For the Finality of this article we are going to go over the most complex step the attack/blocking step otherwise known as the combat step, during this step there are tons of decisions to be made and i will go over them all of course so let's go.
Attacking - Now for this step you can choose however many creatures you want that do not have the ability of defender to attack, let's say you have a Lumengrid Drake a trio of Myr Galvanizer and 3 islands and 1 swamp in play untapped of course, with two cards in hand for you, your opponent has a Kargan Dragonlord that has 4 levels on it, making it a 4/4 flyer, a Goblin Guide and 1 mountain left untapped with 1 card in hand on his side of the field, do you attack with everything or attack with the drake only, well that is up to you to decide, comments below i wanna see the response to this problem. Now this step you must declare all your attackers at once so you cannot choose one and then a second later choose another you have to make the decision before the attack step begins, once you attack however he is free to block.
Blocking - This is really simple to understand, let's use the same situation, but your in control of the goblin guide and kargan dragonlord, your opponent attacks how do you respond since you have 1 mana left open and a capable blocker in both the guide and dragonlord, i'd also like a response below for the situation answer if you would please. The attacker however can declare battle damage to creatures when it is blocked, the attacker also gets to choose the amount of damage assigned to creatures and if a creature has trample well you know the rest as i explained trample in a previous article, during this step though entire combat step spells can be played as long as they are instants and not sorceries, that is something also to consider.
Resolution - After the blocking step there comes the resolution step where as all creatures that have been dealt critical damage are sent to the graveyard and removed from play, if a creature ever reaches 0 points of toughness that creature is then sent to the graveyard, or if a creature is removed from play via a spell such as Doom Blade then the creature is sent to the graveyard automatically regardless of combat damage assigned in this case there are multiple instances of how people think the combat step works but this is the most direct and easiest way to explain the combat step in general terms for the new magic player on the block.
Final Thoughts - This concludes the how to guide for the beginning magic player, i've referred you to enough sources to get started and such at playing wizards of the coast's game of magic the gathering, i hope you have found this a useful tool for getting started and i will see you again in the next article.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Magic the Gathering Basics Part 4: Terms on Cards
Now throughout the course of the article i will be looking over what you will see on a typical card and how they work in game, since there are several different things to watch out, Mana Costs, Rarity, Types of Cards, Power/Toughness, Card Abilites., so let's go.
Mana Cost - For this article i'm gonna be taking a look at one card and breaking it down for you in steps to look out for, the first one is the summoning cost to play the card, or mana cost in this case, each mana cost is different and has different rules around it, some require various types of mana and others don't for this let's use for this case, Sphinx of Jwar Isle it has a mana cost of 4 of any type of mana, a blue mana and another blue mana meaning this card needs 2 blue mana to cast it plus four of any other type of mana, though it is not as bad as some of the costs on other cards in the following sets to come including Ancient Hellkite which costs 7 total 4 of anything and 3 red mana in this case, now how to get the mana, it's from playing lands and tapping the card to represent your adding 1 of that colour to your mana pool for the duration of your turn, the more lands you have the more powerful and more ridicliously casting cost cards you can play in game, meaning more high end cards including some very powerful planeswalkers, there are also several types of mana costs in one card at times for example Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker whom has 3 different types of mana in his casting cost in this case, 2 black mana, one red and one blue as well as 4 of anything else, so keep a eye on everything and look for the mana costs in cards before playing them in game, but also be sure to attune your deck to the cards you want to play.
Rarity - On each and every card there is 3 different types of symbols, usually located in the middle of a card on the right hand side, this is a rarity value and is used to determine how well or how expensive the card is most times for some better known cards, one is black meaning it is a common card and is found just about everywhere these days, one is silver and it is a uncommon rarity, so the amount of times you'll see this card decreases and one is gold meaning it is a rare card for this i'll look at the three rarities and of course the brand new rarity level mythic rare. For commons it is usually found once a pack in most cases and that, meaning you'll often see it in draft or in most cases the amount of times you'll see it per box is about 4 roughly so there is 4 in 36 packs a box that contain a full set of these commons and one of these commons i'll be looking at really. Let's take a look at one of my favorite commons in game Mana Leak which is a common and is found in the latest core set Magic 2011 at the time of this writing, most cases each box of magic 2011 will contain a full playset or 4 of this card in cases and sometimes not only containing 3 or 2 of the card in question the way wizards's breaks up the rarity value is just maddening.
Let's now take a look at the uncomon level of card, most boxes of product end up having at least 3 of a specific uncommon considering uncommons are only twice as rare as a common in most cases, for this one i want to take at one of my top 5 uncommons ever printed in the form of Hedron Crab also known as the boston crab in this case as it's annoyance level for mid range blue decks is just retarded and in zendikar you could easily get 3 of him in a single box, though price wise most uncommons end up going for about a dollar to 2.50 depending on the card and how it impacted the game, in this case let's look at another card for the uncommon level in the form of Mind Funeral which can go for about 2.50 these days in terms of price since it's effect is just broken and can cause some major headaches when mill decks are being played, i should know i bought two of these recently. This happens to be one of my top 5 favorite uncommons as well, also it can be rather effective in game, so keep a eye on the uncommons for this set and all that jazz. Now moving onto the rarity value of rare there are usually one of these in every booster pack you pick up these days and most of them are never the same, with some being so hard to find while others are a simple eye look away from obtaining and all that, rare cards are usually divided well into booster boxes with no box having a single set of 1 rare anymore since the sets are all so large. Let's look at one particular rare from the Alara Reborn set of cards in the form of Nemesis of Reason which is a rare from the Alara reborn block from 2 years ago and this card goes for about 3 dollars roughly these days, since it's not widely played anymore, a rare that is widely played however is, Marsh Flats which is a sacrifice land from the Zendikar set of things and was just introduced last year around this time into tournaments with these kinds of cards ranging from 8 to 14 dollars in most cases or even more now that they are a tournament staple.
