Jump to content

Magic: The Gathering

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Khaim (talk | contribs) at 23:56, 18 October 2005 (→Game play: Artifacts). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering card back
The distinctive card back design has remained unchanged since the game's introduction in 1993.
Players21
Setup time< 5 minutes
Playing time< 30 minutes
ChanceSome
Age range13 and up
SkillsCard playing
Simple math
1 Some optional rules allow more players.

Magic: The Gathering (colloquially "Magic" or "MTG"), is a collectible card game created by Richard Garfield, Ph.D. and introduced by the company Wizards of the Coast in 1993. Magic inspired an entirely new game genre, and has an estimated six million players in over seventy countries worldwide, as well as a successful Internet versionTemplate:Fn. The game is a strategy contest not unlike chess, but like most standard card games includes an element of luck due to the random distribution of cards during shuffling.

Each game represents a battle between very powerful wizards called "planeswalkers" who use magical spells, items, and fantastic creatures. Though the original concept of the game drew heavily from the motifs of traditional fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, Magic as a game bears little resemblance to role-playing games.

The game has an official tournament system, in which the game is played for cash and scholarship prizes. The cards themselves also have value, much like other trading cards, but in this case based on both scarcity and game play potential.

History

When Peter Adkison, then CEO of the fledgling Wizards of the Coast games company, met Richard Garfield, then a graduate student who would become a mathematics professor, it was to discuss Garfield's new board game Roborally. Adkison was not very keen on the idea, as board games are expensive to produce and difficult to market. He did enjoy Garfield's ideas and mentioned that he was looking for a portable game that could be played in the downtime that frequently occurs at gaming conventions. Garfield returned later with a prototype he had been working with on and off over the last few years under the development name of Mana Clash. Adkison immediately saw the potential of the game and agreed to produce it.

Role-players were enthusiastic early fans of Magic, but the game achieved much wider popularity among strategy gamers. The commercial success of the game prompted a wave of other collectible card games to flood the market in the mid-1990s. Many of them were poorly designed and failed both commercially and in popularity. Although Magic's gross card sales have been surpassed in recent years, particularly by Japanese import games based on the Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! franchises, Magic's popularity continues to grow steadily.

In 1996, Wizards of the Coast established the "Pro Tour", a circuit of tournaments where players can compete for top prizes in excess of US$30,000 for a single weekend-long tournament, with a total purse of over US$200,000. Sanctioned by the DCI, the popular series of tournaments adds an element of prestige and weight to the game by virtue of the large payouts and media coverage from within the community. The system is similar to the ones used in golf, tennis and other professional sports. The company publicizes good players who win frequently in order to create a "star" system, and examples to which other players to follow and aspire.

In 2002, an official online version of the game was released. While less functional methods of online play have existed, Magic: The Gathering Online was the first to capitalize on this interest. It has features which were lacking from previous methods; specifically, it handles game rules correctly. The online version has been a runaway success for the company and has inspired similar products from many popular collectible card games.

Awards

  • 1994: Origins Awards for Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Boardgame of 1993 and Best Graphic Presentation of a Boardgame of 1993
  • 1999: Inducted alongside Richard Garfield into the Origins Hall of Fame
  • 2003: GAMES Magazine selected it for its Games Hall of Fame

Game play

Main article: Magic: The Gathering rules
File:MagicCards.jpg
Magic: the Gathering cards are designated by various types and colors.

In a game of Magic, two players are engaged in a duel. A player starts the game with twenty "life" points and seven cards in their hand. If a player is reduced to zero life, that player loses the game. The object of Magic is to be the last surviving player.

