I am in the process of liquidating my Magic Online collection. It's been a good nine years of Magic Online, but everything has been slowly going downhill since v3, and finally v4.
However, I haven't played Paper Magic since 2003. Thirteen years without playing Paper Magic; there's probably a lot of things I've forgotten about handling physical cards. Things like keeping track of my cards because they can be stolen, or having to purchase more than four copies of a card if I use it in more than one deck, to buying deck sleeves to protect cards, to making sure I don't play too much that I become too tired to drive home.
Also, I noticed that paper card prices are insane compared to Magic Online. I tried to replicate one of my online decks (Modern UR Delver) and it clocks in at over $1,000! Holy *****. Removing the dual lands and Blood Moon brings it down to around $400 (it's not exactly a high power meta in my FLGS so running Blood Moon might be counterproductive). There are some cards that I absolutely cannot take out, like Snapcaster Mage, because he's too important to the deck.
So, um, what do I need to know about getting back to Paper Magic? What do I need to relearn?
It will make a hole in your budjet...all you need to know....lol
Decide your format if any, i'd assume if your running Innistrad cards, you're probably not playing standard....so you could go for the dual land from Innistrad (sulfur falls) and M13...cheaper than Revised dual lands and nearly as good.
And also figure out with whom you'll be playing with... if you're playing with friends, it's easier to make budjet boundaries...othwerwise you may want to know in advance what format people are playing in your area
Most of the people you run into in your average FNM will have no idea how priority works. You might even count yourself lucky if they understand all the phases and their sequence.
As far as gameplay, you need to pay a lot of attention to communicating when you want to do what. Phases are a lot less clear in paper.
So I finally played my first game of Paper Magic in over 11 years. I attended a Modern event at the FLGS and went 2-1.
1. UR Delver vs. Death and Taxes (2-1)
First game was really slow as I had to get used to playing with paper cards again. I actually missed my first Delver trigger, but it didn't matter because I drew a land anyway. I won the first game and was told before the beginning of the second game that there was five minutes left in Round 1. I played much faster in Round 2, but didn't make any play mistakes, only strategic mistakes (accidentally locked myself out of blue mana by playing Magus of the Moon, which I fixed by suiciding him into the enemy, who had no choice to block or otherwise take lethal damage). Lost game 2, but then won game 3 very quickly, before time ran out (got two flipped Delvers very early into Game 3).
2. UR Delver vs. Infect (2-1)
I made a lot of play mistakes in this game, but my opponent was patient with me. Fortunately, all the stuff I missed were mandatory effects: I kept forgetting to draw after Gitaxian Probe and Remand because Magic Online did that automatically for me. I also kept forgetting to place played spells into the graveyard, again, because the game automatically did that for me. Surprisingly, I didn't actually miss any of my Delver triggers, and I didn't mess up Serum Visions at all (this card is annoying Online because you can accidentally send the wrong card to the bottom with no way to undo your mistake).
3. UR Delver vs. Affinity (0-2)
Last time I played Affinity was in Mirrodin Block, i.e. when Affinity was first released, so I played according to my previous experirence, unaware of how much the archetype has changed. Game 1 was won by my opponent when he managed to cast Whipflare while I was tapped out, taking out two Delvers. Game 2 was a very close game that I threw by playing Blood Moon. I wasn't paying attention to my mana base and didn't notice that I only had one real Island in play (rest were real Mountains and nonbasic lands).
During an standoff between the Affinity army and mine, I told my opponent, "During the Declare Attackers phase, after declaring attackers and after you pass... Oh... Oh crap." I was planning on going Snapcaster Mage into Hurkyl's Recall and then swinging for lethal next turn. However, I had one blue mana source, leaving me unable to do much more than flash in Snapcaster Mage. I laughed so hard at the epic fail and asked my opponent if he noticed that I had only one Island. He thought that I had another Hurkyl's Recall in hand, and was waiting for him to overextend so I could bounce everything back. As it was the last round, and there was a lot of time left, we just played it out. He slowly whittled away at my life lead and brought me down to zero.
Overall, it was fun. A lot of fun. It was a much less frustrating experience than Magic: Online. Not once did I accidentally Electrolyze the wrong targets, or send a card to the bottom by accident when scrying, nor did I accidentally pass my whole turn because I didn't notice that it was already my upkeep. I also didn't target the wrong spell with Snapcaster Mage. Not once. On the other hand, I kept missing mandatory draws, and kept forgetting to move spent cards to the graveyard. Also, shuffling took more time than I realized, and restoring my deck to its original composition took time (in Magic Online, the game automatically restores your main deck and sideboard for you).
