On December 10 2011 09:05 bobbob wrote: Basically if you have a complete set of cards from a set, you can get them sent to you, but you lose them online. There are definately pricing differences between real life and MTGO as well, since a dual land in paper is $100+, online its $<50.
EDIT: There are online tournaments and stuff, but the biggest tournaments are usually done in person.
I assume there are overpowered cards which are banned in tournaments. Is there some sort of 'standard' that all tournaments endorse? And how does that tie in with the official site, if I play there, do they ban cards that the community deemed overpowered through the 'standard'?
For the record: Standard is all the cards that came out in the past year (roughly). Until earlier this year, there hadn't been any cards ever banned in standard for something like 5 years. Then both banned cards rotated (over a year old) out recently, so there are currently no banned cards in Standard.
Extended (nobody plays this) is the last 4 years of cards.
Modern is all the cards with the new frame going back to the set "Mirrodin" from ~2005.
Legacy is all the cards minus an extensive banlist.
Vintage (few play this) has a few restricted (1 of) cards, but no banned cards.
As you go down it gets more expensive to build a deck.
On December 12 2011 16:38 nalgene wrote: Vintage has cards banned ( but those cards require sacrificing some card or more if you lose the game... ) the ones with the ante modifiers...
Well yeah, only if you aren't playing for ante, in which case the card says remove it from your deck.
Just...ante isn't a legal format anymore, doesn't mean you can't still play it.
On December 12 2011 15:33 Shotcoder wrote: Alex Bertoncini Cheating allegations at the SCG event? What's your guys take on this? Seems funny SCG is brushing this under the rug too.
Link please.
Drew Levin wrote an article with more video evidence and such, supposedly going up on mixedknut's blog sometime today.
Well clear as day he played an extra land, and his opponent didn't catch it, he didn't notice, and no judge was called and we have no reason to believe it was anything other than a mistake.
On December 12 2011 17:15 deth2munkies wrote: Well clear as day he played an extra land, and his opponent didn't catch it, he didn't notice, and no judge was called and we have no reason to believe it was anything other than a mistake.
if it was just this incident it wouldn't be a big thing
There's a nice video of him playing brainstorm without returning two cards, getting a warning and then just a minute later getting four cards off of a brainstorm. Another video shows him playing merfolk with only a kira on board against a cursed scroll and a jace with a single counter on it. The opponent uses the last counter on jace on the Kira, which is obviously countered and then uses the cursed scroll to kill it. Instead of putting it in the graveyeard Alex smoothly slides it back up into his hand.
That guy had no business playing in the invitational.
On December 12 2011 22:58 Thorakh wrote: Alright thanks for the different formats explanations.
Drafting is having one big pile of cards out of which all players draw, no?
Rofl. No.
Each player opens a pack, takes a card then passes left until no cards remain. Then each player opens another pack, takes a card and passes right until no cards remain. Finally, each player opens a final pack and passes left once more, taking a single card until there are no cards left
On December 12 2011 19:31 Alak wrote: There's a nice video of him playing brainstorm without returning two cards, getting a warning and then just a minute later getting four cards off of a brainstorm. Another video shows him playing merfolk with only a kira on board against a cursed scroll and a jace with a single counter on it. The opponent uses the last counter on jace on the Kira, which is obviously countered and then uses the cursed scroll to kill it. Instead of putting it in the graveyeard Alex smoothly slides it back up into his hand.
That guy had no business playing in the invitational.
also when he played his sideboard Sower of Temptation for the win... in game 1.
On December 12 2011 22:58 Thorakh wrote: Alright thanks for the different formats explanations.
Drafting is having one big pile of cards out of which all players draw, no?
Rofl. No.
Each player opens a pack, takes a card then passes left until no cards remain. Then each player opens another pack, takes a card and passes right until no cards remain. Finally, each player opens a final pack and passes left once more, taking a single card until there are no cards left
Oh haha, don't you need a gigantic amount of packs for that? Assuming you mean booster packs :p
On December 12 2011 22:58 Thorakh wrote: Alright thanks for the different formats explanations.
Drafting is having one big pile of cards out of which all players draw, no?
Rofl. No.