Now moving onto the mythic rarity value of card and boy these ones impact the game more then ever, with most new mythic rares going for a expensive and insane price in this case let's look at a couple of recent mythics and such. The first one i wanna take a look at is Skittles he's actually known as Skithryix, The Blight Dragon and he is a mythic rare legendary card, now mythics however there are usually only 5 a box, no two same mythics are in each box unless your extremely lucky and all that jazz but i digress, each mythic is very powerful and it's money cost is different for Skithiryix however it is about 10 dollars these days, though there are another subtype of card that are way more overpowered and all that and they are planeswalkers with them going at sometimes over 40 dollars a piece in this case let's look at a new walker in the form of Venser, The Sojourner and the fact he is a 30 dollar card these days even if the set is brand new shows the fact how playable he is in most cases but i digress i've gone on long enough bout rarity and such, time to move onto more important matters in the form of other topics for this article.
Types of Cards - There are 5 different types of cards in game, planeswalkers, sorceries, instants, creatures and enchantments now most of these are self explanatory, planeswalkers are other caster type creatures you can summon such as Venser or even Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Sorceries can be played only during your turn, instants can be played at anytime, creatures can sometimes be cast if they have a unique ability called flash, though most cases only during your turn and enchantments can be only cast during your turn i won't go into detail as most of this stuff i've already covered for the most part in prior articles so next please.
Power/Toughness - This is a pretty self explanatory thing as these only show up on creatures each has a specific indicator showing how much power they do, which is their attack power and the toughness means their endurance which is how much damage they can take before they die off, again this is self explanatory and all that stuff just read the combat phase stuff when i can do it and it will be fine to understand this particular portion of a creature card.
Card Abilites - Lastly i wanna look at card abilites, each card has a specific ability and does something completely different, as there are no two cards that have the same unique ability, could range from haste to even destroying a permanent when a card comes into play, each card varies and it would take almost forever to describe each card ability in detail so go to wizards's youtube page to learn as much as you can bout the game i've provided the link in the last article.
Anyhoo that is all for this edition of the basics of Magic the Gathering, see you next time.
Mana Cost - For this article i'm gonna be taking a look at one card and breaking it down for you in steps to look out for, the first one is the summoning cost to play the card, or mana cost in this case, each mana cost is different and has different rules around it, some require various types of mana and others don't for this let's use for this case, Sphinx of Jwar Isle it has a mana cost of 4 of any type of mana, a blue mana and another blue mana meaning this card needs 2 blue mana to cast it plus four of any other type of mana, though it is not as bad as some of the costs on other cards in the following sets to come including Ancient Hellkite which costs 7 total 4 of anything and 3 red mana in this case, now how to get the mana, it's from playing lands and tapping the card to represent your adding 1 of that colour to your mana pool for the duration of your turn, the more lands you have the more powerful and more ridicliously casting cost cards you can play in game, meaning more high end cards including some very powerful planeswalkers, there are also several types of mana costs in one card at times for example Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker whom has 3 different types of mana in his casting cost in this case, 2 black mana, one red and one blue as well as 4 of anything else, so keep a eye on everything and look for the mana costs in cards before playing them in game, but also be sure to attune your deck to the cards you want to play.
Rarity - On each and every card there is 3 different types of symbols, usually located in the middle of a card on the right hand side, this is a rarity value and is used to determine how well or how expensive the card is most times for some better known cards, one is black meaning it is a common card and is found just about everywhere these days, one is silver and it is a uncommon rarity, so the amount of times you'll see this card decreases and one is gold meaning it is a rare card for this i'll look at the three rarities and of course the brand new rarity level mythic rare. For commons it is usually found once a pack in most cases and that, meaning you'll often see it in draft or in most cases the amount of times you'll see it per box is about 4 roughly so there is 4 in 36 packs a box that contain a full set of these commons and one of these commons i'll be looking at really. Let's take a look at one of my favorite commons in game Mana Leak which is a common and is found in the latest core set Magic 2011 at the time of this writing, most cases each box of magic 2011 will contain a full playset or 4 of this card in cases and sometimes not only containing 3 or 2 of the card in question the way wizards's breaks up the rarity value is just maddening.
Let's now take a look at the uncomon level of card, most boxes of product end up having at least 3 of a specific uncommon considering uncommons are only twice as rare as a common in most cases, for this one i want to take at one of my top 5 uncommons ever printed in the form of Hedron Crab also known as the boston crab in this case as it's annoyance level for mid range blue decks is just retarded and in zendikar you could easily get 3 of him in a single box, though price wise most uncommons end up going for about a dollar to 2.50 depending on the card and how it impacted the game, in this case let's look at another card for the uncommon level in the form of Mind Funeral which can go for about 2.50 these days in terms of price since it's effect is just broken and can cause some major headaches when mill decks are being played, i should know i bought two of these recently. This happens to be one of my top 5 favorite uncommons as well, also it can be rather effective in game, so keep a eye on the uncommons for this set and all that jazz. Now moving onto the rarity value of rare there are usually one of these in every booster pack you pick up these days and most of them are never the same, with some being so hard to find while others are a simple eye look away from obtaining and all that, rare cards are usually divided well into booster boxes with no box having a single set of 1 rare anymore since the sets are all so large. Let's look at one particular rare from the Alara Reborn set of cards in the form of Nemesis of Reason which is a rare from the Alara reborn block from 2 years ago and this card goes for about 3 dollars roughly these days, since it's not widely played anymore, a rare that is widely played however is, Marsh Flats which is a sacrifice land from the Zendikar set of things and was just introduced last year around this time into tournaments with these kinds of cards ranging from 8 to 14 dollars in most cases or even more now that they are a tournament staple.
