I'm relatively new at MTG, but I've felt like I've really catapulted myself into the game after playing for the past few months. Whenever AVR came out I decided to buy a 4x playset of the commons and uncommons (actually before all of the spoilers were released), and I don't regret that decision. I originally decided to buy a playset of AVR after reading the drawbacks of buying a fatpack or buying an entire box.
That all being said, I'm trying to decide whether or not I should do the same for M13. In terms of my current collection, I have a few of the M11 and M12 cards, but not nearly a full set by a long shot. Whenever I first got into magic a couple of months ago I bought a fatpack of Dark Ascension and a Deck builders toolkit, which gave me a relatively small collection of cards.
I love the idea of having all of the commons and uncommons from the core set, because it seems like the core cards are often reprinted, and I would like to be able to create and experiment with a larger variety of cards, especially since I have a playset of AVR. All of that being said, I am on a budget and I'm trying to pace myself on buying cards (It's so tough!). I play at my local FNMs and I love to play casually as well.
~~~
TL;DR: Do you all think having the M13 core set is an essential part to a MTG player's collection? Is it worth getting? Should I wait until more cards are revealed before the community decides if it's a "good" set or not?
I'm definitely going to. It costs about $40 from MTG Mint Card, which is a third of the price of a booster box. I prefer having these cards to build the cheap decks that I enjoy. I can always trade for or buy any rares separately.
And yes, you're quite right; commons and uncommons are often reprinted, so you'll be able to use many of these cards long after M13 rotates out.
Honestly I'm big on buying commons and uncommons as needed for deck building. Having 4x ravenous rats and 4x whatever limited staple drake we get seems wasteful.
Make decklist, buy just the cards you need and cut the jank
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks
Standard BEtched Champion/InfectB WSoilders/knightsW WUVenser SplicerWU RRDWR GFeed the Pack comboG WUPool of ExhaustionWU
EDH GEzuri, Elf OverrunG BGeth, GraverobberB UThada Adel, ThiefU RUrabrask, Big RedR WElesh Norn, CrusadeW WUGAngus Makenzie, Bant ControlWUG
Honestly I'm big on buying commons and uncommons as needed for deck building. Having 4x ravenous rats and 4x whatever limited staple drake we get seems wasteful.
Make decklist, buy just the cards you need and cut the jank
I find that this approach limits the amount of trade stock you end up with. I loathe buying packs, because most rares are worth less than the pack itself. However, if I'm paying 5 or 6 packs' worth and guaranteed 4 of every common and uncommon, it seems very worth it to me.
Even commons and uncommons can make good trade stock. I'd rather have a ton of these than five bad rares.
Most of the time if you go to a prerelease event with enough people, piles of commons and uncommons will just be sitting unclaimed on the tables afterwards.
Same goes for FNM drafts.
I dunno, seems a bit wasteful when only a couple common/uncommon cards per set are constructed viable.
Of course, I would imagine it would make more sense with the core set.
I find that this approach limits the amount of trade stock you end up with. I loathe buying packs, because most rares are worth less than the pack itself. However, if I'm paying 5 or 6 packs' worth and guaranteed 4 of every common and uncommon, it seems very worth it to me.
Even commons and uncommons can make good trade stock. I'd rather have a ton of these than five bad rares.
Ah, well I don't buy packs aside from the rare impulse buy. I've pretty much given up on trading.
Other people want to and that's fine but, it's just too much a hastle to me
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Current Decks
Standard BEtched Champion/InfectB WSoilders/knightsW WUVenser SplicerWU RRDWR GFeed the Pack comboG WUPool of ExhaustionWU
EDH GEzuri, Elf OverrunG BGeth, GraverobberB UThada Adel, ThiefU RUrabrask, Big RedR WElesh Norn, CrusadeW WUGAngus Makenzie, Bant ControlWUG
I guess I just like the idea of having a lot of the cards to make different types of decks--I guess I didn't know how janky the core sets are usually...but I figured there would be more usable commons/uncommons in the core set versus a non-core set.
It's probably about the same. Common/Uncommon playsets are a cheap and effective means for newer players to do what it sounds like you want to do - experiment with different types of deck builds.
I say go for it. You probably won't want more than one more set after this, but it's a great way of getting cards to build decks with and then add extra cards as you like.
I bought a playset of M10 commons and uncommons and felt pretty good about it. I didn't feel the need to buy sets of M11 or M12 because of the reprints, though. Core sets do have a lot of really useful cards for Standard play. It is easy to overlook how important the set really is because the cards aren't always flashy, but they are certainly useful. The cycle of uncommon hosers (Celestial Purge, Flashfreeze, Deathmark, Combust, Autumn's Veil), Llanowar Elves, Rampant Growth, Mana Leak, Ponder, Incinerate, Acidic Slime, Doom Blade, Oblivion Ring, and Stormblood Berserker are some of the commons and uncommons that saw Standard play from M12. From what we've seen so far, I expect M13 will have a similar amount of useful cards, but of course, there is never a guarantee.
Commons and uncommons are also nice to have for those 1-of sideboard cards that you may decide you need right before a tournament starts. Sometimes a Manic Vandal can be harder to find than a Huntmaster of the Fells, because so few people bring low value cards in for trade. It's always nice to have what you need on hand. And buying singles is not necessarily more economical. It's frustrating trying to buy 4x of a card from an online store when the shipping costs more than the play set. If your local store doesn't have good prices, this could be a problem.
I think sets of commons and uncommons are a good investment to have if you can get them at a good price (around $25-$35 shipped). That said, some of the ideas above are very good as well. If you draft a lot, you may not need to buy anything else. However, in my experience, it takes a ton of drafting to pull playsets of the best cards. That's because other people are obviously picking them, too. If you can get draft leftovers for free, this may be less of an issue.
