Gathering Magic I - "Introduction"
- Cody Robinson
- Feb 9
- 12 min read
NOTE: This is Part 1 in an ongoing blog series called "Gathering Magic."
Gathering My Magics
Believe it or not, I spent every Friday evening in grad school at the local game store(TM), competing in sanctioned Magic: The Gathering tournaments. What initially began as a way to meet new people my age and go out in public and do something besides drink, I learned a lot about who I am, how I can be, and appreciate others in the same way.
I learned how to play this complex tabletop card game toward the end of my undergraduate years and competed in these weekly tournaments during grad school; in between hours spent keeping my fraternity brothers out of trouble with campus police and chain-smoking cigarettes outside of the dorms, you would find me hunched over my desk with stacks and binders of printed cardboard constructing my newest 'winning' deck.
Although I played competitively for three years, I never reached the Top 8 of the local/city rankings. Not only did I not have the money or network to get the cards I needed or any particular deck to be effective, but it took a lot of time to learn the game mechanics and develop my play style.
Regardless, I enjoyed the time and money I invested into this hobby, and you may occasionally see me play this card game in its online form on Magic: The Gathering Arena late at night or during breaks between school and work.
The two main things about this card game that drew me and kept me excited were the deckbuilding process and the pathos of card design.
More Than A Game: [Form and Function \ Flavor and Design]
As you might assume, Deckbuilding is constructing a list or set of cards from one of the many recognized play formats. For me, an average player, the 'format' or parameters of deckbuilding revolved around an ever-rotating list of tournament "Standard"-calibur cards. At the time, these were limited to sets of cards recently published within two years (those regulations have changed significantly since 2013, when I started playing). When I began my journey into taking this hobby somewhat seriously, the dragon-themed set of cards called "Dragons of Tarkir" was the latest. With its two companion sets, "Fate Reforged" and "Kahns of Tarkir," I created a new weekly deck to familiarize myself with the game's mechanics and develop my play style.
The developers of Magic: The Gathering develop new cards, in part, according to many established and fine-tuned guidelines. Concepts like "power creep" may be unfamiliar to most of you, but the Research and Development department spends months creating cards that are not too overpowered for competitive play. As I stated earlier, I participated in the "Standard" format, which consists of the newest cards within a certain period. Other formats, such as Modern, Legacy, and Commander, extend these allowed cards for competitive play, increase the maximum number of cards a deck can have, or other parameters.
In Standard, you had to have a 60-card deck, limited to up to 4 copies of any given card type except "land/mana" cards (these cards serve as the resource for being able to use your other cards). In addition, you could only construct a deck within the Standard format's list- which consisted of sets/expansions of cards printed within the last two years.
Basic land cards were easy to find, the local game store had boxes upon boxes of these resource cards, each with dozens of different art designs representing scenes, areas, or territories associated with the card set they were printed on. Every set has art for each land type and multiple artworks per set on top of that. In its decades of print, MTG has produced hundreds of pieces of brilliant artwork. Here are some examples from the Dragons of Tarkir set:
On the other hand, non-basic lands were and are often rare and expensive. These land cards typically were composed of cards that produced two or more "colors/types" of mana, no mana at all, were also creature cards, didn't produce mana, or a variety of other things that allowed greater customization and synergy in one's decks.
The complexity of construction did not stop at the resources/mana/land. There were other card types to consider when building a deck, including "Creatures," "Sorceries," "Instants," "Enchantments," "Planeswalkers," and "Artifacts," not to mention deckbuilding concepts such as "mana cost" or "color identity."
Deckbuilding, piloting, and analyzing Magic: The Gathering decks became a form of self-expression; I considered playing Magic at my local game store as an exercise in understanding others and myself.
However, being a new player then, it was easier and more accessible to stick to cards I could easily access because they were currently in print or had low relative value. In casual play, other folks at the local game store had cards from several years to decades ago, before the rigorous quality assurance policies rolled in, meaning that participating in other competitive formats would give me a significant disadvantage.