Now moving onto the mythic rarity value of card and boy these ones impact the game more then ever, with most new mythic rares going for a expensive and insane price in this case let's look at a couple of recent mythics and such. The first one i wanna take a look at is Skittles he's actually known as Skithryix, The Blight Dragon and he is a mythic rare legendary card, now mythics however there are usually only 5 a box, no two same mythics are in each box unless your extremely lucky and all that jazz but i digress, each mythic is very powerful and it's money cost is different for Skithiryix however it is about 10 dollars these days, though there are another subtype of card that are way more overpowered and all that and they are planeswalkers with them going at sometimes over 40 dollars a piece in this case let's look at a new walker in the form of Venser, The Sojourner and the fact he is a 30 dollar card these days even if the set is brand new shows the fact how playable he is in most cases but i digress i've gone on long enough bout rarity and such, time to move onto more important matters in the form of other topics for this article.
Types of Cards - There are 5 different types of cards in game, planeswalkers, sorceries, instants, creatures and enchantments now most of these are self explanatory, planeswalkers are other caster type creatures you can summon such as Venser or even Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Sorceries can be played only during your turn, instants can be played at anytime, creatures can sometimes be cast if they have a unique ability called flash, though most cases only during your turn and enchantments can be only cast during your turn i won't go into detail as most of this stuff i've already covered for the most part in prior articles so next please.
Power/Toughness - This is a pretty self explanatory thing as these only show up on creatures each has a specific indicator showing how much power they do, which is their attack power and the toughness means their endurance which is how much damage they can take before they die off, again this is self explanatory and all that stuff just read the combat phase stuff when i can do it and it will be fine to understand this particular portion of a creature card.
Card Abilites - Lastly i wanna look at card abilites, each card has a specific ability and does something completely different, as there are no two cards that have the same unique ability, could range from haste to even destroying a permanent when a card comes into play, each card varies and it would take almost forever to describe each card ability in detail so go to wizards's youtube page to learn as much as you can bout the game i've provided the link in the last article.
Anyhoo that is all for this edition of the basics of Magic the Gathering, see you next time.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Magic the Gathering Basics Part 3: Card Abilites
Throughout the course of this series i've explained two things thus far how to get cards and the standard procedure on each player's turn now it's time to explain the card abilites and the more indepth look at the combat/blocking step of each player's turn. The article will focus on the card abilites and how they interact during the combat step and how some of them even affect the player itself.
There are a lot of keywords in magic that appear on cards and there are some terms in which most people have no clue what that specific term does, well it's time for the explanation there are 8 terms i wish to go over for this article that are the most common terms in the game and such appear in every single set to date including the first few sets of revised and the like, let's look at a few of these terms shall we?
Haste - As explained in my previous article haste gives the creature the ability to bypass summoning sickness which prevents a creature with summoning sickness to not attack on the first turn it is summoned regardless, this allows the creature to attack immediately when it is summoned to the field and is more apparent in red coloured cards then anything, though there are some other cards in other colours which have this ability, but it is more common in red then most.
Trample - Think of this ability as dealing direct combat damage even after a creature with this ability has been blocked, let's say you have a 5/5 beast token in play and you give it trample for the turn with Garruk Wildspeaker's Ability to give it a +3/+3 bonus and trample and a 0/6 creature blocks, you still deal 6 points of combat damage to the creature but the remaining 2 damage is dealt as direct to the opposing creature's controller and is subtracted from the life points of the controller, note all players will start at 20 life unless there are other forms of magic going on such as Elder Dragon Highlander and Two Headed Giant which i will explain the various forms next article.
Flying - This is a common ability among creatures that have wings, such as dragons, griffons and other mythical creatures, this allows a creature with this ability to go over non flying creatures and deal their damage directly unless another ability is used or a creature with flying is in play for the opposing player, let's say you have a 2/4 Darkslick Drake and your opponent controls a 3/3 Barrage Ogre that doesn't have flying, the darkslick drake can bypass the ogre and deal it's 2 points of damage as direct in this case and doesn't have to worry about being blocked in this case. Now let's take a look at the same creature the drake vs a actual flying creature in this case Kemba's Skyguard which also has flying and a enter the battlefield ability which i will explain later and in this case is a 2/2 which means it has 2 power and 2 toughness for those not able to follow along in common magic terms. If the drake was to declare a attack the Skyguard could block and prevent the damage the drake would deal, instead both creatures would clash, dealing 2 points of combat damage each and this would cause the skyguard to die since it deals only 2 points of damage to the drake which isn't enough to kill it but the drake would kill the skyguard sending it to the graveyard. This is just one of the examples of flying creatures and how they interact during the combat step.
Defender - Creatures with this ability on the card cannot attack at all and can only block other creatures this is a more common thing on the wall sub type of creature since walls are just well walls. Each particular wall though has a different toughness which is it's endurance and also has some different abilites let's look at the newest wall of magic Wall of Tanglecord this has defender and it's power is 0 and it's toughness is 6 in this case meaning it can block up to 6 points of combat damage before dying, it also has a mana ability where you can tap a green mana and block a creature with flying with this card. Though creatures with defender sometimes have abilites that cause them to lose defender and are able to attack this is not the case in most walls as there are only a select few walls that can actually declare a attack and have power such as Mirror Wall when you pay the 1 plains mana cost for it's ability to attack as it also has 3 power and 4 toughness, though this kind of ability is rare it's not always the case in magic and should be observed with patience and understanding, some walls even have first strike and flying such as one of my favorite walls of all time Illusionary Wall which also has defender, a power of 7 and a toughness of 4, though i will explain what first strike does soon.
