This thread is for the discussion of my latest article, MTGCast #122: Prepare for the Prerelease!. We would be grateful if you would let us know what you think, but please keep your comments on topic.
I've taught a few players to play magic, including my 10 yr old brother, he's been playing for 1 yr now and can pilot my BG-elves quite well.
Im also taking 4 new-players to the pre-release, it will be their first sealed event. Should be a fun weekend
Believe it or not, I enjoy teaching Magic... wait, maybe I should clarify myself: I enjoy teaching "simple" Magic. Let's face it, the stack, turn steps, and all the intricacies of Magic are overwhelming, sometimes even for a seasoned player. So when I want to teach someone who's never played before, I create simple decks. That means reaching into the core set and pulling out those Hill Giants and Grizzly Bears. I play with very few non-creatures spells (some burn for red and some pump for green). Most of the cards are independent (no lords, Gaea's Anthem, and such). It's the root of Magic-untap, upkeep, draw, main phase, attack phase, second main, discard/clean up. Making too many things happen just confuses a new player and turns them off of the game. However, even in this simplistic Magic, there are still many choices to be made-which creature/spell should I play? Which creature should I attack/defend with? I taught my dad how to play and he didn't like the game that much (surprising because we both play the Lord of Rings board game, very old game, and love it and it has a hand full of 5 cards you can play like Magic spells which include Cancel-the card is actually called "Cancel" and does what the Magic card Cancel does!). Anyway, I also taught my niece and nephew how to play and they liked it. Now, I would never sit down and attempt to teach a new player how a Control, Combo, or Dredge deck works. They might get it after so many games, but it isn't teaching them the basics of Magic.
Oh, BTW, shout out if you've ever played the Lord of the Rings board game that I'm referring to... it'd be cool to hear if others have played it. I love Settlers of Catan (favorite board game), but Lord of the Rings is pretty close!
Teaching the New:
I taught my one of my best friends how to play Magic. We had both played the Decipher Star Wars CCG for many years. And we had played Babylon 5 and Battletech together. However, we hadn't played for a few years, and getting back in was difficult. So, as we were sitting down to play a nostalgic game of Star Wars, my friend mentions he is interested in getting into Magic. Naturally, I mention that I used to play and would be glad to help him learn.
So we each got some Preconstructed decks and set to playing. He picked up the bare basics within a few turns, and then I explained some finer details before we settled in to pitting our decks and piloting skills against each other. I'm pretty sure he had an easier time learning the game due to his experience with Battletech (just as I had an easier time with Battletech due to my experience with Magic).
Anyway, his desire to learn the game re-sparked my interest in the game, and I discovered there were local regular tournaments and I was off, back into Magic and thoroughly enjoying it.
Worst triple colored common creature spoiled so far: Waveskimmer Aven
I mean seriously, you expect me to pay 5 mana (of 3 different colors) for only a 2/4 Flying Exalted?
Just look at Glamer Spinners: For 5 mana, I got a Flash Flier with a sometimes useful ability for 5 mana, of only ONE mana of either blue OR white
Within Shards, we get for 5 mana, 3 of which different colors: Rakeclaw Gargantua: a 5/3 that can give itself (or your other big dudes) first strike! Carrion Thrash: a 4/4 that is capable of reanimating a different creature when it dies! Imagine having 7 mana, and two of these in limited. Your opponent will be hard pressed to eliminate your creature advantage. Undead Leatou: a 4/2 first striker that after it dies comes after an opponent like a Flame Javelin!
And then we have the last of the cycle of eligible candidates: Windwright Mage: for only the 3 mana of different colors, you get a 2/2 Lifelinker. But that's not all! When you factor in the fact that Esper has a ton of artifacts, chances are that you're going to have one on the grave. Whether it be a creature that died earlier, or Seal of...I mean a Capsule for effect, Esper players WILL have artifacts in their graveyard. So let's look at that again: a 2/2 evasive lifelinker for 3 mana.
Prerelease Experiences:
I love me a prerelease. Seeing the new cards, at a low-key large event is great! I enjoy every one. It's great to crack open the packs, see the new cards, and make my first ever deck with the new set.
Since coming back to the game before Time Spiral was released, I've been to every one. I enjoy them so much, that when I didn't have access to my car for the Lorwyn prerelease, I got a ride from a friend and put my bike in the trunk. At the end of the night, when the venue closed at 10 pm, I got on my bike and made my out-of-shape body pedal the 17 miles home. Anyway, during that day, I kept a 3-lander and didn't draw land for 12 turns and mulliganed to 3 in the same match! That day saw my worst tournament results ever. But I'm still glad I went.
Even if my legs did feel like Jell-O once I got home.
Teaching the New: Ha ha ha, I've been teaching new players for ~ 3 years now, and have single handedly revived the magic scene in my area. Before I started in on it, we had no tournaments, no store hosting games, and everyone was splintered playing in their homes and dorms. Now we have 2 sanctioned tournaments a week, including FNM, and a new store just oopened to cater to the gamers.
Worst 3-colored common creature spoiled so far: I have to echo the sentiments of those above in saying it's the Waveskimmer Aven. Definitely not worth the trouble of putting into a 3 color deck, even if you're already playing those three colors.
Prerelease Experiences: I played in a prerelease in NYC for Shadowmoor, but I knew I was going to work in about an hour, so my buddy and I showed up, paid, got our cards, then left before opening them, and we were going to have a chaos draft that night with some of the other WotC staff at NY Comic Con. However, my friend opened his packs, and ruined the whole thing. I guess that's what I get...
Ditto on teh waveskimmer. sooem unlikely to go far compared to teh others. however, with a compliant opponent (maybe he's mana scresed, or in shards color screwed :D) this might be good with the large number of exalted creatures so far.
oh wait...battlegrace angel.
overall, i think exalted is a bad mechanic. basically they've printed a bille of so-so beaters with a killer ability....which you can't use to swarm with. D: it will be fine enough in casual, but in tournaments it probably won't get near to getting there.
oh well, another set, another binder full of white cards......
Hi guys! Long abscense on my part because I really can't listen to the podcasts (although I do download them).
Anyways, today's questions are very interesting:
Prerelease experience
None, I've never gone to one of them.
Worst tri-color filler creature in ALA so far
Being a Vorthos, I'm VERY dissapointed by Sharuum the Hegemon because it's ability is so simple, it's dissapointing. They just made it as a filler legend, with such a boring ability; one would expect more from a supposedly uber powerful sphinx.
