We Try 5 Playground Magic: The Gathering Games

We play 5 free games using cards that you already have lying around your home. From Mental Magic to Pictionary, all with magic cards - no need to spend a dime. Let the games begin!
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[@Swimmerwoad]

I love mental magic it always just turns into counterspell wars on the first upkeep until someone misplays and ends the game

[@brofst]

A true mental misstep

[@Sauvenil]

I used to have an IRC bot that would play a mental magic game with up to 5 players, and assigning each player a color that they had to stay in. (Gold cards still count.) We used the same rule with each card being played once. You'd roll the d6 and have 20 seconds to pick a card in your color with that casting cost. If you mispick or fail to pick a spell, you lose your chance to cast a spell that turn. Your library and hand are empty but you never draw cards, and anything leaving play is exiled. If you make mana dorks, you can use them to add to the die roll and play bigger things. If something has activation costs, you have to create a way to pay them, like mana dorks. Now with the more complex cards in newer sets, this might be tough to play. But it's intended to take the power away from card draw and counterspells, since mental magic games can easily devolve into the exact thing that happened here. The idea of it is to focus on the cards that interact and advance the game state. We used a d6 because that leaves plenty of spells for each color to cast at each die roll. The bot kept track of everyone's board so we didn't have to try to remember what we had - it was more about the right card for the situation instead of the memorizing the board aspect. This was extremely fun and we played a lot of games and developed a lot of strategies. It would be interesting to bring it back to life.

[@upperplus7953]

Can you stifle the upkeep effect of pact of negation?

[@Sauvenil]

@@upperplus7953yeah.

[@brofst]

@@upperplus7953 yes

[@TheKirbyT]

When Carl puts on the ringmaster outfit, you know you're in for a good time.

[@Rincewindl]

yeah i love them doing wild stuff like this. like in the vs MTG goldfish video how they just, both speedran shandalar, that was beautiful

[@Blizz3112]

Carl is something special for sure...

[@jackiespaceman]

That basic land game is actually amazing and super strategic

[@GumLong]

The secret sixth way to play for free is to just sharpie any card name onto a basic land and play exclusively with proxies. You can even draw some artwork yourself!

[@beefpelican]

I made a full cube this way with some friends. Making the art was honestly just as fun as drafting it.

[@SkeleBoneGuy]

Way 6: steal

[@actuallyKriminell]

may have side effects

[@GruulAnarch]

Countersteal

[@XenoSun]

based

[@mollyfischer9900]

You misspelled "permanently borrow"

[@Summoningz]

@@Yuzuki1337Why? A lot less risk of getting caught if you steal from the average Joe or an LGS that doesn’t have cameras set up, no?

[@DackKija]

Don't forget the draft chaff goblin tactic! Just sneak into your lgs and vacuum up those commons!

[@aclevermtgpunthatsactually5010]

That's very pauper of you, I like it

[@nicks4802]

I really liked the idea of lands only magic. Simple, but fun.

[@loungezinger]

I think we can all agree that Carl needs to be cast as the next Willy Wonka.

[@BaronSengir1008]

Except instead of the Golden Ticket, it's the Golden Colossal Dreadmaw!

[@magnusberge]

The fun these 3 guys are having on this channel, living the dream right here!

[@zealcrux]

This makes me wish y'all would play Judge Tower again, this was so fun!

[@CardmarketMagic]

We just recorded that video yesterday! :D with Pleasant Kenobi

[@GumballMachinery]

​@@CardmarketMagicHeck yeah!! So excited for this!

[@Korwinga]

When Jamin exiled the simian spirit guide, I knew exactly what he was casting and said it out loud with him. So good.

[@christopherreed8996]

I was hoping for a pyroblast.

[@raindrainxi]

@@christopherreed8996 I was hoping for a Red Elemental Blast.

