Magic the Gathering General

[Agent23]

You can play Warhammer without miniatures. A color-coded cardboard counter of the right size with "Ork such-and-such" and an arrow indicating which direction it's facing does nicely. 😋

Good way to playtest before buying the miniatures and paint ...

Yeah, you will just have to cough up the dough for the codices

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Didn't that franchise go woke and is in the process of going broke?

Yes, they recently cancelled two of their best remaining artists: Terese Nielsen (for following conservative twitter accounts), and Seb McKinnon (for attending a trucker rally). Kinda shooting yourself in the foot there given how good their art is:


Terese Nielsen art:

Seb McKinnon art:

Grim Return

Damnation

Allure of the Unknown

Bankrupt in Blood

 

[Agent23]

Yes, they recently cancelled two of their best remaining artists: Terese Nielsen (for following conservative twitter accounts), and Seb McKinnon (for attending a trucker rally). Kinda shooting yourself in the foot there given how good their art is:


Terese Nielsen art:

Seb McKinnon art:

Grim Return

Damnation

Allure of the Unknown

Bankrupt in Blood

Those are original artworks?
They don't fit with the more, shall we say, classical outlook of MtG.
I have actually played it, like, once at a demo event.
We were supposed to get starter packs, but got jack shit.

 

[Terthna]

Yes, they recently cancelled two of their best remaining artists: Terese Nielsen (for following conservative twitter accounts), and Seb McKinnon (for attending a trucker rally).

They also tried to virtue signal back in 2020 by banning seven random old cards from play for being racist.

Depictions of Racism in Magic | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

There is no place for racism in our game, nor anywhere else.

magic.wizards.com

The one that really stood out to me was Cleanse, which they apparently banned not because of the card image, but because the card text said "Destroy all black creatures."

 

[Abhorsen]

They also tried to virtue signal back in 2020 by banning seven random old cards from play for being racist.

Depictions of Racism in Magic | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

There is no place for racism in our game, nor anywhere else.

magic.wizards.com

The one that really stood out to me was Cleanse, which they apparently banned not because of the card image, but because the card text said "Destroy all black creatures."

lol, yeah, this had to be the stupidest one. There are black (by race) white (by card color) creatures, like Crovax, Ascendant Hero. Honestly, of named black characters (there's a fair bit), only 2 have a black card color.

And this was before it started going woke and dumb. Seriously, Magic had no reason to go woke.

 

[Agent23]

They also tried to virtue signal back in 2020 by banning seven random old cards from play for being racist.

Depictions of Racism in Magic | MAGIC: THE GATHERING

There is no place for racism in our game, nor anywhere else.

magic.wizards.com

The one that really stood out to me was Cleanse, which they apparently banned not because of the card image, but because the card text said "Destroy all black creatures."

lol, yeah, this had to be the stupidest one. There are black (by race) white (by card color) creatures, like Crovax, Ascendant Hero. Honestly, of named black characters (there's a fair bit), only 2 have a black card color.

And this was before it started going woke and dumb. Seriously, Magic had no reason to go woke.

If WoC is their parent company then that is just the tip of the iceberg from what I have heard about the damage done to D&D.

In a normal world these companies should have gone broke and been replaced, but sadly we live in Clown with a moneyprinter world and creative destruction can't smoke the termites out of the wood.

 

[Abhorsen]

If WoC is their parent company then that is just the tip of the iceberg from what I have heard about the damage done to D&D.

In a normal world these companies should have gone broke and been replaced, but sadly we live in Clown with a moneyprinter world and creative destruction can't smoke the termites out of the wood.

The thing is, magic hasn't done a whole lot and players are rather removed from WotC choices. Only some actually read the lore (which is usually badly written), and the card art stays good. The banning of the cards has been the only actual game impact to people, and that was a relatively minor hit, as the cards weren't used often from what I know.

Basically, it's nowhere near Paizo levels of woke, where every fucking adventure path has to mention saving the environment or some such bullshit.


Anyway, there is going to be a prerelease for the new set next week at local game stores, if anyone is going. It's Streets of New Capenna, basically a demon-mob run city where they harvest 'halo' from angels.