How you have taught magic to a new player
I taught the basics to my friend Pablo. What I did was explain him the card types, and basic structure of the game, then we played against each other with 2 of my decks (both very straight forward and simple) showing our hands freely, and talking about each game decision. We did that some 2-3 times, and then played 2-3 times without discussing our hands and decisions (I let him win one of the games on purpose to motivate him). Since he got the hang of it, we played with my usual group, and since everyone knew he was a newbie, we all explained him our cards and plays he didn't understand.
He got the hang of the game, and during vacations practiced with another friend, and officially learned MtG.
Obama would play a deck with Puca's Mischief. Then he would give you Obama's, I mean Colfenor's Plans while promising it's a good plan and convincing you it's best for you but not really telling you what plan it is. In exchange he would take your freedom, I mean land or something else dear to you.
John McCain would play a deck full of soldiers like Loyal Sentry and defensive cards, like Holy Day, but when asked how he would play the deck or beat Obama, he would probably answer, "You know, I don't have the answer for that right now." while smiling.
Anyway, that's how I see it! Keep up the great work guys!!
my choice for the absolute Worst tri color card in shards has got to be the Cycle of Ultimatums. Worst one being the Brilliant Ultimatum. due to the fact that you reveal em' and your opponent Will aways choose the worst stack.
And, i've taught quite a few people how to play MTG, and as per my curse. EVERY player i teach beats me every game. lol, I've even brought an assortment of guys who were still learning the game to the guildpact prerelease and it was alot of fun, however none of us got prizes, (big deal :P) so thay've said they wont do tournaments anymore cuz the different issues that they didn't understand, but they will play Kitchen Table Magic.
If i win, Imma be a happy person. i could always use the credit, cuz i'm unable to go to any of the prereleases, due to medical issues
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Ravarshi Kashaku, Ancient Dragon of the Darkened Realms;
The Merciless Lord of Torture, Permanently Bound To: ">[THE PACK] 11/5/63 - 11/25/09 Goodbye mom, i'll always love you...
As a Limited player I have to say I think Waveskimmer Aven is fine.
My "meh" vote goes to Sprouting Thrinax. It's a 3/3 for 3 which, outside Constructed, will seldom be castable early. In fact in most decks it will be worse than a Hill Giant.
"But what about the ability?" I hear you ask. If you're attacking it's all but useless since your opponent probably isn't going to trade with the Thrinax. If they can block and kill it without losing a creature then it's a pretty weak way to get three 1/1s. And if they're chump blocking you don't get the 1/1s at all. Ditto if they're letting it through.
It's better on defence of course... assuming what you want is a wall with a three coloured casting cost that scoops to fliers.
Even the art is rubbish!
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(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
5CB PotM - June 2005, November 2005, February 2006, April 2008, May 2008, Feb 2009
MTGSalvation Articles: 1-20, plus guest appearance on MTGCast #86!
<Limited Clan>
I've had a great experience teaching Magic, back in Lorwyn block. My two cousins were on vacation up in Maine and they saw me sorting my cards and started asking questions about what they were, etc. I eventually flipped the page to the planeswalkers I had and they IMMEDIATELY fell in love with them. My littler cousin Brian, being an avid cat fan, was totally into Ajani, while my older cousin Tom liked Chandra (Though that might have to do with Chandra's looks rather than the effects.)
So I built them two decks, one with a really simple kithkin built and two Ajanis, plus a Chandra deck with a bunch of elementals with the simpler effects. It took a little bit to teach them the actual basics of how the cards worked, and the timing, but once we were able to get into the meat of the game I sat on the side and made it into a huge story for them, plus little epic stories, my favorite being about Chandra and a Flamekin brawler having had been best friends since childhood, and together they developed a special kind of gloves in which they were able to make their hands look on fire. It got them into the game and helped us bond a lot.
The guys got really into the game and we spent a lot of time with the decks and poured through my collection to figure out different cards to add and ways to improove them. I ended up building a Liliana deck based around a bunch of little black guys and cool effects.
What I would do with the $25 is build a fourth deck for this thanksgiving when I see them again, prolly around Garruk Wildspeaker because he's the really expensive one. Thanks again guys for the awesome show, Tom, you're the star, no matter how much Gavin wants to show you up.
Prerelease Experience:
I started playing a little back in Time Spiral, and played casually online (using OCTGN, as MWS didn't support multiplayer), but only really got into limited with Lorwyn. Sadly, due to a lack of a car and such, I never made it to a Prerelease, and I'm not quite interested in the smaller ones, as my area doesn't have a very strong Magic community. In fact, the closest one is about an hour away, which frankly is just not worth it.
Worst Tri-color filler:
Honestly, I'm not a fan of Wooly Thoctar. Yes, he's powerful. Yes, he's a 5/4 in Zoo colors, but he's just so plain. So boring. There's nothing to him to really interest me in it for anything but a cheap beatstick.
As a side note, I just dislike Knight of the Skyward Eye. Honestly, why does such a dumb card have such an awesome name/flavor?
How you have taught magic to a new player:
I've taught a few people recently too. A guy wanted to learn how to play at a Shadowmoor Sealed, and while he quickly learned while watching myself and some others play, I quickly tutored him on some of the basics, like the meaning of the colors, and such. (Meanwhile, I took second place in the tournament, after winning the winner's bracket. Damnedable double-elimination format!)
I've also taught many people to play over OCTGN, using a Black and Green deck, if I remember correctly. After a game or two with that, I'd move them to a Boros deck, a Leonin/Equipment deck, and one or two others that are not coming to mind.
One of the hardest things about it was explaining just using text, and a janky interface like OCTGN.
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"We must shake her limbs and rattle her brains." -Grandmother Sengir
well, i though my two brother to play, but compared to my latest ordeal it has been nothing.
at my boyscout troop, we recently got a PILE of little children. at summer camp not a turn had passed between me and my friend before every body was NUTS about MTG. not that that's a bad thing, but there were a LOT of them. fortunately the camp is gentrified enough to sell mtg AND host a tournament. every one of them bum rushed the counter, hands over flowing with shadowmoor starter decks and packs galore. all i could do was stand by and whisper "all in to my friend" he lol'ed.
after this came a long period in which me and my friend helped all 12 take apart their pre-cons and rebuild them with the packs. with kindness in my heart i traded away tattermunge maniacs, cursecatcher etc galore untill all of them had the "best" deck. then we played and played and played. it was ok, but having to remind them that you draw a card (if they knew what gavin knows about drawing and christmas i doubt they would have stopped) and tap lands and dont' tap to block and that a mana ability: "t: add one :g: to your mana pool" didn't mean search you deck for one.
in the end we were unable to attend the tourney due to troop requirements, and a provisional ( a scout not in your troop who camps with you because his troop hates him) went to the tourney with an 80 card, been through the wash, only one ofs, 4 color deck and got SECOND DAMN PLACE. i hate that child. i had a T2 playable beatdown MADHOUSE to take it all, but no. D: oh well, even the winner only got a pack.