[@bricelory9534]

way back in the day, there was a version of Mental Magic where you had physical cards - but they could be any card that shared the mana cost with them (I believe it was the same sort of "you have 10 basic lands, play any one of them you want per turn" sort of rule that other abstract Magic formats have), but again you couldn't choose a card that was one that was already played. It was fun because you had to be aware of cards with very different mana costs and couldn't always rely on just Vintage power, etc. becuase you'd have to have found a 0 mana artifact for it to be a Lotus. I'd recommend giving it a try!

[@BaronSengir1008]

Richard Garfield, PhD

[@Ricardo-zo1ti]

I remember that as well! Way more interesting in my opinion

[@ArchaicEX]

That was real! I remember reading a story of some pro player playing it during a big event and, with hundreds of cards to choose from for 3R, just casts Hill Giant.

[@NintendoMasterNo1]

Yeah, we still play that. I assumed this is what they meant by mental magic.

[@MinorKeyMystery]

This is also close to what I have played as "Mental Magic", usually with a pile of draft chaff. However, instead of having basic lands in the way you mention, you do what the video did for pack wars where any card can be played as a basic land with no types that taps for any color/colorless. And then any real lands you draw from the deck can be played as any land card.

[@kenpachiyugioh1804]

Mental Magic is cool, I like the other version where you have a deck of different mana costs and can only play spells with that card's mana cost (for example, an Unsummon could be an Ancestral Recall or Dispel). Sllightly less free but possible with some bulk

[@SandarianMD]

Jamin looked so hopeful with that “And for one point I heard?!”

[@thelegend-sb6jt]

I always love Carl's costumes. Just fun😊

[@ThatWildcard]

Especially when he looks like he just woke up in an alley after a VERY intense halloween party in the intro

[@malte54]

9:28 I expected him to be evil and use the serum powder to remove Force of will, force of negation, pact of negation, mental misstep, mindbreak trap, endurance From the game to go off in the upkeep with flash hulk or thassas oracle with leyline of anticipation + play black lotus before Jamin could

[@HuwgeGrin]

No matter how bizarre the idea, the videos are just so entertaining! 😂 Even the props are becoming characters of their own

[@mattsturt4325]

When thoralf couldn’t pay for his pact 😂😂😂😂. This is the best channel

[@joshuamartin3232]

Also exiling a green creature for force of will

[@olafthemoose9413]

​@@joshuamartin3232apparently he said torrent elemental and it was a missunderstanding with the editor.

[@al_z_homie]

There is actually a more interesting version of pack wars, where you divide all the cards in the pack into 5 piles of 3. You have infinite mana and no library and a life total of 5. Then you play 5 games, where each pile faces of against another. This way you get 5 games out of a single pack and it has a very tactical component, where you actually get to build each pile to be as synergistic as possible.

[@olafthemoose9413]

Me and my friends would always play this with our prize packs after draft. Quite a lot of fun. Can recommend when you got some packs around that you would crack anyways but I wouldn't buy packs specifically for this purpose.

[@Ooid_Monster]

Yeah, I’ve wanted to build a cube around that variant. Haven’t gotten to it quite yet though 😅

[@grubbygeorge2117]

Don't you end up with stalemates when splitting the packs up into piles this small?

[@RootBarbarian]

Sometimes you do, but not as much as you think. I do this quite regularly and usually in a Bo5 you see 0 or 1 stalemates, very rarely 2, and I don't think I've ever seen 3.@@grubbygeorge2117

[@olafthemoose9413]

@@grubbygeorge2117 sometimes you do but mosz of the time you don't

[@motorboot2822]

In the same vein, would love to see you give penny dreadful a shot!

[@HeneLv]

Man I love this trio so much.

[@valt3rnative]

Did not expect this episode to turn out so fun, well done!

[@zonebooth]

I love cute formats like pack wars. Would love to see some kind of tournament or big style thing with it.

[@jamesfilyawDigginGabe]

With every video, the FX gets even better. Its honestly astonishing.

[@Dagorick]

The land game actually looks really fun

[@bolognious2263]

Proxys are always ethical

[@ESC2016]

Maybe not for cardmarket ^^

[@AlexA-vd7li]

Especially with the constantly updating Wizard's price policies and "eternal" formats tactics.

