MAGIC : THE GATHERING by MicroProse

                  Reviewed by David Booth

By the end of April I had completed Daggerfall and was
thumb-twiddlingly awaiting the Next Big RPG.  Betrayal at Antara
and Shadows over Riva were still 'real-soon-now-ware'.  While
waiting I've tried out other, older RPGs.

While the gameplay and plotline of games like Ultima 7 and Realms
of Arkania are renowned, unfortunately the slick eye-candy of RPGs
like Stonekeep and Anvil dulled their appeal.  I had been spoilt
by over-exposure to dazzling graphics.

Maybe a break from the RPG genre, even briefly, would rekindle my
enthusiasm for these older classics.  I hadn't played a strategy
game since Populous, and there was a game from MicroProse that was
an alternative to anything I had yet seen :  a card game
conversion.

Maybe it would be a refreshing change, or a disappointment! One
way to find out.  Half decided, half on impulse in the shop, I
parted with the moolah and took home Magic : The Gathering.

Magic : The Gathering (MtG) is based on the Wizards of the Coast
card game, which has sold 7 million cards world-wide.  The basic
premise of the card game is to build a deck of cards from the
hundreds of card types available, then to take on an opponent in a
duel of skill and chance.

Each player starts with a deal of seven cards from their deck,
replenished with an additional card each turn.  By laying down
cards you make mana available and cast magic.

Cards fall into one of these groupings - land, critters, spells,
and artifacts.  Land is the source of your mana power, which you
obtain ("tap") by turning the card sideways.  Lands generate mana
depending on their type - Mountains give Red Mana, Forests are
Green Mana sources, and so on.  Each land provides one point of
mana.

Critters, artifacts, and spells can be cast if you are at a stage
in play where it is allowed - e.g. when you have just drawn a card
from the deck - and if you have the appropriate mana (amount and
colour) untapped.  Once a critter is cast, it is available to
defend you against attacks from your opponent, and can attack next
turn.

Spells fall into several types, for example Instants - one of my
favourites being Lightning Bolt, which zaps an opposing critter or
your opponent for 3 damage points.

Artifacts are objects which, typically, have a positive effect on
your side or hurt the opponent's side.  Black Vise, for example,
saps one life point from your opponent, each turn, for every card
in their hand over 4.  Very useful.

The fun really starts after a few turns when you and your opponent
both have critters available to attack.  Here's a scenario to
illustrate.

I have a Hurloon Minotaur in play, which is a critter which
attacks for 2 and defends for 3 life points.  There are 4 Mountain
cards on my side, untapped so far. I also have a Disintegrate
spell in my hand.

On the opposing side I can see 3 Forests untapped, and a
relatively puny Llanowar Elves (attack 1 defend 1), with my
opponent holding 3 cards in his hand.  Of course, I don't know
what those cards are.

I figure I have a points advantage, and choose to attack.  My
Minotaur steps forward to challenge, and predictably my opponent
puts his Elves in to block.  On this basis, the Elves should be
history.

However - once the blocker has been declared, my opponent draws a
Giant Growth from his hand, and boosts his Elves from 1/1 to 4/1 !
On that basis my Minotaur would be sacrificed along with the
Elves.

I don't want that, so I respond by using my Disintegrate spell -
it takes 1 to cast, and hits an opponent or critter for 1
lifepoint per land tapped, so here is worth 3 points of damage.
Aimed at the Elves it instantly sends them out of play to the
Graveyard.

Now with no blocker to stand in his way, my Minotaur wades through
to the opponent and thumps him, reducing his base 20 lifepoints by
2.

The objective is to zap your opponent to nil lifepoints before he
zaps you.  (There are other ways to win as well.)

