Magic: The Gathering

Hello everyone! Today we will be looking at the world famous trading card game, Magic: The Gathering. Magic(better known by it's abbreviation MTG) was the first fantasy card game introduced in 1993 by Math professor Richard Garfield and produced by Wizards of the Coast. MTG holds the title as one of the most complex modern card games, and inspiration for many other modern card games to follow, such asYu-Gi-Oh and Duel Masters.

The story of MTG is the 2 players are wizards who are having a spellcasting battle. The spells they cast are the cards. This is why the majority of cards in the game are referred to as a "Spell." The other main card type is a "Land." Lands produce Mana, which can be used to cast the aforementioned Spells. The key to any deck is the balance between how many Lands and Spells so as to not have too much of either. Too many Spells will result in too little Mana to cast the spells. Too few Spells leaves one with an inability to do anything anyway with a huge Mana pool. To win, either player must make the opponent lose all life points, each starting with 20 at the beginning of the game.

 Here is what all cards look like on the back:



Now I will explain the 5 colors you see in the middle. There are 5 Different types of Mana Lands can produce. Most Lands are basic and produce only one color: Red, Blue, Green, White, or Black. There are Spells that produce mana besides lands, and there are also cards that can be cast with any Mana, normally shown with the colorless symbol.



Here we have a standard White creature. White cards have a standard theme of  light and heroes, worshipped by human or humanoid civilizations. When playing, they emphasize defense, power increase, and player life restoration.



This is a standard Black Creature. Black cards are known for being overall morbid, horrid, and/or creepy. When playing, black cards focus on discarding and death...mostly the death part.



Here is a standard Blue Creature. Blue cards have a theme of water, intelligence, and magic. When playing, blue cards are known for having a harassing style. It is a mixed way of combat where you carefully counter the opponent and whittle them down.



Here's a good example of a Green Creature. Green cards have themes of forest beasts, rural humanoid cultures(such as elves) and land. Green cards are known for specializing in mana production. This mana production speeds up army production, and Green creatures are known for having the most numerous high cost and high power creatures.



Our final color is Red. Red cards have a theme of fire, battle, and overall chaos. Red cards are known for direct damage. Rather than relying solely on creatures to attack the enemy, abilities can damage the player or other cards the player owns.

Thank you for reading this basic preview of Magic:The Gathering. For further discussion, keep on the lookout for another possible post and the deeper intricacies of playing magic rather than the background.