I'm new to Magic and I'm trying to jump start my collection. I don't know if I can convince my friend to start playing due the high price, but I think if I get a large enough pool of cards we could each build a couple of decks from the available pool.
I have no plan to play anyone other than just some of my friends / family who don't have their own cards and will probably never buy any of their own. We will be building decks out of my available pool of cards only.
I'm kinda late to the Magic party and starting with nothing. My ultimate goal is to get a large mix of cards that offer all the different play-styles/mechanics like the new rules and abilities from all the past sets. I would like to have cards that offer the new mechanics for variety. It it would be no fun playing cards with the same abilities all the time and I don't want to miss out on something.
I'm not sure what I really need to buy to accomplish my goal of being able to play with everything.
Do I need to stay away from older sets? Do all the newer sets have all the old stuff introduced by the older sets? For example, the Zendikar set introduces new mechanics such as Allies, Intimidate, Landfall, Quests, and Traps. Will cards from the newer sets still have these kinds of play or will I have to be sure to grab lots of cards from older sets to add that kind of mix?
Will we still have any fun with just a large set of uncommon and common cards or is it not really fun unless you can build decks with lots of rare cards? I mean I'll have a few rares, but I think since it's just me buying all the cards I'd pose a rule or something where we can only use a few rares in a deck.
I'm sure I can buy some single rares to add to the mix if I really need.
Here is what I've purchased so far on impulse:
Magic the Gathering Card Game Deck Builders Toolkit
Scars of Mirrodin Intro Pack Theme Deck - Deadspread
Scars of Mirrodin Intro Pack Theme Deck - Relic Breaker
Scars of Mirrodin Intro Pack Theme Deck - Deadspread
1x Scars of Mirrodin Booster
Worldwake Common Set x4
Rise of the Eldrazi Common Set x4
Scars of Mirrodin - Common Set X4
Zendikar 101 Card Complete Common Card X3
Scars of Mirrodin 60 Cards Complete Uncommon Set X1
Rise of the Eldrazi Complete 60 Card Uncommon Set X1
Zendikar 60 Cards Complete Uncommon Set X1
Shards of Alara Complete 60 Card Uncommon Set X1
Worldwake Complete 40 Card Uncommon Set X1
Order from Cool Stuff Inc:
1 - Magic the Gathering FOIL Grab Bag (New, CCG, Magic)
X9 - Magic the Gathering Grab Bag (New, CCG, Magic)
X3 - 1000 Magic the Gathering Cards Bulk (New, CCG, Magic) - This random assortment of common/uncommon cards is from a wide variety of sets
X2 - 400 Magic the Gathering Cards Bulk (New, CCG, Magic) - This random assortment of common/uncommon cards is from a wide variety of sets
That's what's been ordered so far. I seem to be missing uncommon and common cards from the Core 2011 set, but I think th toolkit came with quite a few Core 2010 cards. Do I need to fill a gap with Cor 2011 stuff or will the other sets cover it?
Will I be screwed with just a bunch of reprinted uncommon and common cards that all basically are alike and just all do the same thing with different card art or will I have all the abilities to play with? I've got a feeling without a lot of rares this collection won't be much fun, but I don't really know. Are the uncommon and common cards pretty much all the same across all the different sets?
Do you know if I will get all the game mechanics currently available or will I have to dig deeper into past sets or buy some rares?
Every block has its own mechanics that it emphasizes; "Landfall," for example, has only appeared in Zendikar block. So there will certainly be some mechanics in previous sets that you won't have in your card pool. However, I'd say play first and then introduce complexity into your pool slowly, either by purchasing the commons/uncommons of older sets or by specific cards from those sets.
Getting cards with ALL mechanics ever made is going to be somewhat hard, since certain mechanics only appear on older cards. I wouldn't worry about this if I were you. A lot of mechanics aren't on new cards because said mechanics were just plain bad - confusing, clunky, overpowered, etc.
If you're really set on getting older stuff, you could get some good deals on bulk commons/uncommons. They're often unwanted, and will give you a decent random sampling of stuff. Check on ebay for these. Additionally, as new sets are printed, you can get a whole set of the new commons and uncommons for a reasonable price. If for some reason you find some random rare that you really like, you're best off buying it as a single either online or from your LGS(if they have it). Buying packs to get cards is only a particularly good idea if you want a sampling of cards from a new set including some rares. Otherwise, you only want to buy packs for drafting(which is killer fun btw, I suggest you read up about it).
Magic really only gets super expensive when you try to be competitive and go to tournaments. If you're not hung up on playing the absolute best top of the line deck/cards, its actually quite affordable. I could go to channelfireball.com right now and order all the cards for a fun casual deck for under $20 plus shipping.
