It's died down at a few shops, mainly guardian. I rarely go there because there's usually only 2-3 pods and a lot of the players are man children who complain the entire time. Not worth the time. Which is a shame, since they have beer on tap and is close to my place.
I'd meet you some Thursday evening at guardian for some cards. Could see if we could get others too.
EDH may have died down a bit at one shop, but it is still by far the most commonly played eternal format. Legacy is casual only for the most part and I have never known anyone to play Vintage. That is unless things have changed in the few years since I last tried to get into Legacy.
I agree that I think the "cycle" of formats is probably whats going on.
I don't play standard at all anymore, because price barrier just isn't worth it if you can't "recycle" your staples at their highs for cards that will be staples in the new rotation. It can be real grindy constantly trading for cards to keep your standard collection up to snuff.
My store was real into EDH when the first pre-cons came out. It was a real good entry product for people; $30 for a deck that actually gave you the value back. They had new generals that were good "build-around" generals and it spurred a big rise in EDH. We would play EDH before standard/draft and even play a game afterwards. We would also sometimes play on saturdays.
The problem comes when you have the competitive people and casual people both playing together. You've got people who play real combo EDH decks with the top-end staples, and then you have people who play more casual like, and build with the cards they have. Eventually EDH popularity waned as time went on, but a lot more people definitely carry EDH with them now, than before the first EDH product came out.
Before the first Commander decks came out, I was real interested in EDH as it looked to be a lot of fun (and it really is), but I had NO IDEA where to start in building my deck. Picking a general, a deck strategy and all can be a little perplexing to someone who's never played it. I bought all 5 decks when they came out, and my friend ended up making Kaalia, and I made Ghave (to which I eventually deconstructed).
It would make sense for the hype to die down a little, since Commander is not for everyone. That said it will have a permanent larger audience thanks to the support Wizards gave to it... my group DID NOT play EDH 'before it was cool' but thanks to the huge surge in popularity we found a format we love.
I agree that I think the "cycle" of formats is probably whats going on.
I've been running a weekly game out of my house for 4 years now. Beyond just being a format cycle, this time of year has always been hard for us. From Thanksgiving through Valentine's day every single year I start to think that it's time to pack up and quit. But then the winter starts to shift and people show up again.
FWIW the EDH subforum on this site consistently has more viewers than any other formats'.
I think that shows two things - EDH is a very popular format and MTGS has finally come to terms with the fact that this is and always has been a casual (as opposed to tournament competitive) website.
People still play EDH where I'm from, though I've stopped playing it despite myself being one of the biggest fans early on at my current store. My issue with the format is that it's simply not as fun as Vintage. I really liked EDH early on when I first discovered it and realised I could do all sorts of things with it, but as it became a more discovered format, in the sense that the combos and whatever were being flushed out, I noticed that the biggest difference between EDH and Vintage was that being less consistent EDH was more open to degenerate combos and I didn't really enjoy that after a while.
In Vintage I mostly played control decks and sometimes Workshops, but really there aren't that many combo decks in Vintage anymore, and I like that. EDH on the other hand doesn't have that consistency, and as such can't really win without "going off" and killing everyone at once. I'll still play EDH now and then, but only with the more casual EDH players.
I'd meet you some Thursday evening at guardian for some cards. Could see if we could get others too.
EDH may have died down a bit at one shop, but it is still by far the most commonly played eternal format. Legacy is casual only for the most part and I have never known anyone to play Vintage. That is unless things have changed in the few years since I last tried to get into Legacy.
As long as I know I will get in a few games and won't have to deal with childish attitudes like the one quoted below, I'm game.
But, have been playing Edh for 5 years, I have seen a large drop in Edh. 2-3 years ago each store was packed on Edh night, with 10-15 pods usually. Now it's way less. A lot of people just stopped playing magic it seems.
probably a guy with hermit druid or a similar degenerate combo deck bored all the EDH players. they understood that their EDH games weren't casual anymore and changed format.
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Before I use to see a ton of Legacy and Vintage decks being played, but now, I see no one playing those formats, and everyday, no matter where I play I see anywhere from 4 to 16 people playing EDH.
EDH's popularity has definitely not died down.