Players fight each other by casting spell cards by drawing upon mana, or magical energy, from Land cards. There are two basic types of spells: those which become a "permanent", which stay on the table once they have been played, and those which affect the game immediately and are then put into their owners' graveyards. The types of cards are:

  • Lands: The basic resources of the game. A player may only play one land per turn, a feature which regulates the speed of the game by limiting the amount of mana availible.
  • Creatures: Magical beasts or warriors that can attack the other player or be used for defense.
  • Artifacts: Machines, automatons, magical items and weapons which can enchance creatures, provide useful abilities, or create unusual effects.
  • Enchantments: Lasting magical effects which modify the game environment or a specific permanent.
  • Instants: Spells which have a one-time effect and are then discarded. Instants may be played at almost any time, and as such are valued for their versatility.
  • Sorceries: Spells similar to Instants, except may be played only during the player's own turn.

Each player has a library, or draw pile; a hand containing cards drawn but not yet played; an area on the table for his or her lands, creatures, etc. that are in play (permanents); and a discard pile called the graveyard. Players may never look into the libraries (unless a card's ability allows you to do so) and may see only their own hands, but may normally view all the other cards on the table without restriction.

Some spells have effects that override normal game rules (e.g., allow you to play more than one land per turn). The so-called "Golden Rule of Magic" is that if a card's text overrides a game rule, follow the card. Resolving interactions between conflicting spell effects is one of the more difficult aspects of game play. A detailed rulebook Template:Fn exists to clarify these conflicts.

Deck construction

A player needs a deck ready before he or she can play a game of Magic. Beginners typically start with only a starter deck, but over time, more cards are added to the player's stock through purchases or trading with other players. Due to the many possibilities, two players seldom play with the same decks.

Normally, decks are required to be at least sixty cards. Players may use no more than four of any named card, with the exception of the "basic lands" that act as a standard resource in Magic. When deciding which cards to include, it is often beneficial to use the minimum deck size, combined with the maximum number of card copies, so that the most useful cards are drawn more often. A proper balance of lands to spells is also important in creating an effective deck. A deck must have a large enough number of lands so that they are drawn in a timely manner. The ratio of lands to spells is typically 33-40% land to 60-67% spells.

Although five colors of spell are available, it may help to play just one or two in a deck so that the color of spells drawn will match the color of mana available. On the other hand, the five colors each have different strengths and weaknesses, and playing more colors may help create a more well-rounded deck. The decision on what colors to use is vitally important, and successful decks have used nearly every combination of colors.

See also: Magic: The Gathering deck types and Combo deck

The colors of Magic

Most spells come in one of five colors: white, blue, black, red, or green. To play a spell of one color, mana produced by a land of the appropriate type is required. The equilibrium among the five colors is one of the defining aspects of the game. The various strengths and weaknesses of each color are attributed to the fact that each color represents a different "style" of magic. Because the trade-offs between the abilities of each color are integral to keeping the game balanced, it is helpful to discuss the various color philosophies.

White is the color of equality, order, law, righteousness, and light (although not necessarily "goodness"). Typical white creatures include knights, soldiers, clerics, and angels. Within the game, white's strengths lie in protecting and enhancing its creatures, healing damage, and imposing restrictions on the other players. White's weaknesses include its difficulty in removing the opponent's permanents through direct removal, and the fact that many of its most powerful spells affect all players equally.
Blue is the color of knowledge, illusion, reason, ingenuity, and trickery. Typical blue creatures include wizards, faeries, and air and water spirits. Blue's cards are best at letting a player draw additional cards, stealing control of opposing creatures, sending permanents back to their owner's hands (informally called "bouncing"), and countering (canceling) spells as they are being played. Blue's weaknesses lie in that it has the weakest creatures of any color and only limited ways of dealing with opposing threats once they have entered play.
Black is the color of death, darkness, plague, selfishness, ambition, and greed (although not necessarily "evil"). Typical black creatures include rats, zombies, demons, and necromancers. Within the game, black cards are best at killing opposing creatures, making players discard cards from his or her hand, and raising creatures from the dead. Black's weaknesses include its inability to destroy enchantments and artifacts, and the fact that many of its best spells harm the player using them.
Red is the color of destruction, war, passion, chaos, and anger. Typical red creatures include goblins, barbarians, dragons, and earth and fire spirits. Red is one of the best colors for destroying opposing creatures, trading long-term resources for short-term power, and for playing spells that reduce the opponent's life points (so-called "burn" or "direct damage"). Red also has the vast majority of cards that involve random chance. Red's weaknesses include its inability to destroy enchantments and the random or self-destructive nature of many of its spells.
Green is the color of life, nature, growth, instinct, and interdependence. Typical green creatures include beasts, elves, insects and druids. Green has powerful creatures, numerous ways to destroy artifacts and enchantments, spells that increase a player's life total, and permanents that produce mana more quickly than other colors. However, green has difficulty removing opposing creatures from play, and nearly all of its strategies are creature-based.

