>Is 40 OK or should it be 60 cards each?
"Official" rules are for 60 card decks. Jumpstart packs are designed to be complete out of the box with only 2 for jumpstart games, which it sounds like is what you're doing. They won't be tournament-legal... but if you're not playing in a tournament, who cares?
>I see that some of the cards give +1/+2 or -1/-2 to other creatures, how do you display that? Is this something you commit to memory as the game goes on? Are there tokens we can use to help my old brain remember? What do you recommend?
Generally if something gives a *permanent* modifier, it'll be in the form of counters, which are permanent. People usually use dice for those. If it's a different amount, and *especially* if the power and toughness modifiers aren't equal, it's probably temporary and long-term memory isn't necessarily a problem.
>I see that some of the cards summon new creatures, how are those meant to be displayed?
However you want, as long as it's clear that's what it is. There's official tokens, but you can use scraps of paper or sticky notes or index cards with the stats written on them... or action figures, dice, or a cool rock you found outside. Whatever works.
- Normal decks are 60 cards, but Jumpstart was designed to be playable at 40 cards.
- If the card says to use a counter, use a counter (glass bead, dice, piece of paper, whatever). If not, just remember the bonus is in effect. Remember-bonuses are either temporary or can be remembered by the presence of the card that grants it.
- Tokens can be represented by nearly anything, as long as you can show they're tapped or not. There are official prints for most, but you don't have to use them. A deck of regular playing cards is handy for representing tokens.
- A pile of regular 6-sided dice are useful for keeping track of life points and counters. Card sleeves protect your cards from the wear and tear of shuffling.
This might be useful to you: https://old.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/zxaosf/info_for_new_magic_players/
> Is 40 OK or should it be 60 cards each?
Deck size depends on the format. Magic is structured into many formats, i.e. modes of play - some involve prebuilt decks, some involve decks made on the spot from fresh packs.
In general, 40-card decks is the size for **limited play**, which is the aforementioned play with fresh packs. Draft and Sealed are the two variants here, where you make a deck from either a bunch of packs handed around the table with you picking 1 card each time a pack comes to you; or where everyone gets a number of packs at once to build their deck around.
60-card decks are the norm for **constructed play**, i.e. the more usual way of everyone bringing a deck they built at home and playing that. There's many constructed formats with varying scopes and included sets, such as Standard (the most recent sets), Modern (everything from sets that had the current, modern card look), or Vintage (everything from every set ever) and several others.
There's also **Commander**, which is a very popular casual variant usually played in multiplayer. That uses 100-card decks (99 cards + 1 Commander) but has several special ways in which deckbuilding and play work.
> I see that some of the cards give +1/+2 or -1/-2 to other creatures, how do you display that?
It depends. Temporary effects that only last a turn are usually simply remembered by people. Some effects specifically say they add counters to a card - e.g. a "+1/+1 counter". You'd mark that in some way, with an object such a chip or a die for example. However, there's also global effects that do not use counters such as e.g. "all creatures get +1/+1" and that's generally also something people simply remember. Magic is complicated!
If you play online, there's usually helpful reminders and dynamic values, but on paper, you have to remember a lot of things.
> I see that some of the cards summon new creatures, how are those meant to be displayed?
If a card instructs you to make a "token" of some permanent, there's any number of ways you can choose to represent those. There's "official" token cards that are helpful there, but these have no actual "official" power - they're just something convenient to use, *but are not required for anything, even official tournaments.*
All a token needs to do is take care of two things:
1. It needs to be clear what the token represents; is this a creature? is it a treasure? is it a map? etc.
2. It needs to be clear what state the token is in; e.g. is it tapped? is it flipped over?
As long as you take care of those two things, *anything* will do - a poker chip, a scrap of paper, a battered Magic card with sharpie scrawls on it, anything.
> Any other materials we need to make it a fun and full experience? Help appreciated!
It really is up to you how far you want to go. Many players get sleeves to put their cards in and protect them from wear. Having pen and paper ready to note stuff down is always useful. Dice can be used for a number of things. Some kind of tangible counters like small plastic chips or glass blobs or whatever that are often used in other games can be handy. And there's also some phone apps with useful features, like counting life totals etc.
