Monday, September 27, 2010

A Returning Player's Observations on Magic

When I last played Magic: The Gathering, Wizards of the Coast were the formal owners of the franchise. They weren't bound by the will of Hasbro and could do whatever they wanted. I don't think Hasbro has entirely hurt WotC though I do pine for the days when TSR owned Dungeons and Dragons, which is another aside.

Overall I think the years which I didn't play Magic didn't really change or hinder the game play that much. I had known what planeswalkers were, only that the planeswalkers were supposed to be ourselves playing the game, not cards on the table.

Magic Online offered me my first foray into what had changed. I bought an account and was given a set of "planeswalker" cards which were not Type 2 Standard. "Huh", I questioned. "Are these cards much like the "Portal" series of the late 90s?" I asked the WotC employee. It'd taken them a considerable time to tell me that yes, they are the equivalent.

To me, Magic was never entirely about the card mechanics or the rules, it was something that you could engage in at a kitchen table and have fun with your friends. While I do participate in local sanctioned sealed and draft, this has always been what the major motivator to play was -- the social aspect.

I can understand the gripes with modern gameplay mechanics, but I can also point out when the earlier series got really dumb as well as with phasing and banding.

39 comments:

  1. Yeah. It got kinda silly..I had so many cards with different affects, some with only one or two of the same affect.

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  2. I dont know anything about magic the gathering. All i know is that I read the article and thought it was about dicks.

    regardless imma follow it.

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  3. herpa derpa can i has cheetos i miss magic but every knew stopped playing it

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  4. I stopped playing after I put my goblin deck through the wash by accident *sniffles*

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  5. well, some things never change... well, they may improve though.

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  6. so do they held professional competition for this stuff?

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  7. I wish i never got into this card board crack, thank god for there new game on stream / xbox live.

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  8. ya I saw these planswalker cards like 2 months ago or something and was like wtf are these... do they ruin the game at all , and when you said they were just like portal , i lmfao ,wtf , portal nuff said .... anyways nice post bro

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  9. @Wompa The games only force you into getting deeper into the hole. I played the Microprose game for 2 years and now I'm waist deep in a hobby.

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  10. You's a penguin lookin' muthafucka

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  11. i always wanted to play but never found someone to play with so i didnt even start collecting qq

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  12. i just started playing magic, haha

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  13. I definitely agree about the social aspect to magic. Things just don't seem as fun when you're shelling out several dollars on a single piece of paper and worrying about trying to kill your opponent in under 5 turns.

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  14. You are making me want to break out my cards and play again.

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  15. been thinking of getting deep into ye old MTG =D

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  16. Hm, as an RPGer, it's interesting to see what you CCG people think. ;)

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  17. I remember these cards!

    Great post by the way.

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  18. I like the newer cards. I guess its because i never played when i was younger.

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  19. Pretty sure 500 is a better card game than this.

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  20. I remember the times with yu gi oh cards :D

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  21. I never got into Magic as much as Pokemon but it seems to be rising in popularity. We've been selling a lot more of them recently at my job. Interestingly enough, I've yet to see a purchasing custom under the age of 15.
    @Mr. Loon, Yugioh is still selling well too. My brother plays both those games.

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  22. I heard magic is a hard game. Is it?

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  23. o'rly.. i didn't know that Hasbro now owns MTG :(

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  24. Gyeah Gyeah! Nice!
    May The FORCE Be With You!

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  25. Yeah, I am sorry to break it down to you but everything after 7th edition has been shit. It just went downhill from there.

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  26. too bad i never learned how to play

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