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[f0rk]

Just bought a bunch of rares off my brother for £27, including expensive ones I wasn't originally planning on using. This is the reason I was reluctant to start spending money on cards

Where abouts in the UK are you?
I'm going to try and just trade for rares and spend money on drafting, not sure how long that will last though

 

[Wichu]

Currently in Hertfordshire, but as of tomorrow, Cambridge (moving to uni). I'm only planning on buying singles; when I was into Yu-Gi-Oh! several years ago, I ended up spending way too much on packs.
Fortunately, I only play EDH at the moment, so I don't need to worry about getting multiples of expensive cards

If you're wondering, the cards were:

• Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
• Woodfall Primus
• Lotus Cobra
• Avenger of Zendikar
• Terastodon
• Genesis Wave
• Gelatinous Genesis
• Beastmaster Ascension
• Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger
• Ant Queen
• Wolfbriar Elemental
• Eternal Witness
• Fauna Shaman
• Caged Sun

I also traded away my Snapcaster Mage to my other brother for Akroma's Memorial and a bunch of other cards for my artifact EDH deck. I'm also making a Snake tribal green deck (hence all the green cards) - I don't know anyone who played during Kamigawa, so I'll have to buy the actual snakes online. But at least no longer will I have to proxy all my non-basic-land cards!

Spoiler

Only half of them now!

 

[siddx]

as is tradition for me I bought a fat pack to tide me over until my boxes come. first 7 packs I got complete junk. I'm talking dogshit in a wrapper. I was about to rage until I opened the last two and got a foil geist of saint traft and a garruk. gonna sell that garruk but the geist will probably stay with me for a loooong time.

 

[Fragamemnon]

Bug-Bye Mental Misstep from Legacy. Don't let the door hit your ass on your way out.

I'm doing Legacy testing tonight and can't wait to play Stifle again.

 

[OnPoint]

Bout to go to the store to buy a booster box tonight. Can't wait.

 

[The Technomancer]

So one of my coworkers spent $1000 on a complete 4-of playset of Innistrad. And apparently he does this for every set. Dude is loaded for a graduate student.

 

[ultron87]

How do you guys generally buy cards?

I usually just buy them in fat packs or booster boxes split with friends. Sometimes I'll just randomly grab a booster or two at a local gamestore or at the grocery store as well. I haven't really gone down the rabbit hole of buying individual cards yet.

It hasn't really seemed necessary since I only play with my friends and if I ever go to a store to play (which happens very rarely) I'll just do some sealed thing.

 

[The Technomancer]

How do you guys generally buy cards?

I usually just buy them in fat packs or booster boxes split with friends. Sometimes I'll just randomly grab a booster or two at a local gamestore or at the grocery store as well. I haven't really gone down the rabbit hole of buying individual cards yet.

It hasn't really seemed necessary since I only play with my friends and if I ever go to a store to play (which happens very rarely) I'll just do some sealed thing.

I can usually count on getting at least three prize packs from a pre-release, so that means that I end up with 7-9 boosters out of the gate, depending on if I go THG or single. Then I usually grab a fat pack for most sets, which gives me 250 or so cards to form a "basic" pool. From there on out, its mostly singles.

 

[Keru_Shiri]

I usually buy one fat pack, then the occasional pack here and there, not counting what I draft. When I do my weekly grocery shopping at walmart, I throw a pack of cards on top(and have gotten some of my best rares that way, hello foil Sword of Feast and Famine). I think a couple of friends and I are going to chip in for a box right before states, if money allows.

Most of the time, though, I take store credit and buy and trade for the singles I want.

 

[siddx]

How do you guys generally buy cards?

I usually just buy them in fat packs or booster boxes split with friends. Sometimes I'll just randomly grab a booster or two at a local gamestore or at the grocery store as well. I haven't really gone down the rabbit hole of buying individual cards yet.

