I just bought an account and played a draft for fun in effort to get some more cards.

Anyone else playing or know how to accumulate a fair amount of cards for the cheapest amount of money so I can start winning some pre-constructed tourneys?

I played a while back when I was 13 or 14 with the paper version and ended up givingthem away. Now I'm twenty, have some extra money to spend, and wanna get into a new hobby. I found a place that has a Friday night Magic and I plan on playing that back when I'm at university.

silencefc

United States875 Posts

July 22 2011 00:40 GMT

Buying single's from bots is probably the best method for making a constructed deck.

The cheapest decks to make that are highly competitive are probably Tempered Steel and then Goblins, in terms of effectiveness. Goblins are the cheapest of competitive decks to make.

Tempered Steel (Also known as Hawkward) has been dominating the daily swiss events.

Here's a list of the most recent dailies:
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Link

Buying singles on MTGO are usually cheaper than buying the paper versions. Here's a good way to find estimates on whatever cards you would want to buy:
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http://www.marlonmtgo.com/prices.html

imjorman

United States580 Posts

July 22 2011 00:45 GMT

Do people play MTGO to support their physical MTG playing? or is it more acceptable to play it outright

silencefc

United States875 Posts

July 22 2011 00:56 GMT

I read a very apt quote somewhere that paper MTG is better for socializing, and MTGO is better for actually playing games.

I play both and I spend much more time during a week playing online than I do in paper.

Oh, never open individual packs outside of drafts/sealed games. Always sell them or use them as entree fees for more Limited Format games.

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It isn't too difficult to go "infinite" on MTGO by using prizes to fund entree fees and singles once you get a good constructed deck going: you can join 2-man tournament queues for 2 tickets and the winner gets a booster that can be sold for 3~4 tickets.

You can also join 4-round swiss tournaments for 6 tickets that award 11 boosters for going undefeated and 6 for going 3:1. There are 6 of these events a day.

Some people draft competitively enough to not have to invest more money to keep playing and will sell off extra singles to stores(trading bots) and once they have every card from a set, they redeem them for paper cards to use/sell.

imjorman

United States580 Posts

July 22 2011 01:01 GMT

What if like, I need to just learn basic strategies for MTG. basic deck building, general strategy...like I know how to play, but just like SC2 knowing how things work and knowing how to make them work well are completely different.

Is there essentially a "teamliquid" of MTG or MTGO?

silencefc

United States875 Posts

July 22 2011 01:14 GMT

Mmmm, popular resources for competitive mtg that I know of are:
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http://mtgsalvation.com/
http://www.channelfireball.com/
http://magic.tcgplayer.com/
http://starcitygames.com/

Though none of their forums are up to the standard of quality as Teamliquid, I would say mtgsalvation forums are pretty informative and the closest I could find in similarity to TL.

imjorman

United States580 Posts

July 22 2011 01:43 GMT

OK. Like once I learn the essence of deck building I think i'll be ok because it will be as simple as buying the cards I need to win lol.

Hikko

United States1126 Posts

July 22 2011 01:44 GMT

What is your screen name on MTGO? I draft a lot and I don't play much constructed, so if you add me, "Effort" (without parenthesis) to your buddy list, and you can take whatever commons/uncommons I have tradeable for free

I'll get on right now

Also, if you look in the classifieds section and search "free", there are some bots that give out something like 64 free commons a month. They're all crappy, but they get the job done in the casual/fun rooms

EDIT: Also, for deckbuilding, sites like cardhoarder and mtgotraders are good for buying singles. Cardhoarder has a feature where you can upload a decklist you make in notepad, and then upload it and get those cards. Alternatively, you can just buy tix on magic online and then trade them for cards, but this is a lot more susceptible to you getting an unfair price. Cardhoarders and mtgotraders will always give you a decent price (if not the best price available) on anything that isn't brand new, like a set released in the last two weeks.

Trozz

Canada3454 Posts

July 22 2011 01:49 GMT

These might amuse you.
If you don't have many cards,
I suggest you draft.

Chimpalimp

United States1135 Posts

July 22 2011 01:56 GMT

#10

The website below is my favirote, it has hoards of decks and cards, where people criticize their decks.
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tappedout.net

To be honest, if your going to play MTG online, do it for the drafts and the availability of players, because there are cheaper alternatives. Drafting is probably your best bet, as it lets you acquire new cards, test your wit, skill, and ensures that you don't need a $450.00 deck to be able to be competitive.

Augury

United States758 Posts

July 22 2011 02:00 GMT

#11

My suggestion is to find a card shop near you that does Friday night drafts. It's a lot more fun and cheaper than playing MTGO. Even if you want to continue playing MTGO, I'd definitely recommend attending a Friday night draft for fun. You get a lot more bang for your buck.

imjorman

United States580 Posts

July 22 2011 03:23 GMT

#12

I think I'm going to go the MTGO simply because of cost and it allows me to play at school where there is no FNM options. Now to just learn the finer points of the game...

silencefc

United States875 Posts

July 22 2011 03:52 GMT

#13

What deck were you interested in constructing?

imjorman

United States580 Posts

July 22 2011 04:59 GMT

#14

I got help from a fellow TLer in building a vampire deck. It's nice, throws tons of light weight critters at him while preventing him getting stuff out.

I'm "imjorman" in MTGo

AT_Tack

Germany435 Posts

July 23 2011 19:53 GMT

#15

I played magic back in 95 when i was a 10 year old kid ^^. now im 27 and duels of the planeswalkers got me intrested into mtg again. I was looking at the online version because i literally live at the end of the world.

Can someone please explain the concept of making the most money out of this game, so i dont waste money on stuff i dont need?
Can someone explain the concept of drafting?
whats the amount of money i have to invest into this thing to have fun and possibly win some stuff?
Is it worth it or is the game ridiculously overprized?

thanks in advance!

Diglett

600 Posts

July 23 2011 20:12 GMT

#16

On July 24 2011 04:53 AT_Tack wrote:
I played magic back in 95 when i was a 10 year old kid ^^. now im 27 and duels of the planeswalkers got me intrested into mtg again. I was looking at the online version because i literally live at the end of the world.

Can someone please explain the concept of making the most money out of this game, so i dont waste money on stuff i dont need?
Can someone explain the concept of drafting?
whats the amount of money i have to invest into this thing to have fun and possibly win some stuff?
Is it worth it or is the game ridiculously overprized?

thanks in advance!

making money: absolutely join standard queues to make money. dropping $60-100 for a solid standard deck is worth it if you want to go infinite (keep getting tickets/cards without spending additional money). there are some people who claim that drafting helps them go infinite and it may, but in the long run, standard simply gives more rewards.

drafting: you get 3 boosters and pay 2 tickets to get into a draft queue. there are 8 people in the draft. the format is you open one booster and choose 1 card from it. then another booster is passed to you and you choose another card from it. this goes on until all 3 boosters are exhausted. then, you build a 40 card minimum deck (40 cards is optimal, don't go over) and play up to 3 matches. a match is a best of 3.

there are 3 draft queues that are separated by prize distribution. "swiss" is one match win, one booster. you play all 3 rounds regardless of win or loss. 4-3-2-2 is one match win is 2 boosters, 2 match wins is 3 boosters, 3 match win is 4 boosters. a match loss and you're out. 8-4 is winner gets 8 boosters, second place gets 4. a match loss and you're out.

i love to draft but it's quite expensive if you don't throw some standard queues into your play.

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