The Magic

[iHap]

Obviously MTG thread. Who's still into it. I just started around the time eventide came out. My eldest brother got me hooked and I'm loving the blue, green blue-green sets.

[mightbe]

I'm no longer a Magic player but I do use MWS (http://www.magicworkstation.com/) for testing WoW TCG.

MWS (http://www.magicworkstation.com/) is amazing and well worth the price of registering.

[pseudopseudo]

I second mightbe's pimping of Magic Workstation. I've been using it to play my brothers online for a couple years now.

I still play semi-regularly - my favorite type of deck is control, but I like to throw a weenie deck in there every once in a while to mix things up. The pride of my collection is my Pieces of Kaldra deck.

[Arilin]

I actually occasionally play MTO: Online still. I have some 5k cards on there, through various decks. Though with the client upgrade I lost most of my decks, so I get to remake them.

Also, running out of people to play and trade with online kinda sucked, so I haven't truly touched it lately. Though if there's enough people here, I'd love to fire it back up and play more games.

[atrus20]

I played up to the Ravnica set. I got burnt out trying to keep up with my friends that I had to stop. But now I've been reading up on it again and the itch is coming back. Now to find my sliver deck...

[Karmakin]

I'll have to check out MWS, just to see how it works, if it's any better than Apprentice was.

I actually co-designed one of the sample decks that was still included with Apprentice last I checked, back in the Tempest block days. It was a lock deck that revolved around Elves, Tradewind Riders and Armageddon.

[KingGorilla]

Fuck you Guys,

I kicked the habit 6 years ago and have not looked back since.

But I wish I could find some people around here to play with, the only Game Shop near me closed years ago.

[iHap]

Fuck you Guys,

I kicked the habit 6 years ago and have not looked back since.

But I wish I could find some people around here to play with, the only Game Shop near me closed years ago.
Dude the new set [Eventide] is so much fun to play with.

[Aggort]

I love MWS, but I still use the old faithful apprentice. I'd love to have some more people to play on either. I play on Magic-League.com (http://www.magic-league.com)

I've played in a few tournaments over the years, but only one twice.

[pseudopseudo]

Dude the new set [Eventide] is so much fun to play with.

I whole heartedly agree. I bought a couple pre-cons the other week, and they were so fun that I almost don't want to tweak 'em.

Almost.

[TheEvilNarwhale]

Magic the gathering used to be quite a problem for me. Thank god I don't know anyone who plays now.

[DeathtollWRX]

I played Magic when it first came out back in 94 yay!

Sengir Vampire for dat azz

[DiBiddilyBop]

I kicked my magic habit over 10 years ago, but recently I've had the urge to play again. I started during The Dark and quit around Weatherlight, but over the past month or so I've been thinking about getting some packs or preconstructed decks.

TCGs were a major weakness of mine, and I feel like there's a chance they might be again. I might have to check out MWS to get my fix in.

[iHap]

I kicked...
Honestly it's one of the cheaper "analog" type games out there. Buying a card individually might be expensive so I take my chances over the $10 pre-decks.

[Khrymsyn]

Haven't played Magic in a while. Just gave away my collection not too long ago either. It was too darn big.
My favorite thing about the collection was that it had at least 1 of almost every dragon up through Fifth Dawn, and usually 2-4.

Used to enjoy playing it, but hated that a lot of games came down to who had the bigger collection to choose cards from to build a deck.

Probably two of my favorite games were
- created a mana loop, then launched a fireball, on turn 4 or 5.
- playing against a vastly more experienced player, who was running completely through our little tournament unopposed, and defeated him 2-0. The second game because he wasted one of his artifact breakers, I was able to counter one, and was able to pull out a platinum angel (cannot lose, opposing player cannot win) and a darksteel forge (makes artifact (the angel) indestructable). Just bled him as I sat at 0 life.

[DiBiddilyBop]

It was expensive when I was playing it... I probably put three grand into that game over the course of several years. I was playing type 1 tournaments (when they first separated type 1 from type 2), so acquiring cards like the power 9 were a priority.

[diablopath]

I started to play, but I just don't have the funds to support such a habit.
It was fun, though.

[scythe]

I started around the 4th Edition and quit soon after the 7th came out. My Sliver deck, although it was cheap, was very tough to beat.

