Wow, it really has been over 20 years! I caught the bug at the tail end of the beta run. I am not a fan of board games...but damn do I love me some MtG!
22 years in, Magic: The Gathering is the brainiest it’s ever been (2015)
21–30 of 135 posts
Re: 22 years in, Magic: The Gathering is the brainiest it’s ever been (2015)
#22I appreciate the article is trying to get people to check out MTG, but it's just inaccurate.
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiver... is vastly more meta, and complicated to the point where it is outright banned from the game for being a waste of time in all practical sense.
And that card was printed in 1993.
Re: 22 years in, Magic: The Gathering is the brainiest it’s ever been (2015)
#23Magic is probably my fav board game, too bad that you have to put in so much time and money to have fun and the value of cards deprecates so quickly. I tried Hearthstone to scratch that itch but that game is just gutted MtG.
I pretty much refuse to play any format other than booster draft. Flat price, loads of fun, and easy to get into for a brief period of time since you only need to know about the set you are drafting.
Pauper is cheaper on average, and highly competitive and fun.
Re: 22 years in, Magic: The Gathering is the brainiest it’s ever been (2015)
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
You could get started with the Pauper format, where you can only use commons. That's actually the only format I play in tournaments. With friends, it's Commander + Modern, since none of us have crazy expensive decks.
The thing though is that you aren't going to have all that much fun when your deck is full of cards like 3/3 for 3 mana.
For one, if it's a level playing field, then you will have fun with cards like that.
Two, over the course of two decades, there are a /lot/ of good cheap common cards so you're doing it wrong if you have a 3-cost 3/3 in there.
Re: 22 years in, Magic: The Gathering is the brainiest it’s ever been (2015)
#25Magic is probably my fav board game, too bad that you have to put in so much time and money to have fun and the value of cards deprecates so quickly. I tried Hearthstone to scratch that itch but that game is just gutted MtG.
You can print any card and paste on top of cheap cards, just to play with friends. Its nice to do this with the duel decks for casual fun. If you do this just to play with friends, DMCA never would discover. But of course you can't play tournaments doing this.
The cost and effort of printing duel decks is never going to be less than just buying the product.
Re: 22 years in, Magic: The Gathering is the brainiest it’s ever been (2015)
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
You could get started with the Pauper format, where you can only use commons. That's actually the only format I play in tournaments. With friends, it's Commander + Modern, since none of us have crazy expensive decks.
The thing though is that you aren't going to have all that much fun when your deck is full of cards like 3/3 for 3 mana.
Pauper is one of the most ridiculously overpowered formats, alongside Legacy. (Mainly thanks to synergy and a lack of toolbox answers to everything.)
Don't be fooled.
Re: 22 years in, Magic: The Gathering is the brainiest it’s ever been (2015)
#27Does anyone else feel revulsion at the notion of a "mythic rare?" Magic feels like a cross between a brilliant game and a video poker machine.
The only real issue is when they print tournament staples at mythic rare.
They've avoided this for the most part. (Except with reprints where they do not wish to devalue the card and affect the secondary market.)
Re: 22 years in, Magic: The Gathering is the brainiest it’s ever been (2015)
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can print any card and paste on top of cheap cards, just to play with friends. Its nice to do this with the duel decks for casual fun. If you do this just to play with friends, DMCA never would discover. But of course you can't play tournaments doing this.
The cost and effort of printing duel decks is never going to be less than just buying the product.
Startup opportunity?
Let people create their own card game, print their decks and have them mailed.
Re: 22 years in, Magic: The Gathering is the brainiest it’s ever been (2015)
#29This is nowhere near the brainiest Magic has ever been. I've been playing almost since the beginning and it's been disappointing to see how the game has been simplified. It seems like all competitive standard decks now are creature decks, which is a shame because control and combo decks used to be a huge part of the meta game and required a lot of skill to pilot. I think Wizards deliberately eliminated combo and control decks because they often left the opponent (especially new players) with little to do if they were losing. Whereas when two players are playing creature decks, both players (even new, losing players) will get to play some cards, do some attacking/blocking, etc. This makes the game much more exciting for new players, which ensures that they will keep playing. If you want to see some really brainy decks have a look at Cadaverous Bloom (called Pro's Bloom below)
https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/evolution-of-magic-bann...
Also have a look at the Bargin deck below:
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/print.php?Article=967
Other interesting decks I encountered over the years: Wildfire https://www.wizards.com/sideboard/article.asp?x=sb20010619a Nether Go https://www.wizards.com/sideboard/article.asp?x=sb20010212a Forbidden Pheonix http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/forbidden-phoenix/ Mono-Blue Stasis https://www.wizards.com/sideboard/article.asp?x=GPTAIPEI00/d... And any of the combo winter decks (Grim Jar, Illusions Donate, Tolarian Academy, etc.)
Also Mythic Rares are super lame. It's a return to the days when you needed the "Power 9" (actually Power 10 when you include Library pf Alexandria") to be competitive.
Re: 22 years in, Magic: The Gathering is the brainiest it’s ever been (2015)
#30Magic is probably my fav board game, too bad that you have to put in so much time and money to have fun and the value of cards deprecates so quickly. I tried Hearthstone to scratch that itch but that game is just gutted MtG.
What's a reasonable price to spend? You would probably spend you $15 to go see a two hour movie... I bet you can get away with spending under $7.50 per hour on M:tG. But it is a very expensive game if you buy all the cards and only play it once. I still have cards from the 90s, I don't think I've bought anything in 20 years. Still fun game to play on board game night with friends.
fyi, your cards from the 90s might be worth thousands of dollars.