The colors can be seen on the back of the cards, in a pentagonal design, called the "color wheel". Starting from the top, going clockwise, they are: white, blue, black, red, and green. These can sometimes be abbreviated as W, U, B, R, and G respectively. The colors adjacent to each other on the wheel are "allied" and have similar, complementary abilities. For example, blue has few efficient, aggressive creatures in general, but does have a relatively large number of flying creatures. White and black, being next to it, also have many flying creatures. Red and green are opposite blue and have very few flyers. The two non-adjacent colors to a particular color are "enemy" colors, and are thematically opposed. For instance, red is the color of chaos, while white is the color of order.

The R&D team balances the power between the five colors by using the Color Pie to define the strengths and weaknesses of each. Each color, as noted above, has its own distinct attributes and the pie is used to put new cards where they belong, so that one color does not impede on the territory of another.

A series of five articles written by Mark Rosewater describing each color in depth can be found at the game's official site at MagicTheGathering.com: The Great White Way, True Blue, In the Black, Seeing Red, and It's Not Easy Being Green.

Some cards, such as artifacts and lands, are considered colorless. Other cards may be multiple colors, thus requiring two or more types of mana to play. Such cards are commonly known as gold cards due to the gold colored card frame normally used on such cards.

Variant rules

While the primary method of Magic play is one-on-one using standard deck construction rules, casual play groups have developed many alternative formats for playing the game. The most popular alternatives describe ways of playing with more than two players and change the rules about how decks can be built.

  • Multiplayer — The simplest format is the free-for-all, where players sit in a circle and combat those around them to be the final surviving player. One popular variant is "Rainbow" (or "Five-Player Star") and involves exactly five players, each one playing one of the colors of Magic and trying to defeat the diametrically opposed ones. Team-based play is also extremely popular. "Two-Headed Giant" is a team game where pairs of players share turns and life totals. In "Emperor", two teams, each generally composed of three or five players, play to ensure their central player (the "emperor") outlasts the other. In June 2005, rules for handling multiplayer games were added to the official rulebook, and "Two-Headed Giant" team play is one of the first multiplayer variants to be sanctioned.
  • Vanguard — In this variant, each player has a special card that affects the game. These cards change the players' starting life total and cards in hand, and have additional effects as well. Vanguard initially began with special oversided Vanguard cards, released as part of various promotions. Although three cycles of cards were made, interest never caught on due to relatively low production and lack of sanctioned tournaments. Vanguard was reborn online, with a player's avatar filling the role of the oversized physical cards. Players are given a standard set of avatars and can recieve more as entry and high-finishing prizes in release events. The wider availability online, combined with occasional tournaments, has made online Vanguard more of a success than its physical predecessor
  • Alternative deck construction — Various alternative rules can be used to govern the construction of decks. In one system, players are allowed to use only one of each card instead of the usual limit of four; this is called "Singleton" or "Highlander" ("There can be only one"). In the "Pauper's Deck" or "Peasant Magic" variants, the more powerful rare cards are not allowed, and players must construct decks using only the more commonly available cards as a way of balancing the games for players on a budget. In "5-Color" or "Prismatic Magic", players must build very large decks (at least 250 cards) and accommodate a minimum number of cards of each color, usually twenty. In order to alleviate problems with the mana resource system, some play variants include rules for building decks without lands. These variants often include other compensating controls, such as restricting players to one spell per turn (as in "Type IV" or "DC-10"), or in using spell cards themselves to be played as lands and produce matching colored mana. "Mental Magic" uses a stack of whatever cards are at hand as decks for each player. Play is normal except that the cards in their hand can be played as any card in the game with the same mana cost, but each such card can only be used once per game.