It hasn't really seemed necessary since I only play with my friends and if I ever go to a store to play (which happens very rarely) I'll just do some sealed thing.

One fat pack on release day. And I buy two boxes from a friend who gets a case the next day. And then typically I'll buy another box a little later down the line. If it's a very good set with a lot of rares I want, I might buy one more box as well. I like opening boxes, I know it makes more sense to buy individual cards instead but I love to gamble. Like today with opening 70 bucks worth of cards in a fat pack, it gives me a high thinking I made money off of that.

 

[narcosis219]

One fat pack on release day. And I buy two boxes from a friend who gets a case the next day. And then typically I'll buy another box a little later down the line. If it's a very good set with a lot of rares I want, I might buy one more box as well. I like opening boxes, I know it makes more sense to buy individual cards instead but I love to gamble. Like today with opening 70 bucks worth of cards in a fat pack, it gives me a high thinking I made money off of that.

Isn't it more financially viable to a booster box? Fat packs are 9 for 30, so that's 120 for 36. You can get 36 for 90 with a box. Wat

 

[Rokam]

Isn't it more financially viable to a booster box? Fat packs are 9 for 30, so that's 120 for 36. You can get 36 for 90 with a box. Wat

The problem is finding a place where a box is only 90. For example some online shops it's 90, but then shipping is a ridiculous $20. All the card shops around here are expensive as shit when it comes to boxes and fat packs.

 

[Keru_Shiri]

Isn't it more financially viable to a booster box? Fat packs are 9 for 30, so that's 120 for 36. You can get 36 for 90 with a box. Wat

Most shops sell boxes for $130, but I think even after shipping its more economical to buy boxes. I like Fat Packs for the spindowns, the boxes are a bit more durable, the mini wrap around poster, and the little bag of basic lands is handy to bust out for impromptu drafts.

 

[siddx]

Isn't it more financially viable to a booster box? Fat packs are 9 for 30, so that's 120 for 36. You can get 36 for 90 with a box. Wat

Thats what I meant. I get one fat pack and 2-4 booster boxes. I get two a piece for 185 from my friend.

 

[An-Det]

Fuck yeah release weekend. I should probably look at the full spoiler this time around, I never got around to it for the prerelease.

 

[f0rk]

Went 2-1 at the release draft today and pulled a Liliana that I didn't get to play (3rd pack), so a pretty good night. Still planning on building a mono black zombie deck, but think I'll be putting together a blue deck of some sort as I like that style from the drafts.

A different sealed event tomorrow, will probably buy a fat pack as well. My plan is to draft every couple of weeks (local FNMs alternate between draft and standard) and then trade into decks I want to play.

 

[TheSeks]

http://www.quietspeculation.com/201...y-to-play-magic-and-survive-zombie-invasions/

Seems like a neat idea in theory. Not too sure how viable it is in practice.

Also I think GAF should get some Cockatrice night sort-of going to try to get some of the DotP people into the game a bit further with deck editing. It isn't going to be the same as traditional pay-for-cards but it would be a change of pace.

 

[Haly]

Is it possible to draft with Cockatrice?

I checked NetDraft and it looks like development has stopped since 2007.

I think GAF Draft nights can be fun.

EDIT: So it is possible, but there's quite a few hoops to jump through. I wouldn't mind drafting a few times just to get a feel for it before starting a weekly thing for GAFers.

 

[tubster68]

So i'm a total NOOB

My close friend recently has gotten into playing magic, and a month later most of my friends started playing too. So me and my other friend bought a starter deck and played a round or two.

I don't know but there must be something wrong we are doing, because it seems like it totally depends on the 7 random cards you get in the beginning. 1 time i got all creatures and no lands and i can't do anything. And the next game i got all lands and no creatures. And yes we shuffled a LOT.

So Magic pros, how is this game addicting? Or are we doing something wrong?

 

[Fou-Lu]

How many lands are you guys using? How do you structure your decks? Also, why don't you mulligan?

