magic the gathering

[Mata Hari]

is a card game

Do people play it??

[tovarischkrasnyjeshi]

I half got into it, if that counts.


Basically a friend was into it and got my other friends super into it. I had experimented with it back when yugioh wasn't so... yeah... but didn't really get into it. I did however have an understanding of how things work and had enough generalized theory about to be 2nd best among my friends.

Then they went to different colleges and I didn't go far into it because I remembered how much money yugioh cost me. Even gave the instigator friend my deck. But that friend who got us into it also bought us the 2012 duels of the planeswalkers thing on steam, which I still play now and then.

Completely off topic

You know what would be really cool if I had any kind of programming skills whatsoever? An open source libre gratis card game that combines the best things of whatever we want (traps or mana or evolution or rpg elemental rock paper scissors whatever). Balance would be community driven so no "buy the latest packs if you want to succeed". Clients would do most of the work, with different rulesets/mods/whatever being compared against one another.

[Mata Hari]

Yeah Magic the Goatse.cx costs a lot of money which is why nobody else plays it appas

[Clamestarebla]

Red/Black/Green threshold is what I play.
Gotta Epicenter everyone all day every day. And Kamahl's Sledge. Can't forget about that one. The deck could be even more deadly if I had more Unglued cards actually, which I'm sure is something nobody ever said.

[Mata Hari]

Kamahl's Sledge

Not that I wish to tell you what to play, but are you really sure that effect is worth seven mana

[tovarischkrasnyjeshi]

Might should have added that I tend to play green conglomerates. I like the mana momentum it has.

My strategy in a certain derivative game is usually stalling and life building, mixed either with milling or burn until I can get my boss out. ...because I'm not fun I guess. While initially I tried to translate that over to MTG I eventually found that Magic's not as good at combining so many archetypes as... certain other things.

I guess I tend to like Green/Blue best. Get 5 turns ahead with Green, use blue's leet hax0r sorcery and instants, you know. Red has the burn but it's not good for how defensively I tend to play. White had the life farming I liked and Black is lovely but I find it harder to play with either.

Even play Kiora Atua's deck mainly in Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/digita ... ecks#kiora

[Clamestarebla]

Kamahl's Sledge

Not that I wish to tell you what to play, but are you really sure that effect is worth seven mana

I use it as a finisher whenever my opponent as a creature in play because it's easier to bait a cancel this way. Most of my creatures can deal damage from the graveyard or sacrifice themselves to deal damage is the thing. Other creatures I use make me put lands on the field so I stack up mana pretty quickly too.

Forgot to mention my deck has Roiling Terrain, hence why I have Epicenter.

[Mata Hari]

I use it as a finisher whenever my opponent as a creature in play because it's easier to bait a cancel this way.

But you don't want your finisher to get countered. I'm so confused.

[Clamestarebla]

I use it as a finisher whenever my opponent as a creature in play because it's easier to bait a cancel this way.

But you don't want your finisher to get countered. I'm so confused.

My play-style is that if I play the huge spell that baits the biggest counter in the universe, it's easier to kill the opponent with cheaper stuff.
So in short, it will
a) Kill the enemy
or
b) Clear the way for another finisher

[Argumentable]

so how is bfz? I kind of wanna make izzet ramp

[sedron]

so how is bfz? I kind of wanna make izzet ramp

A lot of people are saying BFZ is underwhelming, and to a degree I can back that up. Very few cards are really worthy for any constructed environment. You've got a handful of neat cards, but a lot of underpowered stuff.

As a limited set, it's pretty fun, but I wouldn't put it ahead of other recent limited formats like KTK or DTK/FRF.

Also you could potentially open a $500 dollar Scalding Tarn, so that's a thing I guess.

[Animita]

I play a bit,only getting into it recently. Only Standard at the moment but I'm looking to get into Commander and Modern to save money long term.
Colors I kinda like the most are Red/Blue.

[SAJewers]

Don't play, but I do watch LRR's MTG stuff. This will probably be their greatest Twitch hightlight.

[sedron]

I play a bit,only getting into it recently. Only Standard at the moment but I'm looking to get into Commander and Modern to save money long term.
Colors I kinda like the most are Red/Blue.

Do you play Standard at FNM and other events, or just casually with friends? I've never had a standard deck. I wanted to try getting into it with BFZ's release, hoping I could get a deck together reasonably cheap that wasn't mono/Atarka Red. Then Standard mana bases became nightmares and I decided against it. =/

I have some good advice for Commander, if you want some. If you're just getting into it, there are a lot of products you can get to help start whatever deck you want. In November we're getting Commander 2015, which coincidentally will include a Red/Blue Deck. MSRP on that is about 28 dollars, so if that's your jam I'd look into it.

The big issue with that though is there's a chance you'll have a hard time finding the new Commander decks at MSRP. Demand for some decks is higher than others, and it's not uncommon to find one of them selling around 40-50 dollars if there's an important card in it. If you're looking for more budget options, the 2013 and 2014 decks aren't too expensive right now, and I imagine they'll take a dip in price as the new decks release. Unfortunately the one deck that includes red and blue, Mind Seize, costs about 35 dollars still because it contains True Name Nemesis, which sees play in Legacy. You might be able to find a version of it without TNN though, and while you'll need to find a replacement, that's a better budget alternative.

