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Welcome to the "Eleventh Edition" of the Magic Megathread! We've run out of core sets, so it's time for some alternative ideas for thread titles. Thanks to AlternateNu for this one! Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game where you play as a planeswalker, a powerful wizard capable of traveling between planes, summoning fantastic creatures, and casting powerful spells. Each game of Magic represents a duel between two or more planeswalkers. Magic in the game is divided into five colors: White, the color of order and balance; blue, the color of knowledge and illusion; black, the color of death and corruption; red, the color of chaos and power; and green, the color of nature and life. Each color is balanced against the others, with their various strengths and weaknesses. First released in 1993, Magic's years of existence as the most popular collectible card game has attracted millions of players worldwide. Tournaments of varying levels are held all around the world, and the game is enjoyed just as much at the kitchen table as it is on the Pro Tour with thousands of dollars at stake. There is an organization called the DCI that sanctions and maintains these events, using tournament officials known as judges to keep the game fair and fun. Like any other collectible game, the components can be quite pricey. Older, out-of-print cards can be hundreds of dollars, but those aren't needed to play in the game's most popular formats. In-print and just-out-of-print cards very rarely break the $50 mark, and as there's a limit of four of any one card per deck, you won't need too many to compete. Booster packs cost roughly $4 US each, but most people will agree that buying the single cards you need is a better bang for your buck... though not as fun as the "lottery" game of opening packs. ============================================ OTHER THREADS The Magic: the Gathering Buying and Selling/Trading Thread Don't deal with eBay or some random third-party insecure site for your Magic card needs. This is a thread to post your haves/wants and see if any other Goon wants your poo poo or has the poo poo you really need for that big tournament coming up, you know the one. Deck Building Brewhaus Post and critique decklists for constructed formats here. The Magic: the Gathering Limited Thread Draft and sealed discussion goes in here. This is a really informative thread if you're looking for tips on draft especially, as it goes into the draft archetypes of the current format as well as a glossary of commonly used draft terms you might hear at the table. MtG Eternal Thread Discussion on Eternal formats Legacy, Vintage, and honorary "Eternal" format Modern. Magic Card Generator Discuss your terrible card ideas here and make us all appreciate Wizards R&D and how hard it is to actually design solid cards. M:tG Cube: The Most Expensive Free Magic Money Can Buy Share your cubes with other people without the risk of strangers stealing your foil Russian Dark Confidant you've blinged out your cube with! ============================================ FORMATS Casual: Anything goes. Despite being the least talked-about format, mostly because it's not really a "format", casual play is probably the most popular form of Magic. We're talking kids buying precons and a couple of boosters and sitting around their kitchen tables here. There are other casual formats loved by players more into the game, such as Commander, Cube, Type 4, etc. More on those later. Standard: One of the easiest formats to get into. Since it consists of nothing but the last core set and the last two blocks to be published, finding cards is relatively as most cards are still in print. Each October when the first set of a new block is released, the oldest currently-legal block in Standard gets pushed out and the new one comes in. At the same time, the oldest core set rotates out, though the newer core set comes out around July so there is some overlap. Since many Standard decks rely on those older cards that have now rotated out of the format, the metagame can change drastically when this happens. Standard is the most popular sanctioned constructed format. Wizards has released "event decks" as a way for new players to get (somewhat) competitive decks for cheap. They contain 60 cards and a 15 card sideboard, and are competitive enough to stand a chance at FNM, but not much elsewhere. Currently legal sets: Theros, Born of the Gods, Journey into Nyx, Khans of Tarkir, Magic 2015 Modern: Magic's newest format bridges the gap between Legacy and Extended. All sets from Eighth Edition on up are legal; the "Modern" name doesn't necessarily mean the modern Magic frame, as old cards reprinted in a special set with the new frame, such as judge promos, are not legal unless they've been reprinted in a set since Eighth Edition. Modern Banned List Legacy: Legacy is an Eternal format like Vintage, only without the Power 9 and many