I can’t pretend that I have an in-depth knowledge of the game, but I know what I like, and this article is about something that I’m starting to think I like very much indeed, much to the chagrin of my accountant.

The Magic 2010 Core Set consists of 249 cards. Just under half of them are brand new cards, and the remainder is made up of reprints of “classics.” The classics will, of course, be new to me. Consider this exploration to be very much from the perspective of a new player – the type of person I believe Wizards of the Coast are trying to attract with the new set.

Here we go. Let’s start by opening a pack of cards.

Let's first remove one pack from the big box of packs. What a glorious sight!

The author with a Magic 2010 booster pack. By this point in the process, your heart will be pumping in anticipation of shiny-shinies.

Here they come. The moment of truth approaches. Will there be a valuable Rare in this very pack?! I feel sick.

Whatever else is inside, there's a vampire. Which is good news if you have plans of building a Vampire and Zombie deck of DEATH (and probable failure, but SCARY failure).

The face of a 32 year old man who's just found a bit of cardboard with Ball Lightning written on it.

Opening the booster pack is a key part of the Magic experience. In my less enlightened years, I imagined that this was really what Magic was all about, that this unveiling ritual was the only reason that people really cared about Magic. I imagined that the ugly truth of the game was that in the acronym CCG, only the first letter mattered, and the last existed merely to justify the expense.

But what I’ve discovered is this – Magic is an incredible game. An incredible game. And while the collectable element is appealing (particularly to an obsessive hoarder like myself), it is the game that come first. Every card is a tiny piece of a massive, ever-customisable whole. Every card is a tiny piece of a beautiful game mechanic’s long and dignified history.

Limited experience here, remember, but it appears to me that Magic 2010’s cards give you more than a wonderful introduction to the game – they give you a feel for the vast scope of the whole system.

With that, let’s have a quick video explaining how the game works, for those who don’t know. This video is a couple of years old, but it’s from Wizards of the Coast themselves, and is really quite charming. Look out for lots of awkwardness from the likeable guy on the left, and lots of family friendly trash talk from the lady on the right:

Having quite a few games under my belt now, I can understand where all the “IT’S A MONEY PIT! AVOID!” talk originates from. It’s not, as I thought it might be, about needing to buy cards. Certainly not if you’re not playing competitively. It’s more about wanting to buy cards. The deckbuilding element of the game constantly excites, because with every play you can see how your deck could be configured better. The perfect deck always seems tantalisingly close. You want a big old roster of cards at your fingertips so that you can test your management skills.

Let’s take a closer look at this particular set of 249 cards, then, with some of my favourites. I should say that I’ve only opened 18 packs so far, so this is just a sample:

Mine. All mine! This is a classic card, and one that is a big help when you have a deck dependent on the draw.

That's floating horses there. Floating horses. YES. Creatures that fly can usually only be blocked by other flying creatures in Magic, so this card's lovely for cowardly custards.

I'm not a White player, but I might be tempted to dabble, because this looks like a beast.

I'm told this is an iconic card. It's a flying creature that can generate mana. And it's beautiful. And it also cooks.

And here's my beautiful boy. I dream of the day I manage to get him onto the table. That word there is INDESTRUCTIBLE by the way. BAM!

My favourites don’t have too much to do with how powerful they are, or how rare they are. I tend to like cards that I think will be fun to play. I like the cards with art that appeals to me. ‘Cancel’, for example, won my heart as soon as I looked at it. I mean, seriously, check it:

Cancel. The only card in the world less welcome than a With Deepest Sympathy greeting card.

Just be glad I didn't do my version of Naked Hill Troll.

All in all, I can heartily recommend Magic 2010 as a perfect jumping-on point for the game. It’s hard to imagine any gamer who enjoys clever duel mechanics not enjoying the play experience that Magic provides. With this set, you have an opportunity to learn why classic cards have become classics, and a chance to learn the strengths of the new cards at the same time as the veterans.

I should take a moment to talk about the rule changes that Magic 2010 brings into the game. Being new to the game, I can’t really speak on this with great authority, so I’ll hand over to a veteran player who has played competitively, and knows his shit.

David Whitelaw, of the Sonic’s Ring podcast:

“Let’s not kid ourselves here – the new rule changes introduced with the launch of M2010 have been contentious to say the least. Out of the seven made, everyone seems to be happily in agreement with six of them. Altering the rules of the likes of mana burn makes perfect sense. I have played Magic for five or six years now to a decent standard and out of many thousands, I can count on two hands the number of games where mana burn has been relevant.

But as Bergman suggested, it’s the seventh one that is going to cause problems. Combat in MTG is a wee bit difficult to get your head around initially and the most complicated aspect is the infamous stack. After you attacked, your opponent blocked and everyone was happy, there was a phase where damage went on the stack. Before resolving the damage players could do stuff. In a simple example, it was very common to see a player put damage on the stack then Unsummon their own creature so it could live to fight another day while your opponent’s hit the graveyard.

Now damage resolves instantaneously once everyone is happy with attackers and blockers. A lot of people are suggesting that Wizards have dumbed the game down with this rule change. I disagree with this completely. Under the old rules, if you knew what you were doing, decisions were very obvious – damage went on the stack then you played out whatever trick you had. Now, if we consider my earlier example, you are forced to think through whether to trade creatures or simply stop the damage and then replay your guy.

All that we are seeing here is a knee-jerk reaction to change. People hate change and none more so than MTG players. In my opinion, the changes made to the blocking rules force you to think more deeply about what you do with your resources in game while decision making becomes that much more complex and important. And yet Wizards have achieved this while also removing arguably the most complex, non-intuitive concept new players have to get their head around while learning Magic. It’s a win-win situation.”

I’d like to weigh in on the combat/damage thing here too. The changes that have been made with Magic 2010 might be causing some debate, but the game now plays the way I kinda sorta thought it already did play. Or at least the way it already should. The way it works now seems to be common sense stuff. If I have to explain the game to another player, it’s easier to do now. It makes more sense now. I can see that some little rules exploits and card-combo tactics might be eliminated by the change, but in a gameplay sense, to the new guy sitting here, that old way of playing seems a little bit cheap. The instantly resolving damage moves decision-making to the forefront, and makes the combat more proactive than reactive.

Enough blethering.

Magic 2010 is the gateway that I said the game needed in my last article. It’s here now, and it’s great. Get it ordered and we can shoot the shit about it here on the site.