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People still play EDH where I'm from, though I've stopped playing it despite myself being one of the biggest fans early on at my current store. My issue with the format is that it's simply not as fun as Vintage. I really liked EDH early on when I first discovered it and realised I could do all sorts of things with it, but as it became a more discovered format, in the sense that the combos and whatever were being flushed out, I noticed that the biggest difference between EDH and Vintage was that being less consistent EDH was more open to degenerate combos and I didn't really enjoy that after a while.
In Vintage I mostly played control decks and sometimes Workshops, but really there aren't that many combo decks in Vintage anymore, and I like that. EDH on the other hand doesn't have that consistency, and as such can't really win without "going off" and killing everyone at once. I'll still play EDH now and then, but only with the more casual EDH players.
The real question is who on earth do you regularly play Vintage with? There cannot be that many people in a given area that have the cards to play that format, unless you are playing with illegal pretend cards.
unless you are playing with illegal pretend cards.
In my area, we call those "proxies". And outside of sanctioned tournaments a "pretend" photocopied Black Lotus is just as "real" as the "pretend" Xenagos someone pulled out of a booster pack.
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The only reason I have an EDH deck is because there are so many people in my area that have EDH decks. Personally, I really don't like the format. I'm still trying to figure out why I don't...
How so? There are plenty of people who play edh competitively, as they claim on these forums.
Besides, this website has both casual and competitive parts where people can talk. I hardly think one has to classify it as the one or the other.
Just a personal observation from the "inside." For a long time the site was always talking about how to lure in pro-tour players and raise the professional level content to the level of other sites like SCG. Now I think our focus is more about how we can take the community we have and make the site for them. EDH has thrived and so has our EDH forum - we used to have 50-75 people browsing there at a time when I first started and now 400 is normal. In Standard there is a competitive section, but that seems to be mostly for people preparing for competitive FNMs and PTQs. But, a gaming site that aims to provide a place for people to talk about the game they play makes sense to me.
The main thing that turns most of my friends off from EDH is the fact that games take so damn long (often more than 2 hours) and a lot of that is nothing happening or one person slowly grinding out the game. Magic just isn't a game designed to make 2 hour games fun.
The main thing that turns most of my friends off from EDH is the fact that games take so damn long (often more than 2 hours) and a lot of that is nothing happening or one person slowly grinding out the game. Magic just isn't a game designed to make 2 hour games fun.
Those are not typical really, unless people are goofing off and not paying attention to the game or there are more than five people playing. Really it is much more of a function of the multi-player aspect of it, though the format contributes a bit too. If you are playing with friends you could try starting the game with only 30 life instead of 40, which will speed things up. 1v1 Commander takes much less time too, though I can't speak on the variant sub format because I have never adopted the Duel Commander rules and banlist. We just played with the RC rules when playing 1v1.
With casual EDH, competitive multipler, and French (competitive 1v1, special banlist), EDH will always be around in some way. Being unsanctioned, it will never be as big as standard.
Those are not typical really, unless people are goofing off and not paying attention to the game or there are more than five people playing. Really it is much more of a function of the multi-player aspect of it, though the format contributes a bit too. If you are playing with friends you could try starting the game with only 30 life instead of 40, which will speed things up. 1v1 Commander takes much less time too, though I can't speak on the variant sub format because I have never adopted the Duel Commander rules and banlist. We just played with the RC rules when playing 1v1.
Aye. Games pretty much never take that long, even when we have 4 of us playing. A half hour maybe, sometimes a bit longer, but the only times a single game really takes a long time is when we're at a buddy's house and there's more talking and drinking than there is actual playing of the game. When we're actually focusing on playing a game of EDH, even if we're not playing combo (as there were times we had two fast combo decks at the table, my old Grimgrin build and my buddy's old Mimeoplasm deck) anymore, they don't drag on and on. And now that it's rare for us to get a group together and games tend to be 1v1, they usually don't go for more than 20 minutes or so tops.
The real question is who on earth do you regularly play Vintage with? There cannot be that many people in a given area that have the cards to play that format, unless you are playing with illegal pretend cards.
