Hi. I'm a Modern/Legacy/Casual (including Archenemy, Horde, Planechase, Throne Magic, Theme) player. I love multiple formats. I would get into Standard if it wasn't about who has the bigger wallet every few months, having a limited card pool does that with prices.
But lately, my games shop has more than half the players playing EDH all day. I've tried building a few of my own EDH decks, got bored after a while playing them. Tried other friends' decks, yet they do not play how I like them. A few of my mates are really trying to get me to play EDH and stick to a deck, but I find it boring considering I cannot build EDH easily and if I build it wrong, my first 10 turns are doing nothing.... I'm considering just waiting to buy the new pre-made commander decks near the end of the year.
The same is happening with Modern. I was more of a Legacy player, but with the new Modern Masters release, my group of friends play a lot more modern legal cards, so I feel guilty about running legacy cards with them. This is forcing me to play Modern legal decks to keep the power level among everyone fair. Can't play my Dragonstorm deck or Cataclysm Deck without them getting annoyed.
So the short story is I'm getting constantly nagged into getting into EDH when I prefer 60-card formats, as well as playing more Modern than Legacy these days. Anybody else getting pushed into particular formats?
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Modern: U Merfolk | GR Tron | WUR Jeskai Control | WBG Abzan Company
I gave up on Standard when the sets became smaller, because without good rogue decks (which strangely coincided with the decrease in set size), the format literally becomes about who has a big enough wallet. It's not even funny anymore.
Other than that, I play whatever non-rotating formats my wallet can afford. Which is currently Modern and EDH. So I rarely feel pressured into certain formats, because the formats I play are literally dictated by what I can afford. Of course, it doesn't help that I have no dislike of any non-rotating formats (and that I happen to not like Standard at the moment while I also can't afford it).
I have began to feel pressured into other games, though, because Magic seems to be all about Standard and Limited. But as I said, I don't even consider those two formats options with the state of my finances.
I play Modern and draft quite regularly. Locally EDH got big for a while but once the full blood spikes cameout of the wood work and had decks that could win early and often, the EDH crowd splintered off into their own pods. Its rare to have pods fire at any of the local shops. I will play Standard if thats the only thing going on, but I dont consider that being pushed into a format.
Standard. Even If I bring a tier 2 modern deck to casual play, I still get complaints.
Everybody is dropping Geist of St. Trafts, Thragtusks, Boros Reckoners, Hunmaster's, etc, but if you play a decent creature that isn't standard legal, it's considered broken.
Just standard. I actually like standard as a format, but the cost is absurd. I could keep up, but it's not worth it to me to spend hundreds of dollars every 3 months just to see it flushed down the drain when things rotate (and often well before that). Plus, I like to maintain multiple decks, which makes standard even more ridiculous. I honestly don't understand why it's so popular.
Once you acquire the fetch/shock base, a HUGE number of modern decks can be built for the price of a playset of voice of resurgence (another card that will eventually drop to 1/4 it's current level and I therefore refuse to purchase at this time). I can build almost anything not named Jund for far less than a Tier 1 standard deck, and be confident my cards will still have value (or likely go up) and be playable in a few years. But Modern is hard to find here... one store started it up, but it's only once a week and only 3 rounds, not 4 + top 8 like FNM.
Honestly, even legacy is cheaper in the long run. The decks are so powerful and established it's hard to push one completely out of contention... there's a rotation in the meta, but that just means sometimes you're good and sometimes you're less good. If you have 3-4 decks, you'll always have something that's solid. And you're effectively guaranteed your deck will increase in value over time. Again, though, legacy's hard to find in a lot of places, and typically just 3-round tourneys.
contrast that with standard, where every store has it for FNM every week. If you want to play a lot, it's the only 60-card format.
I like non-rotating formats. If I want to play at any of the three stores, I must buy into Standard. I work crazy hours, so I only play once a month. I can't justify $80 adjustments every 3 months.
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Commander (EDH) Decks BRGProssh, Skyraider of KherBRG BWRAlesha, Who Smiles at DeathBWR BGVarolz, the Scar-StripedBG
contrast that with standard, where every store has it for FNM every week. If you want to play a lot, it's the only 60-card format.
I'd be happy to even have that. Like I said, around here, it's draft or don't play. I have a 30-45 minute drive (depending on traffic) out of state to find a Standard game
My LGS does drafts every other week, rotating between drafts and a constructed format (Standard, Modern, Legacy, or Peasant format). If I want to play Standard more than once every eight weeks I have to go to San Francisco to do that, which is a minimum 25 minute drive for me, plus I have to deal with the hassle of parking in San Francisco.
