The Lincoln Log

In school, we see kids playing with hand held consoles such as the iPod, Nintendo DS and the PlayStation Portable. But sometimes you may see people playing with cards. They are different from just ordinary cards. It is a card game called Magic the Gathering. It’s one of the best rated and oldest card games in the USA. Magic the Gathering, mostly known as Magic, is a strategic game of intelligence and wit, which is a great game to pass time.

Magic may look like an easy and non-entertaining game, but the players themselves would say the otherwise. Magic is a complicated game and becomes more complex as the game continues. The game is played by two or more players with their own individual deck, beginning with 20 life points. Whenever a player loses all of their life points, they lose the game. A player can also lose the game if he or she draws all the cards from their deck. Players would strategize during the game to defend and defeat their opponent with the deck, which is made by the player to reflect their own individual style.

The game has existed for over 10 years and still has many players. After

releasing the trading card game, the Wizards of the Coast company made a Pro Tour tournament for professional Magic players. The first prize was 40,000 dollars. Second prize was 30,000 to 25,000 and third was 25,000 to 10,000 dollars. Profes-sional Magic card players would go on the Pro Tour to different countries. In each country, they play different players of the world. They also trade cards and share ideas.

The Magic players are kept track through a bar code containing the player’s wins, losses and draws. The players have levels, which shows if they are professionals or beginners. Players who partic-ipated obtain special tourna-ment packs, which are only handed out in tourn-aments. The cards are very rare. The players also gain a holo graphical card for the tournament, which is only available at that particular tournament.

The Wizards of the Coast company hosts many tours, so players of different skill levels can also compeite.Some tournaments have various game formations. One famous tournament is the Draft tournament, where players are given certain amounts of unopened booster packs, so they create a deck to play with on the spot. This way, the game depends on the luck of the draw.

There are other interesting tournaments such as the Prerelease tournament, which is held before a new set of cards released to the public. It’s usually held on Saturdays and Sundays. The name is self exploratory, but the format is similar to the Draft tournament. The players would receive a certain amount of new booster packs and a tournament pack.

The winner receives another new set of booster packs. It’s up to the winner to decide whether they would open the pack or sell it to other players. Since the booster packs are brand new and limited, the cost would be high.Each magic card is contains a picture, which is drawn by an artist.

Each card holds a story, relating to the Magic the Gathering novel. Sometimes there is a small quote or sentence related to the picture that is humorous or witty. The Magic cards are collectible cards so players would play for money. They also earn rare cards and sell them. Old rare cards can be sold for about 20,000 dollars. Many old cards can go up to 2,000 dollars. While recent cards are sold for less than a quarter.

If you never understood why so many gamers are addicted to this Magic card game, it is because this game contains all the right elements: strategy, rewards and competition.