I taught many people to play early since I started in Alpha. For many of us it was a journey of discovery together. If someone required more instruction to get going I was not very good at that point because like many young men I found it hard to curb my desire to win. A great recommendation I have for anyone teaching someone to play now is "let the Rookie win." Teaching a co-worker to play more recently we started by playing some of my simpler mostly beat-down decks open handed. Then when he got the hang of that we Winston drafted. I gave him pointers on deck construction guidelines and why certain cards are better than they first seem from there.
As for a stinker I can not pick one as I am a sucker for all cards new.
Rhox War Monk is the worse one i feel, honestly lifelink is proably not that powerful to really deam a 3 different colors...
as for teaching people, basic decks like gavin said is the best plan. but the worse people to teach are anyone who played another TCG, expecially yugioh, for some reason the people who played that, and have played it alot really do not like to break that mold, which is the complete oposite of magic.
1G for +3/+3 is decent, but that's not the multicolored part of the card. The cycle cost is the most overcosted tri-color effect in Alara. 5RGW for +6/+6 and draw a card? Might of Oaks is more efficient even without the card draw. Unfortunately, development could not make anything more creative than doubling the effect. This card would have been far more interesting with an effect like Accelerated Mutation, except with power as X.
i have taught a few people to play and I did it with both precons and with simple decks I made.
I even taught someone to play on MTGO via precons in the "free" room in 2.0.
Nice cast as always. I know you want to be wowed with glorious stories, but all I have is a pitty plea to win the store credit so I can buy crap tribal rares to make more decks to get more people into the game.
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I am looking for Date Stamped promos from Khans of Tarkir block so I can finish my set. Check my wants if you have any.
Currently offering 2 non-foil Kolighan's Command for a Date Stamped foil!
Man I really wanted Akihiro to win. Not because of who he is but because of his deck--storm's last great try before leaving standard (for good this time, I bet).
Anyone else think we'll never see storm again? I think they WotC thought they could make it less abusive this time around, but after the Dstorm fiasco I'd be surprised if they decided to reprint the mechanic.
Anyway, How I taught my nephew to play Magic:
It was shortly after Ninth Edition was released, and rather than reinvent the wheel I decided to use cards from the set that Wizards always intended to be the "introductory" set. This was also great because it meant that I could teach my nephew how to play with a lot of the same cards that I learned how to play with, like Serra Angel(yay!) and Sengir Vampire (boo!).
He's ten years old and loves Harry Potter, manga and the first three (Episode 1,2, and 3) StarWars movies. He'd never played a CCG before, and I knew that I'd have to frame the game in terms that he would understand. So I built us two simple decks, a mono-black aggro deck (with a few copies of the aforementioned Hypnotic Specter and a Sengir Vampire) and a mono-white deck that also ran a lot of creatures but had more of a controllish bent (two Wraths of God, Pacifism, etc.).
[[Aside
So I've always felt that the best way to teach someone how to play Magic is by actually playing a game with them and taking them through the steps. You don't hit them over the head with abstract concepts (at least not right away, you don't want them to run away screaming afterall), you give them some cards, give them options and let them ask you what they want to know. What a new player thinks is important is usually not what you think is important, and instead of trying to microamanage their actions, I like to let them play around a bit and get a feel for the game. After a few games go by, you can start to add a layer of complexity by introducing new concepts each time you play. This helps the player digest what you've told them without getting overwhelmed by data.
/Aside]]
Of course, I had assumed that my nephew would want to be playing "the good guys" (White) while I play "the bad guys" (Black), and let him beat up on me. Foolish uncle.
A few turns into the game, I play a Gluttonous Zombie: "Whoa a zombie! Does my deck have zombies?"
"No, white doesn't get zombies, only black."
"Oh."
Play continues.
A few turns later:
"You get a vampire?? Does white get vampies?"
"...no, white doesn't have vampires either, but you do get a pretty poweful angel,"
"Angels are dumb. Can I play with that deck?"
Poor misbegotten white. And no love for my angels (*sniff*). Maybe I should've waited till he hit puberty.
So we shuffle up and start a new game, this time with me running the white deck and him with a handful of evil critters.
I make a point of going easy on new players, because losing is a lot less fun than winning, and all I really want them to do is learn the basics and enjoy playing the game.
But I made a pretty big mistake with my nephew (ooh, foreshadowing!).
Fast-forward a little bit and he is now up 5 games to 1 and by now he's gotten the fundamentals down pretty well. He has had a great time beating me with zombies and vampires and other nasty things, while I'm trying in vain to show him the "cool" side of white and feeling like I'm trying to get him to see how fun doing math homework is.
I get the idea to switch gears, and pull out two new decks, one mono-blue and one mono-green. I find mono-coloured decks are best when teaching someone how to play, and then later on you can rock their world and show them a deck with two colours (oooh!). But my nephew isn't having any of it. He doesn't care what green and blue have, his black zombies and vampires have led him to a 4 game winning-streak and he isn't about to put them aside for beasts or wizards (notwithstanding that he loves Harry Potter--that argument didn't sway him the slightest).
I was hoping to show him some new things, like counterspells (always a favourite among newbies), but he was adamant that his black deck trumped everything.
I probably shouldn't have let him win 4 games in a row with that one deck. But seeing the gleam in his eye whenever he played one of his evil creatures gave me an idea.
I quickly threw together a red deck, nothing fancy, with one large exception. And it took me until the middle of the second game to do what I wanted to do.
I tapped-out and slowly placed my Shivan Dragon on the board, and passed the turn. He didn't immediately react to my mighty winged wurm, but I was confident that as soon as he gave it a closer inspection that I'd get the reaction I was looking for.
"I attack with my [Sengir] vampire".
I moved my dragon to block, trying to contain my smugness.
"Ok, because my vampire killed a creature last turn he is 5/5,"
"Er, oh yeah..."
"and they both die." Oops.
"Now I use Raise Dead and bring him back." Doh.
He wound up winning that game, too. And not because I held back, either. I had expected to go all the way with my 5/5 flier.
My nephew still plays Magic (and has his own collection, now), but he is a black mage through-and-through. On occasion he'll tolerate a small splash from another colour, but if he loses, it's the splashed colour that gets the blame.
I can just see how StarWars or Harry Potter would've gone down, had my nephew been playing the lead.
Nephew: "Does the light side get Force lightning?"
Emperor: "Er, no, but you do get to jump pretty high..."
Nephew: "Jumping sucks."
and then the only StarWars movie would be titled 'The Empire Strikes' and there'd be no sequels because the good guys lost in the first 10 minutes when the hero converted to the dark side and didn't look back.
