You know what irritates me? Fanboys who get all worked up if someone points out flaws in their favorite game and ignore any alternative without giving it a try. If that kind of thinking was prevalent, we'd still be in the stone age hunting dire bears (or is that bares?) with pointed sticks - because pointed sticks "are popular and lots of people really like them". Sheesh!
Getting back into Magic: The Gathering after a loooong hiatus
Dire Bare
Legend
We're both name-calling now, and I apologize for getting that ball rolling. We're also derailing the thread. The OP didn't ask, "Hey, what's your opinion on Magic?", but rather, "Hey, give me advice on getting back into Magic!" You threadcrapped, and I got all butthurt about it and overreacted.
But, you didn't. You didn't point out any perceived flaws in the game (not that anybody asked for them), you just crapped on Magic and CCGs in general because they're "popular" and "not the best".
If you personally don't care for Magic, or at least prefer other card games, that's fine of course. The only "deck-building" game I've gotten into is Cryptozoic's DC superheroes game, but I hear lots of good things about FFG's LCGs and similar games from other companies. But, this isn't the thread for discussing the pros and cons of various tabletop card games.
You're right, I didn't, my apologies. I got confused because I was involved in an almost identical discussion in a different forum (the Spellweaver online card game's).
Fair enough.
Cristian Andreu
Explorer
If someone enjoys MTG, that seems like a perfectly valid reason to play it. It doesn't mean you have to automatically dislike all alternatives; games like these are often enjoyable for a series of different elements, such as rules, flavour, playstyle, community, formats, flexibility, collectivity, etc, so it's quite reasonable to find value in some of those aspects enough as to make it attractive to play.
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nicaetinismo
First Post
if the OP is still looking for a way to get into magic these days on the cheap, the commander decks (and edh format) is a good way to both get a solid deck and a great gameplay experience through a multiplayer game.
if you're just looking for an intro-style deck to play 1v1, the planeswalker decks are a good starting point for that. they come out with 2 per set these days, so theres plenty of options!
if you're just looking for an intro-style deck to play 1v1, the planeswalker decks are a good starting point for that. they come out with 2 per set these days, so theres plenty of options!
Xaelvaen
Stuck in the 90s
I'll add that the last time I played MtG was "Urza's Saga" series, and the cards were becoming ridiculously overpowered compared to the old cards I liked collecting. Then again I had a Sliver Deck which was just obscene. What's the power bloat like these days? Have they reigned in it?
As a casual, non-tournament player, does the addition of each new series continue to have "game-breaking" combinations you have to look out for (Sliver Queen, Ashnods Altar, etc, etc), or has the re-balancing mentioned earlier on helped tackle these age-old issues? I don't say any of this with negativity intended, mind you, just with all the hype around the Ravnica campaign coming out, MtG's been on my mind a lot, and I can't say I haven't been curious about poking at the new cards a bit...
As a casual, non-tournament player, does the addition of each new series continue to have "game-breaking" combinations you have to look out for (Sliver Queen, Ashnods Altar, etc, etc), or has the re-balancing mentioned earlier on helped tackle these age-old issues? I don't say any of this with negativity intended, mind you, just with all the hype around the Ravnica campaign coming out, MtG's been on my mind a lot, and I can't say I haven't been curious about poking at the new cards a bit...
Nytmare
David Jose
Yeah, I was going to suggest either a single draft and then everyone dukes it out with that closed set of cards, a continuous draft where everyone just throws their cards back into the mix for a new round of drafting whenever the games start feeling stale, or just making a single table deck that everyone draws from.
For the kind of Magic you're playing, I'm always a big fan of a limited card pool so that no one ever feels like one person is beating everyone else up cause they're hooked on buying new cards and introducing them into the environment.
ANOTHER option (the one that my (weeklyish) gaming group has been using to fill the "wait for everyone else to show up" minutes for the last 15+ish years is this: http://www.guild.net/~nytmare/suck/ Essentially it's a complicated set of rules for everyone to make the absolute worst deck that they can, and then when you sit down to play you give one of the OTHER players your crappy deck and try to beat them with one of theirs.
For the kind of Magic you're playing, I'm always a big fan of a limited card pool so that no one ever feels like one person is beating everyone else up cause they're hooked on buying new cards and introducing them into the environment.
ANOTHER option (the one that my (weeklyish) gaming group has been using to fill the "wait for everyone else to show up" minutes for the last 15+ish years is this: http://www.guild.net/~nytmare/suck/ Essentially it's a complicated set of rules for everyone to make the absolute worst deck that they can, and then when you sit down to play you give one of the OTHER players your crappy deck and try to beat them with one of theirs.
I last played during Ice Age. The sets that came out immediately after were Chronicles and Homeland I think, and they were dull. Watching a game last year I was shocked that now players have ways of getting 10 mana out by turn 2. The pressure to strike fast is too great to allow silly strategies like my beloved Orcish Squatters or my Personal Incarnation/Bodyguard guy deck. I preferred to play white because it could do a little of everything. We used to play a format called five star and I would play a circle of protection everything and just be annoying. I don't think they even have Circles anymore.
Nytmare
David Jose
The game has changed a lot, but the release format is set up so that the overall power level and environment isn't just constantly creeping up. I'm no longer playing competitively (or even outside of my house) but I'm pretty sure that the current setup is that every block of three sets (what most people are playing competitively) is specifically built so that the game is significantly different than it had been three or four blocks before. Beyond that, there are still fun formats out there, and a lot of groups have home made formats that they use that steer the game away from that cutthroat type of play.
As for Circles of Protection, to the best of my knowledge they haven't been in circulation for about ten years. The main reason why they were dropped was because there had been a major design refocus that removed reusable single card abilities that outright hosed someone playing a monocolor deck.
As for Circles of Protection, to the best of my knowledge they haven't been in circulation for about ten years. The main reason why they were dropped was because there had been a major design refocus that removed reusable single card abilities that outright hosed someone playing a monocolor deck.
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