Games

Two different types of (nerdy, fantasy) games today...


The Dragon Staff of Maladoria
1–2 February 2021

In to the second month already! In that respect, it feels like this is flying by. And yet I also know it's going to last until Christmas (and slightly beyond), which feels like a long way off yet. Hopefully that means it's going to feel like an epic adventure — something that takes "a whole year" should do, really.

Also, you can kinda tell this is the first one they made, because each day varies in size so much. Sometimes that's at the discretion of the player (1st February is a sewer map where it's really up to you how many rooms you venture through), other times less so (2nd February is a four-round battle). Either way, playing just these two days felt plenty for a session, in the sense that it was comparable to times I've played through five days at once.


Magic: The Gathering Arena

aka MTG Arena. For those that don't know, Magic is a trading card game, and this is the primary online version.

I played some Magic when I was younger. Or, at least, I remember having some of the cards. Don't remember the circumstances of how I got them, or how many I had (did they do starter kits back then?), or even who I played against (maybe I forced my sister into it?), but when recent developments caused me to look into the game again, I definitely remembered some of the rules and mechanics (all that tapping mana business) and the back design of the cards (which hasn't changed since the beginning, for the sake of formats where all cards are allowed) also felt very familiar.

Those "recent developments" were the release of a Lord of the Rings set and the forthcoming release of a Doctor Who one. I bought some of the LotR cards and have been opening them over the past few days — it's quite enjoyable, the collecting side of it, and the fun of seeing what will be in the packs. I also bought the starter kit, which comes with a code to unlock its sets on MTG Arena — hence why today I signed up and had a crack at that. I've only played through the opening tutorial campaign thingy so far, but, well, gotta start somewhere.

(Also, saying I've enjoyed the collecting side of it... I'm now a little addicted to ordering packs of the LotR cards, but trying to cut back already because I've also forked out for the entire range of Doctor Who sets that are coming in October! Really looking forward to getting stuck into the 400+ Who cards that are coming my way...)