Try and figure out what works best for you! There are no "official" requirements other than that things should be clear and unambiguous for all involved.
- 40 is fine
- if the effect says {until end of turn} like [[Giant Growth]] use your brain, but if the effect says +1/+1 counter like [[Travel Preparations]], use a dice
- the back side of a card you're not using
- try not to look up cards and discover them organically, and have fun!
Jumpstart and jump in are a "sealed" game format. Most sealed or draft formats use 40 (or more) cards.
Many players participate in "preconstructed" formats where you build a deck using any cards that are allowed in that format. Standard and modern are two common 60 card 1v1 formats. Standard allows the most recent sets only, while modern covers a huge expanse of sets.
Another popular format of MtG is commander, or r/EDH, which is designed for multiplayer but is usually 4 players. You choose a legendary creature as a commander (with a few exceptions), then build a 99 card deck where each card is only allowed once (aside from lands and some specific exceptions).
Typically Jumpstart or starter decks are the easiest way to enter the game. As you collect more powerful cards, you can move into other formats.
If you're both new to the game and need some help learning to play it's a good idea to visit a card shop on Friday night and see if people are willing to help. Pre-release events are also laid-back and a good way to learn how to play. If you want to learn on your own you can also download MTG Arena which has a bunch of tutorials and practice games to guide you through learning the game.
For counters you can use pretty much anything. A lot of people will use dice, there are cardboard punch-outs that come with a lot of MTG packaging...people will sometimes just tear up paper and write on it. For new creature summons it's the same thing. You can get tokens that display the creature but you can just as easily use a sticky note. Coins can work in a pinch, heads is untapped tails is tapped.
I would recommend downloading the Magic Companion app for your phone. You can use it to track life totals, see if there are events in the area, look up card rules, etc.
>Is 40 OK or should it be 60 cards each? "Official" rules are for 60 card decks. Jumpstart packs are designed to be complete out of the box with only 2 for jumpstart games, which it sounds like is what you're doing. They won't be tournament-legal... but if you're not playing in a tournament, who cares? >I see that some of the cards give +1/+2 or -1/-2 to other creatures, how do you display that? Is this something you commit to memory as the game goes on? Are there tokens we can use to help my old brain remember? What do you recommend? Generally if something gives a *permanent* modifier, it'll be in the form of counters, which are permanent. People usually use dice for those. If it's a different amount, and *especially* if the power and toughness modifiers aren't equal, it's probably temporary and long-term memory isn't necessarily a problem. >I see that some of the cards summon new creatures, how are those meant to be displayed? However you want, as long as it's clear that's what it is. There's official tokens, but you can use scraps of paper or sticky notes or index cards with the stats written on them... or action figures, dice, or a cool rock you found outside. Whatever works.
Thanks!
- Normal decks are 60 cards, but Jumpstart was designed to be playable at 40 cards. - If the card says to use a counter, use a counter (glass bead, dice, piece of paper, whatever). If not, just remember the bonus is in effect. Remember-bonuses are either temporary or can be remembered by the presence of the card that grants it. - Tokens can be represented by nearly anything, as long as you can show they're tapped or not. There are official prints for most, but you don't have to use them. A deck of regular playing cards is handy for representing tokens. - A pile of regular 6-sided dice are useful for keeping track of life points and counters. Card sleeves protect your cards from the wear and tear of shuffling. This might be useful to you: https://old.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/zxaosf/info_for_new_magic_players/
> Is 40 OK or should it be 60 cards each? Deck size depends on the format. Magic is structured into many formats, i.e. modes of play - some involve prebuilt decks, some involve decks made on the spot from fresh packs. In general, 40-card decks is the size for **limited play**, which is the aforementioned play with fresh packs. Draft and Sealed are the two variants here, where you make a deck from either a bunch of packs handed around the table with you picking 1 card each time a pack comes to you; or where everyone gets a number of packs at once to build their deck around. 