So you can get the PDF of the Magic: The Gathering rulebook now, so all you have to pick up are the cards themselves. I have a Ravnica deck and two Saviours of Kamigawa decks, but intend to play with newer cards which I know I can get at my local collectable shop.

One of my great loves after my D&D group disbanded was playing Magic: The Gathering with my nerd buddies who saw D&D as too nerdy but Magic: The Gathering was socially acceptable nerddom in Australia. Every nerd worth his salt had either two things in their past, Warhammer 40,000, and Magic: The Gathering. Everybody keeps their Magic cards in Australia because they are easy to store, and the art is badass. It's the Warhammer models that get sold off because of storage problems. I have a friend who I am able to play Magic with, so I still keep my Magic cards. Have you guys ever had any good geeky Magic: The Gathering stories?

<Bill>Fixed category.</Bill>

The only reason Magic was ever popular at my school was because there was a toy store nearby you could go to during lunch hour and knock off a couple of packets pretty easily.

Posted By: DramPlayed it. Everything about that property sucked EXCEPT for the game itself, which had fantastic mechanics until they flushed them thrice so they could sell more bullshit, and I stopped caring.This ship arranges its own eclipses.

What are you talking about? Yu-Gi-Oh was always terrible... The game was way too easy when it came out. I hear it's more complicated now, but I don't care enough to waste my time and money. Also the show was so retarded and made up as they went, it was awesome. You just don't believe in the heart of the cards enough. D: But then again, I've seen every episode of Akagi. Maybe I just have an odd appreciation for all the bullshit that goes into stuff like that.

Yu-Gi-Oh and MTG are in the same boat with me. They are both pretty easy when you just lie to your opponent and bluff them out. I started with yugioh first. then I started playing mtg to prove to a friend that it was easy. IT was so easy, that i continued playing for 2 yrs. Then planeswalker were released, and that made the game into who has the most money to buy the best cards. So i quit.same thing with yugioh.

Tournament banning is the only way for the game to keep moving. Both those cards were super broken.

I'm actually a consistent player of Magic. Wondering if I could get some critiques on a deckbuild or two if those of you who play are willing.

Posted By: misterx... Then planeswalker were released, and that made the game into who has the most money to buy the best cards. So i quit.same thing with yugioh.

It's true that tier 1 and tier 2 decks can be upwards of $200 for a Top 8 finisher at a Pro Tour Qualifier or a World Championship, but that's because those people spent months tuning and working decks and cards. They go for that much because when they win, other players latch on to that idea, and thus supply meets demand and a market is born. But Magic is still less about who has more money than whom to build a deck that wins. I've seen decks that people have spent a couple paychecks on get whumped by a well-constructed deck of commons and uncommons that the player pulled out of their shoebox collection. Yes, it's true there are really good cards, and those really good cards go for a lot of money. But if the person sitting behind the wheel doesn't know how the "best" deck works or is inexperienced in how it's played, a good player with a lesser deck can win. It's much less a game of money and more a game of skill.

Planeswalkers are a tool to help you get the best results out of your deck, not a game-winning drop. Sure, their last ability can definitely swing things in your favor, but then they become a "win more" type of deal instead of just helping you win. It's also why the card Oblivion Ring got printed alongside the first round of 'Walkers, because it answers them.

I've had some people tell me that Magic is a more complex chess printed on cardboard. For every move, there is a counter-move. For every counter-move, there's a counter-counter-move. Planeswalkers are just one more type of card to answer, and there are answers to them. And there are answers to the answers. Yu-Gi-Oh is much more like Checkers. Who can get their piece promoted to a king first? Whereas in Magic, if they nuke your Queen you probably have another way to win, or a way to get your Queen back.

Yes the rules of the game are easy to learn. The game itself is hard to play. Just like Chess.

I've seen that and I'm going to check it out although I've never played MTG.

The XBLA game looks like it'll just be like playing the physical game in a virtual space and it got me thinking how cool it would be if they did a version of the heroquest boardgame like that. You could have the board and all the pieces in a virtual space rather than just a console version of the game.