As a previous poster mentioned, you've got plenty enough to get started already, so shuffle up and play! Figure out what colors/strategies/playstyles you like best, and work from there.
We both played each other with Intro decks and played for 6 hours straight so far. We have got all the mechanics down so far in both Intro decks.
If I were the buy the commons/uncommons of older sets? How far back should I go? Is there some that just wouldn't match well with the newer stuff.
I'm hoping that at least to get some of the older stuff in the 3800 bulk cards that will be coming in, however I don't know what usually gets thrown into the bulk stuff from cool stuff inc.
thats a good assortment of cards. once you know the base of mtg rules, i suggest fnm it is VERY fun you can get rares and lots of other cool stuff and once in a while you'll open a money card such as blightsteel colossus or inkmoth nexus, and when you do a Friday night magic the set is usually current so keep up to date. youll meet other people and have lots of fun best of luck
p.s. to find a store near you go to the wizardz locator here. who knows maybe ill see you here in CT? let me know how it works out
if you're dead serious about wanting to get cards, you look like you've spent quite a bit of money so far.
why not buy a case of the next set that comes out, which I think is Magic 2012, although I could be mistaken. If you live near a store that has a lot of players, you can pop open the case, and you'll have a binder full of trade material to help you get the cards you want, in addition to opening 6 boxes worth of commons/uncommons, rares, and mythic rares.
If you really really REALLY want to get ahead, and as I mentioned, you have a nice sized store with enough players in it, become a trading master, that's the sure way to get what you want.
Want nothing, need nothing, if you do the case suggestion, and you DO NOT make an uber expensive deck out of it, then your binder is full of highly tradeable stuff, you can subsist on a less expensive deck all the while, your high dollar cards are what you use to trade with to collect cards of value.
If for example, I wanted to get rid of my 4 Mind Sculptors today, that's $400 right there, if I knew I didn't want to play with them anymore, what I'd do is trade them for a piece of Power, or other high dollar cards like Mana Drains, Moats, the original dual lands, a Time Walk, the Moxes, or whatnot.
But essentially, if you're just starting out, trading is the best way to acquire the cards you need while at the same time building up a collection for yourself.
If you want to eschew the trading game, then you can just do what you've already done, which is rather smart, pick up the common/uncommon playsets for cheap and roll with that, just grabbing what rares/mythic rares you need and want.
Not a thing wrong with that approach.
There's no one right approach to starting out, as far as building your collection goes, that's up to you, and whether your temperament and personality suit you for trading, or if you're just the guy who buys what he needs.
I can tell you that if you become a trade master, and you do well enough, you'll likely have all the cards you want and need, or able to trade up or down for what you want and probably end up spending less overall than you would just buying cards straight up if you get enough value out of your case, IN ADDITION to being able to trade well.
Those are the 2 key parts there.
I myself am not a trading master, I'm the guy who buys what he needs, so I know nothing
So how big a difference is there between Core 2010 Uncommon/Commons vs. Core 2011 Uncommon/Commons?
I mean, it's core so does that mean they are basically just reprints of each other or is it worth owning both sets? If they are just reprints no reason to just have cards that do the same thing with just different name/artworks.
I'm really just out to play with friends, and like I said I'm the only one that's going to supply the cards because all my friends are cheap-skates who would never fork the cash out for this kind of stuff. However, one of them did play last night with me for hours and I think he is liking it.
So my real goal is just amassing a huge stockpile of everything so that we could each just mess around and build decks to match each other.
I will probably buy a few rares to mix in, but I'm not trying to build uber decks that are unstoppable if we are just out to have fun.
What's a good play scheme to work with what I'm trying to do. Just let them rummage around to put a deck together, or some kind of draft of available cards? What are some other ways to can have fun and play with this collection?
One thing I'd recommend is slowing your roll a little, and enjoying learning magic before worrying about if you can build a deck that utilized sweep. Nobody's collection or game knowledge happened over night.
In the future, I'd limit grab bags, bulk, and all random product (yes that includes booster boxes), to when you want a little lottery-esque fun.
Let's say that I order every card in Galpanic's Oona EDH deck. Maybe I'm on a budget, and don't know about EDH, so I cut the 25 most expensive cards (and 15 lands) and build a 60 card version. I will have... a crazy fun deck to play, that probably costs about 180 dollars.