 

[tubster68]

How many lands are you guys using? How do you structure your decks? Also, why don't you mulligan?

Uhh i dunno how many exactly the starter deck gives, we just use the whole starter deck as our card pile we pick from. Yes we did use mulligan, but also what we noticed is it highly depends on the combination of the cards you pick up. Sometimes i pick up an artifact and its totally useless at the moment, while my opponent has a bunch of creatures in the field already, i got a bunch of high level creatures, few artifacts, that i can't even place.

 

[Haly]

You might be overshuffling your deck. At some point, continually shuffling a deck will start clumping lands and non-lands together, it's just one of the hazards of pseudorandom shuffling.

A good way to make sure decks are nice and evenly paced (although technically illegal in officially sanctioned tournaments) is to split all your cards into two piles, lands and nonlands. Then take two cards from the non-land pile, take one card from the land pile, and continue until you run out of cards. Now you have a nice and evenly spread out deck. To introduce a bit more randomization, shuffle it once or twice.

Another decent shuffle method is to deal cards into separate piles, the version I know has 7 piles. Deal every card into a new pile and once you reach the 7th, go back to the first. After that, combine all the piles to make a deck. Do this once or twice to get a nice random spread going.

Barring that, you could buy Duels of the Planeswalkers, which is probably the easiest way to learn the basics of Magic.

 

[ajf009]

So i'm a total NOOB

My close friend recently has gotten into playing magic, and a month later most of my friends started playing too. So me and my other friend bought a starter deck and played a round or two.

I don't know but there must be something wrong we are doing, because it seems like it totally depends on the 7 random cards you get in the beginning. 1 time i got all creatures and no lands and i can't do anything. And the next game i got all lands and no creatures. And yes we shuffled a LOT.

So Magic pros, how is this game addicting? Or are we doing something wrong?

which decks are you using?

 

[FreedomFrisbee]

So i'm a total NOOB

My close friend recently has gotten into playing magic, and a month later most of my friends started playing too. So me and my other friend bought a starter deck and played a round or two.

I don't know but there must be something wrong we are doing, because it seems like it totally depends on the 7 random cards you get in the beginning. 1 time i got all creatures and no lands and i can't do anything. And the next game i got all lands and no creatures. And yes we shuffled a LOT. You don't even need to buy it, you can DL the demo in multiple forms.

So Magic pros, how is this game addicting? Or are we doing something wrong?

Mulligans and proper deck composition can make all the difference. If you're super new, I recommend trying out Duels of the Planeswalkers, just to make sure you got everything right.

 

[Fou-Lu]

Uhh i dunno how many exactly the starter deck gives, we just use the whole starter deck as our card pile we pick from. Yes we did use mulligan, but also what we noticed is it highly depends on the combination of the cards you pick up. Sometimes i pick up an artifact and its totally useless at the moment, while my opponent has a bunch of creatures in the field already, i got a bunch of high level creatures, few artifacts, that i can't even place.

Well that's part of your problem, when you think about it the starter decks are made up of mostly 1 ofs and 2 ofs different cards, there's no consistency. It really helps to have three or four copies of most cards in your deck to have a better chance of getting certain cards.

Also there should never really be a reason to have more than sixty cards in your deck. As new players you should also try and stay around twenty three lands.

If you mixed the booster packs that come with the intro packs into your decks they'll be well over sixty cards, try to cut them back down to sixty while keeping doubles/triples/quadruples.

 

[tubster68]

which decks are you using?

starter decks with white and red ( I wanted white and black but they didnt have that combo lol.

Well that's part of your problem, when you think about it the starter decks are made up of mostly 1 ofs and 2 ofs different cards, there's no consistency. It really helps to have three or four copies of most cards in your deck to have a better chance of getting certain cards.

Also there should never really be a reason to have more than sixty cards in your deck. As new players you should also try and stay around twenty three lands.

