1. There are official rules, but I don't recommend using them to clear up beginner confusion. You should ask here. You could also watch Spellslingers if you want to see walkthroughs of matches for beginners.So my brother and I jumped in with the the Chandra and Sorin 2020 starter sets and we got some other boxes. We have been having a lot of fun but I still have about a million and a half questions. My big questions are:
1. Is there a rule book somewhere that just teaches you how to play and what everything does? It is fucking crazy I am having to go to google for so much stuff. The videos on the Magic website don't really give very much information, unless I missed something huge.2. Does double strike make you attack twice? I understand how it works when it hits a blocking creature, but does if it hits the other player directly does it also hit twice?3. Can you activate a creatures ability as soon as it is summoned, or is that also affected by "summoning sickness"? For example, with Pyroclastic Elemental, if I have 8 mana out can I spend five to summon them and 3 to use their ability on the same turn?4. Can you use a Planeswalker ability on the first turn it is summoned or is it also affected by "summoning sickness"?5. With Sorin, his +1 ability causes 1 creature to get +2 attack until the end of the turn. If you have no creatures, can you still use it to get the plus one? Can you use it on an opponents creature?
You can find the basic rules here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/magic-gameplay1. Is there a rule book somewhere that just teaches you how to play and what everything does? It is fucking crazy I am having to go to google for so much stuff. The videos on the Magic website don't really give very much information, unless I missed something huge.
Double strike just means that the creature deals both First Strike combat damage and normal combat damage. In combat, whenever there are creatures with first strike and/or double strike, those creatures will deal damage before creatures without those abilities. For example, if my 2/1 with first strike blocks your 2/2, my first striker deals damage first, killing your 2/2, then your 2/2 isn't around to deal damage back to my 2/1.2. Does double strike make you attack twice? I understand how it works when it hits a blocking creature, but does if it hits the other player directly does it also hit twice?
Summoning sickness affects only creatures and only attacking and abilities that use the tap symbol.3. Can you activate a creatures ability as soon as it is summoned, or is that also affected by "summoning sickness"? For example, with Pyroclastic Elemental, if I have 8 mana out can I spend five to summon them and 3 to use their ability on the same turn?
Only creatures are affected by summoning sickness. Regardless, since only tap abilities are affected, you can still use loyalty abilities of planeswalkers immediately even if they're creatures. See Gideon Blackblade as an example.4. Can you use a Planeswalker ability on the first turn it is summoned or is it also affected by "summoning sickness"?
Magic is very particular when it comes to targeting. In the case of Sorin, his ability says "up to one target creature." Up to means 0 or more targets, so you can choose 0 targets when you activate the ability. target creature means any creature, if you could only target creatures you control it would say "target creatures you control."5. With Sorin, his +1 ability causes 1 creature to get +2 attack until the end of the turn. If you have no creatures, can you still use it to get the plus one? Can you use it on an opponents creature?
23 Bant Golos
11 UG Food
5 Golos Fires
5 Bant Ramp
6 Golgari Adventure
4 Gruul Aggro
3 Bant Food
3 Mardu Knights
3 Selesnya Adventure
1 Rakdos Aristocrats
1 Jund Aggro
1 Jeskai Fires
1 Cavalclade
1 4c Golos
Field is definitely getting banned.
Of course it's 0% it will,
Get your main deck Noxious GraspsOko is going to be miserable after Field gets banned.
They should both be banned.
I love that Cavalcade deck. Probably gets crushed, right?
23 Bant Golos
11 UG Food
5 Golos Fires
5 Bant Ramp
6 Golgari Adventure
4 Gruul Aggro
3 Bant Food
3 Mardu Knights
3 Selesnya Adventure
1 Rakdos Aristocrats
1 Jund Aggro
1 Jeskai Fires
1 Cavalclade
1 4c Golos
Field is definitely getting banned.
Gilden Goose brings him out turn 2, and he can then keep providing food for the Goose to make into mana.I haven't touched standard yet, I 100% understand Golos and Field getting banned, but how is Oko that broken aside from having insane loyalty?
Gilden Goose brings him out turn 2, and he can then keep providing food for the Goose to make into mana.
Any creature or artifact with an ability is useless against him, once he turns it into an elk, and doing this makes him go up in loyalty.
He can turn the food he creates into 3/3 elks that effectively have haste.
Like you mentioned, Fry can't take him out the turn he's cast.
I haven't touched standard yet, I 100% understand Golos and Field getting banned, but how is Oko that broken aside from having insane loyalty?
Brawl as an eternal format is just a worse Commander.
If you want to do Brawl as an eternal format tie it to historic and make it an Arena-only thing.
Surprising considering every other dude drops turn 6 garruk vs meOkay for real now. I've had it with this draft format.
6 trophies, dozens of 2-1s and zero Oko to show for it lol
Actually, come to think of it, I haven't drafted a single PW at all wtf
Brawl as an eternal format is just a worse Commander.
If you want to do Brawl as an eternal format tie it to historic and make it an Arena-only thing.
No Brawl as an eternal format sheds a lot of what makes commander unfun and/or removes a huge monetary barrier to compete.Brawl as an eternal format is just a worse Commander.
If you want to do Brawl as an eternal format tie it to historic and make it an Arena-only thing.
I know it'll take a while, but doesn't Brawl as an eternal format inevitably have a similar monetary issue as Commander over time?No Brawl as an eternal format sheds a lot of what makes commander unfun and/or removes a huge monetary barrier to compete.
My playgroup has tried a lot of things recently to curtail our out of control power level and it has helped but we've explored further options like building budget decks. The problem is you don't often get together 4 people that all follow the same house banlist or have all built budget decks, which makes for quite the power imbalance.
Apples and oranges. Legacy and Modern are competitive formats. Commander and Brawl are casual formats.
I know it'll take a while, but doesn't Brawl as an eternal format inevitably have a similar monetary issue as Commander over time?
Eventually but to a lesser degree if we never get fetchlands and because there are no reserved list cardsI know it'll take a while, but doesn't Brawl as an eternal format inevitably have a similar monetary issue as Commander over time?
Maybe Grazer is just too good in the world where they can't stop printing three mana planeswalkers that immediately replace themselves then take over the game unanswered#slamthesloth
1 mana ramp to 3 that you can't interact with is toxic
Now you're in the endgame, maybe they should stop pushing mythics to sell productMaybe Grazer is just too good in the world where they can't stop printing three mana planeswalkers that immediately replace themselves then take over the game unanswered
I always liked the idea that Mythics should be bomby, powerful cards that aren't really all that competitive. They should really reduce pushed standard cards to rare.Now you're in the endgame, maybe they should stop pushing mythics to sell product