Magic: The Gathering

[Nama]

Has its pros and cons. Its a good starting point for beginner/intermediate play as for a being brand new in paper magic it will be a bit of trial by fire but honestly depends on your store. You will want to brush up on the rules a bit more first the amount of handholding you get will vary and Duels2012 does alot of stuff automatically that you will need to track yourself and declare like trigger abilities . My local store has had several people who never played magic before draft course they didn't win but they had a good time we all helped them play and gave them tips their opponents would give them tips how to play against them etc. Really it depends on what your trying to get out of it, if your looking to learn and have some fun sure try it out. If your worried about losing to a kid I wouldn't worry to much since well that just happens I still lose to random kids sometimes and I place top 3 at my store almost every week.

While I wouldn't jump straight into draft from the get go I think its an excellent way to play for a new player to magic. You don't need to own any cards to play. It teaches you alot, learn to look at cards differently and evaluate them better. Challenges your play style and adaptability as you will use card you normally wouldn't. Hones your deck building skills. Indirectly introduces the concept of the metagame as need to build around whats getting used by others and what your trying to accomplish. Most importantly it gets you out playing with new people.

[Myrrh_Quetz]

I was terrible when I first started Drafting. I still suck but not as bad as I once did. It really helps you learn the basic rules of the game and a lot of people are on equal ground.

[Dominico]

Heres the post from the stores FB page, the event sounds different from what I'm reading here...

"This Saturday is the Magic 2012 Pre-Release. Registration begins at 10:00 AM. Admission is $30.00. You get: 6 booster packs. A Promotional foil card. A pack of 50 sleeves, a deck box and a d20. Prizes to be awarded top 8."

I assume I get to keep whatever I pull from those 6 booster packs. For $30 I damn well better.

[Myrrh_Quetz]

Well, that's the thing about some pre-releases. When you open those packs, you have to mark down what you get on a sheet and I'm not sure if it's all places or depending on what store but you may or may not have to pass your packs around the table.

Like, for the NPH Pre-release I pulled a Karn, all the Chancellor's and some other decent stuff. We have to pass 1 to the left, two to the right, ect, ect and my pack ended up on the other side of the table and I got someone elses shit cards. So it could work out for the better in that you might open shit and get passed epic or you might open epic and get passed shit.

[oldoldman]

You'll need to build a 40 card deck out of those 6 packs, here's a crash course http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazin...gcom/corner/30

[Nama]

Heres the post from the stores FB page, the event sounds different from what I'm reading here...

"This Saturday is the Magic 2012 Pre-Release. Registration begins at 10:00 AM. Admission is $30.00. You get: 6 booster packs. A Promotional foil card. A pack of 50 sleeves, a deck box and a d20. Prizes to be awarded top 8."

I assume I get to keep whatever I pull from those 6 booster packs. For $30 I damn well better.

Yeah thats not draft format thats Sealed. Both require you to build a deck out of new cards but are different formats. Sealed is typically only done on set releases. Draft lets you pick and choose cards and get into colors you want while sealed is basically make the most out of what you got.

[miokomioko]

Well, a draft is also making the most out of what you got... just with an ultimately larger pool of (mostly hidden) cards while taking turns and competing with others to pick what you want. It's a lot more tricky with a high importance in color versatility and careful observation of what is being passed to you so you can get an idea of what you're up against.

[Olo401]

Went to sign up for the M12 pre-release tonight, they gave me a pack with five foil promos and a regular promo. One of the foils was a BOP (yay!)

[Myrrh_Quetz]

I'm excited for the Pre-release this Sat. Shit's gonna be so cash.

[Marcicus]

Well, got around to getting my first deck built. Friends suggested using Tempered Steel since it's pretty cheap and easy to learn, so here's the list:


List:

4 Memnite
4 Glint Hawk Idol
4 Signal Pest
4 Porcelian Legionnaire
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
4 Ornithopter

4 Dispatch
4 Tempered Steel
2 Mox Opal

22 Plains

It seems to run pretty smoothly, and I seem to understand how it works, although I know I need to get my hands on Hero of Bladehold. Any other suggestions I should look into?

