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Magic: The Gathering

Grunker

RPG Codex Ghost
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Well, the MTGO thread isn't really about the game, so.

Who plays it here, and what do you play? I play it kitchen-table style with a small playgroup. We draft, seal and play EDH. But since my room-mate suffers from internal brain damage and spent 5000$ on a pimped cube, that's been my favourite format. Cubing is so fun. Now I'm pondering building my own Common-only cube.
 

spectre

Arcane
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Oct 26, 2008
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Cubing? Mang I'm soo behind.

I used to be quite into it a long waaay back. Took it up somewhere around Urza's Saga, stopped playing around Odyssey. Since then my interest was limited to occasionally looking up the spoilers.
Stopped caring when they decided to update the card ruling texts when I realize I'm having trouble reading what some of the bloody things actually do.
I wasn't an active tourney player, but I moderated a few smaller forums. I was mostly into T1/Legacy formats (Extended too, for as long as it included Urza). Since I was both quite poor and an insufferable cheapskate at that time,
I used to play with friends using proxy cards mostly.

I enjoyed the game for the endless deckbuilding possibilities and all the weird stuff you could do: build an all-land deck, build a no-land deck, build a no-creature deck, build a 5 color control deck, build an all-artifact deck, build a deck that can win on turn two, but gets picked apart if it doesn't, build a deck that counters every fucking thing they play... etc.
Eventually, I saw that WotC isn't really interested in giving me the tools to build these things. They were rather interested in focusing on creature combat and related stuff, so I slowly grew disinterested with the whole thing.
 

Grunker

RPG Codex Ghost
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Cubing? Mang I'm soo behind.

http://www.tomlapille.com/cube/cube.html

As for the rest of the stuff, I agree. That's why I play EDH (deck brewers heaven) and cube instead. Wizards print plenty of stuff for EDH - they even made it a legitimate format called 'Commander'.

I dislike the direction they took sets in as well on a theoretical limit, but I think it's definetely the right choice for competitive and limited magic. I don't play either of those (short of cube of course), but they are the pillars of Magic right now, it seems, so it's understandable that's the direction they're going in.
 

Phelot

Arcane
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Mar 28, 2009
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17,908
Yeah... I used to play this in middle school dedicated. 4th edition and I still got em. Played them a few years ago with one other person, but I couldn't even remember half the rules. From the cards I've seen now, they sure have changed a lot, plus these cards aren't worth shit anymore :rage: not that I'd sell em. I mowed many a lawns to afford that addiction.

EDIT: Trying to remember exactly what I used to do... I know I was into creating opposite decks, like red/green or white/black because they complimented each other surprisingly well, at least I thought back then. I had about 4 other people playing. I remember my one friend had this crazy blue deck, but I can't recall what was so great about it. Nobody plays around here.
 
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Messages
4,065
I'm the only one here who hates this game with all his decadent liberal atheist soul?
I used to play some pnp with some friends, until the fuckers started to play this thing, and the place we used to play got filled wih 13yo kids playing and screaming about this card game.
Basically it was a true bringer of decline.
Well at least they didn't become heroine addicts, good thing the 80's were over by then.
 

Phelot

Arcane
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17,908
Heh. I pretty much started playing because of peer pressure. Everyone was doing it, man!
 

felipepepe

Codex's Heretic
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Terra da Garoa
I started in Ice Age and went all the way to Mirrodin...it was very fun and I even took part in some DCI championships, but then I moved from my city, went to college and WotC released that weird 8th Edition with a new layout and followed with zombie ninja rats...it just wasn't for me anymore. Afterwards tried to keep the flame alive with TCG video-games, from Magic Shandalar to Yu-Gi-Oh games and even fucking Digimon TCG for PSX (with is suprisingly good), but nothing comes close to the fun of biulding decks with actual cards, and I just don't have the bros & money for that anymore... :(

I still have my legacy Grave Pack deck, and some legendaries like Crovax the Cursed, Morifen, Dakkon Blackblade and fucking Sengir Baron....good memmories!
 

Texas Red

Whiner
Joined
Sep 9, 2006
Messages
7,044
Used to play it and thought that I could become quite good. Unfortunately, this required spending time in the local nerd shops and testing out your deck against others, which I didn't feel like doing. So I stopped when I realized this. I remember selling some cards several years ago to buy booze :leavingbehindchildhood:.
 

spectre

Arcane
Joined
Oct 26, 2008
Messages
5,380
Yeah, the worst part about Tragic was having to hang around with other players. Filthy creatures.
Although I think this applies to all kinds of of nerd hobbies. Let's take the Codex, for instance.
 

