For the uninitiated, Magic: The Gathering (MTG) is a card game where two (sometimes more) players (called Planeswalkers) battle each other using 60+ card decks to bring his/her opponent's life total down to zero (players start at 20 life). There are several ways for Planeswalkers to accomplish this task. They can summon mighty creatures to attack and kill their opponents. They can also cast spells directly on their opponents. They can even call upon other Planeswalkers to aid in their fight. There are five different colors of cards in MTG, and Planeswalkers can use any combination of cards in any combinations of colors to take down their opponents.
While playing the game is fun, I have found myself enjoying other aspects of the game much more. The most fun I have had with MTG is the process of building decks. Deckbuilding might sound simple at first, but spend just a little bit of time looking at a few cards and you will soon see that it is actually quite a daunting task. Which 60 card combination is the best? Currently, there are 1507 cards in standard. That number gets much bigger when you get into the modern and legacy formats. How in the heck is someone supposed to whittle that number down to 60, much less figure out the best 60 card combination?
For me, the answer is simply that you can't, at least not in the amount of time I am willing to put into MTG. The amount of variance involved with MTG is nothing short of astounding. In the month or so I have been playing and deckbuilding, I have been overwhelmed by the amount of cards in the game, and the intricacies of how one card will work one way when it goes up against one card and loses, and will work a completely different way against another card and win. This concept it referred to as the "metagame" among players, and there are many writings and thoughts about how to solve it.
I'd read a few of these thoughts and, as a result, thought I knew what I was doing. To make sure, I went to a local MTG shop (which also happens to be my local comic shop) for a casual day. For those that don't know, casual day at an MTG shop is a day where players just show up and play. Records are kept for the so you can compare results, but they are destroyed at the end of the day as they mean nothing. That last part was a very good thing for me, as I ended up not winning a single match and I finished dead last.
I ran a Red and Green deck with as much burn as I could get in. My thought behind it was that I could be either aggressive or I could control the board depending on the situation. Even with the best draws the deck could give me, it was only great at dealing the first 10-15 points of damage, but always lacked in trying to get in the last five or so. I'm not sure if I was just playing the deck wrong, or it if was just a terrible deck. Regardless, I felt like someone who reads a book about how to play Blackjack and was ready to take on Vegas. Just like that person, I lost, and it didn't feel very good.
Since that first day, I have learned a lot about the game. My decks now focus on doing one thing very well, as opposed to trying to do two or three things somewhat well. As a result, I am now able to win a lot more games (except against Esper Control. Friends don't let friends play Esper Control), and I have a lot more fun playing Magic. So if you're reading this and you happen to be a new Magic player, just remember to have fun with it. You will play people that are better than you and you will lose. The trick is to not let it get to you, and learn from it.
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