“People Keep Asking If I’m Back, And I Haven’t Really Had An Answer. But Now, Yeah! I’m Thinking I’m Back!” John Wick

I think that quote kinda sums up where I am about MtG at the moment.

Well not exactly.

I’m only playing casual or kitchen table MtG.

No prerelease, no FNM, no store tournament, just games with friends and family.

The games with friends and family will be using precon decks, such as the challenger decks, game night kits, and starter kits.

All decks I can just throw in a bag and take to a game night, or planned MtG session. Where we grab a deck that grabs us and play.

That’s basically been the three times I’ve played MtG in the last couple of weeks.

It all started off teaching Dave and Clack MtG, then some games with Nath when I visited him, followed by an evening this week playing with Dave.

I had a blast playing again. I was reminded of what I love about playing the game besides the deckbuilding.

I love those moments the game gives where it all looks lost but somehow you hold in there, and manage to grab victory from the jaws of defeat. Dave had one of those in our last game on Wednesday.

Sometimes the cards hate you and you get mana screwed (or the opposite mana flooded). It happens. You shrug it off. Shuffle and start the next game.

I love the complexity. The incomplete information you play with. Not knowing what cards your opponent has, you have an idea the sort of cards they might have, but you don’t know for sure. Why have they left mana untapped? What do they have in their hand? Is it a counter spell or removal? Dare I play the card? The bluffing can be delicious.

Oh and that feeling of satisfaction when you pull off something cool.

As for the precons I’m enjoying playing the ones I have. The Game Night Kit is designed for this sort of play. It’s been great fun both times I used it with Nath and Dave. The one I got was the 2022 version. There is a 2019 edition to. It’s also designed as a multiplayer game, but I’ve not used it that way yet.

The challenger decks have been fun too. I have 3 pioneer decks (using archetypes I enjoy), plus a couple of the standard ones.

Plus the starter kits have been useful in this casual play. I have a couple of these. These decks I use like the old duel decks. They have been fun to play also.

I still have a couple of the CardKingdom battle decks. Which are great value. But may not be after shipping has been added on (just ordered a couple of decks, the shipping was ok). These are great fun to play also.

This casual approach to MtG is a lot lighter on the pocket, and just as much fun.

So yeah I’m back casually.