I'd really like to blame the youth of today, and so I will. Much easier than taking responsibility for not paying attention to +1/+1 counters on vampires (*cough*).
I don't think the tri-color cards are that awful. Some of them aren't that playable, but not bad cards. You know what is bad?
Sangrite Surge
:4mana::symr::symg: SorceryTarget creature gets +3/+3 and gains double strike until end of turn.
That card is a piece of dung. So, if your opponent doesn't counter your six casting cost spell, doesn't have removal for your guy, doesn't have a blocker or fell asleep the turn before, then you get to swing with a guy for damage. Just horrible. I couldn't imagine a format where I would want to put this in my deck.
Alcoholism is a disease, but it's the only one you can get yelled at for having. "God**** it Otto, you are an alcoholic." "God**** it Otto, you have Lupus" ... one of those two doesn't sound right.
Ok guys Waveskimmer Aven is not a bad card. It does what a 5 mana flier in limited needs to do, be able to block 3/x's AND attack for 3+ if you need to. I would compare this card loosely to Castle Raptors, it will have that kind of effect in limited.
But as for the biggest piece of trash in the set, I'm pretty sure it's Clarion Ultimatum, since I can almost never see myself casting that spell, and I'm normally fairly willing to play anything.
Anyways good show guys! And I am looking forward to hearing how you guys did over the weekend next Monday!
I have taught Magic to a few of my friends, including my BFF Dru, who made this a major task. When he first saw the cards he was confused and then i explained a bit and he was hooked. I helped him build a moderate budget Golgari deck which his favorite card from it was the Grave-troll, not for the effect but that it looked like a skinned devil, which kinda creeped me out.
The worst gold card revealed from Alara really has to be Necrogenesis, there's just too many better options for doing either task it performs without additional mana or the chance of bing Naturalized.
I have been in many Pre-releases, my first being Saviors of Kamigawa. I then went to Timespiral, Planar Chaos, Futuresight, Lorwyn, Morningtide(more one this one in a sec), Shadowmoor and Eventide, and of course this weekends.
The Morningtide prerelease was very exciting for me, i signed up for the main event with 120 so people. When i cracked my packs i had a smorgesborg of love; Colossus, Profane, Nath, Maralen, DOUBLE Violet Pall, Double Eyeblight's Ending (one foil), and some other decent cards. I started of goin 3-0, then i played against a friend of mine (more of a rival) Jason, an ended up winning from his mana screw. I went into my 5th round with a perfect record and thats when my deck said NO MORE. I promptly lost my final three to decks of inferiour quility due to mana floods/screws. Things brightened up though when draft time came, cracking a pack 1 Mutavault with pick 2 BBlossom.
Great show been listening for a few months first post. Love to listen at work;);)
I am stuck working this weekend so no Pre-Release for Me...:mad::mad::mad:
Teach some one to play is some thing I have done. I taught my wife to play with my old mono red sligh deck and a mono green secret force deck. Now she can play most any deck I make and beat me some of the time. The next person I will teach will be my 3yr old son who already knows that i have the red mana fire ball on my arm and what some of the creatures are.:D:D:D
Tri-colored cards? Realm Razor just strikes me as strange. Now, I love (love!) armageddon effects (having played red-white control + land destruction in TS/Lorwyn standard), but the Razor just doesn't even have the flavor of its shard. I mean, Naya is all about having 5-power beasts. Why does the Razor, a beast itself, have only 4? At six mana, even, and with anything-can-kill-by-chumping 2 toughness. Just a strange disconnect there.
How I taught Magic to a new player: This is a pretty recent story, I'm still teaching my friend to play as it is.
When I moved here to Lansing, I lost my old playgroup of casual players. Even here, I didn't really know anyone to play with personally - sure I went to FNM and all, but I didn't really know any of those people outside of that place and time. However, a new friend of mine who didn't play Magic wondered where I was always going on Friday nights. So I figured I would introduce him to Magic!
I started off thinking that it would be a good idea to intoduce him to the "themes" of each of the colors, so I made up a mono-color deck of each color. I figured that if we traded off and he got a good idea of what each color had in terms of types of cards, he might figure out what sort of deck he would like to play. It would also give him a good idea of the rules - we'd play with basic low-power cards first, then move up from there.
Well, that didn't work so well.
I'm a Johnny and, I like to play to play the game, not simply to win. My friend, of course, is pure unadultured Spike. We start playing with my casual decks, and he's like... "Are these what people are winning tournaments with? Why aren't we playing with those?" and I'm all "......" Great. I hate netdeckers and my friend is one before he even knows what it is.
Of course, I don't have any tournament-quality decks on hand because I'm poor. So my friend tells me I should just order him the cards for the best one and he'll pay for them. Of course, I'm also cheap, so I *don't* go out and buy all the faerie cards because it'd be like $400, and I don't even want *him* playing that, especially as someone brand new to the game. So I take (his) $80 and get him a fully decked out kithkin deck, Figures and all (got them $5 each at the release event). Besides, for a beginner, Kithkin is a fairly decent deck.
Teaching actually went really well, and he picked up the game quickly. However, there were still plenty of things that took a while to hammer into him, like... "Don't play your land before you pick up your card for the turn" and "No, you can't play anything but instants during combat" (as he was fond of trying to Oblivion Ring things mid-combat). Mirrorweave was also hard - which target to choose? When? - but he got the hang of it.
We played a lot of open-hand matches. He would tell me what he wanted to do and why, and I'd tell him if that was the correct play or if there was a better option. He'd also give me advice on what to play from my hand, so he could see the matchups from both sides of the table. I think these open-hand teaching sessions really work wonders, and helped him learn quite quick.
Anyway, he started going with me to FNM pretty quick. He still needed a lot of help, but the people there are (fairly) friendly and helped him out and took things slow. Being very experienced with one deck (kithkin) but not experienced with any other one meant he had to read a lot of cards. That's the way to learn, though!
Now, I've been playing Magic for about 8 years, mostly casually. And been playing FNM for a year. I've never won any, either - we have large FNMs, and quite a few "hardcore" players who play nothing but fully tricked out netdecks like the Fae and 'Lark. Gotten close, but always out of my grasp.
Of course, that means that at his third FNM, he gets first. First! Oh boy, did he have some things to say to me about that!
He still has plenty of things to learn (protection always screws him up), but he's learning fast. Definitely the best way to teach someone Magic is just to play games with them a lot. Eventually you'll go over just about everything!
