yet another Magic thread

[robomummy]

so the goup at school that I play pathfinder with also plays Magic. I have magic cards but I havent played in over a decade. I have no Idea if my cards are still good or even if I can use them. To any who have played Magic for the last 10 years i just what to know how much the game has changed in that time. I have a blue deck focused on small flying creatures and heavy defensive ground creatures.

[coff]

Depends what they play. Are they playing casual kitchen table style magic or some form of standard or modern or Commander/EDH?

If anything goes your cards will do fine. That being said some new cards might help. Older cards creatures were much weaker and spells were much stronger. Example: Serra Angel < Baneslayer Angel, Demonic Tutor > Diabolic Tutor

My advice is to find yourself a copy of the blue Magic 2013 Intro Deck with Talrand, Sky Summoner. Maybe the Azorious Intro Deck from Return to Ravnica as well. They'll give you an idea of how the deck you used to run plays now.

[robomummy]

I have no clue what kind of magic they play (there are different kinds?) but from what I saw it was nothing like what I remember. I might just see what they say about my cards.

[Psychichobo]

Ask for a few games of anything goes first, though be aware of rules changes. For the most part it's the same, but there are a few things:

Combat damage is no longer on the stack. So you can't have a creature receive enough damage to kill it, then sacrifice it.

Mana burn no longer exists. Simple as that.


Also, people can be iffy about older cards, for no good reason IMO. I think there's just this paranoia people have about not knowing what cards you might be using, but then I have a passionate dislike of people who promote Modern* as being the most fair.

Picking up one of the M13 starter decks is a good idea though - as they come with 2 free boosters they're very good value, and the rares in the blue one in particular would be very well suited to your playstyle (Talrand makes flyers for every sorcery or instant you play, Stormtide Leviathan stops non-flyers and non-islandwalkers from attacking).






EDIT: Meant to say Standard. Derp.

[yoritomo]

There are four real formats for magic:

Vintage- All cards are legal (except ante cards because you don't play with ante anymore). Most people play this because they have power 9 and they want t play with them.

Legacy- All cards are legal except the most broken cards ever printed. This is a very popular format and a lot of tournament support.

Standard- The only cards legal are those in the current core set, the current block, and the previous block. If you aren't familiar with blocks then the best way to think of it is cards that were printed this fiscal year and last fiscal year. This is the most popular format, you can usually play this at Friday Night Magic.

Modern- All cards printed from eight edition on are legal. A good rule of thumb is if it is in the newer style of card frame it is legal to play. This is the newest format and is starting to gain popularity.



There are some other formats. One is kitchen table magic, which is just the lack of playing under a format. It usually plays like vintage but without the high dollar cards. It is popular with people who don't have a ton of money to spend but still want to play.

[sac_ld]

Nov 27, 2012 3:32:03 GMT yoritomo said:

There are four real formats for magic:

Vintage- All cards are legal (except ante cards because you don't play with ante anymore). Most people play this because they have power 9 and they want t play with them.

Legacy- All cards are legal except the most broken cards ever printed. This is a very popular format and a lot of tournament support.

Standard- The only cards legal are those in the current core set, the current block, and the previous block. If you aren't familiar with blocks then the best way to think of it is cards that were printed this fiscal year and last fiscal year. This is the most popular format, you can usually play this at Friday Night Magic.

Modern- All cards printed from eight edition on are legal. A good rule of thumb is if it is in the newer style of card frame it is legal to play. This is the newest format and is starting to gain popularity.

They still have Extended

[wisdomseyes1]

Extended isnt really a format anyone actually plays, though. You can claim it- but if you go to a gaming store you arent likely to find an extended player

Though Yori did forget EDH (also know as commander) which is fairly popular. Which is basically legacy with its own banlist and morphed rules.

Also, people can be iffy about older cards, for no good reason IMO. I think there's just this paranoia people have about not knowing what cards you might be using, but then I have a passionate dislike of people who promote Modern as being the most fair.

Give an example of a card that you can be iffy about for no good reason and a format you are referring to (format is important because it effects the decks you are going to see... if its casual, then of course there is no reason to be iffy about a lot of cards you should be iffy about) and I feel I can coherently explain why that card is iffy.

Baring of course the annoying task of READING most older cards.

