Housepets!

Wait you have shocklands and you aren't using them? It's understandable if you are trying to make these budget (they're worth about ten dollars each), but otherwise shocklands are so incredibly good that it'd be silly to not play every one you have.

Sleet wrote:Wait you have shocklands and you aren't using them? It's understandable if you are trying to make these budget (they're worth about ten dollars each), but otherwise shocklands are so incredibly good that it'd be silly to not play every one you have.

I don't have one for each deck so they'd be unbalanced but I am planning on buying the booster pack box for Dragon's Maze. :3 There should be some in there.

A Dragon's Maze box will have on average 1.5 shocklands.

I'm also buying a box of Dragon's Maze and going to two prereleases. I think I'm choosing Rakdos as my guild for one and Orzhov for the other. I think those give me the best chance of two synergistic guilds. And I've already chosen Azorius, Izzet, Boros and Simic. So those are out.

Dead Thread Revival!

Anywho, I have a few that I frequent. I like to play with banned cards because i'm a casual player, but it just adds to the fun!

Bant Defenders (My Favorite)
Green/Red Haste
Myrs fueled by crazy Mana

One of my favorite cards has to be :


Especially if they scryed down a reveled card or they shuffled their graveyard back into their library.

It also works beautifully with Spell Crumple or Hinder.

I used Grazing Kelpie since it was all I had at the time. Persist was such a fun (and broken) mechanic haha.

Persist is so much cooler than undying. Undying may be "better" but that just means they can't put it on as otherwise strong of cards.

Also, I'm frustrated at how every night I expect Conspiracy to be completely spoiled and then it doesn't happen. <.<

Wizards was smart to throw in some chase foils, namely Swords To Plowshares and Brainstorm. If I was more involved in Commander i might be more hyped about it though, other than that I think its just another okay set.

Now that I'm home for the summer I finally have people to play magic with again. I forgot how fun the red/ white and red/ blue eventide decks were. I really wish the gaming shops around my house had more casual play and/ or tournaments that aren't standard.

You could always ask the store owners if there's any interest in hosting free play nights. They don't schedule events unless they know people want them.

Pladim wrote:Wizards was smart to throw in some chase foils, namely Swords To Plowshares and Brainstorm. If I was more involved in Commander i might be more hyped about it though, other than that I think its just another okay set.

To be fair, From the Vaults: Twenty had a shiny Swords to Plowshares. But at least Brainstorm won't be thirty million dollars now.

The coolest thing about the set is drafting it, really. I'm really excited for the draft gimmick cards.

One doesn't have any seating for it. They do their standard at the adjacent restaurant. The other is.... well not really my type of Magic players. I'll have to make do with my high school friends. Which is probably more fun. I just kinda miss tournaments.

I spent most of today (after church, anyway) playing various kinds of Magic. We played some regular Magic, some Commander, did a cube draft, and a Theros block booster draft. It was a good time. :3

And my favorite store has a Conspiracy draft scheduled Saturday at noon, which is the only time slot I can draft there. Normally they don't have any then so I never draft there. Cool! ^_^

I should get into Magic someday. But last time I played any TCG seriously was Pokemon when Wizards of the Coast was doing it.

Magic is a ton of fun if you have people to play with (or a store to play at), but it can get costly. It's pretty much the best-designed TCG of all time. There are so many people who work on it to make sure everything is balanced and fun.

There is something great about making your own Commander deck from your own collection of cards without spending extra money on certain other cards and battling it out with your friends.

There is something not so great about friends who use a mass amount of proxies...maybe I'm really weird but I like to work with what I have.

Still need to eventually make a Commander beck using just my own cards and my favorite legendary in Magic, Eight-and-a-Half-Tails. I don't quite have the cards to allow me to make a fantastic deck but I have useful enough stuff to make something okay.

Throwing together a deck with your collection is always fun! It's tough doing that with Commander since so much of your collection will be too small to be useful, but eh. It can still be fun!

I hate proxies. It takes away the fun of collecting and the pride you can have in your deck. Even when other people use them, it makes it feel like me collecting the cards for a cool deck was just some optional vanity thing, not the actual way to play the game. :/ I have one friend who will proxy all his decks (like pretty much 100%) because he doesn't like spending much money on Magic, and it's the difference between him playing and not playing that we allow it. But I wish he wouldn't. No one else uses proxies except for cards we're only testing (and therefore aren't committed to finding and playing yet) or cards we have on their way (whether we bought them online, or we've agreed to a trade with someone we haven't seen since). That policy I'm fine with. Proxies can be temporary placeholders. But using them to not have to get cards? Blech.

