Magic: the Gathering - Why I Play the Game
I was at 10 life; he was down to 7.
Each of us had been sniping at each other for most of the game, whittling
each others' life totals down - he had just beaten me handily, so I knew I needed to pull out a win here or lose the round.
On the table, I had seven lands, a Thraben Sentry (2/2, vigilance, flip if any of my creatures die - that gets important later), an Avacyn's Pilgrim (1/1, tap for 1 white mana), a Runechanter's Pike and a Trepanation Blade.
The Blade is definitely one of the more interesting cards in the new set that's coming out. It's a 3-mana artifact with an equip cost of 2, and it works as both a mill and a creature booster. Whenever the equipped creature attacks, the defender starts flipping cards from the top of their deck, until they hit a land. The attacker gets +1/+0 for each of the revealed cards, and all of the revealed cards - land included - go to the graveyard.
I'd been using it to whittle down his library while I sniped at his life, trying to get rid of his more dangerous cards.
A new turn rolls around to me, and I realize two things - one, he's got more than enough creatures to beat me down over the next couple of rounds, and two, I just drew a Demonmail Hauberk.
His position was much stronger than mine - an Abattoir Ghoul with a +1/+1 counter on it, a Bloodline Keeper (vampire that can create other Vampire tokens), one 2/2 token from the Keeper, a Falkenrath Noble (vampire flyer - and while it's in play, if it or any other creature dies, I lose 1 life and my opponent gains 1. Nasty little critter), a Screeching Bat, and an Armored Skaab.
I took a quick count of my available mana, weighed the chances in my head, and decided to take a risk.
Tapping my seven lands and the Avacyn's Pilgrim gave me 8 mana total. Four of that mana went into casting the Demonmail Hauberk - and then I sacrificed the Pilgrim to pay the Hauberk's equip cost.
When the Pilgrim hit my graveyard, the Thraben Sentry, loyal solider that it was, flipped - into a Thraben Militia, a 5/4 trampler. With the Demonmail Hauberk equipped, that brought it up to 9/6.
The other four mana that I had left over went into equipping both the Runechanter's Pike and the Trepanation Blade to it. I had a couple of instants in my graveyard, so the Runechanter's Pike gave it an extra +3/+0, up to +12/+6 - but more importantly, it gave my Militia first strike, too.
I swing at my opponent with a 12/6 with trample and first strike, and watch him start to mill his deck down; it only takes him two cards to pull a land, which makes it a 14/6 until end of turn.
He throws all his critters together into a desperate defense, and manages to block all of the damage from my Militia - but at the cost of all of his creatures but the Skaab. Unfortunately, since he just lost five creatures - including the Falkenrath Noble - that deals 5 damage to me and gives it to him, bringing me down to 5 and him up to 12 life. Things aren't looking good.
He draws on his turn, and plays a chump-blocker and a Skaab Ruinator before passing the turn to me. My heart sinks as I realize that he has enough on the field to keep himself alive for a turn, and I don't have anything that can block a big flyer like that.
Then I look at his deck. He has only two cards left in it. He follows my gaze, and realizes the same thing I just did.
When I attack with my Militia, he has to start flipping cards. If that top card of his deck is a land, then I don't have enough damage handy to kill him, and next turn his Ruinator will splatter me.
If the top card of his deck is anything BUT a land, he'll have to mill both cards. His deck will be empty. When I end my turn and he tries to draw, he automatically loses.
The entire game, the full twenty minutes or so of earnest play, all comes down to this - a single flip of a card. A roll of the dice.
I look across the table to my opponent, both of us full well knowing what this comes down to, and grin. "Do you feel...lucky?"
I attack with the Militia. He flips the card. It's not a land. VICTORY.
Of all the things I've done in Magic: the Gathering, I don't think I've ever been as tense as I was for that fraction of a second before we both saw what the top card of his deck was. After I shook his hand, I was shaking - literally, shaking.