Let's say I order a booster box of Scars of Mirrodin and Mirrodin Besieged. That will also cost 180 dollars. (For me, I'd run drafts out of it, but let's forget that I'm a limited player and assume that I'm just cracking these for a collection.) For the same amount of money that Galspanic's super fun deck would've cost, I'll have a bedroom full of completely random, not-especially-fun cards, like 2/2's with no abilities.
There isn't any wrong way to start a magic collection, but generally assume that grab bags and bulk are a store's way of getting rid of inventory to reclaim their shelf space. Sometimes awesome things can happen when you buy bulk, but generally you are buying someone's trash.
Were I in your shoes, I'd take a long look at what you have, build some decks out of it, and play until you are bored. Or at least play until "Action" comes out. By then, you should have your thumb a little more on the pulse of magic, and you'll be able to figure out what you want from there.
Don't rush to own everything. I've been playing this game for 15 years, and there are still times where I'm like "so wait... soulshift does what again?"
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I'll be sad if people don't start calling The Chain Veil "Fleetwood Mac."
In general, what Promatim said with respect to bulk product.
If you want to build decks that are fun to play against each other, more than buying boxes of product I'd recommend buying the Duel Decks series. I've heard good things about all of them except Divine vs. Demonic, and have personally played Jace vs. Chandra, Elspeth vs. Tezzeret, and Divine vs. Demonic, and the only one I didn't like was DvD (the games felt too much like they boiled down to whether or not Divine resolved Akroma; if they did, Demonic got smashed, if they didn't Demonic was unbeatable). The decks are particularly well balanced against each other, and you can play them endlessly. The only problem is that the decks are not well-balanced across Duel Decks sets; for example, Tezzeret completely thrashes Jace, so I wouldn't recommend intermixing them. However, they're good to play with each other.
On the other hand, if you have limitless resources, you can go out and buy every Standard deck of all time (there are archives for this if you look hard enough). Pretty much every block mechanic ever has been featured in some tournament deck (notable exceptions being pretty much anything from Kamigawa or Coldsnap), and you can get a feel for each of them that way. However, this will be very costly and I do not recommend doing it. Magic has WAY too many mechanics to even attempt to "experience" all of them in any substantial quantity.
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Old terminology reference:
Play (noun): Battlefield
Play (verb): Cast/Play
RFG: Exile
CIP: Enters the Battlefield
Also does anyone know where I can buy some Basic Land? I don't know if the bulk packs from Cool Stuff Inc includes land or not.
Your deckbuilder's toolkit will have some land. Most online retailers sell land, random basics for about 5 cents each, and specific amounts of basics (like 20 of each) for a little more.
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I'll be sad if people don't start calling The Chain Veil "Fleetwood Mac."
Lots of retailers sell bulk lots of basic land for cheap, and you'll definitely want a good supply of land if you're doing a lot of deckbuilding like you say you are.
Also, it sounds like you're not all that concerned about collecting and card value, but you plan on using your entire collection a lot. Your cards will be seeing a lot of playtime, often in the hands of players who don't appreciate their value. If you want to do it this way, then stay away from buying near-mint singles, especially those that cost more than a couple bucks. You can get played versions at a significant discount, and they'll serve your purpose just as well. That said, I'd still get sleeves to protect your most valuable cards.
I'd personally recommend getting some old cards, but that's because I'm biased towards them. I think the best sets are older sets; not necessarily in terms of power, but in terms of fun, flavor, and variety. You'll find a lot of people who disagree with me, though, so don't take my word for it.
Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I'd get familiar with what you already have, and then start looking around on Gatherer or magiccards.info. They're both good, easily searchable databases of all printed magic cards, and you can look through them and see what interests you from older sets. Magiccards.info will even show you prices and stores that carry them as singles. Buy played singles of cards you think will be fun to play with, and build your community collection that way.
It sounds like you have a very good start, and you're getting some people into the game in a very fun and mature manner. Kudos!
Edit: to answer this question more directly:
>>Will we still have any fun with just a large set of uncommon and common cards or is it not really fun unless you can build decks with lots of rare cards? I mean I'll have a few rares, but I think since it's just me buying all the cards I'd pose a rule or something where we can only use a few rares in a deck.
You can have plenty of fun with commons and uncommons. In fact, Wizards is very cognizant of designing their sets for players who are going to be playing with few rare cards. The common/uncommon sets usually represent all of the mechanics in a set well in their more basic forms. Rares will tend to be more complicated cards, though the most powerful cards in a given set are generally rares as well.
"In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite." - Paul Dirac
One cool value thing that you can do, is look for comparable cards that are cheaper than others because of how often they've been reprinted.
