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Magic: the GAFering |OT2|

Is MGTO any good, or is it a huge money-sucking cesspool? I want to actually get out and play a little more often and my friends I play with are mostly working late these days (including my wife). How much money does it take to get on there and have fun?

I really enjoy it. However I typically just stick to the Just for Fun channel and play my Black / Red aggro deck (it's the only one I have built for MTGO).

It has netted me a lot of experience going up against a large variety of decks. Something FNM wouldn't allow me to do in such a short space of time.
 

Maledict

Member
Is MGTO any good, or is it a huge money-sucking cesspool? I want to actually get out and play a little more often and my friends I play with are mostly working late these days (including my wife). How much money does it take to get on there and have fun?

It's a really terrible piece of software. Have to say I'm constantly impressed that a company that earns so much has spent so little on such a piece of crap. It's badly designed, unintuitive, slow, laggy and crashes a lot.

Unfortunately its a captive audience so they don't have a huge incentive to improve it.
 
Most of the digital cards are cheaper than their paper counterparts. So other than the initial ten dollar charge, and buying cards... you don't have to pay anything else to just play Magic and have a great time.

Of course tournaments cost tickets, so if you want to go that route you will have to front more money (or be very successful at winning).

Personally, I have never been in a tournament and have still had loads of fun.
It's very thrilling to win even in the digital medium where you cannot see or hear your opponent.
 

Draxal

Member
It's a really terrible piece of software. Have to say I'm constantly impressed that a company that earns so much has spent so little on such a piece of crap. It's badly designed, unintuitive, slow, laggy and crashes a lot.

Unfortunately its a captive audience so they don't have a huge incentive to improve it.

Ayup, I understand why they didn't want to but it left a huge void that other companies could exploit.
 

Lucario

Member
ugh what the hell why aren't my cases of theros here yet

ebay seller hasn't responded to the message i sent days ago, I filed a complaint but this is still bullshit. People ordered boxes from me -- I said "they might get in two weeks late" because of how much ebay can suck sometimes, and now it seems unlikely I'll have them by then even. This sucks.
 

kirblar

Member
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";84632205]I'm at Versus games in sf, finished up my first "real" draft with a second place! decided to draft again... and not doing so hot lol[/QUOTE]
Theros is all about forward pressure and tempo. You can't draft reactive/controlly decks in the format. It's all about using or creating openings and leveraging them.
 
Went into my lgs today (I'm friends with the owner) he had the hydra deck in for game-day and let me play test against it, even though it's not officially out until game-day. I must say it's pretty overpowered, it really gave my standard deck fits even playing it on normal difficulty. Then I switched to my modern G/R Tron and broke it in half on hard. All in all it's a pretty interesting self playing kit.
 
good day though. traded for playsets of griselbrands and whips of erebos. nothing special in my draft packs or prizes.

Theros is all about forward pressure and tempo. You can't draft reactive/controlly decks in the format. It's all about using or creating openings and leveraging them.
yeah i went white green and just buffed the hell out of 1-cost blockers like the oxen and the deathtouch snakes. got me to the finals. changed from white black to white red in the second draft and everyone wound up playing red. got 7th...
 

bigkrev

Member
That feeling of when you want to sleeve up a 75 card netdeck (in my case, Huey's U/W list from the SCG open), and realizing that the 1 card you are missing from the whole list is a copy of Celestial Flare in the sideboard.

That one stupid common you can't bring yourself to order online, or dig through a box of commons for hours to find.


argh
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Installed MTGO:

VTsWvlD.jpg
 
I need your guys' help. Next Sunday is the monthly modern event at Versus, and I want to compete. This is the deck that I'll be bringing, and I need some serious advice. Overall deck advice is good, but especially what sideboard cards to look out for. I'll be ordering the remaining cards tomorrow. Please no super expensive advice like elspeth or fetchlands right now(ideally I'd swap out all 4 seaside citadels with misty rainforests but that's an expensive proposition).

4 Slippery Bogle
4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch

4 Mana Leak
4 Explore

3 Supply//Demand
3 Bant Charm
2 Unflinching Courage
2 Shield of the Oversoul

2 Rafiq of the Many
1 Holy Mantle

1 Sovereigns of Lost Alara

2 Eldrazi Conscription

4 Seaside Citadel
2 Temple Garden
2 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
5 Forest
5 Island
5 Plains

Sideboard:
3 Qasali Pridemage & 2 Giltspire Avenger lol

Would getting rid of the unflinching courages and the holy mantle and adding another shield and two wrath of gods be a good idea? I kind of miss my favor of the overbeings. But when I took out the ardent pleas I just wasn't seeing the value.
 

kirblar

Member
You're actually just playing Mythic Conscription, which is just fine.

