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Magic: The Gathering |OT|

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Still mad at how crappy Archangel's Light or whatever that mythic are is. I know it was supposed to be something else, but that's what they pulled out of their ass to "fix" it?

You owe me 2 usable mythics, WotC
 
WanderingWind said:
I don't see it, frankly. Okay, so green is likely to have the 6 to play it. So, it gives one creature a pretty awesome boost and trample that is likely going to be useless because it forces everything to block. So, creature removal, I suppose is the ideal.

Eh. I guess I just talked myself into seeing its use.
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Yeah, I think its alright, its a good way to clear the board. You're going to be able to deal with at least one of your opponents large threats or many small ones.
 
I guess I'm just remembering a bunch of board states in Limited games in the past where I could see that card basically destroying their advantage,
 
Ok, so how does competitive magic work anyway? You guys only play with the year's core set or what?


Also, what are the best sets for booster drafts? I've only played with new phyrexia and a couple others.
 
God's Beard said:
Ok, so how does competitive magic work anyway? You guys only play with the year's core set or what?


Also, what are the best sets for booster drafts? I've only played with new phyrexia and a couple others.
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There are a bunch of different ways to play. Constructed is just the current block. Standard is last two blocks plus last core.
 
God's Beard said:
Ok, so how does competitive magic work anyway? You guys only play with the year's core set or what?
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Depends on the format. Each format has their own allowed/restricted lists.

Standard usually takes the latest two expansions (themes sets) and one or two core sets.
 
Haly said:
Banishing Stroke is still instant unconditional removal that affects everything besides lands and planeswalkers, doesn't trigger Undying and doesn't allow the target to be revived. Revenge of the Hunted, without Miracle, isn't nearly as good yet it is still Sorcery speed.

It makes no sense, when has instant speed pump ever been a huge threat?
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You never lost a game to a surprise Giant Growth in your entire Magic career?
 
God's Beard said:
Ok, so how does competitive magic work anyway? You guys only play with the year's core set or what?


Also, what are the best sets for booster drafts? I've only played with new phyrexia and a couple others.
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There are multiple formats, type 2 (standard) which was explained above, modern (which includeds all cards since the cards were redesigned), and Legacy which allows everything save for banned cards (and alpha cards I believe, may be wrong about that).


I play legacy on occasion, type 2 even less often. I mostly do sealed drafts (you get 6 boosters and build a deck with them). I'm good at it, and I find it extremely fun.
 
God's Beard said:
So people don't usually use alpha and beta cards then?

Also, are booster battle packs a good idea to buy over normal boosters?
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The battle packs are a total rip-off; you're best off splitting boxes with people, to be perfectly honest. Sharing a box with two friends will end up being a tad over $30 each for 12 packs a person; cheap enough to do it every set. $30 worth of battle packs would get you 6 packs and a few jank commons/uncommons.
 
God's Beard said:
So people don't usually use alpha and beta cards then?

Also, are booster battle packs a good idea to buy over normal boosters?
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The basic summary:
Standard: The current core set and the current block and the last block. Standard currently is Innistrad block, M2012, and Scars of Mirrodin Block

Limited: this includes drafting and sealed. In drafting each person gets three packs, and everyone passes their packs around the table picking one card at a time. In Sealed each player gets six packs and they just build from what they get inside.

Modern: every set since the frames were re-designed, so since 8th edition.

Legacy: every set, barring some banned cards.
 
OnPoint said:
You never lost a game to a surprise Giant Growth in your entire Magic career?
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In limited, yes!

In constructed, rarely.

But point taken. I should rephrase. It's that non +X/+X or +X/+0 pump spells rarely if ever see play. And if they do, it is usually in combination with some other card. For example, Untamed Might + Anything with Infect, Mutagenic Growth + Anything with Infect, Wolf Run + Anything that attacks/Infect.
 
