• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Magic: The Gathering |OT|

Status
Not open for further replies.
Fun Fact- Abbrivation of Ravnica 1 was RGD - Ravnica, Guildpact, Dissension
Abbrivation of Ravnica 2 is also RGD- Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, Dragons Maze

So now when you tell people that RGD is your favorite draft format is RGD, you need to clarify. Not sure if thats a good thing or not.
 
Ral Zarek.

So it is, neato

Ral_Zarek.png
 
Fun Fact- Abbrivation of Ravnica 1 was RGD - Ravnica, Guildpact, Dissension
Abbrivation of Ravnica 2 is also RGD- Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, Dragons Maze

So now when you tell people that RGD is your favorite draft format is RGD, you need to clarify. Not sure if thats a good thing or not.

We'll probably end up calling it DGR since that's the order we'll draft the packs in, plus it keeps it from being too confusing.
 
So I've been reading The Great Designer Search Multiple Choice Test Answers since I had fallen out of the game in 2006 and never knew they held such a contest, and it's interesting seeing how much card design has changed since then. The most notable ones are:
#8 said:
Card Loving Guy
???
Creature – ???
3/3
First strike
Whenever CARDNAME deals damage to an opponent, draw a card.

#8) If you wanted to make this a monocolored card, which of the following changes would not work?

a) Give the first strike an off-color activation cost.
b) Change first strike to islandwalk.
c) Add “and then discard a card.” to the end of the second ability.
d) Add “if you control an island” after “draw a card” in the second ability.
e) Replace the second ability with “Whenever CARDNAME deals damage to an opponent, destroy target enchantment.”

The answer is c) Add “and then discard a card.” to the end of the second ability. For starters I should point out that this is one of the tricky “not” questions where you were looking to find the one answer that wasn’t correct. Why does c) work? Because having a creature with the text “Whenever CARDNAME deals damage to an opponent, draw a card and then discard a card” does not make the creature acceptable in either monowhite or monored, the two colors the card would have to be if it had first strike.
I missed this one (tbh I missed a lot of question, I guess I'm just too much of a card noob to work at WOTC), mainly because they've made "looting" a red mechanic since then, as Innistrad has shown.
#17 said:
#17) You have the following sorcery: “Target player draws five cards, then discards four cards.” What is the most appropriate color for this ability?

a) white
b) blue
c) black
d) red
e) green
Again, I had guessed red because looting, however I realized that since it's card neutral, it fits better in blue. At what cost I have no idea, maybe a 1UR instant.
#31 said:
#31) Which of the following statements is not actually a modern design rule? (Note that Coldsnap for “retro” reasons broke one of the four rules.)

a) Artifacts never have colored mana in their mana cost.
b) Creatures must always have a power and toughness. (Having a variable power or toughness does count.)
c) Enchantments never tap as a cost.
d) Lands always produce mana.
e) A sorcery can never affect a turn other than the one on which it’s played.
This one is a bit of a doozy. Since Coldsnap, we've had Ethersworn Canonist (clear violation), Eye of Ugin (debatable), and Witch's Mist (also debatable, because timeshifted cards mess with design rules on purpose).
 
I missed this one (tbh I missed a lot of question, I guess I'm just too much of a card noob to work at WOTC), mainly because they've made "looting" a red mechanic since then, as Innistrad has shown.

They've since refined "Red Looting" to force you to discard first, then draw.
 
Yeah, it was from the essay question in GDS2 that asked what mechanic would players move elsewhere.
 
The "rummage" mechanic is actually very "red" in nature. Blindly throwing away something you don't need in the hopes of getting something better is as red as red can get.
 
The "rummage" mechanic is actually very "red" in nature. Blindly throwing away something you don't need in the hopes of getting something better is as red as red can get.

It's also worse, unless they start at least templating it so that discard isn't part of the cost.

In general, the color pie is both amazing, and also broken. The color pie is defined in such a way that it gives certain colors (*cough*blue) enormous advantages and huge scope for powerful effects, while shafting others pretty badly (red, and until pretty recently, white).

There's also a lot of "legacy" effect in the color pie. Plenty of mechanics have reasonable flavor justifications for going in colors other than the ones they are in. Taxing counterspells could have gone in white. Bounce could have gone in red. They've mentioned some of these themselves, and it was seen in Planar Chaos. But because early in the game certain mechanics were strongly placed in certain colors, they've stuck around that way.