If you mixed the booster packs that come with the intro packs into your decks they'll be well over sixty cards, try to cut them back down to sixty while keeping doubles/triples/quadruples.

Oh because i read somewhere that the decks must be at least 60. But i guess its different for beginners. if i combine the lands from both colors of my deck it should be about 20+. What are the doubles/triples/quad u talking about?

Barring that, you could buy Duels of the Planeswalkers, which is probably the easiest way to learn the basics of Magic.

I'll try the demo thanks

I shall play again with my friend with these new rules. Because the rule book that comes with the deck is totally non-beginner friendly.

 

[narcosis219]

What are the doubles/triples/quad u talking about?

Double/triple/quad copies of a single card.

Usually, you want to have many, usually 3 or 4 of a certain card that is useful because you are then more likely to draw that card. If your deck consists of 24 lands + 36 unique cards, your deck might struggle because your strong cards have a very slim chance of being drawn. With 3 or 4 copies as opposed to 1 or 2, you increase those odds significantly and your deck becomes more "playable".

Note that we stop at 4 copies because that is the most you are allowed in a deck.

 

[Guesong]

Man...couldn't they at least have made Past in Flames an instant?

Or an enchantment even?

Feels so lousy for a mythic.

 

[ajf009]

Man...couldn't they at least have made Past in Flames an instant?

Or an enchantment even?

Feels so lousy for a mythic.

man that would make it insane.. too powerful imo

 

[Wichu]

Oh because i read somewhere that the decks must be at least 60. But i guess its different for beginners.

True. But you should always go for the lower limit of deck size in a game such as Magic. Say you have four copies of your best card - with a 60-card deck, you have a 1/15 chance of getting it with each draw, and a roughly 50% chance of getting one in your opening hand. With 80 cards, it's only a 1/20 chance with each draw, and 30-40% to start with it. As you can see, it's a significant difference.

 

[Thoraxes]

So I went to an Innistrad event tonight and played a ranked event/tournament thing where everyone put in $15 and then everyone gets 3 booster packs, and then we pass them around and take one card at a time till there's no more cards. I don't remember what that's called, and this is the first time i've really played in about 5 years, but I enjoyed myself.

I ended up placing 7th, which was not bad considering the people that were there. I went mono black, and man is that stuff evil. I had fun.

 

[The Technomancer]

So I went to an Innistrad event tonight and played a ranked event/tournament thing where everyone put in $15 and then everyone gets 3 booster packs, and then we pass them around and take one card at a time till there's no more cards. I don't remember what that's called, and this is the first time i've really played in about 5 years, but I enjoyed myself.

I ended up placing 7th, which was not bad considering the people that were there. I went mono black, and man is that stuff evil. I had fun.

Yup, thats Drafting, and its a lot of fun.

 

[TheSeks]

Is it possible to draft with Cockatrice?

I checked NetDraft and it looks like development has stopped since 2007.

I think GAF Draft nights can be fun.

EDIT: So it is possible, but there's quite a few hoops to jump through. I wouldn't mind drafting a few times just to get a feel for it before starting a weekly thing for GAFers.

Hmm... I have no draft skill so I can't tell you if that's good or bad.

Cockatrice is a bit clunky, but for "free," I think it'd be good to get some of the DotP/gaming side people on deck customization and the like. Maybe have "40 card draft" "60 card draft" theme-deck tournaments to spice up the event/weeks. Like I said, I'm just throwing it out there because it'd be nice to get something going on the weekend or whenever. Not too sure how popular it would be or if anyone on GAF uses Cockatrice seriously.

starter decks with white and red ( I wanted white and black but they didnt have that combo lol.

Uh, that's vague. You need to give us the title/name of the "starter deck with white and red." Theme deck? Duel deck? What?!?!?!?!

As far as "mana screw" it happens. You can "mulligan" at the cost of one card next new hand draw at the start. But it depends on your land reserves.

