Magic: The Gathering

It’s 2001. My little brother and I each have our allowance for the week – $5. Not too shabby. We go to our local collectibles shop and browse the 3 for $1 comics bins, a veritable treasure trove of adventures. Then, it catches our eyes. A little foil packet with some gnarly art. I want it. I buy it. I have no idea what I’m getting myself into.

It’s 2014. I’ve had my Magic phases – I remember my first time drafting, back in Shadowmoor with its twisted Faeries and soul-snuffing Cinders (still my favorite set to this day). I’ve quit and come back a few times. That’s all behind me now. I have one deck I bust out regularly and a couple others, with a handful of loose cards. No boxes of excess. My only regular opponent is my girlfriend with her (dirty good-for-nothing) Vampire deck. So why the **** do we still bust out this game? What gives?

How does it look?: Magic is a drop-dead gorgeous game, broadly speaking. There’s massive variability in art quality as you retreat further and further into the older cards, but Wizards has kept tighter and tighter quality as the game has flourished. Every set has a theme. This makes Standard (limited to recent sets) tournament play really, really cool – decks tend to be thematic and the game tells a story. Any sense of cohesion is usually thrown out the door for other formats, where cards from many sets mingle and the art quality tells the history of Magic as a whole. Still cool, but not always pretty.

How does it play?: At its core, Magic is a simple game. On your turn, draw a card into your hand. You may play one land. Then, you use your lands to play other cards from your hand for their costs. This leads to a natural progression – each turn, you can play more cards, or more expensive cards. After you play anything you’d like, you can have any creatures you control attack an enemy player. They can defend, some things will probably die, and the other player may take some damage. Then you can play some more cards from your hand if you’d like, and then it’s your opponent’s turn.

The fun is in how individual cards interact with those rules and with each other. For example, a player could build a deck that focuses on cards that let them play additional lands per turn, thereby accelerating their ability to play bigger, more expensive cards. Or someone might focus on alternative means of dealing damage – don’t like to use creatures? Focus on throwing fireballs at your opponent! Every deck has the potential to be a personal statement. If there’s something you think is fun, there’s probably a way to make it happen.

Overall Impression: Magic is a mixed bag. It shows its age. The system of playing Lands is less efficient and predictable than modern systems that allow players to play any card face down as a resource, or that give each player one additional resource per turn. Your pace is dictated by your draws.

I never liked the tournament scene – people take this game seriously. Like, thousands of dollars seriously. For a just-for-fun game, Magic scratches a good itch. Playing with a tight group of similarly skilled players means you can usually fine-tune your decks until they’re well-matched and provide unpredictable and balanced games. That’s super satisfying, and the customization of decks means that you can usually shake things up by swapping out a few cards. It’s a bit like playing Dominion with different sets of cards.

Magic is a long-lived game for a reason. It’s what you can thank for keeping your Friendly Local Game Store afloat. If you haven’t tried it, I’d recommend asking someone for a demo and giving it a shot. No rush, though – it’ll be there. Waiting.

When I started playing Magic: the Gathering actively, in 1995, the recent game expansion was Homelands. When I decided to quit active playing, it was the time of Apocalypse (2001). Yet since then I play casually using the remains of my former collection.

Magic is not just a game. It is a multi-layer system of games.

The first layer is of course playing the actual M:tG games. You get your deck of cards (the cards represent magical spells and sources of magical energy), your opponent gets their own deck… and you both try to defeat each other by reducing the adversary life points, poisoning him or making him have no cards to draw any more. Since there is a huge variety of possible decks and each deck may give various outcomes due to its shuffling, the resulting spectrum of possible games is virtually infinite.

The second layer is deck-building. In order to play a game on the first level you need a deck! This level can be skipped by buying pre-constructed decks (ready to play), but it is much less fun. There are, in general two methods of building a deck: “draft” when players build their decks using a limited pool of cards trying to use them as effectively as possible; and “open” when players build their decks out of the cards they possess (with some limitation if necessary).

This leads us to the third level of the game – the collection building. And it is also a game! A real game for real money. There is not to many players worldwide who can just buy each and every card they want to have, since the number of different cards is huge, some of them are really scarce, and the initial distribution of cards among players is random due to the method the cards are being sold (in closed semi-random packages). Thus trading cards between players becomes essential. This makes Magic a game of economy on its deepest level!

