Author Topic: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?  (Read 25821 times)

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TheChrisWaits

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #20 on: July 01, 2008, 12:32:54 PM »
Favorite, as in most fun? Tooth and Nail was a lot of fun, especially in its early days before it got so refined that it pretty much won accidentally. Coming up with surprise sets of creatures to throw out (or just bashing face with 2 Darksteel Colossi) was a blast.

Favorite, as in most played/successful with? Goblins, from the time Onslaught was released to the rise of Affinity (and even fro a little while after), was my pet deck. I still play it in Legacy when I get around to playing Magic.

Callix

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #21 on: July 01, 2008, 08:02:16 PM »
I'm fairly new, but I love the U/W Millfolk archetype from Lorwyn. It's not very successful, but it's very, very fun... if you like milling your opponent while gaining 100 life. Still, it packs enough Merrow Reejereys (Merfolk lords) to turn a pretty sweet aggro curve, with lots of cost reduction and cantripping. Purely theoretically, you can mill someone out on your thrid turn, but it's never going to happen. Turn 6-7 is entirely realistic on a good draw.
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Elephant Jack

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #22 on: July 02, 2008, 08:11:07 AM »
I totally dig my budget vintage Pox.dec (pimped now an then with new black cards).
Standard: Well my Giant.dec is casual, fun, and :o wins. I really dig my standard pauper decks (mono-U-beatz, sui-black...).
My all-time favorite is the aforementioned bauble-deck.

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Talen Lee

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #23 on: July 02, 2008, 11:48:34 PM »
I'm just quietly speechless.

It's a competitive game. It's an expandable game. These things are part of its design.

Don't get me wrong, I don't fault anyone for quitting. If you're not having fun, don't do it. But it's surreal to me to hear people whinging about Next Level Blue, or about decks made by Japanese Pros. As if somehow you had the time to have every good idea.

mace_of_sauron

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #24 on: July 14, 2008, 05:26:12 PM »
I have a nasty Hellbent deck.
I like the over all feel of it (as far as flavor is concerned Rakdos was one of the better guilds). It started as a pre-made deck (rakdos bloodsport I believe) but has since evolved into one of my own design. I removed most of the red creatures, replacing them with Shadowmoore cinders.
In my personal opinion, pre-made decks offer excellent skeletons for your own decks, but they often can't compete with custom decks, nor feel as satisfying to play and win with.   

SixthDeclension

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #25 on: July 14, 2008, 05:48:24 PM »
I have a nasty Hellbent deck.
I like the over all feel of it (as far as flavor is concerned Rakdos was one of the better guilds). It started as a pre-made deck (rakdos bloodsport I believe) but has since evolved into one of my own design. I removed most of the red creatures, replacing them with Shadowmoore cinders.
In my personal opinion, pre-made decks offer excellent skeletons for your own decks, but they often can't compete with custom decks, nor feel as satisfying to play and win with.   

Except for the one I beat you with every time...

But you're right. Pre-made decks do make good starts, supplement them with your own cards and you can usually make something workable.
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AndyJames

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #26 on: July 16, 2008, 07:59:21 PM »
Today, while I was visiting my *favorite* gaming store, I somehow managed to get into a conversation with another gamer about Magic. He was going on and on about how the game was pretty pointless since you could spend a zillion dollars on the "best" cards to create an undefeatable, dirty deck. He also went on to tell me that I should just go online and find "premade" decks to beat other people with.

I tried to argue with him and tell him that doing those things somewhat ruined the game. I, personally, find it more fun to make up my own tactics and figure out how things work together.  I would get more satisfaction beating someone with a deck made of "mediocre" cards that I threw together than a premade, expensive, undefeatable deck.

I mean, half of the fun of Magic is trying to figure out how you're going to cover your ass. Your initial plan doesn't usually work (well, mine don't anyways), but it's those split second decisions and strategies you employ while playing that give the game excitement.

Playing an undefeatable deck is not only predictable, but it's boring. You KNOW what's going to happen in the end: you're going to win! I like winning as much as the next guy (well, probably a little bit more), but still, I don't think I'd feel quite as satisfied with a premade undefeatable deck.

Well, what do you all think? I'm still new into the whole Magic scene, so perhaps I'm missing something...

*sighs*

Silly people wanting unbeatable decks...

You want to see a hilariously funny deck?

4x Extinction
4x Dark Ritual
4x Animate Land
4x Llanowar Elf
4x Skyshroud Elf
4x Land Grant
12x Swamp
12x Forest
10x land destruction (Creeping Mold is my personal favourite)
2x Fireball

Mix and match with Bayou, any other black/green land, Sol Ring, Black Lotus or other mana acceleration, etc., as needed.

