parent nodes: Magic The Gathering | MtG | Pokemon
Magic: The Gathering (MtG)® , created by Richard Garfield of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., was the first collectible card game, introduced in 1993. Though the game draws heavily from traditional role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons for its fantasy motifs, the rules bear little resemblance to pencil-and-paper campaign rules; there is only minimal role-playing in typical play. Games usually finish in well under an hour (compared to many hours, typically spread over a number of sessions, for traditional role-playing games).
Role-players were enthusiastic early fans of Magic, but the game achieved much wider popularity. The commercial success of the game prompted a wave of similar games in the 1990s, most notably a game based on the Pokémon characters.
Online MtG
During the spring and summer of 2002, Wizards of the Coast released a program titled "Magic Online." Magic Online is designed to recreate and emulate real-life Magic: The Gathering play as closely as possible, right down to a thorough knowledge of the rules and interactions of the game and the vivid illustrations printed on the cards. The cost for Magic Online is comparable to the cost of Magic: The Gathering in real life, but its universal accessibility and its lack of reliance on other people to congregate in a tournament setting is enough for many players.
Game play
In Magic, two or sometimes more players play the roles of so-called planeswalkers engaging in a magical duel to the death. Every player has a number of life points; once these reach zero (depleted by damage) he or she dies. The last surviving player wins.
Players fight each other by playing (casting) spells from their hand. To cast a spell one needs mana, magical energy, which is generated by special land cards. There are thousands of different spell cards, which come from collectible sets (hence the term collectible card game or trading card game). The main types of spells are:
Creatures: summon a creature that can attack the other player or be used for defense. The creature remains in play until killed.
Enchantments: modify a single other card (creature, land, etc.) or the entire play environment. Enchantments persist until destroyed.
Artifacts: create an object that remains in play until destroyed. Artifacts may have continuous effects like enchantments or may only take effect when activated by their owner.
Sorceries: generate one-shot effects, such as dealing several points of damage or killing all creatures.
Instants: generate one-shot effects, such as dealing a small amount of damage or killing a specific creature. These differ from sorceries in that the scope of the effect is usually smaller, but there are fewer time restrictions on when these may be cast.
Interrupts: prevent or modify the casting of other spells. Interrupts have become instants according to the newest rules.
In detail, casting works like this: the player taps (by turning sideways) a number of land cards. Each of these contributes mana of a specific color (an Island generates one blue mana point, a Swamp one black mana, etc.) to the player's mana pool. Then the player lays down the spell card from his or her hand, designating any targets the spell may have. The pooled mana must match the requirements of the spell -- for example Dirtwater Wraith needs one black mana and three additional mana of unspecified color to cast successfully. The player loses one point for each mana left in the mana pool after the spell is cast. This is known as mana burn. An important rule to keep in mind is that tapping for mana is considered to be faster than any other effect in the game, including instants and interrupts. Therefore, if an opponent plays a spell destroying a mana source, a player can tap that source for mana before it is destroyed.
The general rule for spell cards is that once cast the effects (one-shot or permanent) on the card happen. Some spells have effects that override normal game rules (for example allow you to hold more than seven cards in your hand). Spell effects may contradict each other, and it is one of the more difficult aspects of gameplay to resolve these conflicts.
Each player has a library where cards from the deck that have not yet been drawn are kept; a hand containing up to seven cards not in play; an area on the table for his or her lands, creatures, etc. that are in play; and a graveyard where spent spells or destroyed permanent cards are discarded. Players may never look into the libraries and may see their own hands only, but may view all the other cards on the table without restriction.
Game play is turn-based. During a turn, the active player draws one card, plays at most one land from his or her hand, casts as many spells the player wants and can afford (with mana), and may attack one other player with one or more creatures. An attacked player may declare some of her or his creatures as blockers. Blocked attacking creatures deal damage to their blockers and are in turn damaged by them. A creature that amasses more than a specific number of damage points (its toughness) in one round (complete cycle of turns) dies and goes to its owner's graveyard. Unblocked attackers deal damage to the player they attacked, reducing that player's life points. Damaged creatures that do not die return to full strength (heal) at the end of the turn. This is not true of players.
There are restrictions on when spells and lands may be played. Instants and interrupts may be played during another player's turn and during combat. Other spells and lands are only playable before or after combat in one's own turn.