First Strike - It's actually pretty common these days to see creatures with first strike on them and such, basically for those who don't know first strike damage is always applied first before regular combat damage so this is another combat step thing, let's look at a couple of examples of this prominent keyword with a first strike card called Baneslayer Angel which has a ton of keyword abilites in this case but we are only looking at first strike with this particular section of the article. When a creature with this ability clashes with a creature without first strike, creatures with first strike act first dealing their power in the form of damage to said creature so let's take a look at a combat example if say the Angel was to clash against a Cloud Elemental which doesn't have first strike in this case, when the angel attacks and the elemental blocks, the angel would get to deal enough damage to cripple or kill the elemental in this case since it's toughness is lower then the angel's power and the elemental wouldn't get to deal damage back to the angel instead it would get a one way trip to the graveyard. Now let's look at a prominent example of two first strikers in action, with the angel clashing against a Cloud Crusader which also has first strike and flying, so the angel declares a attack and the crusader blocks what happens you may wonder, well since both have first strike they would both deal damage simultaneously and would both have either been crippled or killed in battle, but since the angel has 5 toughness and the crusader only has 2 power the angel would survive and the angel deals 5 points of damage to the crusader's 3 toughness causing it to die, this is a useful example of this ability i would think and is sometimes questioned in game of course.
Lifelink - This keyword is more common these days then one would think with at least seven to 8 cards a set receiving this ability with various colours, costs and even types of creatures or spells in this case let's look at a few prominent lifelink cards in the game today. The first one we will be taking a look at is Child of Night which has 2 power and 1 toughness and it is a black card that costs 1 of any mana and one black mana to cast, each time this creature is either blocked or deals damage to anything in this case even a defender creature the lifelink keyword kicks in and causes you to gain as much life as the creature has power so if you were to be blocked by a 0/3 Wall of Vines while child of night was in play and declaring a attack you would gain 2 life and would still have a child of night in play, now let's look at combat damage and how it interacts with lifelink in this case with the child of night going against a Vulshok Berserker with the child of night on the defensive, both would essentally deal their respective points of damage to each other, but the child of night's lifelink ability kicks in and causes the controller of the vampire to gain 2 life while losing the creature and taking out the opposing creature since the Berserker deals 3 points of damage to the child of night and the child of night deals 2 damage which is just enough to kill the attacking creature.
Deathtouch - This actually is a ability which is one of my preferred favorites in the game of magic today and is common enough to earn a place on the list these days, since most new sets end up printing at least 3 to 4 things with this ability whether it would be creatures, artifacts or enchantments in this case with instants and sorceries sometimes being the lucky dog to get this keyword printed let's look at some of the more newly printed cards with this keyword. Wurmcoil Engine actually comes to the top of my mind when i think of this ability as it's brand new, it's a artifact creature at that and is just dangerous when it's in play as are all deathtouch creatures in the game but this is a exception, a creature with deathtouch only needs to deal a single point of combat damage to any other creature to kill it, in this case let's look at a few blocking examples. Let's say your opponent had a 2/2 Vulshok Heartstroker a 0/6 Wall of Tanglecord and a Trinket Mage with 2 power and 1 toughness and you controlled a wurmcoil engine with 6 power and 6 toughness and all three of these creatures were blocking, you would only need to deal a single point of combat damage to each of these creatures to kill them espically since you can divide combat damage among creatures that are blocking, so you would normally choose in this case to apply 1 point of combat damage to each creature blocking and you would take 4 points of combat damage on the engine but it would survive regardless, all three opposing creatures would get sent to the graveyard and you would have a 6/6 wurmcoil engine sitting on your side of the field, note though deathtouch only applies to creatures and not to players as you cannot instantly kill the opposing player with this ability otherwise it would be broken.
Double Strike - This is the last ability i am going to be looking at and this one is exactly as it says a creature with this ability deals twice the amount of damage it would normally deal, first strike damage and then regular combat damage would apply for a creature with this ability. Let's look at one here shall we in the form of True Conviction which is a enchantment that grants your creatures double strike and lifelink when it is on the field, now a creature with double strike if it is not blocked it deals twice the amount of damage in the form of it's power to the opposing player so let's say you have a 2/2 Snapsail Glider in play and it is attacking with this enchantment on the field, it would deal 2 times the damage in the form of it's power to the opposing player since first strike damage always goes first and then normal combat damage is applied in this case it would be 4 points of damage dealt and the player would lose 4 life points. This ability also interacts with creatures as well so let's take the glider again and pit it against a 5/5 Steel Hellkite which also has flying so when the glider attacks it would deal it's 2 points of first strike damage to the hellkite and then normal combat damage kicks in and both creatures would deal their respective damage in the form of power to the opposing creature meaning the hellkite would survive however the glider would die since it only has 2 toughness and the hellkite has 5 meaning it has more then enough to take a double strike from a 2/2 creature in this case, there are lots of examples with this ability which are explained a lot easier in some cases.
Well that concludes this part of the series, for more information on the other abilites in game i would suggest you refer to wizards of the coast youtube page at the following link Wizards of the Coast Youtube and check out the abilites and some of the video examples of how some abilites mentioned here interact including a how to guide on the newer sets including Scars of Mirrodin, till next article i'm vergil and this has been part 3 of the MTG basics ability how to guide.
There are a lot of keywords in magic that appear on cards and there are some terms in which most people have no clue what that specific term does, well it's time for the explanation there are 8 terms i wish to go over for this article that are the most common terms in the game and such appear in every single set to date including the first few sets of revised and the like, let's look at a few of these terms shall we?
Haste - As explained in my previous article haste gives the creature the ability to bypass summoning sickness which prevents a creature with summoning sickness to not attack on the first turn it is summoned regardless, this allows the creature to attack immediately when it is summoned to the field and is more apparent in red coloured cards then anything, though there are some other cards in other colours which have this ability, but it is more common in red then most.
Trample - Think of this ability as dealing direct combat damage even after a creature with this ability has been blocked, let's say you have a 5/5 beast token in play and you give it trample for the turn with Garruk Wildspeaker's Ability to give it a +3/+3 bonus and trample and a 0/6 creature blocks, you still deal 6 points of combat damage to the creature but the remaining 2 damage is dealt as direct to the opposing creature's controller and is subtracted from the life points of the controller, note all players will start at 20 life unless there are other forms of magic going on such as Elder Dragon Highlander and Two Headed Giant which i will explain the various forms next article.
