Magic: the Gathering (now with 200% more OP)

the cheat

Ah. Did not realize all of that.

Big Red Tie

also, i don't know how common enchant removal is in t2, or with who you play, but it almost never gets removed where i play

Tarantio

And there's always the fact that, even if it gets removed, it's still a 1-for-1 trade (with some exceptions), so you're not losing out in terms of card advantage.

Funny, I don't remember ever destroying an oblivion ring. I've kinda been playing exclusively red and/or black decks recently, for some reason. And one deck with a blue splash, which of course didn't help the issue.

Blurg

Papillon wrote: »

Because O-Ring also deals with non-creatures (Garruk, Sarkhan Vol & Bitterblossom), you can play it off colourless or off-colour lands, and it isn't affected by pro-black

or... most importantly Elspeth before -8 industructable.. or various other powerhouse things you dont want to see for a bit, its funny if you o-ring an arcbound Bye bye +1/+1 counters

Ryadic

So, who here is going to states and what state? I'll be going to Tennessee states.

B.C.

I want to abuse the Unearth mechanic.

I think it'd be pretty awesome to Unearth something, attack with it, and then use Ooze Garden to Ooze up your Unearthed creature so you still have a creature in play.

Or possibly do an Unearth Elemental deck, splashing in Sedris the Traitor King to give Nova Chaser Unearth

the cheat

I wanna make a deck where i have a bunch of cards that remove all creatures, and then some creatures that have haste.

Like, use this guy, Kederekt Leviathan... then use some haste guys for some cheap shots.

I need more haste creatures, maybe some haste giving instants and whatnot.

Went to FNM, but, they were doing a draft tournament, and I did not bring monies. Plus, I'd think that would be harder for a beginner like me.

sportzboytjw

Cheat, check out starcitygames.com, puremtgo.com, and modosharks.com. All have strategy tips/articles to help you learn the formats. Modosharks would particularly help with drafting, since they have videos on drafting and whatnot.

the cheat

Like, that isn't the problem. I just don't think I'd be very good on my feet with a mostly random deck.

Super Namicchi

true, I would say drafting in a tournament is a pretty stressful situation... however, the thing to note is that Magic players only improve when facing people of better skill.

How I would approach it is draft up, and after every match, ask your opponent what he thought you did wrong/could be improved. Show people your deck. Ask for advice.

you will only improve if you jump in with both feet.

sportzboytjw

Cheat, I'd watch the videos to get a feel for the format. Then I'd jump in, like they said. Also, remember what is in your deck after you draft/build it. That's pretty key. Like, it's easy to see "WOW CRAP THAT'S AN AWESOME CARD I CAN'T BEAT THAT" but then you remember, "Hey, I have like 3 pieces of removal that can handle it, it's ok."

the cheat

Yeah, all good advice. Still, I'll wait for a regular tournament or two before I try the drafting one.

Big Red Tie

i didn't get to go to fnm last friday
totally going next friday

SightTDW

I've been meaning to go out every Friday for the last couple years. I stopped going to my game shop a couple years back after discovering that my discount at my local comic shop applied to cards as well. If anything I'm nervous about going back.

JeffH

Ryadic wrote: »

So, who here is going to states and what state? I'll be going to Tennessee states.

going to MA states

wish i could get more testing in but i feel good about my deck choice

Blurg

Just jump right in the Drafts, Its a great way to get cards and a usable deck that may be really good, I just drafted an amazing Naya deck from the last FNM which ended up undefeated with me winning a Tourny Pack and 2 boosters. My friend who had ideas for all his options turned out losing 2 of his rounds and won one. so, you never know what happens in a draft

DirtyDirtyVagrant

*sigh*

I wish I had someone to play magic with.

I used to play, in a time long passed...(past?)

Had a good deck. It my deck. My baby. I engineered it. I built it. And I laid the smack down with it on several occasions.

And then something happened. The guy I was regularly playing against (The only person around here who plays) spent ~$200 on a bunch of cards specifically picked to beat me. So after that he beat me every time, and laughed like an idiot as he did so.

But I wasn't in the mood for a goddamn arms race, so I let him have his victory.

The worst part was that this guy is functionally retarded. Like...he seems mostly intelligent at first, but if you knew him...
He's told me such things as "Motion sickness is just gas in your head." and at one point he was adamant that Tofu was made out of egg whites. Also he chews with his mouth open.

Not to talk about the guy...but...being bested by that just killed the game for me.

And to those who say play with the comic shop guys...they were even worse. They all play with cards like extirpate and use things like platinum angel combos. And most of them play highlander. And fuck that.

Super Namicchi

well, to be fair, competitive magic players not only play the game, they play the Metagame also.

if he read your deck and built a counter-deck, well... tough noogies. them's the breaks, kiddo. i don't think you're going to find much sympathy especially from me when you call your opponent retarded :P

the cheat

Just... make a new deck... You don't have to go buy expensive cards, just make a new set of shit and maybe a new strategery.

