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Card game MAGIC

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Playball40

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Can anyone tell me about the trading card game MAGIC or the game World of Warcraft? I admit to ignorance........but lately my son has been mentioning them.
 
It's pretty much Pokemon for adults ... which is totally unhelpful unless you know what Pokemon is.

Basically, you have a bunch of cards with various characters on them. These have attack and defense values or some other special ability which makes other cards stronger or weaker. Each player then has their cards fight each other and see who wins by using some overly complex set of rules or something.
 
It's been around for 10+ years now so the decks of cards have expanded to immense proportions. Not sure what a deck costs or individual booster packs but I imagine you can drop some serious coin into playing the game. Good news is, it's quite social, strategy driven and is a fine alternative to anything involving a screen.
 
Magic is the original collectable card game. Got into it near the start, had great fun playing it.

You basically buy cards, lots of them, until you have a fair sized collection. Then make a deck out of selected cards. You can put everything you have into it, but then it is less likely you will draw the card you need when you need it. A couple classic strategies are land destruction - as you need land cards to get mana used to play all the other cards, so you prevent the other player from having any lands. Another is the discard deck, where most of your cards cause the other player to discard cards from their hand, so they have nothing to play. As you get familiar with the cards you will get to see some nasty combinations that can be played.
 
Playball40 said:
Can anyone tell me about the trading card game MAGIC or the game World of Warcraft? I admit to ignorance........but lately my son has been mentioning them.
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Magic The Gathering is a card game. I played it in middle school. What exactly do you want to know about it?

As for Word of Warcraft (WoW), well, people call it "Warcrack," so be aware that it is addicting. I know more people whose lives have been ruined by WoW than by street drugs.
 
Celldweller said:
It's been around for 10+ years now so the decks of cards have expanded to immense proportions. Not sure what a deck costs or individual booster packs but I imagine you can drop some serious coin into playing the game. Good news is, it's quite social, strategy driven and is a fine alternative to anything involving a screen.
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Not only can you drop serious coin into playing; there was even an online exchange, which went on to drop some serious Bitcoin on behalf of is participants. Mt Gox is not a virtual mountain with a bank-vault (no longer) full of virtual currency under it; it is an acronym for Magic The Gathering Online eXchange.
 
Celldweller said:
J842P said:
As for Word of Warcraft (WoW), well, people call it "Warcrack," so be aware that it is addicting. I know more people whose lives have been ruined by WoW than by street drugs.
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^Concur.
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I spent 4 and a half years playing WoW but don't look back on it with anything like the nostalgia that I do with Everquest which I played for only a year. If World of Warcraft did anything it cured me of wanting to try anymore online RPGs.
 
Celldweller said:
J842P said:
As for Word of Warcraft (WoW), well, people call it "Warcrack," so be aware that it is addicting. I know more people whose lives have been ruined by WoW than by street drugs.
Click to expand...

^Concur.
Click to expand...

The best alternative is League of Legends (LoL), which is a deliberate rip-off of WoW, aimed at adults (well, college kids really). It's free, and the battles take far less time than anything in WoW. You can spend money on the game if you want, but it's optional.
 
Tried a trial for WoW, didn't get into it. After years of playing City of Heroes it just didn't compare for me.
 
Playball40 said:
Can anyone tell me about the trading card game MAGIC or the game World of Warcraft? I admit to ignorance........but lately my son has been mentioning them.
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As others have mentioned, Magic (a.k.a. Magic the Gathering or MTG) is a trading card game that's been around for over a decade. Players use cards called lands to generate mana (magic energy) and that mana is used to summon creature cards to do battle and cast magical spells with various effects. As you suggested, it's like Yu Gi Oh! The cards you play with are largely arbitrary and there are thousands to choose from (read: purchase) and a large aspect of the game is constructing your own deck of cards that work together to help you win. Playing with prebuilt decks or older series of cards is inexpensive and fun. If your kid wants to keep up with the Jones' then expect to shell out considerable money for random "booster" packs of a few cards or for individual cards at shops. There is a pretty active community around the game still (at least where I live) and you can find local tournaments occurring almost weekly at local comic shops. The only objectionable aspects of the game at all (aside from cost if you go overboard) are the quasi-religious aspects and the card art. The former is only a problem if you believe in superstitious nonsense like demons and are worried that card games might turn your children away from your religion of choice. The latter is only a problem if you don't want your kid seeing illustrated violence or the curves of a woman.

World of Warcraft is another beast entirely. Games like this are often called MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games). Essentially, it is a virtual world where you create a character of your choosing and explore (for a monthly fee) a fantasy world full of monsters and treasure and other players just like you. There are tons of options to choose from in terms of creating your character and what they can do so describing it in detail is best done by pointing you to a wiki for the game. There are a few pitfalls with games like this. As others have mentioned, it can be extremely addictive. This type of game draws you in with constant rewards (better skills, weapons, armor and trinkets are dangled like carrots just ahead of you) and some people are drawn in by the social interaction with other players (some even meet, date and get married in real life after meeting in the game!!!). If your son can pry himself away often enough to keep up with school, work, chores, etc. and as long as you don't mind (or are interested enough to monitor) interaction with strangers then it can be a load of fun. There are dozens of other games a lot like it too but with different themes and monetization schemes. He can have just as much fun with a free-to-play MMORPG.
 
Davka said:
Celldweller said:
J842P said:
As for Word of Warcraft (WoW), well, people call it "Warcrack," so be aware that it is addicting. I know more people whose lives have been ruined by WoW than by street drugs.
Click to expand...

^Concur.
Click to expand...

The best alternative is League of Legends (LoL), which is a deliberate rip-off of WoW, aimed at adults (well, college kids really). It's free, and the battles take far less time than anything in WoW. You can spend money on the game if you want, but it's optional.
Click to expand...
LoL is a rip off of DotA (Defense of the Ancients), which was essentially a mod of Warcraft III. It is not really the same type of game as WoW, which is an MMO-RPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) whereas LoL and DotA are some sort of action/arena subset of the RTS (real time strategy) genre.
 
Celldweller said:
Is there still a following for Warhammer these days? With the figurines and such?
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Warhammer Fantasy Battles doesn't have a big following were I live, but Warhammer 40k still seems relatively popular.
A Games Workshop opened up at my local mall recently (within the past couple of years). It seems to be fairly popular and I mostly see people playing WH40K. I used to collect and paint a Space Marine army when I was very young (like 8), and I didn't really play, but I've always enjoyed the lore.

There is only the Emperor, and he is our shield and protector.
 
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