This is the OG version from Standard in 2010.

4 Celestial Colonnade
5 Forest
2 Island
1 Marsh Flats
4 Misty Rainforest
2 Plains
1 Sejiri Steppe
3 Stirring Wildwood
3 Verdant Catacombs
25 lands

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Lotus Cobra
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Sovereigns of Lost Alara
20 creatures

2 Eldrazi Conscription
3 Elspeth, Knight-Errant
2 Explore
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Mana Leak
15 other spells

Sideboard
1 Bojuka Bog
4 Celestial Purge
2 Jace's Ingenuity
4 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
2 Obstinate Baloth
2 Spell Pierce

This is an update from Carrie Oliver in 2013.

Lands (24)

4 Misty Rainforest
4 Verdant Catacomb
4 Marsh Flats
2 Temple Garden
2 Breeding Pool
1 Hallowed Fountain
3 Forest
1 Plains
1 Island
2 Cavern of Souls

Creatures (24)

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Lotus Cobra
2 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
4 Geist of Saint Traft
2 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Sovereigns of Lost Alara

Spells (11)

2 Path to Exile
2 Dismember
2 Rafiq of the Many
1 Sword of Feast and Famine
1 Sword of War and Peace
1 Sword of Fire and Ice
2 Eldrazi Conscription


Planeswalkers (1)

1 Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Sideboard (15)

2 Path to Exile
1 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
1 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Burrenton Forge-Tender
1 Back to Nature
1 Fracturing Gust
2 Linvala, Keeper of Silence
1 Rest in Peace
1 Baneslayer Angel
2 Stony Silence

The big problem you have right now is that without the busted Fetchland into Lotus Cobra draws, it loses a lot of impact and ability to get to 6-7 mana ASAP. Geist of St Traft is definitely a card you want in the deck, though, as it + equips or auras quickly turns into complete BS. The Bogles are not right, though. They're for the all-in aura combo voltron deck, which you are not.
 
Well it seems like according to that list the biggest bang for my budget is probably replacing the Supply//Demands with more Sovereigns since that's pretty much all I ever search for. Then later on grab two Elspeths.

I don't think I can afford a playset of Geists for a $15 local right now lol
 

kirblar

Member
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";84656925]Well it seems like according to that list the biggest bang for my budget is probably replacing the Supply//Demands with more Sovereigns since that's pretty much all I ever search for. Then later on grab two Elspeths.

I don't think I can afford a playset of Geists for a $15 local right now lol[/QUOTE]
You could try running a M13/M14 Ajani in there as well, given his ability.
 
Just came back from a Theros draft. Finished 2-1 with a GW midrange deck that had some really schizophrenic draws. The goal was mostly ramping into fatties (2 Vulpine Goliath, a Polukranos, and a Nemesis of Mortals), but had some decent value creatures as well (Centaur Battlemaster, 2 Chronicler of Heroes, Heliod's Emissary, etc).

All-stars: Voyaging Satyr, Vulpine Goliath, Warrior's Lesson, Phalanx Leader (it was a bit of a greedy play in a 10/7 deck, but this thing did work), Gods Willing
Decent: Chronicler of Heroes (these were mostly 3/3s for 3, although I did get a couple of extra cards off of them on occasion), Heliod's Emissary (it's good, but often just doesn't do enough).
The Jury's Still Out: Polukranos. A 5/5 for 4 is very good, especially when ramped out on turn 3 off of a Voyaging Satyr. But his Monstrous ability is just okay. I windmill slammed him when I opened pack three, but I'm still not sold on him as a stone cold bomb.
Underperformed: Sedge Scorpion. Perhaps I'm being a little results-oriented, but it seemed like this guy never really blocked anything terribly relevant.

My only loss came against a UB tempo deck which landed turn 3 Thassa in both games, and just kept me off of my big stuff with Griptide and Voyage's End. Game one was really close, but he pulled it out at two life. Game two I mulled to six and was wrecked by tempo spells. My other matches weren't even close; I ran over my round two opponent in two games, and won 2-1 against my round three opponent, with my loss coming on a mull to six where I never found a fourth land.

All in all, I loved it. Theros draft looks like it's shaping up to be really interesting.
 
