Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
Weird Pumpkin
Oct 7, 2007

Macdeo Lurjtux posted:

"Selling at big box stores began in 2018?" I bought the 2011 commander precons at my local Target.

Yeah I'm p sure I bought packs of original innistrad at least from walmart way back when. Though in my tiny little town there was actually a game store that sold singles and packs as well

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Orange Fluffy Sheep
Jul 26, 2008

Bad EXP received

Aphrodite posted:

Every Walmart here is loaded up with Innistrad sets too. That seems to be the outlier more than just old sets in general.

Woah woah woah hold on there, is that more than two data points? That's not how you get those Big Consultant Dollars!!

Dr. Stab
Sep 12, 2010
👨🏻‍⚕️🩺🔪🙀😱🙀
I definitely remember seeing a clearly opened and returned Premium Deck Series: Fire and Lightning at Walmart.

evilweasel
Aug 24, 2002

Aphrodite posted:

Every Walmart here is loaded up with Innistrad sets too. That seems to be the outlier more than just old sets in general.

Amazon sold some of the innistrad boxes at $65 each which is a price I think only dragon's maze had previously reached.

Serf
May 5, 2011


Our local Walmart doesn't sell Magic or any card games anymore, but I remember when they did there was a run on the Commander decks that had True-Name Nemesis. Like people were lurking around the shelves waiting for them to be stocked and getting into arguments over it.

MonsieurChoc
Oct 12, 2013

Every species can smell its own extinction.
I remember buying packs of Chronicles at my local video rental store.

Salvor_Hardin
Sep 13, 2005

I want to go protest.
Nap Ghost

MonsieurChoc posted:

I remember buying packs of Chronicles at my local video rental store.

Yeah I used to buy packs at Newbury Comics.

Judgy Fucker
Mar 24, 2006

7-11s used to sell Magic cards in the early '90s. Guy I was acquainted with went to prison for knocking a few over. Dude definitely made sure to take Magic product in addition to what was in the register.

HootTheOwl
May 13, 2012

Hootin and shootin
I've been getting the ripoff bundles for the promos for years.
From walmarts

Framboise
Sep 21, 2014

To make yourself feel better, you make it so you'll never give in to your forevers and live for always.


Lipstick Apathy
I'll check the TCG section of the Target I live near every time I'm there. There's less and less each time, but I was surprised to find Warhammer precons there once.

whiggles
Dec 19, 2003

TEAM EDWARD

Reynold posted:

While we're blathering about youtubers, I kind of hate Prof now. At first he was a lovable dork, but the dude is just a cringe golem now, and the more money he makes, the more he hams it up. I can't watch his videos anymore at all.

I find his game play videos to be kind of unappealing, especially when he goes all in on the trash talk. I know it's all in good fun, and the guests seem to roll with it pretty well, but a lot of the times there's a tension in the room that is really off-putting and he's sitting there with a grin that could bankrupt an all-you-can-eat poo poo buffet.

He also gets really worked up when he's off script in his casual MTG chats and starts going off on whatever benign pushback he's currently getting from the community. That's kind of funny though cause his anger has a childlike, foot-stamping energy to it. I do appreciate that he feels comfortable expressing his frustration in such a human fashion.

Ultima66
Sep 2, 2008

whiggles posted:

I find his game play videos to be kind of unappealing, especially when he goes all in on the trash talk. I know it's all in good fun, and the guests seem to roll with it pretty well, but a lot of the times there's a tension in the room that is really off-putting and he's sitting there with a grin that could bankrupt an all-you-can-eat poo poo buffet.

He also gets really worked up when he's off script in his casual MTG chats and starts going off on whatever benign pushback he's currently getting from the community. That's kind of funny though cause his anger has a childlike, foot-stamping energy to it. I do appreciate that he feels comfortable expressing his frustration in such a human fashion.

