I'm pretty new to the forum and played pretty heavily during the Masques block. I am looking to get back into playing and it seems as though the landscape for pricing cards has somewhat changed since I played.
What advice do you have for a player getting started? Just buy boosters? Buy card lots online? Buy individual cards for decks? Pre-cons and build up? Start from scratch?
I understand that Magic isn't a cheap hobby, but I'm looking to play in local tournaments, not looking to get very serious about it.
If I were you, I would simply draft instead of opening packs. Depending on what a particular TO charges for a draft, it can be quite a deal.
If you can find a store that runs drafts for equal to or less than the price of 3 packs, it's really a great deal. If they also back-draft rares, you have the ability to take a rare more to your liking instead of the random rare in a pack.
If you are looking to get into standard, you can use these cards plus a few cards you may buy or trade for to build whatever constructed deck you want. Generally, the least economical way to acquire cards is to rip open packs/boxes.
If you want to play in sanctioned Standard tournaments then build the deck you want to play on paper and buy those cards as singles. You might be able to borrow expensive rares and save up to buy them yourself, or play a budget version of the deck until you can afford the right rares. Some people like to buy playsets of all the commons/uncommons from a new set and then buy or trade for just the rares they need. (Shop around, ebay generally has the best deals, some online shops charge way too much for playsets.)
If you don't know the deck you want to play then visit FNM at a local shop and talk to the players there, some people would be happy to show off their decks and talk about the metagame and what tends to win in your area, let you borrow a deck to try out, etc.
Drafting is also an option, call the local shops and see how often they run drafts and how much they charge, see if that fits in your budget.
The cheapest way to play paper Magic with real cards is to form a pauper or peasant Magic league with some friends. These are formats where uncommons/rares are banned, or allowed in limited numbers. If you don't have friends who play you can ask around at the local shops to see who is interested, post a note on a bulletin board, that sort of thing. More info here:
"Right about now I am wondering if Fredy Montero needed a kidney, how many guys in Seattle would line up to oblige?"
-- David Falk, Seattle Soccer Examiner, March 2009
If you can find a store that runs drafts for equal to or less than the price of 3 packs, it's really a great deal. If they also back-draft rares, you have the ability to take a rare more to your liking instead of the random rare in a pack.
Yeah, but you can also get screwed over when you get last pick and someone snatches the cards you want and you get stuck with a pile of jank rares...
*grumbles angrily about past experiences*
It depends on how much (or in this case how little) you want to spend. I spent roughly $80 shipped to get a playset of commons+uncommons from each set in the Shards of Alara block (Shards of Alara, Conflux, Alara Reborn). With it, I built like 6 decks for me and my friends to play against each other with.. and they were pretty close as far as power level. From there, I drafted a bunch to get some rares and trade bait for other rares I wanted.
If you look at the price of a lot of the uncommons, it more than paid for itself.. Shards had 4 of each tri-land ($1-2 a piece, that's like $20) and 4 of each charm ($0.5-$2 a piece, another $10 at least). Conflux had 4 Path's ($16) + 4 Volcanic Fallout ($10). Reborn has Bloodbraid Elf, that's all that needs to be said. And none of this is including the awesome commons.. like Putrid Leech in reborn, and a lot of the utility cards.
I also quit right after Masques block, and I came back just after Morningtide came out.. so I had 0 standard cards, and the playset of commons+uncommons really helped get a lot of cards for cheap.
Thanks ThisIsMyName. I'm looking into doing just that, did you get yours on ebay? I've found a few that are available but it seems as though playsets for some sets are not available.
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I'm pretty new to the forum and played pretty heavily during the Masques block. I am looking to get back into playing and it seems as though the landscape for pricing cards has somewhat changed since I played.
What advice do you have for a player getting started? Just buy boosters? Buy card lots online? Buy individual cards for decks? Pre-cons and build up? Start from scratch?
I understand that Magic isn't a cheap hobby, but I'm looking to play in local tournaments, not looking to get very serious about it.
Thanks!
If you can find a store that runs drafts for equal to or less than the price of 3 packs, it's really a great deal. If they also back-draft rares, you have the ability to take a rare more to your liking instead of the random rare in a pack.
If you are looking to get into standard, you can use these cards plus a few cards you may buy or trade for to build whatever constructed deck you want. Generally, the least economical way to acquire cards is to rip open packs/boxes.
If you don't know the deck you want to play then visit FNM at a local shop and talk to the players there, some people would be happy to show off their decks and talk about the metagame and what tends to win in your area, let you borrow a deck to try out, etc.
Drafting is also an option, call the local shops and see how often they run drafts and how much they charge, see if that fits in your budget.
The cheapest way to play paper Magic with real cards is to form a pauper or peasant Magic league with some friends. These are formats where uncommons/rares are banned, or allowed in limited numbers. If you don't have friends who play you can ask around at the local shops to see who is interested, post a note on a bulletin board, that sort of thing. More info here:
http://pdcmagic.com/
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/feature/58
-- David Falk, Seattle Soccer Examiner, March 2009
Yeah, but you can also get screwed over when you get last pick and someone snatches the cards you want and you get stuck with a pile of jank rares...
*grumbles angrily about past experiences*
Quotes in blog.
If you look at the price of a lot of the uncommons, it more than paid for itself.. Shards had 4 of each tri-land ($1-2 a piece, that's like $20) and 4 of each charm ($0.5-$2 a piece, another $10 at least). Conflux had 4 Path's ($16) + 4 Volcanic Fallout ($10). Reborn has Bloodbraid Elf, that's all that needs to be said. And none of this is including the awesome commons.. like Putrid Leech in reborn, and a lot of the utility cards.
I also quit right after Masques block, and I came back just after Morningtide came out.. so I had 0 standard cards, and the playset of commons+uncommons really helped get a lot of cards for cheap.