8.5 Tails was my first Commander deck! He's even a shiny version that I bought for $5 (it goes for like $20 now). It was awful and I don't think I ever played it against anyone. I just threw together a lot of white cards I had that I liked. He lives on, though, as a part of my Nahiri, the Lithomancer deck.

*Sigh* I have really fallen behind with Magic; haven't played in over at least a year. I still have a so-so Land Devastation Deck around somewhere, where I just hurl goblins of various sorts at you with Earthblighter... All to buy time for something very big... Don't know if I'll ever play again though.

There's no time like the present! The newest sets are really, really good, and the game is only getting more and more popular!

I know the very basics of Magic the Gathering. I bought the 2014 game on steam and I liked it. I need to get some actual cards and play with my friends.

Go to a prerelease! The Fate Reforged one is January 17th, and it's a great time. No cards needed, and you keep the ones you open. Just show up and pay for the event (usually $30) and everything's covered.

Or buy Intro Pack decks, which are cheap and give you a deck to start with. You gotta start somewhere!

Finally bought myself a booster pack to patch up my broken heart because I couldn't find a store that sells Pokemon cards, even in the capital city of Malaysia =w=

It's not as expensive as I originally thought. If you want to build your own deck, it would be expensive, but I just wanted to own some random cards xD

I didn't really understand the story behind the new set though. Magic Origins is about the original Planeswalkers I think? I was a little sad I couldn't find any Ajani-related cards though, even the loose commons

That is somewhat of a misconception. Magic Origins isn't about the original planeswalkers but rather about the origins/history behind five different planeswalker, their home planes and the first plane they planeswalked to when their spark was ignitied.

Unfortunately (and I was sad about it slightly) we won't see too much of Ajani for a while or cards that will have a reference to him. But for two months Theros block (Theros, Born Of The Gods, Journey Into Nyx) is still playable and has cards that are Ajani related, however probably not great to buy now unless you really want such..

I plan to build build an entire standard deck based around Ajani to play at FNM on the last week before the Theros block and Magic 2015 rotate out of standard. Jam it with Leonin from the Theros block, some nice Auras. Which will be quite funny in a way because the way I saw the last standard out was with lots of Cats, lots of them. Also Alms Beast which surprisingly did very well

I see. That explains it. I'm not really into the lore of Magic, and I've only ever played the online version of Steam, so deck building from scratch is out of the question. Not to mention MTG is pretty much a dying niche here in Malaysia. The store I went to is the only one that sells them that I know of. I'd love to play it again, but only a small handful of people plays them. Like, really small handful. I don't live here in KL, so owning a deck is pretty much useless.

Though... my preferences to the planeswalkers are affected by my bias towards furry stuffs, in this case Ajani. In fact, I bought a few loose cards purely because they have furry characters on it, like the Hound and Cat creature cards. I do prefer White and Green cards too though, so that helps

Haven't been adjusting well to the new standard environment, there's something about it that makes be just literally unable to do decently in it. So far two unsuccessful homebrew deck designs. I know I like building rather different from the norm, but so far something just seems to be missing. And as somebody who is too casual for competitive and too competitive for casual, it sort of hurts.

The local store just are almost all playing aggro decks. I'm sort sick of just seeing decks where its all about how much burn spells and goblin tokens one can vomit out. Can't fully complain, since I tend to run burn quite a lot.

Magic Origins is totally awesome, really. I really like it!

They decided they're shifting the focus of their storytelling from here on out and Origins is the way they're kicking it off. They've established Gideon, Jace, Liliana, Chandra and Nissa as the five most important characters, and used Origins to tell their stories. So none of the other planeswalkers appeared in the set. They're still going to matter, of course! But less frequently than those five. And, sadly, Ajani is not in the next block. It seems like the next block will feature at least four of those five (no evidence of Liliana yet), plus Ugin, Sorin, Kiora, and maybe Nahiri. And Ob Nixilis who is currently not a planeswalker but might become one again by the end of the block! But fret not. Ajani had a big role two blocks ago (Theros), and there are now two blocks a year instead of one. So there's hope~

Also, there are preconstructed decks they sell for pretty cheap; it doesn't take that much to build a deck from that. Though you'd want someone to play with because if your plan is to play in store tournaments, those usually don't cut it.

