So I got this idea to investigate Magic The Gathering. It started because my buddy Dave wouldn’t stop talking about booster packs. Figured I’d grab a starter set from the mall – fifteen bucks, no big deal.
The What Even Is This Phase
Cracked open the box to find five billion cards with dragons and elves. Tried reading the rulebook first – bad move. That thing reads like microwave instructions translated from alien language. Gave up after two pages and just threw cards on the table.
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What actually helped instead:
- Watched some YouTube clips of actual games
- Made piles by color (blue=water, red=fire – duh)
- Pretended land cards were Monopoly properties
Playing For Real (Kinda)
Invited Dave over thinking he’d be Gandalf guiding me. Nope. Dude brought his competition deck full of $100 cards. Wiped my creatures off the table in three turns. Felt like bringing a toothpick to a tank fight.
Discovered the brutal truth at our local game store: budget decks get slaughtered. Saw some nerds paying eighty bucks for a single shiny card! My mortgage payment just stared back at me from that display case.
Weird Obsession Kicked In
Started sorting cards every night like a crazy person. Put sticky notes on coffee table tracking card combos. Wife called it my “cardboard mistress”. Even dreamed about mana curves once – woke up in cold sweat shouting “TAP LANDS FIRST!”
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Practical stuff I learned:
- Pre-built commander decks = best starting point
- Dollar store binders work fine for organizing
- Friday nights at game store smell like wet socks
Where I Landed
Turns out Magic’s like golf – looks boring till you try it, then it eats your wallet and free time. Made a decent green/black deck now. Still lose 90% of matches but whatever. Dave avoids playing me ’cause I take five minutes reading every card. Petty? Hell yeah. Worth it.
