Lady Planeswalkers of the Universe

[Trisha Lynn]

Inspired by the LRRCast episode featuring Missie Peters where they talked about the Lady Planeswalkers Society, I started an unofficial chapter here where I live in Minneapolis. I've been writing up my Event experiences in the blog associated with the site, all of which you can read here:

http://lps.geekingoutabout.com

My FLGS (Universe Games, they're awesome!) is our official sponsor and agreed to give me some demo decks and "How to Play" guides to give out to the participants. Tomorrow's our first meeting, and my test group is going to consist of a friend and her two daughters, possibly my husband if he can wake up in time.

So, obviously, since the girls have never played before, I'm going to start by telling them about the different colors of Magic and letting them pick whatever demo deck they want. I'll then play an open-faced game against my friend, explaining what I'm doing. Then, I'll have them play against each other for a bit until everyone has played everyone else at least once.

If we have time, the next part is where I'm a bit indecisive. I have 10 booster packs of M14 that I want to give out. The next thing I'd like to teach them is how to play with more than one color in their deck. The question is, though, would it be better to teach them by giving them 2 packs and having them open their cards pick out the creatures and spells of a type they'd want to add and then do some more rounds of play then? Or do we go for some Pack Wars, and I pass out 3 packs per person, with them playing with new spells each pack?

Which do you think would be more instructional and/or fun for a new player?


Trisha Lynn
...Lady Planeswalkers rule...!

[Duckay]

I'm not entirely sure, but my gut tells me that Pack Wars might be a little complicated for brand new players. I would lean towards getting them to open packs and look at them and decide what to play.

[Lurkon]

I'm not entirely sure, but my gut tells me that Pack Wars might be a little complicated for brand new players. I would lean towards getting them to open packs and look at them and decide what to play.

This is something I do with my friends, actually. I find it incredibly interesting what a person who is new to magic would pick as the "best" card of a pack, and I find it interesting what my friends who just play differently than I do would pick first out of a pack in a draft.

The discussion about what YOU think is best out of the pack versus what THEY thing is best out of the pack can be a very good learning experience for both of you. They learn why you think your card is better, and you learn what they're looking for in a magic card. I think that's important for matching them up with a play-style as they're starting out in magic.