Magic: the Savaging

A little while ago, board gaming’s answer to Hunter S. Thompson, Michael Barnes, gave us a list of his ten “essential” games to own. This isn’t going to be a list piece or some commentary on his choices, but one of his selections was that ubiquitous CDG Magic: The Gathering and the ensuing discussion of his picks reminded me that this was a game about which I have terrifically complex feelings. Complex enough to be worth an article, I suspect, since those issues touch a great deal at the heart of why I’m a board gamer rather than any other kind of gamer. So here they are in a sort of semi-review of the game. There’s little or no rules discussion here if that’s what you’re after: more the thoughts and feelings that have been engendered by the highs and lows of a good ten years or more on the M:tG circuit.