Rpgsaurus Rex

Guest
So, this is a competitive game where you pay money to get an advantage...

:decline:

Seriously though, I enjoyed some MTG-based computer games. The concept (gameplay itself) is nice.
 

Jaesun

Fabulous Ex-Moderator
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MCA
Heh. I pretty much started playing because of peer pressure. Everyone was doing it, man!

Same here. I still have a gigantic collection of all Alpha and Beta cards. Sadly, no one I know plays it any more.

I get that they cannot compete with their shitty MTG MMOG obviously, but I wish they could do another Duels of the Planewalkers again.... :( (As in customize your deck, not shitty DLC decks). I have not played the MMO because I know if I did, I would never ever ever ever leave my house again.

ever.
 

Steve

Augur
Joined
Aug 25, 2011
Messages
359
I spend all my childhood allowance on these damn cards, ended up having about 3000 of them. We still play them once a year or so.
Duels of the planeswalker 2013 was okayish, mostly ruined by the technical shortcomings.
 

Xor

Arcane
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Jan 21, 2008
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Codex 2014 PC RPG Website of the Year, 2015 Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Divinity: Original Sin Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Divinity: Original Sin 2
Man, I haven't played magic since like 2003. Some of my friends still keep up with it, though. I kind of wish I hadn't sold my cards, but I was really pissed off when I quit because my best deck had been stolen at school. I keep thinking I'll get back into it if I ever have a bunch of extra money, but considering that I would be building from nothing and how competitive I am, I would probably end up spending $600 on a deck if I did start playing again. It's probably for the best that I don't.
 

Shadenuat

Arcane
Joined
Dec 9, 2011
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11,955
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Russia
I got this: http://images.trollandtoad.com/products/pictures/113535.jpg from my dad on one of my teen birthdays, probably when I was 14? After that, I played with cards from Mercadian Masks, Planeswalkers, Odyssy, and collected cards up to... mm.. that poster with Dragon Mage. I collected dragons, and still have this small collection in album, but most of the stuff I gave to my younger cousin.
I always was too much for thematic approach in these sorts of games, MTG as well as Warhammer. Whenever it started to turn into sport-magic or, not so long ago, sport-hammer, I quit for a period of time. As most probably know on their skin, thematic approach and collecting pretty cards always loses to sport-like approach (even if working for theme&competition is interesting).
Still, MTG is probably one of my favorite games and it's rules are forever burned in my mind, as well as all the moves like turning cards or drawing them. I think I learned to grab cards right, like a fan, with MTG cards, and only then my hands moved better at regular cards.

My favorite artist is Rebecca Guay. Her pastel pictures stand out from the whole world of MTG cards: http://img12.nnm.ru/1/8/c/7/c/c0b677c89a0b13f332453e4b353.jpg
She is like Botticelli of MTG for me.
While today's MTG follows that modern fantasy style which WotC also forced on D&D from 3d and beyond, I'd still buy and collect "her" cards.
 

Rpgsaurus Rex

Guest
Actually MTG's fantasy art is probably the best thing about it.
 

Shadenuat

Arcane
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Russia
Depends heavily on the artist and personal taste. I just can't stand black-eyed anime-eared elves with broken goblin-like bodies, don't like dragons with scale looking like paper and large chunks of bone everywhere, and all that strange, mixed type of art which very much looks like a sketch made with computer tablet... don't like oversized PAULDRONS. I like cards which... look like someone actually drawn picture on them, not put a photo on it. That's why I am not a fan of, say, John Avon. Everybody collected Avon's lands in my school. I never liked them, because they looked too.. realistic? Shiny?.. I dunno, just not my cup of tea.
Of course maybe I am just a snob and like old stuff. Quite the possibility.
 
Joined
Dec 31, 2009
Messages
6,933
Played from seventh till Ravnica.

My impression was that after Ravnica the editions turned tardedly OP, es true or not?
 

Grunker

RPG Codex Ghost
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Played from seventh till Ravnica.

My impression was that after Ravnica the editions turned tardedly OP, es true or not?

Completely untrue and completely true. The general theme is that non-creature spells are becoming less and less powered (you pay 1BB to destroy target creature at instant speed in the newest set, and counterspells suck), while creature spells are, for the most part, better than ever (though not better than some of the truly great creatures like Tarmogoyf or Wild Nacatl).

Ravnica is one of the greatest sets ever though, and IMO we haven't had a set that was all-around as good. But we've had some of the best limited environments in the history of magic (Rize of the Eldrazi, Innistrad). Overall things are much better than pre-Ravnica IMO, unless you really hate creatures.