[DiBiddilyBop]

I'm necroing this thread since I recently started back up with Magic. It's amazing how much the game has evolved since I quit originally and how many different types of cards and abilities are in the modern game. Now I'm back to buying packs, building decks and when the new set hits in October, I'll be back to playing in tournaments (waiting for the current standard decks to rotate out with the new block).

Anyone else playing or am I by my lonesome here?

[Smoof]

I still play, though I haven't in about two months or so. I hang out with my friends every Friday night and we alternate between D&D for a few months and Magic for a few months, whenever we get bored of one or the other.

[Karmakin]

I'm playing again, there's a good local crowd and it makes for a fun night out. And there's a post from me 2 years ago in this thread. Wow.

I started back with the Worldwake pre-release. I almost have my DCI rating up to above 1700 playing pretty much rogue decks. Currently I'm playing a W/R aggro-control deck focusing on equipment, Earthquakes, and stuff that survives (or in the case of Tuktuk the Explorer, grows!) Earthquakes.

I've also recently been playing a very fun G/U Beastmaster Ascension deck that works pretty well. I really enjoy the current standard, to be honest, and I think it'll just get better after the rotation.

[DiBiddilyBop]

It's funny, I'm pretty much playing with the exact same crowd that I was 12 years ago and we've all started back up fairly recently. I started back up the week M11 was released so I decided not to go back before the Zendikar block and all my decks are purely Zendikar block and M11. I have two pretty decent decks... a red burn/agro deck that revolves around Chandra's Spitfire and a vampire deck. I also built a white deck for my girlfriend that's completely geared toward gaining life and winning with the Felidar Sovereign that does pretty well. No DCI rating yet since, like I said, no tournaments yet, but I'm fairly certain that my red deck will be a pretty strong contender when everyone is still trying to figure out their decks under the new block.

And as far as the Scars set coming up... OMG at the new Elspeth. Broken.

[Karmakin]

Nah. Elspeth is very good, but not broken. The only two/three cards that are broken right now are Big Jace (Reusable Brainstorm?!!?!) and Vengevine/Bloodbraid Elf. The new Elspeth is about Gideon level, which is very good in the right deck, but it's not format/deck defining. It might add a bit to U/W control, but that's about it. Same with Vesner actually.

Actually I suspect of all the previewed cards the biggest impact will be the Green Metalcraft guy, as being one of the big threats of a new Metalcraft deck. Just my feeling 'tho.

[DiBiddilyBop]

I don't know... the fact that Elspeth can come out, use her +2 ability and next turn wipe the board if she isn't dealt with (and live through it) is pretty crazy. And she has pretty good synergy with Vesner.

Both of the green metalcraft guys are pretty awesome. This looks to be a pretty powerful set coming up.

[pronounconnoun]

Played a tourney at PAX with Mr Slim and we both got knocked out the first round.

I still really enjoy the game it seems but my skills are a little rusty. I'm interested in playing if Rinichanraar will agree she will still sleep in the same bed as me. We'll see.

[nnanji]

I started playing again too. I had quit the game for almost 6 years, but I got the wife to try it with me at GenCon this year. She didn't take to it as completely as I wanted, but I fell for it again like an old lover.

[DiBiddilyBop]

I've been pretty enthralled by the Scars of Mirroden spoilers. It looks like the metalcraft stuff is beastly, the infect creatures (especially the dragon) are awesome and artifact creatures themselves are going to be huge. To say this set will shake standard up significantly is an understatement.

[nnanji]

Scrubbed out of an M11 draft today. Started out with some good removal spells: Lightning bolt, fireball, etc. Ended up with what I thought was a pretty good UR deck with fliers, some bounce and removal. Then in the first round I paired off against a mono black deck that was bringing the heat with 2 Corrupts, 2 Nantucko Shades, 2 Reassembling Skellies and 2 Sac. Vampires. I stayed in the game when I Reverberated (that's Fork for us old timers) his Corrupt, but I wasn't ready for the second one.

Scars of Mirrodin looks pretty sweet. The Infect mechanic has me pretty fired up, as I was one of those guys, the ones who liked poison. I am pretty excited to hear MaRo say that there will be no way to remove poison counters in the block.