Flying - This is a common ability among creatures that have wings, such as dragons, griffons and other mythical creatures, this allows a creature with this ability to go over non flying creatures and deal their damage directly unless another ability is used or a creature with flying is in play for the opposing player, let's say you have a 2/4 Darkslick Drake and your opponent controls a 3/3 Barrage Ogre that doesn't have flying, the darkslick drake can bypass the ogre and deal it's 2 points of damage as direct in this case and doesn't have to worry about being blocked in this case. Now let's take a look at the same creature the drake vs a actual flying creature in this case Kemba's Skyguard which also has flying and a enter the battlefield ability which i will explain later and in this case is a 2/2 which means it has 2 power and 2 toughness for those not able to follow along in common magic terms. If the drake was to declare a attack the Skyguard could block and prevent the damage the drake would deal, instead both creatures would clash, dealing 2 points of combat damage each and this would cause the skyguard to die since it deals only 2 points of damage to the drake which isn't enough to kill it but the drake would kill the skyguard sending it to the graveyard. This is just one of the examples of flying creatures and how they interact during the combat step.
Defender - Creatures with this ability on the card cannot attack at all and can only block other creatures this is a more common thing on the wall sub type of creature since walls are just well walls. Each particular wall though has a different toughness which is it's endurance and also has some different abilites let's look at the newest wall of magic Wall of Tanglecord this has defender and it's power is 0 and it's toughness is 6 in this case meaning it can block up to 6 points of combat damage before dying, it also has a mana ability where you can tap a green mana and block a creature with flying with this card. Though creatures with defender sometimes have abilites that cause them to lose defender and are able to attack this is not the case in most walls as there are only a select few walls that can actually declare a attack and have power such as Mirror Wall when you pay the 1 plains mana cost for it's ability to attack as it also has 3 power and 4 toughness, though this kind of ability is rare it's not always the case in magic and should be observed with patience and understanding, some walls even have first strike and flying such as one of my favorite walls of all time Illusionary Wall which also has defender, a power of 7 and a toughness of 4, though i will explain what first strike does soon.
First Strike - It's actually pretty common these days to see creatures with first strike on them and such, basically for those who don't know first strike damage is always applied first before regular combat damage so this is another combat step thing, let's look at a couple of examples of this prominent keyword with a first strike card called Baneslayer Angel which has a ton of keyword abilites in this case but we are only looking at first strike with this particular section of the article. When a creature with this ability clashes with a creature without first strike, creatures with first strike act first dealing their power in the form of damage to said creature so let's take a look at a combat example if say the Angel was to clash against a Cloud Elemental which doesn't have first strike in this case, when the angel attacks and the elemental blocks, the angel would get to deal enough damage to cripple or kill the elemental in this case since it's toughness is lower then the angel's power and the elemental wouldn't get to deal damage back to the angel instead it would get a one way trip to the graveyard. Now let's look at a prominent example of two first strikers in action, with the angel clashing against a Cloud Crusader which also has first strike and flying, so the angel declares a attack and the crusader blocks what happens you may wonder, well since both have first strike they would both deal damage simultaneously and would both have either been crippled or killed in battle, but since the angel has 5 toughness and the crusader only has 2 power the angel would survive and the angel deals 5 points of damage to the crusader's 3 toughness causing it to die, this is a useful example of this ability i would think and is sometimes questioned in game of course.
Lifelink - This keyword is more common these days then one would think with at least seven to 8 cards a set receiving this ability with various colours, costs and even types of creatures or spells in this case let's look at a few prominent lifelink cards in the game today. The first one we will be taking a look at is Child of Night which has 2 power and 1 toughness and it is a black card that costs 1 of any mana and one black mana to cast, each time this creature is either blocked or deals damage to anything in this case even a defender creature the lifelink keyword kicks in and causes you to gain as much life as the creature has power so if you were to be blocked by a 0/3 Wall of Vines while child of night was in play and declaring a attack you would gain 2 life and would still have a child of night in play, now let's look at combat damage and how it interacts with lifelink in this case with the child of night going against a Vulshok Berserker with the child of night on the defensive, both would essentally deal their respective points of damage to each other, but the child of night's lifelink ability kicks in and causes the controller of the vampire to gain 2 life while losing the creature and taking out the opposing creature since the Berserker deals 3 points of damage to the child of night and the child of night deals 2 damage which is just enough to kill the attacking creature.
Deathtouch - This actually is a ability which is one of my preferred favorites in the game of magic today and is common enough to earn a place on the list these days, since most new sets end up printing at least 3 to 4 things with this ability whether it would be creatures, artifacts or enchantments in this case with instants and sorceries sometimes being the lucky dog to get this keyword printed let's look at some of the more newly printed cards with this keyword. Wurmcoil Engine actually comes to the top of my mind when i think of this ability as it's brand new, it's a artifact creature at that and is just dangerous when it's in play as are all deathtouch creatures in the game but this is a exception, a creature with deathtouch only needs to deal a single point of combat damage to any other creature to kill it, in this case let's look at a few blocking examples. Let's say your opponent had a 2/2 Vulshok Heartstroker a 0/6 Wall of Tanglecord and a Trinket Mage with 2 power and 1 toughness and you controlled a wurmcoil engine with 6 power and 6 toughness and all three of these creatures were blocking, you would only need to deal a single point of combat damage to each of these creatures to kill them espically since you can divide combat damage among creatures that are blocking, so you would normally choose in this case to apply 1 point of combat damage to each creature blocking and you would take 4 points of combat damage on the engine but it would survive regardless, all three opposing creatures would get sent to the graveyard and you would have a 6/6 wurmcoil engine sitting on your side of the field, note though deathtouch only applies to creatures and not to players as you cannot instantly kill the opposing player with this ability otherwise it would be broken.
