Planeswalkers...

I've mentioned before how much I enjoy playing Magic: the Gathering. As player personality types go, I am a Vorthos, meaning I appreciate the art, story, and characters of Magic more than the mechanics of gameplay.

Each player in a Magic game is a planeswalker, able to travel to different worlds and universes through the Blind Eternities. On these worlds the planeswalker is able to forge connections to the different lands (plains, island, swamp, mountain, forest) in order to power his spells. A planeswalker is also able to learn to summon creatures (humans, merfolk, zombies, goblins, elves, etc.) from these different worlds. He could also learn to summon help from another planeswalker (planeswalker cards) to enable him to win his battles.

When two planeswalkers do battle, in my imagination they aren't taking turns and casting spells drawn randomly from a deck. That doesn't give you a good chance to win, in my opinion. So how does the game of Magic translate into the fantasy realm that Wizards of the Coast has created. It doesn't, really. The random nature of a deck of Magic cards just doesn't translate well to a pitched battle between powerful mages. However, I have a theory.

What if two (or more) planeswalkers meet up and want to test their skills against each other without running the risk of either dying? Maybe they want to settle a dispute or have placed a valuable item or spell as the prize of their contest. In this case, they might agree upon rules to follow for the contest. Maybe the rules of a Magic: the Gathering game. Very meta, right? The game of Magic is inside the world of the Magic game.

This is where the randomness can happen. Each planeswalker creates a deck of cards representing the spells he or she has learned, and representing the ties he or she has created to the lands providing the power for those spells. Each planeswalker randomizes the deck, draws seven cards, and begins playing, taking turns.

I like this idea. It's simple, yet elegant, and makes it possible for the random nature of a Magic deck to have a place in the Magic Multiverse. Of course, if the planeswalkers were unable to solve their dispute with a game and decided to fight in earnest, then the random nature goes out the window and the planeswalkers start throwing everything they have at each other.

I'm going to try to start writing more, so I hope to do more on Magic. Maybe get into the colors and what each is good at, and which colors I identify with the most.