I'm new to Magic the Gathering

Manji187

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NameIsRobertPaulson said:
Manji187 said:
NameIsRobertPaulson said:
I judge at my store's FNM, played on and off (Originally started in first Mirrodin, quit at Ravnica because of cost, rejoined at Zendikar and played since). I don't like the price creep of standard, so I play Modern, one deck in Vintage, and TONS of EDH.

Modern decks:
Spellweaver Helix OTK
Molten Psyche Burn Combo
Heartbeat of the Storm (Heartbeat of the Spring/Eye of the Storm combo)

Legacy deck:
Pyromancer's Ascention Combo

Vintage deck:
Hulk Flash OTK

EDH Decks:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/teysa-edh-12-08-12-1/
My pride and joy, my Teysa EDH with my custom art (professional painter) Liliana of the Veil.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/karador-edh-12-08-12-1/
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/merieke-edh-16-08-12-1/
Interesting. And here I thought there was no love for EDH on the Escapist.

I also have a Teysa "Cannon fodder" deck, but my white weenies are mostly generated by blinking/ replaying creatures that have ETB token generation triggers.

From a technical standpoint, I'm curious though. Isn't 33 land a bit on the short side, also considering the fact that several of them enter the battlefield tapped? Moreover, there is virtually no way for you to get land, unless you draw into them or use tutors. Must be somewhat challenging, playing against decks containing green.
Most of my stuff is cheap enough I can survive on 3 lands, and Skullclamp, Necropotence, and Phyrexian Arena give me enough draw to find what I need. The huge amount of tutor really helps as well. I have considered using Dimir Machinations to accelerate the process.
If you say so. I was just somewhat surprised at the absence of stuff like Land Tax, Weathered Wayfarer and Solemn Simulacrum.

Dimir Machinations could fetch you Necropotence or Phyrexian Arena (or other 3 CMC things), so I guess it's not a bad choice.
 

L0dest0ne

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I played a few years ago, but stopped when I found a cooler money sink (WH40k).
I still have all the cards and play my friends from time to time.
RDW is still pretty cool, though. I used to play black and red.
 

Zen Toombs

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Nov 7, 2011
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SL33TBL1ND said:
Zen Toombs said:
Yes, I know there's three fifteen dollar cards in here, but those I pulled at prereleases
I love it when people playing standard complain about $15 cards.

http://sales.starcitygames.com/carddisplay.php?product=14451

http://sales.starcitygames.com/carddisplay.php?product=13119

That was my standard deck, which I described as budget. You can and I have made a great standard deck on a budget of less than $30. Fact: Including $15 dollar cards makes your standard deck not budget. Wasn't complaining about price, merely explaining how 3 cards making up $45 in a budget deck still made it quasi-budget.

I repeat, you put words in my mouth. There were no complaints.

Anyways, I know how redonkulous Legacy prices and games are, but that's besides the point. You don't get into Legacy because you're poor, you get into Legacy because you enjoy the format and you've got cash to burn. If I had $280 for a playset of [mtg_card=Force of Will] and $600 for a playset of [mtg_card=Underground Sea], I wouldn't spend it on pieces of cardboard - I'd spend it things like my tuition or food.

I play magic for fun, and so do most people. The high prices of certain cards does make some archetypes impossible if you don't have cash to burn, and that is (understandably) upsetting. Fact - it kinda sucks to build a really cool deck that you really like, only to check the prices and find that two of the lynchpin cards would cost you your food for the next couple weeks. Fact - it kinda sucks that the only dual lands available on a budget are the M10 allied checklands like [mtg_card=Rootbound Crag], which severely hurts a player's options with multicolor decks.

SL33TBL1ND said:
just casual kitchen table games with friends and family.
Side note: this is quibbling over definitions, but there is no way in which a deck that costs several hundred dollars is "casual".
 

generals3

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Mar 25, 2009
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Everin said:
As the title reads, I've recently (in the last year or so) been playing Magic the Gathering. However, it wasn't until I went online a week or two ago to look at some rule guidelines for a card that I was part of a huge HUGE community that has pages and pages and pages of conversations on one card's rules or quality among other things. Now, I kind of assumed that MtG would have a large following, being the first (I think) real trading card game and the longest lasting.

