OFFICIAL GUIDE TO URZA'S SAGA (Magic : The Gathering) Paperback – November 10, 1998

Way back in the time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth, the Magic: the Gathering CCG had a very intricate storyline that tied in seamlessly with the actual collectible cards. This book covers one of the sets that was released during that period, before the decision was made to give less focus to storyline stuff, and I purchased it hoping for some supplementary goodness on the "Urza's Saga" story, arguably the most dense of all the early storylines (it took no less than four books, "The Brothers' War, Planeswalker, Time Streams and Bloodlines" to cover in full) and certainly the one I have the most emotional investment in. What I got, though, was a basic presentation of the set of cards, with no storyline elements present at all. In that regard it is much more like those old checklists that were published in Wizard Magazine (and later the "Fat Packs") than any kind of guide. Of course, the advent of the Internet means that multiple checklists are now available online, none of which cost a cent to browse. So even for fans of the CCG who have no interest at all in the storyline, I cannot recommend this book. It was a mildly useful product for its day, I imagine, but that day has come and gone (18 years ago as of the time of this review) and it has nothing to offer to anyone in the present day that could not be found elsewhere for free. Sorry, Will McDermott, I loved your work on the novel Judgment, but this was a swing and a miss.

This book provides excellent "color commentary" of the cards in this set. While it offers insightful, though often terse reviews of each card, I found the author's referrals to cards of other sets annoying. While I have followed magic for many years, I still would have preferred the author to focus solely on Urza's cards and to have dropped the references to combos and descriptions for cards that are or soon will be out of date on the tournament ciruit. This is also not the book for the unread Magic player, even if quite experienced in game play. The author assumes an intimate knowledge by the reader of deck building strategies (i.e., if you don't know what Sligh, Weenie, Burn, etc. mean forget this book) which can frustrate someone who has come into the serious Magic scene in the last year and a half or so. In short, good artwork, nice background, I enjoyed it, but the audience is extremely limited.