I've only seen Prof in like 2 videos where he opens a box and sees if he gets the cost of the box back, and some videos he's done with team APS (Yugioh guys). The box opening poo poo is pretty whatever but I'm not the biggest fan of the concept in general of pushing people to try to open boxes "for value" in the first place. The Yugioh stuff was pretty offputting because he constantly harps on how badly cards are written and how small the text is. I mean, these are real issues with Yugioh and it's a huge meme within the playerbase as well, but the way Prof acts comes off as having a huge superiority complex about Magic being better than Yugioh to me, and he's doing this on a Yugioh channel with Yugioh content creators.

Aphrodite
Jun 27, 2006

Those videos are to show you shouldn't buy boxes.

Framboise
Sep 21, 2014

To make yourself feel better, you make it so you'll never give in to your forevers and live for always.


Lipstick Apathy
Yeah I tried watching the Yugioh video he did and I was all "dude you're being kinda rude".

Prof's content is still good overall, but that was a pretty uncomfortable watch (and didn't finish watching). I don't enjoy modern YGO, but I'm not gonna poo poo on it just because I don't "get it".

LGD
Sep 25, 2004

Aphrodite posted:

Those videos are to show you shouldn't buy boxes.

yeah that's literally the explicit point of those videos -"holy poo poo just buy singles if you're playing constructed" is maybe the most repeated bit of advice on that channel

Amp
Sep 10, 2010

:11tea::bubblewoop::agesilaus::megaman::yoshi::squawk::supaburn::iit::spooky::axe::honked::shroom::smugdog::sg::pkmnwhy::parrot::screamy::tubular::corsair::sanix::yeeclaw::hayter::flip::redflag:
The Prof's Yu-Gi-Oh vid just made me want to watch Team APS without him around

SEX HAVER 40000
Aug 6, 2009

no doves fly here lol
teamaps are extremely fun to watch, they got great chemistry. i always just fast forward through the parts where theyre actually playing yugioh

long-ass nips Diane
Dec 13, 2010

Breathe.

There's been a pretty notable decline in Magic stock at Targets here in Austin, up through like New Capenna it was easy to walk in and get packs and see collectors' boosters around and stuff like that but now they have nothing.

FireMrshlBill
Aug 13, 2006

LEMME SHOW YOU SOMETHING!!!
Are there any good youtubers that people recommend? Trying to get back into MTG after a nearly 20yr hiatus and coming across some videos by that Nikachu youtuber commentating over past tournaments and all is what sparked my interest again. Have seen videos by Alpha Investments (the infamous Rudy I assume?) and Tolarian Community College (Professor I assume?), but those seem to be more about the state of WOTC, sales, and commentary on releases rather than breaking down past games, mechanics, card reviews, etc.

Also, I stated some pages back but jumpstart is a really interesting idea to me since I'd get to crack some packs, get forced to play with different "theme" type decks, and build up some cards to maybe practice deck building on, I had sold all of my cards back in the 00's and have only purchases a current starter deck set and some older theme decks I had back in the day. Am I wrong to go the jumpstart route? With the price of DMU down to $46 for a jumpstart box, and BRO under $67 and seeing speculation it may drop down to the $40's as well, are they worth jumping on at those prices just to build up stock and have fun opening up packs? Also looking at the original 2020 jumpstart for $87 and pre-order the 2022 jumpstart for $109. My other motive is that opening packs may be fun for the kids and I can recruit my oldest to play with me eventually, maybe some of the combos will be worth keeping for later quick games (good for short attention spans) and just combining the rest for deck building.

Or, would just going with a different booster box make more sense to build up card stock? I am also thinking about getting a large 3000-4000 curated lot of older cards off of ebay just to build some creature + simple sorcery/instant only decks to ease teaching my kids into it (and practice building decks again), but would also want to get some current cards as well, so thinking about doing that and getting a newer box or two and the idea of jumpstart appeals to me even though I haven't actually played it.

I am playing Arena, but looking at my cards and decks in that just isn't clicking with me like paper. I may also see what LGS around me have games and what types (Comics and Gaming in Gainesville, VA is the closest I think if any NoVA goons know what they do there typically), but would probably not be until after the holidays into next year before I could find time to make one of the dates.

