Magic: The Gathering is one of the oldest and most complicated collectible card games out there. You know the basics: Each card has a casting cost, story, and abilities. When combined with others, their effects can change significantly. And that’s just one player’s hand.
Played against one or more decks, you’ve got goats vs. vampires, walls vs. cats, and a magic cup vs. the three little pigs. For serious players, this kind of complication is fun and makes for some epic inside jokes. This list looks at the top 10 memes that only seasoned Magic: The Gathering players would understand.
10 The Un-organizer
A pain every Magic: The Gathering player knows is what’s it’s like to have too many cards. There are so many ways to organize them, also, like deck boxes, plastic storage containers, chests, and binders.
The second you dive in an attempt to organize, the next thing you know, you find a card with an insane mechanic you can build a deck around. To find cards for that deck, you’ve busted open your entire collection, and you’ve made an even bigger mess. Then you need to stop at a comic book store to pick up the card you’re missing. Why not grab a new sealed pack to check out while you’re there. And the cycle continues!
9 Start Hand Vs. Mulligan
Like in the game of golf, Magic: The Gathering, players are also allowed to mulligan. In the case of Magic, at the start of the game, players can swap cards during their opening hand. In sanctioned rules, you have to reshuffle all 7 cards, as opposed to more lax rules allowing you to select the cards you want to give away.
The problem with the official rules is if you had a terrible hand to start, chances are you’re going to have the opposite and equally as lousy hand after… which is usually a sign of bad shuffling technique.
8 Counter Board Wipe
Wiping the board in Magic: The Gathering refers to an ability that removes all the cards on the playing field, for both players. There are cards like Day of Judgement that destroy all creatures in play. Other cards wipe creatures, enchantments, and lands.
What’s the best retribution when this happens? You can counter with a card like Teferi’s Protection to save yourself, or you drop an equally as effective board wipe like Obliterate, that can’t be countered and items destroyed can’t be regenerated. Warning, table flip imminent.
7 Turn One Danger
The start of a new Magic: The Gathering game is always nerve-wracking. What will the other person drop? Do they have an excellent opening hand? Will it take them 1-3 turns to get mana? In the case of your opponent dropping a Red/White land and a Sigarda’s Aid, it’s a signal you could be in for a turn two loss or a severe lashing.
In the same vein, if your opponent drops a card that allows them to search their deck for a specific card, the pressure on for you to get your win condition underway.
6 Old School
Magic: The Gathering has changed a lot since your dad and mom’s time playing the early 90s. Yes, it’s really that old. Sure, the win condition - getting your opponent’s life points from 20 to 0 - remains the same. But after that, there are so many new cards, mechanics, and dynamics.
Not to mention the sheer number of cards from that time that are banned now for being too powerful; making it too easy to win. This is the way!
5 Pinger Fail
There are seemingly infinite types of Magic: The Gathering cards. Each game, it’s a matter of using your deck skillfully, all the while keeping track of the other player’s combos and plays. One of the worst feelings in the world is forgetting to use a card’s ability or spell during your own or your competitor’s end step, which is the end of the turn.
In the case of the card Merrow Commerce, at the beginning of your end step, you can untap all Merfolk you control, which is a huge defensive advantage. Miss that because you’re too focused on an instant spell your opponent cast, and you could be taking heavy damage during their turn. Sometimes the match comes down to life by life, which means one mistake could cost you the game. This is something that every seasoned Magic player knows, all too well the hard way.
4 Living Dangerously
While some Magic: The Gathering cards are all about brute force, blue cards are notoriously about copying, countering, removing, and reviving, as well as drawing cards. In the case of playing against a blue player, they have a lot of leeways when it comes to ways to counter you during your turn.
So there is indeed a running joke that it’s a gutty move to cast a spell against a blue deck when they have mana available because chances are, they have a counter ready and waiting. You just need to counter their counter!
3 Money Gone
Ask a player how much they’ve spent on Magic: The Gathering cards, and watch them squirm. But do they regret it? Not likely. What most people who don’t play, don’t know is that Magic cards are not just a game. It can be a collectible investment. Some cards, like Black Lotus, are worth upwards of $166,000.
It’s obviously a fruitful market when there is an increasing number of criminals stealing Magic cards to make money and people being caught printing fake cards.
2 Are You Even Playing Bro?
There are some Magic: The Gathering plays that are just so offensive, they should only be played against mortal enemies. A card like Winter Orb is just that.
This card can stop other players from being able to untap more than one land during their untap steps, which means they can’t play a card that costs more than one mana. Try winning a game without being able to play cards. Offensive and hilarious to watch!
1 Shiny Object
This is a classic meme that applies to so many things, including Magic: The Gathering. The game has been around since 1993, and since then, the company has released 2-3 sets per year.
With so many new cards to pick from, along with older cards to buy from comic book stores to make up a deck, there’s always a new shiny object to choose from. And just when you think you’ve got enough Magic cards, they release new editions, like the latest Thrones of Elderaine fairy tale theme or evenMy Little Pony cards.
NEXT: 10 Games Magic: The Gathering Fans Should Try