When I play online I have the tendency to accidentally target my opponent's creature with pump spells. I think it's because I don't have a mouse and use the small fingerboard to move the cursor.
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However, I haven't played Paper Magic since 2003. Thirteen years without playing Paper Magic; there's probably a lot of things I've forgotten about handling physical cards. Things like keeping track of my cards because they can be stolen, or having to purchase more than four copies of a card if I use it in more than one deck, to buying deck sleeves to protect cards, to making sure I don't play too much that I become too tired to drive home.
Also, I noticed that paper card prices are insane compared to Magic Online. I tried to replicate one of my online decks (Modern UR Delver) and it clocks in at over $1,000! Holy *****. Removing the dual lands and Blood Moon brings it down to around $400 (it's not exactly a high power meta in my FLGS so running Blood Moon might be counterproductive). There are some cards that I absolutely cannot take out, like Snapcaster Mage, because he's too important to the deck.
So, um, what do I need to know about getting back to Paper Magic? What do I need to relearn?
in higher level events make sure you don't have any cards that aren't part of your deck in your deckbox
Decide your format if any, i'd assume if your running Innistrad cards, you're probably not playing standard....so you could go for the dual land from Innistrad (sulfur falls) and M13...cheaper than Revised dual lands and nearly as good.
And also figure out with whom you'll be playing with... if you're playing with friends, it's easier to make budjet boundaries...othwerwise you may want to know in advance what format people are playing in your area
other than "buy single" and be sure when you buy into a deck there is nothing else to say
URW PillowFort Stasis (costruction)
modern:
U Taking Turns combo
pauper:
UB Servitor Control
xenob8 : you know you are going to have a bad time when opponent starts with snow covered island
As far as gameplay, you need to pay a lot of attention to communicating when you want to do what. Phases are a lot less clear in paper.
1. UR Delver vs. Death and Taxes (2-1)
First game was really slow as I had to get used to playing with paper cards again. I actually missed my first Delver trigger, but it didn't matter because I drew a land anyway. I won the first game and was told before the beginning of the second game that there was five minutes left in Round 1. I played much faster in Round 2, but didn't make any play mistakes, only strategic mistakes (accidentally locked myself out of blue mana by playing Magus of the Moon, which I fixed by suiciding him into the enemy, who had no choice to block or otherwise take lethal damage). Lost game 2, but then won game 3 very quickly, before time ran out (got two flipped Delvers very early into Game 3).
2. UR Delver vs. Infect (2-1)
I made a lot of play mistakes in this game, but my opponent was patient with me. Fortunately, all the stuff I missed were mandatory effects: I kept forgetting to draw after Gitaxian Probe and Remand because Magic Online did that automatically for me. I also kept forgetting to place played spells into the graveyard, again, because the game automatically did that for me. Surprisingly, I didn't actually miss any of my Delver triggers, and I didn't mess up Serum Visions at all (this card is annoying Online because you can accidentally send the wrong card to the bottom with no way to undo your mistake).
3. UR Delver vs. Affinity (0-2)
Last time I played Affinity was in Mirrodin Block, i.e. when Affinity was first released, so I played according to my previous experirence, unaware of how much the archetype has changed. Game 1 was won by my opponent when he managed to cast Whipflare while I was tapped out, taking out two Delvers. Game 2 was a very close game that I threw by playing Blood Moon. I wasn't paying attention to my mana base and didn't notice that I only had one real Island in play (rest were real Mountains and nonbasic lands).
During an standoff between the Affinity army and mine, I told my opponent, "During the Declare Attackers phase, after declaring attackers and after you pass... Oh... Oh crap." I was planning on going Snapcaster Mage into Hurkyl's Recall and then swinging for lethal next turn. However, I had one blue mana source, leaving me unable to do much more than flash in Snapcaster Mage. I laughed so hard at the epic fail and asked my opponent if he noticed that I had only one Island. He thought that I had another Hurkyl's Recall in hand, and was waiting for him to overextend so I could bounce everything back. As it was the last round, and there was a lot of time left, we just played it out. He slowly whittled away at my life lead and brought me down to zero.
Overall, it was fun. A lot of fun. It was a much less frustrating experience than Magic: Online. Not once did I accidentally Electrolyze the wrong targets, or send a card to the bottom by accident when scrying, nor did I accidentally pass my whole turn because I didn't notice that it was already my upkeep. I also didn't target the wrong spell with Snapcaster Mage. Not once. On the other hand, I kept missing mandatory draws, and kept forgetting to move spent cards to the graveyard. Also, shuffling took more time than I realized, and restoring my deck to its original composition took time (in Magic Online, the game automatically restores your main deck and sideboard for you).