NinjaSquirrel

Things like that are why I decided to make 3 different decks this go around with 3 different strategies. This way a single opponent can hate out 1 maybe 2 of the decks but the only way they could hate out all 3 was if they didn't really have a win condition or left themselves open to the rest of the field.

Forar

They don't even have to be overly expensive decks. Simply having a different win condition, style or strategy can be enough to throw another deck off, particularly if it's designed around beating your specific deck.

I've invested more into Magic than might necessarily be wise (without jeopardizing rent, at least) and thus built up a fairly wide variety of decks. Some are better one on one, most have a multiplayer slant (when I do get to play, it's usually with 3-4 friends out of town), some focus on control, others on giant creatures, hell one's a slightly modified tournament level deck from Onslaught block.

Never can quite tell what's going to hit the table, and it keeps everyone guessing. It also means that building a specific anti-deck to one of mine is fruitless; the odds of that deck meeting the one it's built to foil are pretty slim.

MiSTieOtaku

I haven't played Magic in years, but lately I've been feeling the urge to pick up a card game. And since no one around here plays Legend of the Five Rings I guess it'll be Magic then.

So, I found an old deck of mine but I'm not entirely sure what to do with it. I noticed that Mirrodin is no longer legal or whatever the term is in Standard games? I'm assuming Standard meaning normal games but then again I know jack about Magic and its whole community thing.

What I'm wondering is if I bring an old deck to play, are these people going to pitch a fit?

Ryadic

Standard is a format type of playing. There are multiple types of formats, but Standard, Extended, Block, and Limited are the most common. You can find the difference between the formats in the OP and if they're not listed, they should be (but I'm sure they are).

Basically Standard is all of the most recent cards, which includes the following sets:

Tenth Edition
Lorwyn
Morningtide
Shadowmoor
Eventide
Shards of Alara

Super Namicchi

yeah, as a player coming back in, check the OP for helpful links

it's what they're there for

Tarantio

MiSTieOtaku wrote: »

What I'm wondering is if I bring an old deck to play, are these people going to pitch a fit?

Which people are these? I can't imagine it would be hard to find someone at your average card shop willing to play a few casual games, but you're not going to be able to play the deck in a Standard (also known as Type 2) tournament, and some people will want to spend their time testing for tournament play against other decks in the format, I guess.

Your deck might be legal for Extended, though, which goes back to Onslaught.

cytorak

I learned tonight that Surgespanner + Springleaf Drum + Merrow Commerce by turn 4 = Go get a sandwich, because you sure as hell aren't playing Magic.

Xaiok

Is there any way to get into Magic? I mean, without dropping a whole ton of money? A bunch of my friends used to play, but I was poor and whatnot. Now, I'm still poor, just less so, and a friend recently got me interested in the game again.

I was thinking of buying a premade deck of the colours I fancied, or two of the same one so I can make a more consistant version, and going from there? When I do start playing there's a card shop that does friday night draft tournaments, or something of that sort, I'm told.

From just playing around with friends I really like how green, red and blue decks play in any combination together. Are tri-colour decks any good? I've only ever played two colour ones.

So... buy a premade deck (or two, since there are alot of cards that there are only 1 or 2 of in premades that having more of would be useful), and a couple boosters be a good way to step in to start playing? Or is there an easier way somehow? Also, for Standard format, are there currently sets out there that are better for X colour or Y colour? Like if I was going to go Blue/Green and get 4 boosters, get 2 of X set and 2 of Y set, cause those sets have more good blue/green cards.

Sorry to ask so much, but I want to get into the hobby it just seems quite daunting when I see people with thousands upon thousands of cards...

Darian

Easiest way to get into magic is to go with a friend and each of you buy a starter + 2 boosters, then build a deck (pick your two-three best colors, make a 40 card deck with about 16 creatures, 6-8 spells/artifacts, 16-18 land) and play. Then mix the cards together, choose about 90 at random and Rochester draft them (show four cards at a time, one person takes one, the other takes two, the first gets the last one; take turns being first). This will let you practice making decks out limited card pools and get a feel for what sort of cards are available in the latest set. Split the cost of a box of boosters if you're enjoying it, then take 3 boosters each and draft those together, working your way through the box. Then pool all your cards and see what sort of stronger decks (60 cards) you can put together, combining with your older cards as desired.

You can also start doing all the limited FNM events (drafts and sealed). After the events, offer to trade one or two of your rares for all the commons the other people are picking up. From that, you can build up a reasonable collection of recent cards fairly quickly.

I'm not sure if they are still doing preconstructed decks for this latest set; even when they were, you'd never want to buy two of the same precon. Just too many weak cards.

