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ZealousD

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,303
Why? Mostly everyone that plays magic plays both limited and constructed.

1. Very expensive. Unless you're made of money, you will probably only be able to afford one or two decks in your rotation, or at least the cost-benefit ratio feels like that's all you should do. Especially in Modern, where a typical deck costs you about a thousand dollars. And that's without reserve list cards like Vintage/Legacy.
2. Booster packs feel designed for Limited formats. If you want to play Constructed, you shouldn't even buy the official product straight up. Instead you should buy singles through the secondary market.
3. There's so many rares and mythics and they're all so powerful that pretty much all of the "value" in a booster pack is in a single card. Everything else is seen as bulk from a value perspective. This feeds into points 1 and 2 that makes the game very expensive. I just double checked my Dinosaur deck and the only common I intentionally want to keep in the deck is Commune with Dinosaurs. All the commons just pile up everywhere and take up space. You have a site like Card Kingdom that has to get creative and sell stuff like the Rookie Decks and Battle Decks to offload all of their bulk. It's like the only reason commons exist is to be played in Limited, and those cards take up more than half a pack.
 

MaskedNdi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
294
I don't really buy boosters, even though they're fun to open. I've mostly relied on prize packs, trades/trade-ins, and buying singles. Funding decks hasn't been bad for me so far, but I've definitely had some lucky pulls.
 

jph139

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,412
The fact that people buy boxes full of cardboard and then literally throw 90% of the cardboard they just bought into the garbage is... yeah, incredibly strange from the outside looking in.

When I buy boosters I like to give all the cards a once over. Read the flavor text. Give the art a good look. And then put them in a box to never look at again.
 

Wulfric

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,968
As a new player coming into the game, I feel like I'm coming to the slow realization that playing constructed in Magic is for crazy people.

Constructed formats are the most popular though. Paying top dollar for standard? That is for crazy people.

Singles are the way to go honestly. And to tell the truth, this is one of the cheaper standard seasons if you are playing competitively.
 

Justin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,758
Seattle, Washington
1. Very expensive. Unless you're made of money, you will probably only be able to afford one or two decks in your rotation, or at least the cost-benefit ratio feels like that's all you should do. Especially in Modern, where a typical deck costs you about a thousand dollars. And that's without reserve list cards like Vintage/Legacy.
2. Booster packs feel designed for Limited formats. If you want to play Constructed, you shouldn't even buy the official product straight up. Instead you should buy singles through the secondary market.
3. There's so many rares and mythics and they're all so powerful that pretty much all of the "value" in a booster pack is in a single card. Everything else is seen as bulk from a value perspective. This feeds into points 1 and 2 that makes the game very expensive. I just double checked my Dinosaur deck and the only common I intentionally want to keep in the deck is Commune with Dinosaurs. All the commons just pile up everywhere and take up space. You have a site like Card Kingdom that has to get creative and sell stuff like the Rookie Decks and Battle Decks to offload all of their bulk. It's like the only reason commons exist is to be played in Limited, and those cards take up more than half a pack.

All you points are correct but dont think you need to drop 300 bucks right out of the gate to own a constructed deck. There are plenty of fun budget ones. In fact there is a really fun Enigma Drake deck that a lot of us have played and continue to play that only costs around $20 (highland lakes instead of spirebluffs).

Resources for budget decks
Strictly Better MTG
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpZCNYMXJI_ptSBD3t47NOQ/feed
MTG Goldfish
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZAZTSd0xnor7hJFmINIBIw/videos

Here is my build of the Drake deck. There are probably 3 or 4 other builds people here play.
https://deckstats.net/decks/90385/836103-bad-drakes
 

DemonDogRex

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5
I open boxes rarely nowadays, and when I do its usually just for fun and to see what I can get in addition to the stuff I wanted.

I also open up stuff fairly quickly, as I read over the spoilers a ton beforehand and my playgroup is waiting on me for the next game.
 

Bigkrev

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,351
I buy a pack or 2 when I got to Target. Somehow, it always seems like their packs are juiced with Mythics.
The 3 Masterpiece Series cards I've opened have all been from Target
Otherwise, I take credit instead of packs at tournaments, don't buy boxes, ect.

It's a freeing feeling to not need to open packs
 
OP
OP
Ashodin

Ashodin

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,654
Durham, NC
A couple of custom images have made it into the OT. I'm still overwhelmed with catching up with everything, but I wanted to create some informative images to go along with the text. Let me know what you think.
 

Justin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,758
Seattle, Washington
A couple of custom images have made it into the OT. I'm still overwhelmed with catching up with everything, but I wanted to create some informative images to go along with the text. Let me know what you think.