Now my question to the Escapist Community, do you play Magic the Gathering (or did or would like to) and what are some good hints/tips/tricks to building/playing a good deck, and what
colour/multi-coloured deck do you play?

In regards to my play style, I play a mono-Red deck geared towards getting as many weak Goblins on the field, mostly with [mtg_card=Krenko, Mob Boss] or [mtg_card=Krenko's Command] and then have a lot of piercing cards like [mtg_card=Searing Spear]. I've read online that Red decks are geared towards lots of piercing damage and therefore thought I'd follow that line.
:)
I used to play it years ago but stopped because less and less people played it. But there is one thing i remembered quite clearly from my days playing it: make your deck as small as possible with only the best of the best in it and try to focus on one color. Going multi color simply makes things harder.
 

Zen Toombs

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Manji187 said:
Interesting. And here I thought there was no love for EDH on the Escapist.
Oh, there's plenty enough love. Did you miss my conversation with UnmotivatedSlacker? EDH is awesome!

Everin said:
generals3 said:
try to focus on one color. Going multi color simply makes things harder.
OP included because they're relevant to this conversation.

By what measure are multi-color decks harder? They can often be better and cheaper and more fun. Pre-rotation, I had a $30 White-Red deck that splashed a touch of black that consistently went to top 4 against people who played cards that cost more than my deck and who played legacy.
 

ohnoitsabear

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I've been interested in trying it out, especially because there is now a possibility that I could play it regularly. But, what I really need to know before I take the plunge is how much money I would need to invest in it. I really need to know how much I could expect to spend on Magic before I even consider playing it, and I honestly have no idea. Could anybody help me out here?
 

viranimus

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Nov 20, 2009
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Well... Ive been playing since the mid 90s and still have all my cards. I did not play very much at all between 2000-2010, but recently tried getting back into playing physical. Have added quite a large quantity of cards from Avacyn, 2013 core and now return to rav.

However my problem is I simply dont have many people to play against face to face. So after a while of playing against someone repeatedly you become fully versed in all their tricks and strategies. Thats when it gets boring. Especially if the person your playing against is not 100% up on all the rules and perfers to play "gentlemens rules" /eyeroll

I do play online as well, however my deck is microscopic in comparison, and really I find its a LOT more tedious to build a deck online than it is physically. So I really dont play that often online. Games are too mechanical, and essentially devoid of fun.

As for decks... Typically I keep Black as my core. I will usually build around black and supplement with either Green or Red. I have two primary decks at the moment.

One black/red "Death Frenzy" which is from black, mostly undead with secondary focus on spells and enchantments. And from Red is a combination of haste based goblins, Large juggernaut types as heavy hitters, and used in conjunction with artifacts that "band" things together. The primary focus is to use the hasty goblins to start chipping away early as I work to bring out slightly larger undead such as zombies and skeletons with undying or the ability to sac/res, to which I will sac goblins as needed. While I hold this neutralizing front it gives me a chance to build up a wall of juggernauts to overpower opponent. It also has a fallback method of banding together either zombies or goblins via things like coat of arms in the case of prolonged knock down slug fests where mana becomes a problem.

The Black/Green one is themed around "Rotten dogs" and pack mentality. In this one I have old school hounds, and ducatti jackals (for shadow, which I rarely see used any more) Along with Green wolves and werewolves. This comprises most of my low to mid game. The deck is very creature heavy with its major focus being the end game a string of very large green wurms. Combination of at least 8 massive wurms, the weakest of which is the old school 8/5 [mtg_card= Whiptail wurm]. Intermixed with this deck, it is also artifact/enchantment/aura/spell/miracle laden with artifacts to act as equipment, black spells to debuff opponents. A few nightshade peddlers hide to soulbond deathtouch.

Dunno how my decks would stack against seasoned players, but my online decks which are rather weak due to lack of cards, I can generally hold my own against most players, SO I like to think my physical decks would do alright.
 

