A recent Friday night, I finally learned to play MTG – or as non-players know it, Magic: the Gathering. 🙂 The are several local game stores that hold MTG nights called “Friday Night Magic.” I did not participate in the official game play, but played with beginner’s decks at my local game store, the <a href=”http://www.dicehousegames.com”>Dice House</a>. – Side note: many community game stores have beginner’s decks on hand, but you may need someone to teach you the mechanics of the game. Someone is usually willing to give ya a hand, though. 😀

Magic: the Gathering is a card game with stunning illustrations on the cards – for the most part. There are some cards from the earlier days of Magic that have some pretty sad illustrations. The game is played by using lands to make mana to play creatures and abilities such as spells, enchantments and artifacts. The goal is to find a way to annihilate your opponent. There are five colors, or categories of cards – red, white, blue, green, black – that you can pull from to make your decks. For more advanced players, making great decks that give you an advantage over the other player may be the ultimate goal.

I played a white deck first, which consists of angels and light creatures and ways to enhance your creatures. I then tried my luck with a green deck with nature creatures and land abilities. This was a very simple version to get me acquainted with the process of playing. I quickly became intimidated and had to slow down as every card has a description of how to use it. I could easily see how complicated this game could become. I was up for the challenge! Mana what?!

As the night went on, I started to understand some of the jargon the MTG community were saying during the event. It felt pretty good, like I had discovered a whole new culture. “Tap mana to play Silver Coat Lion,” is something they might say even though this card is used in the beginners level decks . That’s all I really know so far. LOL

Also, once I had my fill, I watched a game of EDH which is a group-format playing style. Players have generals that are sort of like a mascot that they can play when need be. The principal of EDH is the same as normal Magic, which is to defeat your opponent, but now you have up to four! This format tends to get pretty crazy pretty quickly, while being extremely loud and rambunctious. I enjoyed watching the shenanigans.

   

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