The rules of the game in “Magic the Gathering,” on the one hand, are quite voluminous and seem confusing, but on the other hand, they are clear, every step is described in them. Detailed knowledge of the rules and the ability to use them are the basis of a winning strategy.

Those interested history MTG world can get acquainted with it in the article:

Cards(the main element of the “hoe”) are described in the article

Let's start the game

The game begins with a draw. If the game is not the first, then the right to choose who goes first is given to the loser of the last time.

Players draw seven cards from their library into their hands. If the set is not satisfactory, you can change it, taking six cards, and so on. The one who goes first on the starting turn does not draw a card into his hand to compensate for the advantage.

Game process

Each player's turn consists of certain stages that occur in strict sequence. This is regardless of what format you're playing in, whether you're using a DIY deck or a duel set, or whether you're playing in the Oath of the Guardians, Rumble for Ixalan, or Aether Rebellion block.

Initial phase

There are three steps in the Initial Phase. The step of turning cards turned on the last turn (by turning the card on its side, the card is activated - the Earth gives mana, and the creature goes on the attack; you can turn back only in the initial phase of the next turn). A support step in which some cards can work. The step of taking a card from your library. During the second and third steps, you can cast instants and activate abilities.

Main phase

Subtleties

Magic: The Gathering Rules

Several people participate in the game, each with their own deck. Any number of people can play, but in official tournaments it is only one on one. An exception is the “Two-Headed Giant” format, introduced in the fall of 2005 - a two-on-two duel between teams.

Each Magic: The Gathering player must have their own deck of special illustrated cards. There are usually restrictions on deck size: a deck can contain at least 60 cards, and each individual card (except basic land cards) can appear in no more than 4 copies. These cards are purchased either in the form of ready-made decks, which can later be completed by adding or removing cards to your liking; or in the form of special packs of 15 random cards (“boosters”). There are also "tournament sets" - larger booster packs of 45 random cards and 30 basic lands.

The specificity of all attackers is checked.

• If the player “forgot”, but there are creatures that are obliged to attack, only they attack.
• If a creature is required to attack, but there is another card that limits the attack, then the player is not required to implement the effect, and also has the right to assign another correct combination of attacking creatures when limiting (for example, with Crawlspace, no more than two creatures can attack. Thran War Mashine cannot attack if 2 other attacking creatures are assigned).

Once attackers have been declared, both players can play instants or abilities. Once all instants and abilities have been covered, players move on to the next step.

Blocker announcement stage

The defending player chooses which creatures will block and arranges who will block whom. Only tapped creatures cannot block. Creatures that have entered the defending player's control can block immediately unless they are tapped. A normal creature can only block one attacker; however, multiple creatures can work together to block a single attacking creature.

Declaring blocking creatures is a special action. All selected creatures immediately become blockers, and those they block become blocked. Now, no matter what happens to the defender's creatures, blocked creatures will not deal damage to the player (with the exception of creatures with trample). You cannot play anything “in response” to the announcement of blocking creatures. If the attacking player wants to return a creature from play to its owner's hand so that it cannot block, this should have been done in the previous stage.

Air "had flying" creatures can only be blocked by air creatures or creatures whose abilities indicate the ability to block flying "may block as though it had flying". Like, for example, Venerable Kumo.

Once blocking creatures are declared, players can play instants and abilities. Once they have all been dealt with, players move on to the next stage of the battle.

Combat Damage Stage

(if you have the First strike Double Strike ability, the stage occurs twice). Each player determines how their creatures should deal damage. Damage is only “assigned” at first. Each creature assigns damage equal to its power. Unblocked creatures assign damage to the defending player, blocking creatures assign damage to the attacking creature they are blocking, blocked creatures assign damage to the blocking creature. If one creature is blocked by several creatures, then the attacking player chooses how to distribute the power of his creature among these blockers.

All damage is dealt simultaneously, after which a simple calculation of the final damage is made, all triggers open the stack and the attacking player receives priority.

In the old rules, damage opened the stack, after which players were allowed to play instants and abilities in an attempt to "save" the creature, where the player could prevent the damage, strengthen their own creature (for example, with the Giant Growth spell), or weaken an enemy one. but this no longer affected the damage caused. After which a simple calculation of the final damage was made.

End of battle stage

All abilities starting with the words “At end of combat...” are triggered. Players can cast instants and permanent abilities. Often nothing happens at this stage.

Main phase, after the battle

From a rules perspective, this main phase is no different from the main phase before the battle. The active player can place a land if he did not place one in the main phase before the battle.

End of turn phase

1. End of turn step - at this stage, all abilities starting with the words “At end of turn...” are triggered. Players can also use instant spells and abilities.
2. Cleanup step - in this stage the following actions occur:
   • All effects that indicate that they last until the end of the turn expire.
   • At the same time, damage is removed from all creatures.
   • If the walking player has more than seven cards, he must discard the extra ones to the graveyard (there should be no more than seven left in his hand).

Victory conditions (according to the rules, they are included in the number of state effects (State-Based Effects))

State-Based Effects are checked:

• At the beginning of Upkeep
• When any player gains the right to move
• At the end of the Cleanup phase

The player is considered a loser:

1. When a player's life reaches 0 or decreases
2. If a player is required to take a card from the library, but it is not there
3. A player who has 10 or more Poison Counters (cards that form them are in the Mirage block, as well as in the Future Sight block)
4. In addition, there are cards that stipulate separate win/loss conditions (for example, Test of Endurance, Platinum Angel or Battle of Wits). If such a card is present in the game or is played, the victory conditions are considered in accordance with its text.
5. If both players lose at the same time, the game ends in a draw.

In addition, the game ends in a draw if during the game there is an endless loop that no player can break (For example, Grindstone if there are only two Serra Avatars in the deck).

Players can agree to a draw at any time, with the exception of an open stack, in which all effects can trigger one player to win, and also if it is necessary to determine the winner who will play in the next match.

The match is won by the player who has won two (less often three) duels, and when time runs out, who simply has larger number victories

Using instants and abilities in response

When a player plays a spell card, it does not immediately go into play or have an effect. First it is placed in stack. While it's on the stack, you and other players can cast instants and abilities. If a player does this and uses a spell or ability, it will also not immediately have an effect, but will end up on the stack on top of the first one. Players can add spells and abilities to the stack until no one else wants to add anything; then the last spell or ability put on the stack is considered. If it was a one-time spell, it has an effect and is put into the graveyard. If it is a creature, artifact, or enchantment, it is put into play. If it was an ability (activated or triggered), it has an effect and disappears from the stack. Players can then replenish the stack or consider the next top item. When the stack is empty and neither player wants to replenish it, the current stage of the turn ends and the next one begins.