Jfswift

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Just stick with "standard" format decks but don't buy the ones that are getting phased our soon (like core 2012, scars, mirroden,etc). Look into the "guilds" I believe there is one that has red and something else (it's much easier to play duel color decks now with readily available duel color lands).
 

SL33TBL1ND

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Nov 9, 2008
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Zen Toombs said:
SL33TBL1ND said:
Zen Toombs said:
Yes, I know there's three fifteen dollar cards in here, but those I pulled at prereleases
I love it when people playing standard complain about $15 cards.

http://sales.starcitygames.com/carddisplay.php?product=14451

http://sales.starcitygames.com/carddisplay.php?product=13119
Actually, I think you missed the point. I was clearly kidding.
SL33TBL1ND said:
just casual kitchen table games with friends and family.
Side note: this is quibbling over definitions, but there is no way in which a deck that costs several hundred dollars is "casual".
Is where I am. Me and all the people I play with play these sorts of decks when we're just messing around.
 

Marcus Kehoe

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I've been playing for a little under a year now with a main focus of playing standard.

I am currently running and red/blue control token deck.

For when i'm not playing standard my favorite decks to run are ALLy's, my favorite deck in particular being my green/blue ally deck which produces the safest mill deck ever.
 

Macgyvercas

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Feb 19, 2009
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kyosai7 said:
Same here, mono-red goblins, all the way!
I had a mono-black control deck pre-rotation that ate Goblin decks for breakfast. My opponent would empty their hand, and then I would hit them with a [mtg_card=Mutilate] or a [mtg_card=Black Sun's Zenith]. Coupled with [mtg_card=Duress], I made sure they didn't have spawn spells, and with [mtg_card=Pristine Talisman], I had [mtg_card=Gilded Lotus] turn four, and with that, depending on what was called for, [mtg_card=Griselbrand], [mtg_card=Sorin Markov], or [mtg_card=Sorin's Vengeance] turn six due to a [mtg_card=Diabolic Revelation] on turn five.

People hated me a lot.
 

NinjaSniperAssassin

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ohnoitsabear said:
I've been interested in trying it out, especially because there is now a possibility that I could play it regularly. But, what I really need to know before I take the plunge is how much money I would need to invest in it. I really need to know how much I could expect to spend on Magic before I even consider playing it, and I honestly have no idea. Could anybody help me out here?
That really depends on who you plan on playing with. I started about a year ago and had a group of friends who played, and since they're all casual I could compete with $12 R/W Metalcraft intro deck. If you wanna play with randoms at your hobby shop you'll probably have to spend a bit more to stand a chance.

Currently my fav deck is my mono-White Humans and Angels deck that starts out with [mtg_card=Champion of the Parish] and [mtg_card=Gather the Townsfolk], and ends with [mtg_card=Entreat the Angels] and [mtg_card=Avacyn, Angel of Hope]. I also have a B/U Zombie deck centered around [mtg_card=Grimgrin, Corpse-Born] and [mtg_card=Army Of The Damned] and a recently built mono-Green Beasties deck that relies on ramping into a fairly early, 5 +1/+1 counter [mtg_card=Primordial Hydra].
 

Zen Toombs

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SL33TBL1ND said:
Zen Toombs said:
SL33TBL1ND said:
Zen Toombs said:
Yes, I know there's three fifteen dollar cards in here, but those I pulled at prereleases
I love it when people playing standard complain about $15 cards.

http://sales.starcitygames.com/carddisplay.php?product=14451

http://sales.starcitygames.com/carddisplay.php?product=13119
Actually, I think you missed the point. I was clearly kidding.
Haha, fantastic joke buddy. [footnote]Sarcasm[/footnote]Because people are joking every time people use your exact words and examples to complain about how others find the price of standard cards to be higher than they'd like. [footnote]Sarcastically.[/footnote]Thanks for putting me in my place![footnote]Blatant lies[/footnote]

In all seriousness though, I found your response to be pretty funny.
Marcus Kehoe said:
I am currently running and red/blue control token deck.