I appreciate it, thanks!

Serf
May 5, 2011


The trash talk in the Shuffle Up and Play videos is obviously exaggerated for the audience, but it also feels weirdly out of place. Generally when I play Magic at the LGS or with friends we're not really trash talking, more just commenting on the game or walking through our thought processes. The really interesting thing is watching the two most experienced players in a match because they don't talk most of the time. Just silently tapping their lands and playing spells with only occasional exchanges to clarify something or whatever.

I did appreciate in the latest video when the Prof sprang the proxy question on Sheldon and he begged off. And at the end when Sheldon won with an infinite loop that wasn't actually infinite. That felt pretty real, we've had quite a few games where afterwards we realized that the game should have kept going or someone realized they could have won.

odiv
Jan 12, 2003

FireMrshlBill posted:

Or, would just going with a different booster box make more sense to build up card stock? I am also thinking about getting a large 3000-4000 curated lot of older cards off of ebay just to build some creature + simple sorcery/instant only decks to ease teaching my kids into it (and practice building decks again), but would also want to get some current cards as well, so thinking about doing that and getting a newer box or two and the idea of jumpstart appeals to me even though I haven't actually played it.

If you can swing it, play limited; sealed or draft. It's a great way to get some immediate value out of the packs you buy and get a feel for what you like about Magic. You'll build up some bulk just from what you pick up for that. It can be tough to make it out to draft when you have young kids though.

Reynold
Feb 14, 2012

Suffer not the unclean to live.
I've picked up New Capenna for $65/draft box recently from our resident crab. Crimson Vow and Midnight Hunt have dipped that low on TCGplayer with sales as well from time to time. Most of my friends who want to draft or play sealed tournaments at home have been out of the game long enough or are new enough to it that it doesn't much matter what set we play, so I've snapped up quite a few of those boxes for that specific purpose over the last year.

I don't follow the reddit finance stuff or anything more than letting Rudy rant in the background while I do other hobby stuff, but I've built up a collection of 14 draft boxes, 2 collector's, and 6 secret lairs for eventual game night play or investment purposes. That's just what I haven't opened in the last year or so. The majority of them were purchased under market value and have increased since then. I purposely avoid set boxes for the stash, as they are slightly more expensive and aren't good for game nights. I do still buy them when my gf wants to split one to open for a new set. I usually get a collector's box or two for the same reason. Meanwhile, I'm buying singles and building for modern, pioneer, and commander.

I'm at the point now where I look at new stuff coming out, whether it's a set or secret lair or whatever, and ask myself, "Are any of my friends hyped for this set enough to want to play right around release?" "Do these commander precons do something significantly differently than other decks I've made or am in the process of building?" "Do I like the aesthetics or mechanics of this set enough to build a bunch of low effort standard decks for kitchen table games?" "Do I want these cards for a deck anyway, or like the Secret Lair art enough to justify the cost?"

While Magic is WAY cheaper than some other hobbies I've accumulated over the years, I've been a lot more leery of my purchases lately, instead of going all in on every release like before. While I get collectible games like this and why prices are what they are for some singles in particular, at a certain point I'm just no longer on board. For example, I had been thinking about buying dual lands recently, maybe picking one up at GenCon or something as my big single purchase. Spending a few hundo once a year or so on a rare and expensive card to show off in commander didn't seem unreasonable. And then they came out with the 30th anniversary stuff. $1,000 for some proxies. That kind of pushed me in the other direction and I recently had a bunch printed for something like $0.38/ea. Enough duals to put every needed color combination in every commander deck I'll ever build, just throw them all in and forget about them like they were basics, for less than the cost that just one of the worst condition, cheapest legit dual lands would ever go for. And they're JUST AS LEGIT as the 30th anniversary reprints that are coming in $250 booster packs, which is to say not at all.