As requested by someone in another thread. Here is the layout of my newest creation.
(Image taken from Cockatrice)



Nothing spectacular, but the interactions I was able to do with it caught the attention of quite a few players. and while not standing up the the best decks there, it has something a few decks I have made recently lack. Its much more likely to do something effective, even if it doesn't result in a win, its going to be a thorn in the side of my opponent. Wincon here is generally Gray Merchant of Asphodel (known also as Gary) although Sidisi can do some work as well. Its yet to enter a FNM as of yet, I believe it will do alright where I am, possibly netting me a top 8 finish if the conditions are ripe for it. It still has a few major flaws most namely it cannot deal with Liliana too well and is nearly completely hosed by her walker side ult.

Oh wow, that deck looks really cool! Do you have a sideboard planned? I'm a big fan of taking weird decks to Game Day. I've missed a few (such as this last one), but my most recent deck was Red/Green Bees, and before that I made a Blue Affinity deck with Inspired shenanigans. Decks like that excite me!

Also, FYI, Cockatrice is illegal and discussing illegal activity isn't allowed on this forum.

Welp, I'll be sure not to use a screenshot from it again. I was honestly not really aware. I barely use it these days however, always prefer to actually play with physical cards and all.

I'm most well known for running weird and unusual decks in my area. Also for running the most "janky" decks in the area. As a player who runs such things R/G Artifacts + Legends, WUG Manifest Control, U/W Tokens/Artifacts and horrible mess of a deck which I simply named "Temur Fight Club" , I tend to always bring a deck which isn't as easily expected.

Sideboard has yet to be made, but since the meta in my area is highly revolved around aggro and burn, I'll have to side in against that. The deck can perform okay if the mono red deck is less than optimal, but as I found out in last night's FNM here, even a massive 32 life point swing (over three turns) doesn't save me against the stronger red decks out there. It may be changing to Mardu with the addition of Athreos, God of Passage to really put the thumbscrews on the opponent plus a few more scrylands.

Overall it did extremely poorly in FNM when I tried it out, it works fine but lacks finishing power (if I don't have Gary) when I need it. I also ended up in some really bad spots, I'm pretty bad on my shuffling (or possibly unlucky), I'm the player who tends to get multiple land light hands, even when a deck contains sufficient land, which happened a few times. However its pretty fun, and can do some real brutal things.

I believe one of the players that plays at the store I play at used to run something very similar to R/G Bees for a while before switching to something else.

Have you considered perhaps Dragonlord Kolaghan if you want a little endgame power?

Try Pharika's Cure in the sideboard against aggro. It's a fantastic sideboard card while it lasts! Less than two months until it's not in Standard anymore. Kolaghan's Command may be useful as a sideboard card depending on the metagame, as well.

I don't have Dragonlord Kolaghan unfortunately. I can probably trade to get one however if I really want to. I have Kolaghan, Storms Fury however which could be a consideration for the time being.

I didn't think about Pharika's Cure. Generally Bile Blight hits harder, but the lifegain from Pharika's Cure can pad myself against some of the red decks out there,however I have to be more careful about my timing of the spell against */2 toughness creatures with prowess (Big ones being Monastery Swiftspear and Soulfire Grandmaster) but deals with the common Goblin Rabblemaster and Goblin Piledriver although those aren't usually my problem in the first place. Mono-red is the most common deck out there in the meta down where I play but its usually utilized by newer players.

My own consideration as side board at the moment was Virulent Plague as it deals with thropers, goblin tokens, hornets from Hornet Nest/Queen. It doesn't stop those running Impact Tremors but in general Impact Tremors is slow enough that I can usually survive it (Impact tremors is also a great consideration for mine own, as I'm reanimating creatures a LOT when I get started). Surprising doesn't hose Flameshadow Conjuring for me completely as there's creatures that love to die in my deck and the tokens of them, even more so. Burn is my iffy one atm. Also decks that run Titan's Strength. I also need to consider control decks.

Kalaghan's Command is flexible enough for me to use, and trashing the occasional Obelisk of Urd would help me out greatly.

I will have to consider cards carefully. Thanks for the advice

Just curious, how much would it cost to get into Magic: The Gathering? Met an old friend recently who seemed to be rather enthusiastic about introducing me to the game. I've heard the costs can be steep, though I suppose a bigger problem would be finding matches, especially in my area (friend lives overseas).

Probably just sticking to Hearthstone for now :3

It can be quite expensive if you decide you like playing certain formats, but in truth really its as expensive as you wish to invest. Depending on the folks in your area they might help out with such, at my local card store its not uncommon for the drafters for example to give the cards they drafted to a new player after the draft! (Usually keeping the "money" cards though) Of course this isn't true of every area. In general, keeping to the standard format will keep things cheaper. That being said it is probably more expensive than say playing Hearthstone and other online TCG's. That also being said, you have physically usable cards afterwards

You can actually check up the Wizard's of The Coast website, to find the location of the nearest card store that supports MTG in your area. You can ask around at places which may sell MTG and they might guide you. Most likely they'll be a small group somewhere who meets somewhere even if a store isn't nearby. My own first real experience with MTG was at high school where a group of students gathered together and just started playing in one of the classrooms during lunchtime.

