Sunday Magic

And in more breaking news - this coming to you mid-tourney Sunday afternoon as the Magic the Gathering Time Spiral draft is underway. Above Jacob and Dad face off in round one. Here's a close-up of the opening moves between Mom and Anthony. Jacob ponders Dad's move. We even convinced "UT" to play - to the great joy of his adoring nephews.

At this point I am down 0-2, my 15 year old and even my 10 year old having beat me! I'm beginning to wonder about training my children so well. It can be a bit hard on the ego at times. Oh well, two matches to go. Perhaps I'll yet win one! If not, it's OK; it's fun no matter what. I just can't resist a game with a fantasy element, tokens and dodecahedral dice!

In case you don't know about Magic, it is a role-playing card game in which each player begins with 20 life points and has a deck of cards (self-made through selecting about 40 cards from in our case 270 available today). There is a lot of strategy involved as you try to select cards that work well together. Many are creature cards (elves, goblins, dragons, etc.) that have a certain power and toughness. You can "attack" with them, and your opponent can block with creatures, play "spells" to try to prevent damage, or they can take damage. There are also cards that allow you to gain back life points. Once you are down to zero life points or below you lose. Each round is best 2 out of 3. There's a lot of strategy involved, some great artwork on the cards, and a lot of imagination if you want to engage it! It's a favorite in our family.