Example: Player A has a Knight Errant creature on the field with “2/2” written on it. This means that the creature has power 2 and toughness 2. Player B has a Shock spell in his hand, which reads: “Shock deals 2 damage to target creature or player.” ). Player B plays Shock. To do this he:

• Shows "Shock" to the opponent so that he can read what Player B wants to do, and places the card in the place that the players have allocated for the stacking area (it is recommended to allocate a place in the middle of the game table).
• Selects the target of the spell - you need to specify a creature or player. Player B chooses Knight Errant as his target.
• Pays for the spell - it costs one red mana. He taps one mountain to gain red mana and immediately spends it on a spell.

The shock spell is on the stack and Player B doesn't want to add anything else to it (passes). Player A can now use instants and abilities. He has the Giant Growth spell in his hand, which reads: "Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn." He plays it, specifying his Knight Errant as the target. “Giant Growth” is placed on the stack, on top of “Shock”. If no players cast instants or abilities beyond this, Giant Growth is considered and completes its effect. The knight becomes 5/5 until end of turn. Shock is then considered and does 2 damage, but not enough to kill a creature with toughness 5. At the end of the turn (during the cleanup phase), the creature will become 2/2, but all damage will be removed from it at the same time, so it will not die.

Example: If the players had cast the spells in a different order, things would have been different. Player A plays Giant Growth, which goes on the stack. Player B plays Shock. Shock is dealt first, dealing two damage and killing the knight. The knight is placed in the cemetery; by the time Giant Growth is considered, its target is no longer on the field. “Giant Growth” is interrupted (goes to the cemetery without giving effect).

Activated, triggered, and static abilities

The text field of the map indicates its distinctive features which are called abilities. Text in italics is artistic or evocative and does not affect the course of the game. Typically, abilities only work on permanents in play, and although there is a large number of other options, exceptions to this rule are stipulated in one way or another.

There are three types of abilities:

• Activated abilities. A card with an activated ability expands the player's choice of actions, since now he can use the activated abilities of his cards in addition to playing cards from his hand and moving creatures to attack. An ability is activated if its text contains a colon. This ability always has the form: “Activation Cost: Effect.” Everything before the colon is the price that must be paid to gain the effect of the ability. The text to the right of the colon describes what the ability does. The activation price may include mana; tap - To activate this ability, you must tap the permanent (this usually means that the ability can only be used once per turn). A player can choose to use an ability more than once - as long as they can pay the activation cost again. Activated abilities can be used at the same time as instants. To use an ability, the player must assign the ability to the target (if required) and pay the activation cost. The ability is then placed on the stack: now it will be considered and will have an effect regardless of what happens to the permanent that generated this ability.
• Triggered abilities. The text of the triggered ability always begins with the words "when...", "every time...", "at the beginning" or "at the end" ("When", "Whenever", "At"), followed by the trigger condition. The player cannot use (or not use) such abilities arbitrarily - every time the condition is met, the ability is triggered and goes on the stack, regardless of the players' wishes. If an ability's text specifies one or more targets, the choice of targets is made by the player who controls the permanent with the ability. If the abilities of several cards are triggered at the same time, then the abilities controlled by the active player are placed on the stack first, in any order at his discretion, and then, on top of them, the abilities of his opponent. The effect of a triggered ability occurs while it is being considered, allowing instants and activated abilities to be played in response to triggered abilities.
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Several people participate in the game, each with their own deck. Any number of people can play, but in official tournaments it is only one on one. An exception is the “Two-Headed Giant” format, introduced in the fall of 2005 - a two-on-two duel between teams.

Each Magic: The Gathering player must have their own deck of special illustrated cards. There are usually restrictions on deck size: a deck can contain at least 60 cards, and each individual card (except basic land cards) can appear in no more than 4 copies. These cards are purchased either in the form of ready-made decks, which can later be completed by adding or removing cards to your liking; or in the form of special packs of 15 random cards (“boosters”). There are also "tournament sets" - larger booster packs of 45 random cards and 30 basic lands.

"Golden Rule"

Sometimes the text of a card conflicts with the rules of Magic. In such cases, preference is given to what is written on the card rather than in the rules. This rule is called the "Golden Rule of Magic." (It should be borne in mind, however, that we are only talking about a card directly contradicting a specific rule, which does not happen very often.)

Mana

Each card represents a land or a spell. The magician uses lands to obtain magical energy - "mana", which he spends to cast spells. Spells can have a one-time effect or turn into “permanents” (from the English “permanent” - constant): “creatures” fighting on the side of the magician controlling them, magical objects - “artifacts”, or long-lasting “enchantments”.

The basis of game balance is “mana cost”. Each card, except land cards, has a mana cost - how many mana points you need to pay to use this card as a spell. The player receives mana for playing spells from lands, and lands can be placed no more than one per turn, and therefore, say, on the third turn the player can play cards with a mana cost of no more than 3. As a rule, the more powerful the card, the higher it is mana cost.

The mana cost is written with special characters. Each colored symbol requires you to pay a unit of mana of a certain color, and a colorless symbol with a number inside shows that this part of the cost can be paid with mana of any type in the specified amount. There are five colors in Magic: The Gathering: white, blue, black, red and green. Some non-basic lands produce colorless mana, which can only be spent to pay part of the price, measured in mana of any type. However, when an effect requires you to choose a color, you must choose one of five colors, and “colorless” does not count as a color.

