MTGO aka MODO

[Pope Amole II]

I guess it's sorta stupid to create a topic dedicated to digital version of the game when IRL one is not discussed yet, but I stopped caring much about paper magic due to multitude of reasons - boosters in my country are way too expensive (I'm indifferent to cracking packs, but it sucks to pay roughly $18 for a prizeless draft), we don't have any official club going on and playing wherever it takes is kinda annoying, and, last but not the least, I kinda dislike the whole auditory that cares about magic in my town, most of them are boring, boring people so I don't want to hang out with them. Besides, real limited takes too much time - there's world of difference between one draft per week and three drafts per evening, you know.

So yeah, are there proud codexians who play MTGO and if yes, what are you playing n' stuff?

I myself am mostly limited player so last couple of months I'm grinding avacyn 4-pack sealed queues - it's not the best value that ever was, but it's best that there is at the moment, besides, I'm kinda stocking some stuff outta there in hopes that shit will rise up eventually. Sure, it's a big set and it's drafted in triples, but it's also a last set so there should be some relative shortage of it after RtR release, especially if it's gonna be as popular as original Ravnica and so everyone will draft that set exclusively. Also, I play 4-packs rather than drafts since 4-packs offer more value than drafts (statistically, if you play with 50/50 win/lose percentages, you'll lose about 5 tix per 8-4 draft and about 2 tix per 4-pack sealed) and general skill level there is kinda poor, meaning that it's clubbing the baby seals through all night, hell yeah!

 

[laclongquan]

What is MTGO aka MODO?

 

[Excidium]

laclongquan

Magic: The Gathering Online.

 

[malko_sundervere]

Just play Magic Workstation.

 

[Destroid]

So you intentionally play with worse players to gain more cards? Sure sounds fun.

 

[Excidium]

Just play Magic Workstation.

That works for casual types, but MTGO has official tournaments and keeps the TCG aspect so it's closer to the real thing.

Also magic workstation seems like a thing of the past, this is the new deal: http://virtualplaytable.com/

 

[Pope Amole II]

Just play Magic Workstation.

Yeah, just play limited in magic workstation (and whatever analogues there are), sure.

So you intentionally play with worse players to gain more cards? Sure sounds fun.

Not that intentionally - it's just that, unlike with drafts (and believe me, when 1.5 year ago there were UZUZUL draft queues and they were more or less full of good players due to their good value, I grinded them good), there's only 1 kind of queue for 4-pack sealeds and all kinds of players get mix there.

Besides, magic is a game of probability (especially sealeds) so even if they play shitty, they still pose a threat if they open bombs and, considering how modern sets are designed, they always have bombs. And it's actually fun to outrace Wolfir Silverheart or to prevent them from using their Spear of Avacyn or to simply crush deck that has divine deflection, silverblade paladin, hound of griselbrand and gisela, blade of goldnight (that's from 4 boosters, mind you) with more or less average pool.

Finally and most surprisingly, winning money feels actually better than losing them, whatever the reason for your win is, especially when you live in shitty country and bets are more or less considerable.

 

[Grunker]

Why would anyone still use Magic Workstation?

www.cockatrice.de

Surperior and easier to use.

Also: I would probably be MTGO-only if I hadn't built up a fairly decent IRL collection. If only I had known about MTGO earlier, my collection would be there instead.

 

[Ulminati]

I never got into Tragic: The Garnering fortunately, or I would've 'sperged out and spent a fortune on it. I did play the little known CCG Warlord of the Accordlands years ago from early Campaign Edition until shortly before the release of Epic Edition. It was a pretty sweet game but the community never reached critical mass in the places I played. I continued playing it online for a while using some cockatrice-like card game client. I forget its name. But towards the end of Epic Edition and before the release of 4th Edition (yes, their naming scheme was pants-on-head-retarded) they began introducing all kinds of idiotic new mechanics that completely disrupted the flow of gameplay. You could do some truly silly combos in that game if you were playing syneri. Kapix->Kilis of flesh->severed of flesh->whatshisname that recycles cast spells->some readying orders strip tease cheese usually made Deverenians rage :D

 

[Hoodoo]

Been playing cockatrice with some codex bros. Im pretty noob but if anyone wants to play me im hoodooo (with the extra o) apparently theres a buddy list you can use. Im on quite a bit fiddling with my deck.

 

[Scruffy]

I’m Tradewind_Rider on MODO, I mostly play standard and draft/sealed though. M13 has been pretty fun until now.

 

[Pope Amole II]

I've decided to post screenshots of my 4-pack sealed pools, to enliven the thread & stuff. Played 2 today.

First one was a crappy GW - sure, cathar's crusade & avacyn are kinda bombs, but there's no removal here & pretty much no tempo, so this deck is slow & steady and that's pretty lethal in 4-pack. Still, I somehow managed to scrounge a 2-1 with it - first round was a sure loss, since opp had an UBER RG, boasting Ulvenwald Tracker, Wolfir Silverheart & Zealous Conscripts, but second & third rounds were much easier. In second, the guy had a nice UB deck, but he was a total noob, basically losing to himself, and in third, despite losing 1st one due to mana screw, I easily overpowered a BW deck as suddenly my deck gave me a perfect curve with sanctifier-timberland guide-trusted forcemage opening and that was enough to hold until the late game where my bombs rocked.

