A Week of Magic The Gathering

This photo is of my current two MTG decks spread out. On the left is my green mana Bristly Bill deck, on the right, is my Red & Black Valgavoth deck.

I am a new Magic The Gathering player

Three months ago, in September, I began playing Magic: The Gathering (shortened to MTG). It wasn’t the first time that I’ve ever played this trading card game; that was 20-plus years ago in high school, and I picked up playing again on the app MTG: Arena this past summer.

(MTG: Arena is the digital, online version of the game.)

The difference in why I choose to play seriously now versus back in high school with friends or to play anytime on the app is for a couple of reasons.

First:

I didn’t play half a lifetime ago because I’d already been into the Yu-Gi-Oh card game and Pokemon card game and felt like I had enough trading card games I was into then. This, along with having a lot of activities at the age of 17, left me to make hard choices on how to use my time.

Second:

while MTG: Arena is a well-designed app that’s up to date with its card library and simple to learn, I have needed and craved (a deep painful hole within) in-person social interactions. My social life was nonexistent. It’s something I can no longer ignore or numb away with a substance. Playing a card game that has a consistent community to play with, that has regular events a person can go to, is perfect.

Third

I did some research (AKA WHAT ANYONE MEANS WHEN THEY SAY THIS: I WATCHED YOUTUBE VIDEOS) on the status of the Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon card games. To support this “research” with data, I reinstalled Yu-Gi-Oh Master Duel. After playing about 15-20 hours, I was fed up with playing because the current state of the game is like two people playing solitaire. A more complex version of solitaire, with dozens of different core deck mechanics, but whoever has the best-starting hand, creates a long, boring chain of cards that ends up with 20 minutes of them playing by themselves while you wait to maybe respond and have your turn. Frustrating and boring. I am not going to invest hundreds of dollars or a hundred-plus hours to grind for a meta deck.

Two guys playing the Yu-Gi-Oh card game in a dark room. One man flips over the green table and the cards slide off. — Playing Yu-Gi-Oh these days in a gif…

For those not familiar with the concept of trading card game metas, a meta is a deck, or strategy that is currently the most powerful and on the cutting edge of competitive play. It’s what is played by top players in that game. The ‘meta’ is constantly changing as cards are banned, and limited, and new sets are released.

What is Magic The Gathering: Commander?

In a nutshell, Magic The Gathering: Commander is a rules variant of the card game where 2 to 4 (or more) players compete with 100 card decks, with 1 card being the commander creature. Each deck can only have one of each card within, except for basic lands.

A player’s deck must follow the mana colors of its Commander creature. E.g. Valgavoth, Harrower of souls:

This legendary creature is a red and black mana commander, so I can only play cards in a deck with only these colors. All creatures, lands, spells, etc must be in these colors (and colorless for the (2)) and no other mana types.

In Magic, each player creates a deck with a specific card limit; in most deck rule types, it is 40 cards, with cards that match its mana color(s).

The five mana colors of Magic The Gathering. — The five mana colors of Magic The Gathering

Each player chooses a number of creatures, artifacts, sorcery, instant enchantments, nonbasic lands, and lands to put in their decks that fit their desired strategy to win the game.

The plan

For a period of seven days, I will go to as many commander events at game stores in my area to play magic.

In the half-dozen or so times I have gone to events at game stores, it’s been fun. Fun despite only winning three times total out of roughly twelve games.

This winning percentage is a little low for my liking, but acceptable considering luck, my skill, and the strength of my decks.

Despite losing the games, everyone wins by playing because we get to connect with other humans with the same hobby.

One final thought. I tried to begin this plan on Monday of this week but failed because my current sleep schedule has meant that I’ve been sleeping in the evenings and waking up in the middle of the night. On the one day, Tuesday the 17th, when I was able to drive to a new game store in the Ballard neighborhood in town, I couldn’t find parking. If you know the neighborhood and Seattle in general, it is a common problem. There was major street construction and I was completely spent driving there. In the end, a complete failure.

The next attempt at this week of Magic begins tonight. The outlook? Rosy.

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