Version 2 Update

I have some major pieces workings like the user interface (GUI) and the logic to play cards. The GUI looks the same but I had to add a small section for the mana pool, so you can actually get mana burned this time around. The mana pool is for any cards that make mana like Dark Ritual or Seething Song. The Card and SpellAbility classes are the same, except I added a few methods to SpellAbility so it could have more than one target. Most spells/abilities only have one target, but a few, a troublesome few, have more than one, like the new Cone of Flame card in 10th Edition.

I know I want to include cards with protection. The problem is that protection covers multiple areas like regular damage, combat damage, blocking, targeting, and enchanting. I have a few simple enchantments workings like Angelic Blessing. It seems really weird playing with enchantments since MTG Forge never had them before.

I haven’t worked at all on the AI, although it seems like it will work like previous versions. I have gotten the computer to play Remove Soul, which makes the game seem more interactive, since you know the computer might respond to a spell. I would just love it if the computer played Terror during combat. I really want to be able to have the computer use Giant Growth during combat, so that it keeps you guessing some of the time.

My goal is to include a puzzle mode, where the board is already setup and you have one turn to beat the computer. This would help players learn some of the more tricky parts of Magic like combat tricks. Users could also submit situations to me, and I could add them.

A quest mode to become world champion would really help make MTG Forge a full-fledged video game. You would start out with a basic 2 colored deck, and you would have to play other players for money in order to buy booster packs or individual cards. You would participate in constructed, draft, and sealed tournaments. I might also program a DCI rating that went up or down depending on if you won or lost. The rating would not be a “real” rating, but it would still add some interest value.

For what’s its worth, MTG Forge will just be you against the computer. If you want to play against another human player (with the rules) try out sourceforge.net/projects/mtgproject

And for discussion, what feature do you want programmed into MTG Forge?

Good Core Set

10th edition is out and I was thinking about what are the characteristics of a good core set? One way to gauge the popularity of each core set is to look at the market value of each set. If you divide the cost of the whole set by the number of cards in the set, you will get the average cost for a single card.

4th edition is 0.45
5th edition is 0.36
6th edition is 0.60
7th edition is 0.63
8th edition is 0.71
9th edition is 0.72

On average, each card from the 6th to 9th edition has each increased in value over the previous set. The average cost of a card in the 6th edition was 60 cents while for 9th edition it is 72 cents. 5th Edition is the runt of the family. Each card is only worth 36 cents. It weighed in at 434 cards, and apparently none of those cards were very interesting to players. Thankfully, every core set after that had only a lean 350 cards.

Core sets tend to be composed of average cards when compared to an expert set like Time Spiral. For some reason and marketing is the only one that would know, core sets are labeled “advanced” while regular sets are marked “expert.” Core sets have many plain creatures as well the normal abilities of that color i.e. blue draws cards and red burns things.

Core sets have a lasting impact on constructed. The pain lands like Adarkar Wastes from 9th Edition have influenced almost every deck in the constructed format. The pain lands increased the power level of 9th Edition over its predecessor, although you may remember that they were included in the preceding three core sets. Core sets are also designed to be easier for beginners to learn and I agree with that. I started learning Magic during Mirrodin and all of those artifact cards were confusing. I played with the 8th Edition theme decks until I really understood the game.

Card Evaluations

The job of Wizards of the Coast is to make cards fun and hard to evaluate. What I mean by “hard to evaluate” is that if two cards cost the same but one is 2/2 creature and the other one is a 3/3 creature, the 2nd card is always superior. Suspend is a good mechanic because it makes cards hard to evaluate. Should I pay G now or 4G later? Suspend also creates tension, because your opponent sees any suspended cards.

We all know Akroma, Angel of Wrath is a great card, but when Legions first came out paying 5WWW seemed like too much. Tooth and Nail doesn’t work with basic lands, but is a standout with Urza's lands. It has been said that there are no good cards, only good decks, which is true. A card isn’t good in the abstract; it is only good if everything in the whole deck works together. Wrath of God doesn’t fit into every white deck just because it is a good card. Wrath works great in a white control deck, but definitely not in an aggressive beatdown deck.

MTG Forge History

I've posted this before but people seemed to enjoy it. I'll probably only post 1 or 2 things a week, but thanks everyone for reading my stuff :)

Many times I’ve downloaded a cool program and I wanted to learn more about it. Most of the time I can’t find any information describing why a program exists, it just does. This article will describe the history and motivation behind MTG Forge.

