Magic The Gathering - anyone?

[ItsChristmaaaaaaaaas]

I have no idea what this is but have been asked to ‘get cards’ for Christmas.

Is there a board or something to go with it? A wee pack of swapsies cards looks a bit lame and I don’t want to get the ‘wrong’ packs!

My son is into this so I know a little about it.

This game night set is a good starting point for someone new to it. Otherwise, if they have some already, a new deck that they don’t yet have would be good. Hope that helps!

How old is the person you are getting it for, do you know if they'd played at all already, and how much do you want to spend?

He’s 15 and he has some friends at school that play it. Not sure about spend - it could be a stocking filler or peeper present (depending on what it is!)

Proper not peeper!

Amazon do a great core set for about £16, but if they've played lots already you'd be better off getting booster packs

Has he got any cards already?

If he has no cards yet I'd go for this
www.amazon.co.uk/Magic-Gathering-Spellslinger-Starter-Kit/dp/B07PGLLGHF/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=Magic+gathering&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1575726882&sr=8-6
followed by this
www.amazon.co.uk/Magic-Gathering-Builders-Toolkit-Including/dp/B07PDJ8YJM/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=Magic+gathering&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1575726882&sr=8-5

Without knowing what he plays its hard to say.

it could be anything from individual cards (can be lots of money)
various boosters packs, a full box of booster packs (from £70 - £90).

A core cards box set
or
A bundle box

We have ordered the Amazon core set to start off and then there are extension packs. This one

Ds2 is in an after school strategic games club and they play all sorts of different strategy games, Forbidden Island, Castle Panic, Pandemic, Settlers of Catan and Exploding Kittens.

We have found the best way to learn about a new game is to watch YouTube tutorials. There are plenty of people uploading how to play (teach the table, Geek and Sundry) far easier than reading the instructions.

Warning, MTG can take over lives my daughter and her DH play in tournaments and we are always being told about their decks and games and cards. It's his they met.. If your son is serious he'll need a deck box and sleeves for his rare cards (they can be worth hundreds of £s)

Hi, I'm a dad with two small boys And we all play Magic together.

Let me know your budget and the age of the child you're buying for and I'll try to steer you right.

Thanks! He’s 15 - up to £30? Because I don’t know the game I have no idea what’s a decent amount!

As a Father and keen Magic Player, a few things: Spellslinger Starter sets and Game Night boxes are generally pretty bad, even for new players, particularly if they intend to play and build a collection. My recommendation would be a "Throne of Eldraine" Bundle box, this is close to your budget. It has the latest set which is widely playable, it is good for new and existing players. Bundles hold reasonable value for your money.

I'm a new player and my friend who plays a lot said that a good start may be to buy a second hand collection that another mum has found in the loft somewhere and wants rid of. Happens a lot on Gumtree etc.

I've seen people selling hundreds sometimes thousands of cards for 20-30 quid (this can include commons, rares, ultra-rares and even legendarys)

Hi, I have been playing magic for many years and my eldest son got into magic a few years ago. My suggestion would be that if they do not have any cards then I would purchase a mtg 2020 deck builders toolkit along with a throne of Eldraine planeswalker deck, this will give them more than enough cards to start trying to form their own decks along with a pre constructed so that they can see how cards can interact with each other. If they already have quite a few though then I would purchase the throne of Eldraine Bundle. Hope this helps and have a merry christmas

Hiya. Mtg former judge and tournament organiser here. I'd second the recommendation for a deck builders toolkit as a great place to start especially if their friends already play as the spellslingers are relatively low power. If they get into it some supporting accessories are a good idea too such as a deck box, some sleeves and some nice dice if they don't already have some from other games (a couple of D20 and a stack of D6). Mtg has different formats so I recommend standard legal cards for initial purchases as they will make it easist to transition to playing tournaments at local game stores if they get hooked. Look out for pre release events in January for the new sets for these. The most up to date set is Throne of Eldraine btw and its a really good creative set but core set 20 is slightly easier to understand for beginners so either of these would be good options. Best of luck and I hope they grow to love our game.

Tournaments?? My goodness I never knew it was such a ‘big thing’!

Something like this? www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07PKWWGNH/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

I assume there is a board? Or dice?

Can't believe this game is still going....my cards are all from 20 years ago. Are they still playable with modern sets?

Or...are they worth a secret fortune? Should I sell them?

There's no board, but there used to be playmats I think

I've been playing for a long time now. Deck builders and bundles are good starts indeed. My suggestion is sit down with him and ask what he actually wants. Maybe he just wants some specific cards to play with his friends and then you can order them individually from ebay or magiccardmarket. If he himself is unsure, then go for the two products mentioned above.
Some cheap sleeves and a deck box are also great for a new starter. You might have a shop near you selling all of this stuff and where he can play in the future, have a look on locator.wizards.com .

You'll want to check if he means the physical card game or online one as well

I know this one! Physical cards!

Some great suggestions which some have made, but I'll second are:

Planeswalkers decks. Costing so where around £12 -14 depending on where you get them. It's a ready to play deck with a shiny promotional card of a key in game character. It also has 1 or 2 booster packs inside to help them customise the deck.

A deckbuilders toolkit costs more around the 15-18 mark. It's not a ready to play deck. Instead it's a kit containing the basic elements of deckbuilding, as well as booster packs of current sets.

There's a bundle pack sometimes listed by its old name of fat pack. This is better for more established players. It has 10 booster packs as well as counters and funky extras. Expect to pay around 35 for that.

Lastly there's the holiday box. It's a Xmas release of the most recent "throne of Eldraine" set. It's a premium version of the bundle above. Slightly more expensive, but it contains an extra collectors booster that has special prints of current cards.

I see several other enthusiasts have also commented, and you might be feeling a bit overloaded with information. But here are some key things to note:
New players are best of starting out with recent sets. There are very many types of play format, but the easiest to find other players for is "standard" which is made up of the newest and easiest to buy sets.

Accessories are as welcome as the cards themselves. A nice playmat to stop your cards slipping around in-play, or some good sleeves to protect cards from shuffle damage are good purchases.

The most recent sets are
Throne of Eldraine
War of the spark
Magic 2020 core set
If unsure stick to these

There are some really good online retailers who specialise in Magic (it really is that big). I can recommend Chaos Cards, and Magic Madhouse.

Magic has a healthy tournament and fan scene and is a great way to make friends. I hope they have fun whatever you get them

I didn't know that MTG was still a thing, I used to play it about 20-30 years ago.