggest you take a week or two at your local hobby store to watch a few games, get a feel for the community. The MTG community in my city is...less than desirable...
The "New to Magic" resources on the offical website are a great start they cover just about everything you need to get started:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Default.aspx
Aside from that, just see what appeals to you about the game and go from there. If you can pull some interested friends in, even better. That's how I got into Magic at least.
EDIT: Shouldn't have skim-read the other posts, link was already provided, oh well.
Like many others have said duels of the planeswalkers is a great introductory product that will help you learn the rules of the game and get a feel for if you want to spend more money on it.
If you do decide you want to play the card game after their are a number ways to get into it, depending on how much you want to spend, and how you want to play. One of the strongest features of the game is that it lets you play how your group wants; for example the now popular commander format was started with just a group of friends tiring wacky rules for fun (more or less). if you just want to play around and not spend to much money you can buy a few starters and packs, or a box and that will give you enough cards to experiment for a while I would recommend M2012 or the upcoming M2013 as a place to start, and just ignore all the stuff about standard or rotation till you know you care.
If you want to do the drafts and other tournaments like the lrr crew have started recently you best option is just going to the closest store that runs FNM on a Friday afternoon and their should be penalty of people happy to help you. to find one you can use the wizards store locater
found here
http://ww2.wizards.com/StoreAndEventLocator/
For a long time I've always wanted to learn how to play Magic: The Gathering, it seems like a fun game to play and and since the Escapist Expo is going to be hosting gaming tables and whatnot I feel now might be the best time to finally get into it. Also I just watched this LRR vid [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/loadingreadyrun/2449-Its-Magic] which has got me in the mood to start.
Only problem; I have no idea what I'm doing. At all. As in I know only what I've seen in LRR vids and that's very little so let's go with a blank slate here.
What do I need? Where do I start? How do I play? All these questions need answering please!
I recommend getting "Magic 2012" on either your Xbox 360, PC, or PS3. I'm a fairly new magic player, and that's what got me into the game. It has a great tutorial and you can learn how to play each of the different Magic types there.
What you should focus on is what kind of Deck you want. Some players choose what fits their personality or preferred playing styles, while others just choose randomly.
There are five "colors" of Magic in the Magic The Gathering Universe. Blue, Black, White, Red, and Green. Each have completely different playstyles which make the game unique depending on what deck you play.
Blue focuses more on instant spells, knocking other creatures off the battlefield, taking control of it's opponents creatures. It's definitely a "slow and steady" kind of deck, focusing more on strategy and the end game than anything else. It doesn't have that many monsters and requires quite a bit more mana (think of it as "points" you use to cast spells and summon creatures) than most other decks, however if you're a thinking man you can use it greatly to your advantage. The two colors blue works best with are White and Black.
Black focuses more on constantly damaging your opponent to get what you want. It can be played simply or complexly. It's a pretty aggressive deck, with most of your spells either damaging creatures or killing them out right. It's main course of action is to keep the opponent down as much as possible and cut a path through any creatures that come up to defend him. The problem with this deck is that it focuses more on attacking then building things up, and you'll rarely be able to enhance your creatures abilities, making it vulnerable to players with white decks. Black works best with using a Red deck or a Blue Deck
White decks can be described as "turtling" in a way. It relates to blue in that it's slow, yet while blue focuses on manipulation and making a lot out of a little, white focuses on getting a lot, and building it up until it's nigh unstoppable. White focuses quite a bit on the end game, it has a multitude of spells to keep your health protected, usually by enhancing your creatures or using a lot of defensive spells. If played properly and if given enough time, White decks can be some of the most powerful in the game. There are plenty of times that a player spends almost all of their resources to summon a powerful creature, only for it to be made useless by white spells. The problem with this deck is that it's mostly just a late game superpower, and early on you'll find most of your creatures are very weak before they're enhanced. The decks white work best with are a blue or a green deck.
Red decks are for impatient and aggressive players. They can summon creatures for only a small cost, and constantly try to keep their opponent under siege. You'll find that most red deck creatures can either attack as much as possible in as short a time as possible, or even "take creatures down with them" after they're killed. It focuses less on strategy than the other decks and more on crushing their opponents as quickly as possible. A good way to describe their pros and their cons is that the deck is a lot like the German Blitzkrieg. It's a great opening assault, and focuses on constantly keeping their opponents hammered down while their forces take the field, yet if it's drawn out or if the opponent mounts a counter-attack, it's quick to fall. It's meant more for offense than anything else. Red works best with Black or Green.
Green decks are for players that love their creatures more than anything. It has less spells than the other decks and focuses more on just summoning an army of diverse creatures to cut down their enemies. What you'll notice from this deck is that most of the creatures don't have much of any extra abilities except to possibly strengthen themselves. They are very powerful and opponents would either need some clever tactics or a strong defense of their own to match a green deck. The problem with green decks are that, while you have a lot of powerful creatures that you can summon quickly, you don't have much of any magical diversity. You mostly just have spells to summon more mana so you can summon more creatures. If someone tries using spells on you, chances are you wont have much of any way to counter it. Green works best with white or red.
If all of this is still confusing you, try Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers for PC/Ps3/360. It teaches you the basics, strategies and anything else in between. Just download the free trial so you can get a feel of things. Or Magic: TCG Online. The interface is more confusing than Magic 2012 but it's like the real thing.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
