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Magic: The Gathering Discussion
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Post by
Hyperspacerebel
http://www.wizards.com/magic/digital/magiconline.aspx?x=mtg/digital/magiconline/download
The beta client is miles better, but the slightest bit more unstable. Also, it looks like they are doing maintanence this morning, so you can't make an account at the moment.
Good players often do what's called "going infinite". It costs 6 tickets ($6) to play in a sanctioned tournament online for any constructed format, and if go 3-1 you get the equivalent of around $20 of boosters or if you go 4-0 you get around $40 worth. It takes some amount of investing up front to cover a competitive deck and any initial losses before your first win, but if you're good enough to guarantee an above average win ratio, then it can completely pay for itself.
Post by
Sparkbolt
I really need to start watching off topic more....
And Nathanyal if you like blue and red take a look at the izzet leauge cards. The entire guild was built around the concept of burn/control decks with a couple monsters to help out. (Like Benzene's mortal enemy the Guttersnipe.)
It's what I run in standard though I sometimes throw in white when I'm bored and have few problems with it the only major wall I hit are mill decks.
Post by
PhantomScourge
Magic: the Gathering died when 6th Edition came out. 8th Edition was the funeral. Sets from "Magic 2010" onward have been like watching the corpse rot. If you want to play
real
Magic, go buy a box of Fourth Edition starters on eBay, make a red/green deck and a blue/black deck, and hand one deck to a friend.
Whenever I hear WoW players complain about Cataclysm, I'm like "I disagree, but I know exactly how you feel".
The Minecraft equivalent was the Adventure Update.
Why?
Elitest mode: ACTIVATE!
No seriously, why? Because the playstyle you enjoyed died?
Why what?
Look, this isn't really something that can be explained as anything other than a matter of principle. Velveeta isn't real cheese, intelligent design is not a real science, a mixture of 1/3 vodka and 2/3 Sunny Delight is not a real screwdriver (though it is pretty good), it's not really your grandfather's axe anymore if you've replaced both the head and the handle,
Generals
is not a real
Command & Conquer
game, and everything from 6th Edition onward isn't Magic.
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
If it's true, it can be explained.
Post by
Monday
If it's true, it can be explained.
This. That's a huge claim you've made with absolutely no basis.
Post by
PhantomScourge
Well, I'll do my best.
6th edition marked a whole new era of stupid.
Under 5th edition rules, the phrase "removed from game" actually meant that a card was removed from the game. You could loan it to a friend, set it on fire, whatever, you were never going to see it again because it had actually been removed from the game. Under 6th Edition rules, "removed from the game" just meant "placed in what is basically a second graveyard, so it's still actually in the game". This term was later replaced with "Exile", not because WotC realized their mistake, but because they had to come up with 20 new keywords that year and "remove from game" was apparently verbose enough to be worth turning into a keyword (my last point also touches on this).
Under 5th Edition rules, the text box had, you know, text in it. Thus, if two cards had the
exact same ability
, it would be written the
exact same way
on both of them. Under 6th edition rules, this exact same ability could be written in one of two different ways depending on whether the card in question was a basic land or something else.
Under 5th Edition rules, a summon spell was a spell that summoned a creature. This was consistent with everything that had ever been made in the entire history of the fantasy genre. However, there were a few cards like Raise Dead that erroneously referred to "creature cards". Rather than fix the wording of these cards to conform to the rules, 6th Edition changed the rules to fit the screwed-up wording of the cards, and replaced summon spells with "creature spells" - a concept that makes no sense at all.
Under 5th Edition rules, artifacts would lose their continuous abilities when tapped. Okay, that was pretty stupid, and 6th Edition fixed it. But honestly, did anyone actually CARE? I mean, when was the last time someone cast Twiddle on a Howling Mine in order to deny their opponent an extra draw? And yet, people who support the changes almost invariably point to this as some kind of huge improvement, as if decks based on Twiddle and Howling Mine were dominating tournaments or causing headaches for rules lawyers.
Under 5th Edition rules, an ability had to have an explanation longer than 4 words in order to be worthy of a keyword. Under 6th Edition rules, an ability that could be summed up in 3 words ("ignores summoning sickness") was deemed verbose enough to require a keyword (Haste), but an ability that took 5 words to explain ("destroy, it can't be regenerated"), and previously had been covered by a keyword ("bury"), now had to be written out in full.
These examples are not even the tip of the iceberg. They're a few tiny snowflakes scraped off the tip of the iceberg. Every aspect of the game design took a turn for the insane, and the Magic R&D department just kept drinking ever-increasing amounts of Kool-Aid from that point onward. There was much butthurt about it, and we still haven't gotten over it.
However, it's nice to know that I have
protection from Homarids, snow-covered plainswalk, and bands with other Dinosaurs
.
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
So, the phrasing they use on cards is what killed MTG? More than half your points deal with that alone. I can't say I find that all together convincing, and it seems quite a petty thing to condemn a game for.
Post by
Monday
So, the phrasing they use on cards is what killed MTG? More than half your points deal with that alone. I can't say I find that all together convincing, and it seems quite a petty thing to condemn a game for.