Double Strike - This is the last ability i am going to be looking at and this one is exactly as it says a creature with this ability deals twice the amount of damage it would normally deal, first strike damage and then regular combat damage would apply for a creature with this ability. Let's look at one here shall we in the form of True Conviction which is a enchantment that grants your creatures double strike and lifelink when it is on the field, now a creature with double strike if it is not blocked it deals twice the amount of damage in the form of it's power to the opposing player so let's say you have a 2/2 Snapsail Glider in play and it is attacking with this enchantment on the field, it would deal 2 times the damage in the form of it's power to the opposing player since first strike damage always goes first and then normal combat damage is applied in this case it would be 4 points of damage dealt and the player would lose 4 life points. This ability also interacts with creatures as well so let's take the glider again and pit it against a 5/5 Steel Hellkite which also has flying so when the glider attacks it would deal it's 2 points of first strike damage to the hellkite and then normal combat damage kicks in and both creatures would deal their respective damage in the form of power to the opposing creature meaning the hellkite would survive however the glider would die since it only has 2 toughness and the hellkite has 5 meaning it has more then enough to take a double strike from a 2/2 creature in this case, there are lots of examples with this ability which are explained a lot easier in some cases.
Well that concludes this part of the series, for more information on the other abilites in game i would suggest you refer to wizards of the coast youtube page at the following link Wizards of the Coast Youtube and check out the abilites and some of the video examples of how some abilites mentioned here interact including a how to guide on the newer sets including Scars of Mirrodin, till next article i'm vergil and this has been part 3 of the MTG basics ability how to guide.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Magic the Gathering Basics Part 2: Abilites and Terms in game
So for the duration of the article i will spend it talking about the terms and phases of the game there are several dozens of terms to go over as well as turn phases to discuss including the beginning of the game and the rules of each particular phase in the turn of the player so let's go.
Each player draws 7 cards at the beginning of the game to signify that the game is underway, then both players decide to keep or discard their opening hands based on their own choices as always, if you choose to discard your opening hand this is what is known as a mulligan, in this term you shuffle the 7 cards you drew back into the deck, shuffle the library well or deck in this case since the library is also known as the deck and draw one card less then 7 in this case this would be 6, if you don't like this hand of 6 cards you may choose to mulligan again down to 5 and 4 and so on provided you continue to get bad hands, but most players play off the top of the deck anyways, this is what is known as top decking in which most players tend to play off the cards they draw in the library.
Once both players have decided on their opening hands in this case the game begins with the first turn and the decision of the person whom goes first, the player who always goes first does not get to draw a card from the top of their deck they instead work with what they have and continue the game as per normal, there are several phases to a turn, Upkeep, Main Phase 1, Attacking Step, Blocking Step and of course Main Phase 2 and the End phase so i will be going over each and every phase with you the reader.
The upkeep phase always happens at the beginning of a player's turn, if they are upkeep effects in play they are chosen to be activated or ignored, this is also known as the draw phase as you get to draw a card during this phase, let's say you have a upkeep on a enchantment known as Arnjlot's Ascent where it's upkeep cost is 1 blue mana, if you pay the mana it will stay on the field for the turn and you'll get to use it, if not then it is removed from the game and placed in the discard zone or pile in this case meaning it cannot be used unless you return that card to your hand, this is a prominent example of a upkeep effect and they are lots of them in the game so keep a eye on them as you continue playing the game.
Main Phase 1 is the time you can play your spells like sorceries, enchantments and even creatures, by paying the costs of the cards you play in game which is played by playing lands, you are allowed to play a land a turn and only one can be played a turn if you don't have cards that say otherwise, if you do then it is a different story, as long as the costs of the cards you play are met you are allowed to play them and thus allowed to play the spells you the player cast by paying the appropriate costs, this is rather simple to get used to, however spells you play can be responded to during this phase and any other phase including the next few phases i am going to go over this is what is known as the stack, when a spell is played if it resolves it stays on the field and it's effect activates, if it is responded to by a counterspell such as Counterspell aptly named of course, then the cards are put on the stack and the last card played in this case being the counterspell, would resolve first and prevent the card played first to be not played and sent to the graveyard instead. All of these effects can and mostly likely will occur during this phase causing confusion to the new players of the game but over time most will get used to these phases and terms in the game of magic.
The next phase is the combat phase this phase pits creatures up against either players or other creatures controlled by the opposing player, during this phase any and all creatures without summoning sickness can attack, summoning sickness prevents the creature on the turn it is played from attacking in this case if you have a Ryusei, The Falling Star in hand and you just played it, it will have summoning sickness and is unable to attack but it can still block on the turn it was played in this case. However there is a ability which bypasses the rule of summoning sickness known as Haste, this ability allows creatures with this evergreen keyword to attack on the same turn they are summoned, but if a creature with haste is played on the first turn and you are the one going first it cannot attack as it is against the rules of the game to attack immediately, in the case of Goblin Guide from the zendikar block if it is played on the first turn it is unable to attack even though it has haste and has to wait a turn before it can declare a attack. All creatures that can attack are able to on this step, but you may declare the amount of attackers, which have to be at the same time in this case with 3 creatures on the field that are without summoning sickness and you choose to attack with 1 you cannot take the decision back and must only attack with the 1 creature you chose, the blocking step is next on the combat phase however.
The next step in the turn is the blocking phase and is only used when attackers have been declared. the player whom is attacking attacks as per normal but the defending player chooses the blockers and how they block creatures in this case depending if blockers are declared if not it is dealt as direct combat damage and subtracted from the opposing player's life points which start at 20 for both players, however if blockers are declared the attacking player gets to decide how much damage is dealt to each opponent's creature this is the only thing the attacking player gets to do during this phase. After damage is dealt however the appropriate cards are placed in the card graveyard zone as when a creature's toughness hits 0 it is dead and removed from the game into that zone and spells can also be played to either deal damage to attacking creatures, pump spells to pump attacking creatures to make them survive and even removal spells can be played as a response to attacking creatures in this phase so there are a lot of tricks that can be done during this phase.
