Magic: The Gathering -- Official Strategy Guide: The Color-Illustrated Guide to Winning Play

by Beth Moursund

Although the game is as easy to learn as chess, Magic: The Gathering does contain over 2,000 playing pieces, making good game plan and knowledge of the rules essential. This strategy guide provides... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560251492
• ISBN13: 9781560251491
• Release Date: June 1997
• Publisher: Running Press Book Publishers
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 7.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

good book

i liked it a lot. good rules explanations

Great book to read, it helped me alot since I'm a beginner.

This book breaks it down into its simplest terms. I was able to understand and follow the directions easy. A definite need for those of us that are new to playing Magic the Gathering.

This is absolutely the best book for a beginner to buy.

I can't think of any book that will teach you the finer details of the game better than this. As a beginner, photos of actual cards help immensely in learning the game. Only "Official" books show the actual cards. This book is great for a beginner who wants to advance to intermediate and tournament level play. The book is dedicated to teaching you all about the strategy of playing with the 5th edition cards. There is a fantastic attack sequence description in this book. The book also details banding, instants, and interrupts which can be very confusing to beginners. Good information is also included for creating and playing with the 5 basic decks: an inexpensive Weenie Deck; a Big Creature Deck; a Burn Deck; a Permission Deck; and a Land Destruction/Discard Deck.

bethmo is simply the best writer around on M:tG

Beth Moursund, bethmo, is simply the best writer there is on Magic: the Gathering. She has a simple style, but makes very deep points. Time and again I have read her discussion of a card or a strategy and been amazed at her insight. This is a book for the beginning to intermediate player. Actually, it's a book for all but the expert. (And even an expert would appreciate her writing.) In this book, bethmo discusses both how to play the game and how to build winning decks. She illustrates her approach with plays and with decks, so that her theory and practice can be seen side-by-side. Most wonderful of all, the book has illustrations of all the cards she discusses, so you don't have to wonder what the heck some card says. It's right there for you to see. Also, don't worry that the decks will involve out-of-print cards that will cost you a small fortune to procure. bethmo deliberately uses only in-print cards from relatively recent (and still very available editions of the game). She's so good that she doesn't need to take refuge in a deck full of $20 to $200 cards.By all means, by this book. Once you read it you'll be a bethmo addict, too. Then you can go out and buy other of her books, like her guide to Tempest, the single-card strategies (outdated unless you have the computer game or $1000s to spend), or one of the encyclopedia volumes.

A must-have, especially for the intermediate player.

I have found there are two major "humps" on the road to M:TG success: (1) figuring out the rules in the first place; and (2) actually becoming a skilled player. This book helps with both humps, although it will be of greatest value to the player who can play, but just not especially well. As I have played more and more Magic, I find I am constantly rereading sections of the book, often finding subtle points that went over my head a few weeks before but now are clear in the light of real play positions that have happened to me. The color illustrations are fantastic. Recommended!