[@Yuri-xm9rx]

This is actually wholesome, I definitely need to try some of them to break the routine of edh games with friends

[@Bouldest1]

Always a good day when there’s a new cardmarket video!

[@snowhusk]

I really loved the first one with basic lands! The concept is so interesting I think I might even try it with friends who don't even play magic

[@evanalexander7706]

I haven't watched the video yet, but I wanted to say that I LOVE all the great new ideas Karl brings to the channel! No other Magic Channel is as entertaining as y'all, and the team is so fun and interesting that every video is a blast.

[@Fractales15]

Can't believe you ended the video without sharing what your rares were in the packs!

[@varsoonhks3211]

I remember we'd create booster packs from our chaff. First we would separate all our cards by rarity and color and then flip them upside down in those pools. Then we'd create packs by choosing a random rare, 4 random uncommons from different color pools, and 10 random commons from different color pools as well. Once we made all our packs, we'd then draft the packs! The winning deck would stick around and then all the losing decks got deconstructed into the chaff pool. Any time we did another draft, the winning decks would have to compete with each other to see who would hold the throne in the end.

[@marvinmalzer]

I'm playing Pioneer and Commander right now. Never had the money for Modern, especially not for Legacy, but I just put some Modern decks into my printer and then into sleeves... Now I can play any format with my friends for free! (I do not recommend this tactic for tournaments!)

[@KlittoD]

Ngl the first game had me on the edge of my seat, great content as always!

[@GhastlyAce]

The way I learned to play pack wars is like a slower less consistent version than the one shown here but i always liked it, we shuffle 3 copies of each basic land color in with the pack, so hypothetically you could play almost any card the pack could have if you draw into the right lands. I also played a long series of games with a friend once where we started with a pack wars game like that but we kept our decks and slowly added more cards from packs (or from random bulk) and increased the deck sizes over time. Eventually you start to find a good archetype with your cardpool and specialize into the colors you have the best options in. Kinda like a sealed format with deckbuilding spread over a bunch of games. We pretty much made up the rules as we went but it was super fun.

[@ArchaicEX]

Funny how Thoralf's imaginary Torrent Elemental became a Thorn Elemental in the edit. I can hear how the editor mistook his accent there.

[@gabzsy4924]

Remember, Carl is against proxying, that's why all of these mental gymnastics to play MTG with your imagination. Thanks Carl, but I think I'll stick with my non official cardboard to play my non official kitchen magic with my friends and save myself a kidney's worth of basically trash 😂

[@kvetchenfinks7044]

When you pulled out the two packs, I was really hoping for Pai Gow but still tons of fun

[@XTimTheEnchanterX]

The lands game actually looks pretty fun

[@danismynewname]

I appreciate carl puting all the dice in order after he spills them on the table.

[@user-sc8xt7fh7o]

Really cool video! Would love to see more like this :) also thoralf pitched a green spell to force of will :p

[@CardmarketMagic]

He didn't 😅 he just said Torrent Elemental and we are trying a new editor on this video and she understood Thorn Elemental

[@user-sc8xt7fh7o]

@@CardmarketMagic haha! i shouldnt have doubted someone who played in worlds ;)

[@aryst0krat]

@@CardmarketMagic Very fair I think, they sound fairly similar in his accent!

[@trevorschumann4549]

definitely going to use all those bent foil lands i have laying around to make some land decks fun idea

[@KyleWalters126]

Pack wars format was the best I’ve seen!

[@SwedeRacerDC]

A bit of a stretch, but number 5 is fun and reasonably costed. It's feasible to say that you didn't have to pay any extra money to have additional fun beyond what you already paid for. Although, number 5 could just be find friends with lots of cards and decks and play with them. That's how I got into magic and that's how I play with a lot of friends who have no cards of their own

[@jeanvalero1597]

I loved it! Keep the silly content coming up !

[@lainpereyra1833]

Que buen presentador de juegos de Magic Carl... Siempre son los vídeos más entretenidos!

