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 Welcome to the Sixteenth Edition of the Magic: The Gathering Megathread! A link to the previous thread. LifeLynx wrote most of the following stuff, which I've edited for the new thread. Thanks, LifeLynx! We have just had a new Set Rotation, with the release of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, and four sets leaving Standard, so it's a good time to start a new thread! Magic: The Gathering is a collectible card game (CCG) where you build or draft a deck of cards and then battle one or more opponents. It's the original CCG, and has been played by millions of people around the world since 1993. According to the game lore, 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. The sources of magical power in the game are 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. In addition to casual play, tournaments of varying levels are held regularly at almost every game store, and major events all around the world. 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. You can buy individual cards from your game store or online, and there are viable decks in most formats that you can build for less than a hundred dollars (and some, such as "pauper", you can assemble for just a few bucks). A bewildering array of different packs and boxes and editions of cards are avaialble at retail and you can always pour money in that way if you like (especially if you would like to try drafting with the "Limited" format), but most people will agree that buying the single cards you need for a specific deck is a better bang for your buck... though that lacks the gambling-thrill of cracking open sealed packs. You can also play online! Magic: The Gathering Arena ('Arena' or MTGA) and Magic: The Gathering Online (MTGO) are two widely-used and well-supported platforms. Most people just getting into Magic go for Arena these days: it doesn't have cards from older sets, but if you want to play Standard formats, it's the best option. Arena is free-to-play, you can pour money into buying resources to accumulate cards quickly or you can just play casually and gradually accumulate what you need to build the decks you want to play without spending anything. MTGO is free to try but costs $4.99 a month for full features, lets you buy and sell digital cards in-game, and supports formats like Vintage that require older cards that don't exist in Arena. If you want the full-on total-card-set experience (in an older, clunkier UI with worse graphics and filled with hardcore magic nerds), check out MTGO. ============================================ THREAD RULES AND GUIDELINES All Trad Games and SA posting rules apply. In addition, please understand that after hundreds of thousands of posts, there are some specific arguments that most posters are really done with re-hashing: Industry News: You can post relevant news about Wizards of the Coast, game designers, social media personalities focused on Magic, etc. if you think there's something worthy of a short discussion. However, extended "industry chat" belongs in the TG as an Industry thread. Especially if there's gonna be a contentious fight about it. Cracking Packs Is Stupid: You will almost always pay more for a pack of cards, than the cards inside sell for individually. If you're playing a constructed format, you'll save money by buying singletons. That said, some people really like opening packs, and it is officially OK for them to post about it. It's a form of gambling, or just a fun surprise, whatever. Please do not poo poo all over people who choose to crack packs, and post about it. If someone claims they know this one weird trick to making money by cracking packs, they're probably getting ahold of packs at way below retail prices, or cracking packs that are from some very limited or out of print edition... or trying to get you to buy in to a scam. If you or someone you know may have a gambling problem, please check the resources in this thread over in the Poker forum, they're fantastic. "Playable" has a narrow meaning here: When a poster says a card is or isn't "playable" they probably mean: it does or does not serve in a constructed deck capable of winning matches at a competitive (e.g. tournament) level. They do not mean the card can't be included in your casual, kitchen-table, or even low-ranked online play formats. That said, people are notoriously bad at card evaluation, especially during pre-release spoilers, so please give each other some slack when it comes to posting opinions about what cards may or may not be good and/or "playable" during spoilers. They're Ruining Magic! It's Doomed!: Magic: The Gathering is the most profitable Trad Game around the world and it is not going away any time soon. If they're printing cards you hate, fair enough: you can say so, and you can say why. But please, nobody really wants to explain to yet another poster how this latest Secret Lair is not, in fact, dooming the game or the company to oblivion. Perhaps it's the last straw for you, and if so, that's your call to make... but don't expect many posters to follow. We are also completely done with re-hashing the problematic nature of the Walking Dead Secret Lair cards. Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro Sucks: Yes. There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. This company has, and likely will in the future, make really lovely hiring and firing choices, abuse employees, ruin the environment, screw over customers, and sell a gambling product that exploits people's addictions and rips people off. Everyone who plays Magic or spends money on Magic must contend with their own moral compass. If you want to engage in this discussion, it belongs in the TG as an Industry thread, not here. ============================================ OTHER THREADS You can talk about anything to do with Magic in this thread, but there are some other threads focused on specific areas of Magic play that you may also enjoy: Magic: the Gathering Arena Thread (in the Games forum) This very popular high-traffic thread is for the online free-to-play game, Magic: The Gathering Arena. Talk about Magic microtransactions here! Arena uses some wacky formats, prioritizes Best of One tournament styles, and attracts players of all skill levels, so the metagame can be drastically different than paper. The Arena thread does a lot of deck and draft evaluation stuff, so if you're looking for advice on your latest Arena draft, that's the place to go. Commander Thread (Trad Games) This popular thread is focused on Magic's most popular, most casual format: Commander, also known as Elder Dragon Highlander or EDH. The thread has a casual feel that reflects the casual nature of the format. The Magic: the Gathering Buying and Selling/Trading Thread (SA Mart) Don't deal with eBay or some random third-party insecure site for your physical 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. The Magic: the Gathering Limited Thread (Trad Games) This very low-traffic thread is dedicated to draft and sealed discussion. 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. If there hasn't been a post in months, don't worry, post anyway! MtG Eternal Thread (Trad Games) This thread is also very low traffic, but if you want to have an extended discussion on Eternal formats Legacy, Vintage, and honorary "Eternal" format Modern, this is a good place for that focused conversation. M:tG Cube: The Most Expensive Free Magic Money Can Buy (Trad Games) Hey, another super-low-traffic thread! But go ahead and 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 Formats are fully explained on magic.wizards.com here I'll explain a handful of the most popular formats, but check that link for the rest: there's about 20 listed formats to try, plus... Casual: Anything goes. Despite being the least talked-about format and not even mentioned by Wizards on their page, mostly because it's not really a "format", casual play may be the most common 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. but if you just want to play, you can just get your mitts on a pile of cards and play, no special format rules required. Constructed formats include... Standard: One of the easiest formats to get into, if someone doesn't mention the format they're playing, it's probably assumed to be Standard. Since it consists of nothing but the last two years worth of Standard-legal sets to be published, finding cards is relatively easy. Standard is the most popular sanctioned constructed format, played at most game stores every Friday night, and is the primary game played on Arena and MTGO. Vintage: The most powerful decks that can be created reside here in "Type 1" where almost all Magic cards ever printed are legal, going back to the earliest days of 1993's wildly imbalanced release. The insanely high expense of rare 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, although many games of Vintage allow proxies. There is restricted list for this format which controls it somewhat, but it's still an absurd format mostly for Magic's power-gamer set. 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. Pauper: While Pauper is most popular on Magic Online, it does see some interest in the real world as well. Using only commons and cards reprinted as commons on Magic Online, it is the cheapest constructed format available. Here's a good FAQ to get started. ...and many more. Drafted formats usually referred to as "Limited" include... Booster Draft: This format, popular on Arena and at game stores, has each player purchasing three sealed 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 build a minimum 40-card deck using their drafted cards plus as many extra basic land cards as they want. Some players consider booster drafting to be the best test of a Magic player's skill. Arena has a special "quick draft" option, in which you draft against a the computer AI, and then play against human players, that can be a nice option if you want to have no time pressure while you peruse every card in the pack, look up card rankings online, etc. Sealed Deck:In sealed deck, a player gets six packs. With those cards, plus 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). High-level limited tournaments are often sealed deck, with booster drafts as their top 8 playoffs. 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 curated cards, which can include high-powered vintage cards like the Power 9, or could be a thematic or pauper cube. 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 often take great pride in their cube, and may try to collect foil versions of every card, making their cube cost more than the average Vintage deck. Once you have a good sized collection of your own Magic cards, you could try assembling your own Cube for you and your friends to try drafting from! ============================================ WHERE TO PLAY In 2020, Covid-19 swept the world, and in-person magic became a life-threatening option in most countries, including the US. Now, as of September 2021, in-person magic is becoming a thing again even in countries like the US where variants of the pandemic are still raging. Fully vaccinated and masked, you may feel the risks of public gatherings for Magic are acceptable; and hopefully in the near future, those risks will receed. 