Game zones

The card can only be in one play area at a time. There are six main play areas:

1. Library - Your entire deck is placed in this area at the beginning of the game. The library is one of the player's main resources. From it he receives cards into his hand, usually as a result of the standard “draw a card” action. Failure to draw a card when the game rules or card effect dictates that you should do so means failure. The Library is a "closed" area: in the absence of special effects, no player can view the Library or change the order of cards in it.
2. Hand - cards taken by the player from the library usually fall into this zone. At the beginning of the game, each player takes a “starting hand” of 7 cards. The cards in hand are the player's "tactical reserve". They are usually unknown to the opponent, which introduces elements of surprise and bluffing into the game.
3. The game is an open area common to all players. Cards and tokens in play are called "permanents." Most card abilities such as lands, creatures, artifacts, and enchantments only work in-game. A significant part of the gameplay is associated with the manipulation of objects in this zone. Unlike the card types above, sorceries and instants never come into play, although they often affect the zone.
4. Graveyard - this is the name of the pile of played cards; played sorceries and instant spells, killed creatures and other destroyed permanents go here. Each player has his own cemetery, but the maps in it are available for viewing by all players. Newly added cards to the graveyard are placed on top of those already there, and the relative order of the cards in the graveyard must be maintained unchanged throughout the game.
5. The stack is a common area for all players, into which any spells and some abilities fall. A spell or ability remains on the stack for a period of time before its effect is resolved. Spell cards and imaginary “pseudo cards” of abilities on the stack form a stack, which is replenished from the top and reviewed from above, thus implementing a “LIFO” scheme (last in, first out). This allows you to use a “priority” system in the gameplay, which provides the possibility of playing “in response”. Thanks to this, players have the opportunity to cancel or change the effect of their opponent's spells or abilities. More about the stack below.
6. Removed cards zone - initially, cards that were “removed from the game” were excluded from the current game game forever. However, as the game developed, a need arose for a temporary, reversible exclusion of cards from the gameplay. Thus formed modern concept“removal of a card”, the closest analogue of which is, perhaps, a penalty deletion of a player during a hockey match. The removed cards area is common to all players, the cards in it are available for viewing (unless game effects require otherwise) and are sorted in such a way that it is possible to track the conditions for returning the card to the game process, if they exist.

Cards

Colors

In Magic, both mana and cards come in only the following five colors:

1. White
2. Blue
3. Black
4. Red
5. Green

• Multi-color (“golden”) cards - the price of which contains mana of two or more colors. Many of these cards have a distinctive yellow (“golden”) border. Note that a card whose price includes several colors at the same time applies to each of these colors. For example, a card with a price of 1RG will be both green and red. Thus, "multi-color", "red-green" and other similar epithets are not separate colors.
• Hybrid cards - contain a hybrid mana symbol in their cost. This unit of cost can be paid for with mana of one of two colors. Regardless of what mana was spent to pay, the card has both colors (this rule is similar to multi-color cards).
• Colorless cards that require no mana to play or can use any type of mana. Examples of colorless cards are lands and artifacts. "Colorless" is not a color, but the absence of color.

The color of a card can influence its design, but not vice versa. According to the rules, the color of a card is determined by the mana contained in the card's price. The color of the card can be changed by game effects.

Types

Cards are divided into the following types:

1. Creatures (many Russian players call them “krichurs” or “krichi”)
2. Instant spells
3. Sorcery
4. Enchantment
5. Artifacts
6. Land

There are cards that have more than one type, for example, Artifact Creature. Such cards have all the advantages and disadvantages of both types - a spell that destroys an artifact allows you to destroy an artifact creature.

Instant cards and sorcery cards are one-use only. Once they have been reviewed, they are placed in the graveyard. All other spell cards (creatures, enchantments, and artifacts) are put into play after review. Lands are not spells; they are introduced into the game according to special rules. Cards in the game are called permanents. They remain in play until they are destroyed, sacrificed, or otherwise moved to another zone.

Earth

Each turn, a player can play one land on his turn. Lands produce mana.

Typically, a land can only produce mana once in a turn. To indicate that the land was already producing mana this turn, it is turned 90 degrees ("tapped"). Until the player's next turn (until the untap phase, when all tapped permanents untap), it can no longer produce mana.

There are basic and non-basic lands. Basic lands come in five subtypes: Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, Forest. By name, there are ten basic lands - in addition to the usual plains, islands, swamps, mountains and forests, there are their “snowy” versions from the Ice Age edition. All other lands are non-basic.

On non-basic lands, the text usually states an ability that allows the land to produce mana per tap of that land. This ability is not specified on basic lands because the rule is that if a land has a land subtype that is a basic land (if the card type line says "Land - Plains" and "Plains" is one of the basic lands), then such a land has the ability to produce mana of the corresponding color per turn. A land card may not contain any ability text at all, but if it has the Plains subtype, then it produces white mana per turn. Changing a land's subtype changes its ability to produce mana.

Creatures

Creatures are the only type of permanent that can attack an opponent and block attacks from enemy creatures. For this, creatures have two special parameters: Power and Toughness, written in the lower right corner of the card through a slash. For example, if a creature says "2/1", the first number is the attack power and the second is that creature's damage resistance. Creatures have a specific limitation on their abilities, which is written as follows: the creature cannot attack, and its abilities that include a tap icon in the cost cannot be played unless the player has controlled that creature continuously since the last time its turn began . This rule is informally referred to as "summoning sickness" because it causes most creatures to be unable to attack the turn they come into play. Some creatures have the Haste ability and are not affected by this rule.

Attack. Block.

Each turn the player can attack the opponent with his creatures; it cannot attack enemy creatures. Attacking creatures turn to mark that they were used this turn (Vigilance prevents a creature from turning when attacking). Tapped creatures cannot block or use their abilities that require tapping. The defending player can block each of the creatures attacking him with one or more of his own creatures. All unblocked creatures deal damage to the defending player, blocked and blocking creatures damage each other. The damage dealt is determined by the creature's strength, the amount of damage the creature can withstand is determined by its toughness. If the amount of damage becomes equal to or exceeds the creature's durability, it dies.

Damage inflicted on the player is deducted from his life. The current lives of the players must be recorded. A player who reaches 0 or less life loses. Damage is removed from surviving creatures at the end of each turn.

Beginning of the game

The player who will go first is determined by lot. There is a rule: if the game is not the first, then the losing player has the right to choose who will go first. The one who goes first does not draw a card on his very first turn (thus compensating for the advantage of the first move).

Players start with 20 life points.

At the beginning of the game, each player shuffles his deck and draws himself 7 cards from the top. If he is not satisfied with his hand, he can mulligan (“mulligan”), taking 1 less card. This can be repeated as long as there are cards in your hand.

Phases and stages

Each turn is divided into phases, the phases are divided into stages:

1. Beginning of turn phase
   • Untap step
   • Upkeep step
   • Draw step
2. Main phase, before the battle (Precombat main phase)
3. Combat phase
   • Beginning of combat step
   • Declare atackers step
   • Declare blockers step
   • Combat damage step
   • End of combat step
4. Postcombat main phase
5. End of turn phase
   • End of turn step
   • Cleanup step

Start of turn phase

The start of a turn phase consists of three stages: untap, support and draw a card. After this, the main phase begins.