other overpowered cards. For the most part, everything restricted in Vintage is banned in Legacy. Legacy has skyrocketed in popularity lately, and so has the entry fee to play in this format. Legacy staples have doubled or tripled in price on the secondary market, so the barrier of entry is very high. Legacy Banned List Vintage: The most powerful decks that can be created reside here in "Type 1". The insanely high expense of cards that are in almost every good deck in the format - cards known as the Power 9 because of their reputation for being the nine most powerful cards ever printed - leads players to shy away from the format. Most Vintage tournaments will be run without DCI sanctioning because they allow ten or fifteen proxies in order to make the tournament more accessable to players not willing to spend $3000 on a Black Lotus. A common misconception is that Vintage is a format of turn one kills - but in a format where turn one kills are possible, decks are fine-tuned not just to win, but to stop their opponents from going off on turn one or two as well. Vintage Banned & Restricted List Block Constructed: Block constructed uses only the cards from a particular block for deck construction. The smaller card pool available means that cards that would never see play in other formats get to see the light of day, simply because there isn't anything better available. Unfortunately block constructed suffers from one big flaw - because so few cards are available, the format quickly becomes set with a small number of dominating decks, and the theme of a particular block leads some players to feel like the decks are "pre-built" for them. Limited: There are two popular limited formats: Sealed Deck, and Booster Draft. High-level limited tournaments are usually run sealed deck, with booster drafts as their top 8 playoffs. In sealed deck, a player gets six packs. With those cards, and as many extra basic lands as they wish, they have to build a deck that's at least 40 cards. Sealed is part luck (what you open), and part skill (how you build and play with your deck). Booster drafting involves each player getting three booster packs and sitting around a table. At the same time, each player opens up their first pack, takes a card out, and passes the rest of the cards in the pack to their left. This continues until all the cards in each pack are gone, then the second pack is opened and passed to the right. The third and last pack goes left again. Skilled players can sense which colors are "open" and pick cards that are strong in those colors. Then players follow the same deck construction rules as sealed deck - a minimum 40-card deck using as much extra basic land as they want. Some players consider booster drafting to be the best test of a Magic player's skill. Two-Headed Giant: In 2HG, teams of two face off against each other. Each player has their own deck, hand, permanents, etc., but each team takes their turn at the same time. 2HG is usually sealed deck, with each team getting more product than a single person would usually get, but Standard 2HG isn't unheard of. Two-Headed Giant Rules Commander: Commander (previously known as EDH, or Elder Dragon Highlander) is one of the most popular casual formats. In Commander, you pick a legendary creature to serve as your "commander", and build a 100-card deck (99 plus your commander) using only one of each card, excluding basic lands. You can't use any cards which have mana symbols anywhere on them that don't match the ones on your commander's card, and the format uses the Vintage cardpool with some modifications. Your commander starts in the "command zone", and you can cast it any time you normally could cast them - but each time you cast it that way, it costs 2 more to cast. If a commander would be put into a graveyard or into exile, its owner can choose to put it back in the command zone instead, so it's hard to permanently get rid of a commander short of sending it into its owner's library. And lastly, if a player takes 21 or more damage over the course of the game from any one commander, they lose the game. The official rules can be found here. Official Commander Site Cube Drafting: Booster drafting is fun, but it can get expensive, and players lose interest in drafting a set when a new one's about to come out... and this is where cube drafting comes in. A cube contains 350-700 of the best cards in Magic, usually including the Power 9. The cube is shuffled, and random packs are dealt out to each player, which are then drafted like a normal booster draft. Cube draft owners take great pride in their cube, and will often try to foil out every card possible, making their cube cost more than the average Vintage deck. Pauper: While Pauper is most popular on Magic Online, it does see some interest in the real world as well. On Magic Online, the format is played with only commons, but in real life, "Pauper" is sometimes referred to as a constructed format where only commons and some