Introduction

[upgray3dd]

To be fair, half of that top 8 was tempered steel, a deck which is famous for being powerful but easily hated out of the metagame. Noone was prepared for it, and it swept into top 8.

If you like mana ramp, I'm kind of surprised you aren't going Kessig Wolf Run. There are around four different variations of the deck, and it is probably the most fun I've ever had casting a turn two rampant growth into a turn 4 titan.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Though I started playing in Ice Age, Tempest was really my kicking off point. After which I quit for a few years and got back on the horse for one more round with Ravnica. At that point I had built a blue/black deck of evil milling denial. Want your favorite card? hope you haven't discarded it already.
After that, and winning 3 tournaments in a row at the local store my friend owned, I hung up my MtG boots (decks) and moved on to Warmachine.

 

[remnant_phoenix]

Casual player here. The only tournaments I will play in are drafts, because the playing field is leveled. I don't have the time or inclination to research deck strategies and fork out the money to have a "top tier" deck for constructed.

I get in and out the game based on the set. I got into the game during Onslaught block with a white Cleric tribal deck.

Mirrodin and Kamigawa were "meh" to me, but I loved Ravnica. Dual-color decks are my favorite. I skipped Time Spiral because it was mostly made to appeal to the fans of the old school that I wasn't a part of.

Lorwyn was cool. Dual-colors and tribal, it tapped into the two past sets I really liked. I got big in during Lorwyn and that got me to look into Time Spiral as well.

Zendikar I liked, but interest petered off afterward with the newer stuff.

I imagine I'll get into it again when another set comes along that piques my interest.

 

[Draconalis]

Secondly, with Tez you're mostly going to be +1ing him, and you're going to wiff a fairly high percentage of the time. He's not a great card if you're going to wiff one turn in 4; this deck will wiff one turn in two.

Third, royal assassin - did it become 1997 again and I not notice?

Yeah... I was telling my friend that if he is just turn fouring in hopes for a sword, he might as well just tutor it up.


And royal assassins are da sheet.

 

[Shynobee]

YAAAAY!!! A Magic column! I've been wondering if the Escapist would ever hit upon this topic outside of LRR, and I'm glad it has!!!

Can't wait to read more of what you have in store!

 

[Smokescreen]

I've been playing for a long, long time (Ice Age) and still like the game. Though I tend to prefer to play in pubs so I can have a pint; it helps keep things at a more casual level. Not bad casual, just casual.

Anyway, I live in Portland OR, so if someone's out there and likes that idea you're welcome to join.

Also, I started writing about all the stuff I play here: http://swingfor20.blogspot.com/

I'm still working out the kinks in the writing but practice, practice, practice.

Good luck with the Escapist gig!

 

[fangclaw]

i may be stupid, which is a likely possibility, but i need some help with darksteel sentinal.
it says it is indestructible and that lethal damage doesn't destroy it, but that it is still put in the graveyard if it's toughness hits zero. so what does that mean? in my head im thinking this means that its toughness can't go below 1 by simple battle but im also pretty sure im wrong. so help please.

 

[mrverbal]

i may be stupid, which is a likely possibility, but i need some help with darksteel sentinal.
it says it is indestructible and that lethal damage doesn't destroy it, but that it is still put in the graveyard if it's toughness hits zero. so what does that mean? in my head im thinking this means that its toughness can't go below 1 by simple battle but im also pretty sure im wrong. so help please.

Well,

Damage doesn't reduce toughness as such; it's that if you've been dealt as much damage as your toughness, that is 'lethal' damage.

But it can be killed by -1/-1 counters or by cards like last grasp. (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=89056)

So any amount of regular damage won't kill it. It also doesn't get killed by cards which 'destroy' it (like doom blade). But it is killed by having zero toughness, or which remove it from the game (like revoke existance) or which make you sacrifice it (like cruel edict).

Does that help?

 

[GothmogII]

i may be stupid, which is a likely possibility, but i need some help with darksteel sentinal.
it says it is indestructible and that lethal damage doesn't destroy it, but that it is still put in the graveyard if it's toughness hits zero. so what does that mean? in my head im thinking this means that its toughness can't go below 1 by simple battle but im also pretty sure im wrong. so help please.

Minus counters are one way.

Such as with:

Since the counter stays on the card all you need to do is put 3 of them on Darksteel Sentinl turning it from a 3/3 to a 0/0 killing it. Also, it is still effect by remove from the game spells like Path to Exile.

Edit: Ninja'd by mrverbal, but mine has proper visual aids!

 

[Vortigar]

Well met sir.

I started out a couple months earlier, tail end of the Dark, my first packs were Revised.

