08-09-2008, 09:11 PM
Long, long ago, right before the turn of the century, my brother-in-law and I were playing magic – more specifically making decks together. As we sifted through our extensive card collections which, at the time, consisted of everything from Beta to Urza’s, I began to realize that I owned superfluous cards, many of which were very cool, yet I would never use them despite they’re coolness. (At that time I owned 5 or more of every black-bordered card in circulation – at least 1 play set and 1 set collection.) I then noticed that there were lots of terrible cards that would be especially funny to see played by my brother-in-law in that he is particularly extreme in his like or dislike for any given card.
Then I got to thinking – hard to believe I know, but bear with me – where was I? Oh yeah, I got to thinking that it was such a waste for all of these spiffy cards to be collecting proverbial dust. And that’s when I got a whacky idea... what if there was a fun, challenging, and balanced way to actually play these outcast rectangles of cardboard?
Even as I rhetorically asked my dear bro-n-law that very question, my inner child had already answered it. So, I grabbed one of each of my sets (those that were in the worst condition naturally), shuffled them all together into one massive collective mess, and filed them in a card box.
Then, after considering several methodological systems of how to develop and incorporate a mana base, I settled on that of the fixed type. I assembled two sets of lands, one for me and one for my brother-in-law who was by now looking at me like I was a nut. Anyways, each set consisted of two of each of the original dual lands for a total of 20 – (white-bordered for the record as I didn’t have any Betas to spare).
Before explaining the set-up, lets recap in short what is necessitational to beginneth:
A big box of black-border only cards (preferably one of each) and as many white-bordered dual lands as you need.
*For those of us who don’t happen to have a stack of extra duals laying around, you could proxy them. Or you can use 4 or 5 of each basic land, white-bordered only of course. I have used this method before and find that 5 makes things better. And I actually prefer it to the duals because of the tension.*
Alright, once you have a bunch of black-bordered cards and enough sets of white-bordered lands, each player grabs a stack of them there lands. Then each player randomly chooses 30 cards from the “Junkbox” (or 25 depending on how many lands you have) and shuffles them into a deck with their land stack. Play commences as usual, the only difference being you have no idea what you have in your deck - which means no peaking
.
The best part, the very thing that makes it fun, is the challenge of using – if not exploiting - cards that you normally wouldn’t even consider playing or simply haven't played in years and discovering new uses for old cards and furthermore witnessing the brokenness of dollar rares and the worthlessness of power in this odd, unique environment. As a side note, Junkbox games can at times take a lil longer than constructed and even limited games due to their random nature; they aren’t torturously long but be prepared for this probability.
At the end of each game, everyone can either grab new cards (except for the lands, keep the lands), or everyone can keep their current deck and play it again.
I hope this was clear enough to facilitate your own Junkbox experience. If not, please post questions. I'll be happy to answer them.
One more thing, you don't need one of every card in existence, just use what you got.
Thank you for your time.
P.S. - You probably noticed that I like to unnecessarily and extraneously utilize lengthy wordage.
Can you say "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis"?
It's the longest English word.
Then I got to thinking – hard to believe I know, but bear with me – where was I? Oh yeah, I got to thinking that it was such a waste for all of these spiffy cards to be collecting proverbial dust. And that’s when I got a whacky idea... what if there was a fun, challenging, and balanced way to actually play these outcast rectangles of cardboard?
Even as I rhetorically asked my dear bro-n-law that very question, my inner child had already answered it. So, I grabbed one of each of my sets (those that were in the worst condition naturally), shuffled them all together into one massive collective mess, and filed them in a card box.
Then, after considering several methodological systems of how to develop and incorporate a mana base, I settled on that of the fixed type. I assembled two sets of lands, one for me and one for my brother-in-law who was by now looking at me like I was a nut. Anyways, each set consisted of two of each of the original dual lands for a total of 20 – (white-bordered for the record as I didn’t have any Betas to spare).
Before explaining the set-up, lets recap in short what is necessitational to beginneth:
A big box of black-border only cards (preferably one of each) and as many white-bordered dual lands as you need.
*For those of us who don’t happen to have a stack of extra duals laying around, you could proxy them. Or you can use 4 or 5 of each basic land, white-bordered only of course. I have used this method before and find that 5 makes things better. And I actually prefer it to the duals because of the tension.*
Alright, once you have a bunch of black-bordered cards and enough sets of white-bordered lands, each player grabs a stack of them there lands. Then each player randomly chooses 30 cards from the “Junkbox” (or 25 depending on how many lands you have) and shuffles them into a deck with their land stack. Play commences as usual, the only difference being you have no idea what you have in your deck - which means no peaking
.The best part, the very thing that makes it fun, is the challenge of using – if not exploiting - cards that you normally wouldn’t even consider playing or simply haven't played in years and discovering new uses for old cards and furthermore witnessing the brokenness of dollar rares and the worthlessness of power in this odd, unique environment. As a side note, Junkbox games can at times take a lil longer than constructed and even limited games due to their random nature; they aren’t torturously long but be prepared for this probability.
At the end of each game, everyone can either grab new cards (except for the lands, keep the lands), or everyone can keep their current deck and play it again.
I hope this was clear enough to facilitate your own Junkbox experience. If not, please post questions. I'll be happy to answer them.
One more thing, you don't need one of every card in existence, just use what you got.
Thank you for your time.
P.S. - You probably noticed that I like to unnecessarily and extraneously utilize lengthy wordage.
Can you say "Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis"?
It's the longest English word.