For example, Garruk Wildspeaker can be found from a reasonable dealer for 5-6 dollars. Compare this to Koth of the Hammer. Koth is... about as good as garruk, worse in some ways, better in others. Yet he debuted at 50 dollars and is still 20 at a lot of places.
If you are a casual player, recognizing an awesome card like garruk and getting it for a quarter of the price of a hot new card is going to reward your budget greatly.
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I'll be sad if people don't start calling The Chain Veil "Fleetwood Mac."
I've also just added Magic Core 2011 Uncommon/Common Complete set x4 and a Mirrodin Besieged Uncommon/Common Complete Set X4 to the mix.
I'm all for getting some old cards into the mix. Any other sets besides what I've listed could you recommend that I check out? Only concern is what older sets will play well. I don't want to get some of the older stuff and have cards that I can't really utilize as they could require other cards that I don't have. Do the uncommon/common sets of older stuff play well without rares from those sets or would I really have to get some the sets rares to utilize them?
Is there one place that is better for buying complete sets? I'm probably not going to start putting all these cards into play right way, it's like you guy's are saying. I'm new and so are the people playing. So we'll start with easier core sets and gradually introduce new stuff as we get comfortable or bored.
I'd like to go ahead and get as much bought as I can now though just to have on hand. I appreciate the tips on buying rares, but myself since I'm only going to be playing friends can't see myself buying a single card for more than .20 cents. Although, I feel like I need to at least buy some rares to throw into the mix to have fun/variety, but they would have to be really cheap.
If you don't plan on buying single cards for much money, then I'd stay away from buying singles online period. It's not going to be worth it to you, and if your group is all a bunch of new players playing casually, then it's not important for you to get anything expensive.
However, I'd keep an eye on popular cards and prices anyway, because as you start accumulating cards, you'll sometimes run across something in your collection that's worth some money; something you pulled out of a booster and didn't think about, or something you got in a bulk lot that wasn't supposed to be there, or that recently jumped in price. It's good to know if you have something valuable.
As far as buying in bulk goes, lots of the big online retailers have bulk lots, but buying those can be a bit risky. From what I've heard (never bought one myself), retailers use these to offload their worst commons from recent sets, that they know they'll never sell otherwise. Buying a "random" lot might not be very random at all (i.e. the entire lot is green cards from Zendikar or something). If I were you, I'd buy complete common/uncommon sets (like you've done) and bulk land, and maybe a few boosters for the fun of it. Other than that, find a local game store. They'll often have bins of cards for cheap, and you can look through it and find what interests you.
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"In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite." - Paul Dirac
I think I read about a couple of game types where you can have two players vs two players, or maybe even three players playing a free-for-all or something?
Is that a real way to play or was I just misreading a game type?
I think I read about a couple of game types where you can have two players vs two players, or maybe even three players playing a free-for-all or something?
Is that a real way to play or was I just misreading a game type?
Two Headed Giant is the 2 v 2 format you're thinking of. There are tons of different multiplayer formats, ranging from free for all to star (a favourite of mine). Info on all of these and tons more is in the link.
Is it worth it to try and find complete uncommon/common set of cards from a little a older block like in the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block? I can barely find any even for sale.
It seems like these are quite a bit more expensive than the newer stuff? Is that because it's just older and harder to find?
Is it worth the cost to invest in those to gain their mechanics or all those mechanics still being used in the newer Extended stuff?
No offense, but I think you should focus more on the "now" than the past, because you're in the "now" and the past is largely irrelevant, you don't need every single set before Mirrordin Besieged to learn how to play this game or even be good at it.
If you're gonna play Standard or casual, then just focus on the sets that are legal in Standard for now, and you'll have a more concentrated card pool to draw from and make decks out of.
Go look around the Type 2 forums, they have Competitive decks, Developing Competitive, and Budget deck forums there, also on the wizards of the coast website, they have a Building on a Budget article library that can give you some ideas, and let you build decks for cheap to have fun with.
If you're gonna just play with friends, you don't need $500 decks to have fun.
If you're gonna play tourneys, you will be spending big bucks (in relative terms to playing casually).
You're going about this the wrong (and very expensive) way
You don;t jump into MTG and just "buy a bunch of cards". You'll end up paying a lot of $$ for 99% junk you'll never touch, ever.
You should start drafting a bit, you get a lot of new cards, and buidld lots of decks, and canget other people leftovers for free. Then buy singles to fill out the first deck you want to play in constructed. Draft and play constructed until you pull a money mythic of out a prize pack. Then trde that to someone for a whole bunhc of trade junk. He'll be getting a card he wants, you'll be getting a bunch of niche crads that can be fun to screw around with.
