by Allen Dooley

Created on: January 17, 2007   Last Updated: June 04, 2008

Magic the Gathering is a strategy card game in which you take the role of a powerful wizard, called a planeswalker, with the ability to summon creatures to fight for you. The goal is to reduce your opponents life from 20 to 0 before they do that to you. The best way to learn is to go to a local card store. They are going to have tons of cards available and probably at least a few players there that will be more than helpful in helping you learn to play. The easiest way to find a store near you is to visit www.playmagic.com

The first piece of the product you will be introduced to there is probably a booster pack. Booster packs are the best way to build up your collection. One of the coolest things about Magic is that you build your deck out of your card collection. You are the game creator, you decide the combos, the strategy of your deck, and how the game will play. It's all up to you. This may seem daunting at first, but people actually get paid to create these cards and come up with decks just for the purpose of teaching new players how to play. That is where Core Set Theme decks come into play. They were made so that you can just open them up, shuffle up and get started on your first game. We all know the best way to learn is to just do it. It is by far the quickest way for you to get playing. You don't have to build up a collection, research popular decks, even any strategy at first, you may not being playing with the best deck ever, but it is well balanced and will get you started. The goal by the end of the article is the get you to the point that you can go down to that local store, pick up a theme deck and start playing right away.

Let's assume you are down at the store right now. You know you need a theme deck, but which one? Each deck it tailor made for a different strategy, considering this is going to be the start of your collection you want to pick up one that you will be comfortable with and that you will have the most fun with. Lets cover some of the basic strategies you will come across.

Magic is based around five colors; white, blue, black, red, and green. White decks will tend to be very militaristic and combat oriented. You can expect a refined army mentality in the creatures in these decks. A white player will tend to summon a lot of small creatures and attempt to swarm over his opponent. They are the traditional good guys of Magic.

Blue magi are all about control. If you are a blue mage you will find yourself attempting to shut your opponent

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