March 9: Jump Start

Late in the evening of our Magic Pizza Tuesday gathering, we were down to an odd number of people (we literally had an even number of people present, so by odd I mean not enough to split into two games of the kind of Magic we prefer, called Commander; 4 people were already playing a game that was never gonna end and we were left over with just 2 more platers, and you really need at least 3 to play a good game.) So instead of playing a game of Commander, we decided to try a new kind of Magic called "Jump Start." It is perfect for 2 players. You pick two mini decks (out of like 20 choices), shuffle them together, and ta-da, you have a deck to play. It almost makes a board game out of Magic, super approachable for new players who may not have their own decks, and creates a very equal playing field. My first game I was "Spooky" and "Cats", and the other I was "Plus One" and "Vampires". I really liked being able to choose from the different mini decks to create one deck to play from, and I could have kept playing by choosing more and more different deck combinations. I also really appreciated the level playing field. One of the things I like least about Magic is that people can pay a LOT of money to beef up their decks and make them practically unbeatable. My husband and I are of the mindset that we like to play for fun; we don't necessarily play to win (though winning is, of course, delightful), and we definitely don't spend hundreds of dollars on our decks. So it was nice that in these particular games, it was more about the skill/strategy of playing the cards you were dealt (and, of course, a little bit of luck). It was also delightful to play one-on-one with this particular friend. I am now inspired to look into creating my own Jump Start decks with the thousands of cards we have in our collection-- maybe another delightful project for me to embark on!

With delight,

♥Jamie