[DiBiddilyBop]

Wait... have they changed the rules on fork? Seems to me that if you fork a corrupt, it'd go by the number of swamps you have, which would be none and would therefore be ineffective. Or am I wrong?

[nnanji]

No, you are correct. I had sideboarded in a swamp and 2 bog raiders to get around his undying skelly defense. the 1 life 1 gained kept me in the game. He laughed, and then did it again the next turn.

[DiBiddilyBop]

Ahhh, ok. I was confused.

[Jason X USN]

I just recently started back up thanks to PAX. My best friend and I wandered down to the hidden level and decided on an impulse to enter a booster draft tournament. I'm back to hooked full force.

I have a couple decks built that I'm enjoying playing around with, but I'll also probably wait on the new expansion to start tourney play. I can't wait to get back in to the tournament scene. I've missed it.

[mister slim]

Yeah, PAX has sucked me back in a bit too. Ended up playing a couple of the side events at GP Portland, even placed second in one. Thinking I'm slowly reacquiring the instincts to do well. Learning the sets a little bit helps too. I'm going to stick with sealed for the time being though.

[Jason X USN]

Yeah, sealed is definitely my preference until I get back into it full swing. I'm just glad I found the itch again, it's a great time.

[Deadend]

I have a few friends who play tournaments, they have a heavy bias toward sealed. As they said it has to do with a few super rare cards that are very expensive and everyone ends up building both around them or against them. This also means that there is a wall of sorts between casual and hardcore.. a very expensive wall. It was explained to me that before it was a gradual incline between casual and hardcore decks that could be built up $10 or so at a time.. but now the expensive cards are REALLY expensive, but everything else is cheap.

[nnanji]

Took 3rd place in an M11 draft yesterday. I got a sweet, almost mono black deck put together. Maindeck Bog Raiders are hilarious. There are always a bunch of people splashing black for a Doomblade or Assassinate.

[Stmfuller]

a buddy of mine got me thinking about it again. we played for about 3 hours last night playing games of MTG with a couple of his decks. I also know a couple of others into it right now.
Considering if I should do online only (need to figure out how to play it mobile/on mac since the client is clearly Windows only), or play some tourneys at one of the local stores.

[DiBiddilyBop]

Big day tomorrow with the release of Scars. Looks to be a format-defining set.

[DiBiddilyBop]

Picked up a box and a fat pack on release day and managed to pull Koth, two Moxes, Skythiryx, a Ratchet Bomb and random goodies. Really, really good stuff.

[c0m3d14n]

so my roommate is traveling to america tomorrow and we are thinking about dabbling in mtg again.
we havent played in years and are not up to date what has happend gameplay-wise.
he will buy 2 booster display boxes one for each of us.
i am too lazy to wade through pages of mtg forums and was thinking to ask you what your opinion is on the more recent blocks.
what should he get? mirrodin or zendikar, if zendikar which set?
we are additionally interested in the archenemy set, whats the opinion on that? (we have a few other friends who might start again)

[nnanji]

I liked the entire Zendikar block. Zendikar is a pretty fast format with a lot of great lands to help out. The Landfall mechanic is fun. Rise of the Eldrazi is also a lot of fun and the cards have a lot of great interaction.

Scars is too new for me to have formed a lot of opinions about it. It seems fun so far. The Infect mechanic is fun, but pretty sub-par in the full Standard environment. It will probably get better as new blocks are released though. It is a very artifact heavy set, as befits a set in Mirrodin, but that is a strike against it in my book. I like the flavor of the colors.

Archenemy is not a block per se. It is a multiplayer format where one player uses the special Archenemy cards and deck and plays against up to 5 other players (5 vs. 1). because the decks are designed to fight against multiple opponents they are pretty powerful and wouldn't be appropriate in one on one decks.

[c0m3d14n]

I liked the entire Zendikar block. Zendikar is a pretty fast format with a lot of great lands to help out. The Landfall mechanic is fun. Rise of the Eldrazi is also a lot of fun and the cards have a lot of great interaction.

Scars is too new for me to have formed a lot of opinions about it. It seems fun so far. The Infect mechanic is fun, but pretty sub-par in the full Standard environment. It will probably get better as new blocks are released though. It is a very artifact heavy set, as befits a set in Mirrodin, but that is a strike against it in my book. I like the flavor of the colors.