The general rule of thumb is to have 50/50 land/cards ratio to where you aren't going to get screwed except on bad draws/cuts. You can if you're feeling ballsy raise/lower that ratio on whichever side, but it depends on what you want to do.

Think about the deck like a car engine: You can't "go"/summon creatures if there isn't enough "gas"/mana to make it go.

Seems like you aren't balancing the "engine"/deck to well for that.

>>More than 60 cards<<

That's also an issue. You need 60 cards for standard. 40 for minimum/some formats.

I'd suggest starting off at 40 cards because that's a very surgical attempt in deck building. Go with what cards you think are good to start off, and look at the mana cost. If it's 1WW, that's a three mana-cost card. That isn't a bad card, but if you're going for "speed" it's border-line "cut" material.

Basically, 40 card deck: What do you want it to do? Then start working toward that goal.

Then test. Does it give 1-2 lands for that speed deck (for instance)? Great, you're pretty much set to go on some cards and can only go up provided the deck is good.

 

[Chorazin]

Going to a sealed Innestrad event tonight, been a looooong time since I've done sealed, but the set's theme drew me in. Hopefully I'll pick up some good stuff and a win or two.

 

[noquarter]

Dammit, nobody wants to play with me anymore, back to MODO. Really don't know why my playgroup stopped getting together, but at least there is online.

Anyone play any of the casual games on MODO? If you want to sometime, hit me up, profanedic on there.

 

[Keru_Shiri]

Man...couldn't they at least have made Past in Flames an instant?

Or an enchantment even?

Feels so lousy for a mythic.

It'd be broken as either of those, without costing more. That said, I prefer my mythics to be "meh" rather than tournament staples. Keeps prices a bit more reasonable.

 

[siddx]

You know what, I really like this set. I didn't think I would but after playing in a few drafts I find that this is the first set in a long time that requires players to actually think hard about what they are doing to have any success. So many of the cards have synergy with each other, sometimes in ways you dont expect, that I found myself really thinking through my actions. The difference between scrub players and ones who actually know what the fuck they are doing was extremely pronounced during all the drafts, whilst during the scars set it wasn't as clear.


On a side note, pulled a foil snapcaster mage out of a box yesterday and immediately turned around and traded it for two show and tells. Snapcaster was pretty, but the show and tells will stick around and love me forever.
Got two non foil snapcasters as well, 3 skaab ruinators, 2 garruks, a foil geist of saint traft and non foil one. Looking at everything, I need one more box to fill everything out.

 

[y2dvd]

I'm really liking limited more and more. Morbid really does make you think twice about killing a creature or take the damage. Went 4-1 yesterday at the seal with no notable cards but was still able to do well. My one lost was my first opponent. I went tri-colors and got mana boned hardcore in our second and third game. After that, I went down to dual colors and it was much more successful. I think I learn if I don't have any sort of fetch land cards (I had none whatsoever), do not do tri-colors.

I ran U/W even tho my red and black were as solid as my other colors. The idea was to create a bunch of spirit tokens to chump block until I can get to my bombs. I was able to activate Ludevic's abomination quite a few times.

1 x Invisible Stalker (should've taken him out since I didnt have any good equipments or enchanments for him)
1 x Skaab Goliath
1 x Ludevic's Test Subject
1 x Claustrophobia
1 x Makeshift Mauler
1 x Dissipate
1 x One-Eyed Scarecrow
1 x Blazing Torch
2 x Manor Gargoyle (this card help me close matches)
1 x Mask of Avacyn (probably a wasted spot but it's there to protect Fiend Hunter)
1 x Fiend Hunter
1 x Mausoleum Guard
1 x Doomed Traveler
3 x Rebuke (great card to take out there bombs)
1 x Midnight Haunting
1 x Selfless Cathar
2 x Voiceless Spirit
2 x Unruly Mob (decent because of all the chump blocking I'm doing)
1 x Urgent Exorcism
10 x Plains
7 x Island

Wish I had something to pump up spirits or tokens but this did me pretty well. The only thing I really sideboarded where more Urgent Exorcism if they had a killer spirit or enchantment.