Magic: the Gathering was my favorite game for six years. Then I realized that it consumes more and more of my time and money as new sets appear each few months (causing my mind to be exhausted analyzing new possible card interactions, and my wallet to be drained). Fortunately I don’t regret my time. I had spent it well. And for the money… If you are good enough playing the third level of the game you can get more when selling your collection than you invested in it!

Magic is a great gaming system. But it has three big drawbacks: it is very complicated, quite costly and really addicting.

This review is primarily intended for those who have never played Magic the Gathering and who are wondering if it is the type of game for them. Magic is a customizable card game that has been around for about twenty years. Players duel one another with decks that consist of a variety of mana, creature, and effect cards. The different mana types represent different types of play styles. For example, green, or forest, mana decks have the strongest creatures; whereas, black mana decks rely on cards that can destroy an opponent’s creatures and drain her/his life points. There are also decks that combine different types of mana. The goal of the game is to reduce your opponent’s life points to zero before you run out of life. Since this is just a basic review to help you decide whether or not to give the game a try, I will not explain all of the details involved in playing Magic; rather, I will list some pros and cons. Personally, I love Magic, and many other people do as well; however, it is not a game for everyone. Below is a list of some pros and cons that should help you decide if it is worth trying for you. I would like to add that if you want a quick overview of the game and want to try it before you buy it, you can download Magic 2012 on your Xbox 360, PS3, or on Steam. This is cheap and will allow you to play several types of decks, and this version of the game walks you through how to play, so it is a quick way to learn the rules.

Following is a list of general facets of the game that you may want to consider:

Number of players: Magic can be played by two, three, or four players. In a two-player game, opponents duel one another. This is the most standard way to play. A three-person free-for-all is also possible as is a four-person free-for-all. Another fun way to play is in teams of two called two-headed giant where partners share life points and can attack either of their two opponents. It really is not feasible to play with more than four players, and Magic is not a game that one can play alone.

Difficulty: Magic is not terribly difficult to understand. I do not find it any more difficult than most other card games like it. At first, it can be a bit overwhelming as there are many different abilities that cards can have that need to be learned; however, the rules are clear in most cases, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out how to play. My nine-year-old son and some of his classmates have no trouble understanding how to play. With that being said, Magic is not a game that very young children can probably understand, but I would say that it is reasonable for most children ten and older to understand. Of course some parents may not be comfortable letting their children play it, as some of the themes might be unappealing to them. That would be up to parents to research and decide on their own. Additionally, it will take a fair amount of research if you get into the deck-building aspect of the game to learn what card combinations work best.

Price: Magic can end up being very expensive. I have seen players wear shirts that state, “My deck cost more than your car.” In some cases, that may not be much of an exaggeration. Of course players could each just purchase a pre-made deck and play against each other with those cards and nothing else. If this were the case, then the game would not be very expensive; however, it is likely that you will want several different decks and that you will want to build your own decks. Rare and highly sought after cards can be expensive with individual cards topping the twenty dollar mark at times. Not all cards are that expensive, and a fairly good deck can be built without spending a fortune, but to build your own ultimate super deck, you may have to fork out in excess of one hundred dollars. In addition to the cards, you will probably want to buy sleeves, some kind of storage case for the cards, and you might want to spend extra on play mats, counters, and other optional items. Really the amount of money you spend on this game is up to how obsessed with it you become. It’s just something to be aware of before you take the plunge. You might end up spending a lot of money on it, and if you want to be truly competitive with the public, then plan on spending money on the game fairly regularly.

Speed of play: Magic, when compared to most board games, plays quickly. I would say that the average time that a duel takes is about twenty minutes. Playing with more than two players will probably extend this time a bit, but Magic is still a fast game. This makes it an ideal starter game to an evening of gaming or makes it practical to play several games of Magic in a single get together. There is very little set-up time as well. The game is quite portable and can be played just about anywhere.

Popularity: Magic is very popular making it readily available and making it easy to find people to play with. Even if you don’t have any friends willing to play it, there are always games and tournaments being played at local game shops.

Game is always evolving: Since Magic is so popular, new expansions are constantly being released. The rules are frequently changed and expanded as well. These facts have turned off some players who find it overwhelming to keep track of all the changes, and don’t want to keep buying cards. It could be a good thing too, if you become interested enough to follow it. There is a steady stream of new content and a nearly unlimited amount of variations possible.