Archenemy is not a block per se. It is a multiplayer format where one player uses the special Archenemy cards and deck and plays against up to 5 other players (5 vs. 1). because the decks are designed to fight against multiple opponents they are pretty powerful and wouldn't be appropriate in one on one decks.

thanks, i was leaning towards rise of the eldrazi myself because i am also a little bit biased against artifact heavy blocks ;)

i know what archenemy is roughly, thats why i mentioned that some other friends might join us for that. i just wanted to know how much fun it is, when i was reading about it the people mostly said that archenemy cards are too powerful and that the matches are over after only a few turns...
you can play it with any set additional to the archenemy cards though right?
so it would be no problem if some guys bring older cards to play against the archenemy?

[nnanji]

you can play any decks you want against the Archenemy deck, but they are pretty powerful. Then, in addition to the deck, the Enemy gets to flip over one of his powerful Scheme cards and apply the effects every turn. It can get a little ridiculous. For extra flavor, I like to have 5 players with mono-color decks of each color, so it is like the Five Colors of Magic vs. the Enemy.

[Fatal_Papercut]

Until recently, the last time I played any M:TG was back in 2000; I had a collection of card numbering upwards of 3k, but I eventually tired of both the game and the costs involved, so I sold off my cards and never really looked back.

Then, earlier this year, the PC version of "Duels of the Planeswalkers" was released on Steam, and I spent a few days researching it, trying to decide if it was something that I wanted to purchase.

Ultimately, I went with M:TGO, because it offered the same casual-level of play for the Planeswalkers format, but without any of the restrictions that the Steam/XBLA have (such as no deck building!).

So, for $15 ($9.99 for an account that included the basic Planeswalkers deck plus $5 for an expansion deck), I was able to get what I thought was a better experience. A third expansion deck has since been released, which I also purchased. I can now enjoy the strategy of a good M:TG game (including deck construction) while being on an even playing field with others playing the same format (and there are always people looking for games) without spending exorbitant amount of money on the Arms Race Escalation that is card collecting.

I did try the demo of the Steam/XBLA version of the game, and while I can understand it's appeal, I do find it to be lacking in several areas. M:TGO. on the other hand, is the real deal, and even the limited (by card selection) Planeswalkers format is a steal in entertainment value.

[Iron Past]

This is going to sound really, really stupid, but one of the things that keeps me from playing more of M:TGO is the awful, static presentation. I don't need a lot of pizazz and effects, but maybe something a little better than a spreadsheet come to life, you know? Plus, it suffers the same unevenness most CCGs suffer from, except it's way easier for people who have lots of money and time to get even better cards. =/

That said, it's a great stand-in if you don't have any active players near you (like me), and you can get started for really cheap. Or get a ton of cards for not too much, either. I still like to play it every now and then.

[Stmfuller]

really random incoherent thoughts here:
isn't M:TGO ancient...like made a long time ago? That would explain the terrible presentation.
I mean, I'll give you that the duel of the plainswalkers deal sucks (no deckbuilding...seriously), but I get can't wrap my brain around the whole virtual deck that you buy thing. They should have to send the cards to you too!
Of course, I'll also throw in the fact that recently when I went to an actual "match" the people there were the worst kind of nerds and I wanted to stab them in the eye. So, maybe online CCG isn't such a bad idea.

grumble grumble stupid stupid.

[DeathByVoid]

I've been on and off playing type 2 and doing FNM for the past two years or so.
Right now I currently only play casual and EDH because I don't like the current format.
Also I think that EDH is one of the most fun things that I have played in a long time.

[DiBiddilyBop]

I don't even know what EDH is...

[Scull]

I stopped playing and collecting Magic about 12 years ago, but every year after PAX I come home with a few hundred extra cards and play around a bit, but never seek opponents to put my skills to the test. I guess I just don't have the passion for it that I used to.

[nnanji]

EDH is Elder Dragon Highlander, and was recently renamed as Commander. It is a casual, mainly multiplayer format. Decks built for EDH must be at least 100 cards, all cards except for basic lands are restricted to one copy (Highlander == There Can Be Only One), and one of the cards must be a Legendary Creature which is your general. All cards must share colors with your General.

It's fun.

