State of the Game

[Teleku]

Ok, so I installed this again last night to see what the state of the game was.  While the interface still isn't very great, I was easily able to start a game using a random pre-made deck and play.  Everything seemed to work, and not hard to understand.  Enjoyed the game.  From what I can see, all the leagues and stuff are working.  There still seems to be a bunch of people playing.

So, is there any reason I shouldn't play this?  Is the games current state much worst than my random glance showed?  I'm thinking of joining a sealed deck league, as I always enjoyed those.

And god help me, if this thread doesn't get any responses, I'm going to make a new MGO thread in the gaming forum!  

[Prospero]

I'm curious to hear how it goes for you. I've been jonsing for a MtG fix recently.

[Teleku]

Annnnd fuck.  I just logged back in (hurray for half day off for good friday) and realized I was looking at it wrong.  You can do drafts and tournaments, but Leagues STILL aren't in game.  Digging through the forums reveals to me that Leagues aren't planned to be implimented until 2011, while they work on other shit.  Jesus fuck.

Welp, that was quick.    I might try a sealed deck tournament, but that would probably be a large waste of money.  In any event, I really enjoyed the sealed deck leagues, and they were pretty much all I played.

[Teleku]

Just an update, if anybody has actually looked at this thread.  I went ahead and played a tournament on the weekend just because.  It was actually pretty fun.  Game worked fine, GUI is at least no worst than it was in older versions ( ), they actually added some improvements, and I had fun.  I mean, the client overall is still pretty crappy in comparison to other online game, but thats how its always been.  In short, the state of the game right now is as good or better than it was when we were all originally playing.

Except for the fact that there are NO FUCKING LEAGUES.  Which kills it for me.  I only really enjoy playing sealed deck, and I don't have the money to keep playing sealed deck tournaments over and over.  Which will kill this for me in the short term at least.  Which sucks, because I really want to play.  Clownshoes.

[Johny Cee]

I play alot of limited.  Mostly swiss 8 man (guaranteed 3 matches, win one pack per match win).  I'm good enough that I win 2 matches on average, so it costs me a pack and 2 tix (~$6) for a couple hours entertainment and whatever cards I walk away with.

I'll dabble in Standard Constructed once I collect most of a set through drafting.  The last two blocks have had amazing limited (sealed or draft) formats...


There are actually quite a few "budget" alternatives for Constructed play now.  Pauper (no rares, limited uncommons), the various singleton formats, and the casual tables.  Momir basic used to be pretty hot.  Prices have really dropped for everything outside of hot Mythic rares. 

[Thrawn]

Hmm, think I may have to update my MTGO client.  Always enjoyed EDH so much and all the other "odd" formats.

[schild]

We're about to do a 10 man tournament at work with commons. Each person gets 200 commons (random from Troll and Toad, so total crapshoot) of 10th, Worldwake, and Zendikar (the latter two sets have gotten me totally back into MtG). It should be great as the commons in all 3 are amazing. Pauper ftw.

[eldaec]

Ok, getting nervous - you fucks are going to end up tempting me to download this again...

[Setanta]

^^ This ^^

I stopped playing because the client was so buggy.

[Strazos]

I stopped playing because all the league play was expensive. 

[Johny Cee]

^^ This ^^

I stopped playing because the client was so buggy.

It's better.  By better, I mean it went from catastrophically bad to just buggy.

I quit last summer because I would get dropped during drafts and be unable to log back in for 15 or 20 minutes, which would lose me the draft and I'd end up with a bunch of randomly picked cards. 

Now, the game server likes to get hung (both players get a "waiting for opponent" message) but you relog and it's fine.

[eldaec]

Fuckfuckfuckfuck.

Downloaded this, and it seems pretty much as stable as v2 now. Only without leagues, which I don't miss so much as others.

Played some a couple of swiss drafts, had a nice BR deck last night, but probably slower than ideal for the format (4 1 drops, 5 2 drops, still too slow). Lost the first round to a mana screw (mana screw in ZEN hits hard with even one or two turns without perfect mana, all the land mechanics and the aggro bias really hurt), annoyingly had a bye second round so didn't get to play, but won third.

ZEN strikes me as a good block for new draft and limited players learning the game, it really hits home the importance of good 2/3 drops and good mana when you get run over time and time again by armies of 2/1+ability for 1C. It's very apparent when you lose to inadequate mana or by having crappy early creatures - and you don't get away with it through luck as you might in other blocks. On the other hand, unless you get very lucky with mass removal, there is no viable strategy I can see beyond balls to the wall aggro. As a result it can often feel like a simple core set draft.

(Johnny Cee, to answer your PM, yes that must have been me in your draft)

[Johny Cee]

Fuckfuckfuckfuck.

Downloaded this, and it seems pretty much as stable as v2 now. Only without leagues, which I don't miss so much as others.

Played some a couple of swiss drafts, had a nice BR deck last night, but probably slower than ideal for the format (4 1 drops, 5 2 drops, still too slow). Lost the first round to a mana screw (mana screw in ZEN hits hard with even one or two turns without perfect mana, all the land mechanics and the aggro bias really hurt), annoyingly had a bye second round so didn't get to play, but won third.