I've played everything up down and center. White weenie in various forms, red burn, tempo, green zoo (still keep a Troll tribal deck on hand that I update whenever an interesting new Troll hits), mono black discard (currently in the form of a Rat deck), pure artifact (back when Juggernaut was the bomb and again these days with a Commander deck around Bosh), 5 color battlemages (slow as molasses), GBR tokens around the Alliances days, Minotaurs, WU control, BU control, BU Ninjas (jeez, that deck's messy), GB control with plague spitters and pestilence and kaervek's spite, merfolk around the Fallen Empires merpeople, Orcs, BUW Clerics around wandering mage, GUW Pheldagriff commander, BUR allies, and some other stuff I've forgotten over the years. Oh yeah and I hate elves with a passion.

These days I just play casual games with a group of friends. Since I got a new job I've been out of it for a bit though I mean to get back into the swing of things.

Magic is a game that lures you in with excitement, even after all these years there's so much I still want to try out (redo Minotaurs RU, snakes UG) but will never find the time for. Its a pretty nasty addiction, but its brought me a lot of fun and I can easily go for months without it.

It's a shame, but I like the idea of this series. The WotC site for Magic is so incredibly poorly designed it has stymied my earlier attempts to find out what's been happening...

Tip: just check the daily section's articles and ignore the rest (wizards.com/magic/magazine/default.aspx). They've got really good people writing those articles.

 

[Encaen]

Cool article, nice to see MTG getting some attention on this site.

As for myself? I play magic casually with friends, currently running two almost, but not quite standard decks. Mono White knights(which plays by making my knights indestructible and then buffing them up to the point of insanity), which is kinda aggro, which is basically throw dudes at guys, with some fun removal and some great protection(mirran crusader FTW!). I also run mono blue mill with Invisible stalkers and trepidation blades for an alternate win condition.

I love a good White Knights deck! Knight Exemplar [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220139] (or 2) in play is fantastic!

I'm glad to see Invisible Stalker getting a bit of play, too. How does your Mill deck tend to perform? I was considering a Inquisitor's Flail [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=221186] finisher for my deck, but opted to just use the swords for consistency.

 

[4173]

Well met sir.

I started out a couple months earlier, tail end of the Dark, my first packs were Revised.

I've played everything up down and center. White weenie in various forms, red burn, tempo, green zoo (still keep a Troll tribal deck on hand that I update whenever an interesting new Troll hits), mono black discard (currently in the form of a Rat deck), pure artifact (back when Juggernaut was the bomb and again these days with a Commander deck around Bosh), 5 color battlemages (slow as molasses), GBR tokens around the Alliances days, Minotaurs, WU control, BU control, BU Ninjas (jeez, that deck's messy), GB control with plague spitters and pestilence and kaervek's spite, merfolk around the Fallen Empires merpeople, Orcs, BUW Clerics around wandering mage, GUW Pheldagriff commander, BUR allies, and some other stuff I've forgotten over the years. Oh yeah and I hate elves with a passion.

These days I just play casual games with a group of friends. Since I got a new job I've been out of it for a bit though I mean to get back into the swing of things.

Magic is a game that lures you in with excitement, even after all these years there's so much I still want to try out (redo Minotaurs RU, snakes UG) but will never find the time for. Its a pretty nasty addiction, but its brought me a lot of fun and I can easily go for months without it.

It's a shame, but I like the idea of this series. The WotC site for Magic is so incredibly poorly designed it has stymied my earlier attempts to find out what's been happening...

Tip: just check the daily section's articles and ignore the rest (wizards.com/magic/magazine/default.aspx). They've got really good people writing those articles.

Yeah, my main beef is with the the tournament coverage section. It wasn't great the way it was, but at least it wasn't a muddled mess. I was surprised by how few names in the top 8 of Worlds and a few other recent events I hadn't heard before.

And now just today I learned I have no clue what my MTGO user name and e-mail was. So much for the article inspiring me to play some Mormir basic. (not that the account is a huge loss, I was mostly playing Mormir and pauper.)

 

[Redweaver]

OMG! Non-video game coverage on the Escapist?

I was lucky enough to discover M:tG very early on. As in, I bought the last three boosters of Alpha the comic shop had in stock, and the first seven boosters of the new Beta edition he opened up after selling out of Alpha (though they weren't called that then, and I was confused as to why those one cards were cut differently). My first starter deck (Beta) had a Lich in it. Those were some heady days in my gaming career. Channel/Fireball used to be a card combo.

I played regularly until Legends, then real life got in the way. Came back with Ice Ages and it's been off and on ever since. Played Tempest and Urza's block pretty heavily, but plenty of sets have slid right by me. More recently I picked up a fistful of Lorwyn block and when the new 2012 core set came out, I took the opportunity to teach my wife and nine-year-old son how to play. I have a five- and a four-year-old super eager to get their turn as well.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite deck building variations. I give you Wizard's Chess [http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/115&page=2]

 

[Zom-B]

Just so you're aware; that 75 they all played isn't a net deck; it's a team deck. Thats what teams do; they find the best list and all play it.

And, sure, the decks in any given format tend to channel down to a smaller number, often half a dozen or less, of really good decks...but again, there is a lot more skill than people give credit in selecting which deck is right for the day and tuning it.