I live in the North East, we actually have Sanctioned Vintage here at least once or twice a month that gets an ok turn out. The proxy events aren't bad either, we get a good 40+ people for those and the last one offered a Beta Time Vault for first, an Unlimited Mox Ruby for second and then cash for the other top 8 people, with only a 30$ entry. Realistically if I was willing to travel a bit more in my region I'd be able to play a Vintage tournament every weekend.
Who knows, maybe we're just more affluent around here, but I get to play plenty of Vintage and own some of the power that I play with. It's kind of funny though, since you do get the guys with fully powered decks playing with like proxied Wastelands or in my case my side board hard 3 proxied Propagandas.
Commander is stronger than ever in my LGS. We have a Sunday league that gets between 24-30 players every week. Last thursday night there was 19 people playing casually till 11pm. I can walk in on any day and get EDH games.
Its standard that's dying in my area atm, they're struggling to get 25 players for fnm, every other format even vintage gets a better showing at my LGS.
EDH is as popular as always here - I get asked to play games at about every store I go to after I've been in the door a few minutes. Frankly, I don't see how walking in on one given night to see less EDH players than usual is a large enough sample size to draw a conclusion and then make a thread about it. No trend over several weeks or anything there to draw that conclusion.
Same here. Still running popular, but it was popular even before the first Commander product was released and it is not generally dependent on the supporting products.
Duels, multiplayer games, €DH (all cards except general under 1€), and others...
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Last time i went on EDH day, which coincides with FNM, there were two other players including me playing EDH and I lost all taste for it. You really don't get to do anything besides suffer through multiple board wipes until someone wins instantly. There's no interaction or strategy, it's by far the least fun I've had playing magic.
I think that it wasn't hype in the first place and that you can't judge an overall interest based on your LGS. That being said, I do feel that the Commander pre-cons might be doing more harm than good for long term stability and interest in the format.
Personally, I wish people would focus a little less on EDH and maybe check out plain old Highlander.
So, a two weeks ago I was hosting all the Magic Tournaments for Coast Con. I had Standard, Draft, Sealed and EDH all lined up (none sanctioned).
We only had 3 people interested in Standard, Draft and Sealed all on separate days, but 12 people interested in EDH each event. I ran nothing but EDH tournaments that whole weekend. So I feel it is not a hype and is very much alive.
EDH may have died down a bit at one shop, but it is still by far the most commonly played eternal format. Legacy is casual only for the most part and I have never known anyone to play Vintage. That is unless things have changed in the few years since I last tried to get into Legacy.
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I don't play standard at all anymore, because price barrier just isn't worth it if you can't "recycle" your staples at their highs for cards that will be staples in the new rotation. It can be real grindy constantly trading for cards to keep your standard collection up to snuff.
My store was real into EDH when the first pre-cons came out. It was a real good entry product for people; $30 for a deck that actually gave you the value back. They had new generals that were good "build-around" generals and it spurred a big rise in EDH. We would play EDH before standard/draft and even play a game afterwards. We would also sometimes play on saturdays.
The problem comes when you have the competitive people and casual people both playing together. You've got people who play real combo EDH decks with the top-end staples, and then you have people who play more casual like, and build with the cards they have. Eventually EDH popularity waned as time went on, but a lot more people definitely carry EDH with them now, than before the first EDH product came out.
Before the first Commander decks came out, I was real interested in EDH as it looked to be a lot of fun (and it really is), but I had NO IDEA where to start in building my deck. Picking a general, a deck strategy and all can be a little perplexing to someone who's never played it. I bought all 5 decks when they came out, and my friend ended up making Kaalia, and I made Ghave (to which I eventually deconstructed).
WBG Karador GBW
R Daretti R
RG Omnath GR
WRG Modern Burn GRW
WB Modern Tokens BW
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I think that shows two things - EDH is a very popular format and MTGS has finally come to terms with the fact that this is and always has been a casual (as opposed to tournament competitive) website.
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In Vintage I mostly played control decks and sometimes Workshops, but really there aren't that many combo decks in Vintage anymore, and I like that. EDH on the other hand doesn't have that consistency, and as such can't really win without "going off" and killing everyone at once. I'll still play EDH now and then, but only with the more casual EDH players.