I do think they should strive to strike a better balance between creatures and spells (since I like casting spells more than creatures) but overall I like the environment now a lot.

Of course, I mostly play EDH (which, since it is now officially supported, is really great), and cube, so take the above for what you will.

By the way, if you love Ravnica as much as you should ( :smug: ), you should be interested to know that this falls set will be Return to Ravnica. We'll see what they can do with that.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2007
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Motherfuckerville
I've slung children's trading cards for way too long (off and on), and spent a good deal of money on them too, but Wizards design mistakes as of late are encouraging me to take a long leave of absence. Legacy has been buttrammed by Innistrad block. EDH stopped being fun after WotC started printing (very powerful) cards specifically for it, crowding out a lot of nostalgic old cards that I thought had finally found a fun place to be played. Standard has a ton of cool deck archetypes that can be played (freaking Standard "Storm" Combo, how cool is that?), but is ruined by Wizard's idiocy in printing a killer Blue tempo shell (Delver, Snappy, counters, Vapor Snag, Hexproof dudes+Equipment) that stomps most everything besides things relying on a legit HEART OF THE CARDS! spell that can do a one-sided board wipe for cheap if you draw it. They really need to get more aggressive with the banned list, methinks, because they haven't had a "balanced" season in a long time.

Draft is the only thing keeping me interested in the game, but even here they're losing me. Formats have a lot of depth, and the design is a lot tighter, but the power creep, especially on big creatures, is making for way too swingy of games. I know there have always been bombs, but staring down a Spiritmonger or Vampiric Dragon is a lot less daunting a situation that dealing with any of the critters that dish out board wipes when they come into play or incredibly stupid Legendary Vampire chicks who can spot murder any one of your critters while getting HYOOGE. There's a lot more stupid wins which aren't fun even when you're on the good end or winning prizes for them.

'Kay, nuff sperging 'bout children's card games for now.
 

Shadenuat

Arcane
Joined
Dec 9, 2011
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Russia
the power creep, especially on big creatures, is making for way too swingy of games
I felt decline and butthurt when somebody placed Akroma on the table first time (the one which can't be countered; I always played control decks, mono-blue or white/blue). But that was just a hint of things to come.

Vampiric Dragon
Have it in my album :smug:
 
Self-Ejected

Ulminati

Kamelåså!
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Jun 18, 2010
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DiNMRK
We should hold a KK Kockatrice tournament one day...
I approve of this idea. Make sure to post AARs here or in the playground and a list of decks afterwards. I'd offer to help organize it, but since I'm not into MTG myself I wouldn't know of the pitfalls and procedures that would have to be followed to avoid butthurt.
:thumbsup:
 

Grunker

RPG Codex Ghost
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I tried getting codexers in for a Cockatrice tournament once, but there was literally zero interest.
 
Self-Ejected

Ulminati

Kamelåså!
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I tried getting codexers in for a Cockatrice tournament once, but there was literally zero interest.
It's usually difficult to talk people into being first at everything. We do seem to have enough people around who (used to) play it, plus some of them may have pseudocodexian buddies they can bring along as well. (A practice we should henceforth refer to as Juuling).

If someone were to hypothetically get things underway, I think this is how he/she could go about it.

Step 1: Get people interested in/aware of MTG via cockatrice. Play a game or two via cockatrice, post AAR here or in the playground. That'd give people a feel for how the client works and interested in trying it.
Step 2: If the AAR genereates alittle interest, write up a handy how-to tutorial with pretty pictures on how to get cockatrice, where to download pictures of cards (borderline piracy? I'm not sure how to interpret the KKKodex rules on this), install stuff, build a deck, connect to a game etc. Extra points if you can talk a group of people into making a Kodex Kard Klub thing a la CDS where people signal that they'd be up for game(s).
Step 3: Once there's a small core of users willing to play, agree on rules (which sets of cards, whatever else... not sure what kinds of things you'd need rules for. Possibly that people need to use the same deck for every game and submit them ahead of time?) and crosspost a recruitment thread here/in the playground. If someone gets the ball rolling, I'll sticky a recruitment/tournament thread in the Gazebo for the duration of the event.
Step 4: Bang your head against the desk in fustration when clusterfucks, dropouts and butthurt inevitably arises :M

Again, I don't mind helping with arranging things if someone else can determine what needs to be done. Unfortunately my knowledge of the MTG rules is minimal, so I'm ill prepared to sort through the pitfalls on my own.
 
Joined
Dec 31, 2009
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Who is Tricia and what does her Cock have to do with MTG?
 

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