GO: Gathering Online

Getting Started

To download GO, first go to www.project-go.net to get the full package of GO, then go to www.magic-league.com/go/go.php for the latest builds. When you have installed and opened GO, you should see this screen:

GO has a long list of options, and we’ll start with connecting to the server. To connect to the server, click Server -> Main Servers -> Register New User and then type: /reg NICKNAME PASSWORD (using a nickname and password of your own choice for those fields). You can now click Server -> Main Servers -> ML-server to connect to the main server. Your room should now look similar to this:

Please note that there are some special symbols in the chatroom. First, people with @ beside their name are masters (almost like ops). People with % next to their name are VIPs, people with & by their names are administrators, people with @ by their names are operators, and people with + by their name are judges. As well, some players might show up with a red dot. Those people have turned on the option that disables others from challenging them, which can be turned on by typing /na and off by typing /back.

Loading Your Deck

To load a deck, select Deck -> Load. You can use any Apprentice or MWS deck with go, provided that you have an up to date card database. The Deck titlebar has the following options:

• Recent Decks: view your recently loaded decks
• Put Sideboard Away: stop looking at the sideboard.
• View my deck: create a list of your deck to look at.
• Deck Visible to Others: Other users on the server and find out what your deck is by typing /deck USER (where USER is the name of that specific person).
• Open Last Sealed Pack: Open your previous sealed pool.
• Open Last Loaded Deck: Open your previous deck.
• Shuffle Deck After Load: Auto-shuffles your deck when you load it.
• Download Pictures for This Deck: Acquires the pictures for the deck file IF it is a .deck (go format) file.

Deck Editor

Go also comes with a deck editor that includes a complex card filter, ability to add in special symbols, deck exportation to a .html file, and different ways to view your deck. Here is a sample screenshot:

Lobby Options

When in the lobby there are numerous options available for you. If you type /help while connected to the server, you should see the following screen:

It is important to note that the relevant options for now are /accept, /back, /cancel, /challenge, /deck, /help, /reject, /schallenge, /sealed, /sets, and /watch. The mini-related options are not fully functional as of yet. You can also modify your lobby options by clicking on the Lobby toolbar on the top and adjusting auto-tasks and sounds.

View & Communicate

If you click on the view toolbar, you will be presented with a variety of options regarding which panels and windows you want open during gameplay. You can hide panels, look at your library, and change how you move cards.

There is also a short list of shortkey macros. To view them, click on the Communicate toolbar. Most of these are controlled by ctrl + #, with a different message for each number. You can also load a text file as one of the final communicate options.

Themes & Extras

You can modify the theme (color scheme, etc) and size of GO by clicking on the Themes toolbar at the top. There is a wide variety of options available with theme editing, so it could potentially take a while to adjust GO to your liking.

There are a number of extras associated with GO. If you are not connected to a server, you can do Extras->Solitaire Mode to goldfish. You should see the following screen:

The play functions for GO follow the same format as MWS and Apprentice; the shortcuts are very similar. There is a list of those shortcuts under the “Shortcuts” section of this document. To get out of solitaire mode, select Extras->Solitaire mode again.

Other extra features include downloading pictures from different sets, saving game screen shots that may be useful for rulings in #judges4you, and loading/unloading game replays.

Game Options

To start a game, connect to the server and challenge another user. Once they have accepted the challenge, you will be brought to a screen almost identical to the solitaire game one. Both players should hit Game->start game to begin. GO will automatically simulate a coin toss and prompt the player who won the flip to choose whether to play or draw, as shown:

Once that has been established, the program will provide the players with sample hands and ask if they wish to mulligan or not.

GO will walk the players through each turn step-by-step and with priority rules in place. If you want to remove this for casual games, you can select the Game Settings toolbar and make modifications, like so:

There is also an Actions toolbar and Permanent toolbar for special in-game tasks, as pictured below.

Shortcuts and Commands

Here is a list of shortcuts applicable to GO:

Downloading Pictures

First, download the pictures to a selected folder. Second, go to Themes -> Edit Current Theme (or ctrl+e) and click on the “Pictures” tab. The pictures shown below model this process. WOTC Pictures are the ones you may have downloaded with the built in Download Pictures From MCD feature under Extra. MWS Full Pictures are the ones you may have already acquired for Magic WorkStation(tm). Please note that some of the set names might be wrong, so you can modify the sets file in the data folder to fix the set abbreviations. Also, some cards have multiple versions (such as the basic lands). The picture loader will load one at random if they are named like this: Cardname#.full.jpg, where # can be 1 – 4.

Sideboarding

To sideboard during a match, once a game is over select View -> My Library (or ctrl+l) and Deck -> Look At Sideboard. If you right click each card from the library/sideboard, you can choose whether to board in or out cards, as shown below. Please note that after each card you board in/out, GO will provide a deck/sideboard card count (if you do the boarding procedure). If you do the "Trade" option, you can switch a card from the sideboard with one from the main deck to ensure an even count.

Watching a Game

To watch another match while connected to the GO server, type: /watch USER (where user is the name of player with a black diamond by his or her name). You should come to the match and see something similar to the image below. Once you are finished watching, you can return to the lobby by doing Game -> Go to Lobby.

Reconnecting

To reconnect (if you are disconnected), type /rejoin in the lobby to rejoin the game.

Team Commands

• /tnew password --> create a new team
• /tjoin username password --> join (username)'s team
• /tch username --> challenge the team of (username)
• /accept ---> teamleader accepting the challenge
• /teams ---> a list of all current teams
• /team ---> details of your team
• /tleave username ---> leave the team of (username)
• /tkick username ---> kick (username) from our team (team captains only)
• /tpass newpass ---> change your team's password (team captain only)

Closing Notes

The call a judge feature and judge tools are currently not functional. You can offer a draw to the opponent, but in single-elimination tournaments draws do not count, so that option is only worthwhile in swiss tournaments. You may concede a game at any time with the option under the Game toolbar. You must have the most recent version of GO to connect to the server; older versions are blocked once they are outdated. Other than that, enjoy GO!