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Briareos · 11-12-2005, 02:47 PM

Ok you guys seen me say how much I love to play Magic the Gathering and I've mentioned how cool Ravinica. Now I'm going to go into detail about why and I'm wondering if you guys will see why I think its cool.

First a little background. In Magic the Gathering there are 5 colors of magic White,Red,Green,Blue, and Black.

Each color gets cards that help stand it apart from the other.

White is the more defensive and it is built around making little creatures bigger. It also has lots of ways to gain life and prevent damage to you and your creatures if your opponent does so.

Red Is all about doing as much damage as possible. It has the best direct damage cards and also its creatures do the most damage. It has no ability to gain life or prevent damage however.

Green is all about getting as much magical energy as possible and using it on mid sized creatures. It has creatures that give you more engery to bring in other cards. It also can gain life but it can't prevent damage and it doesn't do direct damage it wins through creatures.

Blue is all about controling what your opponent does. It can counter (stop) your opponent when he tries to bring cards into play and it has the ability to return cards that your opponent brings into play back into his hand. It doesn't have good creatures or direct damage and it can't really destroy things that are in play permenantly.

Black is all about hurting yourself to get a bigger gain out of it. It also has the best cards that just kill creatures. It can't stop anything else for the most part when it gets into play however.

So now that you have the background lets move on to ravinica.

Every fall around late september early october a new exapansion is released. In February and May of the following year a couple more expansions are released that are designed around a common theme and storyline. These are called blocks

Ravinica story is based around a world that is one entire gigantic city. The whole world is run by 10 guilds. Each guild is represented in the game by one of the possible 10 2 color combo's you can make (white black, green red, ect)

In Ravinca the first 4 guilds are introduced. the February expansion Guildpact will do the next 3 and the final 3 in the last expansion.

Since only Ravinica is out I'll talk about the first 4 guilds

The Boros Legion (White, Red) Is based around a Military guild with a strong sense of pride. Its special ability reflected in the cards are cards that would target one of your creatures but the effect would carry over to any other creature that shares a color with that creature.

House Dimir (Black Blue) Are a secret society that most people don't know exist. They are based around coruption but in secret. Their special ability is Transmute which allows you to ditch a card that has that ability to search your deck for any other card that is the same cost. They also have alot of cards that are based around depleting your deck (You lose the game if you run out of cards and have to draw one though it is rare to win this way).

The Selesnya Conclave (Green White) Are a bunch of druids and their followers and nature creatures and stuff. They have a ability called convoke where if a card has it then creatures can be used to get the mana needed to bring the card into play.

The Golgari (Green Black) Are druids and elves who have been darkened by living in overgrown tombs and tending rot farms. They are all about the cycle of Life and death and then coming back to life from being dead. Their ability on the cards is Dredge which brings cards that have been used or destroyed (which are put in a pile called the graveyard) back in your hand for reuse.

Monkey Boy · 11-12-2005, 06:12 PM

I think its cool but then I like Magic the Gathering. I remember the multicolored cards from older sets and they were always nice to have in decks. I really like the Kamigawa set but I'm looking forward to seeing whats in this one.

LibrarianThorne · 11-12-2005, 06:35 PM

Ravnica got me back into the game (I left during Darksteel), and I've currently got a block Boros deck and am working on a type 2 Dimir mill with Circu and Glimpse the Unthinkable.

Cam63 · 11-12-2005, 06:36 PM

I can't get into that stuff.

Converge · 11-12-2005, 06:39 PM

Sorry, but it's not as cool as you think it is.

LibrarianThorne · 11-12-2005, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cam63

I can't get into that stuff.

Understandable. I just play Magic because a lot of my friends do, as does my girlfriend (who beats the hell out of me with her Magic deck, but it's good times), so I got back into it to play with them, mostly. That and Ravnica is the first set since Mirrodin to do something really cool (alter the way the game is played), so I enjoy doing things with it. The Vs. system by Upper-Deck is arguably superior (I personally have more fun with it, and can't wait for the Justice League set to hit next week), but I do enjoy a good game of Yu-Gi-Oh and Dragonball Z. With the amount of CCGs out there, it's really hard to find one that isn't fun.

Cam63 · 11-12-2005, 06:44 PM

What I mean is I can't get into online games, period.