• Turnaround stage. The player who moves untaps all of his tapped (tapped) permanents. They are ready for use again.
• Support stage. All abilities that say “At the beginning of upkeep...” are triggered. In addition, players can cast instants and activated abilities of permanents.
• Card drawing stage. The player who moves takes the top card of his deck and adds it to the cards in his hand. Players can then cast instants and abilities.

Main phase, before the battle

The main phase is not divided into stages. In the main phase, the active player (that is, the one whose turn is currently ongoing) has the right to lay out lands, place creatures, and play spells. The player cannot play in any other phases except the main one:

• artifact cards
• Creature cards
• sorcery cards
• enchantment cards
• Land maps

The player can place these cards only on his turn, and only when the stack is empty. A player can use instant cards and activated abilities of permanents at any time, even on someone else's turn (the only exceptions are the "technical" stages: the untap stage and the cleanup stage, when players are not allowed to take any actions). The player can take as many actions as he wants until he wants to move on to the next phase. The enemy can use instant spells and abilities of his permanents during this phase.

Battle phase

The battle phase consists of 5 stages:

• (Beginning of combat step)
• (Declare attackers step)
• (Declare blockers step)
• (Combat damage step)
• (End of combat step)

Start of battle stage

All abilities starting with the words “At the beginning of combat...” are triggered. Players can play instants and permanent abilities. Often nothing happens during this phase, but it is the optimal time for the defending player to deny their opponent's minions the ability to attack with instants or abilities.

Attacker announcement stage

The active player chooses which of his creatures he wants to attack with. They cannot attack:

• Tapped Creatures
• Creatures that the player has not continuously controlled since the start of his turn (except for creatures with Haste)
• Creatures with the Defender ability

The player taps all attacking creatures. Announcing attacking creatures is a special action. All selected creatures immediately become attackers and remain so until the end of the battle, unless they leave the battle earlier due to game effects; When an attacker is declared, you cannot play anything “in response.” If the defending player wanted to tap a creature so it couldn't attack, it had to be done on .

Once attackers have been declared, both players can play instants or abilities. Once all instants and abilities have been covered, players move on to the next step.

Blocker announcement stage

The defending player chooses which creatures will block and arranges who will block whom. Only tapped creatures cannot block. Creatures that have entered the defending player's control can block immediately unless they are tapped. A normal creature can only block one attacker; however, multiple creatures can work together to block a single attacking creature.

Declaring blocking creatures is a special action. All selected creatures immediately become blockers, and those they block become blocked. Now, no matter what happens to the defender's creatures, blocked creatures will not cause damage to the player. You cannot play anything “in response” to the announcement of blocking creatures. If the attacking player wants to return a creature from play to its owner's hand so that it cannot block, this should have been done in the previous stage.

Once blocking creatures are declared, players can play instants and abilities. Once they have all been dealt with, players move on to the next stage of the battle.

Combat Damage Stage

Each player determines how their creatures should deal damage. Damage is only “assigned” at first. Each creature assigns damage equal to its power. Unblocked creatures assign damage to the defending player, blocking creatures assign damage to the attacking creature they are blocking, blocked creatures assign damage to the blocking creature. If one creature is blocked by several creatures, then the attacking player chooses how to distribute the power of his creature among these blockers.

Once the damage assignment is completed, it is put on the stack as a special object like a spell or ability (often called "damage on the stack"). Stack corruptions are treated the same as any other stack objects, but they cannot be interrupted. Players can play instants and abilities both before and after considering "damage on the stack." Upon review, "stack damage" is dealt exactly as intended. There are only two exceptions: if the creature to which the damage was assigned left the game, and if it ceased to be a creature. If a creature simply leaves combat or even comes under the control of another player, it will still receive the damage assigned to it.

When the “damage in the stack” and everything that players will play in this stage have been considered, the stage ends and the next one begins.

End of battle stage

All abilities starting with the words “At end of combat...” are triggered. Players can cast instants and permanent abilities. Often nothing happens at this stage.

Main phase, after the battle

From a rules perspective, this main phase is no different from the main phase before the battle. The active player can place a land if he did not place one in the main phase before the battle.

End of turn phase

1. End of turn step - at this stage, all abilities starting with the words “At end of turn...” are triggered. Players can also use instant spells and abilities.
2. Cleanup step - in this stage the following actions occur:
   • All effects that indicate that they last until the end of the turn expire.
   • At the same time, damage is removed from all creatures.
   • If the walking player had more than 7 cards, he must discard all but seven into the graveyard.

Victory Conditions

When a player's life reaches 0 or becomes less, the player is considered a loser. If a player must take a card from the library, but it is not there, he is also considered a loser. In addition, there are cards that stipulate separate win/loss conditions (for example, Platinum Angel or Battle of Wits). If such a card is present in the game or is played, the victory conditions are considered in accordance with its text. If both players lose at the same time, the game ends in a draw.

Using instants and abilities in response

When a player plays a spell card, it does not immediately go into play or have an effect. First it is pushed onto the stack. While it's on the stack, you and other players can cast instants and abilities. If a player does this and uses a spell or ability, it will also not immediately have an effect, but will end up on the stack on top of the first one. Players can add spells and abilities to the stack until no one else wants to add anything; then the last spell or ability put on the stack is considered. If it was a one-time spell, it has an effect and is put into the graveyard. If it is a creature, artifact, or enchantment, it is put into play. If it was an ability (activated or triggered), it has an effect and disappears from the stack. Players can then replenish the stack or consider the next top item. When the stack is empty and neither player wants to replenish it, the current stage of the turn ends and the next one begins.

Example: Player A has a Knight Errant creature on the field with “2/2” written on it. This means that the creature has power 2 and toughness 2. Player B has a Shock spell in his hand, which reads: “Shock deals 2 damage to target creature or player.” ). Player B plays Shock. To do this he:

• Shows "Shock" to the opponent so that he can read what Player B wants to do, and places the card in the place that the players have allocated for the stacking area (it is recommended to allocate a place in the middle of the game table).
• Selects the target of the spell - you need to specify a creature or player. Player B chooses Knight Errant as his target.
• Pays for the spell - it costs one red mana. He taps one mountain to gain red mana and immediately spends it on a spell.

