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On February 15 2013 18:20 NeonFlare wrote:
Going to draft AVR/GTC/GTC with some friends soon, we had a poll which set to take with Gatecrash and since few of us have drafted enough RTR for a while it ended up a close fight between AVR and DKA, which none of us drafted a lot.
Having fun time upgrading that Golgari deck slowly towards "proper" Jund through trades, though it currently lingers a bit indecisive wheter it will be proper midrange or slipping towards control. As I have a bit hard time finding Huntmasters and trading for them, I was thinking wheter replacing them with walkers or other reasonably big threats could make it. Soon finished flipping for all the duals, still missing few tusks, but I managed to dump mostly Orzhov stuff that was leftover from few drafts for 2x Olivia and Lilly of Veil.
I wouldn't draft AVR and Gatecrash, Dimir, Gruul, and Orzhov are basically blank in AVR, so people are going to be fighting over Simic and ESPECIALLY Boros (who has the highest possibility for the nut deck as long as fewer than 4 are drafting it).
Also, put together Naya Midrange with cards that I have (except Thragtusks, but I have so many shocklands I'm not using I should be able to trade for them). Seems like a pretty decent upgrade to the G/W aggro deck I already had, though I'm not running Huntmaster of the Fells, instead favoring my top end to be Thragtusk/Resto/Silverheart with Smiter and Silverblade Paladin played off mana dorks.
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I played magic from 1194-1996 when i was 11-13 years old. This game has changed so drastically and seems alot less fun than it used to. How often are tournaments held that allow cards from Arabian Nights, Legends, Ice Age, Homelands, Fallen Empires, Alliances, Mirage, and Visions to be played?
Can anyone encourage me to buy some of the new sets and start playing? I'm having trouble seeing it as worth it.
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United States10567 Posts
Hey guys, my friends and I are going to do a draft real soon. ive already looked online for a ton of tips and strats but i want to get a feel of what you guys think. plus this will be my first ever draft.
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On February 16 2013 01:35 FlaShFTW wrote:
Hey guys, my friends and I are going to do a draft real soon. ive already looked online for a ton of tips and strats but i want to get a feel of what you guys think. plus this will be my first ever draft.
What are you asking here?
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On February 16 2013 01:35 FlaShFTW wrote:
Hey guys, my friends and I are going to do a draft real soon. ive already looked online for a ton of tips and strats but i want to get a feel of what you guys think. plus this will be my first ever draft.
Uhm, well, take my nublet advice with a grain of salt, but unless you own a ton of cards already, always consider the money draft. If you get a Mythic foil, or something worth a good chunk of change like a Boros Reckoner, take it.
Don't lock your colors on your first pick. Don't force colors. Try to pick colors based on your second through fourth picks, you'll have a better idea what good stuff is getting passed to you then.
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United States10567 Posts
On February 16 2013 01:38 Sn0_Man wrote:Show nested quote +On February 16 2013 01:35 FlaShFTW wrote:
Hey guys, my friends and I are going to do a draft real soon. ive already looked online for a ton of tips and strats but i want to get a feel of what you guys think. plus this will be my first ever draft. What are you asking here?
im asking for more tips and strats that TLers use when drafting.
and no i dont have like, any cards xD only a few whites that my friend game me and a basic poison counter deck. xD
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On February 16 2013 02:01 FlaShFTW wrote:Show nested quote +On February 16 2013 01:38 Sn0_Man wrote:On February 16 2013 01:35 FlaShFTW wrote:
Hey guys, my friends and I are going to do a draft real soon. ive already looked online for a ton of tips and strats but i want to get a feel of what you guys think. plus this will be my first ever draft. What are you asking here? im asking for more tips and strats that TLers use when drafting. and no i dont have like, any cards xD only a few whites that my friend game me and a basic poison counter deck. xD
Ok, in that case, assuming you know what the rarity symbols are, you should probably strongly consider money drafts. A $20 card you can't use in your draft deck can go into a standard deck, or trade for cards for a standard deck. A lot of cards you draft won't be worth much for a normal deck.