Theme: Magic has a broad fantasy theme. This will interest some and bore others. If you only like Euro or war games, then Magic may not be for you.

Luck factor: Ideally Magic encourages strategic decision making, but with the drawing of cards, there are always occasions when you will end up with a bad sequence of cards – like too much or not enough mana – where your skill is undermined by your luck. So, there is some luck involved, but it is mainly in what cards you get, and strategy will win most duels.

That pretty much sums up the pros and cons of Magic at a basic level. I love the game and have played it regularly for years, and I gave it an 8/10. However, I understand why some people do not like it. I hope this review helps you decide where you will fit. If you’re still not sure, then my best advice is to download the digital version mentioned earlier.

This is a real bear of a game to try and review, especially when I like to do my best to let people reading my reviews to know what they are getting into. Most established gamers at least know that Magic the Gathering exists even if they don’t understand what it is about. I will try to fill in a couple blanks.

I suppose to being with I will say that if you want to go into the game store and purchase a game, take it home, play it and never need to purchase anything else, this isn’t for you. Getting into Magic is expensive. REALLY getting into it to play in tournaments every Friday will likely be a noticeable drain on your finances.

Let me try and put it this way. Board gaming is a hobby. Magic the Gathering is a hobby in of itself. The original set came out around 1993 if memory serves, and new sets have come out pretty regularly since. I was into the game back in the mid to late 90’s and got back into again recently, and boy have things changed. My understanding is every year essentially a new core set comes out followed by three themed sets that generally correlate to one another. Each new set is going into introduce not only new cards but new card mechanics. In addition to this over time old rules have been changed from the way the originally worked, and even an entire card type was abolished. Certain cards have been banned from tournament play, some because they deal with an ante system that essentially allows to to gamble cards in your collection, while others have been deemed too powerful or disruptive so they cannot be played.

To top this off, just having a deck and wanting to play in a tournament isn’t enough. There are all kinds of different tournaments that are held at your local game store, and you have to learn what cards and sets are allowed at what. Most sanctioned tournaments are restricted to the newest set of cards that have been released. Then you have tournaments where you purchase a starter deck and a few booster packs and make a deck with what you get from your purchase right there. Others have unopened boosters that players do a draft to get cards from to add to a starter pack. Then there are Vintage and Legacy tournaments that allow you to play any card in your collection. This means if you always want to play in the newest tournaments, you need to keep buying the new cards. There is more to the hobby then just building a deck is essentially what I am saying here.

So, what do you need? Well, you local game shop sells starter pack and booster packs. There is more, but lets focus here for the beginner. In the past, you could purchase starter packs. You can still find some of these for older releases online. With each starter pack you get 60 cards including 3 rares, 9 uncommon, 26 common, 22 land, and a rulebook. Nowadays, there are mythic rares, which of course are rare rare cards. One of those three conceivably could be one of those. Land is required for every deck, but once you have enough you have enough. Often the rarer the card, the better the card, but this is not always so. You can build a perfectly respectable deck out of nothing but commons, as long as they are the right commons. These tend to run in the neighborhood of $10 – $20 a piece.

Booster packs have 16 cards, nowadays consisting of 1 rare, 3 uncommons, 10 commons, one basic land a tips and trick card. These will run you about $3.50 to $4.00 a pop. These are where you will get a good chunk of your new cards.

There are also pre-made event decks of all kinds with new releases, which can get you going but won’t get you anything rare. They also are currently selling what they call fat packs with several boosters, a couple event decks, life counters, MTG lore, learn to play books and that sort of thing depending upon the release. The event decks look to run in the area of $10 – $14 and the fat packs around $40.

Most game hobby stores will also buy and sell singles. Some of the rarer, more desirable cards can cost obscene amounts of money. For instance, my most expensive card is a Guardian Beast, which runs $35 – $40 dollars. There are many more cards that go for much more. This means that if you have the money, you can build any deck you want, and there are tons of stores who sell singles online, so you can get them shipped directly to you.

So what do you do with all of these cards now that you have them?