uncommons are allowed as well. Here's a good FAQ to get started. ============================================ DIGITAL VERSIONS There have been many digital versions of the game in the past, on Dreamcast, Playstation, PC, and even arcades, but the current and most popular version is Magic Online. Magic Online players buy digital cards and play online against people all over the world, at any time they want. The only downside to the program is, of course, that you're buying digital objects and the social aspect of the game is non-existant. Wizards used to have a redemption program where players who collected every card in a newer set could redeem them for paper versions of those cards, but that's since been discontinued. Magic Online costs $9.99, but once you sign up, you get a bunch of random cards, including some gold-bordered cards you can only play with other people who have them. Also, new sets come out much slower than their paper versions, with a short delay between the paper release and the MTGO release due to Wizards not wanting people beta testing products that haven't been officially released yet. If you want to play for free/cheap, there are ways, though some are more difficult to set up than others. Apprentice is slightly old and outdated, but still very popular. Its features aren't as robust as Magic Workstation, but if you don't care about all the bells and whistles, it gets the job done. NetDraft is a way to draft online for free, but you'll usually only play one match each draft against whoever you're paired against. Good for testing your draft skills. You'll need to use Magic Workstation or another program to play though. Duels of the Planeswalkers is an Xbox Live, Playstation, and PC game with multiple expansions. Hardcore players were disappointed that there's no deckbuilding available, just a bunch of precons you can unlock and new cards you can unlock for them in turn, but it's a fun, arcade-y version of Magic. ============================================ WHERE TO PLAY Friday Night Magic (FNM): The most accessable tournaments for most players is FNM, which as its name suggests takes place on Friday nights at local hobby stores. FNM tournaments can range anywhere from eight to sixty-plus players, and usually pay out prizes in either packs or store credit. To make sure everyone who wants to play can play, FNM tournaments are only allowed to be Standard, Extended, Block, sealed, booster draft, or Two-Headed Giant Standard/sealed. That way, no one needs to worry about tracking down older, out-of-print cards. Competition is usually pretty lax at FNMs, with (hopefully) friendly players and a fun atmosphere. Each month, Wizards prins a special foil promo that is given out to FNM players at each event. Other local events can be run too, even if they're not FNM. Pro Tour Qualifiers (PTQs): PTQs are the first big step for players entering the professional Magic playing world. PTQs are staffed by highly qualified judges, who act as impartial ways to solve rules disputes, answer rules questions, and ensure the tournament is run smoothly and fairly. PTQs used to be run in "seasons", but now any store can run a Preliminary PTQ that is Standard, Modern, or sealed. The winner of each Preliminary PTQ gets an invite to play in the next Regional PTQ, and the winner of that gets an invite to the Pro Tour. States/Champs: States, or Champs, depending on where in the world you live, is a big, fun tournament run on the same day in every state/province/what-have-you. Every participant gets a free promo card, and the top 8 players win boxes of product and a special foil promotional card. Since no huge prizes are on the line, the environment is close to a "big FNM". Prereleases: The week before a new set comes out, players get to experience it early in a Prerelease Event. Prereleases are always sealed deck events. Prizes are usually small, because the real prize is getting to see and play with the new cards for the first time. At prereleases, special promo cards are available that showcase an important card from the set. The only way to get these is to play in an event, and while they're not always tournament-quality cards, they're at least high on casual appeal. Game Day: One month after the release of a new set, stores run Game Day tournaments. These are Standard events, sometimes with special rewards given for building your deck a certain way. Everyone gets a full-art promo card, and the top 8 get foil full-frame promo cards. For many people, Game Day marks the time when players have gotten used to the new set and are ready to test out their new decks. Grand Prix (GPs): Grand Prix are open for everyone to play in, and are the largest public events, usually getting over a thousand players in attendance. While they don't feed any Pro Tours, the prizes are substantial and competition is fierce. Most GPs are two day events, with only the players with the best record being allowed to play in day two. There are usually side-events run at GPs as well, so even players who don't want to compete or players who don't make day two can get in on some fun. Pro Tours: This is it - this is the big leagues. Pro Tours are by invitation only; by winning a Pro Tour, or having a rating high enough to compete. Wizards pays about $3 million U.S. divided among the players, some serious change for a card game. Players travel from all over the world to play at Pro Tours. Worlds is the biggest Magic tournament there is, held at the end of every year and drawing the biggest crowds. Even players not qualified to play in Worlds get to play in the numerous side events held by Wizards. 