Magic: The Gathering

Discuss everything else here

Moderator: ArcWolf

User avatar
Sleet
Bringing Foxy Back
Posts: 17291
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:32 am
Location: Nephelokokkygia
Contact:

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Sleet »

Time Stop. :3

Other than that, you just gotta use counterspells, exile, sacrifice, Pacifism effects, etc. and just eat the cast trigger, sadly. Or kill them before they get to 10 mana!
Image
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Friendly banter? Feel free to click the "PM" button below!
Therolyn
Posts: 181
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:22 am
Location: In the merry olde land of Oz!

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Therolyn »

At the Battle For Zemdikar midmight pre-release at my local store we had a hilarious situation. The first card exiled by an Ingest trigger out of all games and cards was somebodies Ulamog. It was swiftly followed with the second ingest trigger of the night, being namely me losing my Desolation Twin :O Eldrazi ingesting Eldrazi was a surprisingly common feature that night

Ingest is a surprisingly scary ability...I had one game where I was short lands because Ingest triggers hitting my land drops and I was drawing big creatures instead of land drops. the little 1/1 for 1 with ingest is a horribly nasty card to face early.
Werebilby For the Period of Easter - Please fellow Australians do not forget our little guy, the bilby
User avatar
Sleet
Bringing Foxy Back
Posts: 17291
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:32 am
Location: Nephelokokkygia
Contact:

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Sleet »

Therolyn wrote:Ingest is a surprisingly scary ability...I had one game where I was short lands because Ingest triggers hitting my land drops and I was drawing big creatures instead of land drops.
That's a common misconception. Ingest (or any type of mill, for that matter) is just as likely to steal the card you need as it is to steal the card on top of the card you need, making you draw it next. To put it another way, if your deck is fully randomized (that is, no scrying or other reordering), the top card of your library is statistically identical to the bottom card of your library. So a card that was milled/ingested might as well have been a card on the bottom that you weren't going to draw anyway. So it's not really because of ingest that you missed land drops per se; it could have just as easily been that ingest let you hit your land drops.

However, that does get at the situations when deck manipulation happens. With all the scrying going on, ingest can screw with that. "Oh, they kept the card on top? Better exile it!" I actually had a very sad day time when I played Conduit of Ruin but declined to search for my Breaker of Armies (the one-two punch that won me lots of games) because my opponent had a Benthic Infiltrator. If I had searched for it, I'd just get it ingested! Sad day. But I still won, 'cause even without that ability, Conduit of Ruin is awesome.

I ended up going 3-1 with that blue/red Eldrazi deck, and my mate went 3-1 with a white/black deck featuring the extremely brutal Quarantine Field. Then we did a second prerelease and I went 4-1 with a white/blue/black ally deck and they went 3-2 with a black/green Eldrazi deck. I won the competition between us barely that way. :P
Image
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Friendly banter? Feel free to click the "PM" button below!
Therolyn
Posts: 181
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:22 am
Location: In the merry olde land of Oz!

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Therolyn »

I tend to usually get pretty unlucky against mill strategies. It may be because of the way I shuffle as well, I find my decks like to clump even after significant shuffling, usually towards the less than average land drop rate. As a result I tend to favor lower costed cards these days in my decks, unless I can be pretty sure of reliably getting out something. I also tend to stick away from heavily multicolored cards like Siege Rhino since even with fixing I find that my base seems unreliable. Its actually surprisingly common for me to have a hand with just 1 or 2 lands, even with a 60 card deck with 24 lands in it!

The big Eldrazi tend to do fine in the limited format. I can't say I did too well in the pre-releases I done, I went like 1-3 (although not recorded many as such due to ID's and such, I still play hard in my games even under ID conditions and to me its still has some importancehow I do in those matches) in two of the four I did. However the card store I go to is usually pretty casual when at pre-releases, few go bashing for boosters and usually most folks walk any with a similar amount. I tend to go for intentional draws (ID's) or gentlemen's agreements in pre-releases (I see pre-releases as a more laid back event where people can get a feel for the set coming in). This time around I was only had to "bash" once, which remarkably enough was my only round win in that particular prerelease.

