OT: Magic The Gathering

[Ash]

Last weekend I broke out my collection of Magic cards and played out four duels with another old Magic buddy of mine.
I hadn't played in at least two years.



I've been playing since 1997 when the Weatherlight set came out.
From late 1997 to late 1998 I accumulated at least 2000 cards from all the different sets.  I still have them all.
That number is pretty accurate.  I counted all of them once years ago.
(I've accumulated more cards since then but haven't counted them)

That isn't squat compared to some of the other collections I've seen.
I've met guys who have collections numbering well over 10,000 cards.

You know what?
I had a great time!
My buddy & I played four one-on-one games and I beat him three times with the same black & red 62 card deck.
It was a mean combination of banishing spells mixed with a lot of direct damage from red.
Any creature he bought out got sent to the graveyard while my direct damage spells like "Thunderbolt" & "Shower of Sparks" brought his life total down.
He simply couldn't keep up.
He got p**sed off and kept demanding a rematch.  (I've done that a few times)
Finally, on the last hand, he stomped the hell outta me 20-zip.
(only because I got screwed for land/mana)

Part of the fun of Magic is just going through your cards and building the Ultimate Deck.

Have any of you played Magic in the past?
Do you still play it?



Post Edited (09-11-05 06:47)

[Scottie]

Geeeeeeek!

No, I actually have the utmost respect for Magic card players. It's a strategy game just like any other that requires the same level of timing and patience to be successful. I never collected Magic, rather I was a jock kid who collected baseball cards. It all paid off though, because now I have the rookie cards for many of today's top ball players. Anybody ever heard of Derek Jeter, Manny Ramirez, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, or Alex Rodriguez to name a few? I have their souls on a small rectangle of glossy cardboard. Muahaha. Now I can trade them for magic beans.

[Mr_Vindictive]

I never was a magic geek.  I was certainly a geek from the day that I was born, but I could never get into magic.  Some of my friends were heavy into it, but I always found it to be extremely boring.

I'll stick with video games.

[Ash]

I understand why a lot of people were turned off by Magic.

It is an EXTREMELY technical game with a s**tload of very specific rules.
That fact about it was what initially turned me on to the game.

A lot of people have asked me, "Is it like Dungeons & Dragons?"

Nope....It's nothing like D & D. (which I could never get into)
It's all in the cards baby!

And Skaboi, you were probably bored because you were just watching.
You have to play it to appreciate it!
And if you did play it, it was with the wrong people.

It's too bad that this game was labeled 'geeky' because it really does take an intelligent, strategic mind to master.

Believe me, when I used to play this in large groups back in '97-'98, I knew I was probably the only one there that wasn't a virgin.
Super-Dorks would trounce me while wearing Boba Fett and X-Men T-shirts and gloat.
One particularly irritating guy with thick, black Drew Carey glasses would always talk s**t and in the end I'd tell him, "At least I got blown by my girlfriend last night!  Heh!"



Post Edited (09-07-05 20:55)

[BeyondTheGrave]

I always wanted to get into card games like Magic. The only problem is that I don't know anyone who plays it and It really is a tough game. You have alot of patience Ash I have to say.


-------------------------------------------------
Most of all I hate dancing then work, exercise, people,stupid people

[Menard]

ASHTHECAT wrote:

> I've met guys who have collections numbering well over 10,000 cards.


Okay laura, now you can say "Get A Life"

[trekgeezer]

Hey my son was really into this during his junior high years.  He used to mail order freebies all the time.

Would anybody here like an XL tee shirt that proclaims the wearer as a Magic Instructor?

[Ash]

trek_geezer wrote:


> Would anybody here like an XL tee shirt that proclaims the
> wearer as a Magic Instructor?
>


You serious Trek?

[dean]

I too got caught up in the whole Magic the Gathering craze when I was a kid.  I would have been around 13-15 at the time, and played it pretty often during lunch at school until we gradually grew out of it.  It was a hell of a lot of fun knowing you had just outsmarted somebody via a good combination of cards rather than just owning the really powerful ones [which is what a friend of mine did: just bought all the 'cool' cards rather than focusing on a well rounded set]

I still have my cards [not 2000 but I had enough to build a decent deck] and one of my friends housemates played it even now, so I was considering selling them to him, but then he moved out and haven't seen him since.