Second one brought more joy to my heart - once again, there was no deckbuilding options here (all of the colours, except black & red, are pretty weak), but the deck itself was awesome. Somewhat light on the creature side, sure, and basically without bombs, but it's pretty much more removal spells here than there were creature cards in my opponents' decks, so I made a relatively easy 3-0. Well, first round was kinda harsh, as I had to overpower a Spear of Avacyn (and it rocks), still, due to some luck in topdecking (got a nice "do you feel lucky, punk?" moment, drawing my second pillar of flame out of final 6 cards, burning the last 2 life of my enemy before he stomped the last 2 hps out of me), but equipment kinda sucks when there's no one to equip it to.

And second & third rounds were much easier - second was a not so fast GW deck that was not hard to rip through, and third was a BRG opp who was screwed to his death twice. It sucks to play Jund when you draw swamp after swamps.

 

[Scruffy]

how do polluted dead work for you? i never play them because i think they're utter crap, but sometimes i think i might be wrong...

 

[Pope Amole II]

In 4-pack sealed, they're doable - like, when you really need another creature and don't have any other choices... And they're not that bad in defense - after all, general toughness in AVR is pretty low so they trade with lots of stuff. Finally, their LD ability sometimes becomes useful - in 4-pack, people often play 3 color or splash so it's a good way to punish them for doing so.

 

[Grunker]

I always considered Polluted Dead a 3/3 vanilla creature for 5. Which means it's very limited, but if you MUST use it, the LD is just a bonus on a 3/3 for five that you have to play anyway.

So yeah, filthy creatures avoid whenever I can etc., but in a pinch, a 3/3 is a 3/3.

 

[Pope Amole II]

Played 2 more 4-packs today. Actually, played 2 more 4-packs yesterday, but those were unremarkable 2-1s with losses due to screws and obvious builds so I got lazy. Today's ones were better in terms of play and actually brought me ~11 tix of profit instead of just letting me play for free.

OK, this is my first 2.5-0 (meaning 2 wins and split in the finals, getting 4 packs each instead of 5 to winner - 3 to loser) pool. Well, it's not that spectaculer - decent curve and able bodies, but real problems in removal department and that kinda sucks, especially in black. Still, stupid stuff like marrow bats + blessing + essence harvest brought me to victory. I also tried to side in descendant's path instead of lair delve, but never got to actually using it.

I also had such build for this pool in my sideboard - blue instead black gave me a bit more tricks and some CA, even, but worsened my curve significantly and made me play with lots of filler (scrapskin, alchemist, shieldmate, skaab) so I was not really keen on sideboarding this version in.

Second draft was also a 2.5-0:

Now we're talking! Sure, I would've preferred for the angel to https://dl.dropbox.com/u/21513886/07082012RW.JPGbe foily instead of the stupid mystic, but it's not a big deal - after all, the difference between foil & nonfoil restoration angel is measly 3 tix, not a significant lot. And we have solid curve, some bombs and some draw/discard shenanigans (mad prophet into defy death'ed angel can be awesome). I should've mained aggravate instead of reforge the soul, though - I never got to actually playing reforge so I don't know how good it is, but I always sided it out for aggravate since 1 damage to opposing board and a forced attack just win you games. I also had a greedier, RGW build of this:

Still, I've sided it in only once because I was land screwed constantly in this tournament (good that this deck can operate at 2-3 lands, for some time, at least), and even then I drew zero green cards so I don't think that ruining your mana base for 2 miracles (sure, revenge wins you games, but no revenge for you without forests, or no revenge targets if no mountains & plains) is that good of idea.

 

[Scruffy]

Since i can't be bothered with that cockatrice thing, if anyone wants to add me to MODO to playtest, i'm

Tradewind_Rider

with an underscore

cheers

 

[Grunker]

I mostly play the MtGO beta, but if anyone has access and wants to play, I guess I'd be up for a few.

 

[Scruffy]

in case anyone new is playing MODO, again, i'm Tradewind_Rider. Is Grunker the only person?

 

[Pope Amole II]

Since this thread has been brought up, I, as an op, want to share a moment of perfect beauty with all of you:

TBH, not much needs to be said here - I'm kinda sorry that I've trolled my opp unintentionally and got him angry, but it was a rather magnificent clusterfuck so he should've tried to enjoy it too instead of getting angry.

 

[Jaesun]

What the fuck is MODO?

 

[Pope Amole II]

What the fuck is MODO?

Reading the thread is hard, eh?

 

[Grunker]

I draft a bunch. Grunker on MODO.

 

[Scruffy]

What the fuck is MODO?

i'm old, so i use old names. when it first came out, magic online was known as "magic online with digital objects". no one uses it now, but it stuck with some people, mostly old farts, because we don't like change, change is scary.

 

[Grunker]

People still playing? Modern Masters was just released in the closed BETA which I'm a part of, so we get to draft it for free ATM