Christ Centered Gamer

so my girlfriend starting playing MTG

And now I remember being ten and being all, "HAY GUISE LETS PLAI MAGIC CARDS LOLOL," except that was like


well


Ten years ago >_> She wants me to play with her so she can practice to play some peeps at college but here's the thing HERE'S THE THING GUYS

How much um


how much has changed since Mercedian Masques >_> <_< aside from it "apparently not sucking anymore" (according to a conversation Shas_el_Tyros and I had a year or two ago)


EDIT: I realize this is kind of an expansive question. I guess I'm asking what I should know before returning to the game after having not played since 2002 or 2004 or something like that XD

They keep adding rules with new expansions. Eventually it becomes a headache trying to keep track of all the different mechanics.

I started playing after Mercadian Masks was released. I quit sometime after Planeshift. So I certainly can't provide any advice after that. (Except Armadillo Cloaks. Load up on those. They're insane.)

If WarGames taught us anything, it's that the only winning move is not to play.

selderane wrote:If WarGames taught us anything, it's that the only winning move is not to play.

/threadwinner

Actually my wife and I have started buying cards again, but just to play each other for casual fun. The game is geared to force you to be constantly buying new cards to stay competitive, and I already have massive money sinks in my gaming life.

Oh, great

FOR FUNSIES IT IS.

Also:

I started playing after Mercadian Masks was released. I quit sometime after Planeshift. So I certainly can't provide any advice after that. (Except Armadillo Cloaks. Load up on those. They're insane.)

Dude, I totally remember this card XD I think the little caption was "Don't laugh. It works."

But yeah, the money-sink thing is really frustrating. Then again, it was only ever really casual for me except for a friend of mine (who perfectly fit the Annoying Childhood Friend meme, actually) who would get a couple awesome cards and make us want to quit the game as soon as it entered the playing field. Blegh.

When my wife and I first got back into it, my buddy got all excited and brought over his mega-powered, tournament crushing power decks.

Obviously, we got our butts handed to us.

Hard to see the fun in that. I mean, losing doesn't bother me, but when there isn't even the slightest chance of victory, what can you do?

Irony: That guy's awesome tournament decks aren't tournament legal anymore, because most of those cards are banned for being too old or somesuch.

A few weeks ago another friend brought HIS mega-powered, tournament crushing power decks out and let me play one against him. I won. Mind you, at that point I hadn't played any serious Magic games in almost 20 years, just the casual throwdowns with my wife. Meanwhile this guy was another tournament hound and the builder of the deck. If I was able to beat him with his own deck, what does that tell you about the cards vs. skill question?

Exactly. It'd almost be more fun to be given some random deck or something and work with what you get.

I heard that some tournaments actually work that way. The players are given a starter deck and a few boosters (all sealed, of course), a few minutes to come up with a deck, then have at it. Personally, I think it sounds more sporting that way.

My favorite tournaments are drafts. You bring 3 boosters (IIRC), as does everyone else. You open the pack, pick one card. Pass the pack left (Or right, directions are picked ahead of time). Everyone does this until the packs are empty. Now open the second booster, pick a card, pass it the opposite direction. Repeat until empty, do the same with the final one until it's empty (But pass the original direction). Now you have 45 cards in your hand. Make a deck with them.

And to make it even, most (If not all) drafts have some group land cards that you can use to build you deck. I built a really awesome poison deck from a draft, and it's my favorite to this day.

Deepfreeze32 wrote:My favorite tournaments are drafts. You bring 3 boosters (IIRC), as does everyone else. You open the pack, pick one card. Pass the pack left (Or right, directions are picked ahead of time). Everyone does this until the packs are empty. Now open the second booster, pick a card, pass it the opposite direction. Repeat until empty, do the same with the final one until it's empty (But pass the original direction). Now you have 45 cards in your hand. Make a deck with them.

And to make it even, most (If not all) drafts have some group land cards that you can use to build you deck. I built a really awesome poison deck from a draft, and it's my favorite to this day.

From old Magic players I know, that's the only way they enjoy the game any longer. If you play competitive, either you build the power decks, or you lose. That's not fun for them. Heck, I think that even messes up the casual environment.

My local gaming group is heavy into Legend of the Five rings, and they're pretty competitive. I was halfway decent last edition, but I dropped shortly after the new one came out. What's nice about L5R is that it's chess when compared to Magic.

If I were you I'd buy Magic Duels of the Planeswalkers 2014 on Steam and learn from there.

Necroposting FTW!