The shock spell is on the stack and Player B doesn't want to add anything else to it (passes). Player A can now use instants and abilities. He has the Giant Growth spell in his hand, which reads: "Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn." He plays it, specifying his Knight Errant as the target. “Great Growth” is placed on the stack, on top of “Shock”. If no players cast instants or abilities beyond this, Greater Growth is considered and completes its effect. The knight becomes 5/5 until end of turn. Shock is then considered and does 2 damage, but not enough to kill a creature with toughness 5. At the end of the turn (during the cleanup phase), the creature will become 2/2, but all damage will be removed from it at the same time, so it will not die.

Example: If the players had cast the spells in a different order, things would have been different. Player A plays Giant Growth, which goes on the stack. Player B plays Shock. Shock is dealt first, dealing two damage and killing the knight. The knight is placed in the cemetery; by the time Giant Growth is considered, its target is no longer on the field. “Giant Growth” is interrupted (goes to the cemetery without giving effect).

Activated, triggered and static abilities

The text field of the card indicates its distinctive features, which are called abilities. Text in italics is artistic or evocative and does not affect the course of the game. Typically, abilities only work on permanents in play, and while there are plenty of other options, exceptions to this rule are specified one way or another.

There are three types of abilities:

• Activated abilities. A card with an activated ability expands the player's choice of actions, since now he can use the activated abilities of his cards in addition to playing cards from his hand and moving creatures to attack. An ability is activated if its text contains a colon. This ability always has the form: “Activation Cost: Effect.” Everything before the colon is the price that must be paid to gain the effect of the ability. The text to the right of the colon describes what the ability does. The activation price may include mana; tap - To activate this ability, you must tap the permanent (this usually means that the ability can only be used once per turn). A player can choose to use an ability more than once - as long as they can pay the activation cost again. Activated abilities can be used at the same time as instants. To use an ability, the player must assign the ability to the target (if required) and pay the activation cost. The ability is then placed on the stack: now it will be considered and will have an effect regardless of what happens to the permanent that generated this ability.
• Triggered abilities. The text of the triggered ability always begins with the words "when...", "every time...", "at the beginning" or "at the end" ("When", "Whenever", "At"), followed by the trigger condition. The player cannot use (or not use) such abilities at will - every time the condition is met, the ability is triggered and goes on the stack. If an ability's text specifies one or more targets, the choice of targets is made by the player who controls the permanent with the ability. If the abilities of several cards are triggered at the same time, then the abilities controlled by the active player are placed on the stack first, in any order at his discretion, and then, on top of them, the abilities of his opponent. The effect of a triggered ability occurs while it is being considered, allowing instants and activated abilities to be played in response to triggered abilities.
• Static abilities. The text of a static ability indicates some kind of extended action, for example, “All your creatures have the ability to fly” (implying - always). This ability does not trigger, but acts as long as the card with it is in the desired zone (by default, in the game).

WITH brief description how to play MTG, it is absolutely impossible to learn from it

"Magic" - difficult game. The complete rules of the game take up 200 printed pages. But to start playing at home with friends you don’t have to read them. In order to understand the structure of the turn, the rules for playing cards and conducting a battle, brief rules are enough.

Those interested can study the full rules, also known as Comprehensive Rules, on the website MTG.ru. They only exist in English. The rules are updated with each release when new mechanics appear.
UPD In March 2017, the judges prepared an unofficial translation of the full rules.

Ask friends

This is convenient for learning immediately through practice. It is enough to play one or two duels to understand the principles of the game. This will take about an hour. But I still recommend at least looking through it before the first game. brief rules, so as not to waste time studying the details of the cards, but to immediately pay attention to the game process. From experience, the first half hour is spent just showing what the cards look like and which element represents what.

Minus: a friend may not have a deck of cards in Russian. Although the game uses a fairly simple vocabulary in English, for many beginners this creates a problem.

Go to a gaming club

In addition to the fact that store clubs sell a bunch of MTG products and hold tournaments, they also train beginners.

To do this, the club gives a beginner's deck - a starter - for free. Such a deck consists of 30 (not 60, as usual) cards that are not particularly valuable, but which contains the main types of cards: lands, creatures, instants, sorcery cards. There are 5 starting decks, for each color of mana. It’s not a fact that the club will have anyone to choose from, but there will certainly be something.

A club employee will explain the rules during the training game, after which the player can keep this starting deck. It will not be suitable for further play, since it contains fewer cards than needed, but the cards themselves can be put into another deck, or vice versa, added to it.

The club will register a newcomer with a DCI number - a player identifier, which will be useful for tournaments in any other club around the world.

Take training in the computer version

The best option is to learn using the computer version of the game. Latest version called Magic Duels, and is distributed free of charge on Steam for Windows, for iPhone and iPad, and on the xBOX console.

The game teaches consistently. At first, the beginner plays against the computer only with creatures: he lays out lands, plays creatures, uses them to attack and blocks the attacks of the computer opponent. The next round adds sorcery spells. Then the game is played with instant spells in order to learn “tricks”: pumping up your creatures in battle, canceling opponents’ spells and other unexpected responses to your opponent’s actions.

The game process is accompanied by tips. During the training mode, the player becomes familiar with the basic rules, after which he can play with friends.

Or you can go through the campaign, beating computer opponents with different decks. For victory, the player receives new cards with which he can strengthen the deck for difficult opponents.

In addition to completing the campaign, you can play online with other players one-on-one or in the “two-headed giant” format in a team of two against two players.

If you find an error, please highlight it and click Ctrl+Enter.

The Magic: The Gathering (hereinafter referred to as MTG) franchise has recently experienced a rebirth. Return to Ravinca, released in 2012, is considered by many to be one of the strongest in MTG's 19-year history, so it's no surprise that it sold like hotcakes at retailers around the world.

In addition, the creators of MTG, in fact, single-handedly invented and defined the scope of the “collectible card game” (hereinafter referred to as CCG) genre, and the rebirth of the franchise coincided with the rise of Japanese online card hits like Rage of Balamut (from DeNA) and Doriland ( from GREE), exploiting - has made MTG Hasbro's best-selling franchise, as well as its most popular CCG.

Richard Garfield created MTG in the early 90s - after Wizards of the Coasts rejected his proposal board game. And although the wizards liked the idea of ​​RoboRally, they wanted something more compact. A game that wouldn't take a lot of time to develop, and that could be played during a break between other games. And then Garfield returned with the concept of a CCG, and already in 1993, under his leadership, MTG itself was launched.