"it's a beutiful morning, it's a beutiful day! the sun's a-shine and i'm singing, in that fantastical way....."
here in the real world, we at the whitley household woke up at nine, some hung over, some with about thirty minutes of sleep, but everyone excited to go to the shards pre-release.
by the time we got under way it was later than 9 in the morn. we aren't the people from those short lived comercials who grab a backpack and run. we didn't leave until about 2 in the afternoon. our driver wasn't feeling good and we didn't have much of a say as to when we left.
on the ride i described teh shards to my friends and family and their key-est abilities, making for an interesting ride as they asked questions and the older ones reminiced about thier old decks and strategies that they hoped to update after a few months of not playing. (i was revitalizing the driver and a friend into getting back into magic so it was fun).
finally we arrived at Central Bucks West for a prerelease being held by a store we go to thanks to the new wizards play network. (the store is cyborg1 and it's website for those in PA and NJ is cyborg1.com) the school was dark and dank, but we found a corner of light in the caffeteria filled with about 30 players and a judge.
alas, we found out that 2 drafts had just started and that a sealed deck was under way. and that we were the only people not in one or the other. finally the store owner said that for a reduced price we could get the intro packs and free play with no prizes. *sigh*
intro packs! what could be worse than intro packs! only forty cards! puh!
actually as it turns out a LOT could be worse than intro packs. the power level was ballanced and the decks themselves made sense. we had a great 3 hours playing and battling our shards, with battle cries of "i've never seen THAT color before!!" (yes we're flavor nerds)
in the end, i won with the jund intro pack, slamming my opponent with huge creatures who had just devoured each other. mycoloth was amazing and my friend's naya shard scooped after 4 turns of 6 saprolings a go. and he had a spearbreaker behemoth in play.
we finished off the rest of our money on cards we liked from the lone dealer there, myslef finishing a playset of oversoul of dusks for my lieges coming in the mail soon.
all in all, the shards prerelease was an amazing experience, and everyone present enjoyed it, the cards, and the shards.
-J
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I've taught a few players to play magic, including my 10 yr old brother, he's been playing for 1 yr now and can pilot my BG-elves quite well.
Im also taking 4 new-players to the pre-release, it will be their first sealed event. Should be a fun weekend
Oh, BTW, shout out if you've ever played the Lord of the Rings board game that I'm referring to... it'd be cool to hear if others have played it. I love Settlers of Catan (favorite board game), but Lord of the Rings is pretty close!
*Mayreturn*
I have some EDH cards and rare Magic basic lands (APAC, EURO, ARENA, etc) so message me if you're looking.
Number of members banned after I posted a BTR: 7
Looking for honest buyers, sellers, and traders.
I taught my one of my best friends how to play Magic. We had both played the Decipher Star Wars CCG for many years. And we had played Babylon 5 and Battletech together. However, we hadn't played for a few years, and getting back in was difficult. So, as we were sitting down to play a nostalgic game of Star Wars, my friend mentions he is interested in getting into Magic. Naturally, I mention that I used to play and would be glad to help him learn.
So we each got some Preconstructed decks and set to playing. He picked up the bare basics within a few turns, and then I explained some finer details before we settled in to pitting our decks and piloting skills against each other. I'm pretty sure he had an easier time learning the game due to his experience with Battletech (just as I had an easier time with Battletech due to my experience with Magic).
Anyway, his desire to learn the game re-sparked my interest in the game, and I discovered there were local regular tournaments and I was off, back into Magic and thoroughly enjoying it.
Worst triple colored common creature spoiled so far:
Waveskimmer Aven
I mean seriously, you expect me to pay 5 mana (of 3 different colors) for only a 2/4 Flying Exalted?
Just look at Glamer Spinners: For 5 mana, I got a Flash Flier with a sometimes useful ability for 5 mana, of only ONE mana of either blue OR white
Within Shards, we get for 5 mana, 3 of which different colors:
Rakeclaw Gargantua: a 5/3 that can give itself (or your other big dudes) first strike!
Carrion Thrash: a 4/4 that is capable of reanimating a different creature when it dies! Imagine having 7 mana, and two of these in limited. Your opponent will be hard pressed to eliminate your creature advantage.
Undead Leatou: a 4/2 first striker that after it dies comes after an opponent like a Flame Javelin!
And then we have the last of the cycle of eligible candidates:
Windwright Mage: for only the 3 mana of different colors, you get a 2/2 Lifelinker. But that's not all! When you factor in the fact that Esper has a ton of artifacts, chances are that you're going to have one on the grave. Whether it be a creature that died earlier, or Seal of...I mean a Capsule for effect, Esper players WILL have artifacts in their graveyard. So let's look at that again: a 2/2 evasive lifelinker for 3 mana.
And that's not even comparing the Aven to the tri-colored uncommons like Tower Gargoyle or Wooly Thoctar.
Prerelease Experiences:
I love me a prerelease. Seeing the new cards, at a low-key large event is great! I enjoy every one. It's great to crack open the packs, see the new cards, and make my first ever deck with the new set.
Since coming back to the game before Time Spiral was released, I've been to every one. I enjoy them so much, that when I didn't have access to my car for the Lorwyn prerelease, I got a ride from a friend and put my bike in the trunk. At the end of the night, when the venue closed at 10 pm, I got on my bike and made my out-of-shape body pedal the 17 miles home. Anyway, during that day, I kept a 3-lander and didn't draw land for 12 turns and mulliganed to 3 in the same match! That day saw my worst tournament results ever. But I'm still glad I went.
Even if my legs did feel like Jell-O once I got home.
And that completes the Hat Trick!
Worst 3-colored common creature spoiled so far: I have to echo the sentiments of those above in saying it's the Waveskimmer Aven. Definitely not worth the trouble of putting into a 3 color deck, even if you're already playing those three colors.
Prerelease Experiences: I played in a prerelease in NYC for Shadowmoor, but I knew I was going to work in about an hour, so my buddy and I showed up, paid, got our cards, then left before opening them, and we were going to have a chaos draft that night with some of the other WotC staff at NY Comic Con. However, my friend opened his packs, and ruined the whole thing. I guess that's what I get...
You should read them.
"Rejoice, for bad things are about to happen"
oh wait...battlegrace angel.
overall, i think exalted is a bad mechanic. basically they've printed a bille of so-so beaters with a killer ability....which you can't use to swarm with. D: it will be fine enough in casual, but in tournaments it probably won't get near to getting there.
oh well, another set, another binder full of white cards......
-J
Anyways, today's questions are very interesting:
Prerelease experience
None, I've never gone to one of them.
Worst tri-color filler creature in ALA so far
Being a Vorthos, I'm VERY dissapointed by Sharuum the Hegemon because it's ability is so simple, it's dissapointing. They just made it as a filler legend, with such a boring ability; one would expect more from a supposedly uber powerful sphinx.
