MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

Abstract: As an aspiring Magic: the Gathering player, you might find yourself uncertain of how to best enter the game. Depending on how competitively you enjoy playing, there are several different options available to you. There are formats with varying degrees of competition. For more casual players I would recommend the more casual Sealed and Standard, whereas for higher levels of competition Booster Draft and Eternal would hit the mark more accurately. Additional resources that I would recommend are the simplified rules, reading up on different keywords, and finding a group that plays at the same level of competition as you. The most important thing for you to get better at Magic is to find a group, find a deck, and just keep practicing and building new decks. An understanding of the game comes through experience and hours of practice. One of the more important concepts is to not spend too many hours playing the game: real life is important every once in a while too. The most important thing to remember is to have a good time. Play whatever style of Magic you have fun in.

Reader response: Reading this guide, I can’t help but wonder about a few things. How to I build a collection so that I can just brew decks up out of loose cards? Why are there so many resources listed? I really just want to play a few games casually with my friends. I don’t want to trawl through pages and pages of information. Finally, why is draft listed as a competitive format? I’ve played with my friends and it ends up being very casual and fun. Overall, this was a very informative guide to entering Magic. I like that it covers a lot of potential objections or questions that readers might have, and provides instructions for many different types of aspiring players. It does end up being a lot of information to take in, though, and the sheer volume of information might be a turn off for potential Magic players.

Good scoping of the difficult reader. However, even the casual player wants to achieve a knowledge and facility so that the game time is pleasant. We see this in other areas, from checkers to Settlers of K., to chess and other game settings.

Section heads plus meta discourse about what the section will do for a reader will help with this last problem: turning off (overwhelming) the players.

One last thought: what about gender and minorities? Do you have advice for them? Ask me a bit about this in class.