The Mana Curve

ah the wonder and mayhem that is Magic: The Gathering (M:tG).

Mental sport of the the rich and the cause of much of my sudden burst of cursing and swearing while online.

Now for those who don't know this amazing game heres a short intro:

M:tG is a game somewhat like chess but thrown in the whole Magicks and Fantasy Creatures (like the perfect male; keep on reading your wild lover story books ladies, they dont exist).

M:tG is like chess:
1)It is a two (or more player) game
2)You have an army used to kill your opponent
3)It is a game of Strategy
4)There is alot of stress involved

M:tG is not like chess:
1)The objective of M:tG is to bring down the opponents life from 20 to 0
2)M:tG is a card game
3)M:tG does not have your creatures (your army) out on a board; you need mana (energy source) to cast (bring into play) your creatures
4)M:tG has spells; cards that bring a specific effect onto the playing field
*Your army and spells are used to bring down your opponents life down to 0*
5) you cannot learn how to play M:tG over the afternoon
*you can learn the basics but M:tG has over 7,000 different cards before you really know the game*

M:tG was to me a escape into something that I am good at. Wasn't all that great in my studies, sports or social life; but M:tG gave me the gratification of being good at something.

so thats the intro.

i thought i retired from M:tG after my high school days. But i learned quickly that M:tG stays with you forever. Its like riding a bike but 100 times more addictive. and the minute you find some else who plays magic thats it; your back in the game.

My first kaki after College was David Teh. Almighty Champion of Red Mages and 'I'll-blow-you-up-before-you-have-the-chance-to-put-out-a-land' player. Love playing with this guy coz he's fun AND analytical (like yours truly). after each game with him we'll have a de-briefing session and figure out why we lost/won.

Thats the real magic of M:tG. the communication, the exchange of ideas and the criticizing of each play.

Then i tried to teach Jimmy to play the game. Unfortunately; while he learned the game pretty fast (overnight really); at the end of it he didn't have the opportunity to play it much with the two of us and finally discarded the whole idea as a too expensive novelty.

Me and David went to a tourney together, got our ass handed back on a plate and became instant maniacs on how to to win. ever since then we downloaded every play, learned every tactic and played a minimal of 10 games (everyday!) against each other for maybe five months straight.

but now davids' in penang and i dun have a pc (mac user i am) so we dun get to play with each other. Fortunately for us, i just found a free software that we can use WebWizard. Anyone playing on this software can look me up anytime (nick : orrkie/orrkie2)

Im running outta time here. But i hope to go further into my M:tG interest with you guys some other time but i gtg.

Best Wishes,
Azlan A. Aziz