You could also spend an afternoon digging through the 10 for a dollar common bin at a local card shop.
Never buy boxes or cases, you end up with way to many copies of the same exact card, it is a complete waste of $$.
If you are just going to play with friends, then you already have more than enough to get started! The Scars of Mirrodin intro packs are already enough for you to become familiarized with the mechanics. These intro packs are assembled to highlight a different theme/strategy of the set.
Certain keywords and themes are specific to the set. For example, the Evoke mechanic is specific to the Lorwyn half of the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block. The Unearth mechanic is specific to the Shards of Alara block.
That's not to say that mechanics never repeat: the Imprint mechanic was on Mirrodin cards as well as Scars of Mirrodin cards. But it's generally a reasonable idea to assume that mechanics won't repeat.
To continue building up your collection of cards, my best suggestion would be to continue buying one or two intro packs to each new set that is released. (Mirrodin Besieged was recently released. The next new set is in May 2011.) The intro packs are a carefully selected group of cards that are designed to work with each other, so they provide a reasonably organized strategy. Plus, they come with two of those rare cards that you seem to care about.
Rare cards do not necessarily mean better cards. If you're looking for playable 25 cent rares, you won't find any. If you're willing to sift through a binder/box of 1 dollar rares, you will probably come across a few playables.
I have no plan to play anyone other than just some of my friends / family who don't have their own cards and will probably never buy any of their own. We will be building decks out of my available pool of cards only.
I'm kinda late to the Magic party and starting with nothing. My ultimate goal is to get a large mix of cards that offer all the different play-styles/mechanics like the new rules and abilities from all the past sets. I would like to have cards that offer the new mechanics for variety. It it would be no fun playing cards with the same abilities all the time and I don't want to miss out on something.
I'm not sure what I really need to buy to accomplish my goal of being able to play with everything.
Do I need to stay away from older sets? Do all the newer sets have all the old stuff introduced by the older sets? For example, the Zendikar set introduces new mechanics such as Allies, Intimidate, Landfall, Quests, and Traps. Will cards from the newer sets still have these kinds of play or will I have to be sure to grab lots of cards from older sets to add that kind of mix?
Will we still have any fun with just a large set of uncommon and common cards or is it not really fun unless you can build decks with lots of rare cards? I mean I'll have a few rares, but I think since it's just me buying all the cards I'd pose a rule or something where we can only use a few rares in a deck.
I'm sure I can buy some single rares to add to the mix if I really need.
Here is what I've purchased so far on impulse:
Magic the Gathering Card Game Deck Builders Toolkit
Scars of Mirrodin Intro Pack Theme Deck - Deadspread
Scars of Mirrodin Intro Pack Theme Deck - Relic Breaker
Scars of Mirrodin Intro Pack Theme Deck - Deadspread
1x Scars of Mirrodin Booster
Worldwake Common Set x4
Rise of the Eldrazi Common Set x4
Scars of Mirrodin - Common Set X4
Zendikar 101 Card Complete Common Card X3
Scars of Mirrodin 60 Cards Complete Uncommon Set X1
Rise of the Eldrazi Complete 60 Card Uncommon Set X1
Zendikar 60 Cards Complete Uncommon Set X1
Shards of Alara Complete 60 Card Uncommon Set X1
Worldwake Complete 40 Card Uncommon Set X1
Order from Cool Stuff Inc:
1 - Magic the Gathering FOIL Grab Bag (New, CCG, Magic)
X9 - Magic the Gathering Grab Bag (New, CCG, Magic)
X3 - 1000 Magic the Gathering Cards Bulk (New, CCG, Magic) - This random assortment of common/uncommon cards is from a wide variety of sets
X2 - 400 Magic the Gathering Cards Bulk (New, CCG, Magic) - This random assortment of common/uncommon cards is from a wide variety of sets
That's what's been ordered so far. I seem to be missing uncommon and common cards from the Core 2011 set, but I think th toolkit came with quite a few Core 2010 cards. Do I need to fill a gap with Cor 2011 stuff or will the other sets cover it?
Will I be screwed with just a bunch of reprinted uncommon and common cards that all basically are alike and just all do the same thing with different card art or will I have all the abilities to play with? I've got a feeling without a lot of rares this collection won't be much fun, but I don't really know. Are the uncommon and common cards pretty much all the same across all the different sets?
What should my next steps or purchases be?
Thanks in advance,
Jake
Do you know if I will get all the game mechanics currently available or will I have to dig deeper into past sets or buy some rares?