Duels can get very frenetic, with critters going in to attack or
block, spells flying, and artifact effects taking place.  You can
be in a commanding position one turn, only to be locked down and
at a disadvantage on the turn of a card.  For example, white spell
users (with Plains land cards) can get lucky with a Wrath of God
spell, which destroys all critters in one go!  Or as a black
Necromancer, you may draw a Sengir Vampire, which is a nasty
bugger that GAINS power and toughness with each kill it makes.
And it flies too, so your opponent's hapless Goblins only get to
gaze open-mouthed as it wings over to hit him for 4 or more
lifepoints.  Ouch!

Whilst the Duel is the core of the game, it is but part of the
total.  You can play with default decks, or dive in and build your
own.  I've designed a custom Red deck which generates lots of
small but mana cheap ("Weenie") critters quickly.  They then chip
away at my opponent's lifepoints, as he struggles to build mana to
cast his big critters, or uses valuable destruction spells to take
them off the board.  Meanwhile I have more little critters in
hand.

Beyond the Duel is the adventure game, Shandalar.  In this you
play a hero sent to defeat five evil wizards. They are the pawns
of the Big Baddie, who has fooled the wizards into wishing to cast
the "Spell of Dominion".  They would unwittingly cast it in the
belief that it gives the caster world domination. In reality it
would breach the barrier keeping the Baddie away from Shandalar,
and he then would fly in to vanquish all and take over.

To cast the Spell, the evil wizards must capture Mana Sources,
special structures on the surface of Shandalar that build their
magic power.  The first wizard to own five such Sources can cast
the Dominion spell.

The wizards each control minor mages, grouped by mana colour.
These mages assail you as you explore the world, challenging you
to duel.  If you win - the controlling wizard loses a lifepoint,
and you win cards from your opponent.  If you wimp out of the
challenge or lose the duel - you sacrifice one or more of your
valuable cards.

In the Shandalar game you DON'T get to design your deck, instead
you start with a basic deck of cards in your chosen colour.  You
subsequently augment your deck with cards won from duels, and
bought from villages dotted round the countryside. You can also
sell unwanted cards to raise cash for the ones you want.

Your ultimate objective is to trounce the five wizards, then take
on the Baddie himself in a duel to the death.

Shandalar also has a number of sideshow attractions for the
player.

There are dungeons to explore (though they are nowhere near as
complex as a standard RPG dungeon).  You may take on a quest to
defeat a mage who is terrorising a village.  A wizard may gain
control of a Mana Source, which is one step towards their ability
to cast the Dominion Spell - so it is to you to rescind their
authority by defeating the mage who guards the Source.

Thus Shandalar has depths beyond the one-off 'Duel to the Death',
however I found that the intricacies of duelling are more than
enough to hold my interest.  Your opponents' cards and strategies
are many and varied, and it is a challenge in itself to design and
fine-tune a deck which will defeat them consistently.  A deck

which defeats 5 opponents in a row, easily, can turn sour against
the sixth.

Of course, there is an element of luck in this game.  I have been
in the position of having a handful of critter cards and NO land,
causing me to turn the air blue as my opponent hits me turn after
turn.  On the other hand, an artifact or spell drawn at the right
time can turn the game decisively in your direction.

For example, I was playing a game recently and, with 7 life
points, looked on in horror as my opponent cast a Shivan Dragon -
a flying beastie that takes you for 5 lifepoints.  My little
critters were all earthbound, and I had no cards in hand.

Next turn, I drew my card from the top of the deck :  joy! A
Meekstone. This artifact prohibits critters with 3 or more attack
points from untapping!  I held it in hand and awaited the
inevitable Shivan attack.


The onslaught happened, and on my following turn, I dropped the
Meekstone.  The dragon, tapped after attacking me before, was
neutralised.  So, back in control, I sent my weenie critters in to
attack.  Victory followed a few goes later.

Overall then, what of MtG?  Strategy players will love it. As a
die-hard RPGer, I admit it took me a while to adjust the game's
dynamics.  However, once you master them, the subtlety of its
design becomes more and more apparent.

It is also one of those games you can play for hours on end, or
have a five-minute duel. In my opinion, this is a classic in its
genre.






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