Magic and Magic 2011

Vacation approaches rapidly. It will be divided into several parts, and I think I'll save that topic for another day. But one thing it will contain is Magic! [Magic: the Gathering, the collectible card game.]

On Monday, I received my shipment of the latest new set: Magic 2011.

For the uninitiated, M:tG is a bit hard to describe, but I'll give it a try.

Each player in a Magic: the Gathering game is a wizard, casting spells and calling forth creatures to defeat his opponent(s). The spells and creatures the wizards use are represented by playing cards, but each player puts together (builds) a deck of these cards ahead of the game, and the contents of each wizard's deck is not known to the opponents ahead of time.

The cards are released by Wizards of the Coast in 15-card packs, so there is significant randomness in the cards a player gets in each pack. The packs are released in sets with specific themes. There are three Expert sets a year, and one Core set which contains easier, more basic cards.

Well, this year's Core set is Magic 2011 (aka "M11"), and it was released last Friday, July 16. Being addicted to the game, I don't just buy a few packs and modify a few decks I've built over the years. Oh no. I buy boxes of packs, open them all, and glory in building new decks, modifying the dozens (and dozens) of decks I've built in prior years, and thinking of more deck ideas than I can possibly build. And then? And then I wait anxiously for an opportunity to play with them.

So, part of my vacation will be playing M:tG, and I am very excited to have a new set to include in my deck building. There are 109 brand-new cards in M11. There are 42 cards that only exist in M11 or its predecessor set (M10) which I've hardly ever used in deck building. I am excited!

Now, if you don't get as excited about Magic as I do (and I don't think I have any friends who read this who do) it might be hard to empathize with me, but just think of your favorite hobby and how excited you get when you are about to engage in it for a good long time. Fishing? Carpentry? Traveling? Painting? Whatever it is, if it gets you wishing time would move faster so you could just get to it, and then wishing time would slow down while you're doing it so you could relish it longer, then you know what I mean.

So pardon me while I anticipate the fun I will be having as I learn the new cards, build the decks, and then play them.


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Only 4 Lightning Bolts? Really? In two boxes? And yet I got 12 (twelve!) Goblin Pikers. Of the two reprinted red commons, which is more useful? And yet which did I get? Sometimes randomness bites.





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