This. It seems that the text doesn't fit your idea of what is aesthetically pleasing, and as that is highly subjective...
Post by
Nathanyal
I really need to start watching off topic more....
And Nathanyal if you like blue and red take a look at the izzet leauge cards. The entire guild was built around the concept of burn/control decks with a couple monsters to help out. (Like Benzene's mortal enemy the Guttersnipe.)
It's what I run in standard though I sometimes throw in white when I'm bored and have few problems with it the only major wall I hit are mill decks.
Yeah,
this
article just came out talking about the command decks. And the Izzet one seems to focus on that. If my foot feels better I'll go to FNM tomorrow and look around, might enter the tournament for a chance to win
Rakdos Cackler
or even a booster pack if enough people show up.
There's also
Theros
coming out in Sept which seems really fun.
Post by
Nathanyal
Here
are the current cards I'm using. Went to FNM and played someone and I won, but that was probably because they were running a control deck with no creatures. Decided not to enter the tournament because I wasn't all that ready to play and because it was Modern.
Did do a lot of talking though and I might change my deck to a G/W deck. They have quite a few cards there that are cheap that I can pick up.
Post by
Monday
So a friend of mine drew
this
the other day.
Not only am I now incredibly jealous, but his +1 counter deck, which before wasn't all that great, is now something to be feared.
Post by
Sparkbolt
So I just finished my soldier/angel deck but I haven't gotten a chance to use it yet.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope
x1
Angel of Jubilation
x4
Fiendslayer Paladin
x4
Aurelia, the Warleader
x2
Herald of War
x2
Silverblade Paladin
x4
Aurelia's fury
x4
Boros Charm
x4
Gift of Orzhova
x4
Scroll of Avacyn
x4
Butcher's Cleaver
x4
Brave the Elements
x4
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
My white Pauper deck of choice:
Main:
16x Plains
2x
Secluded Steppe
(You rarely need more than 3 lands late-game, so these help you thin out your deck if you draw them late)
2x
Akrasan Squire
(questionable utility, looking for a better guy for this slot)
3x
Doomed Traveler
4x
Icatian Javelieers
(One of the most useful cards in the deck)
4x
War Falcon
4x
Kor Skyfisher
(The coolest way of running fewer lands in the format)
4x
Squadron Hawk
(Necessary as it is the only reliable source of direct card advantage in the deck)
4x
Leonin Skyhunter
4x
Loyal Cathar
(Two-for-ones are cool)
3x
Razor Golem
(3/4 vig for 3 or fewer mana? Sign me up! Stops most ground creature in the format while still being able to attack through them)
4x
Bonesplitter
(Cheap 2 power that sticks around on the battlefield is a no-brainer)
4x
Journey to Nowhere
(Second best white creature removal in the format, but one cheaper than
Unmake
, so better for this deck)
2x
Ramosian Rally
(So good, not only for suprise combat damage, but also for protecting against
Electrickery
when tapped out)
Sideboard:
3x
Sunlance
(Against Kiln decks especially, but really any deck that demands creature removal)
2x
Standard Bearer
(Against green stompy to redirect all their pump spells)
3x
Aven Rif^&*!cher
(Against other aggro decks and also
Mulldrifter
decks)
3x
Holy Light
(Against Goblins and Elves)
2x
Dust to Dust
(Both in against Affinity, one in against other Bonesplitter decks)
2x
Ramosian Rally
(always bring two more in against red)
Edit: lol @ the unnecessary censoring
Post by
Monday
I've decided that my new favorite card is
Priests of Norn
.
They're just so bamf. Art is awesome, and that's a lot of stuff for 2W.
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
World Championship has been fun to watch. The Standard rounds are going on right now, for anyone who's especially into Standard.
Post by
Nathanyal
I been seeing it in write ups, and I would love to watch by my crappy internet is being throttled. But it goes back to normal next week, if only it happened then. Oh well, I'll stick to reading about it on the Wizard's website.
But come friday I plan on playing in the tournament at my LGS. Going to go early and work on getting playsets of the cards I have, as well as some white cards.
Someone at the LGS also mentioned doing a "crap rare red" draft, after getting a bunch of the cards from people. I thought it might be interesting so I'm looking forward to it if they put it together.
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
I'm happy to see Assemble the Legions seeing profitable play this tournament. It's one of my favorite Standard cards at the moment.
Post by
Monday
Assemble the Legions is great. I like to run it in my Red/White.
Post by
Hyperspacerebel
It shines in URW control decks, as is evidenced Worlds right now. It offers late-game inevitability for control decks that up till now they could really only find in Planeswalkers. But Planeswalkers are held in check by creatures, especially when control decks aren't running a huge number of blockers. Assemble is completely non-interactive except against enchantment hate, which it can be protected against quite well with counterspells.
Post by
Monday
You could also protect it with a Boros charm, in all technicality (as long as it isn't being exiled). It would also have the side effect of making your tokens indestructible that turn as well.
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