We’ve all been there. No matter what game we play, no matter how experienced we are, we’ve all sat at a table and had to look up a rule, or perhaps seek some guidance on the order in which card effects trigger. Of course, with Magic: The Gathering having been around since 1993, and with an expanding pool of cards and mechanics that have grown to mind-boggling numbers over the years, it’s no surprise that even the most seasoned of players will find something that trips them up from time to time.
This is where RulesDeck comes in. It’s a thoughtfully designed product, created by players of the Commander format in Magic: The Gathering, for players of Commander. It’s a booster pack-sized product, containing 17 cards that cover the most frequently misunderstood or missed rules, along with some reminders of turn order and other important situations that’ll crop up during your MTG games.
Though it does primarily cover rules and situations for the Commander format, many of the aspects covered on the RulesDeck cards can be helpful information for other MTG formats too. For example, the keywords card is universal and applicable to any game of MTG, as are many of the other cards in the RulesDeck pack.
Each card is double sided, and though the text can be on the small side, in order to fit the necessary information on each one, it’s all clearly, thoughtfully laid out, and everything is where you’d expect it to be from a logical standpoint. It’s easy to flip through each card and find exactly what you’re looking for in seconds, and with each card also being numbered, it’s no issue to keep them in the order they’re “suppposed” to be in. RulesDeck is such a great tool for games of MTG that I now can’t imagine not taking it along with me to every MTG game or event from now on.
The fact that its size, with the cards being the same size as actual MTG cards themselves,as well as all of the guidance and clarification fitting on just 17 cards, means that it’s really easy to get this into your deck box and take it along with you, wherever you go to play. Though not a learning tool, as such (basic MTG knowledge is assumed, not unreasonably), it would certainly help to keep these cards to hand if you’re new to the game and have only just learned how to play.
There’s also a fun little bonus card included, which can be handed to a player who loses a rules dispute at the table; you can see this card in the above image, featuring a smug little guy as its illustration. Though of course you can look up any rules or clarifications that you need online, having RulesDeck to hand stops any unnecessary fiddling with devices (and we all know that our FLGS doesn’t always have the best Wi-Fi signal, right?), and allows you to have anything you need in a handy and accessible format.
The Card Gamer Verdict
Though we haven’t rated RulesDeck in the way we usually do, due to there not being ‘gameplay’ or ‘art’ to be concerned with, we’ve given it our highest possible score. That’s because we feel that RulesDeck really is an absolutely essential pack of cards for any MTG player, given how much information it covers in such an impressively compact and accessible way.
It feels like every aspect of RulesDeck has been fine-tuned to give players the most useful information possible, covering and clarifying just about every awkward situation that can pop up in games of Commander, and even other MTG formats too.
We can’t recommend RulesDeck highly enough; once you have your own, you’ll wonder how you got along without it, and it’ll immediately become an essential part of your MTG gear bag.
We’ve partnered with RulesDeck to give Card Gamer readers free shipping with every order. Simply head to rulesdeck.com/CARDGAMER to take advantage of this special discount.