I will give a basic overview of the game, mostly because I have already gone and babbled quite a bit. Most games consist of two players. You use your cards to build a deck. A deck consists of a minimum of 40 cards, and if in a tournament or a group’s house rules a possible maximum number. Basic land is the foundation of any deck. Land provides mana which is used to cast spells. Spells consist of sorceries, which can only be played on your turn, instants which can be played (pretty much) anytime, creatures, who do the fighting for you and enchantments, which may provide a buff or debuff on a creature or other permanent card (a card that does not get discarded once used) or something that affects the caster in a positive manner or the opponent in a negative manner, or even a global effect for both players. Most non-land cards are of a certain color, black, blue, green, red and white. Each color has a certain flavor of mana associated with it, provided by the different basic land cards, swamp, island, forest, mountain and plains respectively.

Cards of a certain color will require at least one of its affiliated mana along with a possible number of colorless mana, meaning any other color. The colors tend to follow themes, black is a lot of sacrificing creatures or your own life total, blue is deck manipulation, drawing and causing the opponent to discard, red has a lot of direct damage spells, etc. This is an oversimplification and going into what each color does would take forever, just know that each color does some things better than another. In addition, there are artifact cards that tend to be cast entirely with colorless mana, but there are more cards that can destroy them easily.

Creatures you summon have a power and toughness and can be used to attack another player or block an opponent’s creatures trying to attack you, although a creature that attacked a turn cannot normally block the same turn. Your instants and sorceries cause or heal damage, revive or destroy creatures, cause you to draw or discard, etc. Many creatures have special abilities that can be triggered in addition or in place of attacking and blocking.

You begin a turn by drawing a card. You can lay down a land if available, then summon creatures and cast other spells. Your opponent can answer with spells of their own if available, rinse and repeat. Over time, you lay down more land, allowing you to cast more powerful spells and summons. There are dozens of special abilities you will need to refer to until you are familiar with them. I would say this game is still, for all I have mentioned here, subject to the old cliche; easy to learn, hard to master. The intricacies of the cards, the combinations of colors and abilities to explore are endless, limited only by your collection and the time you put into mastering the craft.

I enjoy this game. I enjoy playing it, I enjoy seeing what I get in a pack of cards, so help me I even enjoy sorting through the stinking things, putting them in order so I can find them easily, reading the flavor text, etc. But be forewarned, if you are not willing to put time, effort and money into the hobby, I would stay away. I just don’t want anyone getting sucked in like I did without some idea of what they are getting into.

I’ve played Magic The Gathering for some years and it’s THE BEST cardgame on the market. It’s as simple as that. One downside for competitive players (like myself) is: It’s gonna cost you A LOT of money and A LOT of time. Seriously.

The good thing of the game is that there are a lot of different cards. Every couple of months, a new series of cards is released. Every series of cards has his own story, new cards, redesigned cards, new races, new theme,… It’s really lots of fun to collect many cards.

The game has his own economy, which is a good and a bad thing.
The good thing is: you don’t need to buy hundreds of boosterpacks to obtain a rare card.
The downside is: some cards cost more then €100 each.

This game is a good example of a game who’s easy to learn, but hard to master. With so many different types of cards and strategies, it’s gonna take time to learn them all and if you want to play competition, you need to know them all.

Of course, for the people who are competitive but don’t want to invest a lot of money in it, there are drafts and pre-releases. Some of the stores who sell MtG cards organize these gametypes.

And if you are a player who just wants to enjoy the game without the need to prove yourself, there are dual-decks. These premade decks (2 in a box) cost around €20 and contains the following:
– 2 themed decks
– a short story around the theme
– a how to play “manual”
If you want to try MtG out, I recommend buying a dual deck.

Furthermore, I want to say that the community of this card game is really good. Most of them I encountered are friendly, polite and wants to help you if needed.

In the world of Magic the Gathering, a planeswalker is someone or something that has the ability to travel between the planes of existence, and generally cast powerful spells and summon powerful allies. Now that you know what a planeswalker is, Magic the Gathering is a collectible card game (CCG) where you play the role of one of these planeswalkers, and your goal is to defeat another powerful planeswalker (your opponent(s)).

The basics:
Once you have collected enough cards, you will build a deck usually of a minimum of 60 cards. You will pack your deck full with offensive spells like fireballs, defensive spells like creating a fog or countering opponents spells, and various creatures and/or allies that you can summon to aide you. You cannot cast any of these spells without the resources with which to cast them, mana. All spells and mana come in five basic colors or combinations thereof (red, black, blue, white, green), which each have a different flavor. You will be drawing from your deck, laying out one mana per turn (if you have one), and then using your mana to cast the spells. Sounds simple right?

