Magic the Gathering fans?

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

I brought this point up yesterday in EDH. If they restricted to only having either 1 temple OR eye in each deck, would that help mitigate the issue?

[Wyrmhero he/him]

That's a good question. I don't believe any cards are restricted in modern, so it'd kind of be a first, and it would be interesting to see the effect this would have on the format. On the other hand though, it depends what the problem with it is. You'd still be able to have the ridiculous openings, they'd just be much less common. It depends on how much WotC cares about variance in their format. I think it might kill the playerbase for the deck though, as suddenly it's much slower, and much less reliable. I'm of the opinion that restriction is inelegant and they should just ban it outright if they plan to do that.

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

It's what I was discussing with a girl yesterday that plays it. They were having a tourney a week or go or something and they needed an extra as no-one else played modern and she does...but she would only play if no-one played eldrazi (turns out everyone was...) For me, I'd prefer restriction over outright ban, just because it forces people to choose what they want whilst also reducing the problem, also countering the possibility of a 1 deck situation

Edited March 5, 2016 by ParadoxSpren

[Kynedath]

So is Modern a new set of decks? Or is it a new set of regulations or what?

[Wyrmhero he/him]

So is Modern a new set of decks? Or is it a new set of regulations or what?

 

It's more the latter, though not 'new'. There are four main tournament styles that Magic tends to do:

 

• Standard - The last three blocks. A change has been made which makes it a little more complicated currently, so at the moment, that is Khans of Tarkir, Dragons of Tarkir, Magic: Origins, and Battle for Zendikar. It's kind of the last 'year and a half' of cards that have been released, but not so simple.
• Modern - Eighth Edition and blocks after that. Basically from about 2004 onwards, I believe. This is an 'eternal' format, in that cards do not get removed from the format unless they are banned.
• Legacy - All cards printed, regardless of whether they were in blocks or supplemental products such as Conspiracy (another set, but not in standard or modern) or Commander (released as decks).
• Vintage - Like Legacy, but with a smaller banlist (if any, I'm not 100% on that).

 

Aside from that, there are also two formats which are often played which change how the game works quite a bit. Not mentioning all the rules though, as there are a number.

 

• In Commander, players choose a Legendary creature as their Commander, who is placed outside of the deck and can be played as though they were in your hand. After choosing the Commander, players build 99-card decks with only one copy of non-basic cards in it. Those cards must only contain the mana symbols that your Commander has.
• Two-Headed Giant is the last of the normal formats you see. Players pair up and play games 2v2.

The reason Modern is being discussed quite a bit is because recently a particular deck, featuring the Eldrazi cards from Battle for Zendikar and powerful lands called Eye of Ugin and Eldrazi Temple from the original Zendikar block, has been taking the format by storm and is widely considered to be overpowered and in need of being brought in line. I think the worry is that Modern has been 'solved' by this deck, as no other compares with its win-rates or the amount its being played.

[Kynedath]

Huh. Alright, thanks.

[Dunkum he/him]

The reason Modern is being discussed quite a bit is because recently a particular deck, featuring the Eldrazi cards from Battle for Zendikar and powerful lands called Eye of Ugin and Eldrazi Temple from the original Zendikar block, has been taking the format by storm and is widely considered to be overpowered and in need of being brought in line. I think the worry is that Modern has been 'solved' by this deck, as no other compares with its win-rates or the amount its being played.

this paragraph right here basically describes why I never bother with the tournament scene.  I can't be bothered to keep up with the hyper efficient deck strategies that people employ and a lot of the time you end up with everybody running roughly the same 4 or 5 decks.  it's boring.

[The Sovereign]

this paragraph right here basically describes why I never bother with the tournament scene.  I can't be bothered to keep up with the hyper efficient deck strategies that people employ and a lot of the time you end up with everybody running roughly the same 4 or 5 decks.  it's boring.

 

Meh, to each their own I suppose. I'm the polar opposite here, I'd rather play against optimized (relatively) decks and have more competitive games. Personally I find casual Magic pretty boring. Even in EDH I'd rather play competitive 1v1 games than multiplayer with relatively casual decks.

[Wyrmhero he/him]

To each, their own, as you say. I personally dislike the tournament scene because I don't like being restricted in my card choices. I just build weird, janky, inefficient decks and rely on casual/multiplayer to keep me afloat so I can do fun things. And it worked well enough .

[The Sovereign]

To each, their own, as you say. I personally dislike the tournament scene because I don't like being restricted in my card choices. I just build weird, janky, inefficient decks and rely on casual/multiplayer to keep me afloat so I can do fun things. And it worked well enough .

 

There is certainly merit in that, it is a game after all and if you're not having fun, then why play? Personally I have fun doing broken things. In 1v1 EDH I am currently playing storm. I'm quite partial to the idea of if you don't want to die on turn 2-4 then stop me.

[Kynedath]

EDH?

[Dunkum he/him]

EDH?

Elder Dragon Highlander.  It is the same thing as Commander, and in fact is the original name for Commander, but people who played the format before Wizards officially endorsed and started producing Commander decks tend to refer to it as EDH out of habit.

 

I'll second @Wyrmhero on the card restriction thing too.  you can bet that if I owned a black lotus, it would be in a deck

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

I'll second @Wyrmhero on the card restriction thing too.  you can bet that if I owned a black lotus, it would be in a deck

Granted, in at least three different protective casings.

And is anyone else psyched for the Arlinn/Sorin spoils in just under a week? Seriously can't wait, although I gotta miss the pre-release

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Have to admit, the flavour so far for Innistrad has been absolutely incredible. I doubt the story will match up, but on the cards at least it's looking the best in a long while.