Now I'm taking another step back and thinking, I only ever play this game at home. I have legit decks in every format already, so if I want to go play at a store or event, I can do that. Why should I chase down all these singles and spend a ton of money on new commander decks filled with expensive rear end cards instead of just having the whole thing printed for me to use at home for like $40? I'm finding it pretty difficult to justify lately. Not saying I'm done completely with buying singles, but next time I spot a few commanders from a new set that I think would be fun to build decks around, I'll probably just have the EDHrec or goldfish lists printed for me, and proceed from there.

flatluigi
Apr 23, 2008

here come the planes

FireMrshlBill posted:

Are there any good youtubers that people recommend? Trying to get back into MTG after a nearly 20yr hiatus and coming across some videos by that Nikachu youtuber commentating over past tournaments and all is what sparked my interest again. Have seen videos by Alpha Investments (the infamous Rudy I assu

i think it depends on what you're into and what you want to get out of magic the gathering? i'm a big fan of loadingreadyrun, who are a group of canadians who are approaching their second decade of making videos on the internet + spun out all their MTG content to its own channel a bit back: https://www.youtube.com/c/LRRMTG

it's mostly casual play and first-look stuff like their preprerelease events for every set (all-day streams where they're the first people to play with the new cards publicly), but they also have occasionally more competitive content especially if you have any interest in head to head 100 card singleton formats like canadian highlander and gladiator (vintage legality w/ a points list instead of a banlist, and any-card-on-arena with a small banlist respectively). lots of entertaining content and good vibes, imo

Mat Cauthon
Jan 2, 2006

The more tragic things get,
the more I feel like laughing.



FireMrshlBill posted:

Are there any good youtubers that people recommend? Trying to get back into MTG after a nearly 20yr hiatus and coming across some videos by that Nikachu youtuber commentating over past tournaments and all is what sparked my interest again. Have seen videos by Alpha Investments (the infamous Rudy I assume?) and Tolarian Community College (Professor I assume?), but those seem to be more about the state of WOTC, sales, and commentary on releases rather than breaking down past games, mechanics, card reviews, etc.

Nizzahon on YT is pretty good - good analysis, does some interesting MTG history stuff, and he's chill 99% of the time. I think his content leans more towards limited but does a good amount of constructed play too.

PVDDR is also a good one to watch if you're more into constructed formats and organized play, pretty nice guy and talks through his decision making in games very well so you will pick up stuff just by observing.

Lone Goat
Apr 16, 2003

When life gives you lemons, suplex those lemons.




FireMrshlBill posted:

Are there any good youtubers that people recommend?

There are dozens of ways to play magic, if you you have a preference it'll help people point you in the right direction. Do you like:

Limited?
Commander?
Standard? If so, budget decks, competitive meta decks, rogue/brew decks, etc??
Modern/Legacy/other eternal formats?
Something else entirely?

Toph Bei Fong
Feb 29, 2008



LGD posted:

yeah that's literally the explicit point of those videos -"holy poo poo just buy singles if you're playing constructed" is maybe the most repeated bit of advice on that channel

Literally one of his slogans, along with "Reading the Card Explains the Card". He ever has a playmat:

LifeLynx
Feb 27, 2001

Dang so this is like looking over his shoulder in real-time
Grimey Drawer
My friend got into Magic and has a great paying job, so after he bought a few boxes I told him to just buy singles. Then he bought a Collector Booster box and pulled a Tabernacle, so now he's never going to be convinced to stop buying boxes.

generatrix
Aug 8, 2008

Nothing hurts like a scrape

FireMrshlBill posted:

Are there any good youtubers that people recommend?

LRRMTG has fun content with dry humour and a good mix of formats. Their pre-pre-release streams are great for a first look at new sets.

The Command Zone is good for getting into commander/EDH and figuring out what that format's all about.

Spice8Rack has a good mix of mechanics and lore with a more manic comedic style.

Jiro
Jan 13, 2004

LifeLynx posted:

My friend got into Magic and has a great paying job, so after he bought a few boxes I told him to just buy singles. Then he bought a Collector Booster box and pulled a Tabernacle, so now he's never going to be convinced to stop buying boxes.