Reynolds

They have a preconstructed deck for each shard. They seem pretty cool, I liked the Bant one I got.

The cheapest way is probably to find a place that sells commons and uncommons as singles. My local shop is 10 cents a piece, which means you'd wind up with 100 cards for around the price of a deck. That's enough to make at least two or three decks by simply putting in good, cheap to play, affordable bread and butter cards.

What would probably work out the best is in the middle, buy a deck and then support it with some cheap commons. Buy a booster every now and then, and use the rare or trade it for something more helpful.

JeffH

xaiok: what are your aims for playing magic? what kind of player are you? do you want to have fun playing with friends and play wacky decks, or do you want to play powerful decks and win tournaments?

Regardless of which kind of player you are, I'd suggest looking at drafting. It's really fun, and the only cards you play with are from the 3 packs you open and basic lands. Also, you can grab a few cards that might not necessarily be good for you in the draft, but that you will own for good after it's done (called raredrafting). If you need more information, let us know, and we can provide you with more information on drafting/links.

If you go to tournaments/FNM, be friendly. I almost always give away all of my commons from a draft, or at least the commons I don't need, to new players. If you're a nice guy, you can easily get a bunch of commons from the players at your shop.

If you're aiming for casual play: pick up a few precons and some boosters, and go to town. If you have older cards, some may still be tournament legal. Just have fun

If you're aiming for tournament play, be prepared to drop a little money to make an inital deck for yourself and go from there. Here's my story: I played from legends to masques, and quit. Got back into the game around Sep 07. I bought cards for a deck that was cheap to build (makeshift_mannequin.dec) for around 80 bucks, and started playing at my local shop's FNMS in draft($15) and standard tournaments($5) each friday more or less. Even though the deck was cheap to build, it was still good, won me some standard/drafts and starting building a decent collection that way, and through trades. I also made some really good friends at my shop (that happen to be really good players as well) and we lend each other cards when we need to. Now I can build practically anything I want.

If you're interested in this route, I can post some decklists for you that can very easily win tournaments and that are cheap (50-100$), along with other more expensive cards to look out for/trade for that would be good additions to the deck.

Forar

If you have the cash, a booster box from a set that seems appealing can net you a hefty selection of commons, a good spread of uncommons, and some rares of varrying quality. Like gambling, it's a bit of a crapshoot, but as a fairly well funded casual player, I find that doing so now and then gets me my money's worth (were I to buy all those cards individually) and I often end up with cards I never would've owned otherwise (chase rares, foil chase rares, etc).

It's slightly risky, but unless you have a hookup at a local store or a friend who'll hook you up with piles of cards cheaply, it's not a terrible approach.

Also, you can find auctions on Ebay for full playsets (4 of each) of commons and uncommons from a set fairly cheaply at times. Probably want to stay away from random auctions for hundreds or thousands of cards unless they're clear that you won't get any more than 4 of a given card (200 of a given common does you little good), and the random rare auctions are usually just shit that they can't sell off.

Blurg

Forar wrote: »

If you have the cash, a booster box from a set that seems appealing can net you a hefty selection of commons, a good spread of uncommons, and some rares of varrying quality. Like gambling, it's a bit of a crapshoot, but as a fairly well funded casual player, I find that doing so now and then gets me my money's worth (were I to buy all those cards individually) and I often end up with cards I never would've owned otherwise (chase rares, foil chase rares, etc).

It's slightly risky, but unless you have a hookup at a local store or a friend who'll hook you up with piles of cards cheaply, it's not a terrible approach.

Also, you can find auctions on Ebay for full playsets (4 of each) of commons and uncommons from a set fairly cheaply at times. Probably want to stay away from random auctions for hundreds or thousands of cards unless they're clear that you won't get any more than 4 of a given card (200 of a given common does you little good), and the random rare auctions are usually just shit that they can't sell off.

good advice, and so far what I think would be a good booster to purchase would be either Lorwyn or Shadowmoor, Lorwyn is a better choice short term, but will be out of standard in a years time, Shadowmoor will be in standard for 2 years, and has some very powerful cards.

Lorwyn - good Racial setups, nice cards, very powerful.
Morningtide - Good tribal setups, okay cards, works in conjunction with Lorwyn

Shadowmoor - emphasis on keywords, powerful cards
Eventide - Dual Colour setup, okay cards, works okay with Shadowmoor

Shards of Alara - 3 Colour restrictions (Esper[Blue, Black, White], Bant[White, Blue, Green], Naya[Green, White, Red], Jund[Red, Green, Black], and Grixis[Black, Red, Blue]), powerful and fast cards, cards meant to be in specific shards.

10th Edition Core - Solid beginners set, powerful cards, recommended for everyone

Thats my thoughts on the standard sets, anyone else can add more, but, choose a style you want to play, see if it fits in the categorys, research the cards in the different sets and choose a set.