Every block has its own mechanics that it emphasizes; "Landfall," for example, has only appeared in Zendikar block. So there will certainly be some mechanics in previous sets that you won't have in your card pool. However, I'd say play first and then introduce complexity into your pool slowly, either by purchasing the commons/uncommons of older sets or by specific cards from those sets.
If you're really set on getting older stuff, you could get some good deals on bulk commons/uncommons. They're often unwanted, and will give you a decent random sampling of stuff. Check on ebay for these. Additionally, as new sets are printed, you can get a whole set of the new commons and uncommons for a reasonable price. If for some reason you find some random rare that you really like, you're best off buying it as a single either online or from your LGS(if they have it). Buying packs to get cards is only a particularly good idea if you want a sampling of cards from a new set including some rares. Otherwise, you only want to buy packs for drafting(which is killer fun btw, I suggest you read up about it).
Magic really only gets super expensive when you try to be competitive and go to tournaments. If you're not hung up on playing the absolute best top of the line deck/cards, its actually quite affordable. I could go to channelfireball.com right now and order all the cards for a fun casual deck for under $20 plus shipping.
As a previous poster mentioned, you've got plenty enough to get started already, so shuffle up and play! Figure out what colors/strategies/playstyles you like best, and work from there.
If I were the buy the commons/uncommons of older sets? How far back should I go? Is there some that just wouldn't match well with the newer stuff.
I'm hoping that at least to get some of the older stuff in the 3800 bulk cards that will be coming in, however I don't know what usually gets thrown into the bulk stuff from cool stuff inc.
p.s. to find a store near you go to the wizardz locator here. who knows maybe ill see you here in CT? let me know how it works out
help me get my new computer!
why not buy a case of the next set that comes out, which I think is Magic 2012, although I could be mistaken. If you live near a store that has a lot of players, you can pop open the case, and you'll have a binder full of trade material to help you get the cards you want, in addition to opening 6 boxes worth of commons/uncommons, rares, and mythic rares.
If you really really REALLY want to get ahead, and as I mentioned, you have a nice sized store with enough players in it, become a trading master, that's the sure way to get what you want.
Want nothing, need nothing, if you do the case suggestion, and you DO NOT make an uber expensive deck out of it, then your binder is full of highly tradeable stuff, you can subsist on a less expensive deck all the while, your high dollar cards are what you use to trade with to collect cards of value.
If for example, I wanted to get rid of my 4 Mind Sculptors today, that's $400 right there, if I knew I didn't want to play with them anymore, what I'd do is trade them for a piece of Power, or other high dollar cards like Mana Drains, Moats, the original dual lands, a Time Walk, the Moxes, or whatnot.
But essentially, if you're just starting out, trading is the best way to acquire the cards you need while at the same time building up a collection for yourself.
If you want to eschew the trading game, then you can just do what you've already done, which is rather smart, pick up the common/uncommon playsets for cheap and roll with that, just grabbing what rares/mythic rares you need and want.
Not a thing wrong with that approach.
There's no one right approach to starting out, as far as building your collection goes, that's up to you, and whether your temperament and personality suit you for trading, or if you're just the guy who buys what he needs.
I can tell you that if you become a trade master, and you do well enough, you'll likely have all the cards you want and need, or able to trade up or down for what you want and probably end up spending less overall than you would just buying cards straight up if you get enough value out of your case, IN ADDITION to being able to trade well.
Those are the 2 key parts there.
I myself am not a trading master, I'm the guy who buys what he needs, so I know nothing
I mean, it's core so does that mean they are basically just reprints of each other or is it worth owning both sets? If they are just reprints no reason to just have cards that do the same thing with just different name/artworks.
I'm really just out to play with friends, and like I said I'm the only one that's going to supply the cards because all my friends are cheap-skates who would never fork the cash out for this kind of stuff. However, one of them did play last night with me for hours and I think he is liking it.
So my real goal is just amassing a huge stockpile of everything so that we could each just mess around and build decks to match each other.
I will probably buy a few rares to mix in, but I'm not trying to build uber decks that are unstoppable if we are just out to have fun.
What's a good play scheme to work with what I'm trying to do. Just let them rummage around to put a deck together, or some kind of draft of available cards? What are some other ways to can have fun and play with this collection?
In the future, I'd limit grab bags, bulk, and all random product (yes that includes booster boxes), to when you want a little lottery-esque fun.
Let's say that I order every card in Galpanic's Oona EDH deck. Maybe I'm on a budget, and don't know about EDH, so I cut the 25 most expensive cards (and 15 lands) and build a 60 card version. I will have... a crazy fun deck to play, that probably costs about 180 dollars.
