Seasoned Magic The Gathering players may remember their first ever deck of this world famous collectable card game but I sure don't. All I remember was that it was mostly blue, bought in the early 2000s, had a wizard creature that made people forget stuff (or something) and I eventually sold it on eBay for a few bucks because I wasn't using it.
Fast forward to the back end of 2021 and I've decided to get back into this game once more so I've got something to play with my son (and take him away from video games.) For Xmas I got a couple of starter decks and today I've just bought my first booster in almost two decades. This is all I'm going to need for world MtG domination yeah?
Let's open this baby up and hope for some game breaking zombies shall we!
THE LAST TIME I ACTUALLY PLAYED A ROUND OF MAGIC THE GATHERING?
You mean with cards and not on the xBox 360? Well that would have been back in the early 2000s too. And it was a multiplayer game involving my housemate at the time and some of his friends. They all brought their boxes of thousands of cards and tokens and dice as markers and I turned up with my basic blue deck and that was about it. I don't recall who won but it definitely wasn't me. I also remember my housemate (hi Doc!) favouring a black deck full of rats. Hordes and hordes of vicious black rats that powered up the more they were produced. All in all it was a fun night so maybe I could convince the in laws to jump on board...
BUT I'M PROBABLY GOING TO NEED A FEW MORE CARDS FOR THAT FIRST OBVIOUSLY..
So lets start with this booster then. Since my two starters are Blue/Black and Red/Green any of those colors are going to come in handy along with Planeswalkers (don't have any yet) and artifacts like a Black Lotus or Glass of Everlasting Beer which has terrible attack but keeps me satisfied long into the night. Also will the combined value of what we find inside be worth more than the $7 I paid for it? Could this pack actually pay for itself/buy me something nice? There's only one way to find out!
TAP PACKET AND PEER WITHIN
Island - well I suppose this won't go astray in my blue deck then.. (hilariously according to the app I'm using to value these cards TCGPlayer, these lands are actually worth a bit more than other cards from this series. For whatever reason even though they're just basic lands, people must buy them to vary their own land collections. God only knows why you'd bother - aesthetics maybe?)
Worth: 38 cents. But why?????
Going in a deck?: Yes
Forrest - basic but at least it sparkles. Take that critters that don't like sparkly things!
Worth: A staggering 65 cents, making it the most valuable card in this park. Which is hilarious because it's just a basic land.
Going in a deck?: Yes
Skycat Sovereign - look I already have a cat that annoys me (especially at 5am when she decides its breakfast time and I'm busy sleeping) but if you're building a deck of flyers, this could go well. Especially if you have the resources to keep it spawning more cat birds and buffing itself up each turn. Am I building a deck full of flyers though? Not really..
Worth: 41 cents (apparently rare)
Going in a deck?: No
Lurking Deadeye - I had to look up what Flash was all about and got back: Flash is a keyword ability which allows the card it is printed on to be cast at any time you could cast an Instant. Which means you can damage a big monster your opponent is using even slightly and then pop the Deadeye into action to clean up. That's not bad at all..
Worth: All of a cent. Still..
Going in a deck: Yes, yes it is..
Human soldier token - I didn't even realise they were making token cards now (which goes to show how long it's been since I last played..
Worth: 0
Going in a deck: Er no, this one doesn't go into a deck.
Dreamtail Heron - Again I'm having to consult Google to find out what this mutating bird is all about. Turns out it can merge with a non human beast you own and create some kind of super monster? I may have to do a bit more reading/viewing to work out how this works best..
Worth: A lovely 4 cents
Going in a deck: Possibly. Once I get the hang of it.
Fire Prophecy - Ooh, it's Sauron or the 40K eye of Terror. Okay maybe not but it seems like a cheap monster remover so that's not bad.
Worth: 13 cents
Going in a deck: Yes
Savai Sabertooh - Oh good, an angry cat that doesn't do much aside from offer itself up as mutate fodder. It's cheap but it's also a white card which I don't have a deck for and since I don't have any plans to make a cat themed deck just yet..
Worth: 0.01 Are you surprised?
Going in a deck: No
Hampering Snare: I've never been a fan of these kind of snare spells in RPG games like Icewind Dale and the like because my melee characters will still keep swinging at anything within range, the archers will keep shooting, mages keep mageing etc, they will just do it without moving. I get that it's a turns reprieve if you're low on health and frantically scrambling to draw a card that'll save the day but still..
Worth: Just a cent
Going in a deck: No.
Maned Serval - Vigilance means they don't tap when they attack which makes this kitty handy to have provided it doesn't get killed first when it attacks and provided it also doesn't get killed when it defends. Rrrrroooow. Now I'm going to have to make a cat deck aren't I?
Worth: Just a cent
Going in a deck: No.
Worth: Just a cent
Going in a deck: Yes
Clash of titans - At first I thought this was useless (decent cost just for your critter to attack an opponents critter) before someone on Reddit kindly pointed out that it doesn't say 'You control' anywhere on it. Meaning you can put one opponents monster against another. And that truly makes a lot more sense, especially if they're using a couple of juggernauts and you can wipe them both out or at least do some decent damage to the pair.
Worth: Just a cent
Going in a deck: Originally no, but now yes
Insatiable Hemophage - Now knowing what mutate is all about, this guy truly is a nightmare. The fact that every time it morphs you heal and your opponent hurts is a bonus and 3/3 isn't shabby at all.
Worth: 6 solid cents
Going in a deck: Yes
Worth: 1 lonely cents
Going in a deck: Not at this stage
Thieving Otter - Come back here you little bastard! Cute little critter ready to help you add more cards to your hand. I've taught this otter well!
Worth: 1 cent is the loneliest number..
Going in a deck: Sure, come on in you adorable little bugger!
And last of all Bristling Boar - Again he's mutate fodder here and once he gets going/buffed up he could become an annoying threat pretty easily. Plus he's an angry boar. People are summoning the undead and dragons and you've just conjured up some salami, excellent!
Worth: 1 solitary cent
Going in a deck: Ha ha why not?
Comments
Post a Comment