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Lauren Orsini

Is your friend group getting a little tired of your standard board game night? Try switching it up with something new: an at-home Magic: The Gathering tournament.

Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game that has been around for more than 20 years, so it’s probable that your friends have already heard of it. Created by Wizards of the Coast, the Hasbro subsidiary that also publishes the geeky game night cornerstone Dungeons & Dragons, it’s a high fantasy story complete with recurring heroes, villains, and lore. It’s gone through many iterations, but the gameplay is the same: build a deck of cards and play them in order to attack your opponent and defend yourself.

See also: For ‘Magic: The Gathering,’ Diversity Is The Marketing Strategy

Today, Magic: The Gathering has approximately 20 million players worldwide. It’s a game with a broad audience: simple enough to teach to beginners, but complex enough to inspire cerebral gameplay among masters at international tournaments. That makes it a good candidate for a game night that doesn’t leave anybody out.

Lauren Orsini

This isn’t a tutorial on playing Magic: The Gathering; you can find that here. Instead, this is about taking your game to the next level with a group tournament. Here’s how to get started.

1. Nail down the basics

Get an even number of people together, ideally eight though six is OK in a pinch. Tell everyone to clear about four hours in their calendars for the tournament.

Next, get your cards. You’ll want to get your hands on three of what Wizards of the Coast calls a “bundle.” A bundle includes 10 booster packs, which are randomized packs of 15 playing cards. You’ll want to procure enough cards so there are three booster packs per person. For an eight person tournament, you’ll want three bundles. You’ll only need twenty-four, but you can give away the remaining six booster packs as prizes to the winners.

Why three? These randomized packs are going to be the basis of each player’s deck of cards. A balanced deck of Magic cards includes 40 cards of various types.

Generally in Magic, there are two types of cards—spells that can be cast, and mana-generating lands, which are used to “pay” to cast those spells. Each bundle includes a set of 80 lands. Since a balanced deck includes 17-18 mana and 23-24 spells, three booster packs is the perfect number for ensuring one person has enough cards to build their ideal deck.

Bundles can be costly, around $30 each. It’s typical etiquette for tournament participants to contribute cash or refreshments to the host, but you can also make this more overt by mentioning it in your tournament invitations.

2. Start the draft

Once each participant has her booster packs sitting in front of her, it’s time to start drafting the cards. This is how players will select which cards they can choose to build their decks.

Here’s how it goes down: first, players sit around a table and open their first pack. They choose their favorite card, and then pass the rest of the pack to the right. This continues until everyone there are no cards left to choose. Then, the players open another pack, and pass the rest to the left. For the third and final pack, the process is repeated while passing once again to the right. Now, all the packs are open and everyone’s made their selections.

From there, players will take a look at the cards they’ve picked from the draft and build their decks. Most players will opt for spells that require mana-producing lands of two out of Magic’s five different colors, the better to hedge their chances of getting the correct color for their spells. At this step, it is absolutely OK for beginners to get guidance from experienced players while deck building to make sure everyone has a playable and well-balanced deck. For additional tips, Wizards has their own tutorial for making a great booster draft deck.

Lauren Orsini

3. Set up matches

First there’s drafting. Then there’s deck building. Finally, it’s time for players to engage in some actual Magic games.

Begin matching people totally randomly. For example, you could match everyone up with the person who sat opposite them for the draft or deck-building process. That takes care of the first of three matches.

After that, the best way to ensure that people have fun is by setting them up according to their win/lose records. That will give you the best chance of making sure people are matched evenly, so nobody is just getting crushed repeatedly, which is never any fun. Pair up the winners of the first match, and have them face off. Then, have the people with 2-0 records play each other, the people with 1-1 records play, and the people with 0-2 records play. The ideal situation is for nobody to have to play somebody they’ve already played before. This can happen with the 1-1 matchups, so pay special attention there to make sure everyone has a new partner.

Each player match will consist of three games, and the best two out of three wins the match (if somebody wins two in a row, there’s no reason to play the third game). After three matches, you’ll have your tournament winner decided. If you agreed to distribute the remaining booster packs as prizes, now’s the time to do that.

Lauren Orsini

4. Prepare for contingencies

Of course, with a game as complicated as Magic, you need to be ready for things to go less than smoothly. Here are a few tips for making the tournament as fun as it can be:

See also: Lose Yourself In The Optimistic Art Of Magic: The Gathering’s Kaladesh Plane

Watch the time . Set a timer. One hour max for deck-building. One hour per tournament match (though usually match time speeds up once people start to get the hang of it). If people aren’t done yet at the end of the hour, set a tie-breaker rule like “after three more turns, whoever has the most life left wins.” . Set a timer. One hour max for deck-building. One hour per tournament match (though usually match time speeds up once people start to get the hang of it). If people aren’t done yet at the end of the hour, set a tie-breaker rule like “after three more turns, whoever has the most life left wins.”

Provide refreshments . Four hours is a long time! Make sure players keep their heads in the game by ensuring they don’t crash from low blood sugar. I personally like to make themed foods. For my Kaladesh tournament, I made drinks with dry ice for my guests—the better to emulate the lore’s wispy “aether.” . Four hours is a long time! Make sure players keep their heads in the game by ensuring they don’t crash from low blood sugar. I personally like to make themed foods. For my Kaladesh tournament, I made drinks with dry ice for my guests—the better to emulate the lore’s wispy “aether.”

Designate a rules advisor. It’s best to refer to the most knowledgeable person to make a rules decision if there’s a disagreement. Figure out in advance who that will be, and then designate a backup in case that person’s game has a rules conflict! . It’s best to refer to the most knowledgeable person to make a rules decision if there’s a disagreement. Figure out in advance who that will be, and then designate a backup in caseperson’s game has a rules conflict!

Magic: The Gathering gives you and your friends a chance to play at wizards for a day, but it also fosters interaction unlike any board game. While a tournament is a group format, each match takes place one-on-one, which can give you time to catch up with friends you don’t always have a chance to talk to individually. It’s a great way to reconnect in a way that group board games often don’t offer. Try it: you might see your friends in a brand new light.

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