DreadPirateMurphy said:
Thanks again. A few more:
How long do games last? Is there a time limit?
In a tournament, a full
match usually has a time limit of 50 minutes plus five turns (when time runs out, the "active" player finishes his turn. Then the other guy takes one, first guy, other guy, first guy, other guy). A match consists of 2-3 games (best of three). You can also modify your deck slightly between games in a match - in addition to the 60+ cards that make up your main deck, you may also have a sideboard of exactly 15 cards. Between games, you may trade out cards from your main deck for ones in your your sideboard on a one-for-one basis. However, you must return your deck to its starting condition before every match.
How are the cards randomized? How do you keep somebody from manipulating the order of the cards?
Shuffling. You are also entitled to shuffle your opponent's deck, though most people just cut the opponent's deck instead of shuffling it unless they suspect there's something funny going on.
Are the cards in one player's deck kept secret from the opponent?
Unless there's something that lets you look at it, yes.
Maybe I missed this, but are silver and gold cards (uncommon/rare) more powerful? Is there a limit on the number of silver and gold cards in a deck, percentage-wise? How do you "maintain balance?" Could I have a deck made up only of rares?
Powerful cards tend to be rares, but not all rares are powerful. Some cards are made rare because they are complex. Others because they are highly situational. Some because they suck (there's one card, One With Nothing, whose only effect is that the one casting it discards his hand). Some because their effect would be very dominating in Limited games (Sealed deck or draft, where you design your deck from cards you get at the tournament).
Can you continue to use any of the sets in current tournaments?
No.
There are multiple types of constructed tournaments, or "formats". In order from most permissive to least permissive, they are:
Vintage (aka Type 1): This format allows pretty much any card, except those that somehow are based on physical manipulation (for example, one of the early sets had "Chaos Orb", which let you drop the card from a certain height onto the board, killing any card it touched when it landed) or ante (in the original game rules, you were supposed to ante one card from your deck before a game, with the winner getting the loser's card). It also has an extensive list of cards that are "restricted", meaning you can only play one of each.
Legacy (aka Type 1.5): This is similar to Vintage, in that it allows all sets. However, instead of a restricted list, it has a list of cards that aren't allowed at all ("banned"). The banned list was originally the same as the Vintage restricted list, but nowadays it has a list that's all separate. This is because some of the cards on the Vintage restricted list are mostly there because they make it easy to get another card on the restricted list, but if those cards aren't a problem to begin with there's no need to restrict the "accessory" cards (example: There's a very powerful land card named Tolarian Academy that can provide silly amounts of mana. This card is restricted in Vintage and banned in Legacy. Since you can have one of them in your deck in Vintage, any card that says "search your deck for any land card" also has to be restricted, or Tolarian Academy would still be too easy to get. However, since Tolarian Academy doesn't exist in Legacy, there's no need to restrict all those land-searchers).
Extended (aka Type 1.x): This is the first format that excludes entire sets. Currently, Extended allows cards from these "Blocks" (a block consists of one "big" expansion, usually released in the fall, plus two "small" expansion released in the following winter and summer - October, February, and June): Invasion (with Planeshift and Apocalypse), Odyssey (with Torment and Judgment), Onslaught (with Legions and Scourge), Mirrodin (with Darksteel and Fifth Dawn), Champions of Kamigawa (with Betrayers of Kamigawa and Saviors of Kamigawa), and Ravnica (no small sets yet). It also allows the core sets released during the time these blocks were released: 7th, 8th, and 9th edition. There's a banned list for Extended too, but it's much smaller than the list for Legacy. Extended keeps getting modified: every time a new set comes out, it is added to the list, and every three years the older sets get "rotated" out. The format rotated this year, so in three years it will rotate again, allowing the sets from Mirrodin forward.
Standard (aka Type 2): This format allows the last two blocks plus the current core set. Currently, this is Champions of Kamigawa, Ravnica, and 9th edition. There is a small banned list, but I'm not sure if it currently has any cards on it (it had a bunch of Mirrodin cards, but those just rotated out).
Block Constructed: This format only allows one block, usually the latest. Also has a banned list, which is currently empty (at least for Ravnica, past blocks retain their banned lists).
There are also some sets that aren't allowed in any tournament: Unglued and Unhinged. These two are "joke" sets, containing cards with abilities such as Denimwalk (can't be blocked if opponent is wearing any clothing made of denim). These are marked with silver borders (as opposed to the black or white borders of expansions and core sets), with the exception of the basic land cards from these sets (which are legal, since they're the same lands as in any other set, just looking a little differently).