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Well, you probably know these then but I'll toss them out here
1) Play 17 lands. It isn't complicated, just play 17 lands.
2) Raredraft. As jinglehell said, If you see a $10+ rare, just grab it. Prime examples are basically any mythic, the shocklands, and Boros reckoner (off the top of my head). I don't know what prizes you may or may not be playing for but for newer players building a collection of valuable/tradeable cards is rough so you gotta work on it.
3) Try to play 2 colours (AKA 1 guild). Judging when it is worth it to splash and how many sources of splash mana can be very difficult. For your first draft I HIGHLY recommend sticking with a 2-colour deck. By about halfway through pack one you should be CERTAIN of one colour and hopefully have a pretty good idea of your guild. I assume you know what guilds are in GTC. While it can be reasonable to change guilds as late as pack 2 (if you open something insane or get passed it pick 2), this is also the easiest way to trainwreck your draft.
Thats about it. Feel free to ignore point 3 but if you do, please have a good plan for your deck.
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And before you ask, since you're probably wondering: No, there's nothing wrong with drafting a valuable card that doesn't fit your draft deck. You have the same claim to those cards as everyone else at the table.
Even if they might use it. Hell, the fact that they'd use it in their draft deck is another reason to take it. It's valuable for a reason, denying them that Boros Reckoner is a competitive play, even if you don't run it.
And for the love of all that's holy, buy a pack of sleeves beforehand. Don't go playing a valuable card unsleeved, or skip using a valuable card that would fit just because you couldn't sleeve it.
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On February 16 2013 02:01 FlaShFTW wrote:Show nested quote +On February 16 2013 01:38 Sn0_Man wrote:On February 16 2013 01:35 FlaShFTW wrote:
Hey guys, my friends and I are going to do a draft real soon. ive already looked online for a ton of tips and strats but i want to get a feel of what you guys think. plus this will be my first ever draft. What are you asking here? im asking for more tips and strats that TLers use when drafting. and no i dont have like, any cards xD only a few whites that my friend game me and a basic poison counter deck. xD
Some tips for new drafters (and new players in general). As you get more experienced, you will probably find cases where these tips don't apply, but for a new player they should be helpful more often than not.
Play 40 cards total (please no more than 40), 17 lands and focus on picking and playing mostly creatures and removal spells.
Lean towards picking and playing the lower mana cost card if you have a choice. If you have more than 40 cards and are looking to cut something, cut the highest cost card (assuming it isn't a bomb rare).
Not to be rude, but you will probably lose a lot of games at first, and it will feel like you got really unlucky. In reality, there are a lot of difficult choices and decisions to make, a lot of which are borderline impossible to make correctly as a new player. Just try to learn as much as possible. After each match, point to a card and ask your opponent if they think it is any good or if they have any suggestions for a new player. Generally people are pretty helpful. Note that pointing to the bomb you just pummeled your opponent with and asking "is this good? why?" can be considered rude and should be avoided.
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Straight outta Johto18973 Posts
The Guillaume Wafo-Tapa v Conley Woods game just now on PTQ Gatecrash was crazy. Sheesh.
Still think Conley had outs though.