They have done SOME major shifts over the years, but most of it is from colors other than blue, the color that needs the most pruning. For example, artifact & enchantment destruction went from heavy primary in white to heavy primary in green. One-shot mana cards went from black to red.

An easy way to see this at work, beyond the obvious fact of blue-centric decks being far and away the most successful across all formats in Magic's history, is to play monocolored EDH decks in each color. It's a good illustration of just how janky and limited a lot of white and red's mechanics are. Whereas, amusingly, certain mono blue decks (Arcum, Azami) are actually stronger than almost all multicolor decks.
 
I got the Izzet vs. Golgari duel deck at a sports memorbilia show for $12 over the weekend. I like playing with these decks, they're always so different from something I'd build myself. Are they any good?
 
Why should I draft on MTGO? Online the price for a draft is $14 (paid in tix and not including using booster packs) while at my local store FNM drafts are $11. Also MTGO cards are worth less than real paper cards. Besides the ability to use boosters in your entry fee, why should I pay more to draft on a system with less valued cards?
 
Why should I draft on MTGO? Online the price for a draft is $14 (paid in tix and not including using booster packs) while at my local store FNM drafts are $11. Also MTGO cards are worth less than real paper cards. Besides the ability to use boosters in your entry fee, why should I pay more to draft on a system with less valued cards?

Because you can play in your underpants at 2am without getting arrested and being the lamest guy in the holding cell.
 
I got the Izzet vs. Golgari duel deck at a sports memorbilia show for $12 over the weekend. I like playing with these decks, they're always so different from something I'd build myself. Are they any good?

For a given value of good, yeah. They're not something I'd bring to a Friday Night Magic tournament but they're worth the money and they play well and they're reasonably powerful
 
I think making everything about the value of the cards is just going to drive you crazy.


Also you can't bring Duel decks to FNM. They are meant to be played against their pair really.
 
I think making everything about the value of the cards is just going to drive you crazy.


Also you can't bring Duel decks to FNM. They are meant to be played against their pair really.

I don't go to FNM really, I just have a weekly night where I get together with friends to play at someones house
 
I don't go to FNM really, I just have a weekly night where I get together with friends to play at someones house

Assuming you group isn't playing Standard and/or some sort of "just cards from recent sets" thing either of those decks would work fine playing against other casual stuff. Though there are a few cards in those decks that are awfully specific for that matchup that will become less useful. Especially the one in the Izzet deck that shuffles away graveyards. Edit: Actually looking at the decklists again that is probably the only one that really isn't useful in some capacity in most games.
 
Assuming you group isn't playing Standard and/or some sort of "just cards from recent sets" thing either of those decks would work fine playing against other casual stuff. Though there are a few cards in those decks that are awfully specific for that matchup that will become less useful. Especially the one in the Izzet deck that shuffles away graveyards. Edit: Actually looking at the decklists again that is probably the only one that really isn't useful in some capacity in most games.

Some of my buddies build standard decks for tournaments and such. They'll test them out at our friendly night games but in general we don't block any cards or play specific formats. Its neat actually since people mix super old cards with new sets.
 
An easy way to see this at work, beyond the obvious fact of blue-centric decks being far and away the most successful across all formats in Magic's history, is to play monocolored EDH decks in each color.
Except for Modern! It has a pretty healthy variety in terms of colors.
 
Some of my buddies build standard decks for tournaments and such. They'll test them out at our friendly night games but in general we don't block any cards or play specific formats. Its neat actually since people mix super old cards with new sets.

It's called Kitchen Table. =) I freaking hate it because I have only been playing for a year or two and I bring standard netdecks and get blown out by some ancient answer drawn from the depths specifically to counter.
 
I got the Izzet vs. Golgari duel deck at a sports memorbilia show for $12 over the weekend. I like playing with these decks, they're always so different from something I'd build myself. Are they any good?
You should have bought 4. The deck's quite insane, value-wise.

The decks are great for playing casually though. Unless it's like Garruk/Liliana where one deck wins every time.

I want to say his name is Ian? He top 8'd an SCG open a while back and talked about it here.
Done it twice. :-P
 
Nice art Brainstorm, Golgari Grave-Troll, Life from the Loam, Niv-Mizzet the Firemind (foil) , Isochron Scepter, Eternal Witness, foil Jarad.