For when i'm not playing standard my favorite decks to run are ALLY's
Izzet+[mtg_card=Talrand, Sky Summoner], I presume?

Also, I bloody LOVE allies. They were so fun in Zendicar...
 

Manji187

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Jan 29, 2009
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NameIsRobertPaulson said:
Manji187 said:
NameIsRobertPaulson said:
Manji187 said:
NameIsRobertPaulson said:
I judge at my store's FNM, played on and off (Originally started in first Mirrodin, quit at Ravnica because of cost, rejoined at Zendikar and played since). I don't like the price creep of standard, so I play Modern, one deck in Vintage, and TONS of EDH.

Modern decks:
Spellweaver Helix OTK
Molten Psyche Burn Combo
Heartbeat of the Storm (Heartbeat of the Spring/Eye of the Storm combo)

Legacy deck:
Pyromancer's Ascention Combo

Vintage deck:
Hulk Flash OTK

EDH Decks:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/teysa-edh-12-08-12-1/
My pride and joy, my Teysa EDH with my custom art (professional painter) Liliana of the Veil.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/karador-edh-12-08-12-1/
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/merieke-edh-16-08-12-1/
Interesting. And here I thought there was no love for EDH on the Escapist.

I also have a Teysa "Cannon fodder" deck, but my white weenies are mostly generated by blinking/ replaying creatures that have ETB token generation triggers.

From a technical standpoint, I'm curious though. Isn't 33 land a bit on the short side, also considering the fact that several of them enter the battlefield tapped? Moreover, there is virtually no way for you to get land, unless you draw into them or use tutors. Must be somewhat challenging, playing against decks containing green.
Most of my stuff is cheap enough I can survive on 3 lands, and Skullclamp, Necropotence, and Phyrexian Arena give me enough draw to find what I need. The huge amount of tutor really helps as well. I have considered using Dimir Machinations to accelerate the process.
If you say so. I was just somewhat surprised at the absence of stuff like Land Tax, Weathered Wayfarer and Solemn Simulacrum.

Dimir Machinations could fetch you Necropotence or Phyrexian Arena (or other 3 CMC things), so I guess it's not a bad choice.
Land Tax is on the want list, alongside Vindicate, but locating them and having the money to acquire them are difficult. Most of my stuff I traded for.

At the end of the day, I don't like Solemn in this deck, solely because he doesn't contribute to my win condition. I use him in my Meireke Ri Beret Esper Artifact deck, and in my Animar Planet deck, but a creature that can't be sacrificed to Teysa, or generate on board presence can't go in to an ultra tight list.
Why Vindicate, if I may ask? Sure, it destroys a permanent, but only once. No way to quickly recur sorceries in W/ B.

Well, yes, if taken on his own Solemn Simulacrum is not terribly good in a Teysa deck. But if you manage to blink him (preferably repeatedly)he can become an engine of advantage. Considering you have plenty of creatures with ETB triggers, have you considered using Conjurer's Closet?

Btw, for your Merieke deck (why not Sharuum?), have you considered Deadeye Navigator? Very useful with Solemn, very devious with Magister Sphinx (prepare for the ensuing hate). Although, technically, the sphinx is not banned, it is a rather douchey card. Especially if you cheat it into play early via Master Transmuter. Well, at least you aren't additionally playing Sorin Markov ;).

Is infinite mana (and other infinite combo's) allowed in your playgroup?
 

SlaveNumber23

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Aug 9, 2011
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I was thinking of starting to play Magic the Gathering, I want to run a black/red deck. First step is to find some people who play the game though. I'm thinking of buying the Slaughterhouse and Rakdos Raid intro decks and some Return to Ravnica booster packs does anyone have any opinions on this? Will I be able to merge the Slaughterhouse and Rakdos Raid decks to make a strong deck using cards from each or will I be better off keeping them separate?
 

Marcus Kehoe

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Mar 18, 2011
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Yeah my R/U izzet runs summoner and Krenko, Mob Boss along with delvers and Krenko's command.

If i had vexing devils id rum them instead of delver.