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. Competition is usually pretty lax at FNMs, with (hopefully) friendly players and a fun atmosphere. There's a special promo given out to some players at every FNM, and you can see the current month's here. Many stores also participate in FNM on Arena, where you can play and earn prizes awarded by your local store. Prereleases: The week before a new set comes out, players can experience it early in a Prerelease Event. Prizes are usually small, because the real prize is getting to see and play with the new cards for the first time. Magic Fests: Giant celebrations of Magic that happen in and around large cities. If you feel like travelling or there's one near you, they're insanely large events full of Magic players, side events, and Grand Prix type tournaments. Competitive Level Play: Wizards has radically curtailed its support for "professional level" tournament players, but there are still high-level tournaments from time to time, with varying prize support. Check https://www.magic.gg/ for officially-supported esport events like the World Championships. ============================================ USEFUL LINKS Articles & Info 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. MythicSpoiler: By far the best source for spoilers - the pre-release previews of cards in upcoming sets. Typically all of a given set's cards are spoilered by dozens of different media outlets, twitter accounts, youtubers, etc. for a couple of weeks before each release - you can get them all in one place, here. CranialInsertion.com: A weekly rules article with answers to questions submitted by players. This is the rules article that was previously on MTGSalvation. 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. Premodernmagic.com: A community-created constructed format consisting of the sets from 4th edition to Scourge, roughly 1995-2003, with just 32 banned cards. If you've got old cards from this era, check it out! Tolarian Community College is... uh... youtubes, they're funny and advice, I guess? I don't know. Silhouette said to link this. Tools Scryfall: The best and most comprehensive search engine for Magic cards. The official tool is Gatherer, but Gatherer sucks in comparison, just use Scryfall. 17Lands: An Arena companion tool that automatically tracks your drafts and your constructed decks, providing statistics, easy card lists, leaderboards, and replays. EDHREC: A great tool for Commander/EDH players. Get suggestions based on whatever you want to play in the format! MTG Goldfish: Another metagame analysis site. Very comprehensive! DeckStats.net: Type in your decklist and get details on your curve, draw sample hands, etc. Autocard anywhere is a vital browser plugin that recognizes card names on any site, and gives you a card preview popup on hoverover. 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. Moxfield: A deck-building site with a very clean and friendly interface. It’ll also automatically generate commander deck recommendations based on https://edhrec.com Dawnglare Visualizer is an excellent tool for quickly evaluating your old cards to find the ones worth money. Just select the set or sets you're looking at and it'll show you pictures of the cards sorted in columns by approximate current street price. Dawnglare also has a Price change tracker so you can see how much less your borderless Teferi, Who Slows the Sunset is worth now than it was last week! Discord An unofficial Goon MTG Discord server is here: https://discord.gg/5tsv4tmBdE. This is not part of SA, please participate at your own risk. Contact mods or admins if goons are doing bad things to you on discord, don't post it in the thread. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 05:15 on Sep 11, 2023 |
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Sep 18, 2021 18:00
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Just had a good draft
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Sep 18, 2021 18:02
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Time posted:Just had a good draft Nice. Big same. Gonna take this post to shoutout 17lands. It tracks your draft record, but also all your picks, deckbuilding, and also your games. Pretty sweet.
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Sep 18, 2021 18:04
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Just gonna drop this back in here because I am still  in about it:
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Sep 18, 2021 18:07
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Just noticed the symbols on her laptop are wrong. Interesting touch or ridiculous blunder?
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Sep 18, 2021 18:18
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Ground floor
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Sep 18, 2021 18:23
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Baller Ina posted:Just noticed the symbols on her laptop are wrong. Interesting touch or ridiculous blunder? Lol you're right. It's uncentered and also perfectly horizontal despite the laptop being tilted a bit. 