I'm back in MTG thanks to no hearthstone invite. Played the MTG:O Thursday Night Magic M14 draft and first picked "Shadowborn Demon" while being unsure if it was any good at all... thought I built a seriously bad blue/black deck but I ended up going 2/1 with the Demon doing some SERIOUS work. I managed to get two grim returns and diabolic tutors which let me pull the demon and re-use him again and again as removal. Add a whole bunch of chump creatures and blue/black flyers everything turned out really well. Is there a more reliable color combo in M14 drafts that I should be aware of? Usually green is pretty strong for base set but I was stomping them last night.

Also... Theros drafts are supposed to start tonight. I hope they aren't 25$ like the last pre-release I paid attention to.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Is there a more reliable color combo in M14 drafts that I should be aware of? Usually green is pretty strong for base set but I was stomping them last night.

Also... Theros drafts are supposed to start tonight. I hope they aren't 25$ like the last pre-release I paid attention to.

In M14, blue is by *far* the best color. White is by far the worst.
 

bigkrev

Member
I'm back in MTG thanks to no hearthstone invite. Played the MTG:O Thursday Night Magic M14 draft and first picked "Shadowborn Demon" while being unsure if it was any good at all... thought I built a seriously bad blue/black deck but I ended up going 2/1 with the Demon doing some SERIOUS work. I managed to get two grim returns and diabolic tutors which let me pull the demon and re-use him again and again as removal. Add a whole bunch of chump creatures and blue/black flyers everything turned out really well. Is there a more reliable color combo in M14 drafts that I should be aware of? Usually green is pretty strong for base set but I was stomping them last night.

Also... Theros drafts are supposed to start tonight. I hope they aren't 25$ like the last pre-release I paid attention to.

My strategy is to start forcing Blue, and figure out which of Black or Green is more open and make that my second color. Avoid White like an STD, and short of something like a 3rd pick Flame of the Firebrand i'm probably avoiding Red.
 

Lucario

Member
48 hours since filing a complaint with ebay
still no response
ebay wants me to wait until the eighth for him to respond until they give me a refund. wut.

The people who are preordering from me aren't even guaranteed to get shit now, so I'm guessing most of them will buy from other stores and be (rightfully) pissed at me if I can't get them by next weekend.

Why are companies being given six days to respond to a complaint again? That should be a 24 hour turnaround, 48 at the absolute most. The prices of singles and boxes are dropping by the day, I really don't need this shit....

Got my cases super fucking cheap, but at this point, I kind of just want to take a refund. Ugh. The only thing is, if the company replies with a "nah we'll ship it when we ship it," I probably have to wait another couple days for a response, another couple days for a fake shipping statement, and then a week or so to get a refund.

And if the boxes show up at some point next month, I might as well just toss them right back on ebay and take a loss, because it's not like the demand will be anywhere near as high for theros/theros drafts.

Ugh. Just, ugh.
 

rCIZZLE

Member
Chandra up to 35 on tcg and 45 on scg. Traded one off last week at 25 thinking it was time to dump but now I'm not so sure lol. Damn core set cards and their limited availability messing with normal price paths.
 

OnPoint

Member
Chandra up to 35 on tcg and 45 on scg. Traded one off last week at 25 thinking it was time to dump but now I'm not so sure lol. Damn core set cards and their limited availability messing with normal price paths.

Are you fucking kidding me? I really should sell.
 

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Chandra up to 35 on tcg and 45 on scg. Traded one off last week at 25 thinking it was time to dump but now I'm not so sure lol. Damn core set cards and their limited availability messing with normal price paths.

Jesus Christ, wut.
 
ebay woes

I pre ordered a case on ebay for really cheap too, the plan was to split it with my friends...guy never responded to messages and then started getting negative feedback in the past week. I opened a case on Monday and just got a refund today, thankfully. But yeah dealing with people that try to scam on ebay is pretty damn shitty.

And holy crap at Chandra's price :lol
 
Glad I was able to nab 3 Chandras on the cheap (read: random pack pulls). I will say that she is, without a doubt, the best Chandra to date, and is in a comfortable 2nd behind Koth when it comes to red walkers. Not that the bar was very high to begin with.
 

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
I don't know why I ever buy Theros boosters, even on impulse. The last three RTR packs I bought on whims while at Target had Deathrite Shaman, Hallowed Fountain, Deathrite Shaman.
 

rCIZZLE

Member
3-1 and 3rd tonight at FNM with esper. Only managed to get 1 Ashiok in the past week since nobody seemed to have any extras but even just 1 did a lot of damage during the night. Faced G/W aggro twice and both matches he dominated at least 1 game. Just no good way for them to deal with him if he follows any piece of removal. The loss came in the finals vs a boros aggro list that was partly due them having all the answers, me having to mulligan to 5 in game 2, and a very poor 2 land keep on the play in game 1. Even with a scryland and 2 cycled charms it took me 4 turns to get a 3rd land with 2 supreme verdicts taunting me.