Each player opens a pack, takes a card then passes left until no cards remain. Then each player opens another pack, takes a card and passes right until no cards remain. Finally, each player opens a final pack and passes left once more, taking a single card until there are no cards left
Oh haha, don't you need a gigantic amount of packs for that? Assuming you mean booster packs :p
3 per person playing. Normally 8 people in a pod (drafting group) so 24 packs per pod.
On December 12 2011 22:58 Thorakh wrote: Alright thanks for the different formats explanations.
Drafting is having one big pile of cards out of which all players draw, no?
Rofl. No.
Each player opens a pack, takes a card then passes left until no cards remain. Then each player opens another pack, takes a card and passes right until no cards remain. Finally, each player opens a final pack and passes left once more, taking a single card until there are no cards left
Oh haha, don't you need a gigantic amount of packs for that? Assuming you mean booster packs :p
3 per person playing. Normally 8 people in a pod (drafting group) so 24 packs per pod.
With a small group of friends I've drafted with as few as 4. Best results are 5-8 for sure, though. Four just isn't very skill intensive at all, and I've only done it when playing with really new people or when teaching friends to draft.
I would suggest if you are just starting out on magic you should try standard or modern formats. Legacy and vintage require way too much trouble to build or find the cards, and that's not even considering the price for said cards. I would also suggest building EDH(also known as commander) after you familiarize yourself with how to play. Its a much more casual format and really designed to be just played in multiplayer games.
About the draft thing, you can alternately do sealed if you have 4-5 people and don't feel like drafting or if you don't have time to do a full draft. Its much less skill intensive and much more luck based but its still a fun limited format, especially with Innistrad. I would not recommend sealed m12 though since it gets really boring really fast.
On a side note, how many people here play EDH? If you do what general(along with deck themes) do you play?
On December 12 2011 22:58 Thorakh wrote: Alright thanks for the different formats explanations.
Drafting is having one big pile of cards out of which all players draw, no?
Rofl. No.
Each player opens a pack, takes a card then passes left until no cards remain. Then each player opens another pack, takes a card and passes right until no cards remain. Finally, each player opens a final pack and passes left once more, taking a single card until there are no cards left
Oh haha, don't you need a gigantic amount of packs for that? Assuming you mean booster packs :p
3 per person playing. Normally 8 people in a pod (drafting group) so 24 packs per pod.
With a small group of friends I've drafted with as few as 4. Best results are 5-8 for sure, though. Four just isn't very skill intensive at all, and I've only done it when playing with really new people or when teaching friends to draft.
The most skill intensive is 3 people - everyone drafts 2 decks and then plays the other two people at the same time.
On December 13 2011 18:09 dignity wrote: I would suggest if you are just starting out on magic you should try standard or modern formats. Legacy and vintage require way too much trouble to build or find the cards, and that's not even considering the price for said cards. I would also suggest building EDH(also known as commander) after you familiarize yourself with how to play. Its a much more casual format and really designed to be just played in multiplayer games.
About the draft thing, you can alternately do sealed if you have 4-5 people and don't feel like drafting or if you don't have time to do a full draft. Its much less skill intensive and much more luck based but its still a fun limited format, especially with Innistrad. I would not recommend sealed m12 though since it gets really boring really fast.
On a side note, how many people here play EDH? If you do what general(along with deck themes) do you play?
Buying into Modern isn't that much cheaper than buying into legacy, 'goyfs don't come cheap!
Buying into Standard is less expensive, but coming into Standard with no collection to start off with is still really expensive, and more than that it's time-consuming. Once you have a decent collection (or access to several friends' worth of collections via borrowing cards), it's so much easier to play the deck(s) you want to play, but before that you are the fish showing up with 2 draft decks crammed together dying to a Titan, and it doesn't get better for a long time if you are just picking up cards one at a time.
There's the potential to attack the metagame with budget decks, but a new player isn't going to necessarily be able to figure that out. Except when "attack the metagame" means "people aren't respecting mono-red/Tempered Steel," I guess.
Honestly if you are just starting out, going with a friend to a sealed event at your local store isn't the worst way to get in. You start building up your collection (especially staple commons/uncommons), learn how to play the game, and you at least feel like the money/time spent is doing something in the short run.