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Sep 18, 2021 18:26
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Baller Ina posted:Just noticed the symbols on her laptop are wrong. Interesting touch or ridiculous blunder? Probably means the ad agency that received a small box of magic the gathering stickers to use as set dressing for this shoot didn't pay close attention, and the marketing staffer at wizards who approved the ad photos either didn't notice, or didn't care enough to get someone to photoshop the image to fix it.
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Sep 18, 2021 18:27
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premodern in the op my god we've made it baby we've gone condo
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Sep 18, 2021 18:28
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Hey guys this game is still fun after almost 30 years what the gently caress
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Sep 18, 2021 18:40
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I know, right? I slapped this junk together last night. It has exactly one combo and if you don't draw it by turn five or six you're probably dead, but if you can get one (or two!) barbarian classes out, plus something with valuable ETB, push one Barb Class up to level 3 (for Haste) and then slap down Delina, mash the attack button, and roll a poo poo load of dice as your assault goes wide wider widerer wiiidderrerrr and so far I've done that three times and gotten a concession every time. Twice with Swarming Goblins, once with Ogre Battedriver (who replaces the need for level 3 on barbarian). Deck 4 Delina, Wild Mage (AFR) 138 24 Mountain (MID) 383 4 Barbarian Class (AFR) 131 4 Swarming Goblins (AFR) 162 2 Plundering Barbarian (AFR) 158 3 Basalt Ravager (KHM) 122 3 Goblin Gang Leader (ANB) 70 2 Ogre Battledriver (ANB) 80 2 Doomskar Titan (KHM) 130 2 Earth-Cult Elemental (AFR) 141 2 Red Dragon (AFR) 160 4 Fireblade Charger (ZNR) 139 2 Hobgoblin Captain (AFR) 148 2 Relic Robber (ZNR) 153 I spent three Rare wildcards for Delinas and the rest is just what I had already, YMMV.
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Sep 18, 2021 18:53
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Gramps posted:Hey guys this game is still fun after almost 30 years what the gently caress Extremely fun.
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Sep 18, 2021 18:55
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Yawgmoth posted:Just gonna drop this back in here because I am still Big "turn on your monitor" energy. (Turn off? I never remember that insult right.) I've 1-3'd my last two drafts, and I did much better in AFR. I need to check 17lands for what I'm doing wrong... during the draft. During the game I'm passing the turn and royally messing up the day/night tracker.
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Sep 18, 2021 18:55
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I played sealed and now remember why i hate sealed
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Sep 18, 2021 19:00
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I love some of the experimental decks appearing with the new standard. Just people throwing poo poo together and trying to make something stick. Still tons of optimized stuff but way more wacky bullshit for now. I much prefer this chaotic and unknown form of magic rather than the one where you try to do something creative but instead get your face caved in by embercleave on turn 3. That fucker, anax, bonecrusher and torbran are gone now, thankfully, but I'm sure something will rise to claim the aggro throne soon enough.
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Sep 18, 2021 19:04
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Captain Invictus posted:I love some of the experimental decks appearing with the new standard. Just people throwing poo poo together and trying to make something stick. Still tons of optimized stuff but way more wacky bullshit for now. Bant Party is absolutely bonkers right now
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Sep 18, 2021 19:10
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mandatory lesbian posted:I played sealed and now remember why i hate sealed The sealed experience.
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Sep 18, 2021 19:19
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Personally I don't know what possesses people to play Sealed after all these years e: aside from a pre-release where you're just there to Crack Open Some Packs
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Sep 18, 2021 19:28
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Eej posted:Personally I don't know what possesses people to play Sealed after all these years Id rather pre-release draft, bc im arena only until...well i guess forever lol, america aint doing anything to stop covid. Irl play i like sealed bc its super cas but without actual interaction its very boring lol
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Sep 18, 2021 19:30
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first page lmfao : fingerguns: 
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Sep 18, 2021 19:32
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Do people play sealed outside of pre-release?
