Magic The Gathering - The Pocket Players Guide. 

This is actually the first book I ever purchased.  It is an inexpensive book that has a lot of good information inside.  This book contains: examples of play with instructions and guidance for beginners; deck building strategies; tricks and card combos; a complete fourth edition card list; and some history from Richard Garfield the designer of Magic.  (Did you know the game is loosely based on Strat-O-Matic Baseball? That's what Richard says here.) The book is 5-1/4" x 8", and about 275 pages chock full of information.

Although this book is a little dated (1995 was a long time ago in this dynamic game), I still give it a thumbs up.  For a beginner, it has a nice detailed attack sequence, and includes details on Type II rules and Multi-player rules. You can't beat the information you receive at this price - About $6 at Amazon.com.  275 pages of good Magic knowledge is worth a couple packs of boosters as far as I'm concerned.  Detailed card analysis of 4th edition cards.

Beginners note:  Much better to learn the game from this $6 book, than that tiny hunk of crap that comes in a 60 card Starter Pack.

Order this book on-line from Amazon.com.

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