Basic MTG rules are very simple: use land cards to generate mana, use mana to cast spells and summon creatures, and then use spells and creatures to defeat your opponent. The complexity arises due to the so-called “spontaneous strategy”, which is formed when these simple rules enter into a “chemical reaction” with a variety of unique cards (at the moment there are over 10 thousand of them), from which the battle deck is composed.

The rules underlying digital games are usually hidden from the outside observer, which is not the case with their “real” counterparts. By studying and analyzing these rules, we, as developers of digital games, can learn a lot of necessary and useful things. Moreover, MTG has more to offer than others - thanks to in-depth balance, as well as elements such as management of limited resources and variable reinforcement. In addition, the lessons learned can be applied not only to the creation of game mechanics, but also to marketing, visual design and gaming community management.

As a long-time MTG junkie and a game designer, here are five things we can learn from the success of this TCG.

Lesson 1: Elemental Strategy

Chess is a classic of game design, and precisely because matches in this game develop according to the principle of spontaneous strategy. The basic rules of chess are relatively simple and, by today's standards, even boring, but mastering the complexity that arises from the variety of moves and counter-moves will take you several lives.

It is incredibly difficult for the human mind to comprehend the complexity of the cause and effect of this game, so it takes a different path - it looks for certain patterns to model and understand this complexity. When the mind applies patterns and they lead to victory, it receives a feeling of satisfaction and pleasant excitement as a reward.

Inventing a spontaneous strategy akin to the one found in chess is a very difficult task, if not impossible. Therefore, instead of creating the final version of the game concept, it is better to go a different way - to find some kind of basic idea, and then gradually adjust something new to it, as was the case with MTG. After all, even chess took almost 1.5 thousand years to acquire its present form.

In MTG, player-controlled creatures have two parameters - “strength” and “toughness”. Players can assign these creatures to attack or, conversely, to defend against attacks. This simple rule forms a good part of the basic MTG strategy.

For example, it’s Player A’s turn, who has one card with “Grizzly Bears” at his disposal, and player B has two cards with “Spirits” in his hands.

Grizzlies have strength and toughness ratings of 2 and 2, respectively (displayed as 2/2) - this means that the damage to the player (or the creature protecting him) will be 2 points, but the bears themselves will die if 2 points of damage are dealt to them . For spirits these indicators are 1 and 1.

Player A assigns a grizzly to attack player B. Player B therefore has the following options: do nothing and take damage from the grizzly, assign one spirit to defend, or assign two spirits to defend. The graph below shows the consequences of all these situations.

We do not defend ourselves with anything - Player B receives 2 points of damage (10% of all health points). We defend ourselves with one spirit - One spirit dies. We defend ourselves with two spirits - both spirits and the grizzly die.

A player's actions in this situation can be influenced by many factors: what cards are in play, what cards are in the hand, what cards are in the deck, what abilities the creatures have. For example, a spirit might have the ability to fly, so grizzlies (who can't fly) won't be able to block them, allowing the spirits to hit the player and remain untouched.

In addition, taking into account the remaining mana and the number of cards in the players’ hands, you can perform certain “tricks”. For example, player A assigns a grizzly bear to attack player B, while holding the “Giant Growth” card, the presence of which player B is not aware of.

Giant Growth is an instant spell that can be cast after the attackers and defenders have been announced. It increases the chosen creature's strength and durability by three points. Thus, by casting Giant Growth on a grizzly, we increase its damage and health points to 5 and 5 respectively. The graph below shows how the situation will change under the influence of changed conditions.

We are not defending ourselves with anything - Player B receives 5 points of damage (25% of all health points). We defend ourselves with one spirit - One spirit dies. We defend ourselves with two spirits - Both spirits die, but the bears survive.

Player B, meanwhile, may have a Cancel card to counter this Giant Growth. That is, the principle is that the enemy hits with one spell, you respond with another, etc. Players essentially need to predict what spells and abilities the enemy will use and build their battle deck based on that.

Predicting a player's actions and what their deck will consist of is called "meta-game" and is a large part of tournament play. Thus, thanks to the variety of abilities tied to creatures, spells and lands, each new battle can develop completely differently. In addition, the strategic landscape is constantly changing, because with each new set (there are four released annually), one or two new abilities are introduced into the game.

In chess, the game is played through the construction of mental models and their subsequent application. However, in MTG, the elemental strategy is pushed by the developers themselves - through the release of new sets. These changes are then considered by the collective mind, and the best strategies are applied to the players on the battlefield.

After a new set is released, players spend months building, playing, and honing their combat decks. Over time, some decks begin to be considered the “strongest”, and some cards become the most valuable (MTG players call them “chase rare”, which can be translated as “the rarity that everyone is chasing”). When one powerful deck is replaced by another, this entire economy begins to experience a paradigm shift.

Thus, MTG teaches us that the basics of the game should be as simple as possible, but still give players a huge amount of gaming options, even if this variety is pushed by the developers. Thanks to this, the game acquires a “learning curve” - having found and applied some successful strategy, players get a feeling of satisfaction and strive to look for new successful strategies.

Lesson 2: Inducement through Variable Reinforcement

Imagine it's your birthday and your friends bring you gifts wrapped in festive packaging. But they won’t give you gifts just like that - you need to flip a coin until it lands on the same side twice in a row. Now imagine the same thing, only the gifts are not wrapped in anything. You see what they are going to give you - here are socks, here are books, and here are DVDs. Some you want, some you don’t. Which of these situations is more interesting to you?

In the second situation, tossing a coin looks like a chore. But the one where you know that you will receive a gift, but don’t know what kind, looks much more (if not very) exciting.

This is called “variable reinforcement,” and it will cause a person to repeat the action much more often than if the reinforcement were “fixed.”

When playing MTG, players replenish their “ammunition” by drawing new cards from their deck with each turn. During the game, situations often arise when the outcome of a round can be decided in just one move. Draw the desired card, throw it onto the battlefield - victory! Thanks to this, players develop a short-term attachment to the game. Combine that with finding strategies to build a killer deck and the goal of the game (see Lesson 3), and this attachment turns from short-term to long-term. Because of this, some lovingly call MTG "cardboard bullshit."

The same “heroin” theory can be applied to sealed sets of 15 cards - the so-called “booster packs”. There are several types of cards in a booster pack: common, uncommon, rare, land cards, and tokens. In addition, instead of a rare card, a booster pack may contain a mythical rare card, and instead of a token, a type card. Thus, when you buy a booster pack, you know how many cards it will contain, but you don’t know which ones.

