The Gathering as a Newbie

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard of Magic: The Gathering. It's a beloved collectible card game that's been around for almost 30 years. Magic is a sport that challenges you to build a bigger deck than your peers and offers you hundreds of tools to do so.

With 5 colors to choose from (or mix and match), the possibilities are virtually limitless. Learn how to get started in Magic: The Gathering as a newbie.

Native Recreation Retailer

The best place to start is your local card and board sports dealer. Because Magic is a big business, they meet newcomers regularly, they will always know what to do. The company behind Magic has done its best to make the game beginner-friendly, often providing free starter units to sports stores for them to offer to new players.

MTG Area

Some people prefer a world with much less social interaction, and that's okay too. If you fall into this category, try MTG Area. It's a free game that you can download on your PC, Mac, or iOS device that comes with a surprisingly powerful tutorial. You'll study every little thing you need to know soon enough and end up with a bunch of decks to check out.

Study the vocabulary

Each card sport has its own personal language that the neighborhood creates – it’s a kind of shorthand that helps facilitate communication. Here are some phrases you're likely to come across when studying the sport or watching people play:

• Aggro: Decks designed to win quickly with small, fast creatures
• Swinging all-in: attacking with all your creatures directly
• Management: Decks designed to slow down the game long enough to allow you to cast powerful spells
• Stompy: Decks designed to field a number of huge creatures that can be problematic to include

There's more, but you can figure it out using context clues or asking someone familiar with the game to explain the extra area of interest phrases like "crash terrain" or "big butt" (we swear it's a magical thing).

Protect your playing cards

Finally, you will need think a little about card security . While this isn't a huge deal unless you're planning on storing your playing cards, you'll likely need to have a number of cheap sleeves and tall carriers on hand just in case you pull a high-value mythic uncommon. Even for those who decide to keep the cardboard for themselves, it's not a bad idea to keep the good stuff in good condition.

Now that you know how to get started in Magic: The Gathering as a beginner, build a deck and get ready to go all-in!