Organized play

Officially sanctioned Magic tournaments attract participants of all ages and are held around the world. These players in Rostock, Germany are competing for an invitation to a professional tournament in Nagoya, Japan.
Main article: Duelists' Convocation International

Magic: The Gathering has grown a lot since it was first introduced in 1993, and a large culture has developed around the game. Magic tournaments are arranged almost every weekend in gaming stores. Larger tournaments with hundreds of competitors from around the globe sponsored by Wizards of the Coast are arranged many times every year. Large sums of money are paid out to those players who place the best in the tournament, and the winner receives sums upward of US$50,000. A number of websites report on tournament news, give complete lists for the most currently popular decks, and feature articles on current issues of debate about the game. The Duelists' Convocation International (or DCI) is the organizing body for professional Magic events. The DCI is owned and operated by Wizards of the Coast.

There are two basic types of organized play, Constructed and Limited.

Constructed

In Constructed tournaments, each player comes with a pre-built deck. Decks must consist of no fewer than 60 cards, and no more than four of any one card (the basic land cards may be used in any quantity). Various tournament formats exist which define what card sets are allowed to be used, and which specific cards are disallowed.

Additionally, a 15-card sideboard is permitted, from which a player may tweak his or her deck during a match to better deal with their opponent's strategy. Following the first game of a best-of-three match, each player is permitted to replace any number of cards in his or her deck with an equal number of cards from his or her sideboard. The original deck configuration is restored at the conclusion of the match.

There are various formats in which Constructed tournaments can be held. They include Vintage, Legacy, Extended, Standard, and Block. The latter of the list uses the three sets from any given Cycle. Since these formats are constantly changing and adapting to new sets, more comprehensive rules for each format can be found at the DCI website.

Limited

Limited tournaments are based on a pool of cards which the player receives at the time of the event. In sealed deck tournaments, each player receives 75 cards from which to build their deck. In a draft, players are seated around a table and select cards out of packs in some fashion, each ending up with 45 cards. Any number of basic lands may be added to the deck in both cases. The decks in limited tournaments need only be 40 cards; all the unused cards function as the sideboard.

Product information

Main article: Magic: The Gathering sets

Magic: The Gathering cards are produced in much the same way as normal playing cards. Each Magic card, 63 x 88 mm in size (approximately 2.5 by 3.5 inches), has a face which displays the card's name and rules text as well as an illustration appropriate to the card's concept. Over 7000 unique cards have been produced for the game, with about 600 new ones added each year. Each player builds a deck of cards, chosen from those which he or she owns (with certain restrictions as discussed below) to be used in a duel against an opponent.

The first Magic cards were printed exclusively in English, but current sets are also printed in Simplified Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian.

Magic cards are released in expansion sets and base sets. Expansion sets are released in "blocks", with a new block released each year. Each block consists of three sets: a large expansion of 306 cards, which is released in the fall, and two smaller follow-up expansions, each 165 cards, released in late winter and early summer. Each block shares an overarching theme in its design, with the smaller sets expanding upon the flavors and game mechanics of the large set. The expansions consist almost entirely of new cards, with few reprints of already-existing cards.

The base sets consist entirely of reprints of existing cards, most of them being fairly simple in function. The purpose of the base set is twofold. First, it is used as a "stepping stone", giving new players a chance to learn and understand the basics of the game without having to deal with the more complicated mechanics often used in the expansions. Second, it allows certain staple cards to remain legal within the various tournament formats without the need to reprint them in an expansion. This also makes these staple cards easier to acquire, lowering the barrier to entry for constructed play. The current edition of the base set (as of 2005, Ninth Edition) is called the game's "Core Set."