1Ks, 5Ks, 10ks, etc.: Major tournament organizers often hold large tournament for big cash prizes. Though not affiliated directly with Wizards of the Coast, the prizes are huge, they often get attendance numbers close to a PTQ, and they're often staffed by certified judges. ============================================ RESOURCES USEFUL LINKS DailyMTG.com: The official page for Magic is updated every weekday with articles from some of the most well-known people related to the game, from rules managers to Pro players to the people who make the cards you play with. You can also find tournament locations near you and information about upcoming sets. MTGSalvation.com: MTGSalvation is widely known as the source for all new-set spoilers, keeping the most up-to-date source of new rumors and spoiled cards in the weeks leading up to a new set's release. YuGiOhDad.com: After the owner of MTGMom.com became an actual mom, she quit updating her event calendar. This one, despite the misleading name, is meant to replace it. StarCityGames.com: SCG is first and foremost a web store, selling not only cards but play knowledge as well. Their webpage hosts articles from the most prolific players involved in the metagame, with some articles being free and others requiring a paid membership to their site. Magic-League.com: If you want to play in online leagues without paying for Magic Online, this is the place to look. Magic-League has thousands of players, so finding a game should never be a problem. TheManaDrain.com: One of the premier sources for Vintage information on the internet, TMD is a forum to discuss Vintage strategy and find events. MTG The Source: What The Mana Drain is to Vintage, this is to Legacy. ChannelFireball.com: Luis Scott-Vargas, one of the most celebrated Magic players of all time, writes strategy articles for this blog/online store. Like StarCityGames or any of the other online stores/blogs, it hosts high prices and high-value strategy articles - though unlike SCG.com, the strategy is free. Good Games Live: Live coverage of non-WotC big tournaments. Wizards.com Event Coverage Archive: Archived coverage of WotC tournaments. Gatherer: The official online database of every card ever printed, with up to date Oracle text, rulings, etc. If you're playing eternal formats like Vintage, Legacy, or even EDH, this is the best resource to finding out what your old cards actually do. MagicCards.info: Faster than Gatherer, with a proxy printing feature, a search for prices on major online card stores, etc. If you're looking for accurate Oracle text and/or rulings, I'd still trust the official Gatherer over this, but many players use this for its other features. DeckStats.net: Type in your decklist and get details on your curve, draw sample hands, etc. CranialInsertion.com: A weekly rules article with answers to questions submitted by players. This is the rules article that was previously on MTGSalvation. MTGTop8.com: A listing of the top decks from various tournaments, broken down by format. A must-use if you want to follow the shifting metagame. IRC There's also a Goon IRC channel for Magic on SynIRC called #mtgoon where a bunch of us lurk and occasionally bullshit about Magic, draft, play EDH, etc. If you have an urgent rules question you need answered right away, there's the #mtgrules channel on EFNet where a lot of highly qualified judges hang out. iOS APPS GoldenDelicious posted:So here are some apps I've discovered for iOS that are for Magic: The Gathering: LifeLynx fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Oct 2, 2014 |
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Sep 27, 2014 14:55
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A++ thread title
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Sep 27, 2014 15:05
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Arriving on the ground floor to say that I am really looking forward to today's SCG Open!
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Sep 27, 2014 15:06
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I was eagerly awaiting the Magic 2010 thread title.
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Sep 27, 2014 15:10
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Dr. Stab posted:I was eagerly awaiting the Magic 2010 thread title. RIP Core Set thread names.
