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TiB wrote:^ congrats. You won't be sorry. It's in the gaming hall of fame for a reason.

Currently I'm using a red or red-black deck, while the wife uses various combinations of blue/white/black.

Generally my first turn move is a land and immediately put down a goblin fireslinger which usually gets a groan across the table. Pretty quickly I start getting out the berserkers and ogres using their bloodthirst and do as much damage as possible before blue/white get out all their nasty spells. This has been amazingly effective with the small numbers of cards we have so would be a bood way to go for a booster draft. But for constructed decks I imagine the lack of control spells would hamper Red.

Friend bought us a couple of large packs for christmas and we spent a lot of time playing either MtG or the Game of Thrones boardgame. We also got a couple of blocks of commons, with a few uncommons and rares, from Magicmadhouse to bulk out our stuff too.

Yeah the first period after (re)discovering magic is the best .
If you have a group that starts at the same time it's really cool to see the metagame evolve. First everyone plays their slow big creatures deck (I don't care if it costs 8 mana, it's a 7/7!), then everyone will discover control decks to deal with those, then everyone will get fast aggro to deal with the control decks etc.

Howard A Treesong wrote:Just started getting into Magic after a little dabble a few years ago.

Much easier than the Star Trek and Star Wars CCGs. I loved the Star Wars one, but damn it was complicated and confused with all the expansions and rarely used rules.

Magic seems good, have found a couple of people to play with and the wife is well into it so good points all round.

I really liked and still enjoy the original Decipher next gen CCG. It played differently enough from magic at the time, but also intuitively enough on its own that it was a good game. When Decipher did Star Wars I was thrilled, SW geek that I am, but I hated just about all of the game play mechanics. It was almost as if they were trying too hard to be different and came up with a really weird and not quite so intuitive way to be different.

Skriker

Skriker wrote: It was almost as if they were trying too hard to be different and came up with a really weird and not quite so intuitive way to be different.

I had this very much with the LotR ccg. You had a good part of your deck and an evil part of your deck, and they were mixed together and you had to assemble the fellowship and walk it across different sites or something while you had your orcs to stop your opponents fellowship which he could then stop with the allies he played. It was really confusing

It's awesome.

If you want to rub peoples faces in it, then it gets expensive.

Me and many of my friends, all play. Mainly my fault.

The only thing wrong with it really is hat they are running dry with ideas for new mechanics; I don'tthink they should try to get new ones every block because some are really weak..

I like the game. I'm not gonna spend huge amounts of money on a small number of cards, but I will continue to buy and play the game. It's fun, and like other wargames/games, allows me to get together with other gamers and just have some fun.

Son_Of _Deddog wrote:The only thing wrong with it really is hat they are running dry with ideas for new mechanics; I don'tthink they should try to get new ones every block because some are really weak..

Agreed. It seems that sometimes, they find a mechanic that works really well as is nicely balanced. But, most of the time, the mechanic is really weak and only works in fun "theme" decks. Occasionally, a mechanic will be completely OP and will drastically change the entire metagame (until it gets restricted or banned), but that's really rare these days.

that's because you play standard, where wizards cycles out a full block and buy stuff for an incomplete block. I play legacy, myself, since the cardpool is greater and there isn't just one top deck around.


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the problem with MtG with me is that it seems like they want to emulate WoW ever since the lorwyn block.


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Skriker wrote:
2) The colors just don't feel really unique anymore. Early on the colors were very distinct from each other and offered very different playing styles. Now you can do just about everything in every color....meh.

.

the only set that did that was planar chaos, with black counterspells and damnatin, as well as white burn, blue kill spells, green draw, and a red prodigal sorceror.

honestly, color doesn't even matter in legacy, just look up the dredge deck, that's what I play.

I do miss the earlier days when rare cards really were somewhat rare and in a local tourney you could succeed while playing a deck made up completely of common cards. That was always fun, especially when opponents pushed you to play for ante. Never lost anything important to me at all, but actually gained quite a few decent rares and uncommons in the process. I do have to laugh when I think back to some of the big bad cards that were banned in earlier tournement settings. Nowadays you have cards in the game that combine the excessive abilities of multiples of those cards and no one bats an eye. Shows how things change...

