The University of York Science Fiction and Fantasy Society Website

Magic: The Gathering

What is it?

Magic: The Gathering (referred to as MTG for the rest of this article) is a collectable card game set in worlds of fantasy and science fiction. Produced by the same people who make Dungeons & Dragons (Wizards of the Coast), MTG has been played for over 13 years now, with thousands of cards in circulation and more being released every few months.

What's the point?

The most common question asked when MTG is explained to someone is "Why do you play/collect/bother?" I like several aspects of the game, and I'll list them here.

It's a social activity. You can't play MTG by yourself, you play with friends; either one on one or Multiplayer (with as many players as you want). At SF&F we play every Social (Thursday evenings), and most Fridays we run small tournaments with prizes. It's a great way to meet new people, you can go almost anywhere in the world and you will find people playing MTG.
It's a very absorbing and strategic game. Each player has their own deck, and that deck can have any number of strategies to win. If there are four people round the table and they're all following different game plans then it can become quite a challenge to work out who is the biggest threat, who looks like they're planning something and who you want to get on your side. Imagine a game of chess with multiple players and you don't know what half their pieces are. It takes a little learning and some thought going into it but if you enjoy puzzles or strategy games then you should enjoy MTG.
It's diverse. The sheer number of cards available mean it's impossible to get bored. If you get tired of playing the same deck over and over again, then you can simply build a new one that plays in a very different way! Plus the regularity of new sets means that you can always look forward to opening cards from an entirely new set and find out what’s in it.
It's a hobby you can put as much time and money into as you want. If you want to spend hundreds of pounds on cards then you can. If you want to build decks entirely from cards that other people don't want then you can do that too! And contrary to some other hobbies, the people that put loads of money into it don't always win! Most people find a level of involvement that suits them quite easily. You can also pick it up and put it down whenever you want, there is no requirement to keep playing every single week.
This is more of a thing for people who play card games, but you generally buy cards in packs (in this case of 15) and they can have anything from the given set in, there’s always the excitement of what you might get as you open each new pack.

Sounds interesting, can you give a bit more detail?

OK, onto the game! MTG is played with decks made up of a minimum of 60 cards. You can have more, but not less. Each player begins with 7 cards in their hand, and they draw 1 card per turn. Each player also has a life total of 20. You win the game by reducing your opponent's life to zero or by them running out of cards in their deck.

That's the basic structure of the game. In terms of flavour for the game though, and to understand the types of cards you will be using, imagine this:

You are a Planeswalker, a being of almost limitless magic. Facing you is another rival Planeswalker. Only one can survive the epic clash to follow! Draw power (called Mana) from the land you control to summon creatures and cast spells to defeat your opponent; but be careful! He has his own repertoire of land, creatures and spells and he's trying to take you down as well!

So the basic idea is that of a magical duel, with you trying to fight through your opponents defences to take him out. There are 4 main resources for you to do this:

Land: Produces the mana you need to cast spells and summon creatures. Without land, you are helpless and will quickly lose.

Creatures: Ranging from Imps to Dragons, you summon these and they stay on the table until they die. You attack with them to reduce your opponents' life total, or use them to block his creatures and prevent them hitting you. Some also have abilities, such as producing mana, or dealing damage without attacking.

Instants/Sorceries: These are one-shot effect spells that do a myriad of things. Effects include, but are not limited to: direct damage, drawing cards, killing creatures, destroying land, resurrecting dead creatures to fight again, stealing their creatures and gaining you life. Sorceries can only be played during your own turn, and are more expensive (but are generally more powerful) and Instants can be played at any time and are cheap (but are generally weaker).

Artifacts/Enchantments: These are spells that stay in play like creatures do, but they do not attack or block. Instead they grant abilities such as producing extra mana, making your creatures more powerful or disabling your opponent's creatures. However there are also artifact creatures which are just like other creatures.

Quite recently they have also introduced cards that are other Planeswalkers; they do a range of things during your turn depending on who they are, and your opponent can attack them instead of you. It’s basically like having a friend step in to fight with you, but if they start taking heat for you they will only stay around to the extent that they have loyalty to you.

The range of cards available means that any combination of the above will make a playable deck. You can make a deck entirely out of Enchantments, or with no creatures. It's entirely up to you, and provided you use the right cards, they can be just as powerful as each other.

So how do I start?