As long as I know I will get in a few games and won't have to deal with childish attitudes like the one quoted below, I'm game.
But, have been playing Edh for 5 years, I have seen a large drop in Edh. 2-3 years ago each store was packed on Edh night, with 10-15 pods usually. Now it's way less. A lot of people just stopped playing magic it seems.
The EDH stax primer
When you absolutely, positively got to kill every permanent in the room, accept no substitutes.
EDH's popularity has definitely not died down.
Tried to pull away, but now I'm Back At it
Love is Emphatic, cards need to be played
Hailing from the BA, accumulating CA"
Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
In my area, we call those "proxies". And outside of sanctioned tournaments a "pretend" photocopied Black Lotus is just as "real" as the "pretend" Xenagos someone pulled out of a booster pack.
Just a personal observation from the "inside." For a long time the site was always talking about how to lure in pro-tour players and raise the professional level content to the level of other sites like SCG. Now I think our focus is more about how we can take the community we have and make the site for them. EDH has thrived and so has our EDH forum - we used to have 50-75 people browsing there at a time when I first started and now 400 is normal. In Standard there is a competitive section, but that seems to be mostly for people preparing for competitive FNMs and PTQs. But, a gaming site that aims to provide a place for people to talk about the game they play makes sense to me.
WUBRGPauper Battle BoxWUBRG ... and why I am not a fan of Wayne Reynolds' Illustrations.
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Reprint Opt for Modern!!
FREE DIG THOROUGH TIME!
PLAY MORE ROUGE DECKS!
It seems a lot of people have been "working on" EDH decks for months now so I hope people will finish their decks soon so I can play some EDH
Now I can't find the motivation to get back in because I'm just tired of seeing the same cards played over and over.
URNiv-Mizzet, Burn
UW Geist, Pillow Fort
WBGGhave, Tokens
BR Olivia, Tribal
Aye. Games pretty much never take that long, even when we have 4 of us playing. A half hour maybe, sometimes a bit longer, but the only times a single game really takes a long time is when we're at a buddy's house and there's more talking and drinking than there is actual playing of the game. When we're actually focusing on playing a game of EDH, even if we're not playing combo (as there were times we had two fast combo decks at the table, my old Grimgrin build and my buddy's old Mimeoplasm deck) anymore, they don't drag on and on. And now that it's rare for us to get a group together and games tend to be 1v1, they usually don't go for more than 20 minutes or so tops.
UBBreya's Toybox (Competitive, Combo)WR
RGodzilla, King of the MonstersG
-Retired Decks-
UBLazav, Dimir Mastermind (Competitive, UB Voltron/Control)UB
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I live in the North East, we actually have Sanctioned Vintage here at least once or twice a month that gets an ok turn out. The proxy events aren't bad either, we get a good 40+ people for those and the last one offered a Beta Time Vault for first, an Unlimited Mox Ruby for second and then cash for the other top 8 people, with only a 30$ entry. Realistically if I was willing to travel a bit more in my region I'd be able to play a Vintage tournament every weekend.
Who knows, maybe we're just more affluent around here, but I get to play plenty of Vintage and own some of the power that I play with. It's kind of funny though, since you do get the guys with fully powered decks playing with like proxied Wastelands or in my case my side board hard 3 proxied Propagandas.
Heck, you know what, here, watch me get owned on camera in some good old Sanctioned Vintage top 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ6uMTGVfWk&feature=youtu.be
Its standard that's dying in my area atm, they're struggling to get 25 players for fnm, every other format even vintage gets a better showing at my LGS.
MTG Legacy and Vintage extraordinaire (jokes), if it doesn't play blue I most likely don't play it.
Same here. Still running popular, but it was popular even before the first Commander product was released and it is not generally dependent on the supporting products.
Duels, multiplayer games, €DH (all cards except general under 1€), and others...
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Personally, I wish people would focus a little less on EDH and maybe check out plain old Highlander.
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We only had 3 people interested in Standard, Draft and Sealed all on separate days, but 12 people interested in EDH each event. I ran nothing but EDH tournaments that whole weekend. So I feel it is not a hype and is very much alive.
EDH: Xenagos, God of Revels.