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On February 16 2013 02:51 el_dawg wrote:Show nested quote +On February 16 2013 02:01 FlaShFTW wrote:On February 16 2013 01:38 Sn0_Man wrote:On February 16 2013 01:35 FlaShFTW wrote:
Hey guys, my friends and I are going to do a draft real soon. ive already looked online for a ton of tips and strats but i want to get a feel of what you guys think. plus this will be my first ever draft. What are you asking here? im asking for more tips and strats that TLers use when drafting. and no i dont have like, any cards xD only a few whites that my friend game me and a basic poison counter deck. xD Some tips for new drafters (and new players in general). As you get more experienced, you will probably find cases where these tips don't apply, but for a new player they should be helpful more often than not. Play 40 cards total (please no more than 40), 17 lands and focus on picking and playing mostly creatures and removal spells. Lean towards picking and playing the lower mana cost card if you have a choice. If you have more than 40 cards and are looking to cut something, cut the highest cost card (assuming it isn't a bomb rare). Not to be rude, but you will probably lose a lot of games at first, and it will feel like you got really unlucky. In reality, there are a lot of difficult choices and decisions to make, a lot of which are borderline impossible to make correctly as a new player. Just try to learn as much as possible. After each match, point to a card and ask your opponent if they think it is any good or if they have any suggestions for a new player. Generally people are pretty helpful. Note that pointing to the bomb you just pummeled your opponent with and asking "is this good? why?" can be considered rude and should be avoided.
Also just remember BREAD, Bombs, Removal, Evasion, Aggressive, Dregs. That's basically the order you choose cards. Evasion is stuff like Flying or unblockable, gets damage through. It's easy to gum up the ground with guys, hard to get ahead from there. Aggressive guys can get around before the board gets gummed up. Removal is obviously useful.
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been watching the MTG tournament online. The PTW Gatecrash. This seems like an extremely infinitely more deep game than I ever imagined. It looks incredibly fun and EXTREMELY cerebral at the highest lvl.
IDK It definitely had me pondering delving into this future addiction.
After listening to it/peeking at it for 9 hours while at work today... by the end of the day my understanding is.... basically u build a deck around two colors.
Some people make a deck around all red. Red is damage focused. White is life/control (?) focused. White + black seems to be winning the most.?
IDK Lol.. after 4 hours i was still scratching my head like "WTF IS GOING ON?!?!"
and as someone who is typically an extremely fast learner... it made it even more interesting lol.
Tips for someone looking to learn more before they jump in. (like i normally do... when i get a new hobby i LIVE for it until i hate it generally lololol)
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Straight outta Johto18973 Posts
On February 16 2013 12:54 MaestroSC wrote:
been watching the MTG tournament online. The PTW Gatecrash. This seems like an extremely infinitely more deep game than I ever imagined. It looks incredibly fun and EXTREMELY cerebral at the highest lvl.
IDK It definitely had me pondering delving into this future addiction.
After listening to it/peeking at it for 9 hours while at work today... by the end of the day my understanding is.... basically u build a deck around two colors.
Some people make a deck around all red. Red is damage focused. White is life/control (?) focused. White + black seems to be winning the most.?
IDK Lol.. after 4 hours i was still scratching my head like "WTF IS GOING ON?!?!"
and as someone who is typically an extremely fast learner... it made it even more interesting lol.
Tips for someone looking to learn more before they jump in. (like i normally do... when i get a new hobby i LIVE for it until i hate it generally lololol)
Hm. You could write thousands of words about this topic but just something quick from me.
Yeah Magic can get really complicated and deep when at the really competitive levels. You don't need to build around two colours however. There are successful mono colour decks, and there are successful multicolour decks (sometimes even 5 colours!).
Each colour has things it can and cannot do. For example, Black has a lot of creature removal but can't deal with artifacts and enchantments well. As you move into more colours you're able to combines strengths and mitigate the weaknesses so your deck is more capable of doing either more things, or doing it better. For example, Zoo decks that have efficient Green creatures backed up by Red burn spells to clear a path to attack or just throwing it at someone's face for the kill. However, you can't just splash colours willy-nilly. You still need to be able to play your spells and have the mana for everything. Not being able to curve out properly (aka hitting your 1-2-3-4 drops in a row) for a lot of decks is backbreaking.
So basically, more colours = more potential things to do but less consistent because of mana problems. Less colours = more focused and direct, but less scope because you're limited by the colour pie (which I'll explain in a moment).