Lucario said:
The battle packs are a total rip-off; you're best off splitting boxes with people, to be perfectly honest. Sharing a box with two friends will end up being a tad over $30 each for 12 packs a person; cheap enough to do it every set. $30 worth of battle packs would get you 6 packs and a few jank commons/uncommons.
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Shoot, I am going 1.5 boxes myself for this AVR. It's gonna be biiig.
 
Ooh, sealed drafts sounds kinda fun. I normally play where everybody opens one booster at a time, picks a card then hands the rest to the next person until the cards are all gone, then we open the next set of boosters. Last time I split a box with people one of them stole all the cards then took off.

Legacy sounds like the most fun, don't you guys ever get tired of old cards becoming irrelevant? Although I guess it'd be expensive after a while, with old cards' prices going up into the thousands.
 
The_Technomancer said:
The basic summary:
Standard: The current core set and the current block and the last block. Standard currently is Innistrad block, M2012, and Scars of Mirrodin Block

Limited: this includes drafting and sealed. In drafting each person gets three packs, and everyone passes their packs around the table picking one card at a time. In Sealed each player gets six packs and they just build from what they get inside.

Modern: every set since the frames were re-designed, so since 8th edition.

Legacy: every set, barring some banned cards.
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Each format has its own list of banned and restricted cards. Official links:


Standard Format

Block Constructed (multiple sub-formats)

Extended Format (from what I've seen, this isn't used much)

Modern Format

Legacy Format
 
God's Beard said:
Ooh, sealed drafts sounds kinda fun. I normally play where everybody opens one booster at a time, picks a card then hands the rest to the next person until the cards are all gone, then we open the next set of boosters.
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Yup, that's drafting. Its my personal favorite but my group who I do sealed with is some more casual guys and the other high-level player is worried that draft is too skill intensive and it will turn them off.

Legacy sounds like the most fun, don't you guys ever get tired of old cards becoming irrelevant? Although I guess it'd be expensive after a while, with old cards' prices going up into the thousands.
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The problem with Legacy is that there are a lot of still legal but really expensive and powerful cards from the early years of the game.
Personally I fool around with some Standard and Modern decks, but my other playgroup usually just plays casual and EDH
 
I don't like legacy because everyone just makes ridiculous decks that draw the game out until they can get their little Timmy Tricks combos working. Give me fast standard or constructed games any day.
 
Legacy is waaaaaaaay too expensive to play unless you've been playing for years or you live in an ivory tower.

And yeah, it's usually the same decks over and over again, because very few cards from the latest sets are good enough to see play in Legacy. It has a very stable metagame that changes very slowly, whereas Standard usually changes every year.
 
Haly said:
In limited, yes!

In constructed, rarely.

But point taken. I should rephrase. It's that non +X/+X or +X/+0 pump spells rarely if ever see play. And if they do, it is usually in combination with some other card. For example, Untamed Might + Anything with Infect, Mutagenic Growth + Anything with Infect, Wolf Run + Anything that attacks/Infect.
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I see what you mean. I just that card goes from unplayable to somewhat usable if it's moved from Sorcery to Instant speed. As it is, it's just awful.
 
Personally, it sounds like outside of legacy for rich people, drafts would be the most fun. I really like picking out cards. Once my new cards arrive and my deck is pretty much complete, I know I'm going to get bored after using it for a few games.
 
Haly said:
Legacy is waaaaaaaay too expensive to play unless you've been playing for years or you live in an ivory tower.
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or if your table is casual enough that the term "legacy format" would be met only with blank stares

I mean if you play with the rule "play with what you bring," you are effectively playing legacy, it's just not even worth applying the term since most every card you see is from the last handful of blocks
 
I can't really imagine playing Legacy since there are just such a large pool of cards. And obviously it is expensive as hell.

Standard is nice because you can pretty quickly learn what the vast majority of cards somewhat might use against you are going to do. That way you don't get blown out by something you didn't even know existed.
 
God's Beard said:
Ooh, sealed drafts sounds kinda fun. I normally play where everybody opens one booster at a time, picks a card then hands the rest to the next person until the cards are all gone, then we open the next set of boosters. Last time I split a box with people one of them stole all the cards then took off.