[@datawulf88]

Woohoo 🎉 Great ideas, very entertaining, maybe I can get my friends to try some of it 😉

[@Obversechaos]

For anyone interested in how to get free Magic cards, a lot of shops that sell them have free starter decks, which are meant for new players. You can also pick up draft chaff. After people play draft or limited, they leave the cards they don't want (which is most of them) at the ends of the table. I'm sure many people know these things, but for those who didn't, now you do.

[@nilrem3]

I would love to see more mental magic. Maybe restricted to only cards in certain formats?

[@MareczqZglos]

I always playd Pack Wars that you add 15 lands, 3 each to booster and play this way ;) This was even on the "free" event with Pack Wars we had in old times (if You win - you got 2nd booster and make bigger decks... and it was up to 3 wins ;P).

[@lastnamefirstname8655]

thank you cardmarket for letting us see 5 free ways to play paper mtg!

[@Raszero]

Love how you dealt with the summoning trap

[@Crossark1]

"You probably have a bunch of bulk lying around, right?" (fast forward to 16:30) Ah, yes, Edgar Markov: my favorite bulk mythic coming in at a measly 115 USD.

[@CardmarketMagic]

You don't need an Edgar Markov to play this game ;)

[@dakotastockton4883]

That was an awesome episode. Very entertaining

[@nejaahalcyon]

When I was young we once played with my friend with only proxies. Print whatever you like, sleeve it, no ban list. It was chaos but it was fun, and mostly free

[@kitsovereign4127]

If you're counting Pack Wars, you should have totally gone over Pai Gow! Maybe a sequel video of games that you can play with just one or two packs, including the official minigames?

[@GraemeGunn]

HEY that first one is really really cool!

[@thejesteramongfools]

Been playing the Basic Land game with my buddy and we have been loving it. Though they are expensive to get your hands on we also added in 10 WASTES but they are not needed for a WUBRG in instead they are a Vesuva but you have to discard a land to play it. haven't tried that version yet. We also wanted to try a 3+ mode played with 20 of each and you have to get double the win conditions either WUBRG or 5 of a kind Twice or one of each of those.

[@gspoiler]

Ask a friend that's really into magic. 90% of them have boxes of bulk cards and will most likely help you build a deck

[@NiiRubra]

Hah I knew it was Dark Ritual as soon as I saw it! For once I win one of these type of questions hahaha. Imaginary magic was pretty fun, just making stuff up and trying to keep track of it all. I quite like Pack Wars, that is a good way to get some games going with a booster right away

[@DiscardatRandom]

I thought it was arcanis

[@lucasmartelli4204]

Shoutout to Cuttle as a fantastic way to get a feeling similar to a grindy game of Magic with a deck of playing cards

[@johnny_crash]

Way 6: Print Proxies

[@guitarwithjacob]

I've always played pack wars as you add three of each basic land to your pack, giving you a thirty card deck.

[@IceCoola]

Now I wanna see you guys play those minigames you see inside booster packs

[@kv83]

Love this!

[@seyproductions]

I like the first and fifth way of playing. The first is definitely the most economic way.

[@praecantrix]

love these videos!

[@the2king42]

might be my favorite youtube chanel

[@DragonWaffleX]

I love this channel I don't even play magic but I love the shannigans.

[@jhicks1289]

The basic land game looks so fun!

[@ollie67584]

The best *Free way to play Magic is to play Richard Garfield's Mind Bug but with Magic cards: Each player starts at 5 life Each player draws 5 cards from a shared deck of bulk (exclude instant/flash cards). Players can play 1 spell per turn or attack. Players have infinte mana. X in costs must be 3. Each player starts with 2 mind bugs which essentially read: "instant - gain control of target spell. skip your next turn." (Thanks to the 1 spell per turn rules these always resolve) This creates crazy situation where Lava Axe is so powerful you never cast it out of fear of them killing you with their mind bug.

[@livedandletdie]

Thoralf and that Pact of Negation. Man bad luck. But that third game was extremely intense.