Round 1: Forest, Elf
Round 2: Swamp, Dark Ritual, Animate Land his basic land (1G), Extinct his basic land (2B2Cless)
Round 3: Poke him to death with your lone Elf
Round 4: Profit

All can be done with common cards, although my deck had a bit more exotic stuff in it (Sol Ring and dual lands, mainly). It doesn't always work, but when it does, it is hilarious. Weenie and Blue decks can hose it.
« Last Edit: July 16, 2008, 08:03:47 PM by AndyJames »

Callix

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #27 on: July 16, 2008, 08:13:34 PM »
Terror or Eyeblight's Ending would be cheaper than Extinct.

No deck is undefeatable. It might just be outside your collection. For example, most MTG players have heard of ChannelBall. It predates the 60 card minimum, and looks like this:

2x Mountain
2x Black Lotus
2x Channel
2x Fireball

Of course, it loses badly to Force of Will, a staple in all vintage decks nowadays. The point is, nothing is unstoppable. If they're playing Vigor against your Pyrohemia/Deep-Slumber Titan deck, then stock up on Puncture Blast and Incinerate. If their deck is full of counterspells, get a Vexing Shusher.

The other factor with netdecks is a simple one: netdecks are tuned against other netdecks. You can look up how Faeries should be played against Lark and RDW. But that Handservant Warriors deck you just put together? They won't know what to counter, what to sideboard, whether tapping out for Mistbind Clique is necessary or walking into a Steam Blast...

They're called rogue decks. They show up all over the place, and a few of them do well. They have the advantage of information flow: they know their game against the netdecks, but the netdecks don't know what to do against them.
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AndyJames

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #28 on: July 16, 2008, 08:24:05 PM »
Not really. The beauty of Extinct is that you search his library, hand and graveyard for the cards of the same type and *remove them from the game*. That means all his basic lands of that type is gone. If you go first and pull it off at Round 2, he will have no basic lands of that type left. After that, just destroy his other lands as they hit the table with your land destruction, or drop another Extinct on his other lands, and poke him to death with a single lone elf.

Mind you, I run with 20 lands and had 4x Pyroblast as staple in the deck as Blue is a massive hoser of this deck :P
« Last Edit: July 16, 2008, 08:26:27 PM by AndyJames »

TheChrisWaits

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #29 on: July 17, 2008, 02:39:53 PM »
Are you talking about Eradicate, maybe? Extinction just kills everything in play with a certain creature type.

AndyJames

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #30 on: July 17, 2008, 05:47:52 PM »
Hmm... Either or. I haven't played Magic in over 5 years :) It is the one that lets you search through everything and remove all of the same cards out of the game.

BobismyRhino

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #31 on: July 17, 2008, 09:19:21 PM »
Not really. The beauty of Extinct is that you search his library, hand and graveyard for the cards of the same type and *remove them from the game*. That means all his basic lands of that type is gone. If you go first and pull it off at Round 2, he will have no basic lands of that type left. After that, just destroy his other lands as they hit the table with your land destruction, or drop another Extinct on his other lands, and poke him to death with a single lone elf.

Mind you, I run with 20 lands and had 4x Pyroblast as staple in the deck as Blue is a massive hoser of this deck :P

That is just not nice. I would be sooooo pissed if someone used that deck against me.   

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Callix

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #32 on: July 17, 2008, 09:27:57 PM »
That is just not nice. I would be sooooo pissed if someone used that deck against me.   
Then you probably wouldn't like playing UW Millfolk, either. Merrow Commerce + Surgespanner + Drowner of Secrets = bounce 2 lands a turn. Judge of Currents for lifegain, Fallowsage for card draw, and Stonybrook Banneret for dirt cheap spells. When it works, it works.
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AndyJames

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #33 on: July 17, 2008, 09:40:22 PM »
That is just not nice. I would be sooooo pissed if someone used that deck against me.   
It's not meant to be nice :P I use it for fun, or against guys that annoys me too much.

If I want a fast kill, I'd play a BK deck (pure red burninator for that flame-grilled feeling) :D

BobismyRhino

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #34 on: July 17, 2008, 09:45:25 PM »
*growls*

I think my sole source of joy from Magic is that I make really annoying decks. I can drag out games really long (think: 45 minutes). I usually don't win... but that's fine. I annoy the shit out of my opponents, which to me, is winning. Plus, at that point, I can usually get out all of my big bad monsters that I like. Tis fun.  :D

Note to self: no playing AndyJames or Callix.  :P

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AndyJames

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #35 on: July 17, 2008, 10:13:22 PM »
*growls*

I think my sole source of joy from Magic is that I make really annoying decks. I can drag out games really long (think: 45 minutes). I usually don't win... but that's fine. I annoy the shit out of my opponents, which to me, is winning. Plus, at that point, I can usually get out all of my big bad monsters that I like. Tis fun.  :D

Note to self: no playing AndyJames or Callix.  :P
But the land-killer deck can take a long time. I can mill you into the ground one card at a time. Or it will take me about 20 turns to poke you to death with my little 1/1 elf ;)

I think it is the second most annoying deck that I have ever created.

