Joe Gamer

I have to admit that I haven’t played Magic the Gathering in a very long time. In fact I have sold a lot of our Magic the Gathering collection. The collectible card game was just too much to keep up with when I went back to school. Having a full-time job and full-time school work just didn’t leave much room to learn new rules that were released with each new set.

When M10 was released, I bought a pre-constructed deck that came with an unopened booster pack. Inside that booster pack was a Baneslayer Angel that I later sold on eBay for $30. Needless to say, my interest in new Magic the Gathering cards was renewed. I bought more M10 but never pulled another Baneslayer Angel. I did buy a few packs of the next set but didn’t enjoy it as much as the core set.

So I’ve learned that I really do like the MTG core sets much better than the expansions. The expansions seem to always have these funky rules that I don’t care to comprehend. The core sets seem to stick as close as possible to the basic rules. Also with M11 I have more chances to pull another cool rare card that hopefully bring me big bucks to pay for even more cards.

© 2010, Lynn Little. All rights reserved.

It has been over a year since the last time I purchased any Magic: The Gathering cards. Other than that brief respite, it had been even longer since I had previously purchased M:TG cards. I was beginning to think I was completely over this game.

Tonight however, while picking out packs of Bella Serra II Miniatures for the littlest Little, I broke down and purchased the black theme deck for M10 (Wizard of the Coast’s latest base set for Magic). I told my wife that I would buy her a deck as well if she would play with me … and she took the bait.

Three surprises awaited us when we opened the decks. First my black deck was in fact black and green. My very first M:TG deck was a custom built deck of Revised cards that was black and green. The color combination has been a favorite ever since. Second was that one of the cards in the booster that came with the preconstructed deck was of a completely new type and rarity than I had ever seen before. The card was a Planeswalker and the rarity was Mythic Rare. Planeswalkers are a special, powerful form of card that represents an ally rather than a creature. Mythic Rares are apparently half as common (or twice as rare) as a regular rare. Finally, my wife got as one of her rares a rare that sells on eBay for a little more than we paid for all of the cards. Very nice.

Upon opening the cards I took a big whiff with my nose pressed to the edge of the preconstructed deck. Nothing smells quite the same. Very few smells spark an inner glow quite like freshly opened Magic: The Gathering cards. I hope my wife realizes quite what we’re in for. Wait … she lived through about ten years of this before so I guess she does.

© 2009, Joseph Little. All rights reserved.