My Journey into Magic the Gathering (Becoming a Dirty Card Game Player Again)
Welcome, weebs, to Animated Observations
Happy Holidays everyone! I had originally intended to get this out before December so I could start working on other stuff, but sadly my lack of motivation got the better of me so here we are. I will be honest: this really has nothing to do with anime or video games, no turnaround into a political message at the end, none of that. It is literally just me talking about Magic the Gathering. With that being said, enjoy the post!
Y’all ever have someone beg you to try something and then all of sudden it becomes a shared hobby that you spend a not insignificant amount of time on to the point that you find yourself spending at least a hundred dollars a month on a said hobby? Well, if you feel like clicking away now, that is, more or less, my story with Magic the Gathering, the most famous trading card game in the world. At least, that’s the beginning of it.
Throughout the last year and a half or so, my friend (who will remain nameless just because I am fairly certain they would not want to be mentioned) has been messaging me constantly about MTG and the various decks he was building, cards he needed, etc. All the while, I had absolutely no clue what he was talking about. So, eventually, I decided to come out one night and play with him and his coworker, and…well, the rest is history.
Actually, let’s back up. Despite Magic being the most famous Trading Card Game (TCG), there is still probably going to be a percentage of people even among the nerdier crowds this website likely attracts that might not understand. For those who are not aware, Magic the Gathering is a trading card game in a similar fashion to Yugioh, Pokemon, and others. It focuses primarily on the use of cards called lands to produce mana. Mana is then spent on spells, be they creatures or not, to deal damage and eventually win the game.
I’ve been in love with card games probably since middle school. In fact, my dad ended up taking me to my very first Yugioh tournament where I got absolutely destroyed because of course I only had a semi-conscious idea of what the hell I was doing. From there, I started competing regularly in TCG events. Primarily Yugioh, but venturing into different titles along the way such as Cardfight Vanguard, and very briefly into a handful of others. If it were not for this six-year-long escapade throughout middle and high, likely, my current interest in the FGC and Smash Bros wouldn’t even exist.
However, that is not really where this story is going. While I greatly enjoy competing in various games and the mental benefits competition can bring, it also comes with its own sets of challenges. It can be really easy to become over-invested in results despite a disproportionate lack of experience in a particular game, especially for someone like me who has definitely struggled with issues of self-worth in the past. Thus, I was wary of returning to any such environment on top of the work I already put into Smash Ultimate.
Luckily, Magic is a bit different. Most TCGs have one or two official formats max, and generally utilize the most recent cards. This means that they tend to be highly competitive outside of collectors who are there primarily for nostalgia. Though Magic The Gathering definitely has its strong competitive scene, it also has a plethora of more casual formats, the most popular of which is EDH, or Commander.
Commander, to bring in another Yugioh comparison, is a lot like that one season of the anime where everyone chose a deck master to fight with and could access their stats and abilities more or less whenever. Decks are built with 100 cards and only one copy of each card. Your “Commander” plays the deckmaster role. They are usually, though not always, build-around cards with decks hoping to take advantage of their unique effects. Granted, there are more competitive versions of the format, aptly called competitive EDH, or CEDH for short. However, the vast majority of the community approaches the format intending to have as much fun as possible.
Another quirk of the format that makes it a lot more fun and casual is the player count. Most card games are played 1v1, such as with all of the previously mentioned examples. However, commander is most often played with at least three people and usually a max of around six. Players roll a die to determine the turn order and go clockwise from the winner of the roll.
Having more than one opponent in a TCG will generally mean games lasting longer for several reasons. The first is fairly obvious: more players mean more turns on average before the game comes to an end. It also means that there will be more life totals to bring down to zero before the game can finish. The last reason has a lot more to do with the politics of a table, but what do I mean by that?
Because Commander is a format most often played with multiple people over longer periods, it is common for players to do a bit of politicking, making deals throughout a game with other players. This could be because one player is seen as the primary threat and so others will team up to try and keep that more powerful player in check. Another could be that someone at the table simply wants to pull off a combo they’ve been working on and needs time to set it up before they die.
Despite my waning interest in the competitive side of TCGs, I am curious about the metagames and mechanics of other formats, such as Standard and Pauper. Standard plays with 60-card decks and utilizes only cards from the last three years of release, whereas Pauper plays with only cards of common rarity. What? When I said there were a lot of formats did you think I was lying to you? Even the official MTG format page has like 20 on there.
On top of being a satisfying and fun casual game, Magic also has some surprisingly in-depth and interesting lore. I won’t talk about it at length since my knowledge is limited at this point, but there are a ton of compelling characters and a lot worth reading when it comes to Magic’s extended universe. My favorite of these so far would probably be Urabrask, a Phyrexian whose defining trait is his belief in freedom and autonomy, even those who are not Phyrexian (not that this means anything to anyone who hasn’t read the lore). At least, outside of the very obviously money-motivated crossovers in the Universes Beyond sets, but that’s a much more specific subject for people who follow the game way more closely than me.
Now, am I recommending you go out of you’re way to start playing Magic and spend a bunch of money on cards or MTG Arena? Not really. TCGs are definitely an acquired taste and even if you are primarily sticking it out as a budget player you will have to put some amount of money into it to keep up. However, if a friend or relative is already into it and can show you the game with their decks, give it a try. Even for people who have never touched a card game, it is not so complicated as to be impossible and can end up being a ton of fun.
Now, was there a point to this post? mostly no, but it is nice to talk about things I enjoy. But what are you folks enjoying this Holiday season? Do you play Magic the Gathering? Let me know in the comments.
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If you can’t, or just don’t feel like it, no worries. Thank you all for reading, and goodbye, for now, friends!
Originally published at http://animatedobservations.com on December 4, 2023.