The rarity of the card is written on the card itself, and the rarity ratio for booster cards is distributed as follows: regular cards– 71.4%, unusual – 21.4%, rare – 6.3%, mythical – 0.9%.

The Return to Ravnica set contains 15 mythic cards. So, if you want Jace, Thought Architect, one of the strongest mythics in the game, your chances of getting it are as follows. Based on each card - 6 out of 10,000, based on each booster - 1 out of 120, based on a box of boosters (set of 36 booster packs) - less than 1 out of 3.

What's funny is that these numbers are very similar to the rarity ratios of many gacha card games. With each purchase, the player has a chance to draw an “epic” - a card of such power that it can tilt almost every round in his favor. However, the odds are stacked against the player drawing this card, which encourages him to make the purchase again and again.

MTG even has a special tournament format based on this manic opening of booster packs. Players bring three booster packs with them, then open the booster pack, take out a card, place it next to them, and pass the booster pack to their neighbor. The neighbor does the same. And so on until the booster packs run out of cards. The player then takes the obtained cards, forms a deck from them and uses it to participate in the tournament.

MTG is probably one of the most best examples using variable reinforcement. And not only in the game, but also in the way the sale of cards is organized. The thrill of drawing a rare card from a booster pack or drawing a powerful creature from the deck that can decide the outcome of an entire round in one move makes MTG a game that can be compared to something of an addiction.

Playing MTG will help you understand the intricacies of variable reinforcement, and applying this theory to your own games will increase player enjoyment and retention, while maintaining a balance between probability and skill.

Lesson 3: Retention through Goals

Variable reinforcement is not the only way MTG instills in its players a long-term commitment to the game and the desire to spend exorbitant amounts of money on it. This is also achieved through a number of explicit and secondary goals, and these goals affect several types of players, which according to Bartle's classification are designated as Careerists, Explorers, Killers and Socialophiles.

Researchers: Peace, Strategy and Theory

Explorers enjoy exploring and analyzing worlds. MTG cards are tied to a narrative based on the idea of ​​the "Multiverse", and all sorts of novels and other works of fiction are released to support it. Many researchers enjoy analyzing this information and sharing their findings with other people.

In addition, the Wizards of the Coast online community is home to many strategists and theorists who constantly publish articles and videos about deck building and gameplay techniques. Even the cards that are available at the moment provide incredible scope for various combinations, and with each new release it becomes wider and wider.

Assassins: Tournaments

Assassins love the sounds of triumph over a defeated enemy. MTG is a zero-sum game (one winner, one loser), and one that requires only a couple of chairs and a kitchen table to induce competitive passion in a person. However, much greater scope for “creativity” opens up for the aggressive Killer in tournaments (amateur and official), which are regulated by the DCI - a set of Magic: The Gathering tournament rules.

At the same time, the “wizards” constantly increase the popularity of tournaments by offering cash prizes and fame to the winners - the champions of the official Pro Tours become real celebrities. This justifies the player's long-term goal of becoming a Pro Tour winner, thereby encouraging continued loyalty to MTG.

Careerists: Planeswalker Points and Collecting

Careerists like clear indicators of their progress. Planeswalker Points are a system for participants in DCI-sanctioned tournaments hosted by Wizards of the Coast. These points are awarded for various minor actions such as joining a guild, but are mainly used for participating in tournaments. Moreover, DCI constantly ranks players, pushing them to constantly participate in competitions and improve their decks by purchasing new cards.

In addition, with each new set, a new game manual is released, which describes all the cards released in the set, and in the form of a list with empty fields for checkmarks. Thus, MTG marks a special category of players who, in fact, are not players at all - collectors.

Collectors pursue their own goal - completeness. The measure of their progress is how many boxes remain to be ticked on the list of cards. The human mind instinctively focuses on a scarce resource or some form of deficiency (often money and relationships, but sometimes it can be empty boxes) and then formulates ways to replenish them.

Collecting is a very powerful goal that is used in many games. Players can be asked to unlock some fashionable suit or gamification badges. But as for MTG, here players are offered different types resources – finite (cards) and infinite (Planeswalker Points).

Sociophiles: Creating a Social Network of Friends and Teams

Sociophiles enjoy interacting with other people. Although the nature of MTG dictates that two people are enough to play, dedicated players will always look for more company.

The community around MTG is amazingly strong - locally, nationally and internationally. Wizards' efforts to support this community start at the grassroots, with gaming sessions organized locally (like Friday Night Magic) in conjunction with local retailers (often comic book stores), but also online. Of course, communities also form around other games, creating sites with forums, chats and articles, but Wizards of the Coast stands apart in this sense. As a developer-manufacturer, the company invests an unprecedented amount of money and effort into strengthening the community.

Moreover, during the competition, Assassins have to rely on a team whose members belong to different Bartle psychotypes - including Careers (collectors) and Explorers (deck creators). This makes the social element of MTG even deeper, making the community the center of the player's life.

Those who have friends in the game will stay in the game longer than those who have no social connections in the game, which opens up some scope for marketers and game designers. If your game has the ability to connect and connect people, making their time together fun, then you're more likely to have a loyal and engaged fan base.

Lesson 4: Balance and Resource Management

The ability to find balance and manage limited resources are very important skills for game designers, because... Even small changes can turn the economics of a F2P game on its head. In MTG, players learn these skills through deckbuilding—and during play, expressed through rapid cycles of drawing and discarding cards—but as players, not game designers.

There are five types of mana in the game, and it is generated by so-called “land cards” of the corresponding colors - one per turn. Land cards are drawn from your hand. But spell cards can be drawn without any restrictions, but only if there is enough mana for them.

These restrictions, coupled with the fact that players start the game with seven cards in hand and then draw one card from the deck per turn, form the basis for MTG's balance.

Although the deck must consist of at least 60 cards, it can contain as many lands as you like (it's up to the player), which gives a lot of room for strategy and thought.

If the deck is low on lands, then the player will have a large set of creatures and spells in his hands, but will not have the mana to put them into play - this is called a “mana screw,” which can be translated as “lack of mana.” Conversely, if the deck has a lot of lands, the player will have a large amount of mana, but there will be little chance of drawing spells from the deck - this is called a "mana flood", which can be translated as "excess mana".