The most annoying one? An anti-artifact deck. The key cards were Meltdown, Pyroblast and a Pyroblast clone, IIRC. You see, my group like to play Type 1 games, and most of them have the likes of Mox gems, Black Lotus, Sol Rings, etc. Really expensive, 0 casting cost mana acceleration. Their showcase decks are probably worth in the region of 5-10 grand each. So, they have all their expensive cards being showcased across the table, and I drop a Meltdown. You will get a flurry of Counterspells and stuff, but that is what the Pyroblasts are for.

The first time I played it, there was like a minute or two of stunned silence and then the swearing started. Amazing swearing vocabulary, my friends have. You never truly know how extensive, in depth and in how many languages a person can swear in until you drop a generally worthless Common and wipe a few grand worth of cards off the table.

One stunned witness had the comment: "I wouldn't feel so bad. This could have been an Iron Man game..."

I was practically on the floor throughout the silence and the entire tirade. It was also amazing that I didn't piss my pants laughing at the time :P

Callix

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #36 on: July 17, 2008, 11:55:24 PM »
*growls*

I think my sole source of joy from Magic is that I make really annoying decks. I can drag out games really long (think: 45 minutes). I usually don't win... but that's fine. I annoy the shit out of my opponents, which to me, is winning. Plus, at that point, I can usually get out all of my big bad monsters that I like. Tis fun.  :D

Note to self: no playing AndyJames or Callix.  :P
It's not that bad. Millfolk is incredibly fragile. All my good effects apart from Merrow Commerce (Untap all merfolk at EOT) are on creatures, none of which have a toughness above 3. It's very disruptable, but if you don't...

Oh, and it runs four merfolk lords (Merrow Reejereys). Which can untap my lands when I play Merfolk spells. For one colored mana thanks to Bannerets. And untap my Fallowsage to draw more cards.

Once, I got to play merfolk spells for 0 mana (untapping the land) and drawing two cards. Since almost every spell in the deck was Merfolk, I got a lot on the board.
I know gameology-fu.

katans

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #37 on: July 18, 2008, 09:59:34 AM »
I used to play it a lot, but I stopped shortly after 7th edition. My favorite game had turned into a commercial rush after the best card, and the extensions were made even more powerful everytime just to make sure your good ole deck could be crushed by a cheap combination from the most recent product. My financial resources were not limitless, and nobody in my town wanted to play Type 1 with me (maybe because they all were "new" players with practically no old cards), so I quit... Too bad, I had pretty good decks that were fun to play with.

My all-time favourite, a deck for very patient players: a Big Blue with like 24 counterspells (from plain old Counterspell to Force of Will to Rewind...), 4 Propaganda, 4 Capsize, 1 Feldon's Cane, 1 Palinchrome. Tactics: counter everything until round 6, that's when you start having enough mana to recall a Capsize. Use this Capsize to send your opponent's lands back into his hand (take that, Rishadan Port!). Keep countering, drop a few Propaganda for the occasional monster he'll manage to play, and once you've got 12 mana, you can Capsize two lands per round. Then relax and wait for your Palinchrome. If by bad luck your Palinchrone gets killed... well, there's still Feldon's cane and library death. :lol

Another I quite loved: a land-killer masochist deck, based on destroying enemy lands and mana-producing artifacts, and kill with the good old Mogg Maniac + Earthquake combination.

I also had a green weenie, extremely straightforward (round 1 Llanowar elves, round 2 vine treillis, round 3 mungha wurm with Rancor on it... good luck, pal), very cheap save for the few mungha wurms, and quite easy to play.

The day I discovered Draco I made a Pyromancy deck, but it never functioned quite well. Good idea, hard to get a good mana curve without getting heavy on expensive mana boosters.

Good times...
« Last Edit: July 18, 2008, 10:01:48 AM by katans »

AndyJames

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #38 on: July 18, 2008, 10:10:59 AM »
I hated counter decks. They are long and boring to play against. That is why you will find that my decks tend to be heavy on Blue hosers.

The tournament BK deck would nail you by round 4 even with counters (it had Mishra's Factories and Ghitu Encampments in it plus the requisite couple of pyroblasts).

The Land D deck would lock you by round 2. If that don't work, the elves would still beat you to death faster than you can bring out your Palinchron plus it had a couple of attack lands too, IIRC.

And Blue just dies to my White Weenie and Sligh decks. There is just no point in even playing. By turn 2, you are staring at a 2/2 or a 2/1 creature in the face or multiple 2/1 or 1/1 creatures. By turn 4, you are dead.

The guys with the showcase decks loved Blue Control and Blue/Black Control decks, the latter with Vampiric Tutor and Millstone and Morphling. I had to learn to cope against multi-thousand dollar decks with only hundred dollar decks at my disposal.

I think you would hate me very much, Katans, if we ever played :D And I would hate you if your decks managed to stop mine fast enough.

Runestar

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Re: Magic the Gathering: Does this ruin the game?
« Reply #39 on: July 18, 2008, 10:58:03 AM »
I don't believe the draw-go deck can't stand against your anti-counter decks. :P

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