I’ve brought it up a few times before, but the table top card game Magic: The Gathering is probably up there at the top of the list of my favorite games.
It’s easy to get into, although, in the long run, it’s also not exactly super affordable. I say that because you can buy a pre constructed deck (referred to as a precon) for a reasonable price, but if you want to expand your collection and have more than one deck or play multiple styles then you need to buy more and more cards.
All that being said, the main reason I enjoy the game so much is because of how many different ways there are to play. There are so many cards, with hundreds of new cards being added each year, which makes it possible to build and rebuild decks over and over again. The rules are relatively simple but there are a lot of different mechanics to choose from and play with/against. The simple approach is: draw cards, play lands/mana (kinda sorta like the Pokemon TCG, if you’re familiar), cast spells, and do things with those spells until you win. How you approach all of this can be determine by the cards you want to play. Some give you more draw power, others make it so you can reduce the random chance of draw what you need by just letting you search your deck for what you want (within reason), and some cards will activate effects or abilities that do a wide variety things to affect your opponents.
Through all of this, you can come up with very straightforward strategies to win, or you can develop convoluted plans that require several cards to even get your strategy off the ground. In that regard, it becomes almost like a puzzle. A puzzle against time and your opponents putting together their own puzzle. Get the right cards, do all the things. And yet, on top of the element of chance, there is also a certain amount of skill involved. Guessing what your opponent is planning, getting cards to offset their potential plans and protect yourself, remembering the cards in your deck versus what you think they might have in theirs. It can almost be like an incredibly complicated game of poker.
So many facets that can each make the game more interesting the more you choose to play. Unless you’re hyper competitive and build your deck for it, no game ever plays out the same as others.
The Dragon's Grove 