 

[WanderingWind]

So, going in spoil free was a nice experiment. Got a lot of interesting surprises from my booster box. Snapcaster is pretty damn cool, as is Heartless Summoning (an enhanced medallion? Yes, plz!), Into the Maw of Hell, Parallel Lives and Creeping Renaissance are all really cool.

But Grimoire of the Dead is on another level. Love that card.

The flip cards all, without fail, seem pretty useless. A neat flavor mechanic, but wholly and utterly useless in any game scenario. Even super casual. They take too long to become anything worthwhile, and all have exacting circumstances that don't marry well with any viable game strategy. I like them for the collectible "oh, isn't that neat" aspect, but that's it.

And WTF did they do to Vampires? Went from awesome to boring as crap.

Great flavor throughout the whole set though. Favorite looking set that I've played with.

 

[GregLombardi]

God, had an absolutely crazy first draft with this set, in black white:

1X Dearly Departed
1X Army of the Damned
1X Manor Gargoyle
1X Bloodgift Demon
2X Bonds of Faith
2X Rebuke
1X Chapel Geist
1X Dead Weight
1X Thraben Sentry
1X Corpse Lunge
1X Doomed Traveler
1X Thraben Purebloods
1X Abbey Griffin
1X Village Cannibals
1X Purify the Grave
1X Voiceless Spirit
1X Village Bell-Ringer
1X Smite the monstrous
1X Manor Skeleton
2X Vampire INterloper
1X Markov Patrician
1X Night Terrors

Went 6-0 in a draft of 40 people, won 11 packs. I never ever ever ever expected black white to work out this well, though Bloodgift Demon and DEFINITELY Army of the Damned are the real reasons I won. Army of the Damned is disgusting in this format.

 

[tubster68]

Uh, that's vague. You need to give us the title/name of the "starter deck with white and red." Theme deck? Duel deck? What?!?!?!?!

I'm just going to type whatever i see in the box.

Magic the gathering, intro pack Morrodin Besieged battle cries, white and red, 60 card deck plus a 15 card booster pack, and the card in front is some chick with wings named victory's herald.

 

[The Technomancer]

I'm just going to type whatever i see in the box.

Magic the gathering, intro pack Morrodin Besieged battle cries, white and red, 60 card deck plus a 15 card booster pack, and the card in front is some chick with wings named victory's herald.

So you're both playing with that deck? You picked up two copies of the intro pack?

 

[TheSeks]

So you're both playing with that deck? You picked up two copies of the intro pack?

I'm thinking he's saying he got a pack that is two-player 40 card splits between them. Like the old starter decks that were 20 cards but came with a paper-fold out tutorial with the decks pre-shuffled to show how to play.

Anyway: Did that online draft thing that was linked for Cockatrice, it's a bit ghetto but it works if anyone wants to start doing a weekly event on Cockatrice? The question is how honorable people will be because it's hard to police decks and easy to manipulate decks with cards you don't "legally" have.

 

[tubster68]

So you're both playing with that deck? You picked up two copies of the intro pack?

I'm not sure if my friend got the same names as mine, but all i know is that we got it from the same container, and his is green and blue.

I'm thinking he's saying he got a pack that is two-player 40 card splits between them. Like the old starter decks that were 20 cards but came with a paper-fold out tutorial with the decks pre-shuffled to show how to play.

No i have 60 + 15 in mine and 60+15 in his too. Its not pre shuffled, but there are tutorial books that come with it.

 

[MisterNugNug]

Double/triple/quad copies of a single card.

Usually, you want to have many, usually 3 or 4 of a certain card that is useful because you are then more likely to draw that card. If your deck consists of 24 lands + 36 unique cards, your deck might struggle because your strong cards have a very slim chance of being drawn. With 3 or 4 copies as opposed to 1 or 2, you increase those odds significantly and your deck becomes more "playable".

