The Object
In Magic, you and your opponent(s) each build a deck of Magic cards (the standard game has 60-card decks). You then use those decks to battle each other to victory, the goal being to get your opponent(s) to 0 life (you each start with 20).
Building a Deck
The deck consists of resource cards and spell cards.
Resource cards (generally land cards) produce "mana," which is required to pay for spell cards. Each card produces mana per turn. There are five types of mana in the game, corresponding to five colors (white, blue, black, red, green), shown below. Every spell card in the game has a cost, and will require one (or more) colors and quantities of mana to play. Generally, the higher the cost, the more powerful the card's effect. You can have any number of land cards in your deck.
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| This card produces one white mana every turn |
To be successful, there has to be a balance between resource and spell cards. Too few resources will prohibit you from playing your more expensive spells; too many will mean fewer spells to play.
The Gameplay
Each player draws 7 cards at the start. After choosing who goes first, players alternate turns. On a turn, you draw a card, play one resource card, and use any resources you have (indicated by turning the card sideways, or "tapping") to play spell cards. You can use each resource card only once per turn. Some spells (like creatures or enchantments) stay on the table; others (sorceries or instants) have abilities that resolve right away, and are afterwards discarded (and put into a "graveyard"). After the spell cards are played, there's a battle phase, where your creatures can attack your opponent's creatures, or your opponent directly (if they have no creatures on the table). All creatures have an attack and defense value (a 2/3 creature will do 2 damage when attacking, and can take 3 damage before dying), and to win, you must do at least 20 damage to your opponent directly. Generally, that means first dealing with their creatures on the table (since those creatures are "blocking" your opponent from taking direct damage). Creatures are important, but it's not all about them- many spells can do damage to your opponent directly, or give you life, or do any number of other things that makes the game interactive, strategic, and exciting. Good decks will generally feature cards that do different things, and are hence able to deal with a number of situations presented by the opponent.
The Expansions
The first release was enjoyable enough, and provided thousands of card combination possibilities for deck building. However, one feature of a collectible game is that it's ever-expanding, and always giving new options. With that in mind, new Magic cards are released several times a year, in sets or "expansions." Each expansion (generally consisting of hundreds of cards) adds more cards to the pool of possibilities. To date, over 75 expansions have been produced, plus a host of special collections (set information available here). Expansions are often released in blocks of three, with a unifying theme between them. The upcoming sets, for example, will be loosely based on Greek mythology.
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| There's no end in sight for Magic cards |
The good: Twenty years in, Magic is still going strong, with an estimated 12 million players worldwide. It's unquestionably at the top of the collectible gaming world. Over the years, the rules have been tightened and clarified, the expansions have given a host of options, and the player support community is second to none. It's a relatively simple and fast game, and a clear winner. Deck construction is an art, and exercises the brain wonderfully. There are many different ways to play (see formats here), making a different experience every single time. Monopoly this is not.
The bad: Magic is expensive if you want to play competitively- really expensive. If you don't have such aspirations, you can get a healthy collection of cards for more reasonable prices- but you'll still shell out a lot of cash. Strategically, Magic is wonderful, but does suffer from a few things; most notably, "mana flood" or "mana shortage." Since you can play only one land card per turn, if you miss playing a land card on turn X, you could be playing catch-up. Similarly, you could have tons of land on the table but too few spells in-hand, leading to the opposite problem. This issue can be managed through good deck construction, but it can squelch the fun of a game. Finally, deck construction, while fun, can take forever.
Conclusion
If you like collectible card games, you'll probably love Magic: the Gathering. There's not a lot of fault to find here.
Some resources:
Official Site
Card Database
One Magic Forum
Rules
Formats
Rating: A
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