In other words, I spent much of my time creating decks from cards other folks didn't want or need to cobble something viable to play; I quickly learned to adapt and make the best of my limited resources. This skill was extremely helpful as I transitioned from an undergraduate slumming in the dorms to being on my own as a graduate student to becoming a young professional and budding scholar.
Luckily, several of my new friends at the game store would let me borrow their decks to learn older (and often more established) mechanics or card archetypes to test out play styles. I became acquainted with the phrases, jargon, and short-hand words for complex deckbuilding, construction, and playstyle concepts such as "tempo," "aggro," "control," and "ramp."
I also learned the various 'keywords' of different cards: official and standardized one-word phrases representing a specific quality a card represented. An example is the keyword "reach," a Creature-specific ability that allows a Creature card to 'block' any other Creature card with the "flying" keyword. Other keywords include "menace," "lifelink," "defender," or deathtouch". Many of these keywords exist, but I'll spare you the entire list.
As far as what kind of player or 'pilot' I am, I'm called a "control" player. As you might assume, the "control" playstyle seeks to create an environment where your opponent's vital cards are either removed from play or unable to be used effectively. This strategic playstyle requires patience, understanding other playstyles, anticipating your opponent's responses to what you're doing, and paying close attention to the board (or battlefield/'play zones'). The most adaptive and easily accessible types of cards that make this playstyle easier come from 'White' and 'Blue' cards, best represented (in my opinion) below by Dragonlord Ojutai and Ojutai, Soul of Winter, published in 2015 as part of the "Dragons of Tarkir" and "Fate Reforged" expansion sets.
A Character Study: 'Dragonlord Oujai, The Soul of Winter'
Along with being an incredibly complex and finely tuned tabletop card game, the lore, settings, and stories associated with the franchise are equally as robust. My most valuable (expensive) and favorite card during my competitive era was "Dragonlord Ojutai," one of the prominent yet periphery characters of the Tarkir story block.
Tarkir was a masterstroke in the Magic: The Gathering multiverse narrative. Initially, five powerful dragons came into being in a plane (or world) consisting of several multicultural, tribalistic humanoids surviving and fighting one another within clans. In one version of the plane's events, the dragons were quickly destroyed, and the clans were emboldened to conquer one another with even greater fervor. In the other narrative, the dragons conquered these tribes, unified them through ideology, culture, and/or force, and sought to use their subjects to wage war against one another.
With or without the Dragonlords (and even some time travel thrown into the story for great effect), Tarkir remained a world rife with international conflict.
To the Jeskai clan within the 'plane' (or world) of Tarkir, Ojutai served as their leader, and folks knew him as a great teacher of wisdom. The Soul of Winter (as he was called before rising to prominence as a "Dragonlord") became legendary for his strategies, tactics, cunning, intellect, and spiritual leadership. Among the five Dragonlords, Ojutai seemed to care the most about the well-being of his subjects. However, all 'Elder Dragons' in the Magic: The Gathering setting have a universal reputation for being ruthless, egocentric, and self-serving. While one version of Tarkir's history proved otherwise, Ojutai was no different.
Before Ojutai's teachings were revered as otherworldly wisdom, the Jeskai were proud and fierce ascetic monks and warriors, possessing a 'color identity' of Blue, Red, and White (or rather Blue/Red/White; there is a distinction, after all).
This tribe initially followed an ideology called the Jeskai Way. As summed up by Louis Kemner, former staff writer of Comic Book Resources (CBR), "The Jeskai Way is based on true vision: The wisdom to see and understand how to master one's self and how to conquer an enemy. For this reason, the Jeskai have chosen the eye of the dragon as its symbol, the eye that sees what others cannot perceive. The Jeskai believe that the other four clans are blind and lost, and only the Jeskai know the true way of things".