1. stuff that was overpowered and involved ante were better off being banned if the game were to ever become mainstream.

2. wasteland is an uncommon card, a playset of 4 goes for around $100. these days, rares are all the winning cards, since most commons suck terribly.

My only problem with MTG is the people that play it, more specifically the people that play it competitively. For example, most of the people that play at my shop only play to win, they have elitist expensive decks and are huge babies, they lose more than once they pull out of the tournament. I've beaten people before and they have been extremely rude, they complain about how bad your deck is, how much you suck, that you only won because you got lucky, that they got a bad hand, etc etc. They"ll make up any crappy excuse about why they lost and then they'll just pull out of the tourney because they didn't get into the top 3 to get prizes. The only good thing about competitive magic is watching grown men get upset when you pull off a winning combo with commons.

For example
Turn 1: Mountain
Turn 2: Mountain and Immolating souleater
Turn 3: Pay 18 life to pump immolating souleater to 10/1, swing for 10 damage and then cast fling, winning the game.
I've got that off a few times. It's a really crappy combo but funny when you get it off.


So pretty much the competitive attitude of the players and the fact that they cycle out sets all the time is why I only play casual magic, mainly commander.

FeistierErmine wrote:I think the main gripe most people have with MtG is expense. It is not a cheap game if you want to play competitively.

Warhammer isnt cheap either. Magic is a trading card game, if you have a local gaming base/club then trading the cards you need will save you alot of cash. I managed to make a deck that costs about $600 dollars by just trading cards that I didnt need. It takes a little longer and you might not get EVERY SINGLE card you want but for me its far more fun. I love MTG.

daedalus wrote:
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One of the guys at work is actually going to a booster tournament this weekend and was talking about the game. Apparently the rules/powers of the cards have changed so much I didn't even recognize the game. I got completely lost about the time he said '...cards upside down'.

No doubt. I played during 6th and 7th edition, stopped playing just as the invasion block came out. The difference in card strength is HUGE. Completely imbalanced if you are playing old v new but when you play proper games of legacy or constructed its fine. Its like playing 2nd ed rules v 5th ed rules in 40k. Im sure that wouldnt be a particularly even match either.

There are idiots in every hobby, including 40k. I ignore them and dont play them if I can avoid it. If it has to bee done I usually play some real cheese like turn 4 titans or my trololol milling deck. Let them cry all they want, I still come out ahead.

The biggest problem i see is that it is compared to Yu-Gi -oh

Me and a couple of freinds play at school, at lunch, i often play with one of them, and I can not count the amount of times per day people ask "Is that Yuh-Gi-Oh?" or "Are you playing Pokemon?"

Anoying, no offence to those that play it, but that used to be the thing in my area, in elmentery school we would play yuh-gi-oh, now im in high school, and people ASSUME that what im doing.

Funny story, the store i go to for friday night magic, the owner has told the 40k players not to play on the floor, kicked yuh-gi-oh players out for playing on the floor, but doesn't care when mtg players do it, simply becaus there isnt enough table space.

Phyrexia wrote:My only problem with MTG is the people that play it, more specifically the people that play it competitively.

that's unfair, I play competitive and prefer it over casual most of the time. competitive brings out strategies, especially in legacy.

remilia_scarlet wrote:

Phyrexia wrote:My only problem with MTG is the people that play it, more specifically the people that play it competitively.

that's unfair, I play competitive and prefer it over casual most of the time. competitive brings out strategies, especially in legacy.

Another reason to like the game. There are literally thousands of different combinations to use and that just gives me more reason to like it. I love playing against competitive players, it really challenges you and drives you to make your own deck better. Good times. I also think the attitude has alot to do with there you are playing. I spent the last 9 months in Sweden and I lived across the street from my local gaming store. Used to go there quite alot and played 12+ games of magic a week. Only one person from that group of people (approx 30-40people) was a smart ass and a terrible loser. The others were friendly and alot of fun to be around. The players age range was also huge. The youngest being 13 and the oldest 38. People were willing to lend cards to eachother for play testing, gave eachother stuff for free and expected nothing in return. We had one guy come in on his Bday and buy a booster display box that was shared between everyone who was playing at the store that day. The owners were wonderful people aswell. Great place. I just got back to Australia and two out of the three places I have visited to play I am never going back to. Typical idiots who think they are gods gift to the world and they were terrible losers. The 3rd place i went to was recommended to me by a work mate that plays and its full of great people and the place has a great atmosphere (and it has 40k!). So I think it depends on the mindset of the people you play with and the cultural mindset of the region you live in. Unfortunately theres idiots everywhere.