How you have taught magic to a new player
I taught the basics to my friend Pablo. What I did was explain him the card types, and basic structure of the game, then we played against each other with 2 of my decks (both very straight forward and simple) showing our hands freely, and talking about each game decision. We did that some 2-3 times, and then played 2-3 times without discussing our hands and decisions (I let him win one of the games on purpose to motivate him). Since he got the hang of it, we played with my usual group, and since everyone knew he was a newbie, we all explained him our cards and plays he didn't understand.
He got the hang of the game, and during vacations practiced with another friend, and officially learned MtG.
Mi blog: http://japoniano.blogspot.com/
John McCain would play a deck full of soldiers like Loyal Sentry and defensive cards, like Holy Day, but when asked how he would play the deck or beat Obama, he would probably answer, "You know, I don't have the answer for that right now." while smiling.
Anyway, that's how I see it! Keep up the great work guys!!
And, i've taught quite a few people how to play MTG, and as per my curse. EVERY player i teach beats me every game. lol, I've even brought an assortment of guys who were still learning the game to the guildpact prerelease and it was alot of fun, however none of us got prizes, (big deal :P) so thay've said they wont do tournaments anymore cuz the different issues that they didn't understand, but they will play Kitchen Table Magic.
If i win, Imma be a happy person. i could always use the credit, cuz i'm unable to go to any of the prereleases, due to medical issues
The Merciless Lord of Torture, Permanently Bound To: ">[THE PACK] 11/5/63 - 11/25/09 Goodbye mom, i'll always love you...
Tibalt & His Devils vs. Avacyn's Inquisitors
My EDH decklists
My "meh" vote goes to Sprouting Thrinax. It's a 3/3 for 3 which, outside Constructed, will seldom be castable early. In fact in most decks it will be worse than a Hill Giant.
"But what about the ability?" I hear you ask. If you're attacking it's all but useless since your opponent probably isn't going to trade with the Thrinax. If they can block and kill it without losing a creature then it's a pretty weak way to get three 1/1s. And if they're chump blocking you don't get the 1/1s at all. Ditto if they're letting it through.
It's better on defence of course... assuming what you want is a wall with a three coloured casting cost that scoops to fliers.
Even the art is rubbish!
(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
5CB PotM - June 2005, November 2005, February 2006, April 2008, May 2008, Feb 2009
MTGSalvation Articles: 1-20, plus guest appearance on MTGCast #86!
<Limited Clan>
So I built them two decks, one with a really simple kithkin built and two Ajanis, plus a Chandra deck with a bunch of elementals with the simpler effects. It took a little bit to teach them the actual basics of how the cards worked, and the timing, but once we were able to get into the meat of the game I sat on the side and made it into a huge story for them, plus little epic stories, my favorite being about Chandra and a Flamekin brawler having had been best friends since childhood, and together they developed a special kind of gloves in which they were able to make their hands look on fire. It got them into the game and helped us bond a lot.
The guys got really into the game and we spent a lot of time with the decks and poured through my collection to figure out different cards to add and ways to improove them. I ended up building a Liliana deck based around a bunch of little black guys and cool effects.
What I would do with the $25 is build a fourth deck for this thanksgiving when I see them again, prolly around Garruk Wildspeaker because he's the really expensive one. Thanks again guys for the awesome show, Tom, you're the star, no matter how much Gavin wants to show you up.
~Jake
I started playing a little back in Time Spiral, and played casually online (using OCTGN, as MWS didn't support multiplayer), but only really got into limited with Lorwyn. Sadly, due to a lack of a car and such, I never made it to a Prerelease, and I'm not quite interested in the smaller ones, as my area doesn't have a very strong Magic community. In fact, the closest one is about an hour away, which frankly is just not worth it.
Worst Tri-color filler:
Honestly, I'm not a fan of Wooly Thoctar. Yes, he's powerful. Yes, he's a 5/4 in Zoo colors, but he's just so plain. So boring. There's nothing to him to really interest me in it for anything but a cheap beatstick.
As a side note, I just dislike Knight of the Skyward Eye. Honestly, why does such a dumb card have such an awesome name/flavor?
How you have taught magic to a new player:
I've taught a few people recently too. A guy wanted to learn how to play at a Shadowmoor Sealed, and while he quickly learned while watching myself and some others play, I quickly tutored him on some of the basics, like the meaning of the colors, and such. (Meanwhile, I took second place in the tournament, after winning the winner's bracket. Damnedable double-elimination format!)
I've also taught many people to play over OCTGN, using a Black and Green deck, if I remember correctly. After a game or two with that, I'd move them to a Boros deck, a Leonin/Equipment deck, and one or two others that are not coming to mind.
One of the hardest things about it was explaining just using text, and a janky interface like OCTGN.
well, i though my two brother to play, but compared to my latest ordeal it has been nothing.
at my boyscout troop, we recently got a PILE of little children. at summer camp not a turn had passed between me and my friend before every body was NUTS about MTG. not that that's a bad thing, but there were a LOT of them. fortunately the camp is gentrified enough to sell mtg AND host a tournament. every one of them bum rushed the counter, hands over flowing with shadowmoor starter decks and packs galore. all i could do was stand by and whisper "all in to my friend" he lol'ed.
after this came a long period in which me and my friend helped all 12 take apart their pre-cons and rebuild them with the packs. with kindness in my heart i traded away tattermunge maniacs, cursecatcher etc galore untill all of them had the "best" deck. then we played and played and played. it was ok, but having to remind them that you draw a card (if they knew what gavin knows about drawing and christmas i doubt they would have stopped) and tap lands and dont' tap to block and that a mana ability: "t: add one :g: to your mana pool" didn't mean search you deck for one.
in the end we were unable to attend the tourney due to troop requirements, and a provisional ( a scout not in your troop who camps with you because his troop hates him) went to the tourney with an 80 card, been through the wash, only one ofs, 4 color deck and got SECOND DAMN PLACE. i hate that child. i had a T2 playable beatdown MADHOUSE to take it all, but no. D: oh well, even the winner only got a pack.
-J, with more to say.
As for a stinker I can not pick one as I am a sucker for all cards new.
Thanks for the great show keep it up.
Check out my Pod cast Mr. Suitcase http://mtgcast.com/?cat=16
as for teaching people, basic decks like gavin said is the best plan. but the worse people to teach are anyone who played another TCG, expecially yugioh, for some reason the people who played that, and have played it alot really do not like to break that mold, which is the complete oposite of magic.
Resounding Roar
1G for +3/+3 is decent, but that's not the multicolored part of the card. The cycle cost is the most overcosted tri-color effect in Alara. 5RGW for +6/+6 and draw a card? Might of Oaks is more efficient even without the card draw. Unfortunately, development could not make anything more creative than doubling the effect. This card would have been far more interesting with an effect like Accelerated Mutation, except with power as X.