[ParadoxicalZen he/him]

After reading the mtgsalvation topic on SOI's packaging, and seeing 'Random Vampire' on a booster (and said vamp looks suspiciously a little like Jace..) I think he may go either U/B or U/R :/

Edit: Given the second checklist card I'm now speculating that Arlinn will be green one side and red the other

Editx2 - After reading the new UR, I reckon the 4th angel sister get's rezzed and becomes the new balancing force, should Avacyn pop her clogs

Edited March 10, 2016 by ParadoxSpren

[Zathoth]

Im not sure what anyone is going to reply to this, but anyway, here we go.

 

I dont play, but a part of me kind of, sort of wants to start, problem is that I dont have anyone to play with and I am not sure how much money I want to spend on cards.

 

So...unnn... feel free to ignore me if you dont know what to say.

[Kynedath]

I think that I started with about thirty bucks. That gave me like five decks from one of those big thingies. No idea what it's called, but it had a rectangular prism as a box. If you make multiple decks and teach someone the rules, you could play whenever you felt like explaining the game.

No idea if this is valuable advice or not, but that's what I have.

[Lindel he/him]

I'd actually start with a prebuilt deck, so you can get a sense for the game mechanics before delving into deckbuilding yourself. Once you've got a feel for the game, you can design a deck that you'll enjoy playing on any budget, really.

I personally find it easier, cheaper, and more satisfying to build decks virtually, for the most part, and order the cards online, rather than buying fat packs and building from my own collection.

NorthernWarlord on MTGVault has an excellent selection of budget decks he's built. Many of them are actually pretty competitive, and they're always a blast to play. He keeps them under $20 apiece.

I'd take a look at them, and consider just copying one of the decklists into Card Kingdom or another online retailer to get you started.

http://www.mtgvault.com/northernwarlord/

This deck in particular is straightforward, super cheap, and packs a punch:

http://www.mtgvault.com/northernwarlord/decks/budget-decks-landfall-value/

[Wyrmhero he/him]

The cheapest way to build decks is always to order the individual cards you want from it, rather than buy booster packs.

 

Having said that, it's not the easiest way or the best way for new players .

 

For casual play, I would recommend one of the Dual Deck series. They're about £15 here, and contain two theme decks which are meant to be played against each other - How balanced they are is another matter. Another, slightly more expensive possibility, is the Clash Pack series. These also contain two decks, but are designed to be merged together at some point to make a better deck. Both of these are good starting places (the former for casual play, the latter for playing in events), but they will need to be developed to make them better.

 

Another possibility is the Magic Duels app/game, which allows you to play with a decent chunk of cards against the AI/other people and improve your deck with booster-style improvements. They're designed for new players, so should be perfect for you. Best of all, it's free, and not too bad time-wise to get new cards. If you only played other players, and ignoring quest bonuses and stuff, you'd get a new pack of cards every eight games.

[Lindel he/him]

Yeah, building your own deck online probably isn't the best starting point for a new player.

But I figure that if you're spending around $20 on a prebuilt deck anyway, it might as well be one that's a bit more optimized than the prebuilt decks that Wizards of the Coast offers, hence the suggestion to look at NorthernWarlord's decks. The budget landfall deck, for example, is going to perform much better than any Duel Deck I've seen, and costs under $10. Even accounting for shipping costs, that's a pretty good deal.

[Zathoth]

The cheapest way to build decks is always to order the individual cards you want from it, rather than buy booster packs.

 

Having said that, it's not the easiest way or the best way for new players .

 

For casual play, I would recommend one of the Dual Deck series. They're about £15 here, and contain two theme decks which are meant to be played against each other - How balanced they are is another matter. Another, slightly more expensive possibility, is the Clash Pack series. These also contain two decks, but are designed to be merged together at some point to make a better deck. Both of these are good starting places (the former for casual play, the latter for playing in events), but they will need to be developed to make them better.

 

Another possibility is the Magic Duels app/game, which allows you to play with a decent chunk of cards against the AI/other people and improve your deck with booster-style improvements. They're designed for new players, so should be perfect for you. Best of all, it's free, and not too bad time-wise to get new cards. If you only played other players, and ignoring quest bonuses and stuff, you'd get a new pack of cards every eight games.

I think I'll go with this option, it takes care of problem number 1, namely my complete lack of a social life XD

 

And new cards every 8 battles is way better than Hearthstone if you are no good at Arena.

 

Also I guess I should mention that I am not a complete CCG newbie, I played both Yugioh and Duel Masters as a kid.

[Kynedath]

CCG is a . . . Combat card game?

[Zathoth]

Something like that.

 

I think it stands for Collectible Card Game, but thats semantics.

[Dunkum he/him]

collectible card game is correct.

 

Depending on your personality this advice may or may not help (wouldn't have been useful for me, for example) but a lot of card/comic shops host games (around here it is Friday Night Magic, not sure how far/wide that carries) so if you are up for that sort of thing it is generally a good way to meet people who play the game in your area.  downside: most, if not all, of them will be way better at it than you your first go around, so you will likely get thrashed in all your games.  this could, understandably, be a bit of a turn off to a new player.

 

the duel decks thing is kinda nice if you already have a friend who is in the same boat as you: if you go in on one together, you each start off with a deck and a ready opponent.

[Wyrmhero he/him]

Continuing on from FNM stuff, you could always go along and ask to watch, I'm sure they wouldn't mind. Also helps you scout out what sort of things are on offer at the moment, though be aware it will be a tournament rather than casual play.

 

Local Games Stores (LGSes) also have a mini-deck of 30 cards that you can get from them for the purposes of learning. They won't have much in them, but it's a decent way to get a few free cards and get options for your actual decks.