A Collectable Card Game David Lam Stanford SPLASH! November 3, 2012

Rules about enchantments Can only play on your turn, during the main phase (more on this later). If it’s an aura, you have to “equip” it on a creature.

Rules about sorceries Can only play on your turn, during the main phase (more on this later). After the ability resolves, it goes into the graveyard.

Rules about instants Can play any time (even on the opponent’s turn!) After the ability resolves, it goes into the graveyard.

Rules about lands Can only play on your turn, during the main phase (more on this later). Can only play one a turn. Tap (turn sideways) to get mana from it.

Break Time! I’ve been chatting for a long time, so let’s take a break! Try to find one of each card: –Creature –Enchantment –Sorcery –Instant –Land

Casting spells!

The Playzone

Gameplay Untap Draw Main Phase 1 Combat (!!!) –Declare Attackers –Declare Blockers –Damage Dealt Main Phase 2 End Phase

Combat

Combat: No Blockers RAW R! Player 1: Player 1: 20 16

Combat: 1 Aven Squire Blocks

Combat: 3 Aven Squire Block

Play time! Go make a deck! –60 cards. I suggest grabbing 22 lands that match the color of the deck you’re making. –Get a good mix of cheap and expensive cards! –Have creatures! –Pick a “cool” color that you like and think fits you. –Have a max of 4 of each card, except basic lands. Remember to be nice! Everyone is learning how to play. –Grab pens and paper to write down your life on the table.

Thoughts? Questions? Answer questions you may still have. See what you all want me to review. What do you guys want to learn now? –T–The full version of a turn. –A–All the different types of cards. –T–The other parts of the gamezone. –D–Decision Trees –S–Statistics and Deck Construction

Gameplay: Take II Untap Upkeep Draw Main Phase 1 Combat –Precombat –Declare Attackers –Declare Blockers –Damage Dealt Main Phase 2 End Phase –Discard

Even More Cards!

Types of Cards Permanents (stay on battlefield) Lands Creatures Enchantments Artifacts Planeswalkers Non-permanents (go to graveyard) Instants Sorceries

The Playzone: Revisited

The Stack Before spells you cast resolve, they go onto the stack. –Think about it as an dogpile: whoever gets on top last gets off first (or resolves first). –Really useful way to understand what’s happening with spells that counter or spells that are done in response to something.

The Stack: Example 1

The Stack: Example 2

Decision Trees Probably figured out that you should have done something earlier or held onto a really good card. –How can we figure that out? –Let’s learn a few lessons.

Lesson 1: Element of Surprise

Lesson 2: Beware the Combat Trick!

Lesson 3: Sooner isn’t Always Better If we play it in the first main phase, he’ll be forced to attack. What if we played him the second main phase?

Lesson 4: Watch Your Resources Resist urge to kill cards immediately. What if they play something worse?

Easy Statistics Why do we suggest making 60 card decks? –Make 60 card decks because you want your best cards in the deck. While 100 card decks are cool, a 1/60 chance of finding that card you really need to win is much better than a 1/100 chance. Why do we suggest 22 lands? –Long story short, on average: Turn 1: 2.57 lands. Turn 2: 2.93 lands. Turn 3: 3.30 lands Turn 4: 3.67 lands Turn 5: 4.03 lands

Easy Statistics: The Curve

So Why Should I Care? Remember when I said that you want a good mix of expensive and cheap creatures? –You want your curve to be good so you can play spells every turn. –Every turn you CAN’T use your mana is a turn wasted. –Make sure once you have a lot of mana, you can play spells. Be aware of curve when making decks!

In Closing Art- Pictures of Awesome Cards Storyline- Magic has a really good storyline and flavor text that puts it in a different world. Gameplay- It’s fun! –You can be competitive –Or you can be creative Friends- I hope you all made lots of friends. Lots of education (math)- not just a game. Creative process- tons of cards to do whatever you want.

Acknowledgements ChannelFireball- They donated the pens, notepads, and most importantly, the cards! –Please send a thank-you to SPLASH!- They make this happen every year. Wizards of the Coast for making a great game. Everyone around you for being awesome!