My first encounter with Magic: The Gathering was last year, when my son and I sorted out a big box of commons and put together our first decks. Since then I’ve fallen headlong into it, mostly playing the online version, Arena, but also playing lots with the kids at home. What I’ve really wanted to do, though, is play Magic at its source, where it’s really meant to be played: Friday Night Magic. Gaming stores around the world hold Magic events of various formats every week, but Friday Night Magic (FNM) is the most widely known event. It’s an institution that’s clearly a rite of passage for every successful player. So when I say I’ve fallen headlong into the world of Magic and want to play more, the next step seems pretty obvious. It’s a bit like when I fell in love with techno, years and years ago, and decided to go to a techno club because “it would be dishonest or cowardly to like dance music and not go out and dance to it”. That actually turned out pretty well, so why not try the clubbing equivalent of Magic?
There are a couple of gaming stores in Wellington that have a weekly Magic schedule. I’ve been to them loads of times to go shopping but never sat down at one of the gaming tables. There are always people deep in a game of some sort – most commonly Magic. To be honest it’s always looked very intimidating. The players clearly have an exquisite command over their game; brimming with faith and confidence in the strategies they have learned. Socially it’s very alive too – everyone seems to know each other and there’s lots of chatter. When I’ve tried to imagine myself in that setting, well… I’m undoubtedly at the older end of the demographic and I can’t compare it to anything I’ve done before, except maybe sitting an exam! I don’t think I fit in. But I’ve loved playing Magic at home and playing Arena, so I decided to dive in anyway. My biggest worry wasn’t losing or looking stupid – I knew that was going to happen. I think I was most worried about being unwelcome.
The format I went along to play was called Standard – the same as Arena. You can use cards from the most recent Magic sets, but older cards aren’t allowed. I decided to put together the same deck I played in Arena, mono white knights, because I was familiar with it and it’s relatively straightforward to play. Most of the rares I needed like Benalish Marshall and Valiant Knight weren’t expensive. The key card I needed to fork out for was History of Benalia, a mythic rare card that a lot of people rated as the “best card in Standard”. Luckily I came across some for sale on TradeMe (our NZ version of eBay) that were cheaper than the usual store prices. Since matches in tournaments are best of three, you get to take along a ‘sideboard’, which is an extra 15 cards you can swap in between games. With very little idea about what I’d be facing I just chucked in my best and favourite cards and then I was good to go. I took along a pen, a notepad, counters and a dice, paid my five dollars, waited for the pairings to be announced, then sat down opposite my first opponent.
There were eight people taking part in the three round tournament and the first thing I learned was that you need to be really good at shuffling your deck. A casual flip back and forth isn’t good enough – you want to make sure your cards aren’t still grouped together from when you laid out your deck on the floor at home and pronounced it unbeatable. I also learned that when your opponent has finished shuffling and places their deck in front of you, it’s your opportunity to ‘cut’ their deck so they can’t rely on anything being left on top (simply put about half their cards in another pile, and put the remaining half on top). Yes I was so naïve I didn’t realise this was a thing, but at least I only needed to be told once. We rolled a dice to see who went first, drew cards, and we were off!
Five minutes later I had won my first game of Magic. My opponent tried to wipe me out with Gates Ablaze, but I kept my best card alive with Healing Grace. They tried to play a Gate Colossus, but I exiled it immediately with Conclave Tribunal. A fearsome number of gates turned up on their side of the battlefield but no other creatures, and my army of knights swung with all their might. “Okay, your game”.
I can’t say I was expecting to hear that.
You might have already guessed it was a fluke. They just drew loads of lands and no useful cards. We played another couple of games and they won both of those decisively. But.. I had already succeeded in my goal to win one game! My next match was over very quickly. As soon as Cleansing Nova wiped out my creatures and Teferi hit the board I knew I had zero chance. Disappointingly my last round was a ‘bye’, which meant I had no opponent. I would have preferred someone else to play against for the experience, but they probably had better things to do than play the new guy. Anyway, I survived my first FNM!
