Any Magic the Gathering folks here?

ohwhynot

Since this board is geekcentric, I thought it best to start here. 

My son is getting into Magic; he has this awesome student teacher who taught him & his friends how to play and has a "gaming club" at his house on the weekends.  I know that sounds creepy, but it's really not.   You'd have to know Mr. B. - he's this really incredible geek lord who is also really kind and gentle with the kids.  We love him.

Anyway.  Do you have to invest a lot of $$ in the game to get a good deck?  Can someone just buy their way into having an awesome, invincible deck by buying a whole bunch of powerful cards?  I'm guessing no, because if that were true, the game would've died out by now.

How much of an investment does this need to be?  Will son be able to compete or at least have fun on his allowance of a few bucks a week and a free pack supplied by his parents once a while? 

Anysunrise

A playable deck will cost you like ten bucks. A good deck will be around 50. So yes, he'll be able to have fun for not a huge expense

[Deleted User]

Yes, he should be able to have a lot of fun on a little allowance money and a couple of gifts here and there!

tidetravel

I played Magic a little bit in HS. - what I really got into was Pokemon.  (You know, when it first came out and was awesome - not the way it is now with super crazy creatures.)  We referred to Pokemon as "cardboard crack," but DH and I have a little (huge) obsession about collecting entire sets of things. 

If your son has friends that play, it's quite likely that he can get a good base/starter set from a friend fairly cheap, and probably supplement his decks by buying/trading with friends, without getting into the commercial buying aspect.  That being said, it can be addictive, and the drive to get "the best cards" can make it a pricey hobby.

ohwhynot

Thank you!

Tide, son loves Pokemon and still plays every week at the local gaming store.  His friends have kind of decided that Pokemon is babyish, though, and are moving on up to Magic.

H and I listened to a really interesting book about Magic players and how they parlay those skills into card counting and other gambling advantages.  The book also discussed the professional Magic circuit - I had no idea such a thing existed, but a handful of kids make HUGE bucks playing Magic.  Mr B says a couple of his friends still play on the professional circuit. 

Anysunrise

Here's some links to some starter decks OWN:

http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Gathering-Card-Builders-Toolkit/dp/0786955651/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1290104968&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Gathering-Limited-Premium-SLIVERS/dp/B002XG0YMI/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1290104968&sr=8-4

http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Gathering-Garruk-Liliana-Duel/dp/B002UT2F02/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1290104968&sr=8-9

http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Gathering-Decks-Phryrexia-Coalition/dp/B003BUAO2U/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1290104968&sr=8-15

http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Gathering-Decks-Divine-Demonic/dp/B00266JAMK/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1290105018&sr=8-18


Easiest thing to do is go into a store (like, gaming, comic book stores usually have them, etc) and ask what a good starter deck would be for whatever you want to spend. They should be able to find you something.

tidetravel

As far as having too many powerful cards; it's been a while since I've played, but as I remember, the game rules limit the amount of certain types of cards that you can have within a deck, so you can't really tromp over everyone. 

Anysunrise

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_magic-gathering-folks-here?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:bd52257f-1a2c-4a53-9f47-dabd43d8c627Post:93556a56-e2a7-437d-9884-49bab04d0a55">Re: Any Magic the Gathering folks here?</a>:
[QUOTE]As far as having too many powerful cards; it's been a while since I've played, but as I remember, the game rules limit the amount of certain types of cards that you can have within a deck, so you can't really tromp over everyone. 
Posted by tidetravel[/QUOTE]

Yup. Have to have at least 60 cards, and no more than 4 of any one card (other than basic lands), unless the card is restricted (1 of them only) or banned (can't have any).

ohwhynot

Okay, that makes sense.  One other dumb question and then I'll just go back to feigning interest when son goes on and on about it:  in those packs any linked to, they were all "gargazon v. anthraxizaoid" or "babylonfish v. imafork" - so can you play gargazon cards against imafork cards? 

My guess is that, yes, the people behind these are such geniuses that there are infinite ways of combining decks.  I just want to be sure so I don't inadvertently stuff son's stocking with the wrong kinds of card packs.  Thanks!

Anysunrise

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_magic-gathering-folks-here?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:17Discussion:bd52257f-1a2c-4a53-9f47-dabd43d8c627Post:36245a74-a4c6-4c0e-8dd4-8e650f8aa9ba">Re: Any Magic the Gathering folks here?</a>:
[QUOTE]Okay, that makes sense.  One other dumb question and then I'll just go back to feigning interest when son goes on and on about it:  in those packs any linked to, they were all "gargazon v. anthraxizaoid" or "<strong>babylonfish v. imafork</strong>" - so can you play gargazon cards against imafork cards?  My guess is that, yes, the people behind these are such geniuses that there are infinite ways of combining decks.  I just want to be sure so I don't inadvertently stuff son's stocking with the wrong kinds of card packs.  Thanks!
Posted by ohwhynot[/QUOTE]

Lol!

Yeah, they're just the "theme" of the decks, so to speak. It'd be like with Pokemon, Fire vs. Ice kind of thing. Just tells you what the cards are of.

tidetravel

There are 5 "colors" in magic - blue, green, red, white, and black, each with it's own strengths, weaknesses, and unique complement of characters/spells (there are also some cards that are multi-colored or colorless, but I digress).  Your son will probably choose a color, or two, to focus on for his main deck.  There have been several editions/sets released in the last 15 or so years, each made up of different cards, but within those editions, the basic colors are still the same. 

SCBojangles1138

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_snarky-brides_magic-gathering-folks-here?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:17Discussion:bd52257f-1a2c-4a53-9f47-dabd43d8c627Post:76f17983-2ff3-4359-9c16-b83429bc8af7">Re: Any Magic the Gathering folks here?</a>:
[QUOTE]Thank you! Tide, son loves Pokemon and still plays every week at the local gaming store.  His friends have kind of decided that Pokemon is babyish, though, and are moving on up to Magic. H and I listened to a really interesting book about Magic players and how they parlay those skills into card counting and other gambling advantages.  The book also discussed the professional Magic circuit - I had no idea such a thing existed, but a handful of kids make HUGE bucks playing Magic.  Mr B says a couple of his friends still play on the professional circuit. 
Posted by ohwhynot[/QUOTE]

Roommate's bf has an international ranking. He wins all sorts of cool stuff. Good luck to your son!

undyingmizery

Oh lord.. here we go.. I play Magic among other games. Magic starter decks are not that bad priced. Depending on age that may be all you need. When you get into the "themed" decks such as mine, if you do it right it wont cost to much. It's when you get into the new cards and the "rare" cards that it can get quite pricy. I have an Angels and Dragons deck and all together it costed me about $60. Alot of the expensive cards are rediculous and over priced to do nothing but sit in your deck for a few games until you find out it was worthless. Best idea.. sit down and go through dollar card boxes and such be amazed at what you may find doing that! creativity is always alot of fun. Hope this was some assistance.