Magic the Gathering

[beccaelizabeth]

Today I got my ancient Magic cards out and had a go at deck construction.
I had to look up the current rules on the website and have next to no chance of learning much by reading there, playing and failing is the best tutor.
My cards are so old I can only play Legacy format (since when are there different formats?) and I have at least one banned card (Strip Mine) so really I'd need to check all everything. Which is tedious.

Also mulligan has changed meaning since I was playing (ugh, will forget)
and I don't want to play for ante because I've owned these cards at least fifteen years
... I know because I havem't played them in that long.

... collecting is also a valid hobby.

I can't remember if I put the red lands somewhere different, don't play red cause I only have two red lands, or only have two lands left because I don't play red.
... I am not an orcs or dwarves person. I keep a few for surprise fireball but that's about it, and I haven't included them today.

I also don't play black, and would happily swap the lot of them. they are mean.

I have four decks put together. One each of blue, green, white, and one green and white. That's all I've got the lands for and I have a set of Urza's Mines etc in three of them to make the numbers. I don't actually know how many lands they'd need, I just looked up a Plan on the website, so they all have 25.

Blue is mostly made of No You Don't and a handful of wizards to do direct damage, which I remember working amusingly with people who deal well with frustration.

The others were mostly chosen for the Aesthetic. Am I a fairies person? Unicorns? Heroes and angels? Yes, yes, and yes. Whether or not this can win I do not know.



The thing is now I've spent a few hours fiddling about with the cards I am unenthused about actually playing. To join in with the 'tournaments' I saw scheduled I'd probably have to buy new cards, which was the exact subject of mum's Do Not Start lecture. Mum thinks this hobby would combine not being fun and being expensive. *sigh* ... if I follow the rules explanations at all, she has a point.


So now I don't want to go to some games shop that will try and sell me new expansions to keep up with the tournament legal formats that only allow the most recent cards (ugh)
and I don't know anyone who still plays it with what is now called Legacy.


Still, cards were fun to look at.

Comments

[beccaelizabeth]

plus side, Strip Mine is worth at least $15 heavily played, and there's one sort of game it can play in.

... I haven't understood these formats, clearly. boring new bit.

[ithiliana]

A few years ago, the student sf group I advised had some major conflicts going on--one of which was Magic The Gathering related. I never quite figured it out since I was not a fan, but it got nasty. The founding principle of the group was "we'll do all the paperwork for an SFF group, and then whatever the members want to do--cosplay, reading groups, video gaming, Magic, etc.--great--you can set up a Special Interest Group and do it without having to file paperwork but still getting access to university resources for student groups.

It worked great for years--but the Magic feuds were one of the main reasons things fell apart (and I resigned as advisor because sheesh).

[philippos42]

Wow, Strip Mine! That's a scary card.

For me, Magic was sometimes fun, but seemed to suck up a lot of my imagination in a non-constructive way.