gaming The Magic the Gathering Thread

[PonyEcho 1,610]

Wait, you can build decks now in DotP 14?

 

That's awesome. Wish I'd remembered to pre-order it; I really wanted that promo Scavenging Ooze

Yep you unlock booster packs though the sealed campaign and you can use em in multiplayer.

 

and I'm so happy Scavenging Ooze was the promo card for the steam version, my mates hate playing green so I can trade it off of them

[superbrony888 10]

Hey everyone/pony. This is probably going to sound crazy but I need some really good MTG help. 

 

I currently own a "Blazing beasts of myth" deck (red/green) and put some extra cards in there (red). I would greatly appreicate if anyone has any tips on using these cards to win (like stratigies and stuff). Im a noob basically, but i know how to play and most card conditions. I havent played a game before. 

 

The reason this is so urgent is that I REALLY need to be good at MTG by next semester for reasons I will put in a thread in life advice. 

 

If anyone has any good tips for me let me know. Id really appreciate it! 

Im facing pros here and really dont know what to do. And ir just sucks that my entire college life really rides on this. 

 

I play yugioh and am pretty good at it, and since MTG has a relatively similar gameplay, Should it carry over? 

 

There is also Friday night magic events at a local shop, but it is also home to a HUGE horde of MTG players at an even bigger University nearby. 

 

Does anyone have any help? Anything would be appreciated. 

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

@superbrony888, I merged your thread with this one, a larger discussion thread for MTG in Media Discussion. Please run a search of existing threads before starting a new one.
 
This also caused quite a bump, so it'll be interesting to see what may come of that.

[firetorn 187]

Hey everyone/pony. This is probably going to sound crazy but I need some really good MTG help. 

 

I currently own a "Blazing beasts of myth" deck (red/green) and put some extra cards in there (red). I would greatly appreicate if anyone has any tips on using these cards to win (like stratigies and stuff). Im a noob basically, but i know how to play and most card conditions. I havent played a game before. 

 

The reason this is so urgent is that I REALLY need to be good at MTG by next semester for reasons I will put in a thread in life advice. 

 

If anyone has any good tips for me let me know. Id really appreciate it! 

Im facing pros here and really dont know what to do. And ir just sucks that my entire college life really rides on this. 

 

I play yugioh and am pretty good at it, and since MTG has a relatively similar gameplay, Should it carry over? 

 

There is also Friday night magic events at a local shop, but it is also home to a HUGE horde of MTG players at an even bigger University nearby. 

 

Does anyone have any help? Anything would be appreciated. 

Well, if you are going to be competing with pros and want to be able to beat them consistently, you will need to invest a significant amount of money into a first or second tier deck. The way most people get into more professional play is by building deck lists that have done well in recent pro events, then tweaking them to suit their play style and local meta (the decks they play against most often). Some useful sites for looking at decks are tappedout.net and mtgsalvation.com. If you plan on sticking with Gruul (R/G), your best bet is probably colossal gruul (just look it up or check out this thread: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=538361). Some decks can be done quite cheap, but expect to invest at least 100-200 dollars.

 

As far as getting good at the game, my best advice is to not give in to the temptation of switching decks. Find something you enjoy and stick with it, you will learn all the tricks it has and how to use them in different match-ups. Also just play as much as you can, even if it is against someone with a clearly better deck than yours. Simply going through turns/plays will help you familiarize yourself with your cards and tell you what you might want to change about your deck.

 

hope this all helps!

Edited January 11, 2014 by firetorn

[Evilshy 5,090]

Well, almost all cards games have at least some overlap, but Magic and YGO don't have much in common.

 

 

Anyway, the best advice I can give is that, when building a deck, you need to pick a way to win and stick to it. A lot of new players will just throw any good card in their deck because it's a good card, even if it doesn't fit the deck very well. The problem is, this actually works in some card games (of which YGO is one), so many players coming from other card games will do this (unless they were high level tourney players).

 

So, a RG deck is probably winning by beating face with a bunch of creatures. You need to go through every card and ask "does this beat in my opponents face?" and if doesn't, "does it help me get something that does?". If the answer is no to both, remove the card for now. You should be left with a much more streamlined deck. At that point, if it's less than 60 cards, you can add in some utility (removal, pump, draw, etc). If it's 60 or over, it's a judgment call on whether or not you want to take stuff out for utility (An aggro decks "utility" is generally just going to be some removal to get rid of blockers and push more damage through).