Of all the loving........... :psypop:

Weird Pumpkin
Oct 7, 2007

LifeLynx posted:

My friend got into Magic and has a great paying job, so after he bought a few boxes I told him to just buy singles. Then he bought a Collector Booster box and pulled a Tabernacle, so now he's never going to be convinced to stop buying boxes.

oh man, that's some pretty insane luck

RIP to him on his newfound gambling addiction

FireMrshlBill
Aug 13, 2006

LEMME SHOW YOU SOMETHING!!!

odiv posted:

If you can swing it, play limited; sealed or draft. It's a great way to get some immediate value out of the packs you buy and get a feel for what you like about Magic. You'll build up some bulk just from what you pick up for that. It can be tough to make it out to draft when you have young kids though.
Will see what is available around me and check it out. Ya, its tough finding the time/energy right now to hit up a LGS on scheduled nights/events. My oldest is still pretty young, so they would be fine with casual play with some basic decks (we play the Pokemon Battle Academy set every once in awhile), but will be a bit before anything serious. Trying to teach strategy and setting up moves a step or two ahead of time, but they are pretty bright and should be able to catch on if I keep it fun/engaging.

flatluigi posted:

i think it depends on what you're into and what you want to get out of magic the gathering? i'm a big fan of loadingreadyrun, who are a group of canadians who are approaching their second decade of making videos on the internet + spun out all their MTG content to its own channel a bit back: https://www.youtube.com/c/LRRMTG

Mat Cauthon posted:

Nizzahon on YT is pretty good - good analysis, does some interesting MTG history stuff, and he's chill 99% of the time. I think his content leans more towards limited but does a good amount of constructed play too.

PVDDR is also a good one to watch if you're more into constructed formats and organized play, pretty nice guy and talks through his decision making in games very well so you will pick up stuff just by observing.

generatrix posted:

LRRMTG has fun content with dry humour and a good mix of formats. Their pre-pre-release streams are great for a first look at new sets.

The Command Zone is good for getting into commander/EDH and figuring out what that format's all about.

Spice8Rack has a good mix of mechanics and lore with a more manic comedic style.

Thanks will check them out. Right now, looking at strategies people use, breaking down newer abilities I am unfamiliar with, etc. is what interests me.

Lone Goat posted:

There are dozens of ways to play magic, if you you have a preference it'll help people point you in the right direction. Do you like:

Limited?
Commander?
Standard? If so, budget decks, competitive meta decks, rogue/brew decks, etc??
Modern/Legacy/other eternal formats?
Something else entirely?

Still trying to figure that out really. I played from 1997 - 2003/2004, and just casual with friends back then. Sold my cards, so nothing to work from for that. I need to see what LGS around me host still I guess. I'd prefer 1v1 formats. Standard seems fine except the whole rotating out sets thing, but I guess Pioneer is the alternative to that? Is modern/legacy harder to get into from scratch without hunting down $$ cards to keep up? No idea about Commander or how decks are built around them, and not sure if the multiplayer format is for me or if it is actually a good way to have people guide you through the game. I guess that is why jumpstart appeals to me since I get to start loading up on newer cards and maybe the excitement of opening packs will keep my kid engaged as I teach them. Though I have no idea if the card variety is too narrow in a box of Jumpstart. I know people complained about the theme variety in DMU and BRO boxes, but maybe <$50 a box is worth it? I like the idea of acquiring some bulk while I play on Arena and figure things out.

On Arena I have mostly been playing the bot and have played a few standard play games against real people. Just using the decks they give you and one of the decks that came from the code of the starter card set I bought.

Or maybe I am just overthinking everything, haha.

Khanstant
Apr 5, 2007

Reynold posted:

yup

Fortunately, BRO is one of those sets I've looked through and found nothing I want to make a new commander deck out of, which is a relief for my wallet, I tell you whut

Hah, the deck I just built had a bunch of cards included in the precons. Would've waited if I had known ahead of time. I just dig the retro borders in general. The precon deck playstyles dont particularly interest me from the outside but sometimes things are more fun to play than try to imagine playing em. Are they at least balanced well against eachothher, if I get both will probably jam a few games and see if someone wants to pilot the other.