[DiBiddilyBop]

Huh... no one at my local shop plays EDH and most are casual players, so I'll have to write down the rules and start playing some games. I have very competitive decks and most of the people who play there... don't. So I don't get to play with them very much. This should be fun.

[nnanji]

Here is a link (http://mtgcommander.net/rules.php) to the official page with the rules for EDH. It is easy and fun, but there are some big changes to the game, so make sure you read them. That said, it is a casual format, so as long as you are all having fun nothing else matters.

[Deadend]

really random incoherent thoughts here:
isn't M:TGO ancient...like made a long time ago? That would explain the terrible presentation.
I mean, I'll give you that the duel of the plainswalkers deal sucks (no deckbuilding...seriously), but I get can't wrap my brain around the whole virtual deck that you buy thing. They should have to send the cards to you too!
Of course, I'll also throw in the fact that recently when I went to an actual "match" the people there were the worst kind of nerds and I wanted to stab them in the eye. So, maybe online CCG isn't such a bad idea.

grumble grumble stupid stupid.

I play MTG with hot college girls. And some of the horrible nerds you mention. Like need a slap for being so.. nerdy. But mostly cool dudes.. but school is a different environment than a place where people travel to play at.

[DiBiddilyBop]

The new magic set is amazing. I've been able to make two very competitive decks that are almost nothing like anything that has been considered a "competitive tournament deck" in a while. There's so much to play around with in this set, I'm really curious what's going to happen in the major upcoming tournaments.

[Karmakin]

Well, the top 8 for PT Paris is in (it'll be tomorrow morning), the power seems to be around Stoneforge Mystic+Swords and Squadron Hawk (to carry them), like 7 out of 8 decks running these cards. That they happen to be my favorite cards right now fills me with glee. The other deck is a really nice looking U/R/b Tezzeret deck, so the Tezz decks are probably pretty promising as well.

Right now I'm doing really good at my local FNM, going 4-0 and 3-0-1 with a G/W aggro deck running Vengevines, Mystics, Swords, Squadron Hawks, Fauna Shaman and various Planeswalkers. (I've been trading towards this deck for a while!) My rating should be up over 1750 now so I'm quite pleased. Beats control, beats aggro, has some problems against ramp, but can get there. I actually think it's a real deck, but the metagame hasn't taken players to it. I'm interested to see how it matches up against the new Mystic U/W. I know my friend is going to play Mystic U/W so we should have some good matches, but he won't be around for a few weeks :p

[DiBiddilyBop]

The URb Tezz deck does look pretty good, though I think my favorite looking deck from PT Paris is the Boros deck.

I have two fairly unique decks that I'm really happy with right now. The first is a Ub Tezz aggro deck using 1 and 2 drop artifact creatures backed up by Steel Overseer. I like that it has multiple win conditions as it runs 4 Inkmoth Nexus that can easily catch people by surprise with poison counters. I tried working Tempered Steel in but found it was just too slow and getting WW was going to be more of a pain than it was worth. If Tezz sticks to the board, it's generally over.

The other deck is a GW token ramp deck that works WAY better than I initially would have suspected. Four Wall of Omens and four Overgrown Battlements keep me alive for just long enough to get to get a token generation and life gain engine going. Creatures are extremely disposable as they either turn into more creatures (Mitotic Slime, Wurmcoil Engine), generate creatures of their own (Hero of Bladehold), or come in bunches (Master's Call, White Sun's Zenith). If/when I get Eldrazi Monument online, it's all over, which is generally around turn 4 or 5. Elspeth Tirel and Wurmcoil can bring me back from the dead as I inevitably take a bunch of damage over the first two or three turns. The only problem the deck has is fast aggro fliers which I have no way of dealing with prior to sideboarding, but Choking Fumes does well for me after. And trust me, no one ever expects you to instant in four or five 2/2 cat tokens. God, I love White Sun's Zenith...

[Jason X USN]

Reviving the thread to get peoples thoughts on Innistrad.

I bought a couple fat packs and about 6 boosters. My friends and I are going to get together and host our own draft tourney next Sunday. I think the set is decent, nothing extremely exciting though. I haven't really gotten a chance to play around with shapeshifters so I have no frame of reference for how they play, but they seem kind of cheesy to me. I'll reserve further judgement until after the draft, but so far I'm not very impressed.

Liliana of the Veil is soooooooooo good though.