For anyone, Drafting is a must for starting off in a set. Doesnt matter if your a noob or not, just go, make a deck, play, have fun, and then make your deck better by supplementing it with cards from Boosters/Tourament Packs/Fat Packs/Trading

Desy

Lorwyn and Shadowmoor rotate as part of the same set.

So both will be out of standard after the Shards of Alara block finishes and Wizards releases the first set of the next block.

So time in standard is the same for both and a moot point for deciding which booster box to buy.

That being said, Morningtide might be a good buy if you're looking for some pricy rares to sell.

10the Edition isn't a box I'd reccomend buying if you're looking for choice cards or cards to sell for money. Sure you'll get some good cards that could be sold for cash. but it isn't a beginners set for nothing. Average power-wise it's lower then the 'expert' sets (Lorwyn, Shards of Alara and the like.)

But as Blurg said, it is a good set for seeing lots of cards and for learning the basics. That is what 10th was designed to do.

Xaiok

Tonight I'm going to pick up a pair of the precon decks and some boosters. Having trouble deciding between the Army of Entropy and the Overkill deck, both from the Shadowmoor block/section/shard.

I'm really just looking to play for fun, just play around with my friends and at the draft tournaments that the local store has on Fridays occasionally. After a while, I might end up playing in some of the standard tournaments that they have when my cardpool grows, depending on what I pick up. Gonna take it slow, don't want to jump in and blow a whole big whack of cash too quickly.

Thanks guys, I'm pretty pumped for picking up the cards today.

Edit:
Shadowmoor rotates out with Lorwyn? Does Eventide as well? I'll check with stuff at the store when I get there, and see. Maybe I'll just get a 10th deck and more boosters, or decide on a Alara deck when I see the lists.

Blurg

Shadowmoor is a separate block actually
Lorwyn Block
{
Lorwyn
Morningtide
}
Shadowmoor Block
{
Shadowmoor
Eventide
}

VThornheart

Is Shards of Alara a "small block" as well?

I was just starting to get used to the Lorwyn block. I feel like their rotation is moving too quickly. Maybe I've just started to get sick of buying new cards. =(

I think part of it is because I still haven't put together all the cards I need for that infinite token deck... part of it's in there, but I still need 4 or 5 cards from Lorwyn. But if Shards of Alara is a small block, Lorwyn's going away in like 3-4 months anyways. Probably not worth it at that point. =(

Blurg

Shards is the first part of a 3 part block

Shards of Alara
Conflux
Remaking of Alara (i think)

Desy

Blurg wrote: »

Shadowmoor is a separate block actually
Lorwyn Block
{
Lorwyn
Morningtide
}
Shadowmoor Block
{
Shadowmoor
Eventide
}

I didn't say they were the same block, although I did imply it didn't I? I said they rotate out of standard Together. My wording may have been confusing and I am sorry for that. But Lorwyin, Morningtide, Shadowmoor, and Eventide will all rotate out of standard when the block after Shards is released.

Searched the Wizards site and found this in one of their Ask Wizards answers. Spoilered just because.

Q: When "Jelly" comes out, is Time Spiral Block (and Coldsnap) rotating out of Standard? Isn't that a bit too soon?
–James D., Ottawa, ON, Canada

A: From Kelly Digges, editor of magicthegathering.com:

The answer to your second question is "yes"—that would indeed be soon! Fortunately, the answer to your first question is "no."

For those who may have missed Mark's announcement, "Jelly" is the set coming out next Spring—but it's a large set. Lorwyn Block and "Jelly" Block are two sets each rather than the customary three... and Standard rotates based on blocks, doesn't it?

Fortunately, wise heads prevailed over a rule that wasn't meant to handle this situation. Just as Coldsnap rotates with Time Spiral (not with Ravnica—take note!), Lorwyn and "Jelly" Blocks will rotate out of Standard together with the release of "Live" in 2009.

Visit our Standard resource page for more information about Standard rotation and our Banned & Restricted Lists page for similar info about other formats.

Raw Link

Oh, one more thing, just found an announcment, last set of the Shards block after Conflux is named Alara Reborn.
Source: Announcing Alara Reborn

VThornheart

Ah, that's good news. At least there'd be a year or so to play with it then before it goes out.

Ryadic

Personally I would suggest either a box of Morningtide boosters or Shards of Alara. Morningtide has the most money involved. Mutavault, Chameleon Colossus, and Bitterblossom. Shards of Alara has quite a bit of money involved too, but I simply love the set. Drafting it is so much fun. Personally I can't think of a better set to draft.

Granted I've only drafted since Morningtides release, so I've only drafted MMM, LLM, SSS, SSE, EEE, and SoASoASoA.

And for those that don't know:

M=Morningtide
L=Lorwyn
S=Shadowmoor
E=Eventide
SoA=Shards of Alara