Ok, "net deck" might not have been the best label, but what I was getting at is that regardless of whether one person or a couple people came up with that deck, 4 people in a top 8 used it. Sure, there definitely has to be some skill involved with sideboards and how the cards are played, but for me, when the number of competitive decks is so small, it becomes less about the fun, and more about the best cards and the money to acquire them. A broad generalization, I know, but the tournament world is simply not for players like me.

Your comment about the Royal Assassin puts a further point on it. It's now a quaint card, with newer ones doing what it does better, cheaper or both. Back in the day Royal Assassin was to be feared! Now it's mocked.

I was lucky enough to discover M:tG very early on. As in, I bought the last three boosters of Alpha the comic shop had in stock, and the first seven boosters of the new Beta edition he opened up after selling out of Alpha (though they weren't called that then, and I was confused as to why those one cards were cut differently). My first starter deck (Beta) had a Lich in it. Those were some heady days in my gaming career. Channel/Fireball used to be a card combo.

I too remember channel/fireball, decks with more than 4 copies of a card (lightning bolt, anyone? haha), Shivan Dragons as huge, Efreets, Djinns and Genies of various types, as well as Moxes and Lotuses... Those were heady days indeed.

 

[XSin]

I got in as a kid during Mirage, properly started at Darksteel, left at Lorwyn and jumped back for a moment at Beseiged then stopped again, every time I walk away it's because the money just gets to be too much.

Seriously, the store here charges $25 a head for constructed entry, we're talking a casual saturday night game with 30 people where you'll face 4 people if you're lucky and the top 3 walk away with something to show for it. . .

That said I love to play and while I'm not great I've got some amazing memories of tournaments and late night drafts

Best one was probably when it came to closing time and we somehow ended up starting a sanctioned 5 man booster draft, then at 2am decided what the hell, lets do another, which turned into yet another, 9am rolls around and we trudge out of the store like zombies loaded to the eyeballs with new cards xD

 

[ShadowKatt]

how interesting. I really only looked at the column because I recently learned what hexproof REALLY means, and how much that pissed me off. I play against someone that has a card that's hexproof against mono-colored. Which means against all my decks, and I have about a dozen, they're better than indestructible. At least an indestructible I could use something like Alter of LIght on it and remove it from the game. Against hexproof, even THAT doesn't work because Alter of Light(and indeed 90% of all magic cards) are mono-colored.

That is BULLSHIT.

 

[ChroniclerC]

I've heard some interesting rumors about a B/U control deck using Heartless Summoning [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=244678] to pump out Rune-Scarred Demons [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220130] and Phyrexian Metamorphs [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214375] (as more demons, of course) as the endgame.

 

[AugustFall]

I played pretty constantly not long ago. Had 4 friends and we would drop massive amounts of money coming up with ridiculous tribal decks. We didn't bother too much with the set restrictions so our decks were pretty wild. We went to a casual magic meet and trashed everyone (they were running proxy decks and 100 card decks and just weird shit so we didn't feel too bad not being within the set limit) It was fun though.

We stopped pretty suddenly. I had 3 decks: Merfolk, (Ula's Temple was really the mainstay bringing out Stormtide Leviathan), Treefolk, and Soldier (Tonnes of creatures that buff eachother and life gain). We had played the game to death and it was hard to find excitement in it. Even new sets couldn't push me to get back into it.
My friends are now getting back into Warhammer. I might join them, we'll see lol. Magic was expensive Warhammer is ridiculous.

 

[rofltehcat]

I've heard some interesting rumors about a B/U control deck using Heartless Summoning [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=244678] to pump out Rune-Scarred Demons [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=220130] and Phyrexian Metamorphs [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=214375] (as more demons, of course) as the endgame.

You mean this one? http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/boab/171

It sounds great and I've read through a few of those "building on a budget" posts today (damn you, author, you probably got me hooked again!!!) but man... I'm sure that for "good"/lower tourney-level decks, the cards used are low-cost but I looked some of those up and it really adds up quite quickly.

Also, I don't really get what is control in this deck... I really don't know whether 4 interrupts and 3 creature-destruction cards are enough control and allow to slow down the enemy enough... though that demon combo sounds really powerful if you get to it.

 

[Smokescreen]

how interesting. I really only looked at the column because I recently learned what hexproof REALLY means, and how much that pissed me off. I play against someone that has a card that's hexproof against mono-colored. Which means against all my decks, and I have about a dozen, they're better than indestructible. At least an indestructible I could use something like Alter of LIght on it and remove it from the game. Against hexproof, even THAT doesn't work because Alter of Light(and indeed 90% of all magic cards) are mono-colored.

That is BULLSHIT.

Easy there, big fella. Have you tried mass removal spells? Because those pretty much take care of the Hexproof problem.

Trust me, Hexproof is nothing compared to a mechanic like Storm.