This is compounded by the fact that the effectiveness (or "power") of a card tends to correlate with how much mana it costs to activate (i.e. how many lands you need to use to cast that spell). “Cheap” cards are played quickly in the early stages of the round, while the enemy is still able to defend himself, but later “expensive” cards come into play, capable of turning the tide of the game in the opposite direction in one fell swoop.

Players whose deck contains only “cheap” cards will be able to play a large number of cards, but only by early stages games. With each new move, their success will be suffocated, because they will only have ineffective “cheap” ones in their hands, almost unable to influence the outcome of the round.

Therefore, to create a good deck, a player needs to take into account the “mana curve” (i.e. the distribution of spells by cost). If during the first five turns the deck has enough powerful cards for which there is enough mana, then this deck can be considered good. Such decks always provide the opportunity to play some powerful strategy, and more than one.

There are many websites and apps that help the deck builder analyze the mana base and mana curve, and they provide some benefit, but statistical analysis alone is not enough to find balance in such complex system not enough. Because on the battlefield, the game is influenced by small, often overlooked elements and other subtleties that can have huge consequences.

Therefore, MTG players came up with the “goldfishing” method, the essence of which is to play with an imaginary opponent who does not respond in any way (for example, with a goldfish - hence “goldfishing”), and counting moves until you win the round.

From this point on, the player, already familiar with the basic theories of the game, including lack of mana, excess of mana and increase in mana (i.e. various ways increase the amount of mana faster than with one land per turn; in English slang - "mana ramp"), begins to hone his deck by adding/subtracting cards, finding the best ratio of lands/spells and adjusting the mana growth, thereby getting the greatest efficiency from his deck.

Goldfishing is very close to the analytics used in modern video games. That is, in essence, this is logging how the system functions, or more precisely, the system under human control. It takes a split second to discard a card or draw a new one, but these actions can radically change the course of the battle. This will help the game designer plan cause and effect in a very difficult to understand system.

However, MTG can give another lesson here, the essence of which is the so-called “bottlenecks”. A bottleneck occurs when a resource is so scarce that changes in its availability cause a powerful chain reaction resulting in a sharp change in the market price of that resource. For example, you can use the “chase rare” cards from the first lesson. These cards are valuable because they are limited edition and are in high demand because they are used to win tournaments.

Since the only source for obtaining these cards are booster packs, players and resellers open hundreds and thousands of them, which is why booster packs are in great demand.

Thus, the game economy is built on limited resources. If you are too generous, you won't be able to make money on F2P. However, this scarcity mechanic that makes players want to buy applies not only to virtual economies with in-game purchases - think about how loot drops in MMOs and how points are awarded in shoot-em-ups. In both cases, these resources are the main motivating factors that keep the player constantly returning to the game.

Lesson 5: Presentation

You've probably heard the idea that for a good game, text and angular graphics are enough. And although this is completely true, the presentation (or, in other words, appearance) is still a key way to create a certain experience for players. It embeds in the player’s mind the feeling that this is a high-quality and valuable product. All great games look great.

Humans are drawn to other humanoid forms—especially with their eyes. Wizards uses its core cards, especially Planeswalker cards, to showcase human characters that evoke a specific emotional response from players. These “human” cards become a kind of emblem of manufactured products – both digital and those with a material embodiment.

However, such strong imagery when illustrating characters is characteristic not only of Planeswalker cards. For example, the modern version of the Mind Rot card shows a praying character whose skull and brain have undergone some strange deformation, and the Switcheroo card shows a dragon looking at a small turtle. That is, the illustrations seem to tell stories about the functions of these cards.

These illustrations have their own fandom, and the goal of many collectors is precisely them, not the game itself, and the originals of these illustrations change hands for very large sums of money.

In addition, MTG is an information-rich game where, due to the color of the frame and illustration, the cards are very different from each other. This allows you to create mental associations between a physical object and its function. Watching high-level players play is an incredible sight, especially when they have to deal with a huge amount cards: Instead of reading the text on the card, they just glance at it and understand everything in a split second.

If you've been playing MTG for a long time, the moment you look at the illustration of Mind Rot you'll immediately know that your opponent must discard two cards, while less experienced players will have to look at the clues - the amount of mana required to cast this spell, the type of card and text that describes its function.

Moreover, the excellent artistic design of elements such as card frames and packaging, as well as the unique characteristics of each set, set a strong rhythm for the brand as a whole. It's clear that all of this is done with great care and attention, creating a sense of quality that permeates almost all of MTG's modern products: shiny booster packs, foil cards and beautiful packaging boxes. This makes unboxing, which is already a pleasantly tantalizing feeling from the random chance of receiving a rare card, an even more exciting event.

MTG wouldn't be as successful as it is today if its cards were poorly designed and printed on second-rate paper. As with any gaming product, players judge the world and quality of a game by its visual and physical presentation.

The development of the gaming industry has pushed developers to improve visual fidelity, and now these skills can come in handy when creating F2P games. We need to think about how to give these games a sense of quality so that the player enjoys both the gameplay and the in-game purchases.

When we focus on game mechanics, then the characters tend to be boring and the menus and in-game purchase functionality lackluster, while the right art design can give the player a sense of quality and beautifully rendered characters can tell stories. Both of these components create an emotional response to the game in the player, thereby increasing the likelihood that he will continue to play and spend money on the game.

Total

The success of Japanese card gacha games largely stems from the fact that their “guts” are similar to the mechanics of Magic: The Gathering - the father of all CCGs. However, by studying MTG, you can understand more than just how these games work.

By playing it, young game designers can gain theoretical knowledge about how to create spontaneous strategy, as well as situations where players could solve certain problems and manage limited resources, ultimately creating their own gaming creation that is fun and comprehensively optimized.

In addition, it gives tips on the use of variable reinforcement (both in the game itself and in the sale of game products) and helps to understand how, through community, collections and tournaments, people belonging to all four of Bartle's psychotypes will be kept in the game longer.

Finally, the effectiveness of all these elements can be enhanced by giving the game a sense of quality - through physical and visual representation. This increases the value of the product in the eyes of the player and encourages him to stay in the game longer.

Magic: The Gathering is a unique game that, in its impact on the world of gaming and the amount of knowledge that can be gained from studying it, stands side by side with such giants as Dungeons & Dragons and Fighting Fantasy. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you also take part in all this madness - buy yourself a couple of decks (any dueling decks will do for a start) and start your own research.

I guarantee that you have never had such an interesting master class on game design in your life.