Kember, Louis. "Magic: The Gathering's Jeskai Way Clan, Explained". July 17th, 2020. https://www.cbr.com/magic-the-gathering-jeskai-way-clan-explained/
In the MTG universe (both mechanically and in the lore), color combinations are more than the sum of their parts- they are often structured and expressed in ways these identities interact. In other words, characters, cultures, worlds, and the flavor of a card are determined by each of its color identities concerning one another rather than drawing singular aspects of its parts.
These cards, like people, are soups- not sandwiches.
Due to Ojutai's intervention, the culture of the Jeskai shifted out of values associated with Red mana (such as passion, chaos, and recklessness) and remained chiefly within White and Blue (or rather, Blue/White) ideologies. This may not make much sense to you now, but keep these colors and the associated values while we proceed through this blog series.
Therefore, Ojutai remains (to my knowledge) the only 'Elder Dragon' in this ever-expanding card game who is remotely benevolent and willing to share their power and knowledge with others. I liked that about his character and how his card represents that. I'll explain more about what that means later.
In the interim, could you do me a favor?
When looking at Ojutai's Dragonlord card, as provided here, you'll find three symbols next to his name: a grey circle with the number 3, a white circle with a sun (White Mana), and a blue circle with a drop (Blue mana). These symbols inform us of two things:
This indicates that this card has a "mana cost" of 5, and you will need three mana of any color (among Red, White, Black, Green, and Blue), a 'White' land card, and a 'Blue' land card to place this on the battlefield for use.
Therefore, Ojutai has an "identity" as a 'White and Blue' (rather, White/Blue) creature.
The 'mana cost' of this card is 5, meaning that, generally, you will have to wait until you have five mana available to use Ojutai. You may only play one mana/land card on each of your turns (unless another card says otherwise), meaning that Ojutai takes a bit of time, patience, and resource management to get online and on the battlefield.
The higher the cost to play a card, the further a player must think ahead to make the most out of the turns they have left within any match.
While there isn't an official turn limit, most matches end by turn 6 or 7, as most decks have achieved a board state where a win is within reach. With decks using other colors of mana, such as Red, a winning board state can be achieved as little as turn 3, depending on the deck composition and the proficiency of its pilot.
In this example, Red cards typically have lower mana costs, simple effects, weaker creatures, cards capable of dealing direct damage to an opponent, and generate additional creatures to populate the board/battlefield.
In other words, Red cards run counter ideologically and mechanically to the philosophies of both Blue and (to an extent) White cards.
Let's take a look at the Dragonlord's abilities. Let's examine this together:
Ojutai has a power of 5 and a toughness of 4. This means that Ojutai can attack the opponent for 5 damage. Players begin the match with 20 life, meaning that Ojutai can eliminate an opponent within 4 turns if his attacks are uninterrupted by the opponent. This makes Ojutai a substantial 'threat' that must be addressed immediately. However, Ojutai has two abilities that make removing him from play difficult for other deck archetypes: flying and hexproof.
Ojutai has flying. Flying is one of those 'keywords' I mentioned earlier. Flying creatures can attack an opponent directly unless they have a creature card with the keywords Reach or Flying on the battlefield. The Reach keyword is generally found on Green cards, while Flying is primarily a Blue characteristic (although many White cards have Flying too). If the opponent has no creature or card that allows them to have either of these 'keyword' abilities, Ojutai cannot be blocked by any other creature, no matter its power or toughness.
Ojutai "has hexproof as long as its untapped". Hexproof is another keyword mostly found in Blue, Green, and White cards. Hexproof means opponents cannot target the card with their spells, abilities, or other cards. Essentially, Hexproof enables your cards to be unaffected by whatever countermeasures your opponent might employ to remove Ojutai from play other than resorting to direct combat through reach or flying. This ability allows Ojutai to be almost unstoppable. Yet, there's a catch.
