Pro's: you own them (for real), company, friendship, pride, emotional response of collecting.
I like to refute that claim. I understand if WoTC shuts down (which could happen) and the servers get turned off all the cards on the system would be lost and everyone would be out that money they spent for them. However, it is very unlikely that were to happen, give the popularity and longevity it has already acquired.
I mean shoot yeah I own real cards (and MTGO cards) and both trade/sell the at the same liquidity. I don't think that is a "pro" (because lets face it if MTG goes under a lot of us would lose interest and probably not play as much or at all.. thats what happened to a lot of other games I used to play when they went to the wayside).
I also get the "emotional response" when I collected MTGO cards. I get you don't get the physical connection to it, but I did feel obligated to collect sets on MTGO. Its still there. I promise.
For MTGO: You can play anytime of day/night, no travel required, cards are vastly cheaper overall, when you win a draft you can use those packs you won as entry into the next, you can draft within literally minutes of turning on the client. you can join a constructed event within minutes of turning on the client. you can easily turn around and sell your cards (I sold my collection of 10000+ MTGO cards in a matter of 2 days quickly and efficiently) deckbuilding and storage.
Cons of MTGO: the "what is casual?" debate. for those who don't know people will justify quitting on you for just about any card you play in your deck, primarily LD, Countermagic, and discard spells are highly frowned upon in the casual rooms on MTGO. I disagree with these people (play what you want), but if you have a ProTour level deck go try and win prizes instead of wasting your time in the casual room. The sets take longer to come out on MTGO (usually a month and we still don't have all the legacy card sets online yet). Downtime.. its not really a big deal, but it does cut into the play time I would normally have set aside for games.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I just want people who redraft to admit this:
"I can't draft objectively unless I am able to guarantee that I receive at least 3 rares. I am also better than most average/new players so I want to make sure that I get the best rares and they end up with worse ones. I care more about the monetary value of cards than actually playing the game for decent prizes."
1) Do you like owning the real thing?
2) How easy is it for you to play magic IRL?
3) How much time do you want to dedicate to magic?
4) How much money do you want to spend?
5) What formats do you want to play?
6) Do you have easy access to the internet? (lulz)
Depending on your answer to the questions above, you can decide fairly easily which option is best for you.
@Urzishra, I beleive what he meant is that you actually own the paper cards, like, they are YOUR property, the MTGO virtual cards are Virtual Property of WoTC, even though you spent your money for them.
So if you so happen to be one of those a*holes (not you, someone in general) who gets banned on the MTGO client. WoTC thanks you for your money. And does not give you the cards you spent money on if you choose to open a new account.
@Urzishra, I beleive what he meant is that you actually own the paper cards, like, they are YOUR property, the MTGO virtual cards are Virtual Property of WoTC, even though you spent your money for them.
So if you so happen to be one of those a*holes (not you, someone in general) who gets banned on the MTGO client. WoTC thanks you for your money. And does not give you the cards you spent money on if you choose to open a new account.
Other than Harassing other players, how do you really get banned from MTGO? I understand now, i guess, but its still a very small percentage.
and to the person talking about "buying the cards twice" actually when you buy MTGO cards you only need to buy them once (as one playset is all you'll ever need) not like paper.. where if you need 4 of the same dual land in multiple decks you have to either switch (which is inconvienient to do so often.) or buy mulitples of expensive cards. I understand you don't want to "rebuy" cards you already have, but for staple cards you do that anyways.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I just want people who redraft to admit this:
"I can't draft objectively unless I am able to guarantee that I receive at least 3 rares. I am also better than most average/new players so I want to make sure that I get the best rares and they end up with worse ones. I care more about the monetary value of cards than actually playing the game for decent prizes."
MTG Paper:
Pros: New Booster Pack Smell, Ease/Difficulty of Bluffing, Community, Foils, bulk purchases, deck portability, Proxies, value changes slower, ease of finding cards.
Cons: Theft/Damage, Sorting and Storage (dude where's my duals...), Wear and Tear, having to find people to play with, limited tournaments, shipping & handling, shuffling, deck stacking, cheaters.
MTG Online:
Pros: Anytime Play, Collection Filters (show me standard red cards plz), Cheep singles, ease of transfer, friends anywhere, redemption for cardboard.
Cons: Lag, online duchebaggery, need a PC or emulator, having to walk through every phase and step.
I play both, but I'm starting to like Online more and more. The only reason I want to play paper is at FNM or with proxies, and singles are generally so cheep online that I don't need proxies. Some of the cards I would test are obvious. Will Elspeth help my white deck? Of course she's op. Mana bases? Maybe not so much.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Out of the blackness and stench of the engulfing swamp emerged a shimmering figure. Only the splattered armor and ichor-stained sword hinted at the unfathomable evil the knight had just laid waste.
Pro's: you own them (for real), company, friendship, pride, emotional response of collecting.
Theft, which is a bigger deal than I really appreciated until my brother in law got robbed earlier this month. Vintage and legacy decks... gone. On MTGO, not so vulnerable
I prefer to have the real thing, not pay for MTGO on top of paying for the virtual cards and what not. Plus Most of my friends play paper magic, so I'd rather play with them. If I wanna play online, I'll use MWS...