He actually collected alot of Magic cards just for the artwork on them.  I always liked most of the art on those cards, and the little quotes they put at the bottom sometimes.

Skaboi wrote:

>>>I'll stick with video games.

Funny you should mention that, because I actually bought the 'Magic: the Gathering' PC game, and almost finished it until the last stages of the game when it always crashed on me.

I took it back to the store I bought it from and got a refund, never to finish the game.  Sad day for all... :-P

I also saw some Magic: the gathering books at the library the other day and considered picking one up for a bit of nostalgia but didn't really have the time.

[odinn7]

I've had an odd feeling about this game for years...kind of like it attracted and was/is played by freaks. I realize that this is not correct but this is the way it seems to me. What brought me to this is that the local video store that we have (which is slowly being eaten by Ballbuster) is family owned and operated. The son(?) works there and has for many years. He(?) is very, very strange to put it mildly. If it wasn't for the facial hair, I would have trouble deciding if he(?) was a male or a super ugly female and even then I can't say for sure. I can get by this as I'm not that superficial (ok, f*ck it, you caught me...I am) but he(?) will not talk (he can though, I have heard him), mopes around, has long fingernails, greasy long hair, pale as a vampire...I could go on. My wife's cousin went to school with him(?) and told me that one day he(?) was getting picked on and screamed out about putting an evil spell on everyone. Ok, so there's obviously some kind of condition at work here with him(?) so I can let it go but I can't get away from associating him(?) with the game of Magic. I have never seen him(?) without a Magic shirt on and therefore, by association, I cannot bring myself to even think of this game in a good light.
As a side...that whole family is so creepy that as much as I would like to support the local video place over Ballbuster, I have trouble bringing myself to rent from  there more than once a month, I just can't take it. Eeeewwwww

[Ash]

It could be worse...

I COULD BE THIS GEEKY

(that actually kinda looks fun!)

I used to have a friend that was big into L.A.R.P. and was always trying to get me to come to one of those "events".

I would've if it had been medieval s**t like in the above video clip, but he was into Vampire L.A.R.P. and dressed all in goth garb and wore fangs.
No thanks.



Post Edited (09-08-05 13:00)

[dean]

There's a really cool asian food court at the bottom of some hotel in the city somewhere, it's a really wierd location but has great food and great prices.  Anyway, at this place there is always a contingent of hard-core magic players, some of whom could probably match odinn7's description of the video store 'person.'  It just kinda makes you concerned when you see a 35 year old master at the game playing in an underground food court.  Sure they can do it, by all means, but at the same time its kind of creepy.

But thankfully those of us who played at school didn't seem wierd or too geeky [other than the whole playing Magic thing of course.]  

Never really got into any other kind of card game or roleplaying board game as much as bloody magic...

By the way ash, that video clip is pretty full on, that would have taken some organising to do!  Plus. beating on people with rubber axes would probably do us some good to relieve stress and anger.

[Scottie]

That still doesn't compare to the overlord of geeky video clips.

http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/9271/

Nothing is this bad.

[odinn7]

Scottie wrote:

> That still doesn't compare to the overlord of geeky video
> clips.
>
> http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/9271/
>
> Nothing is this bad.
>


O-M-F-G...I had to watch that over and over just to let it sink in...some of them looked fairly young, but not all of them. Pathetic.
OK then, anytime anyone talks s**t at any of us about being nerds or geeks, we can point this out to them as the true meaning. Whew!

[Susan]

My ex used to be an uber magic geek and i indulged him by playing with him. Of course his cards are for the most part were worthless from a re-selling standpoint.  I don't miss those days, guess it takes a certain kind of person to be really into the whole role playing thing. Plus he got p**sed when i started getting good enough to beat him, the fact i wasn't into the game sorta rubbed salt in the wound.  I always would rather be watching a movie