I was happily surprised when I popped mine.
I gave the Izzet side to my gf though and I want the brainstorms damn it.
 
Hey GAF, I used to play a lot of MTG back in my uni days but stopped playing around the time Ice Age expansion was coming out.

I picked up MTG for iPad the other day and I'm loving it, but I've noticed that none of the cards from the original game seem to be in it.

What's the story with that - where is my Lord of the Pit?
 
Definitely think it has to do with Niv. They keep saying he has some master plan, and I assume the third set has to do with the consequences of that plan.
 
Hey GAF, I used to play a lot of MTG back in my uni days but stopped playing around the time Ice Age expansion was coming out.

I picked up MTG for iPad the other day and I'm loving it, but I've noticed that none of the cards from the original game seem to be in it.

What's the story with that - where is my Lord of the Pit?

The game has added tens of thousands of cards since Ice Age. There are many different types of Magic formats you can play. The most popular one is called Standard which comprises of only cards that have been released a year before. Other formats such as Legacy and Modern will include older cards. If you wanna see some of the old cards, your best bet is the Legacy format, but that has a high barrier to entry if you want to play anywhere remotely competitive.

Of course, you can just play with any cards you want casually, but in terms of the official game, Wizards of the Coast has to make people play with the new cards in order to actually generate sales.
 
The game has added tens of thousands of cards since Ice Age. There are many different types of Magic formats you can play. The most popular one is called Standard which comprises of only cards that have been released a year before. Other formats such as Legacy and Modern will include older cards. If you wanna see some of the old cards, your best bet is the Legacy format, but that has a high barrier to entry if you want to play anywhere remotely competitive.

Of course, you can just play with any cards you want casually, but in terms of the official game, Wizards of the Coast has to make people play with the new cards in order to actually generate sales.

Thanks man, I don't think Magic 2013 on iPad has the Legacy option so it looks like I'll be using all new cards. The game still feels the same though which is awesome.
 
Thanks man, I don't think Magic 2013 on iPad has the Legacy option so it looks like I'll be using all new cards. The game still feels the same though which is awesome.

In terms of the digital game, they only come with a few pre-baked decks you can choose from, so they don't really fall into the official "formats" of the game.

If you wanna have REAL fun, get into real Magic =D. Don't worry, spending money on cards isn't addictive at all. Really.
 
I don't have anyone to play it with anymore unfortunately. At uni we'd get high, dim the lights a bit, light some candles and crank up the Conan The Barbarian movie soundtrack and play for days but I honestly don't know anyone that plays know and I wouldn't be comfortable going to a Games Workshop or anything to get my ass kicked by a bunch of strangers.
 
Hey GAF, I used to play a lot of MTG back in my uni days but stopped playing around the time Ice Age expansion was coming out.

I picked up MTG for iPad the other day and I'm loving it, but I've noticed that none of the cards from the original game seem to be in it.

What's the story with that - where is my Lord of the Pit?
Magic, magic has changed.

(Find your old cards and dig them out, see if you have anything valuable. Use http://store.tcgplayer.com/magic/ to check prices.)
 
Just finished putting Glissa, the Traitor together as my 7th EDH deck. Is there another format where it's cool and effective to play Nemesis Mask? No, there is not.


Glissa is a massively underrated card. I snuck her into a green ramp deck and every single time she came out she made a huge impact. Nobody is ever prepared for her to appear really. The first strike death touch thing is just brutal and her ability to bring back the wurmcoil's that may have died or been milled was superb. One of my favorite three drops ever.
 
I'm reading this and can't believe I never realized:
InD120-SeventyFive.jpg

It was always in the back of my head, sure, but it's not something I've thought consciously about.
 
I'm reading this and can't believe I never realized:
InD120-SeventyFive.jpg

It was always in the back of my head, sure, but it's not something I've thought consciously about.

Yeah, you can bust out hypergeometric calculations on land counts to see what your chances of drawing x lands in x turns is.

Lot's of people get confused when I say 5 cmc is effectively an 8 drop (mostly in limited, ramp obviously kicks the shit out of this).
 
Hey, somebody else who quit during Ice Age. Yeah, the game has changed quite a bit. Wait until you play against Planeswalkers for the first time.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom