Week 5: Life Counters

I have been thinking a bit lately about the best way to keep track of life during the game. My playgroup mostly uses 20-sided die, however, when I visit local gaming stores I often see people using paper & pencil or a phone app. While my playgroup enjoys dice because of the visibility and tradition, I think paper & pencil or phone apps work well because they show current life total and the history of past life loss or life gain. I think this is the reason why these methods are so popular, especially at a competitive level. Personally, I think these methods are very good for competitive play and so I think the casual group is where we should look for innovation. I have seen a lot of custom counters and spin downs and life wheels, so there are obviously people who want to personalize their method of tracking life. It would be fun to see more innovation coming from companies. I think the recent release of Commander's Arsenal had an awesome dice and I would love to see more of that from Wizards and other companies. Especially when it is a "collector's item," because I saw that dice being sold for $20 on ebay, so clearly there is a demand (even if it is due to rarity). Hopefully we will see more of this type of innovation in the future. Happy Holidays!