The current Standard format (as played in PTQ Gatecrash) is highly unusual because the mana base is just so good. I think it's practically unprecedented to have the smoothness of mana the M13 and Innistrad dual lands combined with the Ravnica/Gatecrash Shocklands provide. With these, you can play multiple colours and be greedy while still hitting the right land drops and getting the right colours on the turns you need them and not having to play 26+ lands to do so (like has been the case in previous sets).
The Colour Pie is also an essential key to MtG and its design. It's probably the biggest reasons it's so flavourful despite years of evolution. I originally wrote a lot about it, but then I realised it'd be easier to link to the MtG Salvation Wiki on it instead. The colour pie essentially says what colours can and cannot do (exceptions occasionally apply).
Also, colour combinations are also thematically linked. For example, the Ravnica Guilds are an interpretation of what happens when allied colours (aka colours next to each other in the pentagon of WUBRG shown on the back of an MtG card) or enemy colours (aka colours opposite to each other on the pentagon) join forces. So for example Blue = knowledge while Red = emotions. So Izzet which is Blue/Red are like the crazy scientists. Ofc that's a very basic explanation. There's a massive amount and depth of fluff and flavour in this game which is really worth exploring. Certain colour combinations and creature types are also explored in certain setsso it's worth checking them out (e.g. two colour combinations in Ravniva, three colour combinations in Alara, artifacts in Mirrodin, Tribal themes in Lorwynn).
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THANKS MoonBear.
That Colour Pie is actually really cool and helpful and neat.
And ya i gathered today that the colors and decks are actually "themed" and logical lore reasoning which was TOTALLY unexpected. Like i didnt expect the people who makes the cards to give a shit about all of the lore stuff...at this point...after so many years of making new cards... but that is FASCINATING.
I actually think its really cool, that they stick to lore-rules when making cards, and that the colors actually mean something, and the "lore" of the cards actually intertwine. Completely fascinating that i had no idea. Suddenly a lot of the interviews and filler content makes more sense now tho. Because they talked about it a lot, about the background stories of cards and the characters and content on them and I was kinda like "...where does this take place?" But as i understand it now, MTG actually has all of their cards focused around some linked together backstory/lore. Amazing.
I am definitely intrigued, my only fear is getting into this and being like "WTB friends who play...=(" As none of my friends are into this sort of thing... yet... lol jk. But seriously I dont personally know anyone who is crazy into MTG, and i Know that my brethren nerd community isnt always the most accepting of newbies into their niche small community elitist hobbies. (not that ALL nerd communities are like this...but i think we can all admit every BW purist is somehwat an elitist..maybe..tho i dont hold it against them... they usually are not like "hey u wanna play a game" with new people)
Thanks for the information!
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Each year, they visit (or re-visit) a new world and use the cards to tell a story. The cards match not only the theme of the world they are on, but also the ongoing theme of their colors. This years theme is multicolored, so there are cards with multiple colored mana symbols in their casting cost, as well as cards that make playing them easier and reward you for playing multicolored spells. Last years cards were flavor based and the entire set was horror themed.
The format they are playing for this specific tournament is called "standard" and uses the 2 most recent years of cards, though there are a ton of different formats. They also will be drafting, where you take turns choosing a card from a booster pack and use those cards to construct a deck.
If you want to get started, I would recommend duels of the planeswalkers http://www.wizards.com/magic/digital/duelsoftheplaneswalkers.aspx . It's pretty cheap (even goes on sale often), available on many platforms and will guide you through the rules of the game. Full magic can get pretty expensive, but like most hobbies there are ways to enjoy it at any price point.