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Sep 27, 2014 15:18
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ungulateman posted:Arriving on the ground floor to say that I am really looking forward to today's SCG Open! Me too! This is my first time speculating on cards in a long time. I held on to some Theros block staples for months, resisting the urge to trade them away or sell them when I needed cash. Now I'm in a panic - did I hoard enough/enough of the right cards?
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Sep 27, 2014 15:20
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ungulateman posted:Arriving on the ground floor to say that I am really looking forward to today's SCG Open! Ooooh yeah SCG Open is today! But how will we tell if Legacy is on, if all decks have fetches? 
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Sep 27, 2014 15:24
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Prediction for today: Black/Mardu Aggro cards all spike double or more by the end of the weekend. 4x Pain Seer in top 16. So it seems like from FNM reports last night that playing deathtouchers in this format actually helps slow down aggressive decks and midrange decks. Pharika might actually be an interesting card in a Rock Control deck.
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Sep 27, 2014 15:30
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Reid Duke is on GR Devotion! Dylan Fay is on... Reid Duke.  Reid cut his hair. Reid decklist so far: Sarhkan, Voyaging Satyr, Caryatid, Nylea God of the Hunt, Genesis Hydra, Mystic. Korak fucked around with this message at 15:37 on Sep 27, 2014 |
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Sep 27, 2014 15:34
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How many Rabblemaster decks did everyone see at FNM? I didn't play at mine, but I saw at least 20% Rabble decks.
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Sep 27, 2014 15:34
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Request to include the EDH thread in the OP: EDH/Commander Thread Discussion and decklists for the critically acclaimed 100 card singleton format featuring a legendary general.
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Sep 27, 2014 15:39
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Oh hey Reid Duke is using the G/R Devotion build. Good. I needed to figure out how to update it for Khans. I kind of want to run a See the Unwritten in there.
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Sep 27, 2014 15:42
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Korak posted:Prediction for today: Black/Mardu Aggro cards all spike double or more by the end of the weekend. 4x Pain Seer in top 16. If you have Red and aren't on the Rabblemaster plan Circle of Flame is absolute Murder on Rabble Red/Mardu Aggro decks because they have so many X/1s. Rabble Red can't do anything about it without a White splash for Erase and Mardu is stopped stone dead until it hits Butcher.
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Sep 27, 2014 15:49
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Prediction from what I seen last night, temples are about to go up in price.
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Sep 27, 2014 15:54
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Temples going up in price = never a better time to play Mono Red Sligh.
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Sep 27, 2014 15:57
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Sidisi is AWESOME. That is all. Just value city.
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Sep 27, 2014 16:03
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InterrupterJones posted:Temples going up in price = never a better time to play Mono Red Sligh. As expected, the lands still in standard go up and I'm so glad I have all mine. Confluence is probably going up too.
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Sep 27, 2014 16:04
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Disappointed that the thread title isn't "Rip N Flip all the value, Dark Confidant Edition."
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Sep 27, 2014 16:10
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InterrupterJones posted:Temples going up in price = never a better time to play Mono Red Sligh. As someone who piloted a Rabble Red list to X-1 last night, seeing a turn one/two temple made me really happy. 
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Sep 27, 2014 16:14
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Count Bleck posted:As expected, the lands still in standard go up and I'm so glad I have all mine. Already did, tcg average is up to $17 now. Some of the less used temples were $1 before and now they're all up. Glad I got confluences when they were a little under $10. I got caryatids when they were a few dollars too and recently traded them all away before they drop again.
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Sep 27, 2014 16:20
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Thread title: Yesssssssssssss. 
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Sep 27, 2014 16:24
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Why is SSG coverage so bad? They seem to only setup one camera on a match most of the time and when that match ends they usually don't have another game to go to consistently.
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Sep 27, 2014 16:31
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Fiend spotted. 