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Focused on limited for now. Occasionally play some standard/modern as well.
I've often felt pushed into sealed and block by wizards.
With block having prereleases and a whole PTQ season and sealed having a lot of GPs I feel I've got to invest a lot of energy into formats I don't really enjoy.
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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
1) Lack of players of other formats pushed me towards standard. This was particularly bad in the late 90 and early 2000s, before SCG vintage tournaments made it more popular. No one played vintage. No one. I had to travel overseas to play vintage, and even then it was difficult. Vintage (and legacy) picked up in popularity, though, so this isn't a big a push as it was back then.
2) Standard pushes me away because of the costs involved. I haven't made a standard deck since the first mirrodin, due to the costs involved.
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"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
Largest format in my area is standard. Format I enjoy most is legacy and I am lukewarm at best on modern. I've just stopped playing everything besides legacy for the sake of my sanity.
I started playing tournaments in an area that was nearly exclusively Standard-only, but when I moved to a more draft-focused environment I just sort of naturally fell out of Standard. Then I ended up with a bunch of cards that I wasn't doing anything with otherwise, so I got into EDH. Then I more or less read the wind to see Modern was going to get pushed as a sanctioned format for FNMs, so I started building a Modern deck which was ready around the time there started being regular Modern tournaments to play in. So I dunno, I wouldn't say I'm pushed in a direction, I just play what's available.
I pretty much have to play Standard only for FNM's. It's about a ten minute drive for me to the closest shop. All the guys there have EDH decks but won't give up FNM Standard for it. Another shop will draft and sometimes I'll go there but the 45 minute drive isn't always feasible because of work.
One shop does Legacy but it's only once a month or every other month depending on schedules of PTQ, releases, etc.
My friends don't care what we play at the table. I've built a bunch of casual decks and EDH so we can find decks with the same power level. So that's at least good for me.
I do know how you feel. I live in a small town where there is 1 other player who likes to make Standard decks. And, we have BRUTAL battles, but we know the other person's deck inside and out. Everyone else, they are PURE casual. As in Pauper Casual Vintage no limits casual. Many of them have the idea that all decks should be built purely on out of the pack luck builds (in effect a HUGE sealed deck that includes every other pack you have ever cracked). Except when THEY want to buy cards.
They say "Standard is boring." They say "Standard is too expensive." Yet they don't mind dropping $200 on lands they want for a deck. They complain about "Internet Combos" (meaning netdecks). They play the same decks year after year, with only the occasional swap out for a card they think is better.
They don't draft well. They don't sealed well. They also get furious if you suggest that a limited card pool is a good thing. "If I have it, I am darned sure going to play it." "Yeah, if I had 4 Black Lotuses, you would for sure see them in a deck." They have decks with 4 Sol Rings. If you suggest that is not a good thing, they say that they don't play competitive, so it doesn't matter. If you don't like it, you can take your cards on down the road. But they will rage quit if an Eldrazi hits the board.
Ends up pretty much being that I play casual with less than half of the people around here, and do my best to get to FNM once a month or so, so that I can play Standard or Draft against people who will actually test my deckbuilding and skills.
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Currently playing:
Standard: WBRG Aggro-Reanimator Humans GRBW
Modern: UR Twinning RU G Venus Fly Trap G U Artifacts Aggro U
But lately, my games shop has more than half the players playing EDH all day. I've tried building a few of my own EDH decks, got bored after a while playing them. Tried other friends' decks, yet they do not play how I like them. A few of my mates are really trying to get me to play EDH and stick to a deck, but I find it boring considering I cannot build EDH easily and if I build it wrong, my first 10 turns are doing nothing.... I'm considering just waiting to buy the new pre-made commander decks near the end of the year.
The same is happening with Modern. I was more of a Legacy player, but with the new Modern Masters release, my group of friends play a lot more modern legal cards, so I feel guilty about running legacy cards with them. This is forcing me to play Modern legal decks to keep the power level among everyone fair. Can't play my Dragonstorm deck or Cataclysm Deck without them getting annoyed.
So the short story is I'm getting constantly nagged into getting into EDH when I prefer 60-card formats, as well as playing more Modern than Legacy these days. Anybody else getting pushed into particular formats?
U Merfolk | GR Tron | WUR Jeskai Control | WBG Abzan Company
EDH:
G Ezuri, Renegade Leader, Fighting for Rivendell
WU Brago, King Eternal, Long Live the King
WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon, Worship the Dragon
All you can do is go elsewhere. Sure, my 5 minute drive to FNM became a 45 minute drive to FNM, but at least I can play what I want to play.
