Magic: The Gathering

[AmberCutie]

I am taking my next step into geekdom. Jawbs and I got two sets of Magic cards and attempted to learn rules and play a practice game yesterday. It was pretty fail. I think we may have gotten a set that wasn't meant to be started with, even though the packages said "Intro Pack". The cards seemed pretty advanced and there aren't 60 like so many guides say we need. We also didn't read about not mixing in the booster pack until after we had mixed them in, and our decks are of uneven numbers. Lulz.

Today we are reading up on basic rules and noob info, as well as going in hunt for a nice beginner's set sometime this weekend. Here's where you guys come in! HALP! If you have any useful info that Jawbs and I could use, please step forward and speak up here! We are going to be playing based on basic rules (no variations yet) and for now it will just be he and I playing against each other, adding 1 or 2 others down the road if possible.

Also, does Toys R Us have this type of stuff? Or do we need to go to some special mystical place for such geekery?

 

[TheMightyTB]

You may be able to find Booster Packs @ Toys-R-Us, but to get a good Starter set, you are best to try a comic/card shop. These are major hubs of Geekdom and most would have your starter sets as well as deck building guides and even people that can help

 

[AmberCutie]

Thanks! Good idea, TB. Also, hello!! Long time no see. :mrgreen:

 

[Eldorian]

The decks you have are intro packs, they just don't have 60 cards - this is better to learn with off the bat (more than likely they're 40 and that's ok). It's meant to get you familiar with the rules, and once you do that then you can start building your decks.

Once you start playing "for real" a deck has to have 60 cards in it. You can have more than 60 cards, you can have as many as you want past 60. Your opponent does not have to have the same number of cards in their deck as you.

Steps are pretty simple for a turn:

Beginning of your turn:
Untap step (you untap your lands, creatures, everything you can)
Upkeep step (some cards have abilities you have to do on your upkeep)
Draw step (draw your 1 card! or more if you have cards that allow you to do so)

Pre Combat Main Phase - during this phase you can play your 1 land, creatures, sorceries, instants, enchantments, anything else.

Combat Phase:
-you declare your attack step
-you then declare what creatures you are attacking with
-your opponent now declares what creatures they are going to block with
-Damage is dealt (creatures die they go to the graveyard, etc)
-end of combat phase

Post Combat Main Phase - can do anything that the Pre Combat Main Phase could do

Beginning of your end of turn step
-cleanup (ie if you have more than 7 cards in your hand you have to discard down to 7)

Keep in mind each one of these steps you can cast instants or use abilities that work like instants. Your opponent can always respond with their own instants or abilities.

That is pretty much the gist of it in a nutshell.... there's some more advanced stuff to learn (like how the stack works, planeswalkers, etc.) but get the steps down first and then you can move on to the other stuff

And if you get too lost, I can try and help out... I've played for about 15 years now rather competitively so I can probably answer most things here. Best thing to really do is find a card shop in your area and ask them if they'll help you learn. If you don't want to do that - there is Magic Online you can buy, if you go that route let me know - I can then hop on vent or something and give you a run down on the rules more in depth.

 

[TheMightyTB]

Hello love. Glad to be of assistance. I am always around somewhere, you never know where I will pop up.

 

[killergp123]

I know when my friend and I just started, we got our cards at Target, they used to carry boosters and starter packs, not sure if they still do. I do agree on the comic shop though, they offer bigger selection and are most times a few bucks cheaper and will answer any questions you have. Just figured I would give another store to try if you can't find them elsewhere.

 

[Jason314]

I've never gotten this first phase where you're at, Amber. I mean, I played the offline computer game several years ago with the tutorial on it but I never really played it enough to really remember enough of it other than the annoying voice "I'm entering my combat phase". I don't know... the only thing I can really tell you is to not forget to untap your mana when you can, because I know I've forgotten to do that.

 

[AmberCutie]

Here's something that I keep questioning...

If you tap all of your land cards in order to summon a creature, you're pretty much done for the whole turn, right? Like, you can't re-tap your land cards for mana to attack or cast sorceries/instants, right?

Also, once your creatures are on your battlefield (i.e. the turn AFTER they've been summoned, since they cant attack when they first get placed), you have to tap your mana in order to attack. Or am I completely confused?

 

[killergp123]

Here's something that I keep questioning...

If you tap all of your land cards in order to summon a creature, you're pretty much done for the whole turn, right? Like, you can't re-tap your land cards for mana to attack or cast sorceries/instants, right?

