by seanmccoy
Yeah, I also agree with the sentiment to use the Apprentice Spellbooks - they're easier to setup (and they are included in the full pre-built spellbooks, so it'll be easier to make those as well afterwards). The big thing they help with is reducing the amount of choices you have at your disposal. It's a big jump to go from picking from a hand of 5-7 or so cards to picking from a hand of essentially 50-60, so reducing that will help your game time. The shorter your game time is up front, the more games you'll be able to play, which will help you get the rules down faster, making your full games shorter as well in the long run.We also have video tutorials online as well that can help with just seeing how play goes and answering some basic questions.
A big thing I always recommend to new players in the demos I run is to remember that the object of the game is to kill the opposing Mage. Sometimes you have to kill his creatures to do that, but not always. This helps them realize that you don't necessarily have to build up a huge army to win (or kill all of the opponent's creatures to win).