Magic: The Gathering

I've been playing this card game called Magic: The Gathering, or just Magic for short. I love it. It's played with trading cards, sort of like baseball cards but with imaginary creatures on them. You have to buy the cards randomly, which makes it very lucrative for the sellers of the cards and creates a secondary market for card resellers. The cards come in common, uncommon and rare varieties, with typically 1 rare, 3 uncommons and 11 commons in a package.

The game itself is quite complex, which is part of the real fun of it. It incorporates elements of poker and gin, as well as the fantasy elements of magic and monsters. In addition it is a very large game, as there are over 6000 cards in existence already with new ones printed quarterly.

The cards come in 5 colors: white, blue, black, red and green; as well as artifact which is the colorless color. Each color represents a mythical type of magic. White is good magic, with healing and damage prevention being prominant as well as protection from the other colors and their enchantments. Blue is the water and air color but also represents card control such as drawing cards and returning cards to players hands. Black is the evil color with "monsters" and sacrifices as well as the discard ability. Red is the color for damage and speed. Green is the base color, offering big creatures and the ability to mix in the other colors. Artifacts are constructed things, which offer complex colorless effects.

Since you end up buying cards of all colors randomly, you then need to sort them and make decks out of them. Often you build two color decks, because there are lots of ways of hosing specific colors. By using several colors you prevent yourself from being summarily shut down at the risk of drawing the wrong color cards. Single color decks are fast and powerful, but the combination of your deck versus your opponent's deck is the real test. Does he have protection from the color you have? Can he deal with the creatures you've included?

Basically, the game consists of two "sorcerers" (i.e. players) trying to cast creatures who then attack their opponent. In addition, each tries to cast spells which will nullify or destroy their opponent's creatures. This is where it gets very tactical as you try to figure out how to use the cards in your hand, as well as bluffing about what cards are in your hand, as well as using the cards on the table, to deal damage to your opponent. If you can get 20 damage through to your opponent, you win.

The game is pretty straightforward, if not simple, but the cards all bring their own exceptions and additions to the rules. For example, when a creature is destroyed, it is put into your discard pile (also known as your graveyard). However, some creatures can return from the graveyard. Isn't that scary? Some return immediately, some when some condition is met (like there are three creature cards on top of them) and some as the effect of another spell. This modification of the rules by the individual cards is what makes them collectable and what makes designing a deck fun. You try to use the cards you have to make a deck that can perform consistently. It's fun to build decks and it's fun to play them against your friends.

You can find out more about Magic: The Gathering from the Wizards of the Coast, the creators of this awesome game, or from these great fan sites: The Magic Dojo and Magic News Network.

The real purpose of this page is to trade cards. I have quite a collection of cards and am always looking for more. Thus, I am publishing my list of extras and missing cards. If you are interested in trading for some of my extras, I'm interested in hearing from you.