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Sep 18, 2021 19:40
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Doug Baldwin, Super Bowl champion Wide Receiver taught the whole Seahawks locker room Magic. And he plays UW mother-may-I control.
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Sep 18, 2021 19:41
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Hi new thread! What is your favorite obscure (or not-so-obscure) MTG slang/nickname/jargon? I'm a fan of bicycle lands.
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Sep 18, 2021 19:49
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Fantastic Foreskin posted:Do people play sealed outside of pre-release? If you can't get enough players for a draft, it seems fine. I play sealed when playing 1v1 with a friend, since we both like limited. We either open packs or use a cube one of us has built.
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Sep 18, 2021 19:49
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I know there’s a Commander thread but it may be good to have it here too - I am a goon that is a “content creator” in the Magic space. You can find me on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/c/CommanderMechanic and on Twitter @CMDRMechanic A few thousand people seem to enjoy my stuff so check it out
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Sep 18, 2021 19:49
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say no to scurvy posted:Hi new thread! Barn, hull, ranch. Alternatively, :trey: :wise: and :west:.
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Sep 18, 2021 19:52
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say no to scurvy posted:Hi new thread! I call these deez lands because when your opponent asks why the card comes in untapped you point to your two basics and say deez lands right here
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Sep 18, 2021 20:01
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Mae posted:I call these deez lands because when your opponent asks why the card comes in untapped you point to your two basics and say deez lands right here 
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Sep 18, 2021 20:06
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Leperflesh posted:Probably means the ad agency that received a small box of magic the gathering stickers to use as set dressing for this shoot didn't pay close attention, and the marketing staffer at wizards who approved the ad photos either didn't notice, or didn't care enough to get someone to photoshop the image to fix it. The weird thing is that they are in the correct sequence, just rotated two counterclockwise turns.
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Sep 18, 2021 20:10
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I really need to prune down my physical collection. Anyone have any ideas what I can do with 150 copies of llanowar elves? Actually somewhat considering trying to make those 3d alter abacus life counter things at some point, though I dunno if the market for those really exists for cards that aren't emblematic rares for decks or what have you.
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Sep 18, 2021 20:18
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Nighthand posted:I really need to prune down my physical collection. Anyone have any ideas what I can do with 150 copies of llanowar elves? Cast glimpse and find a way to give them haste?
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Sep 18, 2021 20:23
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ground floorFantastic Foreskin posted:Do people play sealed outside of pre-release? yeah, idg why, but they do
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Sep 18, 2021 20:25
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Nighthand posted:I really need to prune down my physical collection. Anyone have any ideas what I can do with 150 copies of llanowar elves?
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Sep 18, 2021 20:25
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 This extremely dire ad should not be missed
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Sep 18, 2021 20:30
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say no to scurvy posted:Hi new thread! counter a spell? basically a time walk kill a creature? basically a time walk also calling that new 2G t: G for each creature elf "Guy, a cradle"
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Sep 18, 2021 20:46
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Shrecknet posted:also calling that new 2G t: G for each creature elf "Guy, a cradle"
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Sep 18, 2021 20:54
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Anyone testing out werewolves right now? Been having trouble with removal heavy decks and was wondering if I should wait to try them later or if I'm missing something.
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Sep 18, 2021 20:55
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Elblanco posted:Anyone testing out werewolves right now? Been having trouble with removal heavy decks and was wondering if I should wait to try them later or if I'm missing something.
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Sep 18, 2021 21:01
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Yawgmoth posted:If it's a big enough problem, you could try out Snakeskin Veil to protect your really important guys. Otherwise I think it's just a matter of running enough of the "when this hits, draw a card" stuff to out-value them. Yeah if you're on the play and manage to swing with Werewolf Pack Leader and Reckless Stormseeker turn 3 you're usually off to the races
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Sep 18, 2021 21:38
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 03:39 |
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Page one posting Rated 1, moving on, gas thread Edit; Sealed is the People's Format, truly egalitarian
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Sep 18, 2021 21:52
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