Ojutai "has hexproof as long as its untapped". To 'tap' a card means to rotate the card sideways, indicating to players that the card is either being "tapped" for an ability (as a card dictates) or signifying an attack during that turn phase. Tapping cards aren't only creature-specific. Land cards, for instance, must be 'tapped' to use their mana, meaning that once the card is "tapped for mana", that resource cannot be used again until the beginning of your next turn.
Most creature cards must be "tapped" to attack the opponent, meaning that Ojutai loses these protections whenever used for offense. Tapped creatures cannot be used on the opponent's turn to defend, and all cards (not just creatures) become untapped at the beginning of your next turn.
In another example of card design, many Black cards specifically target "tapped" cards with very low 'mana cost', meaning that tapping a card for whatever it can do becomes an exercise in balancing how your deck works and how your vulnerabilities can be exploited.
(Of course, there are exceptions to this rule- many White cards have a 'keyword' called Vigilance, which allows the creature to attack the opponent without being "tapped", allowing them to be used both offensively and defensively provided they aren't removed from play by other means, such as combat or your opponent's cards). Color identity often informs ability. Some color combinations naturally lend toward greater synergy than others- and Ojutai is only a two-color card! Imagine what three, four, or even five-color cards can do!
Ojutai's last ability is essentially, verbatim, the ability from another card in the Tarkir card set named "Anticipate".
As Dragonlord of the Jeskai, Ojutai teaches his subjects the power to anticipate the actions of their opponents. When Ojutai removes his protections, attacks, and hits the opponent, you get to see into the future three steps ahead and select the best course of action.
You take one of the next three cards in your deck and place it into your hand for immediate use (provided you can play it), and take the other cards and place them at the bottom of your deck.
In this way, embodied within the Dragonlord card represents the sheer power of Ojutai as a character, faithfully representing the control playstyle in flavor and mechanics.
In essence, every game of Magic: The Gathering is an exercise in competitive ideology, strategy, and self-expression played out in its design, mechanics, and flavor.
A Study in Color Identity: Blue\White
As a Blue/White (not a Blue and White) creature, Ojutai represents a certain ideology within the metanarrative of Magic: The Gathering as described through its use of color identity best explained by @Lorelewrites via Tumblr:
"In Blue, White sees a color looking to affect change in the world. White changes the world with morals, while Blue changes the world with knowledge. In White, Blue sees a color that shares its love of structure. While Blue is busy discovering the underlying structure of the world, White is building new structure on top of it. So what does this add up to? White/Blue wants to change the world through structure. Their goals of peace and perfection, respectively, are the same in this instance. A perfect world is a world at peace, and this can only be achieved by carefully planned structure. This is directly opposed to White and Blue’s shared enemy color, Red, who strives for freedom and expression. In a less grandiose fashion, White/Blue likes changing reality and shifting how laws (both natural and unnatural) work. When White/Blue fights, it fights with strategy and unity."
Weisel-Librizzi, Loreley. "Color Pie Friday: The Philosophy of White/Blue". September 12th, 2015. https://www.tumblr.com/loreleywrites/97300998181/color-pie-friday-the-philosophy-of-whiteblue?source=share
In the Tarkir story, Ojutai officially rewrites the history of the Jeskai people, changing the embodied ideology of the tribe's culture and expression of their values- removing the Red-associated principles of passion, chaos, and aggression that caused them so much grief during their war for survival amongst the other clans on the plane. Instead, Ojutai reinforces principles of discipline (White) and a desire to seek wisdom (Blue) in his subjects, creating an army of strategic and cunning warrior monks just as cold and calculated as he is.
Next Steps
As an exercise of vulnerability and sharing parts of myself, I've constructed several mockup Magic: The Gathering cards to represent certain aspects of myself and how I've come to understand who and what I was/am/will be through the separation, synthesis, and distillation of these thematic and mechanical themes found in these 'color identities'.
This introspection will be expanded and explored in Part II.
Until then, thank you for reading!
This is awesome❣️