What a week! I started horseback riding lessons, we visited with Grimm who is now looking more like a puppy and less like a polar bear cub, I started listening to my first audio book ever, and I’ve spent 5+ hours playing Magic the Gathering. Yeah you read that right. After little Oliver fell asleep last night, we stayed up playing till 1:30. Ollie’s bed time is about 9:30 in case you didn’t know.

We’re becoming obsessed. I love Magic!

To be honest, I saw this coming. Taylor and I love games, especially strategy or tactical games. We buy at least a couple of games a year. I’ve always had this secret desire to play Dungeons and Dragons (I still have yet to play but that’s because I don’t know anyone close by who does and I’m completely open to trying it). I’d vaguely heard of Magic and knew that it was akin to D&D.

I have my brother to thank for becoming a Magic addict (if there is a proper term for this

let me know; I’m still such a noob). He taught us the game and was gracious to give Taylor and I each a pre-made deck. Turns out he’s secretly a super nerd. But then lo and behold a bunch of super nerds came forward after I let the Magic fly, including one of my best friends from high school, who had apparently been playing for years and I had no idea (you know who you are).

Magic has tapped deep into my soul and unlocked the passion of my pre-adolescence self. It’s got me using a Gameboy emulator on my phone, collecting Funko Pop vinyl dolls, and wondering where I stored my old Pokemon cards. In other words, Magic has helped me transcend to the next level of geek, nerd, and dork.

I’ve learned a couple of things, gained a bit of insight, from playing these last few weeks and figured I could share for anyone who wants to play but hasn’t yet. Answer a few FAQs so to speak:

 

1. So why is Magic so awesome?

I’m going to go out on a limb and assume you like Harry Potter. Everyone likes Harry Potter, right? And I assume that if you like Harry Potter, at some point in your life, you’ve wanted to be a wizard. What are some of the awesome things about Harry Potter? The magical creatures, the spells, the interesting relics.

In Magic, you get to fulfill some of these dreams by summoning creatures, casting spells, and using artifacts to become the most powerful of them all. What’s not awesome about that?!

 

2. Is it expensive?

Yeah no, not really. As a disclaimer, I will say that it can be! There are some expensive cards out there! BUT, if you’re just going to play for fun, then there’s no need to spend a bunch of money. True, I started with a pre-made deck, but those are reasonably priced. And honestly, it wasn’t too bad of a deck at all. As I grew more familiar with the deck and my strategy, I decided I wanted to modify it a bit so I spent $20 looking for cards with specific skills. And honestly, I think I overspent. All in all, I don’t think that’s bad at all.

For me personally, the game gets expensive when I want to build new decks with different tactics. Plus since there’s so many cards, there are so many creatures you can try. That’s where the temptation to spend money comes from.

So in sum, it will be as expensive as you make it.

 

3. Is it hard to learn or play?

Not really. It only takes a game or two to get the gist of it. It can be a little confusing since so many cards have different abilities, but we’ve all been able to figure it out amongst ourselves or in the case of a big disagreement, consult google.

I would strongly recommend playing with people who have about the same deck level as you though. Otherwise it’s not quite as fun. For example, I played with my pre-made deck against my friend who used his deck for official tournaments. Being as competitive as I am, it stunk a little because I knew the odds of winning were absolutely not in my favor and I basically stood no chance. And yeah, in the end my deck was just crushed. So that’s probably the biggest thing to take into consideration when it comes to difficulty. In general, if your decks are all about the same skill level, you’ve got good chances, though of course your cards will fare better against some types of your opponents’ cards versus others.