 

[Terthna]

@Abhorsen? I blame you.

The last time I played Magic: The Gathering was back in high school, almost twenty years ago (I didn't really know what I was doing back then, as my main deck from that time makes blatantly obvious). But thanks to you reminding me of the game's existence, I've spent the last couple weeks or so doing a deep dive into the franchise, catching up on everything I missed, and ended up stumbling across the Commader format. Now I've got two Commander decks, a White/Blue Aura deck and a Green/White/Blue Defender deck, coming in from Card Kingdom; as well as some inner and outer sleeves, and Gamegenic deck boxes.

Thank you so much; now I have to somehow find somebody I can play with.

 

[Battlegrinder]

Easily GW. The prices for individual mtg cards come from the secondary market, not from WotC (Wizards of the Coast, owner of MtG). They've actually done a half decent job at making sure to reprint commonly used cards in order to reduce those prices (they could be doing better, but eh).

The secondary market also means you can recover some amount of your investment after leaving the hobby.

In 40k's defense, if you bought a model back in 1993, it's still usable on the table today (mostly), and building an army is a matter of picking what units you want and just buying them from the store, while with MTG it's much harder to build a particular deck. I know games will occasionally have a bit of ganebreaking nonsense breakout (Black Lotus being the standout MTG example), but at least with 40k you can easily mirror match any OP build while in MTG that's harder to pull off.

And of course 40k armies sell on eBay just as well as MTG cards.

I would also argue thelat 40k is maybe more enjoyable as a pure collection hobby. One the things I disliked about MTG was that the art on the cards was often very nice, but you couldn't just buy a larger print of it to hang on a wall if you wanted.

 

[bintananth]

@Abhorsen? I blame you.

The last time I played Magic: The Gathering was back in high school, almost twenty years ago (I didn't really know what I was doing back then, as my main deck from that time makes blatantly obvious). But thanks to you reminding me of the game's existence, I've spent the last couple weeks or so doing a deep dive into the franchise, catching up on everything I missed, and ended up stumbling across the Commader format. Now I've got two Commander decks, a White/Blue Aura deck and a Green/White/Blue Defender deck, coming in from Card Kingdom; as well as some inner and outer sleeves, and Gamegenic deck boxes.

Thank you so much; now I have to somehow find somebody I can play with.

May God have mercy on your wallet, for WotC shall show none. 😋

 

[Abhorsen]

In 40k's defense, if you bought a model back in 1993, it's still usable on the table today (mostly), and building an army is a matter of picking what units you want and just buying them from the store, while with MTG it's much harder to build a particular deck. I know games will occasionally have a bit of ganebreaking nonsense breakout (Black Lotus being the standout MTG example), but at least with 40k you can easily mirror match any OP build while in MTG that's harder to pull off.

In MTG's defense, if you bought a single card in 1993, it's now worth probably $10 to a couple thousand, depending on the card.

Thank you so much; now I have to somehow find somebody I can play with.

This shouldn't be too bad. Most towns have at least one local game store, and everyone's got a commander deck. I'd be willing to play too (there's a way to play paper magic online through a WoTC app and a web cam pointed at your table), once I get a non-degenerate deck. My current one is a degenerate Yuriko one that's slowly getting faster and faster. My end goal is heading in the rough direction of this:

MTG Deck: Yuriko Turn and Burn - cEDH

Yuriko, Tiger's Shadow Primer Yuriko is a resilient commander, capable of dealin...

tappedout.net

I am currently far from there, but I had a good base because I had an old ninja tribal deck from 2016/17. I'm just slowly trading for cards pretty much.

Also wherever your local game store is, they almost certainly have magic players on Friday Nights for Friday night magic.

 

[Terthna]

There's apparently a designer over at WotC who has been posting card spoilers for the next set on twitter, and umm...




Yeah; I'm starting to think I picked a bad time to get back into the hobby.

 

[bintananth]

Yeah; I'm starting to think I picked a bad time to get back into the hobby.

