So if you used to play Magic and are curious where it has gone, or you're new to Magic, now is a great time to get into the game.

If you are a new player or someone who is curious about Magic the Gathering after an absence, the Magic the Gathering 2013 Core Set is a great time to discover or rediscover the game.

New art, clarified starter rules and easy to pick up and fun starter decks makes now a wonderful time to get into the world of Magic.

Magic, the card game of warring wizards, reinvigorates itself every few years. This shows the strength of the rules and some of the game's core ideas. Magic's genius is that it's easy to learn but has depths of complexity that work for the casual gamer as well as the obsessive deck builder min/ maxer.

Magic the Gathering shows its continuing validity and strength of design in walking the line between those two camps. Wizards has a tradition of using some of the best artists in and out of the game industry and they have spared no expense here. The art work is lovely, evocative and sometimes haunting. The look and thematic feel of the various colors makes for an attractive battlefield.

Five pre-built starter decks help out new players. The rules are some of the most densely playtested and examined in the hobby game industry. Decades of gamers have talked about and torn up the rules in endless debate. Every card in the core has been carefully considered and tested. The result is a lean, easy to learn rule set with a minimum of fluff. Cards that survived edition wars can still be found in the core set, but many more have been swapped out or changed to reflect this lean mentality.

The new Magic the Gathering set is a pretty wonderful thing.