In the last installment of Magic the Gathering Tips, I went over some of the major formats in the hope that it will help you come to a decision as to which one you want to play. Of course there is nothing stopping you from playing any or all of them if you like. But you’re going to have to pick one to start with, unless you’re good at doing more than one thing at a time.<\/p>\n
Anyway, now that you HAVE a format in mind, there is still one more decision to make. Are you going to play this casually or competitively, or both? No reason why you can’t. I know lots of people who do both, including myself. But before you can make that decision, you have to know what the ins and outs of each are. One isn’t necessarily better than the other but there are major differences between them in terms of game play and finances that you need to be aware of if you’re going to make an informed decision.<\/p>\n
Let’s start with casual.<\/p>\n
Casual is where you essentially take whatever cards you want that fit the format you’ve decided to play and play them against your friends in an unstructured setting. This could be at someone’s home or at your local LGS, if they allow you to play there casually. Some will, some won’t because of space limitations and\/or other events taking place.<\/p>\n
In casual, you’re just playing for fun. There are no real winners and losers as far as prizes go, unless you want to supply your own prizes. There is no structure as to the number of games or matches. You simply play until you don’t feel like playing any longer. It’s a very relaxed atmosphere and for a lot of people, quite fun.<\/p>\n