LibrarianThorne · 11-12-2005, 06:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cam63

What I mean is I can't get into online games, period.

It's not an online game at all (well, besides the online version). It's a collectible card game, or CCG, and one that has been around for a good long while. A lot of people consider Magic: The Gathering to be the best CCG ever made, though I disagree.

To give a succinct description of what a CCG is is pretty difficult. The best way I can put it is this: take all of your baseball cards (or perhaps, football cards might be more appropriate for you Aussies, not sure what cards your kids buy). Now, imagine that you could pit those cards against each other. That is, in essence, what a CCG is.

Cam63 · 11-12-2005, 06:53 PM

I can't take to card games either.

Briareos · 11-12-2005, 07:26 PM

I had a problem with Mirroden is that it broke the game. They ended up having to ban 8 or 9 cards earlier this year cause of it. Now is a much better time to play it since at the recent regional championships a wide variety of decks won or go into the top 8.

Briareos · 11-12-2005, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cam63

I can't take to card games either.

I offer to help remedy this problem! :D

Monkey Boy · 11-12-2005, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Briareos

I had a problem with Mirroden is that it broke the game. They ended up having to ban 8 or 9 cards earlier this year cause of it. Now is a much better time to play it since at the recent regional championships a wide variety of decks won or go into the top 8.

I didn't care for Mirroden either. I don't care for artifacts. There were just to many large cards. I did like kamigawa. Bushido and Ninjitsu were nice.

Bright-Raven · 11-13-2005, 03:37 AM

Obviously there's more to the CCG systems than simple card games, but I'm sorry, to me it's like playing "Go Fish" with exacerbated rules.

I think traditional role playing is far superior in terms of the challenges of system play. Not because of die v. card, but because if you're playing it right, you are more of an actor playing the role of your character.

And better yet, people don't get into fistfights over losing, and nobody bets expensive property over a stupid game. MAGIC and the other CCG games have demonstrated to me time and again this sort of behavior, as players sometimes bet rare cards as their bounty in a match. While I realize this is supposedly not the intent of the producers of the game, they certainly pander to such practices by continuing to produce "specialty" cards that are more valuable than others due to rarity.

PatrickG · 11-13-2005, 04:28 AM

When I played, I played white black combo decks. But the... uhm... Black Lotus was legal then.

Sanagi · 11-13-2005, 04:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bright-Raven

Obviously there's more to the CCG systems than simple card games, but I'm sorry, to me it's like playing "Go Fish" with exacerbated rules.

I think traditional role playing is far superior in terms of the challenges of system play. Not because of die v. card, but because if you're playing it right, you are more of an actor playing the role of your character.

And better yet, people don't get into fistfights over losing, and nobody bets expensive property over a stupid game. MAGIC and the other CCG games have demonstrated to me time and again this sort of behavior, as players sometimes bet rare cards as their bounty in a match. While I realize this is supposedly not the intent of the producers of the game, they certainly pander to such practices by continuing to produce "specialty" cards that are more valuable than others due to rarity.

It doesn't matter what hobby you get into, if it involves interacting with people you are going to see the occasional idiot. It has nothing to do with CCGs themselves.

Oh yeah, and yes Ravnica is a great set. I've never been this excited about what the rest of the block has in store.