Well, there is no harm with being introduced, and of course you don't have to collect it. While I have seen teenage kids that just spend their pocket money to play MTG I know others with jobs that stopped collecting because they considered it too expensive. I once just used to only spend $5 a week pocket money on MTG cards once. (Nowadays it takes out a much larger amount of money but I have more I can spend than back then)

In the end, if you feel its too expensive or you don't enjoy it enough to warrant spending, don't collect/play it. Yes costs can be steep if your very heavily invested in playing old formats (There are folks that can and will sink hundreds even thousands of dollars on a single sixty card deck for certain formats) but at the same time a good standard deck can be made for less than $25 (Australian not US)

Sorry for the wall o' text

Drown in Sorrow and Anger of the Gods are also options, but really nothing hurts mono-red like a well-placed Pharika's Cure. You'd really only need like one Kolaghan if you want a top-end option, so it shouldn't be too hard!

How costly Magic is largely depends on what you want to do. Magic can be pretty darn affordable if you just play with your friends casually! If you want to go to tournaments, though, it costs a little more. It can still be pretty reasonable if you play the right types of decks in tournaments!

Only reason I'm not running Anger of the Gods (I have a playset, rather than with Drown in Sorrow where I can only find 2) is that it also hoses my deck at the same time if I don't have a Sac outlet to sacrifice my weaker zombies to.

Right, that's a strike in favor of Pharika's Cure, from what I've read about the matchup.

Well my second FNM with the that deck and it did quite well this time around. Unfortunately could not find any more than one Pharika's Cure and one of its poorer version Douse of Gloom so wasn't able to fully set up, but it did far better this time than last. I have roughly determined from what I played that against a top tier burn matchup, Pharika's Cure or Douse in Gloom doesn't give me enough to survive against it. I also found out (painfully) that Gray Merchant of Asphodel is no certain creature to slow burn at all (Its possible to kill it and cause its ability to completely fizzle if its the only black permanent on your side of the battlefield )

Unfortunately both decks that beat me were mono-red burn decks, i'll tweak it more but I think there's not enough for me in my colours to fight burn effectively. Otherwise it plays pretty well for something not particularly great.

Otherwise was fun, and I did score myself a top 8 finishing (out of 17 players), making it only the 4th time I managed to do so at an FNM.

Pharika's Cure isn't an automatic win but I think it definitely helps your chances. And yeah, Grey Merchant of Asphodel isn't great if you don't have a lot of black permanents in your deck. You may want to not play it.

Black permanents isn't a problem, since all but two non-land permanents are black in my deck. Just the sheer kill speed can see me dead on turn 4 or 5. Its waaay too fast and the burn too damaging for me to get to turn 6 reliably when I want to be usually casing G.M.O.A. Aggro itself isn't a problem, I can usually hold if they aren't packing just Exquisite Firecraft, Stoke the Flamers and Lightning Strike. If they lack Searing Blood, Black Cat causes nasty problems for burn and some aggro, a bit random in its effect but usually reliable enough to force them to have to use more gas. And a good creature for trading with others early game.Gray Merchant of Asphodel does way too much work against most other decks, the deck can do some utterly disgusting things with the right cards are out and unlike most lifegain, I don't particularly care about Erebos (I'm still ahead even if I can't gain lots of life) and I'm even fine with Tainted Remedy under some circumstances. A possible 28 life point swing on turn 6 is nothing to sneer at. Gray Merchant of Asphodel is the main reason why 99% of the time my choice for Palace Siege is Khans rather than Dragons

Played some Commander today, I could sum it up as this, I came, I saw, I got crushed badly

Commander is so much fun! My favorite deck is a Commander deck, even. :3

Also, check this nonsense out. This guy crazy.

When that was spoiled, and I first saw it, I spent five minutes reliving the days of casual horror back when my brother once played and abused Raven Guild Master and just won by completely exiling my deck over time.

Its so insane, and your don't even need colored permanents to abuse him badly. In Commander you can easily turn that twenty into sixty with two artifacts :O

The good thing however, is I have a chance of getting this one, unlike back in ROE, where I wasn't playing or collecting But I'll definitely have to pack something to deal with that however.