Find someone who already plays! They will be more than happy to teach you (we're a friendly lot) and will gladly lend you a deck to show you the ropes, and even give you some of the cards you need to get started building a deck of your own.

Alternatively, go to the MTG website where they can run you though all the basics.

Once you've played a match or two, you should have a feel for the game, and whether you'd like to keep playing. If you do, read on!

What's all this about colours?

The colours in MTG are very important, they are what dictates goes in a deck and what doesn't. There are 5 colours:

White: The colour of Soldiers and Angels, purity and faith. White is very good at protecting its own creatures and your life total. Its creatures are generally small but incredibly efficient for their cost. It is the best colour for destroying enchantments and artifacts, and also has the backup of cards than can wipe the face of the playing field through cataclysm or the anger of a god if you’re getting overpowered. If you want to rush your enemy with small creatures quickly, or protect yourself into the late game, consider including white.

Blue: The colour of Wizards and knowledge, air and water. Blue is a colour of illusion and disruption, it can counter people’s spells causing them to do nothing, return creatures on both sides to their owners hands, protecting yours from enemy spells or causing your opponent to have to play them again, it can rearrange cards in people’s decks and see what they have available to them. It also has creatures that are very good at evading blockers and so can deliver damage effectively when they need to.

Black: The colour of horrors and ghouls, corruption and undeath. Black can kill any creature your opponent might play, and disrupt them by forcing them to discard cards from their hand before they ever get a chance to use them. It is also the colour that trades your own life total for powerful effects. Black will gladly sacrifice its own creatures if it means winning.

Red: The colour of Goblins and Dragons, fire, lightning and chaos. Red can lead to crazy decks, but is also fatally efficient. It’s all about throwing everything at your opponent (which usually makes things simple), because its creatures (although weak) are so cheap that you can play several of them a turn, and its low-cost damage spells can get rid of any creatures your opponent might play to block them. Destroying artifacts and lands is also something red does well.

Green: The colour of Elves and Dryads, forests and nature. Green is the king of BIG creatures that stomp the opponent into the ground. It is also the mainstay of mana-fixing, as it has a pile of spells that search your deck for land make sure that you have access to all the colours you want in the right amounts. Green is a great utility colour, as it also destroys artifacts heavily and also enchantments.

When starting out, it is probably best to play with single colour decks, so you don't have to worry about the balances of land needed to play 2 or more colours. Once you've been playing a while though, you will find that all the colours have weaknesses that need to be addressed, which is why 2 colours are the most common type of deck. Here are a few examples of 2 colour decks and why they work well together:

Blue/White: Control, Control and Control. What Blue can't counter, White will disable. Eventually they'll put out a big creature to win with, but it will be late in the game. Blue/White's ultimate goal is to make the opponent concede out of sheer frustration at their inability to do anything.

Red/Green: Beatdown. Red supplies the burn to get rid of blockers so that green beasties can swing through and kill the opponent. The burn can also be shot at the opponent to win when he's on 2-3 life. Also in the recent past Red has been given access to lots of spells that can generate mana so this combination is great for getting powerful creatures out quickly.

Black/Red: This combination is all about pain. Black and Red both have lots of creature destruction and things to make your opponent lose life by the bucket load, but they also have lots of aggressively costed creatures which you’re happy to sacrifice to fuel black cards.

I encourage anyone who wants to play, even just give it a go, to come along to Socials and play against people there. I’ll make up some simple to use decks for lessons in how to play as decks you borrow from people who have played for quite a while may be a bit difficult to pick up for the first time. Then the more people who come along to FNM events run by Bob on Fridays, the better it will be fore everyone involved. I wasn’t involved in sanctioned tournaments for about 3 years from when I started playing but I’ve never looked back, they’re a different environment but they really allow you to learn how to play better and they’re loads of fun.

If you want to know more, come and look me up. I’m happy to guide and teach new players, and answer any questions on how things work. I’ll be around for socials - hopefully and I’m easy enough to recognise with my enormous hair or you can drop me a line at:

lw571@york.ac.uk

I would advise people wanting to read more into the strategy and deck design aspects of the game to look at MTG Salvation or Star City Games as these are both brilliant resources, particularly the article Cranial Insertion on mtgsalvation – it’s real people sending in their questions and having them answered by experts which is a real source of knowledge and inspiration.