Not so simple:
Magic the Gathering has been around since 1993, and has developed over time a multitude of different mechanics. This keeps the game complex, and veteran players interested, but at the same time may create a small barrier for newcomers. That being said, it is still relatively easy to teach someone the basics, and they can slowly pick up on each mechanic.

Cash money ya’ll:
My main gripe with Magic the Gathering is their genius ability to keep drawing people back, and releasing multiple sets per year. This means that if you want to keep up to date, you may need to have slightly deep pockets. Now they do sell single cards almost everywhere, and you can just build a deck this way, but where is the fun in that?

Overview/Conclusion:
Magic the Gathering is fun and complex card game that can be played through in less than 30 minutes. It can be easy to teach to a newcomer if they are somewhat familiar with games, but can turn into a daunting task to teach to a non-gamer (I wouldn’t recommend it as a first). It will most likely keep you coming back for more if you can afford it (or sometimes even if you can’t). I recommend giving it a try as it can be loads of fun as long as you have people to play with (this game is practically everywhere), but with a warning: you may get sucked in forever!

Magic the Gathering is a fantastic game that everyone should try. Despite what you may have heard, Magic CAN be both simple and cheap to play.

At its core, Magic is a game where you play a wizard who summons monsters and casts spells in an effort to kill the other wizards in the game. Everyone plays with their own customized deck. The main play involves playing land cards and using them to pay for spells and monsters. Overtime you can put in bigger and better effects. Each player starts with 20 life and is usually playing with a deck of 60 cards. Run out of life or cards and you are out of the game.

That’s the basics. The problem with describing magic is that the decks and the rules are so customizable that you can do almost anything with it. You can play one on one or multiplayer. I’ve played with as many as 8 other players at the table but I recommend no more than 5. There are five different colors of magic each with their own theme and style. There are literally hundreds of different sub-games and house rules and alternate ways to play so that you make playing Magic the Gathering into a themed battle, a role-playing style game, a cooperative effort, or mix up how the battle goes in a variety of ways.

Odds are, if you’ve played Magic the Gathering and didn’t like it you just weren’t playing it right. It’s so customizable that it’s almost impossible to think that there’s no version of the game that would be fun for you.

Sound complicated? Don’t you worry. Magic can also be very simple. Get a deck with some basic cards and just go have fun. I recently taught my 5 year old daughter how to play and she understood it completely.

Despite being collectible, Magic doesn’t have to be expensive. If you want to check it out, go buy a set of Duel Decks. There are a variety to choose from. One of these packs will cost you roughly $25.00. For that price, you will get two 60 card decks with lots of fun cards that are designed to play well against each other. If you don’t spend another dollar on Magic you still got a great two-player game at a great price, and these decks can be played against any other magic deck that your friends might own.

When you want more, more will be out there. Try out some other duel decks or buy a few packs and start to make your own deck. As long as you don’t get too crazy about it, you will only be buying more Magic when expanding the game sounds fun to you. It only gets ridiculous and expensive if you start to obsess about having every new expansion or winning in tournament play.

If wizard battles, magic tricks, and monster summoning sounds fun to you, you can’t do better than Magic the Gathering. It is the most expanded, most play tested, most refined, and most customizable game on the planet earth. Buy a set that looks fun and give it a shot. You’ll enjoy endless hours of replay for no more money than you want to put into it.

I’ve been playing Magic: The Gathering (MTG) on and off since 1993, shortly after my college room mate brought a deck back from Gen Con. My first collection financed a year of graduate school, if that provides any insight into how much I played.

With an investment equivalent to a board game (say $50), it’s easy to acquire enough cards to build several casual decks for play with friends and family, or older children. My 10-year olds are fun to play with, and my college-age son (taught at age 10) routinely crushes me. As with any hobby (and it can be), you can spend as much as you want – card sleeves, software, storage cases, cards, cards, cards. In this, all players benefit from MTGs rich competition environment – all those tournaments drive strategy and the meta-game drives continued development of the game and the cards that make it up. Most competitive players have (literally) suitcases of unused cards, and they are often willing to part with “common trash” cards (they’re not trash) for next to nothing.