Other than that, I play whatever non-rotating formats my wallet can afford. Which is currently Modern and EDH. So I rarely feel pressured into certain formats, because the formats I play are literally dictated by what I can afford. Of course, it doesn't help that I have no dislike of any non-rotating formats (and that I happen to not like Standard at the moment while I also can't afford it).
I have began to feel pressured into other games, though, because Magic seems to be all about Standard and Limited. But as I said, I don't even consider those two formats options with the state of my finances.
GX Tron XG
UR Phoenix RU
GG Freyalise High Tide GG
UR Parun Counterspells RU
BB Yawgmoth Token Storm BB
WB Pestilence BW
Everybody is dropping Geist of St. Trafts, Thragtusks, Boros Reckoners, Hunmaster's, etc, but if you play a decent creature that isn't standard legal, it's considered broken.
Once you acquire the fetch/shock base, a HUGE number of modern decks can be built for the price of a playset of voice of resurgence (another card that will eventually drop to 1/4 it's current level and I therefore refuse to purchase at this time). I can build almost anything not named Jund for far less than a Tier 1 standard deck, and be confident my cards will still have value (or likely go up) and be playable in a few years. But Modern is hard to find here... one store started it up, but it's only once a week and only 3 rounds, not 4 + top 8 like FNM.
Honestly, even legacy is cheaper in the long run. The decks are so powerful and established it's hard to push one completely out of contention... there's a rotation in the meta, but that just means sometimes you're good and sometimes you're less good. If you have 3-4 decks, you'll always have something that's solid. And you're effectively guaranteed your deck will increase in value over time. Again, though, legacy's hard to find in a lot of places, and typically just 3-round tourneys.
contrast that with standard, where every store has it for FNM every week. If you want to play a lot, it's the only 60-card format.
BRGProssh, Skyraider of KherBRG
BWRAlesha, Who Smiles at DeathBWR
BGVarolz, the Scar-StripedBG
I'd be happy to even have that. Like I said, around here, it's draft or don't play. I have a 30-45 minute drive (depending on traffic) out of state to find a Standard game
With block having prereleases and a whole PTQ season and sealed having a lot of GPs I feel I've got to invest a lot of energy into formats I don't really enjoy.
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
1) Lack of players of other formats pushed me towards standard. This was particularly bad in the late 90 and early 2000s, before SCG vintage tournaments made it more popular. No one played vintage. No one. I had to travel overseas to play vintage, and even then it was difficult. Vintage (and legacy) picked up in popularity, though, so this isn't a big a push as it was back then.
2) Standard pushes me away because of the costs involved. I haven't made a standard deck since the first mirrodin, due to the costs involved.
"Sometimes, the situation is outracing a threat, sometimes it's ignoring it, and sometimes it involves sideboarding in 4x Hope//Pray." --Doug Linn
Big Thanks to Xeno for sig art <3.
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.
One shop does Legacy but it's only once a month or every other month depending on schedules of PTQ, releases, etc.
My friends don't care what we play at the table. I've built a bunch of casual decks and EDH so we can find decks with the same power level. So that's at least good for me.
BUG Reanimator
BWG Nic-Fit
BGR Punishing Nic-Fit
They say "Standard is boring." They say "Standard is too expensive." Yet they don't mind dropping $200 on lands they want for a deck. They complain about "Internet Combos" (meaning netdecks). They play the same decks year after year, with only the occasional swap out for a card they think is better.
They don't draft well. They don't sealed well. They also get furious if you suggest that a limited card pool is a good thing. "If I have it, I am darned sure going to play it." "Yeah, if I had 4 Black Lotuses, you would for sure see them in a deck." They have decks with 4 Sol Rings. If you suggest that is not a good thing, they say that they don't play competitive, so it doesn't matter. If you don't like it, you can take your cards on down the road. But they will rage quit if an Eldrazi hits the board.
Ends up pretty much being that I play casual with less than half of the people around here, and do my best to get to FNM once a month or so, so that I can play Standard or Draft against people who will actually test my deckbuilding and skills.
Standard:
WBRG Aggro-Reanimator Humans GRBW
Modern:
UR Twinning RU
G Venus Fly Trap G
U Artifacts Aggro U
Legacy:
B Reanimator B
WU Stoneblade UW
EDH
WBGGhave, Guru of SporesGBW
URGRiku of the Two ReflectionsGRU
WUBRGScion of the Ur-DragonGRBUW
Casual
Far too many to list