The other things in bro Im excited about are upgrades for this land's wrath precon I picked up a while back and havent opened yet, already had some cool upgrades from Zendikar packs, and some of the dryad and titania stuff in Bro seems like it'd be really good in either an Omnath or the Mul Daya whatever guy, whichever I decide to go with eventually. Firs t things first: Play and test my new Most Dangerous Gamer deck. Would've already done so a week or two ago but I was missing some cards and didn't notice the seller was out of stock on some random filler I got for shipping, whoops!

flatluigi
Apr 23, 2008

here come the planes

FireMrshlBill posted:

Thanks will check them out. Right now, looking at strategies people use, breaking down newer abilities I am unfamiliar with, etc. is what interests me.

Still trying to figure that out really. I played from 1997 - 2003/2004, and just casual with friends back then. Sold my cards, so nothing to work from for that. I need to see what LGS around me host still I guess. I'd prefer 1v1 formats. Standard seems fine except the whole rotating out sets thing, but I guess Pioneer is the alternative to that? Is modern/legacy harder to get into from scratch without hunting down $$ cards to keep up? No idea about Commander or how decks are built around them, and not sure if the multiplayer format is for me or if it is actually a good way to have people guide you through the game. I guess that is why jumpstart appeals to me since I get to start loading up on newer cards and maybe the excitement of opening packs will keep my kid engaged as I teach them. Though I have no idea if the card variety is too narrow in a box of Jumpstart. I know people complained about the theme variety in DMU and BRO boxes, but maybe <$50 a box is worth it? I like the idea of acquiring some bulk while I play on Arena and figure things out.

On Arena I have mostly been playing the bot and have played a few standard play games against real people. Just using the decks they give you and one of the decks that came from the code of the starter card set I bought.

Or maybe I am just overthinking everything, haha.

competitive play in any format in paper is going to require some very expensive cards to compete, even in rotating formats like standard, though 'very expensive' can range from buying a playset of a brand new card for $50 a pop to taking out a new mortgage on a house -- but i wouldn't spend anywhere near that amount of money if you're just looking to get back in to the game. commander's probably the most accessible way to play in paper since a singleton format means that you don't have to buy full playsets + there's enough variance that you can get away with just not running expensive cards and still have a good time. it's highly playgroup dependent, but you'll generally find more people in your local community playing the format actively versus legacy and modern. before you buy into anything i'd poke your head into local stores that have game nights and see what people play, and tailor what decks you build in that direction

arena's both accessible and the cheapest official way to play the game, but as it's relatively new there aren't many formats to actually play on the client as they backfill sets more and more -- though there are a good amount of unofficial formats that people play, including the gladiator one i mentioned in a previous post (if you're willing to hop on a discord and play against random people). i'm guessing you've got a fairly light collection, though, so it might be very much jumping into deep waters there. there's a gladiator all access event on arena coming up that i'd recommend trying, since that'll let you build decks with any card not just the ones in your collection

regarding jumpstart boxes: if you can get the original jumpstart set or wait for the upcoming full jumpstart set i'd do that; the dmu/bro packs seem to be more like supplementals to jumpstart proper over things to play on their own and i wouldn't pick up a box of either. also, if you do enjoy the way jumpstart plays, there's actually a version of it on arena called 'jump in' -- you get to pick your packs out of two selections of 3 for a small chunk of gold, and you both get to keep all the cards you open and can run with that deck as much as you want in the queue (until you retire it and pick out two more packs). it's a nice way to start a collection as a newer player, IMO

Khanstant
Apr 5, 2007

FireMrshlBill posted:

No idea about Commander or how decks are built around them, and not sure if the multiplayer format is for me or if it is actually a good way to have people guide you through the game. I guess that is why jumpstart appeals to me since I get to start loading up on newer cards and maybe the excitement of opening packs will keep my kid engaged as I teach them. Though I have no idea if the card variety is too narrow in a box of Jumpstart. I know people complained about the theme variety in DMU and BRO boxes, but maybe <$50 a box is worth it? I like the idea of acquiring some bulk while I play on Arena and figure things out.