Theres nothing wrong with getting playsets of all the un/commons, never know when a deck idea will hit. Or when a friend has an off the wall idea but needs whatever its nice to either have for trade or to give out.
Also just starting its a decent way to start a collection, heck m13 you'll get a set of O-rings and nighthawk which is nice stuff even just playing casual.
If you can get them cheap, like under 25ish bucks, then most definitely. Especially if you're just starting, the core set often has all those cool lil common/uncommon spells that seem to pop up in just about every deck. All that removal, counter and burn and what not.
To be honest, you can probably build up most of that playset for free if you have a LGS that hosts drafts on a regular basis and you're willing to wait a bit after the set's released. Regular drafters amass tons of commons and uncommons, and many end up having little use for the ones they draft after the set is more than a few weeks old. Hang around the LGS when drafts end and you can probably pick up stacks of commons and uncommons that the players who drafted don't want. It shouldn't be hard to come up with everything you need after a week or two.
Its a good idea depending on your budget, and what format you play. If its not your format...i can understand not wanting to. Otherwise its a good idea.
As has been noted, one can often pick up commons and uncommons for free after a draft. But if it's more convenient to purchase the common/uncommon set, go for it.
I'm relatively new at MTG, but I've felt like I've really catapulted myself into the game after playing for the past few months. Whenever AVR came out I decided to buy a 4x playset of the commons and uncommons (actually before all of the spoilers were released), and I don't regret that decision. I originally decided to buy a playset of AVR after reading the drawbacks of buying a fatpack or buying an entire box.
That all being said, I'm trying to decide whether or not I should do the same for M13. In terms of my current collection, I have a few of the M11 and M12 cards, but not nearly a full set by a long shot. Whenever I first got into magic a couple of months ago I bought a fatpack of Dark Ascension and a Deck builders toolkit, which gave me a relatively small collection of cards.
I love the idea of having all of the commons and uncommons from the core set, because it seems like the core cards are often reprinted, and I would like to be able to create and experiment with a larger variety of cards, especially since I have a playset of AVR. All of that being said, I am on a budget and I'm trying to pace myself on buying cards (It's so tough!). I play at my local FNMs and I love to play casually as well.
~~~
TL;DR: Do you all think having the M13 core set is an essential part to a MTG player's collection? Is it worth getting? Should I wait until more cards are revealed before the community decides if it's a "good" set or not?
Thank you!
And yes, you're quite right; commons and uncommons are often reprinted, so you'll be able to use many of these cards long after M13 rotates out.
Make decklist, buy just the cards you need and cut the jank
BEtched Champion/InfectB
WSoilders/knightsW
WUVenser SplicerWU
RRDWR
GFeed the Pack comboG
WUPool of ExhaustionWU
EDH
GEzuri, Elf OverrunG
BGeth, GraverobberB
UThada Adel, ThiefU
RUrabrask, Big RedR
WElesh Norn, CrusadeW
WUGAngus Makenzie, Bant ControlWUG
Extended
WGElvesWG
Legacy
RGoblinsR
UBGFariesUBG
UBGRaffinityUBG
I find that this approach limits the amount of trade stock you end up with. I loathe buying packs, because most rares are worth less than the pack itself. However, if I'm paying 5 or 6 packs' worth and guaranteed 4 of every common and uncommon, it seems very worth it to me.
Even commons and uncommons can make good trade stock. I'd rather have a ton of these than five bad rares.
Same goes for FNM drafts.
I dunno, seems a bit wasteful when only a couple common/uncommon cards per set are constructed viable.
Of course, I would imagine it would make more sense with the core set.
Ah, well I don't buy packs aside from the rare impulse buy. I've pretty much given up on trading.
Other people want to and that's fine but, it's just too much a hastle to me
BEtched Champion/InfectB
WSoilders/knightsW
WUVenser SplicerWU
RRDWR
GFeed the Pack comboG
WUPool of ExhaustionWU
EDH
GEzuri, Elf OverrunG
BGeth, GraverobberB
UThada Adel, ThiefU
RUrabrask, Big RedR
WElesh Norn, CrusadeW
WUGAngus Makenzie, Bant ControlWUG
Extended
WGElvesWG
Legacy
RGoblinsR
UBGFariesUBG
UBGRaffinityUBG
I say go for it. You probably won't want more than one more set after this, but it's a great way of getting cards to build decks with and then add extra cards as you like.
Commons and uncommons are also nice to have for those 1-of sideboard cards that you may decide you need right before a tournament starts. Sometimes a Manic Vandal can be harder to find than a Huntmaster of the Fells, because so few people bring low value cards in for trade. It's always nice to have what you need on hand. And buying singles is not necessarily more economical. It's frustrating trying to buy 4x of a card from an online store when the shipping costs more than the play set. If your local store doesn't have good prices, this could be a problem.
I think sets of commons and uncommons are a good investment to have if you can get them at a good price (around $25-$35 shipped). That said, some of the ideas above are very good as well. If you draft a lot, you may not need to buy anything else. However, in my experience, it takes a ton of drafting to pull playsets of the best cards. That's because other people are obviously picking them, too. If you can get draft leftovers for free, this may be less of an issue.
Also just starting its a decent way to start a collection, heck m13 you'll get a set of O-rings and nighthawk which is nice stuff even just playing casual.
Erebos B | Ghost Council WB | Grimgrin UB | Jhoira UR
Jor Kadeen RW | Melek UR | Mimeoplasm GUB | Rasputin WU
Savra BG | Sisay GW | Teneb BGW | Thada Adel U | Wort BR
I draft and play EDH. If a Standard player can't understand who a card is for, it's probably for me.
I also write things about good films.