Also, once your creatures are on your battlefield (i.e. the turn AFTER they've been summoned, since they cant attack when they first get placed), you have to tap your mana in order to attack. Or am I completely confused?

Once your land is tapped for that turn, unless you have some spell or affect on a card that says to untap it, you have to wait until the beginning of your next turn.

For attacking, unless the card says to tap mana when attacking, you do not tap it.

IE: to summon Grizzly Bears, it costs 1 forest and 1 of any land to tap, that is the only time you ever have to tap mana for that card. Your next turn to attack, you don't need to tap any mana, just the creature itself.

 

[AmberCutie]

Ok, so on my turn, I could use all my mana to summon a new creature and also attack using a creature that was already on the field?

 

[killergp123]

Ok, so on my turn, I could use all my mana to summon a new creature and also attack using a creature that was already on the field?

Correct

 

[AmberCutie]

Also, in response to Jason's sig:

Found on the tutorial I'm reading.

 

[morment]

I haven't played physical MtG in ages. I used to have a regular playgroup, but it disbanded when a couple of us went to college and I've just never had any luck finding a new group to join up with. I kinda miss it.


closer to the topic on hand:
the intro packs are just WotC's name for the pre-made decks that they make to showcase every new set, they used to be called something else and were actually 60 card decks up until a couple years ago. it's still easier to start with one of those than just a random group of packs, especially since they include the rules/tip inserts.

what set did y'all buy?

 

[AmberCutie]

My set: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_of_the_Eldrazi

Jawbs' set: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwake

The boxes both said "intro pack" on them and had a booster set included.

Maybe you experts seeing these decks will help you conclude why we feel so confuzzled

 

[killergp123]

Yep for players just starting off those sets are easily confusing with new tech like landfall, Annihilator, totem armor.

 

[AmberCutie]

Yep for players just starting off those sets are easily confusing with new tech like landfall, Annihilator, totem armor.

And lands that can become creatures... that one left us :? bigtime last night.

 

[Freq]

My set: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_of_the_Eldrazi

Jawbs' set: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwake

The boxes both said "intro pack" on them and had a booster set included.

Maybe you experts seeing these decks will help you conclude why we feel so confuzzled

YIKES! that is probably the worst "Intro" to Magic one can have! lol

A true beginner set is Magic 2010, or the next set due out in a month or so Magic core set 2011. The most recent sets would be quite confusing for a total noob.

 

[killergp123]

Yep for players just starting off those sets are easily confusing with new tech like landfall, Annihilator, totem armor.

And lands that can become creatures... that one left us :? bigtime last night.

Completely forgot Worldwake added in manlands. This video should explain manlands in detail:


Some general help can be found from this series of videos(friend watched them when first learning to play and said they helped tons)
Part 1just basic info on what game is) I didn't want to embed all the videos, so put them as links on purpose for those with slower internet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GadqHggATe8
Part 2just describes the mana colors)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCGJ_UUtS1Q
Part 3Game Zones and Parts of a Card)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jik47gv8dn4
Part 4Card Types)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoO0fFAVXzE
Part 5Parts of a Turn)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG3eXBccyWg

 

[morment]

My set: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_of_the_Eldrazi

Jawbs' set: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwake

The boxes both said "intro pack" on them and had a booster set included.

Maybe you experts seeing these decks will help you conclude why we feel so confuzzled

yea, the newest sets can get confusing for newbs. the core sets, Magic 2010 in this case, are more newb-friendly, they have reminder text for most of the keyworded abilities that the advanced sets, like what y'all got, don't.

I don't like the term "intro pack," it's far too easy to mistake it for a great intro to the game as a whole instead of just the specific set they're designed from. they used to be called "theme decks" which is a lot less confusing terminology in my opinion.



I really want to play again now, I have the XBLA version, but it's just not the same.

 

[AlexLady]

MTG is the BEST GAME EVER.





XD


Dude I kick ass with all of my decks.


Amber I'm glad you're learning, you'll love it.

 

[morment]

Dude I kick ass with all of my decks.

at risk of sidetracking the thread: what decks do you have?

 

[AlexLady]

Rakdos damage/ownage, Szadek burn/control, and several different types of elf decks for various uses.

 

[morment]

nice.

the only Ravnica based deck I have is a Boros/Gruul aggro with some Selesneya cards thrown in since the colors fit.

I have ~15 decks set up and ready to go, most of them are just made up of whatever cards I have that fit the theme while a few are block specific. I won't bother listing them all but the only one that I have that's even close to T2 is my Bant aggro deck.