Now, obviously that's kinda like the bare essentials for deck building. Obviously, building a good deck is more complicated than that, but this will start you down the right path.

 

You might want to consider joining GameFAQs and visiting the Magic the Gathering board (not the boards for the video games, but the actual card game. It'll be under Special Interests, I think). It's a nice little community, filled with plenty of helpful people who know more than me. Just make a thread saying you're new and want to get better. I go by l33t_ninj4_1337 over there (it's a terrible name, I know ).

 

You might also try the same at the card shop. Just find some nice looking people, tell them you're new, and ask if they can help you learn. Or the group you're trying to get in with or whatever. A lot of players are pretty nice and are glad to help newbies learn.

[Raiko 43]

Wow never knew so many people on here were fans of MTG. Any of you guys wanna talk on Skype sometime?

 

 

Btw, my main deck in MTG is Allies Five-Colored. Best deck ever made lol.

[firetorn 187]

Wow never knew so many people on here were fans of MTG. Any of you guys wanna talk on Skype sometime?

 

 

Btw, my main deck in MTG is Allies Five-Colored. Best deck ever made lol.

do you play any standard decks?

[ReverseFaller 2,483]

I miss playing this game. None of my friends play it anymore.

 

Hopefully my Vampire deck will see the day of light again in the future. 

[VenomTrixie 57]

Awesome thread I play Orzhov in Standard and Vampires in Modern.

[Raiko 43]

I miss playing this game. None of my friends play it anymore.

 

Hopefully my Vampire deck will see the day of light again in the future. 

 

 

Hence why you try to make friends on the forums. You can add me on skype and we can play some time over Cockatrice.

 

 

Also, anyone else have any thoughts on Hex since it's basically mtg?

[Evilshy 5,090]

Oh, deck update time!

 

So I have 1 standard deck at the moment. Pretty standard RDW (I always have standard RDW built, and update it when new sets come out). The loss of Hellrider hurt a lot, but Fanatic of Mogis is pretty nice in that it deals its damage immediately, and we're bound to get some more RDW stuff in the upcoming sets.

 

I also have 1 "modern" deck. That's in quotes because it's Teasure Hunt Combo, which sucks but is technically Modern.

Basically, it runs 4 Treasure Hunt, 2 Lightning Storm, and 54 lands that do things. Cast Treasure Hunt, get a ton of land and either another hunt or a lightning storm. I probably have a Reliquary Tower by then so I don't have to discard. Eventually I get a Lightning Storm, and then I usually win unless they have a counterspell or discard. Again, it's a terrible deck but it's hilarious when it goes off.

I'm also planning on building Modern Stax. For those who don't know, Stax is a hated Legacy deck based around making everybody sacrifice all their permanents (mostly lands) and you come out on top because you have more (the deck is almost entirely permanents). In Modern, this done with World Queller and Magus of the Tabernacle. A few other spells, such as Boom/Bust, can help make sure the opp can't keep anything on the field. It'll be mostly White, but I'm debating whether to splash Red for Boom/Bust or Black for smallpox and maybe some targeted discard. Perhaps Green for mana creatures, so I can more safely name lands for World Queller and screw my opponent over while still have mana. Not sure yet.

 

As for EDH...

UR - different now. I use Dracogenious instead of Firemind because he attracts less aggro. The deck is now all about using the opponent cards against them. Creature control, redirecting spells, stuff like that.

 

GBW - I have 2 of these, Ghave and Karador. Ghave is pretty normal token combo shenanigans. Karador is pretty normal graveyard shenanigans, although I run more dredge than the average graveyard EDH.

 

RUG - still the same ol' Animar deck. It's been improved a bit, obviously. Probably my most powerful EDH deck right now.

 

WUB - also have 2 of these, Oloro life drain and Sydri artifacts. Oloro is

specifically built for multiplayer, while I'll my other decks are built with multi and 1v1 in mind. Tons of "all player" effects, not to mention a lot of defensive stuff to discourage attackers.

Sydri is a more traditional Esper deck, all about artifacts. I had been planning an Esper artifact deck for a long time before building it, I just didn't really like any of the available generals.

 

BRU - Lord of Tresserhorn voltron. For those who don't know, voltron is a deck type based on putting tons of enchantments and equipment on your general and winning with general damage. Most take a small general with evasion or protection and then pump him up, but Tresserhorn takes a huge general (a 10/4 for 4 mana ) with a little built in protection and then use all the enchantments and equipment to protect him further and make him harder to block. It's not very good, but it is pretty fun.