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On February 16 2013 14:34 el_dawg wrote:Each year, they visit (or re-visit) a new world and use the cards to tell a story. The cards match not only the theme of the + Show Spoiler +world they are on, but also the ongoing theme of their colors. This years theme is multicolored, so there are cards with multiple colored mana symbols in their casting cost, as well as cards that make playing them easier and reward you for playing multicolored spells. Last years cards were flavor based and the entire set was horror themed. Thanks for more information. Ya i had no idea there was so much Lore or background information for the cards. I thought they were just editions I guess with no more than "here is a picture and a description" i guess + Show Spoiler +The format they are playing for this specific tournament is called "standard" and uses the 2 most recent years of cards, though there are a ton of different formats. They also will be drafting, where you take turns choosing a card from a booster pack and use those cards to construct a deck. Yeah I slowly started to understand this as I heard drafting and then I saw when they were talking about now switching to the "standard" rounds and talking about people having decks they hand picked etc themselves. Drafting seems like it would be inifinitely harder, but maybe more fair possibly? IDK seems to be more forgiving, but at the same time, harder to prepare correctly. + Show Spoiler +If you want to get started, I would recommend duels of the planeswalkers http://www.wizards.com/magic/digital/duelsoftheplaneswalkers.aspx . It's pretty cheap (even goes on sale often), available on many platforms and will guide you through the rules of the game. Full magic can get pretty expensive, but like most hobbies there are ways to enjoy it at any price point .
Ya i am def going to download one of the online versions. I hate being the newb who ruins games tho lol is there an AI in it to learn against?
Also I have heard and know that putting together a good deck can be expensive. But I work full time, just bought a house. -and there is literally NOT ONE SINGLE WAY to say this without sounding like a douche- but I make decent enough money, and gaming is a generally cheap hobby (imo.. i mean i buy maybe 20 games a year and its still my #1 time sink currently)
IDK i def wouldnt go spending all my money on it until i learned enough and played enough to figure out how much i enjoyed it.
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+ Show Spoiler +Each year, they visit (or re-visit) a new world and use the cards to tell a story. The cards match not only the theme of the world they are on, but also the ongoing theme of their colors. This years theme is multicolored, so there are cards with multiple colored mana symbols in their casting cost, as well as cards that make playing them easier and reward you for playing multicolored spells. Last years cards were flavor based and the entire set was horror themed.
Thanks for more information. Ya i had no idea there was so much Lore or background information for the cards. I thought they were just editions I guess with no more than "here is a picture and a description" i guess
+ Show Spoiler +The format they are playing for this specific tournament is called "standard" and uses the 2 most recent years of cards, though there are a ton of different formats. They also will be drafting, where you take turns choosing a card from a booster pack and use those cards to construct a deck.
Yeah I slowly started to understand this as I heard drafting and then I saw when they were talking about now switching to the "standard" rounds and talking about people having decks they hand picked etc themselves. Drafting seems like it would be inifinitely harder, but maybe more fair possibly? IDK seems to be more forgiving, but at the same time, harder to prepare correctly.
+ Show Spoiler +If you want to get started, I would recommend duels of the planeswalkers http://www.wizards.com/magic/digital/duelsoftheplaneswalkers.aspx . It's pretty cheap (even goes on sale often), available on many platforms and will guide you through the rules of the game. Full magic can get pretty expensive, but like most hobbies there are ways to enjoy it at any price point
Ya i am def going to download one of the online versions. I hate being the newb who ruins games tho lol is there an AI in it to learn against?
Also I have heard and know that putting together a good deck can be expensive. But I work full time, just bought a house. -and there is literally NOT ONE SINGLE WAY to say this without sounding like a douche- but I make decent enough money, and gaming is a generally cheap hobby (imo.. i mean i buy maybe 20 games a year and its still my #1 time sink currently)
IDK i def wouldnt go spending all my money on it until i learned enough and played enough to figure out how much i enjoyed it.
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I need to study GWTs Esper list. The man plays UB shells and is ahead of the curve like nobody else.
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Duels of the planeswalker is a game where you play pre-made decks vs either AI or online opponents so its the perfect tool if you've never played the game, as it walks you through the turns so you dont have to worry about anything from the rules side. It doesnt let you explore the deckbuildign aspect of the game but it will teach you the rules and basic strategy.
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EPT