ZEN strikes me as a good block for new draft and limited players learning the game, it really hits home the importance of good 2/3 drops and good mana when you get run over time and time again by armies of 2/1+ability for 1C. It's very apparent when you lose to inadequate mana or by having crappy early creatures - and you don't get away with it through luck as you might in other blocks. On the other hand, unless you get very lucky with mass removal, there is no viable strategy I can see beyond balls to the wall aggro. As a result it can often feel like a simple core set draft.

(Johnny Cee, to answer your PM, yes that must have been me in your draft)

Ahh, awesome!  I thought that was you, but you never know. 


Control decks and mid-range decks are very playable in Zen Swiss, but you need to plan for the early rush.  I love limited mill or stall strategies, personally, so I'm always trying to draft that way.  You really need to make sure you have some early game defense, and there actually is a pile of it in the form of walls and low power/high butt critters and removal that focuses on killing smaller stuff.

It is a format that is fast enough that Seismic Shock (deals 1 damage to all creatures without flying) is maindeckable many times and things like Kraken Hatchling (0/4 for U) are actually very solid mid to late picks.

[Aez]

[Margalis]

Hmmm...maybe we should form a new F13 clan. 

I really don't know much about the state of Magic these days, the last time I played was Time Spiral. Still I do get the itch every once in a while.

If I have cards from the old MTGO do they transfer over? (If nothing else than to sell)

[eldaec]

Yes, your v2 account, password and cards all good in the current client.

[Xilren's Twin]

Hmmm...maybe we should form a new F13 clan. 
I really don't know much about the state of Magic these days, the last time I played was Time Spiral. Still I do get the itch every once in a while.
If I have cards from the old MTGO do they transfer over? (If nothing else than to sell)

I also am wavering on a potential relapse.  I logged in last night and of my 3000+ cards, just over 200 non land cards are still standard legal.  *sigh*
I threw together 60 cards crap deck and played a few games against newbies; minor fun but that doesnt scratch the itch. Now i have to decide if i want to drop any money on this.
Without leagues    the choices for lost cost magic either seem to be buying a few tickets for a buck per, and trading for a bunch of commons and playable uncommons to fool around with standard, or the new swiss drafts.  If im reading those correctly, basically for $14 (3 boosters and 2 tix) you draft 45 cards, play 3 rounds now matter how you do, and win a booster for each match win.  So basically 1 guy wins 3 packs, 2 guys win 2, 4 people win 1, and only the 0-3 guy wins nothing. 

Still pisses me off they cant/wont come up with a method with mmo style monthly pricing for a reasonable amount of play per month.  Jerks.

[Ingmar]

I haven't played MTG since ~1999. Is there somewhere I can look to get a reasonably brief summary of all the rules changes since then? I know they got rid of interrupts and mana burn since I stopped playing but beyond that I really have no clue.

[schild]

Interrupts are just instants, as they always were. There are new mechanics in every set, but they write all that shit on cards. Short of mana burn, no major changes to the core game.

[Ingmar]

The stack is the same? That's the main one I wonder about. I don't really want to jump into a game and realize I'm doing things wrong based on my own last-century ideas about the order things resolve in.

[schild]

Same as always, last in first out.

[eldaec]

Combat damage no longer uses the stack. This guy is quite annoyed about it:



And instead of splitting combat damage between blockers however you like, you have to specify the order you are going to kill things - except if your creature has deathtouch - in which case you can do whatever the fuck. The order is declared in the Declare Blockers step, and combat tricks are played at the end of Declare Blockers. The combat damage step now has no opportunity for anyone to do anything, damage is calculated and dealt immeadiately.

Mana pools empty after every step - occasionally that means you can't float like you once could.

And they changed a bunch of terminology in order to make the game sound more suitable for 9 year olds.

Full breakdown:

http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/42a

[Ingmar]

Thanks, very helpful.

[schild]

As a side effect, multiple instances of lifelink are no longer cumulative.

Ok, balls. Time to take the Loxodon's and Armadillo cloaks out of my decks. Stacking them with Angels of Mercy just seems stupid now.

[Ingmar]

That's kind of funny. Combat damage is back to working more like how it worked when I stopped playing, having spent ~10 years doing something different.

[Xilren's Twin]

Crap.  I find myself doing a M10 swiss draft now.  I am so weak...

.. on the plus side, went 2-1 with a WG deck with 2 Serra Angels, 1 Overrun, somes elves to pull lands out and a couple +3/+3 auras, plus my secret weapon - 2 ornithopers!

Round 3 Game 3 im losing 23 - 6 to a pure green deck that must have gained 15 points of life with stupid artifact that gives +1 per green spell. He had a 2/3 forestwalker nibbling me to death, while everything else is ground stalled.  Cant find my pacficism or other Serra and think im done for. I finally draw my own 2/3 forestwalker and lifelink him to stabilize, then draw my Oakenform to make him 5/6.  After that it was all over but the crying and i ended up winning with 28 life.  