File:Magic old new border2.jpg
The old and the new card frames

In 2003, starting from the Eighth Edition, the game went through its biggest visual change since its creation--a new card frame layout was developed to allow more rules text and larger art on the cards, while reducing the thick, colored border to a minimum. Contrast and readability were improved by using black type instead of the previous white, a new font, and partitioned areas for the name, card type, and power and toughness.

Secondary market

There is an active secondary market in individual cards among players and game shops. On eBay, for example, there are an estimated 30,000 Magic: The Gathering card auctions running at any one time.

The game cards are published by Wizards of the Coast in varying quantities – a standard booster pack contains eleven common cards, three uncommon cards, and one rare. The prices of individual cards vary accordingly. Common cards rarely sell for more than a few cents. Uncommon cards and weak rares typically cost under US$1. The most expensive cards in Standard tournament play usually cost approximately US$10-20.

The most expensive card is generally considered to be the Black Lotus, with certain rare printings as of 2005 rising above US$1000. A small number of cards of similar age, rarity, and playability, chiefly among them the other cards in the so-called "Power Nine", routinely reach high prices as well. In 2003, after the rotation of the Extended tournament format and in combination with the first Type 1 Championships, the prices for such old, tournament-level cards underwent a large, unexpected increase.

As new sets come out, older cards are occasionally reprinted. If a card has high play value, reprinting will often increase the original version's price, because of renewed demand among players. However, if the card is primarily attractive to collectors, reprinting will often decrease the original version's value. To help protect the collectible value of many old cards, Wizards of the Coast has formulated an official "Reprint Policy", which details certain cards that are unavailable to be printed again. [1]

Artwork

Each card has an illustration to represent the flavor of the card, often reflecting the setting of the expansion for which it was designed. Since its inception, Magic has used exceptionally high-quality art on its cards, by many well-known fantasy and science-fiction illustrators. Notable artists who have contributed art for Magic cards include John Avon, Brom, John Coulthart, Mike Dringenberg, Kaja Foglio, Phil Foglio, Frank Kelly Freas, Donato Giancola, Rebecca Guay, John Howe, Bill Sienkiewicz, Ron Spencer, Bryan Talbot, Christopher Rush, Kev Walker, and Michael Whelan.

A few early sets experimented with alternate art for functionally identical cards. This created an unforeseen problem and a lesson learned for the company. Many players learn to recognize a card by its art and, thus, having multiple versions of art caused confusion when players tried to identify a card at a glance. Consequently, alternate art is now only used sparingly and mostly for promotional or chase cards.

Most of the artwork created was initially left completely in the hands of the artist. However, after a few years of submissions featuring beings with wings on creatures without flying, or multiple creatures in the art of what was supposed to be a single creature, the art direction team decided to impose a few constraints so that the artistic vision more closely aligned with the design and development of the cards. Each block of cards now has its own style guide with sketches and descriptions of the various races and places featured in each new setting.

As cards are reprinted over the years, many older cards eventually return with new art. Even older cards with iconic art such as Serra Angel or Wrath of God are not immune to a visual overhaul. All of this artwork becomes property of Wizards of the Coast once a contract is signed. However, the artist is allowed to sell the original piece and printed reproductions of it, and for established and prolific Magic artists, this can be a lucrative source of revenue.

Storyline

Main article: Magic: The Gathering storylines

An intricate storyline underlies the cards released in each expansion and is shown in the art and flavor text of the cards, as well as in novels and anthologies published by Wizards of the Coast (and formerly, by HarperPrism). It takes place in the multiverse of Dominia, which consists of an infinite number of planes.

The majority of Magic's story is set in the plane called Dominaria, and can be broken down into several distinct time periods each detailed in certain sets. Recently, Magic has begun to venture out of Dominaria and into new planes including Mirrodin, Kamigawa, and Ravnica.

Controversial aspects

Expense

With three to four new sets appearing each year, many players complain that it requires a substantial investment to maintain a collection that is competitive and/or complete. The principal competitive format, Standard or Type 2, uses only cards from the previous two years, forcing players who wish to remain competitive to maintain an updated collection. Other formats, such as Extended, Legacy and Vintage (formerly Type 1.x, Type 1.5, and Type 1 respectively), allow much older sets to be played, but many out-of-print, hard-to-find, or widely-used cards increase in price dramatically over time because they hold higher competitive value.