Buying at least one preconstructed deck is probably a good idea to get you some staple cards.

As for Modern, that's a bit trickier. While it will save you money in the long run over Standard, many competitive decks run upwards of a thousand dollars.

If you're looking for a Blue/Red deck with the intention of spending lots of money once to keep the deck forever, you have some nice options in U/R Tron, Splinter Twin and Delver. To an extent Affinity also uses these colors.

Finding real budget decks is a lot harder. Mono-Red is usually doable, though some important cards in the archetype haven't seen reprints in a long time (Goblin Guide is the best example.) The best Mono-Blue deck is probably Merfolk, which is still pretty budget as far as Modern goes.

For reference, my only Modern deck, a Mono-Black 8-Rack deck, is probably about 70 dollars, and could realistically use a couple hundred dollars in improvements.

[Animita]

I play now and then at a game store. I don't have a meta deck or anything just a deck I kinda threw together.

Also yeah I heard about commander 2015 so I'm holding off on like building this deck I've been mulling over in my head until that gets revealed.

I haven't heard of a u/r tron deck. Only blue or red green do you have more info on it?

[Zummorr]

A close friend of mine plays it pretty often, he tells me all about it often. He's of the opinion that BFZ may seem underwhelming for standard play (and is very underwhelming for legacy) it offers up pretty much near perfect mana coverage, allowing people to splice many colors into their decks without worrying about mana problems.

I haven't played in years. I used to like blue decks because I like the feeling of controlling and countering stuff. Although recently if I got back into magic I'd probably opt for a rush-down red deck that simply tried to damage race the opponent down as fast and efficiently as possible. I blame Hearthstone for instilling me with the idea that direct damage is good.

[Argumentable]

I'm gonna try to do a draft tomorrow (no idea if it's BFZ or what) for like a first time FNM thing. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to bring anything but I guess I'll take sleeves and some lands and thats it??? Or I could chicken out

[sedron]

I haven't heard of a u/r tron deck. Only blue or red green do you have more info on it?

Bluh, I was thinking of G/R Tron. My bad. Though if you Google it there are brews for U/R Tron (looks mostly like regular Mono-Blue variants with Through the Breach added, it looks like.)

A close friend of mine plays it pretty often, he tells me all about it often. He's of the opinion that BFZ may seem underwhelming for standard play (and is very underwhelming for legacy) it offers up pretty much near perfect mana coverage, allowing people to splice many colors into their decks without worrying about mana problems.

To be fair, most sets are underwhelming in Legacy. Wizards usually opts to get new cards into Legacy via supplemental products like the Commander decks and Conspiracy these days. When they make something in Standard that sees play in Legacy, it's usually by accident (a lot of the Delve cards are way more powerful than initially thought, with Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time even being restricted in Vintage. New Jace might also end up causing problems, seeing as it's so powerful that it's seeing an 80 dollar price tag.)

Your friend's assessment of BFZ is pretty spot on. We're seeing a lot of 4-color decks running around (Dark Jeskai being the most common,) though really fast decks like Mono Red/Atarka Red still have the ability to capitalize on the times when they stumble on their mana.

I'm gonna try to do a draft tomorrow (no idea if it's BFZ or what) for like a first time FNM thing. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to bring anything but I guess I'll take sleeves and some lands and thats it??? Or I could chicken out

Most stores will supply players with Basic lands, so you shouldn't have to worry about that. Sleeves are definitely a good idea, as are counters/dice.

If you're doing FNM, it will most likely be a BFZ draft. Since there's a tiny, tiiiiiiiiny chance you could open up an Expedition, which could be worth up to 500 dollars, sleeves are really important. =P They're also just helpful to make shuffling easier, honestly.

You shouldn't need anything else. Good luck! I'll be at my local FNM as well (though I've been going to them every so often for about a year now.)

[Animita]

I'm gonna try to do a draft tomorrow (no idea if it's BFZ or what) for like a first time FNM thing. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to bring anything but I guess I'll take sleeves and some lands and thats it??? Or I could chicken out

Another thing is if you don't have a lot of cards feel free to see if theres a "Draft Chaff" pile. Basicaly players after draft sometimes just put cards they don't want there.
Most often its just a ton of uncommons and commons and maybe the jankest of jank rares but you might find a card or two you need.(Also if you mention you dont have much of a collection you might just get like given.a huge amount of chaff no questions.)

[Argumentable]

I didn't go cause my friend bailed on me. Maybe in 2 weeks!

[Animita]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm8CdY75K-s
YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[SAJewers]

[Argumentable]

I prefer this one if we're talking spoiler videos

[Telamon]

I like how the guy has Death Gate Cycle on his bookcase

[TheNecroswanson]

I like how the guy has Death Gate Cycle on his bookcase

Favorite series.


I have played for ever, but have slowly dwindled into not playing very much at all.
From everyone I know switching to EDH, to EDH banning Braids (the best card everererererererererer), I have a hard time getting into it anymore.
It also doesn't help that a couple of years ago a deck I had spent years and hundreds of dollars building got stolen.

It's a fantastically fun game when played casually, but it's nothing but pay to win for competitive in my eyes.