Deck Building
Preparation for a game takes place far in advance of actual play. Beginners may start out owning only a starter pack of sixty cards -- which is also the normal deck size and can serve as a first deck. Usually though, more and more cards are collected and traded so that serious players have a large trove of cards from which they have to select sixty (normally) for their next deck. Due to the many possibilities, two players never enter duels with the same decks (unless they both used the same reference).
Building a deck is mainly about balancing various aspects.
First, you should be aware of the principal probabilities involved. Decks must contain sixty cards minimum, except when playing certain formats. For the sake of simplicity, we will assume a sixty-card minimum requirement for this discussion. Larger decks are possible, but usually will not buy you much except unreliability (imagine that one useful card being buried in a library of 40, 80, or 100 cards). One normally cycles through the deck one card per turn.
Most spells have a color, which means that they require a number of mana points of a specific color to cast (they may require additional mana of unspecified color as well). Some spells (mostly artifacts) need only unspecified mana; very few spells require more than one color. Normal land always produces the same color of mana. These two facts immediately lead to the prime rule of deck building:
Balance mana sources (spells) and sinks (spells). Having a lot of black spells but few or no swamps will do you no good. More generally, there needs to be enough land to support your spells. Since land can be reused a rule of thumb is to include one (suitable) land per two spells.
When using all five colors it is quite probable that the player will end up with lands of two colors, and a hand filled with spells of the other three colors, and thus be unable to cast anything. Therefore, it is recommended to restrict one's deck to a smaller number of colors -- for example only including Island and Swamps, as well as only black and blue spells. Relying on only one color may be unwise, though, as there are cards that take effect on a whole color which could render one completely powerless.
Tournament Play
Magic: the Gathering has grown a lot since it was first introduced in 1993 and a large culture has developed around the game. Magic tournaments are arranged almost every weekend in gaming stores. Larger tournaments with hundreds of competitors from around the globe sponsored by Wizards of the Coast are arranged many times every year. Large sums of money are paid out to those players who place the best in the tournament, and the winner receives sums upward of $30,000.
All Magic players who play in competitive tournaments become members of the DCI, the Duelist's Convocation International. The DCI is responsible for training judges for Magic tournaments and for keeping track of how well players are doing compared to all the other Magic players in the world. A high DCI rating is the most reliable sign of an excellent Magic player.
World Championship
The most prestigious tournament of all is the World Championship, where the best of the best play against each other until the world champion is crowned. World Championships are played over five days, and an invitation is required to be eliglible for play. An invitation is obtained either by placing very high in a National Championship, or having a high enough DCI ranking.
Pro Tour
Six Pro Tours are run every year - usually in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles in the United States, and in international cities such as Tokyo or Venice. The international locations are certainly not set in stone and change from year to year, but the Pro Tours in Chicago and New York are fairly reliable. They are also invitation-only events. Before the Pro Tour, a large number of Pro Tour Qualifiers are held, where invitations are handed out to the winners. Winning a Pro Tour is every competitive Magic player's dream.
Grand Prix
Grand Prix tournaments are open to everyone, both amateurs and professionals. The payout isn't as big as for a Pro Tour and winning a Grand Prix is not as prestigious. But, they still attract international competition. Grand Prix tournaments are also held both in the United States and in other countries. Some recent Grand Prix events have been in: New Orleans, Los Angeles, Brussels, Yokohama, Taipei, Utrecht, and other diverse cities. Many players enjoy travelling to Grand Prix tournaments simply to travel and to see the sights around the world.
Other tournaments
Almost every Magic store holds at least a tournament once every week. They are mostly for amateurs and is a good place to start your Magic-playing career.
Game spin-offs
Apart from creating a new game genre, Magic also has an accompanying magazine, a number of national and international championships, and line of fiction novels set in Magic's world. Recently, Wizards of the Coast (now a subsidiary of Hasbro) released an online client that MTG enthusiasts could download from the Internet, allowing them to play against any individual with a modem and $9.99 US to spare. See the above discussion of Magic Online for more information about this.
Criticism
In February 1999 in White Plains, New York three Catholic families filed a lawsuit against their children's school district claiming that schools were promoting the occult, with a particular objection to the playing of Magic: The Gathering in the school, calling the game worse than witchcraft. A number of Christian websites criticising the game have appeared on the web.