I've done and tested out my new basic deck I'll be using in the new standard which I have codenamed "Seymour Butts". It seems surprisingly effective against aggro style play, able to sponge up a lot of damage. Highlight of its first day of testing at the card store was a control player using two Languish to attempt to wipe my board of 2 creatures and failing in the attempt. Its also capable of a surprisingly quick kill and it very cheap card monetary cost wise. However control kills it, I lack draw and its overall reliant on a single card coming out. A lot of people that were there today were pretty impressed.

And most importantly it plays to the spirit of an old White/Blue (casual) deck I once had that was also surprisingly resilient for its time. Back when I would do some crazy things. And sometimes those crazy things would work :)
Werebilby For the Period of Easter - Please fellow Australians do not forget our little guy, the bilby
User avatar
Sleet
Bringing Foxy Back
Posts: 17291
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:32 am
Location: Nephelokokkygia
Contact:

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Sleet »

Nobody "tends to get [un]lucky." You should approach the game as if you have the same luck as everybody else (which you do). The idea that your shuffling hampers you is an illusion; the more you shuffle, that's never a bad thing. Nothing wrong with trying to make fast, consistent decks, though. Magic isn't about removing the variance so much as making the best of it.

Keep in mind draws are only worth 1/3 of a win, so drawing is worse than trying to go for a win on average. The only time it's good to agree to a draw is if you've gotten to a certain threshold in the standings you're looking for and a draw will get you to it but a loss won't.

I'm working on a Standard enchantress/landfall hybrid deck. It seems like it might have some potential to it, though I've got some concern over just how strong it is. I only need it to make top 8 at Game Day, though, so I'm not super worried about making a top-tier deck. As long as it's affordable! Which it is, since I already have 20 fetchlands and don't need to buy/trade for those.
Image
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Friendly banter? Feel free to click the "PM" button below!
Therolyn
Posts: 181
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:22 am
Location: In the merry olde land of Oz!

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Therolyn »

I never do intentional draws outside of the pre-release. I just do it at that time because I'm not directly scoring for victories or more boosters before the set is legal. Its the time where I can try out things and have fun without having anything on the line, where I can do weird and wonderful things with my batch of cards but not feel bad if my ideas turn out to be bad. While I'm well known as the people who plays the wierd janky stuff, I also put all in every game (or I try). Its very rare for me to pull punches even in casual games. Too competitive for casual and too casual for competitive is a very apt description of me when it comes to card games in general.

I will admit that naturally pessimistic overlook may cloud my views on my own shuffling and draws. But its one of my big frustrations with most decks I design. In the past lack of land was a large problem in my design. But these days, I'm not so tight on lands as I once was. And yet the 2 land hand, followed by at lease two missed land drops after turn 2 scenario is disturbingly common for me, no matter the land count in the deck. Maybe its luck, not enough randomization, a bad curve, bad choices of cards or more than one of those. With Seymour Butts its problem is too much dependence on certain cards. Its land spread is pretty bad too. Both of those I can fix over time as I work out the optimal base. But other decks suffered heavily

But what I mean by shuffling for me, is my shuffling style doesn't randomize it enough and I possibly don't shuffle enough.

Seems interesting. I have my own landfall related deck in the works but I've yet to have much of the stuff to assemble it as I didn't pull certain cards I needed (I don't buy singles generally, I tend to build with what I pull, which is why I tend to lack certain things that most have, big example: Dig Through Time). I hope your deck's potential can truly shine :) Good luck for Game Day (I don't know if i'll play for Game Day, recently I've skipped them, but I have reconsidered a few times)
Werebilby For the Period of Easter - Please fellow Australians do not forget our little guy, the bilby
User avatar
Sleet
Bringing Foxy Back
Posts: 17291
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:32 am
Location: Nephelokokkygia
Contact:

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Sleet »

That's fair! Though there's one other time it's reasonable to intentionally draw: When you both choose to mulligan, you can agree to instead agree to draw that game (not the match), so you can both draw 7 instead of 6. That's not ideal, strategically speaking (since you give a choice to the opponent), but if you hate playing with mulligans it may be worth doing.

One of the important milestones in getting better is learning to let go of irrational emotional responses to random chance. It's not your fault, or your deck's fault, if you get unlucky and don't draw what you want. Just work on optimizing your deck using good practices, and make sure to shuffle thoroughly. That's all you need to worry about. The rest will come!

Thanks! I probably won't end up going since I'm visiting my mate that weekend, but there's a small chance they want me to do Game Day with them. :P
Image
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Friendly banter? Feel free to click the "PM" button below!
User avatar
Deske
Posts: 4357
Joined: Sat Jul 05, 2014 3:21 am
Location: Pacific Southwest, warmer than the midwest...