Also, MTG is the father of all trading cards and if you havnt noticed already 99% of all other trading card games that use the same system for the playing side of the game. Magic doesnt have a hit TV show behind it and is much more complex than other trading card games therefore people tend to not know about it. The books that are based in the MTG universe are quite good though.

Thatguy91 wrote:
Also, MTG is the father of all trading cards and if you havnt noticed already 99% of all other trading card games that use the same system for the playing side of the game. Magic doesnt have a hit TV show behind it and is much more complex than other trading card games therefore people tend to not know about it. The books that are based in the MTG universe are quite good though.

that's why it stays successful, and they didn't try to get people to buy a magazine to have an exclusive card that was mediocre at best.

Exactly. Its a wonderful hobby and I am glad that I rediscovered my love for it! Having said that im not a big fan of the current block and I personally cant wait until its over!

happygolucky wrote:So I have heard a LOT of bad press for it but why dose it have bad press, isn't it simpily a wargame with cards? (I feel like im going to get lectured now...)

so why is it? also if you have had bad experiances with it post it here.

Cheers to all comments.

I never played MTG but I have seeing tons of 2 sides of the fans argue about it.

My conclusion is, most people only have disposable income to fully support either MTG of Warhammer.
When that happens, animosity WILL ENSUE.

Soon you'll have both sides trying to insult each other with how geeky each other is, and how stupidly expensive they both are.

When in absolute truth is they are both geeky and both expensive.....

Thatguy91 wrote:Exactly. Its a wonderful hobby and I am glad that I rediscovered my love for it! Having said that im not a big fan of the current block and I personally cant wait until its over!

same here, I love it, and am glad I got back in.

i hate innistrad, it's flipping gimmick hasn't impressed me, the only good one was delver. best block, IMO was time spiral block because it was intended to be a joke set.


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LunaHound wrote:

When in absolute truth is they are both geeky and both expensive.....

yes, and yet both sides argue that the other is expensive. I say that if it makes you happy, just enjoy it.

Never played Spiral unfortunately :(

I think my favourite so far was the new Mirrodin besieged set. Big fan of that one, kinda annoyed at the fact that phyrexia won though... Wish I was still playing when the Ravnica block came out. That seemed like alot of fun, especially during booster drafts! Very challenging block I heard. Fingers crossed for a great when this one finishes.

Thatguy91 wrote:Never played Spiral unfortunately :(

I think my favourite so far was the new Mirrodin besieged set. Big fan of that one, kinda annoyed at the fact that phyrexia won though... Wish I was still playing when the Ravnica block came out. That seemed like alot of fun, especially during booster drafts! Very challenging block I heard. Fingers crossed for a great when this one finishes.

they're also apparently more valuable in russian. the new mirrodin block was alright with me. i had my kicks playing faeries in lorwyn, mean little bugs. I've haerd rumors the next block will most likely be revisiting an old plane, like kamigawa or ravnica, just hope it isn't zendikar. i also like the dredge mechanic from ravnica.

Kamigawa wasnt half bad, only got cards from Champions though so I missed the two other blocks. Big fan of the art work and the eastern feel of the whole set. Dominaria would be nice to be revisited again. Havnt been back there for quite some time.

Thatguy91 wrote:Kamigawa wasnt half bad, only got cards from Champions though so I missed the two other blocks. Big fan of the art work and the eastern feel of the whole set. Dominaria would be nice to be revisited again. Havnt been back there for quite some time.

they revisited dominaria in timespiral. futuresight was supposed to have bee composed of cards that'd be reprinted in the futur, like tarmagoyf and bridge from below.