Pros: Competitve Draft environment. Access to all card instanteously at all times. When a new set is released on MTGO, the meta is usually two weeks ahead of MTG. Trigger abilities/Illegal Targets are enforced, you will never forget a "If" or "When/At" or "May" clause. No need to shuffle. No investment in sleeves. Harder to Cheat. Can convert a full set into cardboard. You only need 4x of any card. Search function for cards, deckbuilding is fast and easy. You can play multiple games at the same time, with the same deck! MTGO secondary market has a different price for most cards.
Cons: MSRP+Tax prices for beginners. Makes you more lax when it comes to rules, the system will handle it all. Misclicking. Waiting about 1/2-1 month for a set to be a release after the paper version has had it released. Needs full sets to convert to cardboard. Games can crash. You need Windows to run this, sorry Macs(don't give me that crap about Windows Emulation, if you wanna pay for the emulation + a legitimate copy of windows that's close to 300 bucks). Needs Internet, cannot be played offline or against another local opponent. You can't play variants until they are developed, I.E. EDH got released this year. Players may go AFK on you during game. Why? Because they are playing mutiple games at the same time. MTGO secondary market has a different price for most cards
I like MTGO, but then I only play it for casual. I don't spend large sums of money for chase rares like Hierarchs and such I have IRL, so I usually buy "crap rares" that on MTGO Traders are like .10 cents(I also won't spend any more than $2.50 for an e-card, with $2.00 even being a stretch for me to consider. It would have to be essential for the deck I want to build).
But yeah, for casual-only, I've made decks that are
MTGO PROS:
-You can play at any time. There's always people to play.
-Pretty easy to trade/buy/sell the cards you want.
-You can play against random people without having to talk with them.
-You can play against random people knowing that you won't need to explain the rules of the game or have a rule argument.
MTGO CONS:
-The interface and the software in general is pretty much terrible.
-WotC servers are also terrible.
-No Legacy/Vintage.
-There's no "new card smell" when you open packs.
I really like MTGO, just wish that the software and server were better.
By the way, I don't really get what people have against paying for digital goods, but maybe that's just me.
I quit MTGO when I ran out of time in a draft for the 3rd time in a row, I've never lost a game to that IRL, and it happens way to frequently on MTGO.
In the last game, we were 1 and 1, and it came to the point where we just kept madly clicking okay so that we werent the first to run out of time. Stupid.
I played MTGO a few years ago. It was irritating not being able to import my collection, BUT the ability to play anytime and anywhere I had an internet connection was a great PRO.
I think a lot of the MTGO pro's are somewhat nullified by the presence of Magic Workstation.
I cannot justify buying virtual cards for myself. I just can not.
If you are a mostly constructed player and have a healthy Paper group then I understand why you couldn't justify it.
Magic Workstation is a useful tool. It does a lot of the same things that MTGO does (albeit not as well IMO). But it can't emulate a DCI tournament scene. MTGO has prereleases, release events, premier events, daily events, 8 mans, and so on. You just can't find prize support in any "free product" if it is, it isn't on the same scale that MTGO does it.
The price of constructed decks are far less then the price of paper decks I don't know if you can use that as a reason not to. I know I've poorly invested money into Paper magic that I probably should have used for other things. A lot of my collection just takes up space and its hard to organize (although I've gotten a lot better at it).
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I just want people who redraft to admit this:
"I can't draft objectively unless I am able to guarantee that I receive at least 3 rares. I am also better than most average/new players so I want to make sure that I get the best rares and they end up with worse ones. I care more about the monetary value of cards than actually playing the game for decent prizes."
Are there pros or cons of picking one or the other? Is there any reason for someone that has bought the cards for years to make the switch to MTGO?
I like to refute that claim. I understand if WoTC shuts down (which could happen) and the servers get turned off all the cards on the system would be lost and everyone would be out that money they spent for them. However, it is very unlikely that were to happen, give the popularity and longevity it has already acquired.
I mean shoot yeah I own real cards (and MTGO cards) and both trade/sell the at the same liquidity. I don't think that is a "pro" (because lets face it if MTG goes under a lot of us would lose interest and probably not play as much or at all.. thats what happened to a lot of other games I used to play when they went to the wayside).
I also get the "emotional response" when I collected MTGO cards. I get you don't get the physical connection to it, but I did feel obligated to collect sets on MTGO. Its still there. I promise.
For MTGO: You can play anytime of day/night, no travel required, cards are vastly cheaper overall, when you win a draft you can use those packs you won as entry into the next, you can draft within literally minutes of turning on the client. you can join a constructed event within minutes of turning on the client. you can easily turn around and sell your cards (I sold my collection of 10000+ MTGO cards in a matter of 2 days quickly and efficiently) deckbuilding and storage.
Cons of MTGO: the "what is casual?" debate. for those who don't know people will justify quitting on you for just about any card you play in your deck, primarily LD, Countermagic, and discard spells are highly frowned upon in the casual rooms on MTGO. I disagree with these people (play what you want), but if you have a ProTour level deck go try and win prizes instead of wasting your time in the casual room. The sets take longer to come out on MTGO (usually a month and we still don't have all the legacy card sets online yet). Downtime.. its not really a big deal, but it does cut into the play time I would normally have set aside for games.