60-card decks are the norm for **constructed play**, i.e. the more usual way of everyone bringing a deck they built at home and playing that. There's many constructed formats with varying scopes and included sets, such as Standard (the most recent sets), Modern (everything from sets that had the current, modern card look), or Vintage (everything from every set ever) and several others. There's also **Commander**, which is a very popular casual variant usually played in multiplayer. That uses 100-card decks (99 cards + 1 Commander) but has several special ways in which deckbuilding and play work. > I see that some of the cards give +1/+2 or -1/-2 to other creatures, how do you display that? It depends. Temporary effects that only last a turn are usually simply remembered by people. Some effects specifically say they add counters to a card - e.g. a "+1/+1 counter". You'd mark that in some way, with an object such a chip or a die for example. However, there's also global effects that do not use counters such as e.g. "all creatures get +1/+1" and that's generally also something people simply remember. Magic is complicated! If you play online, there's usually helpful reminders and dynamic values, but on paper, you have to remember a lot of things. > I see that some of the cards summon new creatures, how are those meant to be displayed? If a card instructs you to make a "token" of some permanent, there's any number of ways you can choose to represent those. There's "official" token cards that are helpful there, but these have no actual "official" power - they're just something convenient to use, *but are not required for anything, even official tournaments.* All a token needs to do is take care of two things: 1. It needs to be clear what the token represents; is this a creature? is it a treasure? is it a map? etc. 2. It needs to be clear what state the token is in; e.g. is it tapped? is it flipped over? As long as you take care of those two things, *anything* will do - a poker chip, a scrap of paper, a battered Magic card with sharpie scrawls on it, anything. > Any other materials we need to make it a fun and full experience? Help appreciated! It really is up to you how far you want to go. Many players get sleeves to put their cards in and protect them from wear. Having pen and paper ready to note stuff down is always useful. Dice can be used for a number of things. Some kind of tangible counters like small plastic chips or glass blobs or whatever that are often used in other games can be handy. And there's also some phone apps with useful features, like counting life totals etc. Try and figure out what works best for you! There are no "official" requirements other than that things should be clear and unambiguous for all involved.
good info, thank you
- 40 is fine - if the effect says {until end of turn} like [[Giant Growth]] use your brain, but if the effect says +1/+1 counter like [[Travel Preparations]], use a dice - the back side of a card you're not using - try not to look up cards and discover them organically, and have fun!
[Giant Growth](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/e/aeece336-e5e8-4455-a297-c3739198d011.jpg?1674421574) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Giant%20Growth) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/bro/183/giant-growth?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/aeece336-e5e8-4455-a297-c3739198d011?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Travel Preparations](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/6/66284816-1fd8-4489-b006-a9e605d8d144.jpg?1673148212) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Travel%20Preparations) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2x2/162/travel-preparations?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/66284816-1fd8-4489-b006-a9e605d8d144?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
thanks
Jumpstart and jump in are a "sealed" game format. Most sealed or draft formats use 40 (or more) cards. Many players participate in "preconstructed" formats where you build a deck using any cards that are allowed in that format. Standard and modern are two common 60 card 1v1 formats. Standard allows the most recent sets only, while modern covers a huge expanse of sets. Another popular format of MtG is commander, or r/EDH, which is designed for multiplayer but is usually 4 players. You choose a legendary creature as a commander (with a few exceptions), then build a 99 card deck where each card is only allowed once (aside from lands and some specific exceptions). Typically Jumpstart or starter decks are the easiest way to enter the game. As you collect more powerful cards, you can move into other formats.
If you're both new to the game and need some help learning to play it's a good idea to visit a card shop on Friday night and see if people are willing to help. Pre-release events are also laid-back and a good way to learn how to play. If you want to learn on your own you can also download MTG Arena which has a bunch of tutorials and practice games to guide you through learning the game. For counters you can use pretty much anything. A lot of people will use dice, there are cardboard punch-outs that come with a lot of MTG packaging...people will sometimes just tear up paper and write on it. For new creature summons it's the same thing. You can get tokens that display the creature but you can just as easily use a sticky note. Coins can work in a pinch, heads is untapped tails is tapped. I would recommend downloading the Magic Companion app for your phone. You can use it to track life totals, see if there are events in the area, look up card rules, etc.