 

R - mono Red control. Red is often said to be the worst EDH color because of it's focus on winning before the opponent can get going which is pretty difficult in EDH. Red is also a terrible control color. So what do I do? Build mono red control EDH

It's mostly land disruption, which is the one type of control Red can actually do. So once I screw over your mana base, I throw some deathtouch equipment on my general (Kumano, Master Yamabushi) and proceed to exile everybody else's creatures at instant speed for 2 mana (or 1, if I have Hearstone out). Works surprisingly well.

 

WGU - Enchantment shenanigans. Derevi is the general right now, but I might change that. Fairly simple enchantmen deck, kinda like an artifact deck but with enchantments. This deck isn't completely built yet.

 

I think that's all of my EDH decks, but I'm not sure. Might be forgetting one. In any case, I'm going to build another one, probably RGB or RGW this time.

[Raiko 43]

My Allies deck basically focuses on using any strategy to fit the situation but the most common thing is to great huge beaters with excellent support. Thanks to my Ondu Cleric my life quickly soars to 60s and beyond, my Bala Ged Thief makes my opponent lose their hand, I can draw an incredible number of cards, generate as much mana as I want, pretty much anything I could want or any strategy that could be used is possible with Allies.

 

I also like Slivers for similar reason but they're a little nerfed in Modern formats. I mean yeah there's the new ones but those don't even look like slivers at all. Oh well.

 

 

 

I also run some enchantment Aura decks for fun, and I've made a deck for just about all the guilds in the Return to Ravnica set for casual play.

[firetorn 187]

I'm still playing Azorius Control in standard. I have been making a lot of gradual changes since theros was released but its still the same core, going for early disruption into a t4 supreme verdict, t6 sphinx's revelation and t7 Aetherling/Elspeth. One awesome addition that most UW lists are running now is elixir of immortality, as it allows me to cycle all my revelations and win cons with extra life gain thrown in!

 

came 3rd yesterday at fnm too

 

i have the list on tappedout:

 

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/hope-you-didnt-like-casting-spells/

[Antismurf9001 1,271]

R - mono Red control. Red is often said to be the worst EDH color because of it's focus on winning before the opponent can get going which is pretty difficult in EDH. Red is also a terrible control color. So what do I do? Build mono red control EDH

It's mostly land disruption, which is the one type of control Red can actually do. So once I screw over your mana base, I throw some deathtouch equipment on my general (Kumano, Master Yamabushi) and proceed to exile everybody else's creatures at instant speed for 2 mana (or 1, if I have Hearstone out). Works surprisingly well.

 

Oh my god, I love it!  That's just so brilliantly brilliant!  I've always wanted to make an EDH deck around Kumano, and that's just perfect.  I hope you don't mind if I steal borrow the whole Kumano+deathtouch idea.

 

Oh, and here's a brief list of my decks.  I only play EDH at this time because the other formats baffle me.

 

GW- Rhys, the Redeemed: It's an elf deck, and easily my best deck.  It functions like one would think that an elf deck should: make a metric shit-ton of elves and squash people with them.  It also has a sub-theme of having obnoxious amounts of mana.  Buried in there is a combo that lets me infinitely untap my elves and my lands (Wirewood Lodge + Argothian Elder + any land that taps for 2+ green mana).  It's a fun little thing that I get to pull off every so often, which makes me happy.  Another bonus of this deck is that it's one of the only two that I have that actually have all of the cards (there are a bunch of proxied cards in the rest) so it's only of the only tournament legal decks.

 

BW- Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter: The only deck I have that doesn't use green.  I'd also say that it's probably my weakest deck, though it is very fun to play.  It's main win condition is making big creatures, feeding them to Vish Kal, and then swinging in for general damage.  There's also a tribal vampire sub-theme.  My favorite combo there would have to be Vish Kal + Blade of the Bloodchief, which means that I can instantaneously melt every single creature with 2 or less toughness.

 

GRB- Adun Oakenshield: This one was a tribute to my first ever deck, which was GR Kamigawa spirits.  Naturally, it's spirit tribal with an emphasis on being able to recycle almost everything that hits my graveyard and having a silly amount of effects go off just for playing a spirit.  It's a very fun deck to play, but it's also very frustrating trying to remember all of the effects that go off simultaneously...

