A little advice and guidance please!

[abdulaapocolyps]

Hi guys

My song recently played Magic 2015 and is really interested in starting up a card and deck building game. He's played war games before and is a bright lad, but at only 7 I kind of think Magic may be a little... MUCH for him?
Now it's his birthday coming up and whatever I end up getting him I'll play with him, doubt he'll go to many gaming stores etc so I'm not fussed about the competitive nature of it all.
What do you guys recommend? Is Magic the way to go? Should I look at the Star wars one or something? Let me know what you think is best for someone of his age, any advice is appreciated.

Cheers guys
Qid

[MasterDecoy]

Start wars is a pretty involved game.

Making a single mistake can tien certain victory into defeat in a single turn.

Magic is actually a readout easy game to learn. It has some complex card interactions but that is more once you start the more advanced deck building stage and by and large the game is pretty self explanatory.

Haven't played yugioh but I've seen kids as young as 10 playing it.

Hope that helps.

[spartanlaw]

Start wars is a pretty involved game.

Making a single mistake can tien certain victory into defeat in a single turn.

Magic is actually a readout easy game to learn. It has some complex card interactions but that is more once you start the more advanced deck building stage and by and large the game is pretty self explanatory.

Haven't played yugioh but I've seen kids as young as 10 playing it.

Hope that helps.

I think it depends on his gaming experience, but 7 is a little young for most if not all of the collectible and living card games. I can see 10+ for most of them, especially experienced young gamers, but I'm not sure you will find an age appropriate game for him in those areas.

What other games does he play? I would suggest some of the other card based games that aren't CCG/LCG/deckbuilding. Games like Munchkin Pathfinder or any of the other Munchkin games would be a good start in learning game mechanics, especially hand management, reading and processing card text during gameplay, etc, without all the stress of building decks, dealing with complicated card conditions, etc.

Good luck!

[Khaines Wrath]

Yeah, not saying I'm by any means the standard but when I was 7 I just liked collecting cards and about the most difficult card game I could play was solitaire.

But as I got older around 10-13 I got very into Yugioh. It's a game that's completely broken in some ways, it has easily unbeatable decks and lacks the balancing counters that Magic offers but it has two very good things for younger kids.

1. It's very simple, all special rules are spelt out on the card. I must admit though there are some cards out there that are really moving away from former simplicity with special rules a tiny text paragraph long.

2. Deck building is insanely easy compared to other card games. Making a competitive and balanced Magic deck can be a nightmare since you need to also manage a resource output "mana". In Yugioh you essentially just need to fill your deck with a mixture of everything and you have a playable deck.

3. Themed decks are even easier. I found Magic was a game that offered great potential for themed decks but playability wise they often don't play out and it's all because of mana. Mana costs essentially make some cards completely unplayable or at the very least raise the difficulty bar for yourself. With Yugioh though the cards are all there for you to choose a theme, wether you like dinosaurs, zombies, machines or ninjas etc and go nuts. I personally love my zombie deck, haven't played in years but I hold onto them just in case.

Pokemon is also a good starter, I didn't actually learn how to play until I was in my twenties but its very basic. Though like Magic it does have a higher difficulty than Yugioh due to the need to manage a resource "energy" and the need to be able to make a balanced deck.

But of course, non competitive wise they are all fine options.
In terms of difficulty I rate them from easiest to hardest..

1. Yugioh
2. Pokemon
3. Magic the Gathering

[lorelorn]

Magic is not hard to learn the basics, but some of the card interactions can get complex later on. Any version of Duels of the Planeswalkers can teach you the basics is a great visual way.

[sigur]

Magic: The Gathering should be alright. Don't think some video game is required to learn it either.

[Doomsdarkseid]

If he likes card games ,I would suggest deck builder games like dominion and thunderstone but I play with my 7 old is a game called Machi Koro its a city builder card game ,very good !
Also sumoner wars is a very good 2 player head to head game with lots of factions and pre built decks !

[Lord_Squinty]

Marvel:Legendary is pretty straight forward.
Its an all-in-one-box (bar expansions) game, so you're not constantly buying packs of cards.
can be played co-op with multiple players or solo.
And its marvel - he's bound to be familiar with at least a few characters already.

[Sillykid]

Like you said your son is a bright lad so he won't have any problems with Magic.