NPC Comic
A comic about two blue cats who play World of Warcraft, and their gamer human. Written and drawn by Mary Varn.
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I just started teaching my son how to play Magic this past year. For a new player, I definitely recommend grabbing the pre-made decks that they release with each “block” every three months. Any one of them is ready to play right out of the box, and lets you see how different themes work together. The most bang for your buck are the “Vs. Decks” duel decks. Two prebuilt becks, tuned for dueling, for under $20? Sold.
Thanks, yeah, we did that actually! It definitely seems like a good way to learn at first because I can just focus on the rules and getting to know one set of cards without getting overwhelmed by all the other possibilities.
Cool-downs are very important. Latest personal example is finishing Diablo 3 at Hell difficulty.
*PS: I don’t know if my brain capacity is so limited or recently burned a part of it but for 5-10 minutes I had forgotten how to move my character in WoW after playing D3 for so long.
Very common problem… I have to switch back and forth regularly and it always takes 5 minutes or so to get back into “the mode” for the game I’m playing.
Yay! I hope you have fun learning Magic. I’m a big fan of the Commander format personally, as it seems more casual while also still rewarding good skill.
its interesting to see how kickstarter has become so popular these days
Aw I wish I was going to GenCon, for several reasons! My husband and I play M:tG, as well as my dad, brother, sister-in-law, her boyfriend, and our eldest daughter, lol. I’ve been playing since Jr High, slightly longer than my husband. We love to play, though I love drooling over the art and the anticipation of opening new packs, haha. I hope you enjoy learning and playing!
Careful, Mary… it’s more costly and addictive than Apple products! Your wallet will die from a million tiny papercuts.
That’s what always worried me about Magic. I won’t go down that route! Hopefully John won’t either….at least….not to that degree….
It takes a very solid will to avoid. Good luck!
I have been MtG free since 2002. Pateboard crack that is. Beware the addiction of Magic the Purchasing (TM)
Garfield was lining up distributors before release and was at Wargames West in Albuquerque (a big distributor as well as game store at the time) when some gamers from my school were there. They bought pre-Alpha cards from him and ended up addicting our whole campus. I broke free with the release of Homelands, and finally sold all my cards in 2002.
Have fun, but beware the lure of one more pack.
Just started playing when my boyfriend got me to play a game with him. I’m totally addicted now and we play all the time. I can totally slaughter him now =)
I’d always seen people hanging around in like lunchrooms and student lounges playing Magic The Gathering, but I’d never really tried it much until I found out there was a version of it on Steam. I went ahead and bought that, and it’s pretty fun. Treefolk FTW!
I think I do need to find a way to speed my deck up, though. That and find a couple more ways to deal with flying monsters.
It is fun, I just started a year ago. Duel decks are a great way to start. When you want to make your own decks, make some proxy (aka fake) cards first to see which you like and how you like playing them. It will save a lot of money and give you knowledge of the game and are just as fun! And I squealed when I saw you mention Brandon Sanderson! Favorite web comic artist and sci fi author together at last!
Howdy, I been reading your comic for a long time, but I’ve never been much on comments. I’ll make an exception this time to point y’all towards a VERY nice MTG alternative to buying cards. There’s a free application called OCTGN that acts as a virtual tabletop for trading card games. I been playing on it for years since I couldn’t spare the money to keep buying boosters. It’s very nice if a bit subject to crashes. It’s got its own lobby to find games pretty much anytime. just google it,
Keep up the good work!
Thanks, I’ll have to check that out!
Well, Magic isn’t as expensive as it might seem. That’s only the case if you don’t buy Boosters to get specific cards, though. Especially regarding cards that matter in tournaments, since they might be relatively expensive to purchase but you can always sell them later with literally no decrease in value, many staples have been increasing over the last few years.
But that’s only relevant if you’re willing to enter the competetive level, while playing casual decent decks won’t cost much more than 30-50 Dollar(and you can recycle a lot of cards for other decks). A good source of inspiration regarding budget decks is the Budget Series on mtgsalvation.com by James Heslip.
Anyway, I’ve been playing nonstop since 2001, on a semi-competive level for a few years now and the game hasn’t lost any appeal yet.
But more on topic: I’m in a boardgaming-club with a developer who always wants to test prototypes, so I know the sometimes depressing experience of presenting a game. But it can also be an eyeopener for exploits/unbalanced forces,… or for a new strategy one hasn’t thought of yet.
Thanks for the referral to the budget series on mtgsalvation.com! Looks like it’s a really good resource.
That must be fun to play board games with a developer. I’m glad to hear that the comic isn’t too far off in how it could feel to demo your own game.
Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors! That’s pretty cool. What was he like?