MTG Online Guildpact Beta Signups

We just found this one in the MTG Online Forums. If you're hankering for some prerelease Guildpact, and if you don't mind a potentially bug-ridden Magic The Gathering: Online client interface, then you'll definitely want to fill out the MTG:Online Guildpact Beta Forum. There's no word on when the beta will start, but it should to be soon; the Guildpact Ravnica expansion is slated for an online release on February 27th, and that date is coming up quick.

We feel we must warn you that the beta application includes a trixy 10 question quiz. It mentions some older cards, and unless you're Rainman then you'll probably need to consult the card rule text in order to get these questions right. Thankfully all of the cards are easily available through the official Gatherer Online Database of Magic Cards.

Good luck, and we'll see you inside the beta.

Critical Gamers Staff at Permalink

MTG Guildpact Spotlight

The last Cheeto will soon hit the floor at the Magic The Gathering Guildpact Prelease events wrapping up across country. If you weren't able to attend then you can still checkout some of the great Guildpact official-content online.

First stop should be the the Guildpact FAQ page, which has links to some great Guildpact card preview articles written by the Ravnica designers. The expansion includes three new Ravnica Guilds: The Gruul (red/green), The Izzet (red/blue), and the Orzhov (white/black). The card-previews are mostly focused on the various guild rare cards, so they're all awesome and very much overpowered. But with that said -- all of these guilds do an incredible job of combining the mindset of the two correspondng colors. Our favorites include Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind which does some amazing things to turn blue decks into red decks (we realize that's the point), and Ghost Council of Orzhova which perfectly combines the controlling and anal white with power-in-death and leaching aspects of black.

Finally, there's a plain-text Guildpact Spoiler Page that lists each of the 165 new Guildpact cards from A to Z. If you don't mind a few more clicks of the mouse, then the official card database 'Gatherer' also contains all of the Guildpact cards in a far friendlier format.

Guildpact will be available in stores in the form of Tournament packs on February 3rd, and it'll release on Magic-Online February 27.

Can't freakin' wait.

Critical Gamers Staff at Permalink

On the Horizon: Battlestar Galactica CCG

Battlestar Galactica has reinvigorated our thirst for high quality SciFi Television. The show rocks (hands down) with complicated plot lines, deep characters, internal conflicts, and - oh yeah - there's an evil race of immortal robots who've set-out on a pilgrimage to wipe-out the entire human race in hopes of getting closer to God. Mommy.

Today Wizkids (Crimson Skies, Pirates) sent out press details of their Battlestar Galactica Collectible Card Game. The game will ship in May with two starter packs heavily themed with the story of the first two seasons of the show. One collection of cards is led by the militaristic Commander (Admiral?) Adama, while President Roslin heads-up the other, more politically themed deck. Both packs will contain 61 cards, and retail for around 11 bucks. Fifteen-card booster packs (4 dollars US) will also be available, and will contain the standard card-distribution of commons, four uncommons, and one rare in each. The game's first series has 144 cards in total.

Stay tuned - we'll let you know more about the game as soon as we get our hands on it. Until then, check out the official BS:G CCG website for more details.

Critical Gamers Staff at Permalink

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.

Continue reading: "Research Your Magic The Gathering Combos"

Critical Gamers Staff at Permalink

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.

Critical Gamers Staff at Permalink