 

GRW- Marath, Will of the Wild (but I always call her Mary Sue): It's not too much different from the pre-made version of the deck.  It's basically just stomping people's faces in with beasts.  It's also the only other deck I have where I actually own all of the cards.  When I got the deck, I didn't think that it would be so fun to play (I mostly got it for the Wrath of God, Command Tower, Opal Palace, and Tempt With Discovery), but it is!  It's ridiculously fun to repeatedly kill off Mary Sue just so I can cast her again but bigger.

Edited January 13, 2014 by Antismurf9001

[Guest]

Hey. I was wondering if anypony plays magic the gathering and could maybe help me on a deck I'm building.

I play orzhov (black, white) and I like my deck but think I need to edit it. I'm struggling to take cards on and out and was wondering if anypony could offer some criticism. Or maybe just give me advice on what to do. Send a message if you could thanks :3

[I used to be a stranger 7,993]

I've tried to get into it a couple of times. One of my best friends loves it but I just don't get the feel of the game. Though it's always nice to have a game that's tried and true with a heritage behind it rather than the newest flash-in-the-pan. I'm referring to the fact that one can play with decks from years ago which may or may not have really unbalanced cards, versus games (card games, video games or what-have-you) that may-or-may-not be balanced, and may-or-may-not ever be fixed. Fun though.

[Flash Fire 386]

I got out of magic a few years ago, after my $300 deck got stolen, so I don't know the newer sets. But I could look at it and see if there is anything it seems to need. 

[ReverseFaller 2,483]

I used to play magic all the time. I still have my deck, just nobody to play with. I'd love to help you, but my memory of the game is slightly rusty so I'm probably not the best person to help you.

[LowfatEnvelope 335]

@@Josh Riordan,

 

Hey there! Just a heads up that there was actually already a Magic the Gathering thread, so I've merged your new one with this older one.  

Edited January 16, 2014 by LowfatEnvelope

[firetorn 187]

Hey. I was wondering if anypony plays magic the gathering and could maybe help me on a deck I'm building.

I play orzhov (black, white) and I like my deck but think I need to edit it. I'm struggling to take cards on and out and was wondering if anypony could offer some criticism. Or maybe just give me advice on what to do. Send a message if you could thanks :3

If it's a standard deck i could certainly help you out with it, standard mtg is my jam.

[Evilshy 5,090]

I'd be happy to help, too ^

I don't play a ton of standard right now, but I do have ~8 years of experience to go on. That has to count for something, right?

[Nerdy Luigi 2,065]

I'm not really good, but I can play...

I was really good when I was like 8 (No seriously, I was better then than now. I had better decks. Those prebuilt original Ravnica decks were the best I ever had. Every other deck? Only been beaten. Simply because I have yet to build a deck as good as those were.

Edited January 16, 2014 by Twilight Sniper

[Singe 2,111]

Born of the Gods trailer.

 

 

I really want them to do one with Twilight Sparkle or Celestia voice.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Singe

[Mawile303 17]

I've been playing MtG on and off since Prophecy with my friends. My favorite color is actually...none of them. I love artifacts. My most Spike deck is completely colorless, and combines the speed of Myrs with the destructive power of Eldrazi. Having been collecting/playing since 2000, it's no surprise that my friends and I play Legacy. We usually stick to 2HG, but have recently started playing EDH as well. We also frequently hit up our local game parlor for FNM booster drafts.

 

In terms of favorite color combination, that's really tough to decide. Having been playing for over a decade, I've had the opportunity to play and play against every color combination, as well as witness how each combination has evolved over the years. While it may not be my favorite color combination, I'm currently enthralled by B/G, as I'm currently exploring the viability of a Gorgon deck.

 

When I was younger, I was most definitely a Spike player. I hated losing at anything, and was extremely competitive with everything. However, I've learned to mellow out over the years, and now I'm both a Johnny and a Timmy. Most of my newer decks are either extremely combo-heavy, or uniquely themed/tribal in nature.

[*derpy* 101]

I think that'd just be a bunch of bad cards crammed into one deck personally.

 

I'll take a picture of some of my swag sometime, it may make you cry

 

One of my most prized posesions is a beta sinkhole, however it's in my cube atm which is with a friend :/

I pulled a Tarmogoyf in one pack, then in the next one a Vendilion Clique, next one Sword of Light and Shadow, after that Dark Confidant. All in a row. 4 packs. did not open any other packs except for 3 from a draft. Edited February 8, 2014 by *derpy*