So I barely know anything about MTG but I want to get cards for myself and a couple friends. What's the easiest way to get into this? (I know there's the video game but I wanna go real cards). I see there are two deck starter kits which seem cool, maybe I get one of those for each of us and then some booster packs? Like $30 per person is what I'm going for. Are the starter decks balanced against each other? Is there other stuff I should know?
I got a starter kit for my bf a while back, as an experienced player. It seemed like a good way to start - I could probably design decks that were more efficient or better at teaching the mechanics, but the intro decks were totally fine and fun to play against each other.
So yeah a starter set, maybe a couple boosters of a set that looks cool. You'll at least have enough to play with and tinker with your decks a little. You won't be terribly competitive at tournaments (and each format has their own rules, so your deck may or may not be legal), but you can play with your buddy and get a feel for how the game works.
Drafting is my preferred way to play because it's competitive and you don't need a collection, but it also has a much higher skill floor.
Thank you! It's a relief to know that going this route seems like it'd be totally fine for our situation.
Forgive me, but does drafting require buying new packs every time?
A normal booster draft usually does require new packs if you don't want the draft to get stale seeing the same cards that you already opened. There is a thing called Cubes, basically a player curated draft format. It's fun to make one once you get a bit of a collection of cards but I would stick to normal booster drafts for a bit before trying to make a Cube.
Got it, thanks again!