The last main phase of the turn is a different one then the first as you can play sorceries and creatures during this phase but not lands as that is only one time per turn, though if you forgot to play a land during this phase then you are allowed, if not then don't worry about it. This is a simple phase to remember and that, as always spells can be responded to during the phase and such, but after the phase ends there is a final phase which is the end phase where the player ends their turn during this phase and passes prority to the opposing player which the turn order stays and plays till one player reaches 0 life and the game ends afterwards, for the next part i will go over abilites and other keywords on the cards themselves as well as power and toughness, mana costs and the like, so till next post see you later and goodbye.
Each player draws 7 cards at the beginning of the game to signify that the game is underway, then both players decide to keep or discard their opening hands based on their own choices as always, if you choose to discard your opening hand this is what is known as a mulligan, in this term you shuffle the 7 cards you drew back into the deck, shuffle the library well or deck in this case since the library is also known as the deck and draw one card less then 7 in this case this would be 6, if you don't like this hand of 6 cards you may choose to mulligan again down to 5 and 4 and so on provided you continue to get bad hands, but most players play off the top of the deck anyways, this is what is known as top decking in which most players tend to play off the cards they draw in the library.
Once both players have decided on their opening hands in this case the game begins with the first turn and the decision of the person whom goes first, the player who always goes first does not get to draw a card from the top of their deck they instead work with what they have and continue the game as per normal, there are several phases to a turn, Upkeep, Main Phase 1, Attacking Step, Blocking Step and of course Main Phase 2 and the End phase so i will be going over each and every phase with you the reader.
The upkeep phase always happens at the beginning of a player's turn, if they are upkeep effects in play they are chosen to be activated or ignored, this is also known as the draw phase as you get to draw a card during this phase, let's say you have a upkeep on a enchantment known as Arnjlot's Ascent where it's upkeep cost is 1 blue mana, if you pay the mana it will stay on the field for the turn and you'll get to use it, if not then it is removed from the game and placed in the discard zone or pile in this case meaning it cannot be used unless you return that card to your hand, this is a prominent example of a upkeep effect and they are lots of them in the game so keep a eye on them as you continue playing the game.
Main Phase 1 is the time you can play your spells like sorceries, enchantments and even creatures, by paying the costs of the cards you play in game which is played by playing lands, you are allowed to play a land a turn and only one can be played a turn if you don't have cards that say otherwise, if you do then it is a different story, as long as the costs of the cards you play are met you are allowed to play them and thus allowed to play the spells you the player cast by paying the appropriate costs, this is rather simple to get used to, however spells you play can be responded to during this phase and any other phase including the next few phases i am going to go over this is what is known as the stack, when a spell is played if it resolves it stays on the field and it's effect activates, if it is responded to by a counterspell such as Counterspell aptly named of course, then the cards are put on the stack and the last card played in this case being the counterspell, would resolve first and prevent the card played first to be not played and sent to the graveyard instead. All of these effects can and mostly likely will occur during this phase causing confusion to the new players of the game but over time most will get used to these phases and terms in the game of magic.
The next phase is the combat phase this phase pits creatures up against either players or other creatures controlled by the opposing player, during this phase any and all creatures without summoning sickness can attack, summoning sickness prevents the creature on the turn it is played from attacking in this case if you have a Ryusei, The Falling Star in hand and you just played it, it will have summoning sickness and is unable to attack but it can still block on the turn it was played in this case. However there is a ability which bypasses the rule of summoning sickness known as Haste, this ability allows creatures with this evergreen keyword to attack on the same turn they are summoned, but if a creature with haste is played on the first turn and you are the one going first it cannot attack as it is against the rules of the game to attack immediately, in the case of Goblin Guide from the zendikar block if it is played on the first turn it is unable to attack even though it has haste and has to wait a turn before it can declare a attack. All creatures that can attack are able to on this step, but you may declare the amount of attackers, which have to be at the same time in this case with 3 creatures on the field that are without summoning sickness and you choose to attack with 1 you cannot take the decision back and must only attack with the 1 creature you chose, the blocking step is next on the combat phase however.
The next step in the turn is the blocking phase and is only used when attackers have been declared. the player whom is attacking attacks as per normal but the defending player chooses the blockers and how they block creatures in this case depending if blockers are declared if not it is dealt as direct combat damage and subtracted from the opposing player's life points which start at 20 for both players, however if blockers are declared the attacking player gets to decide how much damage is dealt to each opponent's creature this is the only thing the attacking player gets to do during this phase. After damage is dealt however the appropriate cards are placed in the card graveyard zone as when a creature's toughness hits 0 it is dead and removed from the game into that zone and spells can also be played to either deal damage to attacking creatures, pump spells to pump attacking creatures to make them survive and even removal spells can be played as a response to attacking creatures in this phase so there are a lot of tricks that can be done during this phase.
The last main phase of the turn is a different one then the first as you can play sorceries and creatures during this phase but not lands as that is only one time per turn, though if you forgot to play a land during this phase then you are allowed, if not then don't worry about it. This is a simple phase to remember and that, as always spells can be responded to during the phase and such, but after the phase ends there is a final phase which is the end phase where the player ends their turn during this phase and passes prority to the opposing player which the turn order stays and plays till one player reaches 0 life and the game ends afterwards, for the next part i will go over abilites and other keywords on the cards themselves as well as power and toughness, mana costs and the like, so till next post see you later and goodbye.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Magic the Gathering Basics Part 1: Obtaining the Cards and What to do with em
I've thought about turning this into a series of posts in general and i think this is the best option of the two really, in this series i intend to focus on the key basics for getting started in the world of magic the gathering, including deck construction, price guides, articles to read and a basic how to be good at the game. For this article i'll focus on the very beginning aspects, how to get the cards and where to go, then i'll be going over the what to do with them aspect of the game, next article i'll focus on the more unique aspects including how to play, casting costs and abilites.