Timespiral was quite some time ago wasnt it? Either way it will be exciting to get to a plain where grimdark isnt the overhanging theme... New phyrexia had it and now the innistrad block.. kinda over it tbh.

Phyrexia wrote:My only problem with MTG is the people that play it, more specifically the people that play it competitively. For example, most of the people that play at my shop only play to win, they have elitist expensive decks and are huge babies, they lose more than once they pull out of the tournament. I've beaten people before and they have been extremely rude, they complain about how bad your deck is, how much you suck, that you only won because you got lucky, that they got a bad hand, etc etc. They"ll make up any crappy excuse about why they lost and then they'll just pull out of the tourney because they didn't get into the top 3 to get prizes. The only good thing about competitive magic is watching grown men get upset when you pull off a winning combo with commons.

I get that kind of behavior from my current regular opponent all the time. The only difference is that he is *9* as I am helping teach a friend's son how to play magic, so I expect it and try to work it out of a 9 year old. Adults who act like that when I play them I never waste my time playing again.

The caveat here is that MtG isn' t the only game that has people like this playing it, so it isn't really an MtG problem.

Skriker

Skriker wrote:I get that kind of behavior from my current regular opponent all the time. The only difference is that he is *9* as I am helping teach a friend's son how to play magic, so I expect it and try to work it out of a 9 year old. Adults who act like that when I play them I never waste my time playing again. Skriker

It's pretty hard to not play some one again when you're matched against them in the next round of FNM. When playing casual I can actually choose who I want to play with. I'm not forced to play with that guy I played last time again.

Anyone who quit MtG, PM me if you're looking to sell your cards. (Dead serious)

I quit MtG a few years ago due to how expensive it got. I didn't mind paying $25.00 for a Damnation or even $20.00 a pop for rare lands. However when you ran into cards like Baneslayer Angel and Jace that were $90.00 each in a standard game, well that was just too much for me.

The Mythic rares were supposed to be like Cromat from Apocalypse. Cards that were odd but not neccessarily cards you had to have in order to have a tournament/Teir 1 deck. A few sets later and a lot of the Mythics became tournament staples. Since they were so hard to get the price of these went through the roof. If you wanted 4 from opening boxes, you had to 2 cases, (12 boxes).

Now a quick browese through Starcitygames.com shows that a lot of this problem has lessened. It seems like the newest set usually has a $50.00-$70.00 card which after a year or so drops dramatically. Of course this happened with the older rares before the mythics but a card dropping from $25.00 to $5.00 wasn't nearly as bad as a card like Baneslayer which dropped from $90.00 to $5.00, (because it is not in standard anymore right?).

So basically if I want to play standard I need to pay out a lot of cash to get mythic cards that is really only useful for a year or so.

Decks don't need to hinge around a single card though, even the most powerful things can be countered or destroyed.

I'm off to my first tournament on Saturday for the new release.

Thatguy91 wrote:Timespiral was quite some time ago wasnt it? Either way it will be exciting to get to a plain where grimdark isnt the overhanging theme... New phyrexia had it and now the innistrad block.. kinda over it tbh.

it was, and it was set in a post-apocalyptic world, many legacy staples are from timespiral block, like tarmagoyf and tombstalker. I did like the lorwyn/shadowmoor setting too, of being stuck in an eternal midsummer setting, with faeries, goblins, merfolk and kithkin, and how shadowmoor was sprung into eternal night, with all the horrors and abominations lurking about.

Howard A Treesong wrote:Decks don't need to hinge around a single card though, even the most powerful things can be countered or destroyed.

I'm off to my first tournament on Saturday for the new release.

That's common sense.

Sure a deck can be built without expensive cards, but for the most part Tier 1 decks are $500.00+ in standard. Anyone remember fairies and how expensive it was?

Regardless standard changed majorly when sites like starcitygames realized they could charge $50.00-$90.00 for a single card. Tarmagoyf proved people will shell out a lot more than $20.00 for a very good rare.

I stopped collecting Star Wars figures for the same reasons. Figures that would be rare and sell for around $25.00 were made rarer and then figure-scalpers would raid all the stores and sell them for $100.00+.

Of course this isn't the manufacturer's fault. The people at fault are the ones who pay those prices.