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Deske »

Time to invade with newb questions.

How does one get into Magic?
How much money should I drop on the basics and maybe a little extra?
Is it like Hearthstone but more in depth, because I've only played 4 games of Hearthstone?
Therolyn
Posts: 181
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:22 am
Location: In the merry olde land of Oz!

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Therolyn »

I'll try to answer what I can.

There's a few ways one can get into Magic. Myself I was introduced by a friend who bought me an intro deck about nearly 15 years ago. These days most trading card/gaming stores will have an active Magic: The Gathering playerbase who will often be seen around. The employees of the card store may be willing to teach a new player how to play if they are not busy. If you're still at school/college/university, sometimes there will be a group of active players that form a club or just will play in lunch breaks/free periods etc. Otherwise if you wish to try before getting really into it you can always get one of the Magic The Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers pc games. I don't know if there's tutorials in them however. The newest one is called Magic Duels: Origins and can be tried out for free on Steam. Its said to be a step back from the other pc games of the series but its a easy way to get a taste of how the game itself is like. On the Wizards of The Coast website they have an application that can locate the closest store that hosts events. Those places can be great places to learn. Its not too uncommon to see folks wander into the local store in my area who think it looks interesting and for a staff member of the store or a regular to sit down and teach them the basics. The hardest part is finding the groups that play.

Generally, the cost of acquiring the basics for playing Magic isn't too expensive for the new player. Its pretty easy to get a good deck for less than $20(in my home country). It can get expensive if you decide to branch out. Depending on circumstances it can be quite expensive. Depending on the community it might be easier or harder (the players in my local area for example will often give the cards they don't need from drafts after they are done to new players)

I've never played Hearthstone, so I can't really determine if they are similar, but with 25 years worth of cards and sets behind it if its doesn't have depth then i'd been playing the wrong card game for a LONG time :P
Werebilby For the Period of Easter - Please fellow Australians do not forget our little guy, the bilby
User avatar
Sleet
Bringing Foxy Back
Posts: 17291
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:32 am
Location: Nephelokokkygia
Contact:

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Sleet »

The best way to start is to play Magic Duals on Steam or whatever other platforms it's on. It's free to play (you really don't have to pay for anything) and it's a fantastic tutorial for the rules. If you're convinced you like it, then it's not hard to pick up from there!

What you choose to spend depends largely on how you want to play. In tournaments (even small ones)? With friends only? You can play Magic pretty cheap if you play with friends.
Image
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Friendly banter? Feel free to click the "PM" button below!
Therolyn
Posts: 181
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:22 am
Location: In the merry olde land of Oz!

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Therolyn »

I drafted with a couple of mates a few days ago one of the local stores cubes (it was a proxied cube, with the power 9 in it).

Managed in one of the games to bring a Blightsteel Colossus onto the battlefield on my first turn.

It was so bad, yet so glorious!
Werebilby For the Period of Easter - Please fellow Australians do not forget our little guy, the bilby
User avatar
Sleet
Bringing Foxy Back
Posts: 17291
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:32 am
Location: Nephelokokkygia
Contact:

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Sleet »

Black Lotus, Mox/Sol Ring, Tinker?
Image
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Friendly banter? Feel free to click the "PM" button below!
Therolyn
Posts: 181
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:22 am
Location: In the merry olde land of Oz!

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Therolyn »

Was first turn Forest, play Black Lotus and Fastbond, play three more lands (including a shockland, ended up taking 5 damage in the process) because of Fastbond then Tinker sacrificing Black Lotus as the additional requirement for Tinker. Much more inefficient, but it was there.

I was playing Simic, with a heavy artifact focus. Slight white splash for Swords to Plowshares which was included because I also had Isochron Scepter and wanted other valid cards other than Mana Drain and Ancestral Recall to imprint.
Werebilby For the Period of Easter - Please fellow Australians do not forget our little guy, the bilby
User avatar
Sleet
Bringing Foxy Back
Posts: 17291
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:32 am
Location: Nephelokokkygia
Contact:

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Sleet »

That's crazy! I've never played a powered cube before. My friend has a common/uncommon cube though, and that's pretty fun to play!
Image
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Friendly banter? Feel free to click the "PM" button below!
User avatar
Silly Zealot
Posts: 1770
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 2:48 am
Location: The land of the dulce de leche!