Luck vs. skill

Magic, like many other games, combines chance and skill. A common complaint, however, is that there is too much luck involved with the basic resource of the game, land. Too much or too little land, especially early in the game, can ruin a player's chance at victory without the player having made a mistake.

A "mulligan" rule was later introduced into the game, first informally in casual play and then in the official game rules. The "mulligan" allows players to shuffle their hand back into the deck at the start of the game, draw a new hand with one less card, and if still not satisfied, do another mulligan. An excellent source for information on the "mulligan" can be found in the article "Starting Over" by Mark Rosewater.

Net decking

The Internet has played an important role in competitive Magic. Strategy discussions and tournament reports frequently include a listing of the exact contents of a deck and descriptions of its performance against others. Using a process known as "net decking", some players will take this information and construct a deck containing the same, or very similar, contents – relying on the expertise and experience of other players. While this strategy is often a good one, it is not a guarantee that the deck will repeat its earlier success. The player may be inexperienced, unfamiliar with the operation of the deck, or they may enter an event where a large number of other players have also "net decked". Many players advocate Limited formats of competitive Magic over Constructed formats because of this phenomenon.

Demonic themes

For the first few years of its life, Magic: The Gathering featured occasional cards with names or artwork that implied demonic or occultist themes (such as the cards Demonic Tutor and Unholy Strength, which both featured reversed pentagrams in their artwork). For reasons discussed in the article Where Have All The Demons Gone? by Mark Rosewater, these kinds of cards were removed from later sets and there was a long period when all references to demons were carefully avoided. However, the game still received criticism over its occult themes. Believing that the concept of "demons" was becoming less controversial, Wizards of the Coast abandoned this policy and restarted printing demons and cards with "demonic" in their name in 2002.

Although a number of cards represent demons, Magic boasts over 7,000 different cards, most of which have no relation to demonic themes. The themes most often used in Magic are folklore, classic fantasy and cultures inspired by the real world.

Gambling

The original set of rules prescribed all games were to be played for ante. Each player would remove at random a card from the deck they wished to play with and those cards would be set aside. At the end of the match, the winner would become the owner of those cards. There were a few cards with rules designed to interact with this gambling aspect, allowing replacements of cards up for ante, adding more cards to the ante, or even permanently trading cards in play. This was controversial due to many regions having restrictions on games of chance. This rule has become optional due to these restrictions, is forbidden at sanctioned events, and the majority of players simply do not play with it.

Patent

Magic was the basis for a controversial patent obtained by Wizards of the Coast, which covers many of the game's mechanics and concepts.

Main article: Collectible card game § Patent

Notable players

See Magic: The Gathering World Championship and Pro Tour for lists of more notable players and their accomplishments.

  • Kai Budde – 1999 World Champion, four-time Pro Tour Player of the Year, lifetime winnings leader, and lifetime Pro Points leader.
  • Jon Finkel – 2000 World Champion, 1998 Player of the Year, second in lifetime winnings, and second in lifetime Pro Points. Finkel began his Magic career as part of the Junior Pro Tour. Since unofficially retiring from Magic, he has won over $1 million as a professional poker player. In 2005, Finkel became one of five players inducted into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame.
  • Dave Williams – successful Pro player, later became a 2004 World Series of Poker finalist. He was also banned for a year from playing in sanctioned Magic tournaments after he was disqualified at the 2001 World Championships for alleged cheating.
  • Darwin Kastle – A 2005 Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame Inductee, with eight Pro Tour Top-8 Finishes, who played in every Pro Tour from 1996 until in 2004. He won the 2001 Magic Invitational, and is pictured on the card Avalanche Riders.

References

See also

Official Sites

Unofficial Sites

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Magic:_The_Gathering&oldid=25872331"