Sometimes it's very easy to remember why I play this game.
Each of us had been sniping at each other for most of the game, whittling
each others' life totals down - he had just beaten me handily, so I knew I needed to pull out a win here or lose the round.
On the table, I had seven lands, a Thraben Sentry (2/2, vigilance, flip if any of my creatures die - that gets important later), an Avacyn's Pilgrim (1/1, tap for 1 white mana), a Runechanter's Pike and a Trepanation Blade.
The Blade is definitely one of the more interesting cards in the new set that's coming out. It's a 3-mana artifact with an equip cost of 2, and it works as both a mill and a creature booster. Whenever the equipped creature attacks, the defender starts flipping cards from the top of their deck, until they hit a land. The attacker gets +1/+0 for each of the revealed cards, and all of the revealed cards - land included - go to the graveyard.
I'd been using it to whittle down his library while I sniped at his life, trying to get rid of his more dangerous cards.
A new turn rolls around to me, and I realize two things - one, he's got more than enough creatures to beat me down over the next couple of rounds, and two, I just drew a Demonmail Hauberk.
His position was much stronger than mine - an Abattoir Ghoul with a +1/+1 counter on it, a Bloodline Keeper (vampire that can create other Vampire tokens), one 2/2 token from the Keeper, a Falkenrath Noble (vampire flyer - and while it's in play, if it or any other creature dies, I lose 1 life and my opponent gains 1. Nasty little critter), a Screeching Bat, and an Armored Skaab.
I took a quick count of my available mana, weighed the chances in my head, and decided to take a risk.
Tapping my seven lands and the Avacyn's Pilgrim gave me 8 mana total. Four of that mana went into casting the Demonmail Hauberk - and then I sacrificed the Pilgrim to pay the Hauberk's equip cost.
When the Pilgrim hit my graveyard, the Thraben Sentry, loyal solider that it was, flipped - into a Thraben Militia, a 5/4 trampler. With the Demonmail Hauberk equipped, that brought it up to 9/6.
The other four mana that I had left over went into equipping both the Runechanter's Pike and the Trepanation Blade to it. I had a couple of instants in my graveyard, so the Runechanter's Pike gave it an extra +3/+0, up to +12/+6 - but more importantly, it gave my Militia first strike, too.
I swing at my opponent with a 12/6 with trample and first strike, and watch him start to mill his deck down; it only takes him two cards to pull a land, which makes it a 14/6 until end of turn.
He throws all his critters together into a desperate defense, and manages to block all of the damage from my Militia - but at the cost of all of his creatures but the Skaab. Unfortunately, since he just lost five creatures - including the Falkenrath Noble - that deals 5 damage to me and gives it to him, bringing me down to 5 and him up to 12 life. Things aren't looking good.
He draws on his turn, and plays a chump-blocker and a Skaab Ruinator before passing the turn to me. My heart sinks as I realize that he has enough on the field to keep himself alive for a turn, and I don't have anything that can block a big flyer like that.
Then I look at his deck. He has only two cards left in it. He follows my gaze, and realizes the same thing I just did.
When I attack with my Militia, he has to start flipping cards. If that top card of his deck is a land, then I don't have enough damage handy to kill him, and next turn his Ruinator will splatter me.
If the top card of his deck is anything BUT a land, he'll have to mill both cards. His deck will be empty. When I end my turn and he tries to draw, he automatically loses.
The entire game, the full twenty minutes or so of earnest play, all comes down to this - a single flip of a card. A roll of the dice.
I look across the table to my opponent, both of us full well knowing what this comes down to, and grin. "Do you feel...lucky?"
I attack with the Militia. He flips the card. It's not a land. VICTORY.
Of all the things I've done in Magic: the Gathering, I don't think I've ever been as tense as I was for that fraction of a second before we both saw what the top card of his deck was. After I shook his hand, I was shaking - literally, shaking.
Sometimes it's very easy to remember why I play this game.