 

[Freq]

my collection for building decks is nowhere near what it used to be. My collection worth $4-5000 got stolen out of my truck the night before I was going to a trade show to SELL the whole thing a month before I left for the Army. I had a power 9 and virtually 4 of every card at that point!
After geting out of the army til 2007 My collection began to grow again. I again sold almost all of my cards to a friend and dealer for $1200 before moving to Virginia to start my new career. After moving bck to Michigan I have exclusively played limited formats with my old play group (and dominating I might add)and my current collection consists of the cards I draft and the prizes I win.
I have my old 5 color Tempest block sliver deck (the one deck I didn't sell in the $1200 deal) with Sliver Queen and Mox Diamond FTW!
I have Green White Blue Ally deck and I am building an Extended Hypergenesis. (I got everything but the rare lands)

I may start selling my current collection piece by piece to make some sorely needed money. Jace the Mind Sculptor woot woot!

 

[morment]

I've sold bits and pieces from my collection for cash, but never more than a dozen cards at a time, which usually gets me around $100.

I sold my Mox Diamdond and I wish I hadn't, I don't remember what justification I gave myself to do it. I also regret selling two Serra Avatars, but I did it since they were worth $20 a piece

 

[AmberCutie]

Jawbs and I drove out to a comic store last night after my PT appointment. We actually sat down, in the store, with the owner of the store and played with his fancy cards. We basically acted like we knew NOTHING so he would start from scratch. At one point, even his like 8 year old kid was teaching us. Classic. Turns out they were actually having some little tournament event for MTG there later that night, so people were wandering in to set up while we sat there learning.

We bought the very noobish beginners pack that comes with the mats, 2 practice starter decks, a rule book and a learning guide for both sides (silver/gold sets they assigned to the noobs). We also got a deckbuilder set so we can expand our decks once we're pros. I think we got the basics of it down pretty good now. Played about 5 rounds last night and we were evenly matched with wins pretty much. I enjoy the fuck outta this game.

I can see why it can be an expensive hobby. There was SO much to choose from at the comic store. I'm looking forward to getting deeper into it and bumping up to more advanced cards as soon as we can. Yay us!

 

[Freq]

Jawbs and I drove out to a comic store last night after my PT appointment. We actually sat down, in the store, with the owner of the store and played with his fancy cards. We basically acted like we knew NOTHING so he would start from scratch. At one point, even his like 8 year old kid was teaching us. Classic. Turns out they were actually having some little tournament event for MTG there later that night, so people were wandering in to set up while we sat there learning.

We bought the very noobish beginners pack that comes with the mats, 2 practice starter decks, a rule book and a learning guide for both sides (silver/gold sets they assigned to the noobs). We also got a deckbuilder set so we can expand our decks once we're pros. I think we got the basics of it down pretty good now. Played about 5 rounds last night and we were evenly matched with wins pretty much. I enjoy the fuck outta this game.

I can see why it can be an expensive hobby. There was SO much to choose from at the comic store. I'm looking forward to getting deeper into it and bumping up to more advanced cards as soon as we can. Yay us!

So, did you get your DCI number and actually participate in FNM (friday night magic?) Also, ask how to sign up for the player rewards program! you get neat foil promo cards in the mail for participating in actual DCI events! and maybe you'll be ranked higher than me one day!

 

[AmberCutie]

For now, at least, it's just something Jawbs and I are playing together. I don't know if I'd ever fit in or see us going to actual events. Who knows though!

 

[AlexLady]

Oh nice, having an actual store in town that just does trading cards must be wonderful. I've seen one before but no where I've lived. They can be a great resources. One that I'd take the time to look at is the MGT Gatherer.

http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Default.aspx

This will help you get ideas of other cards out there that might fit in there once you get an idea of what you enjoy with your deck. I mean, the cool part is that you can have a deck that just makes you giddy. Say you can have so much life everyone goes "WTF Amber!" or you could tell them no when they think they have a card that'll help them win the game, and keep them from playing that card.


There might become a point where you know what you want your deck to do, so buying individual cards that you discover there might be cheaper than expansion packs. A lot of places sell them online by the card just for that reason.

 

[SatanJonez]

For now, at least, it's just something Jawbs and I are playing together. I don't know if I'd ever fit in or see us going to actual events. Who knows though!

Just wanted to add, when I did play this game, my brother in law gave me a blue deck (a deck that if you play it right turns everything around on the person you're playing) to play with during a small event in the back of the local card shop. I accidentally made a 12 year old cry and had his big brother threatening to kick my ass. Random and kind of off topic, but I thought it would be a funny add. >_>