With that in mind, this is a good place to introduce the idea of converted mana cost or CMC. When it comes to "generic mana" that means you can use mana of any color for that part. In order to cast this beastie, you need to generate two red mana plus six generic mana.
Let's look at that Bloodfire Colossus again. This is a set of numbers and symbols used to represent what types of mana you need to generate in order to cast spells. Mana CostĪt the right of the top line is what we call the mana cost. They are also important to remember because your friends will give you strange looks if you try to tell them you cast "the thingy on his whatsamajig, but he countered it with a canoodle" and that's why you lost. Card names are important to remember because certain spells (like Cranial Extraction or Meddling Mage) actually need you to name something in order to play them. For this reason, the creative team on R&D tends to avoid calling cards "Bob the Giant," choosing the more evocative Hammerfist Giant or Bloodfire Colossus instead. These simple words are meant to evoke plenty of imagery in your mind beyond the card art, and perhaps give you a clue as to what the card does. Perhaps the most important part of any card is the name. We'll start our cardboard journey in the top left. All of the info packed onto that petite piece of cardboard can be a little overwhelming at first, especially for some of the more complicated cards out there, but a little explanation about the important parts should ease your entry into the game. This week, however, we are going to take a step back and give you an in-depth look at all of the information available to you on a Magic card. Last week’s article was a taste for the sorts of topics we will be covering in the coming weeks and months. Once you know the basics of getting through a game we'll take it from there! If you're completely new to the game and don't know how to play at all, we recommend starting with and then returning to Magic Academy.
This column is written for players that can at least muddle their way through a game of Magic. To see the column's table of contents or learn more, just go to the Magic Academy Welcome Page. So, if you're new to the column, you can either start at the beginning or just check the articles so far to see where you'd like to begin. The column is written in linear fashion, like a book, so each lesson builds on material learned in previous articles. Magic Academy is a column designed to help newer players get up to speed by teaching them more about the game and showing the resources available on the web for learning more.