If you’re a collector-type, consider yourself warned. In fact, run for the door and a paper bag right now, before you hyperventilate. With over 20 years of expansions, there somewhere around 20,000 unique cards, plus all manner of promotionals, non-english, and other cards. Some cards are exorbitantly expensive (search ‘Black Lotus’), and some are nearly impossible to find (see same).

MTG has a pro-tour. If you’re passionate enough about it, and don’t have a lot of other obligations (read: family), it is possible to almost make a living at it. I’m sure some people actually HAVE made a living at it, but advertising that is akin to advertising successful diets – not everyone achieves the front-page results…

Finally, the part of MTG that makes it most compelling for me is the card interactions – nearly every card in the game has a different effect or ability. How they interact as the game unfolds is the most amazing experience. It’s like playing a game of chess where the capabilities of the pieces change from turn to turn, making the battlefield more a study in adaptability than strict strategy. In that, I think MTG has much to offer gamers today as ‘innovation’ continues to be important in school and in life.

Ok, I’m not quite done – the other thing about MTG is that it scales very well to larger numbers of players with alternative game rules (2 players DUEL, 3 players free-for-all, 4 players 2v2 or 2-headed giant, 5 players fox-and-hound, 6 players 3v3 generals, etc.)

Magic: The Gathering created an entire industry segment, and while its had its ups and downs, it remains (in my humble opinion), the undisputed champion of collectible card games.

Magic: the Gathering is the original CCG. Richard Garfield didn’t just create a new game. He created a whole class of games that has (one could argue) made it possible for the game industry to explode to the heights we enjoy today.

Of course, historical interest isn’t what keeps me cracking packs, building decks, and casting spells 16 years after I first tapped a land for mana. Garfield created a game system that has proven to have incredible depth.

The color pie and mana system create a wonderful tension in deck construction: you can’t play all the best cards in the same deck because the game will punish you–unless you spend time and resources to get the colors you need–but those are resources you need to keep your opponent’s goblin horde at bay. It’s beautiful.

Magic is no slouch after the decks are shuffled and actual gameplay begins, either. There’s resource management, combat tactics, bluffing, engine building. You will get screwed by a bad draw from time to time, but the amount of room for skilled players to crush their weaker adversaries is astonishing.

Haters will hate, though. And sometimes they have a point. Keeping competitive in tournament Magic can be expensive. There are trade sharks that live to separate you from your chase rares. There are obnoxious kids who will smirk when you have to look up the text of some obscure Japanese-version card (foiled and signed, of course). But these are metagame issues. When you can find a good group to play with, those complaints fade into the background and Magic truly shines.

Simply put, It’s an incredible, infinitely deep game. Richard Garfield and, very importantly, the amazing designers and developers that have continued his legacy have produced such a cornucopia of gaming goodness, it’s almost ridiculous. Even if Wizards never printed a new card, the scope of the game is so immense I don’t think I’d be able to explore every facet of the game in another 16 years of play. There are a ton of great CCGs (and LCGs too) that have followed in Magic’s wake, but I don’t think I could say that about any of them.

Magic The Gathering is one of those games you love to hate. You love it when you’re winning and you hate it when you’re losing. WOTC has done a bang up job at making “Land” into the perfect scapegoat resource for all to blame as the reason they lost the game; I myself am guilty of this cruel reality. The developers of Magic The Gathering know their audience and are great at getting the word out about new cards that are very similar to older more powerful cards. This creates a nostalgic reminder for older players of why they previously had a cardboard crack addiction and loved playing Magic in the first place, this often brings them promptly back into the game.

If you’re looking into getting into Magic for the first time, so far I probably haven’t made much sense. Basically you’re getting yourself into a world you will most likely fall deep into and enjoy for many years to come. The downside to Magic The Gathering is: it is an expensive habit that can suck the life out of your wallet, it can take up way too much of your time, and even for some cause poor hygiene. I would caution anyone in the category of a new player to tread carefully when making your decision to join the pool of players for this amazing game.

The economics behind the game can be mind boggling and the the artwork, especially with thin the last few sets, is absolutely stunning. If you like highly strategic and creative games, Magic The Gathering definitely gets my vote for an amazing choice to play. With that said once you’ve started down the road of Magic The Gathering you will likely be a life long player dedicated to it more so than any other game on your roster. Be prepared to give up some time you spend on current long time favorites if you start playing. It is well worth starting up if you can afforded the time and money commitment. You have been forewarned!