11-12-2005, 02:47 PM	#1
Briareos BANNED Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 2,785	Is this as cool as I think it is. Ok you guys seen me say how much I love to play Magic the Gathering and I've mentioned how cool Ravinica. Now I'm going to go into detail about why and I'm wondering if you guys will see why I think its cool. First a little background. In Magic the Gathering there are 5 colors of magic White,Red,Green,Blue, and Black. Each color gets cards that help stand it apart from the other. White is the more defensive and it is built around making little creatures bigger. It also has lots of ways to gain life and prevent damage to you and your creatures if your opponent does so. Red Is all about doing as much damage as possible. It has the best direct damage cards and also its creatures do the most damage. It has no ability to gain life or prevent damage however. Green is all about getting as much magical energy as possible and using it on mid sized creatures. It has creatures that give you more engery to bring in other cards. It also can gain life but it can't prevent damage and it doesn't do direct damage it wins through creatures. Blue is all about controling what your opponent does. It can counter (stop) your opponent when he tries to bring cards into play and it has the ability to return cards that your opponent brings into play back into his hand. It doesn't have good creatures or direct damage and it can't really destroy things that are in play permenantly. Black is all about hurting yourself to get a bigger gain out of it. It also has the best cards that just kill creatures. It can't stop anything else for the most part when it gets into play however. So now that you have the background lets move on to ravinica. Every fall around late september early october a new exapansion is released. In February and May of the following year a couple more expansions are released that are designed around a common theme and storyline. These are called blocks Ravinica story is based around a world that is one entire gigantic city. The whole world is run by 10 guilds. Each guild is represented in the game by one of the possible 10 2 color combo's you can make (white black, green red, ect) In Ravinca the first 4 guilds are introduced. the February expansion Guildpact will do the next 3 and the final 3 in the last expansion. Since only Ravinica is out I'll talk about the first 4 guilds The Boros Legion (White, Red) Is based around a Military guild with a strong sense of pride. Its special ability reflected in the cards are cards that would target one of your creatures but the effect would carry over to any other creature that shares a color with that creature. House Dimir (Black Blue) Are a secret society that most people don't know exist. They are based around coruption but in secret. Their special ability is Transmute which allows you to ditch a card that has that ability to search your deck for any other card that is the same cost. They also have alot of cards that are based around depleting your deck (You lose the game if you run out of cards and have to draw one though it is rare to win this way). The Selesnya Conclave (Green White) Are a bunch of druids and their followers and nature creatures and stuff. They have a ability called convoke where if a card has it then creatures can be used to get the mana needed to bring the card into play. The Golgari (Green Black) Are druids and elves who have been darkened by living in overgrown tombs and tending rot farms. They are all about the cycle of Life and death and then coming back to life from being dead. Their ability on the cards is Dredge which brings cards that have been used or destroyed (which are put in a pile called the graveyard) back in your hand for reuse.

11-12-2005, 06:12 PM	#2
Monkey Boy Biiiirrdd Piiiiig Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: In my own world Posts: 1,245	I think its cool but then I like Magic the Gathering. I remember the multicolored cards from older sets and they were always nice to have in decks. I really like the Kamigawa set but I'm looking forward to seeing whats in this one. __________________ Faster than a DVD player, more powerful than 10 mice, able to leap small fences with the aid of a step stool. Growing up, I always wanted to be a lesbian's jealous husband. XBox Live tag- kstml

11-12-2005, 06:36 PM	#4
Cam63 Elder Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Oztrailya Posts: 36,093	I can't get into that stuff. __________________ " Why do stars suddenly appear, every time I drink beer ? " ~~~ Karen Ellis

11-12-2005, 06:44 PM	#7
Cam63 Elder Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Oztrailya Posts: 36,093	What I mean is I can't get into online games, period. __________________ " Why do stars suddenly appear, every time I drink beer ? " ~~~ Karen Ellis

11-12-2005, 06:53 PM	#9
Cam63 Elder Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Oztrailya Posts: 36,093	I can't take to card games either. __________________ " Why do stars suddenly appear, every time I drink beer ? " ~~~ Karen Ellis

11-12-2005, 06:39 PM	#5
Converge BANNED Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 1,431	Sorry, but it's not as cool as you think it is.

11-12-2005, 07:26 PM	#10
Briareos BANNED Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 2,785	I had a problem with Mirroden is that it broke the game. They ended up having to ban 8 or 9 cards earlier this year cause of it. Now is a much better time to play it since at the recent regional championships a wide variety of decks won or go into the top 8.

11-13-2005, 03:37 AM	#13
Bright-Raven BANNED Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 1,093	Obviously there's more to the CCG systems than simple card games, but I'm sorry, to me it's like playing "Go Fish" with exacerbated rules. I think traditional role playing is far superior in terms of the challenges of system play. Not because of die v. card, but because if you're playing it right, you are more of an actor playing the role of your character. And better yet, people don't get into fistfights over losing, and nobody bets expensive property over a stupid game. MAGIC and the other CCG games have demonstrated to me time and again this sort of behavior, as players sometimes bet rare cards as their bounty in a match. While I realize this is supposedly not the intent of the producers of the game, they certainly pander to such practices by continuing to produce "specialty" cards that are more valuable than others due to rarity.

11-13-2005, 04:28 AM	#14
PatrickG Heavy Metal War Machine Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 11,849	When I played, I played white black combo decks. But the... uhm... Black Lotus was legal then.

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