I even taught someone to play on MTGO via precons in the "free" room in 2.0.
Nice cast as always. I know you want to be wowed with glorious stories, but all I have is a pitty plea to win the store credit so I can buy crap tribal rares to make more decks to get more people into the game.
Currently offering 2 non-foil Kolighan's Command for a Date Stamped foil!
convert bulk into good cards? PucaTrade - https://pucatrade.com/invite/gift/21195
Ebay - decks/Promos/DVDs
Trade thread (constantly updated)
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/trading-post/details/337-pokerbob1s-casual-trading-emporium
Anyone else think we'll never see storm again? I think they WotC thought they could make it less abusive this time around, but after the Dstorm fiasco I'd be surprised if they decided to reprint the mechanic.
Anyway,
How I taught my nephew to play Magic:
It was shortly after Ninth Edition was released, and rather than reinvent the wheel I decided to use cards from the set that Wizards always intended to be the "introductory" set. This was also great because it meant that I could teach my nephew how to play with a lot of the same cards that I learned how to play with, like Serra Angel(yay!) and Sengir Vampire (boo!).
He's ten years old and loves Harry Potter, manga and the first three (Episode 1,2, and 3) StarWars movies. He'd never played a CCG before, and I knew that I'd have to frame the game in terms that he would understand. So I built us two simple decks, a mono-black aggro deck (with a few copies of the aforementioned Hypnotic Specter and a Sengir Vampire) and a mono-white deck that also ran a lot of creatures but had more of a controllish bent (two Wraths of God, Pacifism, etc.).
[[Aside
So I've always felt that the best way to teach someone how to play Magic is by actually playing a game with them and taking them through the steps. You don't hit them over the head with abstract concepts (at least not right away, you don't want them to run away screaming afterall), you give them some cards, give them options and let them ask you what they want to know. What a new player thinks is important is usually not what you think is important, and instead of trying to microamanage their actions, I like to let them play around a bit and get a feel for the game. After a few games go by, you can start to add a layer of complexity by introducing new concepts each time you play. This helps the player digest what you've told them without getting overwhelmed by data.
/Aside]]
Of course, I had assumed that my nephew would want to be playing "the good guys" (White) while I play "the bad guys" (Black), and let him beat up on me. Foolish uncle.
A few turns into the game, I play a Gluttonous Zombie: "Whoa a zombie! Does my deck have zombies?"
"No, white doesn't get zombies, only black."
"Oh."
Play continues.
A few turns later:
"You get a vampire?? Does white get vampies?"
"...no, white doesn't have vampires either, but you do get a pretty poweful angel,"
"Angels are dumb. Can I play with that deck?"
Poor misbegotten white. And no love for my angels (*sniff*). Maybe I should've waited till he hit puberty.
So we shuffle up and start a new game, this time with me running the white deck and him with a handful of evil critters.
I make a point of going easy on new players, because losing is a lot less fun than winning, and all I really want them to do is learn the basics and enjoy playing the game.
But I made a pretty big mistake with my nephew (ooh, foreshadowing!).
Fast-forward a little bit and he is now up 5 games to 1 and by now he's gotten the fundamentals down pretty well. He has had a great time beating me with zombies and vampires and other nasty things, while I'm trying in vain to show him the "cool" side of white and feeling like I'm trying to get him to see how fun doing math homework is.
I get the idea to switch gears, and pull out two new decks, one mono-blue and one mono-green. I find mono-coloured decks are best when teaching someone how to play, and then later on you can rock their world and show them a deck with two colours (oooh!). But my nephew isn't having any of it. He doesn't care what green and blue have, his black zombies and vampires have led him to a 4 game winning-streak and he isn't about to put them aside for beasts or wizards (notwithstanding that he loves Harry Potter--that argument didn't sway him the slightest).
I was hoping to show him some new things, like counterspells (always a favourite among newbies), but he was adamant that his black deck trumped everything.
I probably shouldn't have let him win 4 games in a row with that one deck. But seeing the gleam in his eye whenever he played one of his evil creatures gave me an idea.
I quickly threw together a red deck, nothing fancy, with one large exception. And it took me until the middle of the second game to do what I wanted to do.
I tapped-out and slowly placed my Shivan Dragon on the board, and passed the turn. He didn't immediately react to my mighty winged wurm, but I was confident that as soon as he gave it a closer inspection that I'd get the reaction I was looking for.
"I attack with my [Sengir] vampire".
I moved my dragon to block, trying to contain my smugness.
"Ok, because my vampire killed a creature last turn he is 5/5,"
"Er, oh yeah..."
"and they both die." Oops.
"Now I use Raise Dead and bring him back." Doh.
He wound up winning that game, too. And not because I held back, either. I had expected to go all the way with my 5/5 flier.
My nephew still plays Magic (and has his own collection, now), but he is a black mage through-and-through. On occasion he'll tolerate a small splash from another colour, but if he loses, it's the splashed colour that gets the blame.
I can just see how StarWars or Harry Potter would've gone down, had my nephew been playing the lead.
Nephew: "Does the light side get Force lightning?"
Emperor: "Er, no, but you do get to jump pretty high..."
Nephew: "Jumping sucks."
and then the only StarWars movie would be titled 'The Empire Strikes' and there'd be no sequels because the good guys lost in the first 10 minutes when the hero converted to the dark side and didn't look back.
I'd really like to blame the youth of today, and so I will. Much easier than taking responsibility for not paying attention to +1/+1 counters on vampires (*cough*).
-this signature is courtesy of HotPizza at Ye Old Sig and Avatar Shoppe
Real men wear pink.
(Here is my Have/Want list: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=112800 )
Lol thanks!
-this signature is courtesy of HotPizza at Ye Old Sig and Avatar Shoppe
Real men wear pink.
(Here is my Have/Want list: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=112800 )
Sangrite Surge
:4mana::symr::symg: SorceryTarget creature gets +3/+3 and gains double strike until end of turn.
That card is a piece of dung. So, if your opponent doesn't counter your six casting cost spell, doesn't have removal for your guy, doesn't have a blocker or fell asleep the turn before, then you get to swing with a guy for damage. Just horrible. I couldn't imagine a format where I would want to put this in my deck.
But good show.
Alcoholism is a disease, but it's the only one you can get yelled at for having. "God**** it Otto, you are an alcoholic." "God**** it Otto, you have Lupus" ... one of those two doesn't sound right.
But as for the biggest piece of trash in the set, I'm pretty sure it's Clarion Ultimatum, since I can almost never see myself casting that spell, and I'm normally fairly willing to play anything.
