Just For Beginners: Starting From Scratch

The basic idea behind magic is that you are an extremely powerful wizard that can travel between dimensions. As a "Planeswalker" you can use your powers to call forth creatures from the different planes of the multiverse and use those plane's energies to cast powerful spells. The most basic knowledge needed to play the game of Magic is so well known to veteran players that they have trouble explaining it to new players or simply skip over it and go straight into the meat and potatoes of the game. This leaves many questions that later must be answered anyway and often hinders the experience for both teacher and student. I figured I would just throw a little basic information out there before I started doing more "Just For Beginners" posts with more in-depth content.



Players:

-Any number of players may play a game of magic as long as their is a turn-taking structure that is established before the onset of each game.

- Normal tournament structure is "one on one" gameplay

-There are many different variations on multiplayer gameplay which are popular in many playgroups. Here are a few examples:

--Free for All: Any player may attack any other player in an every-man-for-himself free for all

--Two-Headed Giant: Essentially two versus two. You share a 30 point life total and each team takes turns together.

--Attack Left(or Right): Each player may only attack in a predetermined direction around the table.




Decks:


-Tournament decks must have a minimum of 60 cards along with a 15 card sideboard (covered later)


- There is no maximum deck size as long as you can shuffle your deck without assistance.


Zones:


-Library: Once you have drawn your hand the remainder of your deck is placed face-down in front of you. This is known as your "Library" and it is your draw pile.


-Hand: The cards that you draw from your library are known as your hand. Your beginning hand starts out at 7 cards.


-In Play: Creatures or other cards that remain in play permanently(or until removed) are known as permanents (covered in detail in a later post). The "In Play" zone is where your permanents are placed after they are successfully cast (played from your hand).


-Graveyard: The graveyard is where you place your creatures or other permanents after they have been killed or destroyed and your spells once they have been either unsuccessfully or successfully cast. It also serves as your discard pile.


-The Stack: This is where spells are placed while they are "waiting" to be resolved. After players have finished putting spells on the stack, they resolve in reverse order of which they were played and either move to the "In Play" zone or the "Graveyard" zone. The stack is extremely complicated and it will be covered, in depth, in a later post.


-Removed from the Game: Also known as "Exiled"(with the new Magic 2010 rules). This is where cards go when a spell or ability has "removed them from the game". This will also be discussed in detail in a later post.


First Turn:


-First turns are decided by the rolling of dice or flipping a coin. When rolling dice both players must agree whether the higher roll wins or the lower roll wins.


- Each player may draw a new starting hand if they dislike the cards they received. However each time a player uses a "mulligan" they must take one less card then they drew in the previous hand.


-The player who plays first in a one on one match may not draw a card during their draw step (turn structure outlined in later post). This is known as being "on the play"


-The player who plays second may draw a card during their draw step as they normally would. This is known as being "on the draw"


Later posts will have more detail and will be focused on a specific section of Magic gameplay.

Rules.. Rules..

With the introduction to the rule changes that are going to be made with the addition of the Magic 2010 core set that will be released next month there have been a flurry of blog articles discussing them. Here is the best one I've read yet. I agree with most of what was said in this particular article at top8magic.com and just wanted to talk about my views and reactions concerning these changes.

Screw it! Never mind. The only one I really care to talk about is changing combat damage so that it doesn't use the stack. This is the only change that really scared/angered me. My chin hit the floor as I quickly re-read the paragraph concerning this change and I am just now starting to realize it is actually going to happen! Combat tricks are my favorite part of magic. Period. I love everything about the game but pulling off some crazy shenanigans at the last second to both confuse/frustrate my opponent is the most fulfilling part of playing the game. I can't even fathom the effect its going to have on the game overall. Cards that were especially good for combat tricks currently will be, most likely, severely weakened.

The rest of the changes that are being made are mostly flavor related or are geared towards making newer players feel more comfortable playing. Those I'm really pleased with because without new players Magic has no future. They did a good job of "recapturing the flavor" which seems to be Wizard's main goal with this new set. Sorry if this ended up sounding like a rant but I guess that's exactly what it is. Players will just have to learn to adapt to these changes and new ones that they make in the future. Part of why I love magic is because it's an ever changing and adapting entity.

P.S. Here are the cards that were spoiled in the article ( some are reprints with awesome new art!)

(Pictures and Links provided by Wizards of the Coast inc. and Top 8 Magic)

EDH-ification

EDH or Elder Dragon Highlander is a form of constructed magic that my play group is getting involved in and its been pretty fun to think of deck ideas. Basically an EDH deck consists of a "General" creature which starts out the game removed from game and can play it any time you normally could as if it was in your hand. You can only put cards in your deck that share colors with your general. The other limitation on construction is that your deck must have a minimum of 100 Vintage-legal cards and cannot contain multiple copies of the same card (besides basic lands). If you play your general throughout the course of the game and it is killed, instead of putting it into your graveyard you remove it from game again. You can play it again once it has hit RFG but every time you do, the cost increases by two colorless. It leads to some interesting deck building strategies and some out of the box thinking! I threw together a mono white soldier deck with Akroma, Angel of Wrath as my General. I'm also toying with the idea of a blue/black deck with Circu, Dimir Lobotomist as the General or a Red/White/Green deck with Rith, the Awakener as the General. I will post a decklist or two tomorrow after Ive had a few hours of sleep and a few cups of coffee..