Magic Concepts
Ok, I said I'd put up a Magic article or something, so I'm gonna put up something that has a basic/complicated feel to it.
So, I play Magic. But what on earth is this thing I won't shut up about? It's called a trading card game (TCG for short). In a TCG, you collect cards the same way you might baseball or basketball cards, but rather than spending lots of money on cardboard that is nothing but a collector's item, you can play a game with it! You build a deck out of the cards you have; your deck is totally customizable! If you hate some card and think it sucks, you don't have to play with it, and if you like one, you can put it in your deck.
The object of the game is to kill your opponent. You do this with the cards you have (not a lethal paper cut). There are 6 different kinds of cards: Creatures, Instants, Artifacts, Enchantments, Sorceries, and Lands.
Creatures represent magical beasts and warriors that fight for you. Instants and Sorceries are alot alike; they are spells you use for a one time effect, like doing damage with a Fireball, or killing a creature to death with Terror. The big difference is that a sorcery can only be cast during your turn, while an instant can be played at any time.
Artifacts and Enchantments work alot alike too. They both provide some long term spell-like effect (it makes perfect sense in game -- I'm not the best at explaining things).
Lastly, Lands provide you with the mana to cast spells with. Think of mana like money or power.
It sounds complicated, but it's easier when you get in the game. I hear it's too complicated for some people to bother learning to play, but I enjoy it.
Warning: The information after this point is intended for people familiar with this game, and want to improve their strategy. Do not be intimidated by it if you are new, it's not THAT important for having fun.
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But I promised some complicated stuff! You want learn something about the strategy of this game? Well, there's some concepts you need to know before trying to build a tournament winning deck. You don't have to apply all of them to every deck, but it definately helps to bear them in mind. (Please note: It's hard for me to explain these ideas, only partly because they are complicated). I will provide links to preconstructed decks where appropriate.
First up is the mana curve. The idea of the mana curve is that you want to spend all your mana, every turn, so you get the most out of it. You also want to be able to cast something every turn. Because your lands untap at the start of every turn, any mana you DON'T spend is wasted, and the mana curve helps you avoid this waste.
Second is the idea of Card Advantage. This is really simple to understand: It means you have more cards. You gain card advantage when you use one (or more) of your cards to destroy more of your opponent's cards. Mind Rot is a card you can play that causes your opponent to discard two cards. Your one card took two of his, and you gained card advantage. Drawing extra cards is another kind of card advantage. There are lots of ways to gain card advantage, and although card advantage isn't everything, it does mean alot in long games.
The last concept I'm going to cover is Tempo. With tempo, you are trying to gain an advantage over your opponent in terms of mana (with card advantage, you wanted more cards. Now you want more mana). Look at Boomerang. It's effect is to return a permantent (any card in play) to your opponent's hand, and it costs only two blue mana. If you return something that costs more than two mana, it is as if you just took mana away from your opponent.
Notice that the tempo advantage and card advantage examples do not gain the other kind of advantage (in fact, they throw it away). Forcing your opponent to discard two cards is wonderful, but you spent 3 mana, and your opponent lost none. With Boomerang, you spent 2 mana, but your opponent didn't really lose the card, and will be able to replay it the next turn, while your boomerang is gone. Not every play is like this, this is an example of where you must make strategic desisions, even in deck building.
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