Tabletop_Gaming__Issue_27__February_2019

puzzle pieces

is deeply satisfying to my

brain. Carcassonne combines

randomness, hidden information and known

information in an elegant and enjoyable way.

In the end though, no game has had a greater

inuence on me than Magic: e Gathering.

is is probably not a surprise to those who may

know of me from the fact that I’m a member

of the Magic: e Gathering Pro Tour Hall of

Fame. I spent close to 20 years playing Magic

professionally. is would never have happened

had I not been rst sucked in by the melding

of incredible gameplay and almost sinisterly

addictive product design.

Magic turned the gaming world on its head by

inventing the concept of a collectible/trading card

game. e more cards I bought, collected and

traded for, the more options I had to play with and

to win with. Now the gaming experience came in

three addictively never-ending phases: rst you

had to acquire the game components before you

could play. Buying one box of the game barely gave

you enough to play with – of course you wanted

to get more cards to make your gameplay better.

Next, you had to build a deck to play with. Now

preparing to play was almost as fun as playing.

Endless cards gave you endless possibilities for

creation. e third phase was actually playing the

game. Since you didn’t know which of the endless

possible combinations of cards were in your

opponent’s deck and what order each of you were

going to draw various cards in, it was a completely

dierent experience each game.

e process of designing killer Magic decks

honed my creative instincts and my understanding

of card balance. It helped give me the condence

and the mental training to start designing my own

card games. In addition, the name recognition I

got from playing Magic professionally also helped

convince publishers, retailers and gamers to give

my rst game designs a chance. As a result, Magic:

e Gathering will always have a special place in

my heart.

I

t seems almost impossible to narrow down

my favourite games to the one that most

inuenced my work as a game designer. At a

rst pass I managed to narrow it down to chess,

Magic: e Gathering, Dominion, Carcassonne

and Ticket to Ride.

I’ve always loved the elegance of chess. I love that

you don’t need rules written on the game pieces.

ere are rules to how each piece works, you learn

them and then that’s just what they are. I can make a

Star Trek chess set and my pawns may now be people

wearing red shirts, but everyone still knows how they

work. I also love how much chess exemplies the

idea of easy to learn and yet hard to master without

endless components.

I loved Dominion because it scratched the

strategic itch of a deep card game like Magic: e

Gathering, but contained in a single box which up

to four players could enjoy over and over. I also

loved that it invented a whole new fantastic type

of card game, opening endless new possibilities

for designers like me. When I played Dominion, I

had such a satisfying feeling of creation every time

I played. Sometimes my creation was better than

other times and I kept wanting to play again to see if

I could create something cooler and better.

I love Ticket to Ride, because I can play it with

anyone, not just lovers of strategy games. It’s so

easy to learn and fun to play. Yet for strategy gamers

like me there is still plenty to sink your teeth into.

e elegance of each player only doing one thing

per turn, with only three things to choose from

is amazing, considering how much interesting

gameplay results from it. e components are simple,

colourful and fun, and you can even learn some

geography along the way.

I love Carcassonne because it’s simple, elegant and

satisfying. By only having one piece in your hand at a

time, the complexity and decision process is strictly

contained, which helps open it up to a broader range

of gamers. It led me to appreciate tile-laying games

in a way that I had only appreciated card games

and board games previously. e combination of

physically placing tiles and matching them up like

February 2019 tabletopgaming.co.uk 17

preparing to play was almost as fun as playing.

Endless cards gave you endless possibilities for

creation. e third phase was actually playing the

game. Since you didn’t know which of the endless

possible combinations of cards were in your

opponent’s deck and what order each of you were

going to draw various cards in, it was a completely

The

process of

designing

killer Magic

decks

honed my

creative

instincts.

my favourite games

e Magic: e Gathering Hall

of Famer and Star Realms

co-creator remembers how he

went from player to designer

DARWIN

KASTLE

InstantInstant

oU

Draw 3 cards or

force opponent

to draw 3 cards.

Ancestral RecallAncestral Recall

Illus. © Mark PooleIllus. © Mark Poole

Black ViseBlack Vise

ArtifactArtifact

Illus. Richard ThomasIllus. Richard Thomas1995 Wizards of the Coast,Inc. All rightsreserved.

At the end of target opponent’s

upkeep, Black Vise deals

that player1damage for

each card in his or her

hand in excess of four.

puzzle pieces

NecropotenceNecropotence

EnchantmentEnchantment

IllusIllus©1995 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Al.M.Mark Tedinark Tedin lrightsreserved.

Skiyour hand, remove that card fropyour draw phase. If youdiscard a card frommthe game.

librar:Pay 1 life to set asidy. At thebeginning of your next discardethe top card of your

phase, put that card into your hand. Effects thatpreventor redirect damage cannot be used to

counter this loss of life.

o 1 oG

Illus. Pete Venters

Enchantment

Survival of the FittestSurvival of the Fittest

Enchantment

oG, Choose and discard a creature

card: Search your library for a

creature card, reveal that card to al

players, and put it into your hand.l

Shuffle your library afterwards.

©1993–1998 Wizards of the Coast, IncIllus. Pete Venters

. 129/

m t ,

creature card,

ayers,

o 3 oR

Illus. Edward P. Beard, Jr.

Summon Nomads

Avalanche RidersAvalanche Riders

Summon Nomads

Echo (During your next upkeep after this

permanent comes under your control, pay

its casting cost or sacrifice it.)

Avalanche Riders is unaffected by

summoning sickness.

When Avalanche Riders comes into

play, destroy target land.

©1993–1999 Wizards of the Coast, IncIllus. Edward P. Beard, Jr.. 74/143 2/22/