Been having a lot of fun with esper so far and see it being one of the top decks at least until the next set.
 

zoukka

Member
Noooo I caved in to a modo Theros draft. Luckily I drafted a nuts deck and nabbed a Heliod and Sylvan Caryatid for my troubles. 1-0 so far.

Agent of Fates = lulz
 
Noooo I caved in to a modo Theros draft. Luckily I drafted a nuts deck and nabbed a Heliod and Sylvan Caryatid for my troubles. 1-0 so far.

Agent of Fates = lulz

So far my self-control is holding out. I promised myself I wouldn't do any $15 online drafts. Fortunately I've been pretty busy this weekend and have been able to find other things to do.
 

zoukka

Member
So far my self-control is holding out. I promised myself I wouldn't do any $15 online drafts. Fortunately I've been pretty busy this weekend and have been able to find other things to do.

Good thing is, the format feels fun and fresh.

All these fatties.
All these small heroic dudes.
All these ramp decks that win all the other decks :)

Pick ramp cards like they are bombs.
 

Bonethug

Member
Playing an MTGO THS sealed (I know, I know), and opened the nutters.
Chose the blue emblem.
Opened: Ashiok, Master of Waves, Heliod, Medomai, Daxos, Curse of the Swine
Should be an easy 4-0, too bad I'll probably mess it up.
Finished 2-2, screw gorgons and minotaurs and mulls to 5
 

zoukka

Member
Playing an MTGO THS sealed (I know, I know), and opened the nutters.
Chose the blue emblem.
Opened: Ashiok, Master of Waves, Heliod, Medomai, Daxos, Curse of the Swine

Should be an easy 4-0, too bad I'll probably mess it up.

Nevertheless you made your money back already.
 

G.ZZZ

Member
Chandra's decent but the fact that she's basically a blue walker (midrangey/control) in the color of fast/aggression/disruption means that WotC really can't design red cards. Best red card in legacy is still torment. That's what, 10 years ago? Meanwhile all the other colors got steadily better.

EDIT: forgot about faithless looting. That's arguably better than lavamancer. Well it's still abysmal
 
Good thing is, the format feels fun and fresh.

All these fatties.
All these small heroic dudes.
All these ramp decks that win all the other decks :)

Pick ramp cards like they are bombs.

The moment the drafts drop down to normal prices, I know I'm going to lose so much of my life and money to them. I just need to wait until I can pay market price instead of retail.
 
Here is my little take on new standard from FNM last night.

Scry was used a lot in the decks I went up against. I suppose that it's a good mechanic regardless of the deck. I had no Theros cards so I was not able to scry along with them. That was okay though, but it's still a pretty powerful mechanic, I think.

I ran Fleecemane Lion, but he never got monstrous. When I had five mana I preferred to cast Archange of Thune, or leave mana open to cast Advent. So he was at best for me a 3/3 for 2 CMC. Not bad, but not great. The real 3/3 creature for me was Witchstalker. His Hexproof was great and he even was able to +1 a couple of times.

Surprisingly I did not see mono-red. I did see the very good red/green deck I'm sure everyone has seen the deck list for.

Here is what I actually played against.

BW
UWG (basically a version of my deck with the best cards from UW)
RWG (slivers)
UR
UB (Ashiok)


Why my deck performed so well...

Voice of Resurgence (yes, it did get put into multiple Detention Sphere's when playing against the deck with UW)
- Voice is awesome, but you already knew that.

Advent of the Wurm
- Instant speed 5/5 Wurm with Trample token

Trostani
- Her life gain and populate ability is amazing. If I cast Advent of the Wurm, there is five life for me. Every turn I can populate another Wurm for three mana, and gain five life. Thragtusk who?

Pithing Needle
- This is a bad ass sideboard card. Dropping it turn one and watching the tears well up in their eyes as they stare at their useless cards in their hands.
 

Exokell

Banned
I hope dsr gets banned soon, can't Fucking buy all these expensive June cards, ravnica is draftable on mtgo and dark confidant is just rising in its price. Goyf is basically almost 100. Should've picked up these motherfuckers when mma was released.
 
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