[@patches3592]

I loan out decks all the time too. If I trust you, there’s not reason for me not to! I don’t like that folks feel weird playing because I have might have a bigger budget. I just want to play with my friends!

[@ulyssessanchez2328]

Yooo I'm actually going to be walking around with a deck of lands and while waiting for a pod to fill up some of these are great

[@Dragonpike]

I haven't done pack wars in years, I remember one night I just stupidly kept trading in cards to pack war the rest of a Dragons Maze (lul) box with one of the store owners trying to find Voice of Resurgence, definitely one of my dumbest gambles ever. We had some different rules though, we played by shuffling 3 of each land in with the pack and playing (mostly) normally from there and instead of play for both players' pack, we played for a third pack

[@CameronReape]

7:13 “ah it’s a book with text in it”- Jamin

[@pangolinmagicien6101]

for me, land magic was 30 cards (6 of each), with the goal being having one of each , and the main difference : you don't see the played card before it enters, so to counter, you have to pokerize your opponent

[@ericaschner3283]

I definitely got Oko just from the abs. 😂 Also Dark Ritual even before the correction. 😅

[@Cosmikaze]

Way 6: have your friends buy waaay too many commander decks

[@DavidJohnson-tv1ey]

I feel called out... But also I like having lots of decks so all my friends can come and play with me

[@nathantanner4132]

I played the pack war and Pulled a terror of the peaks, it was a pretty short game afterwards

[@Dalmathus]

The office inkjet is a staple in my playgroup.

[@rickyfriedchicken3548]

This is actually pretty cool!

[@DekuLord]

Game 6: Convince your friend who still buys sealed product to draft his boxes. The downside of this game mode is that it does require friends.

[@ConManAU]

Carl’s Land Tax reminded me of an Australian kid’s show called Mr Squiggle, where the title character would draw a picture but then he’d add a few lines and when it got turned upside down it was a new picture entirely.

[@zurreal8087]

They did insanely well in Game 4!

[@nomenaumdisponivel]

Number 6 - Print it

[@CardmarketMagic]

Ink is more expensive than most commons. Play pauper ;)

[@blong217]

Cardmarket I would like to introduce you to a game I invent d myself. Packmander. It's commander, pack wars style. Everyone's commander is the same, Urza Headmaster (Kromat if you want it to be a creature). You take 4 draft packs (5 set boosters if you want more value), 40 lands (8 of each basic). Shuffle up and play a 4 player pod.

[@jacktorborg9862]

Lol I guessed Oko literally as soon as you drew the abs XD

[@calebmelee9786]

Mental magic sounds awesome

[@Verlisify]

Dang. Really missed a chance for "Way #0 follow cardmarket and submit a decklist for one of our challenges were if your deck wins you get it"

[@pineapplesandthegovernment6522]

21:23 With Thoralf saying 'play it again' right after casting 'Sam', I suddenly thought I was watching Casablanca instead.

[@evenaxin3628]

I want to watch more mental mtg, that was cool.

[@gersoncoelho]

LOVE IT !

[@MagicalMasterMind]

The animations are cool!

[@thrillhouse4151]

Thoralf started turning into a snowboarder/ Tekken character when he got the sunglasses.

[@strangelaw6384]

Game 1 sound so fun! But plains needs to do something else that's more in-color. Maybe flicker a land or something.

[@strangelaw6384]

NO EXILE TARGET LAND TO DRAW A CARD IM A GENIUS

[@lucasrios2089]

these are great! would be lovely and convenient if you added the written rules to the video description

[@wumpmas2]

in mental magic if your opponent doesn't exile a spirit guide in upkeep you can just play cavern of souls on human, exile both spirit guides, and cast an uncounterable dosan, the falling leaf. then black lotus, lions eye diamond, wheel into a fresh 7 with 3 mana floating and the world's your onion

[@michaelsinnreich6626]

Carl knew Thoralf in the top hat would be too powerful.

[@alanpigate8776]

I love the basic land game. I have a question about mental magic, how do you resolve a Thoughtseize or hymn to torach? 😂😂