Since then I’ve been a few more times – attending Standard events at both of the gaming stores in town. My main goal remains the same – win one individual game. My secondary goal is to stay calm and not do anything stupid. This may sound like a very low bar, but I once tripped over a dog in the pub and poured beer into someone’s ukulele, so I have to try at least.
So far the high point was winning a match against mono red 2-0, while the low point was the last time I went, losing all my matches 0-2! I’ve learned a heck of a lot, but I have to admit it’s pretty stressful. Compared to playing Arena there’s a lot to keep track of, while staying calm and making decisions, and trying not to drop your cards on the floor. I’ve met some really friendly people who were happy to chat before and after the game, and some pretty intense players who were very quick and just wanted to get it over with. I haven’t felt unwelcome, everyone has been very patient, and I’m glad I went. I think playing lots of Arena was useful because all the decks I’ve come across at FNM I’ve seen before – Gates, mono red, UW control with Teferi, UB control with Thief of Sanity, White Weenies, Boros Aggro. I knew that when Vivien Reid turned up on the battlefield my History of Benalia was toast. However, winning is hard.
It’s impossible to know what the standard of play is like at your local FNM until you’ve tried diving in. Suppose you’ve made it to Platinum on Arena – it’s natural to wonder if the same deck would do okay at FNM. It’s probably not as simple as that, but most people seem to think their local FNM is somewhere around Gold, maybe Platinum.
To be honest this comes as a big surprise – I was expecting higher – but it’s an interesting baseline. If you can’t make it through Silver in Arena then probably don’t bother taking that deck to FNM. On the other hand I’ve twice made it to Platinum with my knights deck and I still get crushed! Best-of-one on Arena and best-of-three at FNM are two different experiences. The rules are the same, but I think FNM is much more challenging and calls for extra skills.
I’m not actually sure if I’ve enjoyed myself at FNM or not so far (except that time I won against mono red!). I’m glad I went, but I’ve generally come away feeling worn out, with a lot to unpack. There’s a small group of 4-8 regulars and no other new players. I guess I’ll keep going until I figure it out, or burn out. It’s definitely a cool challenge to face. At least if my kids decide to take up Magic – and I really hope they do! – then I can give them a head start.
Anyway, for the benefit of anyone else going to their first Friday Night Magic, here’s some information from a fellow newbie that I hope you’ll find useful. I guess a lot of this is really obvious, but it was new to me!
- A dice roll decides who starts in the first game, but after that the loser chooses whether they want to go first or not (at home we just take turns going first).
- The person who goes first says whether they want to mulligan or keep their hand. The other player should wait, and announce their decision to mulligan after that.
- Keep a tally of your opponent’s life total as well as your own, and make sure you both agree on changes to life totals at the end of each turn. I write things down on a notepad.
- It is always okay to clarify what your opponent’s cards are and what they do – ask if you’re not totally clear. Everyone I met was fine with this, even if they would clearly prefer to be playing more quickly.
- It’s okay to say out loud what you’re doing. I was worried this would be patronising, because it’s obvious right? In fact the best players I came across were very careful about announcing their actions, like saying they were entering the combat phase, or they were playing a Steam Vents and paying two life. Say whether you’re attacking the opponent or a planeswalker, and be clear when you’ve finished your turn.
- Put counters on things! I have a bunch of homemade +1/+1 counters, but it’s most common for people to use dice and assume the number represents how many +1/+1 counters there are.
- You don’t have to tell your opponent what changes you’re making to your deck between games. And try not to shuffle your tokens into your deck when you tidy up at the end!
- Stick around afterwards! I wasn’t sure what happens, but the results get announced, prizes get handed out, and even if you’ve lost you might still get a random giveaway.
Any other advice? Please share in the comments below. What’s it like at your local FNM?
fresh static :: olaf quintessa 