So your probably new to the game and have no idea of what the hell magic the gathering is coming into this article, let's begin magic the gathering is a collectable card game designed by wizards of the coast and has been around for about 15 years now, i myself have been in the game for a good 7 or 8 at this point no one really knows anymore so enough about that and let's move on. You are probably wondering how to obtain the cards, well most collectable shops such as your local hobby store, conveneice store and even online retailers have these cards and carry them for a select price, some of the more known online retailers including Blackborder.com, Channelfireball.com and Starcitygames.com, for most though it will be your local hobby store/retail store in your local area. for a price you can pick up a pack or two, but to build these days you'll need most of a set or two depending on what you want, with sets varying from core sets to sets that come out during the fall season. For those new players it is best to try and get started with having lots saved up as this game does not come cheap mind you, for a good deck these days it costs in the range of about 100-300 dollars and that is all getting it via singles and that, which is the cheaper method for collecting since you don't need to go out and buy the ridicilous priced booster boxes for the specific sets hoping to get only 1 or 2 of the rare cards you need, though most booster boxes even give out a full 4 of specific cards in most cases.
Now that you have the cards your looking for your wondering what to do with em, well you'll need lands to go along with these cards and trust me having lots of land is crucial to even begin to build decks these days, with lands coming in all shapes and sizes including that of rares, uncommons and commons in which i'll explain the rarities in another article since of course that is a different subject entirely. Basic lands are the best option to start with as all packs end up giving you a basic land to start so you'll never run out and they are cheap to get these days at a mere 10 cents per land, there are five different types of basics for the game, Forest, Mountain, Island, Swamp and Plains and i'll go over the basic land types as expected
Forests represent the green lush landscapes and are used to cast green spells in the game, with mana costs that are high but are easy to obtain later on in the game, the green land base also produces some very large power creatures and beings of all shapes and sizes from elves to even massive elephants and tiny snakes, this is perhaps the easiest land type to get used to. Mountains are fiery and fierce with lava and liquid hot magma flowing around the landscape the most ravage and destructive of the 5 landscapes personally, these house the goblins and berserker type of creatures known as the Vulshok which are a savage humanoid race living in caves. Islands are home to the sea's creatures, Merfolk and the like reside here with wisdom and grace and cunning, the seas's power gives way to knowledge and understanding as well as very smart beings including a certain planeswalker. Swamps are very muck filled and are home to the dead, vampires, zombies and all the expect creatures out of a halloween scary story reside here with the rotting corpses of dead animals and the dying trees, not a friendly place to be if your not wanting to be there. Plains are home to the land animals whom are noble and care for the world, these particular beings are filled with law and order and appease the natural balance of the world and are known as the lawgivers of the worlds they live in, wise and yet gentle the landscape is a pure field of longevitity.
This covers the basic land types and what to expect in the game, next article i'll go over the how to's and what abilites the game produces including that of some evergreen keywords we are mostly familar with if you have been in the game for a good deal of time these days, till next article this is vergil signing off.
So your probably new to the game and have no idea of what the hell magic the gathering is coming into this article, let's begin magic the gathering is a collectable card game designed by wizards of the coast and has been around for about 15 years now, i myself have been in the game for a good 7 or 8 at this point no one really knows anymore so enough about that and let's move on. You are probably wondering how to obtain the cards, well most collectable shops such as your local hobby store, conveneice store and even online retailers have these cards and carry them for a select price, some of the more known online retailers including Blackborder.com, Channelfireball.com and Starcitygames.com, for most though it will be your local hobby store/retail store in your local area. for a price you can pick up a pack or two, but to build these days you'll need most of a set or two depending on what you want, with sets varying from core sets to sets that come out during the fall season. For those new players it is best to try and get started with having lots saved up as this game does not come cheap mind you, for a good deck these days it costs in the range of about 100-300 dollars and that is all getting it via singles and that, which is the cheaper method for collecting since you don't need to go out and buy the ridicilous priced booster boxes for the specific sets hoping to get only 1 or 2 of the rare cards you need, though most booster boxes even give out a full 4 of specific cards in most cases.
Now that you have the cards your looking for your wondering what to do with em, well you'll need lands to go along with these cards and trust me having lots of land is crucial to even begin to build decks these days, with lands coming in all shapes and sizes including that of rares, uncommons and commons in which i'll explain the rarities in another article since of course that is a different subject entirely. Basic lands are the best option to start with as all packs end up giving you a basic land to start so you'll never run out and they are cheap to get these days at a mere 10 cents per land, there are five different types of basics for the game, Forest, Mountain, Island, Swamp and Plains and i'll go over the basic land types as expected
Forests represent the green lush landscapes and are used to cast green spells in the game, with mana costs that are high but are easy to obtain later on in the game, the green land base also produces some very large power creatures and beings of all shapes and sizes from elves to even massive elephants and tiny snakes, this is perhaps the easiest land type to get used to. Mountains are fiery and fierce with lava and liquid hot magma flowing around the landscape the most ravage and destructive of the 5 landscapes personally, these house the goblins and berserker type of creatures known as the Vulshok which are a savage humanoid race living in caves. Islands are home to the sea's creatures, Merfolk and the like reside here with wisdom and grace and cunning, the seas's power gives way to knowledge and understanding as well as very smart beings including a certain planeswalker. Swamps are very muck filled and are home to the dead, vampires, zombies and all the expect creatures out of a halloween scary story reside here with the rotting corpses of dead animals and the dying trees, not a friendly place to be if your not wanting to be there. Plains are home to the land animals whom are noble and care for the world, these particular beings are filled with law and order and appease the natural balance of the world and are known as the lawgivers of the worlds they live in, wise and yet gentle the landscape is a pure field of longevitity.
This covers the basic land types and what to expect in the game, next article i'll go over the how to's and what abilites the game produces including that of some evergreen keywords we are mostly familar with if you have been in the game for a good deal of time these days, till next article this is vergil signing off.
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