Legacy sounds like the most fun, don't you guys ever get tired of old cards becoming irrelevant? Although I guess it'd be expensive after a while, with old cards' prices going up into the thousands.
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Legacy is fun, but expensive, extremely expensive (if you want to be competitive).
And yes, I loved sealed. Just you and your cards, you get to sit there and create the best deck you can out of whats in front of you. In my opinion it's the best way to tell a good magic player from someone who simply has the money to buy the latest deck that won a big tournie. I typically finish 3-2 or 4-1, just slipping into the top 8, which is a perfect example of my abilities. Not the best in the room, but better than the majority.
 
I would say Draft is a better indication of skill than Sealed, because your card pool isn't as diluted.

Sealed heavily favors luck over skill compared to Draft.
 
Just once I wanna see what a game would look like where two players could use any cards they wanted with no money restrictions and no banned cards.

We also have one guy that shows up for drafts then just hate drafts a 5-color deck of all the best cards so nobody can use them.
 
echoshifting said:
You can also try cube drafting sometime if you don't want everyone to have to buy packs every time you draft. It doesn't have to be a bunch of old, expensive cards...it's up to you what goes in the cube!
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This is also a great option if you trade a lot, like I do; trade for legacy staples for your cube, and it will keep going up and up in value. Lets you have a little nest egg instead of valueless cards that rotated out ages ago.


God's Beard said:
Just once I wanna see what a game would look like where two players could use any cards they wanted with no money restrictions and no banned cards.

We also have one guy that shows up for drafts then just hate drafts a 5-color deck of all the best cards so nobody can use them.
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I'm fairly certain this has happened. The games end on turn 1, as I'm sure you would predict.
 
I'm not a huge fan of Sealed because I've had some really terrible pools where I get almost no synergy. But THG Sealed on the other hand is one of my absolute favorite ways to play. The extra cards give you a more consistent pool and building two different yet complementary decks is incredibly satisfying.
 
God's Beard said:
Just once I wanna see what a game would look like where two players could use any cards they wanted with no money restrictions and no banned cards.
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Turn 0/1/2 kills.

It's decks like those that caused cards to be restricted/banned in the first place.

Magic is very prone to being broken if WotC isn't careful. That's part of why they have different formats for competitive. Some people enjoy games that last past turn 4 or 5.
 
Huh. I've been cube drafting this whole time.

Usually my friends and I buy a box or two, enough to draft a few times, then after it's all over we put the cards back then organize them by color/rarity, make new packs then do it again. Usually lasts us a summer. Last draft at the end of the summer decides what cards we keep.
 
For reference as to the cost of legacy, I have a Metalworker deck that cost me about $400 dollars to throw together (minus welders) and that is considered a budget legacy deck. My stiflenaught deck is about the same. And neither one is good enough to get anywhere close to top 48 in a big tournament (if I had some damn welders maybe).




As for sealed verse booster drafts, the reason I go for sealed is because I am one of those people that overthink everything. Having 20 seconds or less to chose a card and pass is not my thing. I can do it, and I do alright in booster drafts, but I'd much rather study the entire spectrum of cards available to me and formulate how they fit together in the best way. I get shitty pools yes, but I can still usually salvage a few wins out of even shit cards.
 
Haly said:
Turn 0/1/2 kills.

It's decks like those that caused cards to be restricted/banned in the first place.

Magic is very prone to being broken if WotC isn't careful. That's part of why they have different formats for competitive. Some people enjoy games that last past turn 4 or 5.
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Urza's block bad memories rising
 
siddx said:
As for sealed verse booster drafts, the reason I go for sealed is because I am one of those people that overthink everything. Having 20 seconds or less to chose a card and pass is not my thing. I can do it, and I do alright in booster drafts, but I'd much rather study the entire spectrum of cards available to me and formulate how they fit together in the best way. I get shitty pools yes, but I can still usually salvage a few wins out of even shit cards.
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There's a 20 second time limit?
 
