This may sound mean, but I've always found Magic: The Gathering to be too geeky for my taste. And I'm someone who loves JRPGs, professional wrestling, and magical girls. Not in a million years would I be caught dead collecting cardboard and learning the rules of a decades old card game.
But it turns out I was an idiot, and it was only a matter of time until I was drawn into a game of MTG and suddenly learned what all the fuss was about. It, a hobby that for so long felt like an impenetrable fortress, is actually quite accessible if a close friend is patient enough to sit you down and teach you the rules. So, at a party where everyone was drinking heavily or doing drugs, we sat down to talk about how land and mana worked.
Magic: The Gathering is not as complicated as you think
I have to imagine that there are many people just like me who have been curiously watching MTG from the sidelines for the last few years as it has grown tremendously in popularity with each new expansion and Universes Beyond release. It's hard not to feel excited when beautiful Final Fantasy and Hatsune Miku cards pop up on your screen just begging to be bought. As a cultural critic, I'm more than used to editing all articles about these releases and looking at pictures before release, but not once did I pull the trigger myself, convinced that it would be a huge waste.
Not only because of the monetary investment, but also because of this irrational fear, I wouldn't be able to play the game or maybe not even be smart enough to understand it. Card games, for those unfamiliar with them, are naturally terrifying prospects. Turns out all I needed was a friend to give me an overpowered Commander Deck and take me on a satisfying ride.
This deck in particular was all about overwhelmed dragons that took a while to summon, simply given how many lands were required. Still, after that, they were able to dish out double damage while avoiding the majority of attacks thanks to their flying status. Hardcore magic players are probably all reading this and laughing that I just learned about something so obvious, but that discovery is the beauty of a new hobby like this.
Every turn I took felt like an isolated lesson in understanding the flow of Commander and the decisions I needed to make to not only succeed, but to survive. I made mistakes and asked stupid questions, but there was nothing like that in an environment where the goal was to learn how the game worked for the first time. By the time this game ended, I had killed two of my opponents on the field before a barbaric card played by a guy sitting next to me killed every single creature on the field. My dragons were gone, and I was vulnerable. All it took was a couple of attacks to whittle down my 40 health points.
The commanding decks played against me were also valuable lessons as I saw armies of zombies brought back to the dead when playing points from others, or dinosaurs that could become so powerful that there was seemingly no way to kill them without having an untouchable counter at your disposal. It took a lot of reading and learning about terms that I will no doubt google countless times in the future, although I can't think of the last time a nerdy hobby captured my imagination like this.
The biggest barrier right now is cost
As I put a couple of Final Fantasy commanders and all the matching accessories into my basket, however, it has become clear that the biggest obstacle to getting into MTG is how much this fiendish hobby will cost me. I don't see myself going into Secret Lair that much – not yet anyway – and who knows what expansions or crossovers will really tickle my fancy, but even now I've already dropped over $200 to get everything I want to get started.
But as someone who has become increasingly disillusioned with playing games in my spare time due to working a day job where I write about them all the time, when people online tell me to kill myself because of this writing, feeling the slightest bit of passion for MTG is reason enough to feel excited. Chatting with old friends while learning how to play was so much fun that I want to recapture that magic as I progress from beginner to amateur and beyond.
That, and I only needed the bare minimum of exclusives to pick up all the Final Fantasy cards. I'll be sure to report back on how this experiment goes and how long it lasts.
- Franchise
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Magic: The Gathering
- Original release date
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August 5, 1993
- Designer(s)
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Richard Garfield
