Magic: The Gathering Game Night: Free-for-All 2022 Review

When it comes to Magic: The Gathering, you may be curious about it for a fun evening, but the whole thing seems a touch too much to get into. The good news is that I am a complete newbie who is documenting the process through the MTG Newbie series of articles here on Yeah Nah Gaming. The better news is that one of the best ways to get stuck in is through the board game version, Magic: The Gathering Game Night: Free-for-All.

What is Magic: The Gathering Game Night: Free-for-All?

Great question; I’m glad you asked.

Magic: The Gathering Game Night: Free-for-All is essentially a board game. It comes with five colour-themed MTG decks in it; each has a health spin-down die, some token creatures, some number tokens, and a cool coloured hexagon to put your health spin-down dice on.

And that’s it. The box is a cleverly designed hexagon shape that houses the cards and die for each color so that it looks cool and tidy, but are you here to read about the box? I doubt it, but it does make the opening and playing that little bit classier and more fun.

Who should play Magic: The Gathering Game Night: Free-for-All?

Obviously, MTG is a pretty big world with heaps to get your head around. If you are new to the game, then this might be for you. With an easy-to-follow rule book, decks of cards you don’t need to learn how to craft, and all the bits you need to play, it’s a fantastic way to learn how to play. All the decks are balanced, so you don’t need to worry about getting smashed your first time out, and the difference between playing online and using actual cards is that you need to remember to do each stage in your turn and get used to reading all the cards’ effects. This is a banger of a way to read this.

What about experienced players?

Given that you probably have badass decks built already, this one might not offer much for you. If you want to get some friends into MTG or want to get your kids hooked on the game, then this could be a handy tool to get it done. It will teach the game and can be a regular at your board game nights. If you’re lucky that may be enough to get them to buy their first commander deck.

How hard is it to play?

The good news is that it isn’t hard. With no experienced players, the first game might be a bit clunky as you get your head around the turn and attacking structure, but this doesn’t take away from the fun. Getting used to card effects takes a while, as one effect triggers another effect, etc. As long as you are in good company and can chill and enjoy the chaos, you’ll have a great time learning.

The goal is to knock off your opponent’s 20 health points. This is done by attacking with your creatures or spells. The fundamentals are simple, and as you get your head around the hard bits, you’ll still be playing a fun game.

Don’t be intimidated by the spindown die. That’s not there for complexity; in the initial game, it’s your life. You can use the MTG companion app to make tracking life easier, but the die does have some tactic fun to it. Die can be used later for more things, but don’t fall down that rabbit hole yet. For now, it’s your life.

What about those colour things?

The colours of the decks basically indicate their play style. A super simplified Red is all about putting monsters down and attacking early and hard. Blue is all about using spells to counter and hit with spells. Blue can frustratingly slam an opponent when they think they’re in control. Black does stuff like sacrifice creatures and life points to hit the opponents and their creatures hard. White (though the logo is yellow, which is annoyingly inconsistent with the rest) has heaps of life-healing stuff. Green has some cool effects, like being able to place more mana and being able to drop some big-hitting creatures.

That’s oversimplified, but the good news is, for the purposes of this game, it doesn’t matter. Grab a coloured deck each and have a play. If you take the time to try each one, you will get vibes for which colours gel the most with you. Early on though you should just play around and have fun.

Any critiques?

I know I have been raving about this game for a whole lot of words, so there has to be something to pick on, right?

I’m scraping the barrel here, but one thing that annoyed me was the token creatures. These are additional creatures that sometimes get pulled into the battle based on what’s written on a card. Each coloured deck has a few of these, which should be all good, right? Unfortunately, some of the tokens need to be nabbed from another deck to be used.

This isn’t a major issue since tokens aren’t part of your deck as such, but it’s bloody annoying. When you first play, you may need to open multiple decks to have the tokens you need. There is an obvious fix, right? Have another spot in the box for token cards, or add some more tokens for each deck. This was an annoying little oversight that only affected you the first time.

So is it worth it?

Easily. It’s a great way to learn to play Magic: The Gathering. Even better it’s a great way to play the game without spending insane amounts on booster packs; and it’s an awesome way to introduce others to the world of Magic: The Gathering.

These won’t be the decks you take into a tourno, but that’s not what this is. It’s a fun, isolated board game that can be treated as its own thing or your entry into this world.

8 Hell Yeah!

It isn't the best way to play Magic, but it's one of the best ways to learn. Get stuck in, and convince your friends to become Magic fans too!