[Weltall]

Just know...Day of Judgement and Black Zenith are going to be EVERYWHERE in standard right now, lol.

[Synbios]

Are there any specific articles/websites/forums that are good for newish players? I played magic when Arabian Nights came out and played for about a year and gave up. Over the last few years I've been glancing at WoTC's website to see how the game has progressed and it seems a lot more complex then before. I want to give it a go for the nice mental challenge but would like to do some research and know what I'm doing before I invest money into this hobby.

[Marcicus]

Just know...Day of Judgement and Black Zenith are going to be EVERYWHERE in standard right now, lol.

I don't know all the cards yet but I looked up Black Zenith.


jesus fuck what


aside from zerg rushing and ending the game ASAP does white have anything to counter that?

[Tricen]

Well, got around to getting my first deck built. Friends suggested using Tempered Steel since it's pretty cheap and easy to learn, so here's the list:


List:

4 Memnite
4 Glint Hawk Idol
4 Signal Pest
4 Porcelian Legionnaire
4 Steel Overseer
4 Vault Skirge
4 Ornithopter

4 Dispatch
4 Tempered Steel
2 Mox Opal

22 Plains

It seems to run pretty smoothly, and I seem to understand how it works, although I know I need to get my hands on Hero of Bladehold. Any other suggestions I should look into?

I feel like 22 lands is too many for that deck. You should run 19 or so. Shrine of Loyal Legions is pretty ballin.

[Weltall]

I don't know all the cards yet but I looked up Black Zenith.


jesus fuck what


aside from zerg rushing and ending the game ASAP does white have anything to counter that?

White does not. Giving your creatures protection from black will not even help because it doesn't target your creatures. Single color decks are usually pretty bad, but Tempered Steel was the best deck in Scars block constructed. I wouldn't play it in T2, but if you are just learning and starting out, it is a fine deck to learn with and you will get some wins for sure.

You need to get Hero of Bladehold because its the best card in that deck, in block format anyway. It is your alternate win condition to TS. There was a promo prerelease version of that card for Besieged, so they are pretty cheap and easy to come by.

[Cantih]

As he said, nothing in white.
The only things that can eat BSZ are Melira, Sylvok Outcast (which saves all your creatures, and for 1G, but it's rare, and fragile), or Melira's Keepers (which are only immune themselves, and are 4/4, but cost 4G)
But both will still fall to Dismember.

[Marcicus]

I feel like 22 lands is too many for that deck. You should run 19 or so. Shrine of Loyal Legions is pretty ballin.

I was thinking about replacing 4 of them with Inkmoth Nexus.

[flexmedia]

Honestly the mox opals wont do much good for you, imo. You're not going to be needing a ton a mana for what you're running. I'd suggest pulling about 2-3 lands as well. Maybe look at putting a couple glint hawks in there since you're running multiple 0 cost artifacts. Safe passages are great too, my myr deck survives on them alone sometimes as you get to declare blockers and instant the damage prevention and then let combat resolve, you get a couple of free kills most likely with no deaths of your own.

Edit: Shrine of loyal legions is nice, that was a nother reason i suggested glint hawks. Just having a few more white spells to pump shirine will be very helpful.

GDI Edit 2: My whole reason for even posting originally was to suggest unwinding clocks. Basically giving your artifacts vigilence is awesome, plus the combo with steel overseer, being able to pump creatures on each player's turn is awesome.

[Myrrh_Quetz]

See, i thought that aswell about the unwinding clocks but my friends told me was stupid and I was stupid for thinking it was good.

[Marcicus]

What's a typical creature count for my kind of deck? I kinda feel 28 is getting up there as it is, but I may be wrong.