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Ahh, crazy memories...I was never particularly into this, but my interest was certainly peeked when some kids at my school got into trouble for messing around with "satanic things", in the words of a particularly flusterable reverand who came in on tuesdays to teach history.
I hear that. Our band director wouldn't let us bring the cards into the band room because he thought the game urinated on Christian values. Then he was fired because he took the money we students spent on the annual band trip and used it to hire a prostitute. So we could play in the band room again.
Was it fun, then? How did it work?
It was.
Both players assume the role of wizards with 20 life points, and the object of the game is to defeat your opponent by reducing hir life points to 0 or depleting all the cards in hir deck.
To accomplish this, players cast spells and summon creatures. Spells do anything from enhance one's own armies to directly harm opponents to change the working rules of the table at large. Creatures attack opponents to reduce their life points and block incoming attacks by opponents' creatures. Most creatures have individual abilities that produce some of the effects spells can.
To summon creatures and cast spells, players need mana. This mana is drawn from the land players control on their respective sides of the board (players can place one land card in their territory per turn, so as the game progresses, they may take more actions with more resources). Land is "tapped" for its power, meaning it has been temporarily used up. The same goes for creatues.
These basic rules mean that resources management is a big part of the game, as players can act on both their turns and their opponents' turns. So players are always asking themselves: Do I want to use all my resources now, or save some for later? What can I accomplish for the lowest cost? How can I use my resources most quickly and with maximum effect?
Players tap five basic kinds of land for resources (mana), each of which produces a different "color" of mana. Each color of mana can be used to cast spells and summon creatures of the same color, and each color has certain thematic qualities:
White is the color of protection and life (and is drawn from plains).
Red is the color of havoc and disarray (and is drawn from mountains).
Black is the color of quick death and unholiness (and is drawn from swamps).
Green is the color of nature and growth (and is drawn from forests).
Blue is the color of dupery and confusion (and is drawn from islands).
Players construct decks based on the strengths and weaknesses or each color, and the ways they each seem to synergistically underpin one another's perceived shortcomings.
All in all, it's a great game with some really interesting mechanics. It can become very fast-paced as players cast, counter-cast and counter the counter-casts (because, as I mentioned previously, certain types of cards allow action on both the player's turn and/or hir opponent's turn). |
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