Do your wallet a favor: just walk away and say "good riddence"

 

[Terthna]

Do your wallet a favor: just walk away and say "good riddence"

It's already too late, and I don't want to stop. I'm not going to spend what I can't afford to spend however; I've got a budget in mind, and I plan on keeping to it.

 

[bintananth]

It's already too late, and I don't want to stop. I'm not going to spend what I can't afford to spend however; I've got a budget in mind, and I plan on keeping to it.

Good luck with that. "Collectible cardboard crack is more expensive than heroin" is what I've heard it called.

 

[Terthna]

Good luck with that. "Collectible cardboard crack more expensive than heroin" is what I've heard it called.

You just need to avoid the gambling trap of buying packs, and buy singles when building decks; though I would like to play Draft someday. Then again, I could always buy a bunch of bulk cards for dirt cheap, and build a Cube; get pretty much the same experience that way.

 

[Abhorsen]

It really depends on how you are doing it. Making a jank commander deck is fun. You don't have to have the best deck, just one that does fun stuff. People who play a lot will have commander decks at multiple power levels.

Also, it's always possible to play a cheaper format (like pioneer), and then play a cheap deck in that format. Currently, I'm assembling burn decks for both pioneer and modern, which are pretty cheap.

You just need to avoid the gambling trap of buying packs, and buy singles when building decks; though I would like to play Draft someday. Then again, I could always buy a bunch of bulk cards for dirt cheap, and build a Cube; get pretty much the same experience that way.

Basically this. But I do recommend draft a lot. It's a great way to meet people and have fun.

 

[Terthna]

It really depends on how you are doing it. Making a jank commander deck is fun. You don't have to have the best deck, just one that does fun stuff. People who play a lot will have commander decks at multiple power levels.

I've been putting together a Child of Alara, land only Commander deck; and it's pretty janky. It doesn't do anything until turn 5, unless I get really lucky drawing creature lands; and even then, they don't really do much unless I can build up a lot of mana to keep them coming out every turn. The token generating lands are a bit better; but most of the time, I'm just waiting until I can get my commander out and threaten everyone with a board wipe. Also, bounce and land destruction are basically this deck's kryptonite.

 

[Abhorsen]

I've been putting together a Child of Alara, land only Commander deck; and it's pretty janky. It doesn't do anything until turn 5, unless I get really lucky drawing creature lands; and even then, they don't really do much unless I can build up a lot of mana to keep them coming out every turn. The token generating lands are a bit better; but most of the time, I'm just waiting until I can get my commander out and threaten everyone with a board wipe. Also, bounce and land destruction are basically this deck's kryptonite.

Fortunately, land targeting is really not a huge thing people do until the completive scene, which is nice, but people will target your manlands while they are creatures. Still, that seems like a hilarious deck!

I assume you are also running the gates for the alt win con? It's rare, but you could do it, and then brag forever! And I don't think the gates are all that expensive either, though I could be wrong.

Also, consider looking at the youtube channel commander's quarters. He designs decks that are under $50 (used to be $25) that are fairly powerful.

 

[Terthna]

Fortunately, land targeting is really not a huge thing people do until the completive scene, which is nice, but people will target your manlands while they are creatures. Still, that seems like a hilarious deck!

I assume you are also running the gates for the alt win con? It's rare, but you could do it, and then brag forever! And I don't think the gates are all that expensive either, though I could be wrong.

Yeah, it's running all the gates, as well as Maze's End. Unfortunately, playtesting in Forge revealed that wincon has a pronounced weakness to milling, in addition to land destruction; if your opponent can put more than one of your Gates into your graveyard, there's no way you're getting ten of them on the field, as I'm pretty sure there's only eleven of them available right now. Although, the upcoming Baldur's Gate set is apparently going to have a total of nine new land cards with the Gate typing, including one based on the titular Baldur's Gate that can give you mana based on the number of Gates you have out.

Also, consider looking at the youtube channel commander's quarters. He designs decks that are under $50 (used to be $25) that are fairly powerful.

Already been watching his and a bunch of other Commander deckbuilding videos for advice; that plus EDHREC provides a good starting point for building most decks. Unless you're going for something really off the wall, like trying to build a Banding-themed deck.