Note that we stop at 4 copies because that is the most you are allowed in a deck.

Is it weird if my family and friends play with a different set of rules? We tend to allow only two copies for uncommon cards and only one copy for any rare/mythic card.

 

[Orayn]

Is it weird if my family and friends play with a different set of rules? We tend to allow only two copies for uncommon cards and only one copy for any rare/mythic card.

That seems like it would be very, very limiting when it comes to building an effective deck. I can see you semi-restricting certain cards, but I wouldn't be comfortable playing with that as a general policy.

 

[TheSeks]

No i have 60 + 15 in mine and 60+15 in his too. Its not pre shuffled, but there are tutorial books that come with it.

Did the tutorial tell you to shuffle/not-shuffle?

I'm curious because while it isn't part of your original question I think it would help you a bit in learning.

But um... you put 60+15 in the deck, which isn't really useful because you're supposed to have 40/60 card decks depending on what format your playing. Remove 15 cards and focus on the mana "engine" for your deck to "go," again.

 

[V_Arnold]

Is it weird if my family and friends play with a different set of rules? We tend to allow only two copies for uncommon cards and only one copy for any rare/mythic card.

Well, you guys would then better off with playing EDH/Commander, honestly.
It is not weird if you have special rules, just do not try to be annoyed when playing against "proper" decks

 

[siddx]

So, going in spoil free was a nice experiment. Got a lot of interesting surprises from my booster box. Snapcaster is pretty damn cool, as is Heartless Summoning (an enhanced medallion? Yes, plz!), Into the Maw of Hell, Parallel Lives and Creeping Renaissance are all really cool.

But Grimoire of the Dead is on another level. Love that card.

The flip cards all, without fail, seem pretty useless. A neat flavor mechanic, but wholly and utterly useless in any game scenario. Even super casual. They take too long to become anything worthwhile, and all have exacting circumstances that don't marry well with any viable game strategy. I like them for the collectible "oh, isn't that neat" aspect, but that's it.

And WTF did they do to Vampires? Went from awesome to boring as crap.

Great flavor throughout the whole set though. Favorite looking set that I've played with.

I've had the exact opposite experience with both flip cards and vampires. I had a green/white deck that was heavy on flip cards that got me in the top 4 in a large very competitive draft, and then a green/red deck again with lots of flip cards and vampires that did very well until I decided to gtfo and go home instead of being forced to hang out at the store until midnight again.

The flip cards force your opponents to change their play behavior. I loved seeing them struggle to figured out how to cast two spells during their turn just to flip my guy back (and in the process waste a spell or two that they might have gotten good use out of later). Or casting something useless just so my guy wouldn't flip.

And the red vamps are great. The rare 1/1 for 1 mountain is one of the best turn one plays you can have. If your opponent doesn't immediately deal with him, he gets out of reach of burn very quickly. And while your opponent is trying to kill him off, you are dropping other creatures. One of my best games saw me drop that vampire turn one, a green flip card turn 2, and another green flip card turn 3. By the time he killed the vampire, I had those two other guys on the board forcing him to play cards he would have otherwise saved so that he wasn't facing a 3/3 intimidate and a 4/6 instead of a 2/2 and a 2/3. By turn 4 I had a Trepanation Blade out and he knew death was coming next turn.

 

[Keru_Shiri]

Is it weird if my family and friends play with a different set of rules? We tend to allow only two copies for uncommon cards and only one copy for any rare/mythic card.

It's not weird, if that's how you guys enjoy playing. I've met a lot of folks who play by modified-pauper rules, so unless you're prepping for a tournament, go for it! As long as you're having fun. That said, you may want to check out EDH/Commander if you enjoy playing by one-copy (known formally as "singleton" or "highlander") rules.