Anyways good show guys! And I am looking forward to hearing how you guys did over the weekend next Monday!
Thanks to spiderboy4 for the great avatar and sig from High Light Studios!
I have taught Magic to a few of my friends, including my BFF Dru, who made this a major task. When he first saw the cards he was confused and then i explained a bit and he was hooked. I helped him build a moderate budget Golgari deck which his favorite card from it was the Grave-troll, not for the effect but that it looked like a skinned devil, which kinda creeped me out.
The worst gold card revealed from Alara really has to be Necrogenesis, there's just too many better options for doing either task it performs without additional mana or the chance of bing Naturalized.
I have been in many Pre-releases, my first being Saviors of Kamigawa. I then went to Timespiral, Planar Chaos, Futuresight, Lorwyn, Morningtide(more one this one in a sec), Shadowmoor and Eventide, and of course this weekends.
The Morningtide prerelease was very exciting for me, i signed up for the main event with 120 so people. When i cracked my packs i had a smorgesborg of love; Colossus, Profane, Nath, Maralen, DOUBLE Violet Pall, Double Eyeblight's Ending (one foil), and some other decent cards. I started of goin 3-0, then i played against a friend of mine (more of a rival) Jason, an ended up winning from his mana screw. I went into my 5th round with a perfect record and thats when my deck said NO MORE. I promptly lost my final three to decks of inferiour quility due to mana floods/screws. Things brightened up though when draft time came, cracking a pack 1 Mutavault with pick 2 BBlossom.
[/center]
I am stuck working this weekend so no Pre-Release for Me...:mad::mad::mad:
Teach some one to play is some thing I have done. I taught my wife to play with my old mono red sligh deck and a mono green secret force deck. Now she can play most any deck I make and beat me some of the time. The next person I will teach will be my 3yr old son who already knows that i have the red mana fire ball on my arm and what some of the creatures are.:D:D:D
How I taught Magic to a new player: This is a pretty recent story, I'm still teaching my friend to play as it is.
When I moved here to Lansing, I lost my old playgroup of casual players. Even here, I didn't really know anyone to play with personally - sure I went to FNM and all, but I didn't really know any of those people outside of that place and time. However, a new friend of mine who didn't play Magic wondered where I was always going on Friday nights. So I figured I would introduce him to Magic!
I started off thinking that it would be a good idea to intoduce him to the "themes" of each of the colors, so I made up a mono-color deck of each color. I figured that if we traded off and he got a good idea of what each color had in terms of types of cards, he might figure out what sort of deck he would like to play. It would also give him a good idea of the rules - we'd play with basic low-power cards first, then move up from there.
Well, that didn't work so well.
I'm a Johnny and, I like to play to play the game, not simply to win. My friend, of course, is pure unadultured Spike. We start playing with my casual decks, and he's like... "Are these what people are winning tournaments with? Why aren't we playing with those?" and I'm all "......" Great. I hate netdeckers and my friend is one before he even knows what it is.
Of course, I don't have any tournament-quality decks on hand because I'm poor. So my friend tells me I should just order him the cards for the best one and he'll pay for them. Of course, I'm also cheap, so I *don't* go out and buy all the faerie cards because it'd be like $400, and I don't even want *him* playing that, especially as someone brand new to the game. So I take (his) $80 and get him a fully decked out kithkin deck, Figures and all (got them $5 each at the release event). Besides, for a beginner, Kithkin is a fairly decent deck.
Teaching actually went really well, and he picked up the game quickly. However, there were still plenty of things that took a while to hammer into him, like... "Don't play your land before you pick up your card for the turn" and "No, you can't play anything but instants during combat" (as he was fond of trying to Oblivion Ring things mid-combat). Mirrorweave was also hard - which target to choose? When? - but he got the hang of it.
We played a lot of open-hand matches. He would tell me what he wanted to do and why, and I'd tell him if that was the correct play or if there was a better option. He'd also give me advice on what to play from my hand, so he could see the matchups from both sides of the table. I think these open-hand teaching sessions really work wonders, and helped him learn quite quick.
Anyway, he started going with me to FNM pretty quick. He still needed a lot of help, but the people there are (fairly) friendly and helped him out and took things slow. Being very experienced with one deck (kithkin) but not experienced with any other one meant he had to read a lot of cards. That's the way to learn, though!
Now, I've been playing Magic for about 8 years, mostly casually. And been playing FNM for a year. I've never won any, either - we have large FNMs, and quite a few "hardcore" players who play nothing but fully tricked out netdecks like the Fae and 'Lark. Gotten close, but always out of my grasp.
Of course, that means that at his third FNM, he gets first. First! Oh boy, did he have some things to say to me about that!
He still has plenty of things to learn (protection always screws him up), but he's learning fast. Definitely the best way to teach someone Magic is just to play games with them a lot. Eventually you'll go over just about everything!
here in the real world, we at the whitley household woke up at nine, some hung over, some with about thirty minutes of sleep, but everyone excited to go to the shards pre-release.
by the time we got under way it was later than 9 in the morn. we aren't the people from those short lived comercials who grab a backpack and run. we didn't leave until about 2 in the afternoon. our driver wasn't feeling good and we didn't have much of a say as to when we left.
on the ride i described teh shards to my friends and family and their key-est abilities, making for an interesting ride as they asked questions and the older ones reminiced about thier old decks and strategies that they hoped to update after a few months of not playing. (i was revitalizing the driver and a friend into getting back into magic so it was fun).
finally we arrived at Central Bucks West for a prerelease being held by a store we go to thanks to the new wizards play network. (the store is cyborg1 and it's website for those in PA and NJ is cyborg1.com) the school was dark and dank, but we found a corner of light in the caffeteria filled with about 30 players and a judge.
alas, we found out that 2 drafts had just started and that a sealed deck was under way. and that we were the only people not in one or the other. finally the store owner said that for a reduced price we could get the intro packs and free play with no prizes. *sigh*
intro packs! what could be worse than intro packs! only forty cards! puh!
actually as it turns out a LOT could be worse than intro packs. the power level was ballanced and the decks themselves made sense. we had a great 3 hours playing and battling our shards, with battle cries of "i've never seen THAT color before!!" (yes we're flavor nerds)
in the end, i won with the jund intro pack, slamming my opponent with huge creatures who had just devoured each other. mycoloth was amazing and my friend's naya shard scooped after 4 turns of 6 saprolings a go. and he had a spearbreaker behemoth in play.
we finished off the rest of our money on cards we liked from the lone dealer there, myslef finishing a playset of oversoul of dusks for my lieges coming in the mail soon.
all in all, the shards prerelease was an amazing experience, and everyone present enjoyed it, the cards, and the shards.
-J