Modern, i feel, isn't the most "fair" format. Just the most aggressive. Every other format you see control archtypes at top tier. Standard right now has Bant midrange control as one of the top 3 decks in the format. Vintage seldom changes, and 6 of the top 8 decks are blue. I am not much of a legacy person, but I know generally aggro in legacy is a joke, and wins somethings because no one expects it (Goblins won recently at Starcity, IIRC)

Control doesnt really exist in modern. The most recent grand Prix there, a "control" deck came in the top 8, which was literally 3 mana flying agro creatures and spot removal- UW aggro.

Modern is the one format that people who have been playing magic a long time can feel like they are winning a lot without using control, while also newer players dont have to deal with it.

Seriously, when combo's pieces are ban if they win(the pieces just so happen to be control pieces at that), and aggro generally beats control, what result do you expect?

[robomummy]

so i found out my deck that destroyed everything 10 years ago is near useless now. I dont really have the cards to deal with a werewolf,vampire, infinate mana, control, whatever it is. one of my opponents had a card that basically meant he put half his deck on the table. When i played it was basically red, white, green, blue, and black and that was it so its going to take some getting used to.

also what are the "planewalker" cards?

even when i played i never was really into it, i just do this to hang out with people and gives me a reason to be here.

[Geneva]

Planeswalkers are permanents that almost work like another player. Your opponent can choose to attack them instead of you and you can block for them with your creatures. The number on their lower right is their 'loyalty counter' which works just like player life. When it hits zero, they die and it doesn't replenish at the end of the turn.

Their abilities work like sorceries and you can choose to use one a turn. Using an ability can either grant or cost 'loyalty' as shown by the number on the left of each ability.

They can be pretty devastating and, if left unchecked, game ending but aren't the game breakers they appear to be at first sight, considering you can kill or deal with most of them with 2-3 drop removal spells. (Oblivion Ring ftw!)

On a side note, someone offered me a foil Divine Vs Demonic edition Akroma, Angel of Wrath for my Angel of Serenity. I'm in two minds. I freaking love Akroma. She was one of my first real uber cards back in the day before and possibly my favourite card of all time. There's a lot of sentimental value on top of her being a great card... but Angel of Serenity is a straight up game ender. Especially with Cloudshift.

[wisdomseyes1]

Planeswalkers mere existence is also created from the fact that they are part of the story where the story centers around, and the reason sets change from plane to plane. Planesealkers used to be legendary Creatures (Nicol Bolas, for example) but since Lorowyn, have had a card type all their own.

And, Gman may have covered much, but he forgot to mention 2 things-

When using a card like lightning bolt or any card that deals damage to players, you may have that damage redirected to a planeswalker.

The planeswalker uniqueness rule also exists. It is EXACTLY the same as the legendary rule, with exception that is a bit more weak. Jace, Memory Adept is "Jace" (his planeswalker Subtype) and Jace, Archetect of thought is "Jace" (his planeswalker subtype). Putting the 2 together on the field will kill the 2, even though they have different names and abilities... which wouldnt work for legendary creatures normally (You can have Niv-Mizzet, Draco Genius and Niv-Mizzet, Firemind out at the same time with no worries, because they have different names)

And while, no, *most* of them arent gamebreaking, they are still very powerful cards and often find places in control decks for their pure flexibility in abilities.

[yoritomo]

I did not forget about EDH. I listed formats, not variations of magic. I also could have added pauper, planeschase, or archenemy. Given his current situation I don't believe EDH is right for him. You really need a sizable card base to get 100 different cards that match you commander's colors, much more if you want your deck to have an actual theme.

As far as planeswalkers go, I find its better to go straight to the source than try and exlpain it myself.
www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Article.aspx?x=magic/rules/planeswalkers


And by the way, I'd trade that Angel of Serenity for the D vs. D Akroma. It's a beautiful foil card of the most popular creature wizards has ever made. Angel of Serenity is good, but not really needed in any of the deck types its used in.

[engangsgrill]

If you want to catch up on competitive magic I'd suggest heading over to magic.tcgplayer.com (old brainburst.com). It's quite a different beast than casual though, so might not be your cup of tea.

Personally I find it more rewarding to create constructed decks in a strict competitive format than for casual games. In limited I'm quite fond of cube draft, which is an excellent cross over between competitive and casual that I would recommend anyone looking into. You'll have to google it.

[Psychichobo]

Geneva: Plus, Angel of Serenity can be found again in a lucky draw.

You're not going to see the Divine Vs. Demonic Akroma anywhere else outside that trade.



@wisdomseyes: I completely got Modern and Standard mixed up. Sorry about that. Brainfart.