Looks amazing. For those of you who might've missed the shocking revelation from today abou Angrath, the badass firey chain wielding Minotaur ...
5) What plane is Angrath originally from, and why did he travel to Ixalan?

Magic Story Team: Angrath was a family man on a plane we haven't been to yet. He has two adorable daughters, and whenever he wasn't at work as a blacksmith he would travel the Multiverse to bring them back presents. He went away on a weekend holiday years ago and ended up on Ixalan, and when he tried to return home he could not.

He's just a good dad trying to get home to his kids.

en_28vminrxJz.png
 
Oct 25, 2017
4,707
Images look good. OP could use some info on Arena and where to find Planeswalker slash fiction but Rome wasn't built in a day.
 

SigmasonicX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,538
Hey Ashodin, do you think you could include some of the chat emojis in the OP, maybe in a spoiler block? That way, you can just drag the emojis into your message. Not as easy as the chat, but it's certainly easier than it would have been back on the old board. Mainly need greenurza, ohmy, and calltomind.
 

Deleted member 2809

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
25,478
Any ETA on arena beta early access ? I remember mentions of early november

As for limited vs constructed, can't be arsed to play constructed in paper, too high an investment for something I have too little time for. May try it on arena though, it's more convenient.

I like watching standard though. Fuck other formats still
 

filkry

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,895
Any ETA on arena beta early access ? I remember mentions of early november

I believe the first wave people already got their invites. Stress tests start Nov 7 with the servers only being up for 1 or 2 days a week. Goal is to have all priority folks and 24/7 access on Nov 30.
 

Deleted member 2809

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
25,478
I got the "Because you attended Prerelease, you are eligible for the Magic: The Gathering Arena Closed Beta priority access." mail on october 6, so there was something else later ? Oh well, I'll wait
 
Oct 25, 2017
4,707
Beta stress tests start on November 3rd, invites have already been sent out. They'll be having stress tests once a week until the end of November when a 24/7 beta will start. Invites will rotate each week until the 24/7 beta starts, when I assume anyone who gets in will stay in.
 

Yeef

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,440
New York

Deleted member 2809

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
25,478
Thanks. Stress tests look boring anyway, I just want to get in the closed beta, looks like I should be good for that.
Sucks it will only be ixalan constructed though, draft would have been cool. Beta meta will be wild trash I assume hah.
 

Santiako

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,151
1. Very expensive. Unless you're made of money, you will probably only be able to afford one or two decks in your rotation, or at least the cost-benefit ratio feels like that's all you should do. Especially in Modern, where a typical deck costs you about a thousand dollars. And that's without reserve list cards like Vintage/Legacy.
2. Booster packs feel designed for Limited formats. If you want to play Constructed, you shouldn't even buy the official product straight up. Instead you should buy singles through the secondary market.
3. There's so many rares and mythics and they're all so powerful that pretty much all of the "value" in a booster pack is in a single card. Everything else is seen as bulk from a value perspective. This feeds into points 1 and 2 that makes the game very expensive. I just double checked my Dinosaur deck and the only common I intentionally want to keep in the deck is Commune with Dinosaurs. All the commons just pile up everywhere and take up space. You have a site like Card Kingdom that has to get creative and sell stuff like the Rookie Decks and Battle Decks to offload all of their bulk. It's like the only reason commons exist is to be played in Limited, and those cards take up more than half a pack.

1.Yeah, most people have their one or two decks and play them forever (especially in older formats like Modern). Also, a thousand is only for a few decks, most are in the 300 to 700 range.
2.Booster packs are designed for limited formats. That's their primary function.
3.I see no problem in that. Commons are for designed with limited in mind, as are most uncommons.

Couple fixes; I added the mythic orange color to the most important info from the story banner.

Nice work, but it's Orazca with a z.
 

ZealousD

Community Resettler
Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,303
2.Booster packs are designed for limited formats. That's their primary function.
3.I see no problem in that. Commons are for designed with limited in mind, as are most uncommons.

Booster packs are basically the only way that cards built for Constructed go out into the wild, though. It's like the way that the game is designed that constructed is some accidental or incidental thing. There's no good product that Wizard sells that says "buy this if you need cards for Constructed". Just weak starter products like the bundle or Deck Builder's Toolkit.
 

Santiako

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,151
Booster packs are basically the only way that cards built for Constructed go out into the wild, though. It's like the way that the game is designed that constructed is some accidental or incidental thing. There's no good product that Wizard sells that says "buy this if you need cards for Constructed". Just weak starter products like the bundle or Deck Builder's Toolkit.

Cards go into the wild by people playing drafts, stores opening packs en masse to sell singles and some people just like to crack boosters. The game and how it's sold is designed around limited, yes. Wizards is banking on stores to feed the cards into the competitive crowd that wants them.

