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Yes, I play Magic.

When I was in college, I was friends with four guys that lived together. They were absolutely obsessed with Magic. (Unfortunately, I must admit to dating one of these guys.) They taught me how to play in 1994, and I have been dabbling in Magic ever since.

I played when I lived in South Carolina and Tennessee. I played when I lived in New York. I taught my sister how to play. A friend of mine, a casting director, played in Los Angeles and always invited me to join him. However, even though I play, I'm not good.

Enter Magic: The Gathering - Battlegrounds for Windows. I figured this would be a good way for me to improve my Magic game. It wasn't too expensive - only $19.99 at Game Stop - so I bought it.

I was very eager to get started playing this game. Installing it into my Windows 95 computer was simple. Playing, however, seemed medieval in its own right. The graphics are a step above primative. (We're talking Atari-quality, folks.) You have to navigate your way through the kingdom of Shalazar, going from village to village. Some villages will give you a quest so that you can gain life points (You start out with 10 points, and can grow with each task you complete), cards, and other special items.

Along the way, you encounter different creatures from the different colors of the various decks: green, red, blue, white and black. Some are a combination of the colors while others are a pure deck. At the beginning of the game, you must choose which deck you want, then can add cards and build other decks as you go along.

When I upgraded to Windows 98, I found that playing Magic was a lot more difficult. It kept crashing, pausing, and basically had a mind of its own. It would freeze up my entire computer at times, then play by itself at other times. Very disappointing. The same happened with Windows 2000 and most currently, Windows XP. It was more trouble than it was worth.

Playing online was next to impossible, as well. You have to wait for others to sign in so that you can play. Then, there is a very long lag time as people make their moves. The single player, when it worked, was the best.

Did it improve my Magic skills? Unfortunately, no. You soon notice a pattern with specific creatures that you play. However, I played for over a year, and didn't encounter all of the creatures. So, it definitely kept me interested. If only it didn't crash so much. Heck, I'd be playing it right now!

I don't know if there is a newer version of this game on the market. Believe me, now that I'm talking about it, I really want to play again. I guess I'll have to visit Game Stop at the mall and see what they have...

Learn more about this author, Candice Cain.
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