It all started when I found the cool 1996 Magic game by MicroProse called Duels of the Planeswalkers, http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=1550. It let you play against the computer, which lessened the humiliation of defeat. It featured about 640 cards from Alpha, Legends, Antiquities, The Dark, and 4th Edition. It was also way ahead of its time by letting you play against other people over the Internet, much like a free Magic Online. It had all the classic power cards and I was in awe when I first saw them in action. Nevinyrral's Disk, Ancestral Recall, Ali from Cairo, Time Vault, Berserk, and Black Lotus are all very broken. I could tell that these cards were overpowered, but also really fun. I played constructed (all the cards) constantly for about a month or two straight.

I was getting bored, but I found an option to play sealed deck. I randomly clicked on it to see how it was, but I wasn’t expecting anything too great. I loved it! I got to choose my cards from a random card pool and then face off in a 32 player tournament. It was great. Those early card sets were not designed with sealed in mind so I had to use 2 tournaments packs and 4 boosters in order to construct a viable deck, anything less was unplayable.

The MicroProse game was great. The computer acted intelligent enough and would sometimes surprise me by combining the effects of two different cards. I enjoyed playing land destruction and other nasty decks, without actually annoying another person. Sealed deck was really fun, but I wish I could change the card set that it used. Some cards I just got tired of seeing and I wanted to delete them.

I started programming just to see how far I could get. I started by programming code that represented a card and then phase etc… The project just got bigger and bigger and now it is around 700kb of source code. The source code is about the length of a 300 page novel. I programmed in Java because that is my best language. I am sort of surprised the whole project didn’t collapse, and it did a few times. When nothing worked, those were the hardest days. I programmed MTG Forge mainly for myself and I am my own biggest fan. I play it almost every day.

Feedback 2.0

Hi all, I just wanted to get some feedback about what you find interesting. I don't know if everyone is tired of looking at Java code or what? I don't really know who my target audience is anyways, other than people who are interested in MTG Forge and Magic.

I could may write more on MTG Forge but I'm not sure what else to write. I've had a couple of card submissions, so a few people seem to be programming on their own. I still working on the project and I only have progress reports, like 3 cards done and no AI yet, whoooo!!! Maybe progress reports could be fun to read if I tried, who knows. Just write a comment or two to help me improve things. --Forge

I want my Block

When I started programming MTG Forge, just getting anything to work was a miracle. So I knew from the beginning that I wouldn’t be able to program a whole block. (In case you didn’t know, Time Spiral Block is composed of the sets Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, and Future Sight.) So I decided to program cards that would be fun to play with and very powerful. In essence, I would program my own “super-block” filled with Magic’s all-stars like Flametongue Kavu and Kokusho, the Evening Star.

My super-block idea worked a little, I mean there are plenty of powerful cards to choose from. MTG Forge currently has 401 cards, and all of them are playable. But not having a real block of cards to use did seem hallow for some reason. Blocks have cohesion, while my ragtag grouping of cards was unrelated. It was like a bunch of individual pro players not working as a team, powerful but lacking consistency.

So currently I am working on MTG Forge 2.0 and 10th Edition. The newest core set has many simple cards that are easily programmed as well as some toughies like March of the Machines (which animates all artifacts), Rule of Law (which limits each player to just one spell a turn), and Platinum Angel (You can’t lose the game, and your opponents can’t win the game). It would be great to be able to play draft, sealed, and block constructed with 10th Edition. Just a heads up, it will be many months before I get done. I don’t mind people asking about MTG Forge 2.0, but don’t expect anytime soon.

10th Edition

Hi all, I figured I would intersperse some non-programming Magic articles here and there. Programming is really boring, especially trying to explain it to someone else. If you have never programmed, take by word for it. I do enjoy programming, but it is tedious.

Anywho…10th edition is officially out. It looks like a good many cards, around 50+, have new artwork. I like the new Giant Growth, but not the new Shock. Magic, and maybe all collectable games, inspire people to play with the newest cards available. I swear if Wizards of the Coast could make everyone forget some old set like Invasion, that they would release it to hordes of hungry fans.

Personally the whole black bordered thing doesn’t mean anything to me. (In case you didn’t know, 10th Edition is all black bordered.) Yes you to can own your very own black-bordered Serra Angel without paying those outrageous Alpha prices. I presume it is meant to entice collectors, who knows? I don’t own many cards, less than 100, and I usually only play with digital copies of them. I’m talking about MTG Forge, not Magic Online, paying for cards is an easy way to go broke; I program them instead.

Foil cards, also known as premium cards, won’t have any reminder text which makes them more appealing to everyone but your kid brother. (They will also have different flavor text for those who are into that sort of thing.) This interests me and now I want to download all the foil card pictures for the new core set. For some reason the Pokemon phrase, “Collect them all,” comes to mind, not that Magic players like to be compared to a measly kids game. After all, Magic was invented by a Ph.D in math, so it has to be good for your right? As long as Magic stays away from reverse foil, super rare cards (one in every booster box!!!), I think we will be alright.