On Arena I have mostly been playing the bot and have played a few standard play games against real people. Just using the decks they give you and one of the decks that came from the code of the starter card set I bought.

Or maybe I am just overthinking everything, haha.

I'm a new player and I still feel Commander is a good way in to the game, although I have a good group of friends who play it and the local bar meet-up group is likewise very friendly. Magic is just more fun in person, and the social format is pretty good for learning. Get to see lots of cards and playstyles and moves you might not see or think of yourself. The multiplayer factor is a bit odd, I always feel guilty attacking anyone until they've hurt me first, but then again I often apologize in drafts when its 1v1 too, especially if I've just done something very bad for them. Most commander I've played against were happy to welcome someone newer to the fold and in general I think folks happy to have opponents and new decks to play against.

Re: Acquiring bulk, I really felt that when I first played. Bought a precon to play commander and singles to upgrade it, which made sense, but then idk I just wanted to have a buncha cards and bought some boxes and bundles and random boosters n poo poo. At first it was a ton of fun, ya know cool little artworks and rules to read, but quickly started to realize the foundational problem. Most of the cards I got were not that cool or good and I'd likely never put them into a deck I otherwise wanted to build. Some cards were great and inspired deck ideas I've built or still want to! But mostly I bought myself a lot of trash that isn't worth selling, feels bad to throw away, and are now a logistical storage and management problem. Hah early on I almost bought some random boxes of bulk from LGS but the guy warned me off of it and I'm really glad he did. The more cards you have, the harder it is to find and separate the ones you do want. I've already bought a single I know I owned because I just straight up didn't feel like going through this mess of various cards just to find the one little cheapo card.

I'm maybe halfway through adding my current cards on delver lens, and once I do hopefully adding new cards after drafts n such will be smooth, but right now it's a Chore that I keep putting off. That said, it wasn't a secret to "buy singles" and "dont blow money on random packs just because" before I bought my first anything, but for me Magic cards were something I couldn't dream of buying a box of when I was a kid and first failed to play it, so probably had to get that out of my system before I could be like "yeah okay obviously I don't/shouldn't want more random poo poo I don't even want."

FireMrshlBill
Aug 13, 2006

LEMME SHOW YOU SOMETHING!!!

Khanstant posted:

I'm a new player and I still feel Commander is a good way in to the game, although I have a good group of friends who play it and the local bar meet-up group is likewise very friendly. Magic is just more fun in person, and the social format is pretty good for learning. Get to see lots of cards and playstyles and moves you might not see or think of yourself. The multiplayer factor is a bit odd, I always feel guilty attacking anyone until they've hurt me first, but then again I often apologize in drafts when its 1v1 too, especially if I've just done something very bad for them. Most commander I've played against were happy to welcome someone newer to the fold and in general I think folks happy to have opponents and new decks to play against.

Re: Acquiring bulk, I really felt that when I first played. Bought a precon to play commander and singles to upgrade it, which made sense, but then idk I just wanted to have a buncha cards and bought some boxes and bundles and random boosters n poo poo. At first it was a ton of fun, ya know cool little artworks and rules to read, but quickly started to realize the foundational problem. Most of the cards I got were not that cool or good and I'd likely never put them into a deck I otherwise wanted to build. Some cards were great and inspired deck ideas I've built or still want to! But mostly I bought myself a lot of trash that isn't worth selling, feels bad to throw away, and are now a logistical storage and management problem. Hah early on I almost bought some random boxes of bulk from LGS but the guy warned me off of it and I'm really glad he did. The more cards you have, the harder it is to find and separate the ones you do want. I've already bought a single I know I owned because I just straight up didn't feel like going through this mess of various cards just to find the one little cheapo card.

