How to Sell Mage Wars

[Hollowbandit]

Hi all I was thinking of showing Mage Wars to my playgroup this weekend or next weekend. I was wondering if anyone had any tips for "selling it" (can't really think of a better term at the moment). Specifically to a group of guys/girls that pretty much play mostly  MTG.

 So if anyone has had a similar experience and can give any advice I would really appreciate it.

I'm looking for the pros of this game.

How to first introduce it? apprentice decks? more than 2 players?

I just got my game today so I'm still learning. Any help you guys could give me would be appreciated. I'm hoping my friends will want to purchase and make their own decks in the future.  Instead of just using the ones I create all the time.

Thanks in advance,

Hollow

[Lightseed]

Start with aprentice decks, because those are so easy to get to and start a game .
Do not , i repeat, DO NOT compare it to MTG, they will hate this game if you start to compare it to MTG.
This game is more like Chess with magic than MTG. Plus if they are realy hardcore fans of MTG they will not like MW , even if MW is a different type of game than MTG.
Think of it like this, you love say X game, and someone comes and tells you that Y game is so much better than X game then you will go on defence and automaticaly be sceptical about Y and already you are dismiss Y .
I hope you understand . I hope i helped you.

[Hollowbandit]

Yeah thanks that is exactly the advice I'm looking for. If anyone else has anymore wisdom to share I'm all ears.

[Tacullu64]

I use apprentice spellbooks on the full board and I let them use their mage abilities. The truth is most forget the mage abilities anyways, but that one guy that doesn't won't feel cheated. Plus when the wizard realizes he would still be alive if he had just remembered to activate his Voltaric Shield he'll be dying for a rematch.

Keep the action flowing, don't let anybody get bogged down in choosing their spells for the turn. If someone is struggling ask them what they want to do and help them find a spell that best fits the bill. Just help, let them make the decisions. Encourage having fun and don't get too caught up in looking up rules or winning and losing. Make a spot decision and check the rule book when the game is over. If you get them hooked, looking up rules when the game is over will be interesting. Magic players are used to shorter games so you have got to keep them involved.

If you can do these thing it should emphasize the game experience. When players get that the game sells itself.

[Hollowbandit]

Awesome thanks! Yeah the game is awesome. It's me that I'm worried about. That's why I might wait another week so I can make sure I know the rules better. I totally agree with being a facilitator instead of a coach. I think  you make a good point in letting them make decisions. I'll remember that for sure. I always like when I can kind of learn something on my own as well.