Let's say I order a booster box of Scars of Mirrodin and Mirrodin Besieged. That will also cost 180 dollars. (For me, I'd run drafts out of it, but let's forget that I'm a limited player and assume that I'm just cracking these for a collection.) For the same amount of money that Galspanic's super fun deck would've cost, I'll have a bedroom full of completely random, not-especially-fun cards, like 2/2's with no abilities.
There isn't any wrong way to start a magic collection, but generally assume that grab bags and bulk are a store's way of getting rid of inventory to reclaim their shelf space. Sometimes awesome things can happen when you buy bulk, but generally you are buying someone's trash.
Were I in your shoes, I'd take a long look at what you have, build some decks out of it, and play until you are bored. Or at least play until "Action" comes out. By then, you should have your thumb a little more on the pulse of magic, and you'll be able to figure out what you want from there.
Don't rush to own everything. I've been playing this game for 15 years, and there are still times where I'm like "so wait... soulshift does what again?"
Has anyone ever bought a bulk lot from Cool Stuff Inc before? So I'm probably just going to get mostly crap cards that have no abilities?
If you want to build decks that are fun to play against each other, more than buying boxes of product I'd recommend buying the Duel Decks series. I've heard good things about all of them except Divine vs. Demonic, and have personally played Jace vs. Chandra, Elspeth vs. Tezzeret, and Divine vs. Demonic, and the only one I didn't like was DvD (the games felt too much like they boiled down to whether or not Divine resolved Akroma; if they did, Demonic got smashed, if they didn't Demonic was unbeatable). The decks are particularly well balanced against each other, and you can play them endlessly. The only problem is that the decks are not well-balanced across Duel Decks sets; for example, Tezzeret completely thrashes Jace, so I wouldn't recommend intermixing them. However, they're good to play with each other.
On the other hand, if you have limitless resources, you can go out and buy every Standard deck of all time (there are archives for this if you look hard enough). Pretty much every block mechanic ever has been featured in some tournament deck (notable exceptions being pretty much anything from Kamigawa or Coldsnap), and you can get a feel for each of them that way. However, this will be very costly and I do not recommend doing it. Magic has WAY too many mechanics to even attempt to "experience" all of them in any substantial quantity.
Play (verb): Cast/Play
RFG: Exile
CIP: Enters the Battlefield
Fetchland: Arid Mesa
Shockland: Watery Grave
M10 Dual: Glacial Fortress
Your deckbuilder's toolkit will have some land. Most online retailers sell land, random basics for about 5 cents each, and specific amounts of basics (like 20 of each) for a little more.
Also, it sounds like you're not all that concerned about collecting and card value, but you plan on using your entire collection a lot. Your cards will be seeing a lot of playtime, often in the hands of players who don't appreciate their value. If you want to do it this way, then stay away from buying near-mint singles, especially those that cost more than a couple bucks. You can get played versions at a significant discount, and they'll serve your purpose just as well. That said, I'd still get sleeves to protect your most valuable cards.
I'd personally recommend getting some old cards, but that's because I'm biased towards them. I think the best sets are older sets; not necessarily in terms of power, but in terms of fun, flavor, and variety. You'll find a lot of people who disagree with me, though, so don't take my word for it.
Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I'd get familiar with what you already have, and then start looking around on Gatherer or magiccards.info. They're both good, easily searchable databases of all printed magic cards, and you can look through them and see what interests you from older sets. Magiccards.info will even show you prices and stores that carry them as singles. Buy played singles of cards you think will be fun to play with, and build your community collection that way.
It sounds like you have a very good start, and you're getting some people into the game in a very fun and mature manner. Kudos!
Edit: to answer this question more directly:
>>Will we still have any fun with just a large set of uncommon and common cards or is it not really fun unless you can build decks with lots of rare cards? I mean I'll have a few rares, but I think since it's just me buying all the cards I'd pose a rule or something where we can only use a few rares in a deck.
You can have plenty of fun with commons and uncommons. In fact, Wizards is very cognizant of designing their sets for players who are going to be playing with few rare cards. The common/uncommon sets usually represent all of the mechanics in a set well in their more basic forms. Rares will tend to be more complicated cards, though the most powerful cards in a given set are generally rares as well.
"In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite." - Paul Dirac
For example, Garruk Wildspeaker can be found from a reasonable dealer for 5-6 dollars. Compare this to Koth of the Hammer. Koth is... about as good as garruk, worse in some ways, better in others. Yet he debuted at 50 dollars and is still 20 at a lot of places.
If you are a casual player, recognizing an awesome card like garruk and getting it for a quarter of the price of a hot new card is going to reward your budget greatly.
