Oh man, parties that's not really about anything can really suck, and I do tend to leave if nobody's talking about anything interesting. Beer and board games, on the other hand...
Bloggy thread; I just played Magic the Gathering for the first time about a week ago. Learned the rules, participated in a draft, that kind of stuff. And... It's not that great? I mean, the game is pretty good, but the endless stack of counters and effects are just complex, not terribly interesting. I'll probably do some more drafts - probably never going to play constructed seriously (you can lose against someone because they spent more money than you. I stay away from that on principle), but the drafts can be fun, and there seems to be some cool communities around the game.
I'd still prefer to just find a group to play Dominion with on a regular basis.