The other night, we played a fun variation on games like Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity using Magic cards. We’ve got a specific pile for just such an occasion, where the card names are mostly nouns with innuendo potential. This a perfect use for these cards, which are almost all ‘chaff.’ That means they aren’t good or valuable. But some of them have really fun names.
A game like this can be played with the cards from most games, really. As long as they have different names that are primarily nouns. Magic has the benefit of 25,000+ options, however.
The game works like this: each player starts with 5 cards from a central pile of at least 100 or so. Bigger piles mean less repetition, but small piles are fine too.
Players take turns being the reader. The reader reads out a line from one of the pages attached below. Each line ends in a blank space: _______. The line might be something like: My friend got the license plate ‘2Kewl’ but based on their car, it should have been ‘_______.’
Each non-reader player chooses one of their card names to fill in the blank, and gives that card to the reader. Those players then draw another card so they always have 5.
The reader reads out the cards they’ve been given and chooses their favourite. Then they pass reading duties to the left.
You can play to a predetermined number of points, or play through the whole pile and see who has the most, or just play for fun until you’re tired of laughing.
Here are 2 sheets of 99 lines to use with this game concept. Feel free to write your own. They are inspired structurally by The Match Game.
One of the best things about Magic the Gathering is the ability to play with the cards in dozens of different ways. Using ‘chaff’ like this is almost like upcycling, and new staples emerge, like the versatile Fissure Wizard. What’s not to like? Thanks for reading!
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