I'm all for getting some old cards into the mix. Any other sets besides what I've listed could you recommend that I check out? Only concern is what older sets will play well. I don't want to get some of the older stuff and have cards that I can't really utilize as they could require other cards that I don't have. Do the uncommon/common sets of older stuff play well without rares from those sets or would I really have to get some the sets rares to utilize them?
Is there one place that is better for buying complete sets? I'm probably not going to start putting all these cards into play right way, it's like you guy's are saying. I'm new and so are the people playing. So we'll start with easier core sets and gradually introduce new stuff as we get comfortable or bored.
I'd like to go ahead and get as much bought as I can now though just to have on hand. I appreciate the tips on buying rares, but myself since I'm only going to be playing friends can't see myself buying a single card for more than .20 cents. Although, I feel like I need to at least buy some rares to throw into the mix to have fun/variety, but they would have to be really cheap.
However, I'd keep an eye on popular cards and prices anyway, because as you start accumulating cards, you'll sometimes run across something in your collection that's worth some money; something you pulled out of a booster and didn't think about, or something you got in a bulk lot that wasn't supposed to be there, or that recently jumped in price. It's good to know if you have something valuable.
As far as buying in bulk goes, lots of the big online retailers have bulk lots, but buying those can be a bit risky. From what I've heard (never bought one myself), retailers use these to offload their worst commons from recent sets, that they know they'll never sell otherwise. Buying a "random" lot might not be very random at all (i.e. the entire lot is green cards from Zendikar or something). If I were you, I'd buy complete common/uncommon sets (like you've done) and bulk land, and maybe a few boosters for the fun of it. Other than that, find a local game store. They'll often have bins of cards for cheap, and you can look through it and find what interests you.
"In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in poetry, it's the exact opposite." - Paul Dirac
Is that a real way to play or was I just misreading a game type?
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Resources.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/resources/formats
Two Headed Giant is the 2 v 2 format you're thinking of. There are tons of different multiplayer formats, ranging from free for all to star (a favourite of mine). Info on all of these and tons more is in the link.
It seems like these are quite a bit more expensive than the newer stuff? Is that because it's just older and harder to find?
Is it worth the cost to invest in those to gain their mechanics or all those mechanics still being used in the newer Extended stuff?
If you're gonna play Standard or casual, then just focus on the sets that are legal in Standard for now, and you'll have a more concentrated card pool to draw from and make decks out of.
Go look around the Type 2 forums, they have Competitive decks, Developing Competitive, and Budget deck forums there, also on the wizards of the coast website, they have a Building on a Budget article library that can give you some ideas, and let you build decks for cheap to have fun with.
If you're gonna just play with friends, you don't need $500 decks to have fun.
If you're gonna play tourneys, you will be spending big bucks (in relative terms to playing casually).
You don;t jump into MTG and just "buy a bunch of cards". You'll end up paying a lot of $$ for 99% junk you'll never touch, ever.
You should start drafting a bit, you get a lot of new cards, and buidld lots of decks, and canget other people leftovers for free. Then buy singles to fill out the first deck you want to play in constructed. Draft and play constructed until you pull a money mythic of out a prize pack. Then trde that to someone for a whole bunhc of trade junk. He'll be getting a card he wants, you'll be getting a bunch of niche crads that can be fun to screw around with.
You could also spend an afternoon digging through the 10 for a dollar common bin at a local card shop.
Never buy boxes or cases, you end up with way to many copies of the same exact card, it is a complete waste of $$.
Certain keywords and themes are specific to the set. For example, the Evoke mechanic is specific to the Lorwyn half of the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block. The Unearth mechanic is specific to the Shards of Alara block.
That's not to say that mechanics never repeat: the Imprint mechanic was on Mirrodin cards as well as Scars of Mirrodin cards. But it's generally a reasonable idea to assume that mechanics won't repeat.
To continue building up your collection of cards, my best suggestion would be to continue buying one or two intro packs to each new set that is released. (Mirrodin Besieged was recently released. The next new set is in May 2011.) The intro packs are a carefully selected group of cards that are designed to work with each other, so they provide a reasonably organized strategy. Plus, they come with two of those rare cards that you seem to care about.
Rare cards do not necessarily mean better cards. If you're looking for playable 25 cent rares, you won't find any. If you're willing to sift through a binder/box of 1 dollar rares, you will probably come across a few playables.
I've heard around that most uncommons are better than rares a lot of the time. I'm guessing that holds true to the cheaper rare singles.
Probably not worth it to just buy a bunch of rares that are .25 then just to throw into the mix.