I learned Magic around 2004 when Darksteel came out. I worked for Rhino Video Games, a small retail store that eventually got bought out by GameStop. We carried a few trading card games like Dot Net and Yu-Gi-Oh. For some reason I remember all the employees got some free store credit, so I spent my on two Eight Edition starter decks. They were the green and red ones and they were great. I loved the cards and I could sense the underlying strategy. I only played two games of them with another employee until I got hooked on Magic Online. Even though I thought I understand the rules, Magic Online really drilled the rules into my head. Learning all of the intricacies of the combat phase as well as tidbits of information like “lands are colorless” really takes time but it was really fun.
MTG Forge was originally designed to play Yu-Gi-Oh instead of Magic. I had a great Gameboy Advance Yu-Gi-Oh game that introduced me to world of trading card games. And while I never bought a single Yu-Gi-Oh card, it taught me many of the common rules like two main phases and creatures versus spells. And of course I eventually downloaded Shandalar and played it for many, many hours.
How did you learn Magic?
I only play magic in 1992-1994 with the 4th edition and ice ages boom.
ReplyDeleteThe last expansion that I remember was homelands with the new rule "phase change".
Shandalar was my best rol game since he was born.
Now I have know dnd miniatures and It is the best of magic (but with figures instead of cards) and the best of clasics rol games (the battle)
The method of buy is similar to magic but a little more expensive.
I strongly recommend that you try and say to yourselves, if you like magic, you would love this.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/minis
Aaaah, sweet memories!
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I got my first starter pack around 1994/1995 (I think it was early '95). It was a black-bordered 3rd edition starter pack (french 3rd edition - I'm french, by the way), one of the last black-bordered 3rd edition packs available in France. I bought it randomly from a toy shop, without having ever heard about it before, just because it seemed to be something cool and fun.
A few days/weeks later, some people started bringing Magic cards to school, which is a funny coincidence since I never brought my cards to school before that. Anyway, we started playing the game quite often, getting better and learning the rules little by little (for example, I remember at the very beginning, I hadn't really read the part about mana burn in the rules, so I thought I could tap my lands to get mana, and store it for the next turn, and so on : turn 1 I tap a forest and get 1 green mana, turn 2 I tap it again so I now have 2 mana in my mana pool, etc).
Those times of innocence, when we played games with ante (and I was sad to lose my beloved Circle of protection: black!), when we traded good rare cards for crappy commons, without even realizing it... Good old times...
As a side note, several years later, a friend of mine learnt playing Magic thanks to "Shandalar". He had never played the game before except on computer, but he built a pretty nice deck based on the cockatrice/basilik/lure deck from the computer game.
Yep, I learnt magic through Shandalar as well :)
ReplyDeleteI loved that game, played it for hours and hours...
Then later on, I played a few games over LAN through Magic The Gathering Encyclopedia, but that was much much later.
I got my first cards at the Compleate Strategist on 33rd street in Manhattan in late 93...I overheard the clerk talking to a customer about them and decided to check them out for myself instead of getting yet another rpg handbook. Then my friend got me some more cards for xmas (all unlimited packs). I didnt actually start playing until I ran into people playing the game at a Dexcon in New Jersey and discovered most of the mechanics all in one sitting. We used to play (my gf and I) at the Plaza on 6th Avenue and 34th street (the name escapes me now) which had a mall-like setup complete with tables outside of a fast food restaurant. Then the guys from Jim Hanley's Universe (which was very nearby) opened up Neutral Ground after running several NY Magic Tournaments and my addiction was sealed. Twas a heady time back then before foils, before the internet boom, and way before Magic Online. Trading was super exciting for me as I missed out on Betas, Arabian Nights, Legends and Antiquities just because I wasn't well informed. I ended up trading my Timewalk to a "Friend" for some dual lands and mishras. (Horrible trade yes...:D but not the last or worst. I once traded a Legends Land's Edge for a beatup Mox Ruby)
ReplyDeleteI learned out of the 3rd edition (revised) rulebook at first... Back in college in 94 we read an article on magic in Wizard magazine and decided to waste 20 bucks trying it out. It was not a waste.. :) The rulebook got us through 60% of the game.. the rest we learned at a local comic book store at nights... I miss those days...
ReplyDeleteI started playing with 8th edition. my younger brother bought a starter pack, and we tried without even looking in the rules book, just from what my brother was told. we sacced lands to generate mana... spent G insted of 1G and RRR instead of 3R... didn't remove damage at end of turn.
ReplyDeleteOf course, it wasn't that fun this way, and when my brother called "let's play magic", I answered "uhhh, not again".
I eventually looked into the rulebook and explained to my brother how the rules really were, and it became fun quickly...
now, years later, when I call "let's play magic", my brother answers "uhhh, not again".