Can someone explain to a newbie?

I clicked on this link because I do magic tricks, and thought this was a meetup for magicians.

Can someone explain what this is? I've never heard of it. Is it a card game?

MTG or Magic: The Gathering is a CCG (collectible card game) manufactured by WOTC (Wizards of the Coast; www.wizards.com). So to answer your question, Yes, it is a card game.

For the most part you (the player/wizard) create a deck containing various types of cards (spells) you can cast (creature, spell, artifact and lands) to gain dominance over your adversary (usually by taking away all his LP (Life Points)). There are different varients though and depending on the type of game (just to name a few; Two-Headed Giant, Elder Wizards, LMS (Last Man Standing), Grand Melee, etc.) your objectives change.

It's a VERY fun and addictive game if you have a good bunch of friends that you can get together with and play on a regular basis. I played allot back in my teens and early twenties but not so much now that I'm in my thirties and heading into familly mode....still have all my cards and championship decks though and I can still remember playing for the World Championship at the Sheridan Hotel in NYC....Damn you LAND DENIAL DECKS! hehehe

Hope this helps friend. Check www.wizards.com for more information.

Enjoy!

PS - It's all fun and games untill someone pulls out a Tiga and a Kurd Ape in the first turn and begins to pummel you....THEN IT HILARIOUS!!!!!

K, so without the "Magic terminology & vocabulary". Yes, it's a card game.

Magic: the gathering has a tremendous following because it was the first successful trading card game. Created in 1993. You may not have heard of Magic:TG but you've probably heard of it's effects; since without it's success in the gaming market, there would have never have been Pokemon, or Yu-Gi-Oh.

Magic was bought by hasbro in the mid 90's because as a marketable game it earns hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Unlike monopoly or clue that have a low sale turnovers, Magic comes out with at least 2 expansions a year with each complete expansion adding around 600 new cars, and usually a Basic set that reprints older cards for breadth and beginners.

Gamers are pretty serious about it and to date has something like 8 to 10 million active players worldwide. So serious, that there are, in fact, professional magic players and an internationally supported Pro-Tour that has been hosted in at least 20 different countries. Official Magic tournaments have been hosted by all seven continents. Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America and even Antarctica, where a U.S. Army base hosted a Magic tournament. Added to that are the 8665 unique and individually printed cards that have so far been printed.

more info can be found at wizards.com but I'd suggest just checking out the Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.o... just to get the basics.

I personally think magic is one of the greatest games ever made. Magic is a resource management game, with cards that you play from hand and cards that once have been played remain on the table for future use. It's turn based, but allows for other players to play cards and use cards in play during another players turn. Magic can be played between 2 players up to about 9.

I think Magic:TG appeal comes from the huge card base and the interesting interactions that can become involved. New players are usually draw-in by it's inclusive and detail oriented game play, or pushed away by the complex and subtle strategies that seperate veteran players from newbies. It does have it cost, other than large initial investment in buying cards (which can be reduced dramatically by playing certain formats), it'll usually takes a new player about 3 to 6 months before they confident with their playing. It's just a game and sometimes that kind of time investment isn't worth it for a person with greater responsibilities. It usually appeals to men between the ages of 15 to 25, who have the time to spend, and love strategy. However, if you are interested, have siblings or children who might be interested it is an excellent, excellent game and a powerful teaching tool and mental exerciser.

It's also a good way to support the arts since it has boosted the career's of many illustrators: Wayne Reynolds, Philip Straub, Kev Walker, Scott M. Fischer, Jeremy Jarvis, and Greg Staples to name just a few. 8665 unique cards means 8665 plus art comissions to fantasy artists, and illustrators.

I sometimes go back to look at the things I write, imagine my surprise when I realized this thread has over 700 views.... Holy Cow, Batman!

This confused me for a time until I figured out why... upon reviewing, it all comes down to the title of this thread... Can You Explain To a Newbie?

Then it made perfect sense that you are either: a new player to magic and were hoping that clicking this thread might provide useful information. Or your an experienced player checking to see if this advice page is bogus-wrong, in need of your help! the astute, wise, and well informed magic-guru that you are.

So I'm changing the intent of this thread. I think with added contributions from you other magic-experts the thread has a chance to help those new players or interested people in finding the information they need to play THE BEST GAME ON EARTH!!!!(echo, echo..... imho).

So I'm going to start: How does a person learn to play Magic?

I'll start with what I think is the easiest way and work my way down:

1) Find an experienced magic player above the age of 16, who has the time, patience and clarity of speech, to play and teach you the game, without getting side-tracked on why this-card-is-the-coolest-card or why decks-like-these-are-the-best. (Getting a bad teacher will only frustrate you.)

2) Go to http://www.playmagic.... follow the links that say LEARN TO PLAY MAGIC and download the tutorial program. Pro and Cons.
Pro: if you don't have anyone to teach you, the tutorial is an excellent way to learn because it's very clear.
Pro: They keep it simple.
Pro: It won't let you do anything against the rules, and will remind you what you need to do if your unsure.
Pro:It'll let you play all 5 colors against a computer AI and explain the card types.
Cons: They keep it a little to simple, they have different levels in the tutorial and I think they should expand this, because the tutorial will leave you short of the experiences you will need to play the average player. (I'll be forwarding this to Wizards).
Con: You won't be able to customize the decks, cards, or play experience other than changing decks. This is big con because the customization of the game is one of it's strongest features.
Con: the tutorial could use exciting, and powerful cards that are fun to play with and challenging to play against... but they don't. Once I played the tutorial a few times I was disappointed by it's lack-luster experience. I feel the need to tell you that the game is much, much more exciting than the tutorial would have you believe. The tutorial does a bad job at making the game exciting and it's my biggest complaint.

3) Read the basic rule book, you can get it here! or in the Seattle Magic Gathering meetup page, under files. The Rule book is very clear, colorful and does a good job at listing card abilities that you might run into during normal play. The only thing it can't really provide is the sense that Magic is an interactive game, that's why it's so fun, and you can't really get that experience till you play.

4) Watch the videos that Wizards has made titled LEARN TO PLAY MAGIC http://www.youtube.co... . The videos are a little over simplified as well, they don't really go into the thing most new players soon experience and are surprised by... the combat trick.

5) This video tutorial does go into combat tricks more deeply and the videos are better at portraying a more natural and average game.

6) Wizards made a site called Magic Academy that's purpose was to walk newer players through more advanced concepts. You can read those articles here.

Well that's all I got for now, if you have some added resources that might help the newbies please feel free to add.

My last reminder is not to get confused, the game isn't that difficult, in a nut shell:

You reset your board
You draw a card
You play cards from your hand
You use the cards you have in play

and that's really how simple it can be.