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Silly Zealot »

Even though I'm purely in it for the lore/plot/story, I've ground really fond of this game, and the Return to Dominaria story arc/card set is really living up to the hype!
20th century fox? Given that this is the year 2020, that fox must be dead by now. Sadface! : (

I'm telling you, hyenas ARE canines too!
User avatar
Sleet
Bringing Foxy Back
Posts: 17291
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:32 am
Location: Nephelokokkygia
Contact:

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Sleet »

Dominaria is awesome! :D Do you play the game at all, though?
Image
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Friendly banter? Feel free to click the "PM" button below!
User avatar
Silly Zealot
Posts: 1770
Joined: Mon Mar 18, 2013 2:48 am
Location: The land of the dulce de leche!

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Silly Zealot »

Nay. I used to play trading card games when I was at younger, but pokemon and later yu-gi-oh where the ones we kids were most enthusiastic about. Haha.
I'm sure I'd like it if I tried it out, though.
20th century fox? Given that this is the year 2020, that fox must be dead by now. Sadface! : (

I'm telling you, hyenas ARE canines too!
Therolyn
Posts: 181
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:22 am
Location: In the merry olde land of Oz!

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Therolyn »

Trading card games are these days the only real time I get out and socialize with folks.

Dominaria really had some fun stuff to build with. Sadly thus far I don't have what I need to build what I want to build at the moment. I'm getting there however.

I tend to prefer playing the Commander format over Standard, more fun stuff that can be done ;)
Werebilby For the Period of Easter - Please fellow Australians do not forget our little guy, the bilby
User avatar
Sleet
Bringing Foxy Back
Posts: 17291
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:32 am
Location: Nephelokokkygia
Contact:

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Sleet »

Those aren't the only options, mind you! You can play with whatever cards you want even under normal rules, after all!

I play lots of Commander, but the problem with just playing Commander is there are so many cool cards you don't get to play because they're too small and low-impact for such a crazy format, so I like playing regular Magic as well. I don't play Standard, though.
Image
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Friendly banter? Feel free to click the "PM" button below!
Therolyn
Posts: 181
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:22 am
Location: In the merry olde land of Oz!

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Therolyn »

I wouldn't mind putting back together my old B/W Stab Wound deck from RTR/Theros block. :twisted: Extremely slow, but I like to win by weird ways.

Sadly most of my friendbase is pretty much not the kitchen table sort. They aren't serious by any means, but they tend to stick to the Standard, Commander and Draft formats. I haven't had a truly casual deck for at least 3 years although I could count my old pure colourless Eldrazi/Artifact deck from a pervoius standard as one now.

This is what I run as decks for the moment, they aren't considered particularly competitive, but I m well known at my local card store for playing unusual deck types that aren't the meta and giving them weird names.

Standard
B/R Hollow One Cycling
R/W Comsuming Ferver Aggro with First Strike as a major theme
G/B "Death-kuan-do" Deathfight (Deathtouch with green "fight" cards)
Werebilby For the Period of Easter - Please fellow Australians do not forget our little guy, the bilby
User avatar
Sleet
Bringing Foxy Back
Posts: 17291
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:32 am
Location: Nephelokokkygia
Contact:

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Sleet »

Ah man I love good old fashioned casual Magic. I've got 22 such decks~
Image
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Friendly banter? Feel free to click the "PM" button below!
Therolyn
Posts: 181
Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:22 am
Location: In the merry olde land of Oz!

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Therolyn »

Man, and here I was thinking that having 11 Commander decks was a lot :P

Bought out the the Deathfight standard deck at my local card store yesterday for FNM, and went 3-1-0, Best result with it thus far. The locals are rather casual compared to the average place, so my rather unusual deck creation leads me to decent success. biggest highlight of my night was the close matches with the local mono-red player, who pushed me to the edge.
Werebilby For the Period of Easter - Please fellow Australians do not forget our little guy, the bilby
User avatar
Sleet
Bringing Foxy Back
Posts: 17291
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 1:32 am
Location: Nephelokokkygia
Contact:

Re: Magic: The Gathering

Post by Sleet »

It's always fun to make your own decks. :3 It's part of the fun of Magic to me!
Image
Questions? Comments? Concerns? Friendly banter? Feel free to click the "PM" button below!
Post Reply