The_Technomancer said:
Yup, that's drafting. Its my personal favorite but my group who I do sealed with is some more casual guys and the other high-level player is worried that draft is too skill intensive and it will turn them off.
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Also my personal favorite. I think it's the most skill intensive format and most rewarding format to win in. Anyone can make an x-copy of the strongest deck, but drafting makes everyone start with a clean slate. You also get to see cards come into play which wouldn't be caught dead in tourny decks, which is refreshing to see. Also, just because you pulled a beast card doesn't mean its an auto-win. I've lost plenty of drafts early due to not knowing how to synergies. I've done well later due to passing up bomb cards for something more mediocre but it synergizes with my deck way better. Decisions like that makes drafting fun.
 
y2dvd said:
You also get to see cards come into play which wouldn't be caught dead in tourny decks, which is refreshing to see.
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This is the biggest reason for the Limited formats becoming my favorites. They make you consider and appreciate every card in the set, not just the best 20% or so. That, in turn, leads to an incredibly high variance in how games play out because everyone is running disjointed but roughly balanced decks.
 
I go through waves in draft where I'm good, and then I'm not.

Honestly, I think I'm just not that great a drafter. I tend to get overly complex in my schemes and don't go for the easy strategies.
 
God's Beard said:
How do you guys decide which colors to pick? It seems to me like most of the best cards people post are white or blue.
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Talking Constructed or Limited?

Especially in Innistrad Limited Blue/White is my default "I've got no other clear strategy" plan because flying is most common in those colors and evasion is always good.
 
I need to do more drafts. There's a local store that always does draft for FNM, I might go check that out tomorrow. It is either that or Magic Online drafts which scare me, because money.
 
God's Beard said:
Constructed, I guess?
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Oh in constructed I guess it just comes down to what strategy you enjoy playing. In a healthy environment most tournament top 8 decklists are going to have all of the colors in roughly equal proportions.

EDIT: If you look at this top 8 you'll see there's two blue-black-white decks, two red-green decks, two blue-white decks, a red-green-white and a black-red
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/eventcoverage/ptdka12/top8deck

This environment is a little bit skewed because Delver is so good but its still pretty decent.
 
In draft, I usually decide on my color within the first 5 picks. I go for whichever color that seems open or that I can get good stuff for, particularly bombs.

As for constructed... well, I play decks of all colors though I avoid Black because it doesn't really agree with me, philosophically speaking. Similarly, I consider myself a Greenie because I like the whole life and nature theme it has going on.

My favorite two constructed decks are Heartbeat of Spring and UG Madness.
 
Depends on what's in those first couple packs, really. I have an aversion to red but if I pull a good red rare and it looks like a decent red card might even end up table-ing - a bit easier for me to predict since it's usually 4-player - I will probably go red anyway. You probably won't have a good idea which colors you'll end up with until you've selected your first few cards. You might grab a couple good blues and eventually have to give 'em up because the color isn't going your way. One of the best skills you can develop for drafting is not getting into a mindset of "my colors for this game are going to be ___ and ____" and knowing when you are committed enough that you need to stick with what you have.

Last Sunday I pulled a falkenrath marauder and, incredibly, a curse of bloodletting which went all the way around without anyone picking it up. I ended up dominating, largely with the vampire.
 
from a noob's perspective, this is how I see magic colors:
  • white: flying/lifegain
  • blue: draw/counter spells
  • red: haste rushdown/damage spells
  • black: kill your shit, revive my shit
  • green: mana fixing/retard strength
  • artifact: fuck etherium anything
 
God's Beard said:
from a noob's perspective, this is how I see magic colors:
  • white: flying/lifegain
  • blue: draw/counter spells
  • red: haste rushdown/damage spells
  • black: kill your shit, revive my shit
  • green: mana fixing/retard strength
  • artifact: fuck etherium anything
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That's roughly right, although I'd say that flying is more in blue and white is more focused on small ground armies. Of course there's a lot of nuance to it. If you're interested in the colors philosophically at all check out articles like this one: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr133
 
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