Magic: The Gathering – 2013 Core Set

4/5

MTG was the first trading card game. They needed to make money to produce Robo Rally so they made MTG to acquire the funds. MTG has tons of innovation, theme, and amazing artwork. It is hard to rival this game because it has been out since 1993. It is a wonderful competitive card game. Casual MTG is still the #1 way to play. Commander & Draft are okay. 10,000+ plays.

This is an older card game and due to that it has several outdated features. Other games have improved on MTG, but lack innovation or the card pool. This is also a TCG so the pay to win feature exists & the print crappy cards to make people spend more money exists. Simple way around that is to PnP your own stuff at a much cheaper cost and still have fun with the experience. There are better card games. There is no card game with a better card pool.

House rule: update the land system to Duel Masters, Marvel Champions, etc... rules for a more streamlined strategic experience = less luck.

[b][url=http://www.cubetutor.com/cubeblog/71823]Core Cube[/url][/b] (ALOE)

This cube has gone through a number of design iterations, starting out as basically a merging of Magic 2014 and [url=https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/694888/core-set-cube]delirimouse's Core Cube[/url] here on BGG. My initial play of this, when it was mostly Magic 2014 and lacking Rares, was decidedly underwhelming. I later rebuilt it around some clear themes, threw in some Rares, and retried it to great effect.

Since then, I have messed with versions of almost every other limited setting from Magic, and I came back to this set for the opportunity to work with something a little more powerful and pure. My most recent swing at this set tried to redesign around the acclaimed Magic 2013, so it's now somewhere between that format and a Core Cube designed with only the most powerful cards.

Actual play has been mostly positive, even it it hasn't quite lived up to all my expectations. Drafting and deckbuilding has ranged from surprising (Monowhite Soldiers?!?) to mindless (RG Beatdown), but overall I've been pleased with the card quality. Games themselves have similarly ranged from straightforward races where the best topdeck draw wins to thrilling comeback victories. There's been a good amount of depth despite the simplicity of the cards.

That said, none of the gameplay is blowing my mind. It feels mostly like a really good limited set, something that could see good amount of replay but won't last forever. I suspect the newly expanding card pool of Core Sets and my own built-in rarity system might result in more replay than I'm sensing right now, but for the time being I am conservatively dropping my rating by a notch.

See MTG

See MTG