Magic's biggest public is the "kitchen table" people, who just play amongst friends with what they open and don't care about the meta and stuff.
 

Bigkrev

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,351
Got my invite to the stress test! Will be filling out the confidentiality form later today!
 

Deleted member 4198

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
231
How do you guys get rid of extra limited fodder cards? Anyone know if I can just recycle Magic cards?

I've started just giving my draft decks away at the end of each draft, but I feel like it would be a little rude to bring a bag of common and uncommon cards to my LGS to try to foist them onto other players lol.
 

Justin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,758
Seattle, Washington
How do you guys get rid of extra limited fodder cards? Anyone know if I can just recycle Magic cards?

I've started just giving my draft decks away at the end of each draft, but I feel like it would be a little rude to bring a bag of common and uncommon cards to my LGS to try to foist them onto other players lol.

A lot of people just leave their extra cards on the table for other people to look though and take if they want. I keep mine then make little booster packs to hand out to the neighborhood kids.
 

Justin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,758
Seattle, Washington
New Promos

Regional PTQ
DNEnpbZX0AAO-qW.png:large


GP Promo
DNEnhtxXcAAlI8s.png:large


CHANGES TO SWISS ROUNDS AND THE DAY TWO CUT
Starting with Grand Prix Santa Clara in January 2018, the number of rounds on Day One of a Grand Prix is changing, as is the cut to make Day Two.

One area of consistent feedback over the last few years has been where to make the Day Two cut. In the not-too-distant past, only players who finished Day One at 7-2 or better moved on to Day Two—essentially everyone who was live to make the Top 8. That was shifted to 6-3 as Grand Prix continued to grow in size so that players could still win out and win some prizes, or even a Pro Tour Qualification. Both cuts had their issues, but with no win-loss record between 7-2 and 6-3 (ties notwithstanding), there wasn't much wiggle room.

Working with CFB, we believe we've hit on a solution to help address the issue. Starting in 2018, all individual Constructed events will be eight rounds on Day One and seven rounds on Day Two, with the cut coming at 6-2 or better.

For Team Grand Prix, Day One will also be eight rounds with a cut at 6-2, with six rounds played on Day Two before the Top 4.

For individual Limited events, the Day Two drafts make things a touch tricky, but we're going to try a hybrid solution. Day One will continue to be nine rounds played with Sealed decks. However, there will be a cut after Round 8, and all players not at 6-2 or better will be eliminated. All remaining players will then play Round 9 with their Sealed deck, and all will be invited back for Day Two.

The result, we believe, will help make days shorter all while finding that happy medium between the 7-2 and 6-3 cuts of yesteryear.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articl...8-promos-schedules-and-day-two-cut-2017-10-26
 

Santiako

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,151
Adding to that, 2018 full GP schedule:

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articl...8-promos-schedules-and-day-two-cut-2017-10-26

Now constructed GPs will have 8 rounds on day 1, with all 6-2 making day 2.
Limited will be 9 rounds, but everyone with a record worse than 6-2 will get eliminated after round 8, everyone else will play the 9th round and everyone to make it out with a 7-2 will go to day 2.

PTQs in Sundays of GPs will now be the same format as the main event (Sealed, Standard, Modern or Legacy).

All of this starts taking place in 2018.
 

SigmasonicX

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,538
EDIT: You guys go so long without posting it that I think I'm in the clear, but nope.
372605812692221963.png
 
Last edited:

Tuna

Member
Oct 25, 2017
523
I like the new GP structure as well.

Also, I need to win a PPTQ ASAP to get my hands on that pretty promo.
 

Giant Panda

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,689
I'm so glad this thread is back. How am I supposed to know what's going on in Magic, or if Nahiri was actually in the right, without you guys?
 

Kirblar

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
30,744
Looking at the GP schedule, the Team Modern events are all in countries that likely don't have access to Legacy cards, with the exception of Denver.
 

Deleted member 3853

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
801
Nice of them to go back to useful promos. Progenitus and Emrakul were hot garbage especially when you factor in the GPs approaching/hitting $100 and RPTQs now potentially having fees.

Also always thought the 9 round Day 1s were unnecessary considering the tournament ends for all but 8 players by like 5pm on Sunday. Even just an extra hour of downtime/sleep means everything.
 

Deleted member 3853

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
801
BRB. I need a moment to myself.

Glad to see they're handing out a decent GP promo this year. Progenitus wasn't a big draw.

You know it was bad when vendors were buying Progentius at $3 Saturday morning of the first GP of the year. I keep finding them when sorting my cards and it's not even a happy surprise, just a sad reminder.
 
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