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1) Do you like owning the real thing?
2) How easy is it for you to play magic IRL?
3) How much time do you want to dedicate to magic?
4) How much money do you want to spend?
5) What formats do you want to play?
6) Do you have easy access to the internet? (lulz)
Depending on your answer to the questions above, you can decide fairly easily which option is best for you.
I like Turtles
So if you so happen to be one of those a*holes (not you, someone in general) who gets banned on the MTGO client. WoTC thanks you for your money. And does not give you the cards you spent money on if you choose to open a new account.
Other than Harassing other players, how do you really get banned from MTGO? I understand now, i guess, but its still a very small percentage.
and to the person talking about "buying the cards twice" actually when you buy MTGO cards you only need to buy them once (as one playset is all you'll ever need) not like paper.. where if you need 4 of the same dual land in multiple decks you have to either switch (which is inconvienient to do so often.) or buy mulitples of expensive cards. I understand you don't want to "rebuy" cards you already have, but for staple cards you do that anyways.
Watch Play Read
Twitter
Pros: New Booster Pack Smell, Ease/Difficulty of Bluffing, Community, Foils, bulk purchases, deck portability, Proxies, value changes slower, ease of finding cards.
Cons: Theft/Damage, Sorting and Storage (dude where's my duals...), Wear and Tear, having to find people to play with, limited tournaments, shipping & handling, shuffling, deck stacking, cheaters.
MTG Online:
Pros: Anytime Play, Collection Filters (show me standard red cards plz), Cheep singles, ease of transfer, friends anywhere, redemption for cardboard.
Cons: Lag, online duchebaggery, need a PC or emulator, having to walk through every phase and step.
I play both, but I'm starting to like Online more and more. The only reason I want to play paper is at FNM or with proxies, and singles are generally so cheep online that I don't need proxies. Some of the cards I would test are obvious. Will Elspeth help my white deck? Of course she's op. Mana bases? Maybe not so much.
Theft, which is a bigger deal than I really appreciated until my brother in law got robbed earlier this month. Vintage and legacy decks... gone. On MTGO, not so vulnerable
I prefer to have the real thing, not pay for MTGO on top of paying for the virtual cards and what not. Plus Most of my friends play paper magic, so I'd rather play with them. If I wanna play online, I'll use MWS...
Pros: Competitve Draft environment. Access to all card instanteously at all times. When a new set is released on MTGO, the meta is usually two weeks ahead of MTG. Trigger abilities/Illegal Targets are enforced, you will never forget a "If" or "When/At" or "May" clause. No need to shuffle. No investment in sleeves. Harder to Cheat. Can convert a full set into cardboard. You only need 4x of any card. Search function for cards, deckbuilding is fast and easy. You can play multiple games at the same time, with the same deck! MTGO secondary market has a different price for most cards.
Cons: MSRP+Tax prices for beginners. Makes you more lax when it comes to rules, the system will handle it all. Misclicking. Waiting about 1/2-1 month for a set to be a release after the paper version has had it released. Needs full sets to convert to cardboard. Games can crash. You need Windows to run this, sorry Macs(don't give me that crap about Windows Emulation, if you wanna pay for the emulation + a legitimate copy of windows that's close to 300 bucks). Needs Internet, cannot be played offline or against another local opponent. You can't play variants until they are developed, I.E. EDH got released this year. Players may go AFK on you during game. Why? Because they are playing mutiple games at the same time. MTGO secondary market has a different price for most cards
But yeah, for casual-only, I've made decks that are
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
-You can play at any time. There's always people to play.
-Pretty easy to trade/buy/sell the cards you want.
-You can play against random people without having to talk with them.
-You can play against random people knowing that you won't need to explain the rules of the game or have a rule argument.
MTGO CONS:
-The interface and the software in general is pretty much terrible.
-WotC servers are also terrible.
-No Legacy/Vintage.
-There's no "new card smell" when you open packs.
I really like MTGO, just wish that the software and server were better.
By the way, I don't really get what people have against paying for digital goods, but maybe that's just me.
In the last game, we were 1 and 1, and it came to the point where we just kept madly clicking okay so that we werent the first to run out of time. Stupid.
GUWPiper LarkGUW
GUElf AlarmGU
My Trade List
If you are a mostly constructed player and have a healthy Paper group then I understand why you couldn't justify it.
Magic Workstation is a useful tool. It does a lot of the same things that MTGO does (albeit not as well IMO). But it can't emulate a DCI tournament scene. MTGO has prereleases, release events, premier events, daily events, 8 mans, and so on. You just can't find prize support in any "free product" if it is, it isn't on the same scale that MTGO does it.
The price of constructed decks are far less then the price of paper decks I don't know if you can use that as a reason not to. I know I've poorly invested money into Paper magic that I probably should have used for other things. A lot of my collection just takes up space and its hard to organize (although I've gotten a lot better at it).
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