Magic The Gathering was first released in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. It’s creator, Richard Garfield had created the game in his own free time. In fact, he had been working on it since 1991 using volunteer playtesters to polish his initial ideas. Following a meeting with Wizards of the Coast, Magic The Gathering trading cards became the first of many Trading Card Games. Seventeen years later it is still widely played, in some 70 countries with an active tournament and community of professional players.
Magic the gathering cards have remained popular, largely due to the nature of the game. Each player constructs a Deck of roughly 60 cards. Before play, the decks are shuffled and each player cuts the other’s deck. Seven cards are drawn and play begins. Since its release, the game has changed, but basic play remains the same. Various cards may be placed on the playing field, no more then one a turn unless allowed by another card. You may then “tap” the lands for mana to play additional cards. Most cards must be played during your turn, though there are exceptions to that which are used to interrupt or counter another players actions.. To win you must cause your opponents entire deck to be discarded or reduce their life pool from 20 to zero. The exact strategy and tactics used are greatly influenced by how each player has built their deck.
Within the Magic The Gathering rules there are five broad types of card with a sixth generally minor set. The primary groups are represented by the color White, Green, Blue, Red, Black. The sixth group, colorless or artifacts generally are used to support the primary them of a deck, All cards within a color tie into the overarching theme. White makes heavy use of smaller cheaper creatures as well as a mix of defensive cards and cards that act to level the playing field, destroying all lands or creatures at once. Green focuses heavily on the summoning of creatures of steadily increasing power to simply crush your opponent.
Blue represents magic and intellect and so controlling what actions your opponent makes. Red is chaos personified. Cheap fast creatures, direct damage, land and artifact destruction spells define this color. Black has many creature destruction cards as well as spells that force an opponent to discard. Many black creatures are quite powerful, but drain the life of their summoner as a balance. Players continually combine the colors to create new decks and tactics to achieve victory.
Related posts: