A Mage Wars Mission

[Koz]

I was just on BGG and Mage Wars was at 29...

Pretty impressive really

[calisk]

I been trying to get players in my local area to play it, but it's not easy heh.

they all want to play magic cards, and think that's the only game in the world

[Doma0997]

I know how you feel. It's the same here. I now have about three serious players and three to five casual players where I'm at.

[rcone002]

I been trying to get players in my local area to play it, but it's not easy heh.

they all want to play magic cards, and think that's the only game in the world

It is a tremendous challenge. At my LGS, one of the card designers for The Spoils TCG has been demoing that game on Saturdays for about a year, but he says it's a constant struggle to win over people from MTG.
His advice is to just say,"Hey, you're right. MTG's a great game. If you've got 15 minutes, I'll show you why Spoils is a great game and let you know why I think it's (different/better/more strategic, etc.) than MTG."

Another way I'll be trying to drum up new players in my area is by attending board game meetups - there are these group meetups all around the Tampa area, where I live, on different nights of the week. I'm going to try to start going to them once a month with the four apprentice spellbooks in hand to show people how to play.

Some of the key selling points, to me, are the strategic back-and-forth to each turn, and the momentum shifts of changing who has the initiative, as well as the fact you don't have to buy endless packs or trade for the cards you want - everything's available. The length of the game can be an obstacle, but in apprentice mode game shouldn't last much longer than an hour. Then, you can preach that even in games that have taken 3 hours, it feels like time flies by because you're so immersed.

Best of luck!

[Stormmaster]

I introduced the game to friends that are really into Magic the Gathering so kind of faced the same.  The biggest winning over selling point was the increased focus on "strategy" and less on "luck".  Namely having a Spellbook that you can pick ANYTHING out of ANYTIME you want (provided you have mana, which you can plan for).  The minor drawback to that is dice rolls add an element of "luck" which I was trying to go away from, but you could have the best Magic deck in the world and it is ALL luck of the draw in that game.  Sometimes you draw all land or all big creatures or all spells and you just can't get the right things off.  You don't have that limitation in Mage Wars, which I love.

In fact my couple friends of mine that do play Magic have been playing Mage Wars more instead which was big.  I still play Magic but Mage Wars is cool on a whole other level.  Also if they are really into thinking "Magic" I've found it easy to explain it to them in terms of color/control strat.  Like holy is like white, or death is like black, nature is green.  I realize MTG cards don't directly translate to MW cards but I found that was a way to sort of bridge the gap to get them interested so they could relate to it in a method they are used to.

[Diji]

Hey All!

Quick update - Mage Wars had a great show at GenCon this year! I'm excited that new players are getting into the game and are already building spell books with new and awesome card synergies! (I played some great games!)

We've taken a temporary hit on BGG falling from just inside the top 30 to 32  , however I'm confident that once our new players get acclimated (and we get Druid v Necro out this October) we will ascend beyond our peak of 29  . I have never been more energized to get out and show the game to new players in my local shops and am already planning some demo events! Keep sharing and encouraging your group to try out Mage Wars - we already know its dope, it everyone else that needs informing.