It was a weird draft; got like 0 rares at all, and faced two mono color decks.

Damn it; now ill have to do another next week.

[eldaec]

As a side effect, multiple instances of lifelink are no longer cumulative.

Ok, balls. Time to take the Loxodon's and Armadillo cloaks out of my decks. Stacking them with Angels of Mercy just seems stupid now.

Armadillo Cloak never got errata'd to give lifelink, as far as I can tell it still stacks as a triggered ability.
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=207890

[Famine]

I'm up for a draft if anyone is still playing. Just updated my client yesterday for some odd reason.

[Johny Cee]

Same as always, last in first out.

Back in the day, it used to be first in first out, which is why counters had to be interrupts instead of instants.  Course, back in the day we would cast Dark Ritual into 3 Black Vise, and that was how we liked it!

Hmmm...maybe we should form a new F13 clan.  
I really don't know much about the state of Magic these days, the last time I played was Time Spiral. Still I do get the itch every once in a while.
If I have cards from the old MTGO do they transfer over? (If nothing else than to sell)

I also am wavering on a potential relapse.  I logged in last night and of my 3000+ cards, just over 200 non land cards are still standard legal.  *sigh*
I threw together 60 cards crap deck and played a few games against newbies; minor fun but that doesnt scratch the itch. Now i have to decide if i want to drop any money on this.
Without leagues    the choices for lost cost magic either seem to be buying a few tickets for a buck per, and trading for a bunch of commons and playable uncommons to fool around with standard, or the new swiss drafts.  If im reading those correctly, basically for $14 (3 boosters and 2 tix) you draft 45 cards, play 3 rounds now matter how you do, and win a booster for each match win.  So basically 1 guy wins 3 packs, 2 guys win 2, 4 people win 1, and only the 0-3 guy wins nothing.  

Still pisses me off they cant/wont come up with a method with mmo style monthly pricing for a reasonable amount of play per month.  Jerks.

Xilren, hit me up if we are on at the same time.  I can give you piles of commons/uncommons/low value rares from recent sets, since many of them I literally have piles from waaay too many drafts.  I really should just bot out my account for a while...

There are a bunch of formats that may be better for you, cost wise.  Pauper is all commons (though there are a couple of "chase" commons from low old sets), and some of the singleton-type formats aren't too bad because they don't revolve around having 4 ofs a bunch of chase rares.

Edit:

There are some other alternate format things going on that I really don't know anything about.  There is some kind of Planeswalker game, that you buy a booster pack of special cards usable only in that format.

Also, keep your eye on the special product section of the store.  Wizards has been producing a couple of different special products that seem like good "ins" to formats.  The "From the Vault" series collects 15 cards that are usually highly desirable, and the "Duel Decks" give you 2 decks with a smattering of some very good cards (the Blue/Red one had 2 planeswalkers, Fact or Fiction, and a bunch of other decent stuff).

[Johny Cee]

While looking at the options for making a new game, I think I've discovered an interesting avenue for casual play.  MTGO lets create games for Duel Decks....  those are the prepackaged decks sold in the store for ~$20.  I've played a couple of those in cardboard, and they are usually well balanced against the opposing deck.

They also have the benefit of including some pretty decent cards.

For instance, the Jace vs Chanda duel deck has a blue deck and a red deck.  Besides 1 copy of each planeswalker, there is some good stuff like Fact or Fiction.  The White/Black deck includes a pile of rares like Akroma and Promise of Power, and Demonic Tutor.

Not sure how often those decks are played in the casual room, but might be a good option for people that want to occasionally scratch the MtG itch.

[eldaec]

This is new....

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/other/04272010e

... for a week before the release events, you can play 'prerelease events'. These are sealed flights that cost extra and have reduced prizes.
 

[Ingmar]

You get product a week before you can buy it in the store, or whatever, which I think is supposed to be the incentive.

[Johny Cee]

This is new....

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/other/04272010e

... for a week before the release events, you can play 'prerelease events'. These are sealed flights that cost extra and have reduced prizes.
 

You also get a copy of whatever the Prerelease card is, which is usually a decent mythic or rare.  In this case it's Emrakul, one of the 3 mythic rare eldrazi.

You can take advantage of hype before general release to sell any cards for inflated amounts before supply catches up with demand, as well.

[Xilren's Twin]

In next M10 draft (which cost me zero thanks to winning 2 packs and trading cards), some lucky sod got PASSED a second pick Banelayer Angel...a rare which is worth like 50 tickets ($50) just on it's own.


That one card could have paid for a lotta magic...

One the plus side, i did pick up my first Planeswalker in the draft: Chandra Nalaar, which is nice, plus 2 howling mines and 2 of the dual lands, so not bad.  Currently twiddling my thumbs waiting around b/c my second opponent failed to show so i got the match win, but have to wait about an hour.

[Margalis]

So I'm downloading the client now. I think my user name is Margalis, look for me online tonight or tomorrow. (And give me free shit, thanks!)