Universes Beyond

Maybe I need to give MTG another try?

MTG TV

So...a Magic: The Gathering television series is coming to Netflix. What do we think about that? Good sign: The Russo brothers are developing!

It's Good to Have Land

Poor Matthew is under the weather -- and, speaking of weather, it's pretty gray and windy outside -- so we've just spent a quiet day building Magic decks. Nathaniel and I have been discussing the optimal percentage of land cards to include in a single-color Magic deck. He consistently prefers to include a lower percentage of land than I would include, so I need to remind him that...it's good to have land.

Zendikar!

Wow, fantasy worlds are colliding! I never thought I'd see the day, but D&D and Magic: The Gathering are (sort of) crossing over. The world of Zendikar from Magic is now a playable Fifth Edition D&D setting -- and best of all, it's free! Click here for the scoop.

Games on the Go

Matthew is now on a traveling ice hockey team (the Tahoe Grizzlies) so we'll be hitting the road periodically for away games in exotic locations. (Hey, now I know where Vacaville is!) We also have a few trips planned for the summer, including my sister's wedding back in New York. With all our travel coming up, it's great that we have card games like Magic and Exploding Kittens to while away our down time in hotels and such. Huzzah for portable games!

Shadows Over Innistrad

I picked up a couple of Intro Packs for the new Magic series, Shadows Over Innistrad, during my lunch hour today. Looks like cool stuff, and I think we'll finally have enough cards for a blue deck!

Magic Morning

While Mom and Dad paid the bills and fertilized the lawn, respectively, the boys got involved in a pretty epic Magic duel. I have no idea to what extent they were following the rules, but it sure looks impressive. As I write this, they're still locked in battle...

Magic Showdown

Still raining cats and dogs...so we dragged Amy into a couple of Magic duels. She used my best deck (white/black) and defeated a wretchedly unlucky Matthew and his top deck (black/red) in the first duel, but then got annihilated in the rematch when Matthew was able to demonstrate the full power of his deck. The new Magic series, Shadows Over Innistrad, comes out this week, so I shudder to think what new horrors Matthew will be able to add to his deck!

Lazy Sunday

Well, we didn't wake up in the late afternoon (Google it if you're not getting the reference), but with the time change, it certainly felt like it. We've just been having a lazy Sunday of Magic duels (including Amy!) and deck-building, which is arguably more fun than actually playing the game. Matthew is working on a black and red deck, Nathaniel has green and white, and I'm sharing a white and black one with Amy.

Epic Comeback!

In Magic, Matthew plays a black deck, and his strategy is to amass enough mana to bring in his powerful monstrosities late in the game. My white deck, meanwhile, is built around lots and lots of low-cost creatures, which I use to nickel-and-dime Matthew in the early turns. In our most recent game, I got Matthew down to just 1 point of health, while I still had the full 20. And then...I stopped drawing mana cards. Without the mana to continue putting creatures in the field, I just had to wait and watch while Matthew started deploying his big guns. It wasn't long before we were both down to 1 health point, and then he wiped me out with his flying demons. Can you believe it? Just a single point away from victory, and yet he managed one of the most epic comebacks I've ever seen in my gaming career!

Comic Book = Booster Pack

I'm usually not one to complain, Grandpa Simpson-like, about how things have gotten more expensive over the years, but damn, comic books really have gone up in price! When I was a kid, we'd walk down the hill to J&L Dairy and pay 75 cents for the latest Batman or Spider-Man. Now your standard superhero fare is a whopping $3.99 -- and that's just for a regular 22- or 24-page issue! I had a bit of a revelation this morning when I stopped by my local comic book store and realized that a single issue from my pull list is costing me as much as the Magic booster packs that my store is now selling. Maybe I ought to pare down my pull list...

First Magic Throwdown

Matthew and I fumbled through a Magic duel this evening using single-color decks (white for me and black for him) cobbled together from the small assortment of cards that we own. I'm not sure we got it entirely right from a rules perspective, but we had fun and I think we'll give it another go very soon. We both suffered from a glut of land cards and not enough creatures, so I think we'll modify our decks accordingly. Matthew also pointed out, rightly, that the black deck I built for him had hardly any high-powered creatures, so we'll need to rectify that situation as well. Why do I get the feeling that my Wednesday trips to the comic book store are now going to involve picking up Magic boosters along with my pulls?

Magic Dreams

I've been playing Magic Duels online -- it's a great way to learn the game -- and I'm starting to pick up the basics. Last night, I actually had a dream about Magic. In the dream, I was looking at a card (an artifact card, maybe?), which depicted a shield granting +2 to Armor Class. I kept staring at the card, wondering why a Magic card was using a Fifth Edition D&D rule. Weird. Anyway, it's funny that I had a Magic dream after buying my cards at a store called Dreamwell...

Magic Duels

Well, the MTG Duel Deck that I picked up earlier today doesn't really include enough information to play the game. I've looked around online, but the best option to learn the game seems to be a video game called Magic Duels. I'll give that shot!

MTG for Me?

I've played a lot of games over the years, but one type of game that I really haven't gotten into is the collectible card game (CCG). The most famous example of a CCG, of course, is the grand-daddy of them all, Magic: The Gathering. This game has been out for more than two decades, and yet I don't think I've ever even watched a game of Magic, to say nothing of playing one.

Well, perhaps that's about to change. My local comic book store is now starting to sell some game products, and I'd like to help them out. So far, they're only selling Warhammer 40k and Magic, and since I've already dipped my toe into the world of Warhammer, I figured I'd give Magic a shot. I bought a box that includes two decks of cards -- I'll rope Matthew into trying it out with me -- but not much in the way of instructions, so it may be slow going for a while, but it should be an interesting experience nonetheless.

Spellfire

I don't remember Spellfire CCG, but then again, I wasn't as involved with D&D beyond the world that John included me in, but it's still an interesting read.

Both of these seem like something I might actually have been interested in, if only Magic hadn't been too geeky for even me.