Casual play rules

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Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules (More info?)

My son has played Magic for several yeas now and he has gotten the family
into the game...which is me and his mom as well as his 2 sisters and his
brother. In other words, there are 6 of us.

He maintains tournament ready decks and plays at that level, but the rest of
us just like playing...and we like playing with a lot of the older decks we
have made.

One problem that we have come accross is how to deal with special abilities
that existed only in one release period. I will use the Shadow ability as an
example. How do others who like to play casually deal with this kind of
ability, which most of the other decks do NOT have? We have decks that we
cannot use when certain decks are being played. I just wondered if for
casual play some modifications or alterations are made to allow the decks to
better interact?

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules (More info?)

"Larry Huffman" <larry@mfinvest.com> wrote in message
news😱YudnXA8Wdx-sUrdRVn-tA@iswest.net...
> My son has played Magic for several yeas now and he has gotten the family
> into the game...which is me and his mom as well as his 2 sisters and his
> brother. In other words, there are 6 of us.
>

Nice. I always like seeing multiple family members playing Magic. Don't know
why it's any different from, say, Scrabble, but it always strikes me as a
great thing.

> One problem that we have come accross is how to deal with special
abilities
> that existed only in one release period. I will use the Shadow ability as
an
> example. How do others who like to play casually deal with this kind of
> ability, which most of the other decks do NOT have? We have decks that we
> cannot use when certain decks are being played. I just wondered if for
> casual play some modifications or alterations are made to allow the decks
to
> better interact?

Well, there are probably many ways to go with this. One would be to play
"block". That is, make up a deck for each member of your family, using only
cards from one particular block (a block is the stand-alone and 2 smaller
expansions released in the same year, all following a similar theme).
Certain mechanics are block specific, such as Affinity (although it remains
to be seen if it will appear again), Flanking, and Cycling (it did appear in
2 blocks). Almost all the time, when a new mechanic is introduced, to make
it fair and balanced, there is a card/many cards that neuter the ability,
usually in the same block. For example, Cycling made a resurgence in the
Onslaught block. One card in particular, Stabilizer, totally shuts down this
mechanic. It is in Scourge (I believe), meaning that it can be used in
Onslaught block decks.

Another way to go may be to create your own "Huffman Family
Banned/Restricted List". If you find that one or two particularly powerful
cards are dominating your family's games, ban or restrict them, at least
until one or two family members figure out a way (or go get the cards) that
can nullify the effects of said card.

Still other ways may be to play different formats. (Team, or Emperor style,
melee style, play decks that require all 5 colors, etc. Use your
imagination)

Whatever, you decide, good luck, and have fun!


--

KB

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.rules (More info?)

Larry Huffman, worshipped by llamas the world over, wrote...
> My son has played Magic for several yeas now and he has gotten the family
> into the game...which is me and his mom as well as his 2 sisters and his
> brother. In other words, there are 6 of us.
>
> He maintains tournament ready decks and plays at that level, but the rest of
> us just like playing...and we like playing with a lot of the older decks we
> have made.
>
> One problem that we have come accross is how to deal with special abilities
> that existed only in one release period. I will use the Shadow ability as an
> example. How do others who like to play casually deal with this kind of
> ability, which most of the other decks do NOT have? We have decks that we
> cannot use when certain decks are being played. I just wondered if for
> casual play some modifications or alterations are made to allow the decks to
> better interact?

There's nothing stopping you from just using those cards together as
written. If you find that it's less fun that way, feel free to house-
rule new abilities onto some cards (some of the Shades or Spirits could
get activated abilities that give them Shadow, for example), or just
encourage the people who have the relevant cards to lend them out. If
one player's white weenie deck is always being overrun by someone else's
Shadow-heavy black deck, maybe the player with all the Tempest cards can
lend the while player some Soltari Monks to help make the decks play
better together.