I'm maybe halfway through adding my current cards on delver lens, and once I do hopefully adding new cards after drafts n such will be smooth, but right now it's a Chore that I keep putting off. That said, it wasn't a secret to "buy singles" and "dont blow money on random packs just because" before I bought my first anything, but for me Magic cards were something I couldn't dream of buying a box of when I was a kid and first failed to play it, so probably had to get that out of my system before I could be like "yeah okay obviously I don't/shouldn't want more random poo poo I don't even want."

Thanks, I'll watch up on some commander too and see what precons are out in case. And ya, there is definitely an element to buying a box since I wasn't able to growing up, haha. But ya, space is becoming more of an issue these days.


flatluigi posted:

competitive play in any format in paper is going to require some very expensive cards to compete, even in rotating formats like standard, though 'very expensive' can range from buying a playset of a brand new card for $50 a pop to taking out a new mortgage on a house -- but i wouldn't spend anywhere near that amount of money if you're just looking to get back in to the game. commander's probably the most accessible way to play in paper since a singleton format means that you don't have to buy full playsets + there's enough variance that you can get away with just not running expensive cards and still have a good time. it's highly playgroup dependent, but you'll generally find more people in your local community playing the format actively versus legacy and modern. before you buy into anything i'd poke your head into local stores that have game nights and see what people play, and tailor what decks you build in that direction

arena's both accessible and the cheapest official way to play the game, but as it's relatively new there aren't many formats to actually play on the client as they backfill sets more and more -- though there are a good amount of unofficial formats that people play, including the gladiator one i mentioned in a previous post (if you're willing to hop on a discord and play against random people). i'm guessing you've got a fairly light collection, though, so it might be very much jumping into deep waters there. there's a gladiator all access event on arena coming up that i'd recommend trying, since that'll let you build decks with any card not just the ones in your collection

regarding jumpstart boxes: if you can get the original jumpstart set or wait for the upcoming full jumpstart set i'd do that; the dmu/bro packs seem to be more like supplementals to jumpstart proper over things to play on their own and i wouldn't pick up a box of either. also, if you do enjoy the way jumpstart plays, there's actually a version of it on arena called 'jump in' -- you get to pick your packs out of two selections of 3 for a small chunk of gold, and you both get to keep all the cards you open and can run with that deck as much as you want in the queue (until you retire it and pick out two more packs). it's a nice way to start a collection as a newer player, IMO

I appreciate it, I'll definitely check in on whats around me, and give Commander some study. I'll definitely look into the Jump In on Arena, hadn't run across it yet, and mull over one of the full Jumpstart sets then. Thanks!

Captain Invictus
Apr 5, 2005

Try reading some manga!


Clever Betty

FireMrshlBill posted:

Are there any good youtubers that people recommend?
Jim davis, day9, and spice8rack.

Jim davis does daily youtube gameplay videos mostly on arena(cut apart from his twitch streams), day9 does the same, and spice8rack does incredibly well written comedy and analytical videos about mtg, lore, etc. Jim is a professional mtg player and just came in 5th at worlds, day9 is more of a variety streamer.

Jiro
Jan 13, 2004

Rhystic Studies on more introspective art POV based Magic Content.

mcmagic
Jul 1, 2004

If you see this avatar while scrolling the succ zone, you have been visited by the mcmagic of shitty lib takes! Good luck and prosperity will come to you, but only if you reply "shut the fuck up mcmagic" to this post!
gently caress Wurmcoil.

kalel
Jun 19, 2012

FireMrshlBill posted:

I may also see what LGS around me have games and what types (Comics and Gaming in Gainesville, VA is the closest I think if any NoVA goons know what they do there typically), but would probably not be until after the holidays into next year before I could find time to make one of the dates.

so far I've been to hashtag gaming arena in Herndon and curio cavern in Centreville, both pretty good with wildly different vibes (though the latter is much less focused on magic of the two, from what I could tell). C&G was next on my list, I'll probably end up going for the phyrexia prerelease

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Sickening
Jul 16, 2007

Black summer was the best summer.
Rudy has been on a tear with videos. This last video is not like him at all. He might have had a mental break.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAM4utS7rAk

I like it.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply