Research Your Magic The Gathering Combos

About a week ago we turned a critical eye toward Magic The Gathering Online. We wanted to see how the Game has held-up these three years since release. Our Initial impressions: the game has an aged graphics engine, a small library of uninspired sound FX, and a needlessly cryptic interface that makes Naked Lunch seem obvious. But beneath that murk lies a game just as addictive as the original 'Magic' collectible card game itself, and it's a title perfect for anyone looking to get back into the franchise.

Our full review is still forthcoming. For now we're willing to lift our obsessed little heads out of the Ravnica-block dredgefest to send some useful deck-building links your way.

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FunagainGames.com- A "5-10-15 Dollar Sale" on Boardgames

We're always on the look out to save a buck. Call us bold - but we assume you don't use Jackson's smug face to roll cigarettes either.

There are quite a few generic online hobby stores out there, and many lure in the hapless consumer by posting 'sales' of hundreds of products at discounted prices. Perusing the index, and on around page 5 or so, you begin to realize that most of this stuff you're flipping through is yardsale jetsam: Fuzzy dice, plastic poker chips, a standard deck fo cards, harmonica pen knife, etc. -- Where's the high quality merchandice at rock bottom prices?

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Critical Gamers Staff Permalink

GMs - When You're Feeling Uninspired

If you're feeling tapped of the creative.. things.. and stuff.. or somethin', then you might want to check out this post in the En World forums. There's a few well-suggested links in here, like sites devoted to: Roman History, Various. Name. Generators., Historical Atlases, and uh The Online Encyclopedia of Western Signs and Ideograms.

That 'Western Signs' site is actually pretty cool. The subject seems obscure, so we thought it'd be served out of some guy's flooded basement. But it's hosted by a Swedish publishing firm -- and they've got their act together.

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Magic The Gathering Online: Etiquette

Some of us here at Critical Gamers are about to pick up Magic the Gathering Online (a full review is forthcoming). We understand that MG:O has an established online society full of peculiar and hidden folkways, and our potential for a faux pas due to ignorance could easily land us in the Magic dog house. Luckily we found this "Guide to Online Etiquette" from Eric Turgeon over at the Casual Players Alliance.

The article speaks of some online gaming etiquette generics, such as: when you join a game lay down a few statements of 'Good Game', comment appreciatively on your opponent's Seafoam shirt and what not. But there's also some things we didn't know. Like it's not polite to enter into a casual duel with a Magic deck tailored to "abuse mana accelerators to produce an infinite combo"... good to know - and once we figure out just what the heck that means we'll make sure not to do it on purpose.

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Take Christmas Shopping to a Whole New Level with d10 Earings

Pick up a pair for that special someone who's all about the gaming. Now - you might find yourself relegated to the couch or slapped in the face if you lead Christmas morning with this gift, but at 5 bucks a pair they should serve as good stocking stuffer. These jobbers are hand made and come in various colors and all the dX varieties, which is great if the fashionable wearer has geometric prejudices.

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Sea 3D - a Digital Settlers of Catan

Settlers of Catan may be the best thing out of Germany since the US red-rovered Old Leather Pants Hasselhoff for Heidi Klum (Epstein couldn't have managed a better trade). Catan is simple, social, and has near-infinite replayability. What could make it better?

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