On December 12 2011 19:31 Alak wrote: There's a nice video of him playing brainstorm without returning two cards, getting a warning and then just a minute later getting four cards off of a brainstorm. Another video shows him playing merfolk with only a kira on board against a cursed scroll and a jace with a single counter on it. The opponent uses the last counter on jace on the Kira, which is obviously countered and then uses the cursed scroll to kill it. Instead of putting it in the graveyeard Alex smoothly slides it back up into his hand.
That guy had no business playing in the invitational.
also when he played his sideboard Sower of Temptation for the win... in game 1.
I just read that article, thanks for the link. I got to say, when I restarted Magic about 6 months ago, I had no idea there was a professional scene O_o but it seems like such a big deal, anyone who's anyone just seems to know what's going on. On the other hand, Magic players are some sheisty muthafuckas, man. A lot of them are just great dudes who help you out with your play and your deck building but there's always this understanding that some people steal cards and cheat at matches. It's so bizarre. I guess anything where nerds get competitive.
On December 12 2011 22:58 Thorakh wrote: Alright thanks for the different formats explanations.
Drafting is having one big pile of cards out of which all players draw, no?
Rofl. No.
Each player opens a pack, takes a card then passes left until no cards remain. Then each player opens another pack, takes a card and passes right until no cards remain. Finally, each player opens a final pack and passes left once more, taking a single card until there are no cards left
Oh haha, don't you need a gigantic amount of packs for that? Assuming you mean booster packs :p
3 per person playing. Normally 8 people in a pod (drafting group) so 24 packs per pod.
With a small group of friends I've drafted with as few as 4. Best results are 5-8 for sure, though. Four just isn't very skill intensive at all, and I've only done it when playing with really new people or when teaching friends to draft.
The most skill intensive is 3 people - everyone drafts 2 decks and then plays the other two people at the same time.
Lol I never considered that! I'll have to give it a go :D
On December 13 2011 18:09 dignity wrote: I would suggest if you are just starting out on magic you should try standard or modern formats. Legacy and vintage require way too much trouble to build or find the cards, and that's not even considering the price for said cards. I would also suggest building EDH(also known as commander) after you familiarize yourself with how to play. Its a much more casual format and really designed to be just played in multiplayer games.
About the draft thing, you can alternately do sealed if you have 4-5 people and don't feel like drafting or if you don't have time to do a full draft. Its much less skill intensive and much more luck based but its still a fun limited format, especially with Innistrad. I would not recommend sealed m12 though since it gets really boring really fast.
On a side note, how many people here play EDH? If you do what general(along with deck themes) do you play?
Buying into Modern isn't that much cheaper than buying into legacy, 'goyfs don't come cheap!
Buying into Standard is less expensive, but coming into Standard with no collection to start off with is still really expensive, and more than that it's time-consuming. Once you have a decent collection (or access to several friends' worth of collections via borrowing cards), it's so much easier to play the deck(s) you want to play, but before that you are the fish showing up with 2 draft decks crammed together dying to a Titan, and it doesn't get better for a long time if you are just picking up cards one at a time.
There's the potential to attack the metagame with budget decks, but a new player isn't going to necessarily be able to figure that out. Except when "attack the metagame" means "people aren't respecting mono-red/Tempered Steel," I guess.
Honestly if you are just starting out, going with a friend to a sealed event at your local store isn't the worst way to get in. You start building up your collection (especially staple commons/uncommons), learn how to play the game, and you at least feel like the money/time spent is doing something in the short run.
Solution to goyfs being expensive would be to just not play green. The barrier entry to modern is really just goyf + ravnica duals.
I was at the event this weekend in charlotte and talked with Alex for a little bit. He says the explore was an unintended mistake, but he definatly has the ability to lie to your face. He's a nice guy to talk to, but to have as a friend would be awful.
Top 32'd Legacy this weekend. Played Reanimator mostly because I had never played legacy ever in my life. This deck is just plain unfair. Open 7 cards with entomb, a reanimation spell (11 in the deck), Brainstorm, force, daze, Sea, Fetch. Like you can't lose with that hand. It's pretty much just go to game 2. And even through their hate, you just bring in Show and Tell and laugh as their Faerie Macabre gets put into play to match your Robo Akroma.
As for modern, I'm playing a deck that uses this. Testing should be good.
EPT