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Sep 27, 2014 16:36
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Korak posted:Fiend spotted. SPEC PAYIN' OFF! CAN'T LOSE!
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Sep 27, 2014 16:37
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Bryan Braun has 4x sorin in his azban deck. Holy poo poo. Holy poo poo that deck. I will never play it because the pricetag on that deck is gross but wow, interesting game for sure. Sickening fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Sep 27, 2014 |
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Sep 27, 2014 16:40
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Sickening posted:Bryan Braun has 4x sorin in his azban deck. Holy poo poo.
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Sep 27, 2014 16:53
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Opened the SCG Stream expecting a full day of mono-red mirror matches, pleasantly surprised to see Sultai Delve vs. Abzan Midrange! I hope this Standard season has some variety.
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Sep 27, 2014 16:58
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I think Anderson's delve deck doesn't do enough powerful stuff to be good. You need to be whipping back poo poo in that match. I really think that Sidisi is great though.
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Sep 27, 2014 17:00
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Sickening posted:Why is SSG coverage so bad? They seem to only setup one camera on a match most of the time and when that match ends they usually don't have another game to go to consistently. I would take SCG's stream quality over 99% of Wizards ones. e: Also, they don't go to another game in Round 1 usually for some reason. Most other rounds they do.
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Sep 27, 2014 17:06
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Sickening posted:Why is SSG coverage so bad? They seem to only setup one camera on a match most of the time and when that match ends they usually don't have another game to go to consistently. What MTG coverage is better than SCG? The answer in none and it's not even close heh.
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Sep 27, 2014 17:09
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Skillface posted:I would take SCG's stream quality over 99% of Wizards ones. Usually depends on time, and if their other game options are done yet or not as well.
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Sep 27, 2014 17:09
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mcmagic posted:What MTG coverage is better than SCG? The answer in none and it's not even close heh.
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Sep 27, 2014 17:15
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If we're going to see boards like this for the next 3 months then In Garruk's Wake is going to become a playable sideboard card.
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Sep 27, 2014 17:20
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Boco_T posted:If we're going to see boards like this for the next 3 months then In Garruk's Wake is going to become a playable sideboard card.
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Sep 27, 2014 17:22
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mcmagic posted:Sidisi is AWESOME. That is all. Just value city.
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Sep 27, 2014 17:24
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It feels like the Sultai decks we saw aren't doing anything powerful enough to warrant how slow they are. They really do need In Garruk's Wake or Empty the Pits or the like. Necropolis Fiend is good, but is it really any better than Polukranos, Stormbreath, or a walker suite?
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Sep 27, 2014 17:27
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Is Cruise Control a deck? Please tell me Cruise Control is a deck.
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Sep 27, 2014 17:47
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Rinkles posted:Is Cruise Control a deck? Please tell me Cruise Control is a deck.
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Sep 27, 2014 17:51
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If you're playing Mantis Rider against a deck with 2/1 and 2/2s, always block and force them to have it.
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Sep 27, 2014 17:53
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The Lord of Hats posted:It feels like the Sultai decks we saw aren't doing anything powerful enough to warrant how slow they are. They really do need In Garruk's Wake or Empty the Pits or the like. Necropolis Fiend is good, but is it really any better than Polukranos, Stormbreath, or a walker suite? Or even Extinguish All Hope, though that won't affect opposing Coursers. I like the deck, though: they don't really care about singleton removal as long as it ends up in the graveyard to fuel something else later. And I agree: as soon as I heard about Todd's deck running 4x Fiend I unconsciously flinched. EDIT: And wow, nice turnabout by the Jeskai Tempo player. Sitting at five life and attacked by a Mogis's Marauders bestowed with Spiteful Returned with a Hall of Champions in play, she drops to three from Returned's effect but used Deflecting Palm to deal 4 to her opponent and then followed up with Jeskai Charm for the kill. bhsman fucked around with this message at 18:03 on Sep 27, 2014 |
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Sep 27, 2014 17:57
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