Hey. I am a newbie here. I've Googled a bit and Youtubed a bit and find that some people say the Planeschase Anthology set is not worth the price, however that doesn't change my decision of wanting it.
I used to play Magic about 5 years ago and I totally forgot how to play because it's been so long. However I have been binging on playing Magic Duels and regain some knowledge back. I now want to start up playing again and teach my friends how to play. I was wondering if I can use 1 of the 4 decks and my friend use 1 of the 4 decks as well, is it possible to play under standard rules with those decks?
I am going to want to know more about the style of playing standard. I've decided that playing in real life with friends and other people at the weekly MTG meet-up at a local hobby store will help.
Thanks for taking your times reading this, hope to hear your replies.
EDIT: I forgot to add; If there are other or ways or sets to better play MTG Standard rather than just the Planechase Anthology set? If so, please enlighten me. Thanks.
The format specific rules (Vintage, Legacy, Modern, Standard, Pauper, Commander, etc.) all deal with deck construction limitations only. The rules of the game are all the same. If you are not playing in a tournament, it doesn't matter what format you choose to play.
That being said, cards in the Planechase Anthology are not legal in Standard. Standard consists of a card pool using the last 3-4 blocks released by Wizards and Planechase is not a block. It is a supplemental set so it is outside the card pool for Standard (and Modern for that matter). There may be some cards legal in Standard that are printed in Planechase, but some are not.
The format specific rules (Vintage, Legacy, Modern, Standard, Pauper, Commander, etc.) all deal with deck construction limitations only. The rules of the game are all the same. If you are not playing in a tournament, it doesn't matter what format you choose to play.
That being said, cards in the Planechase Anthology are not legal in Standard. Standard consists of a card pool using the last 3-4 blocks released by Wizards and Planechase is not a block. It is a supplemental set so it is outside the card pool for Standard (and Modern for that matter). There may be some cards legal in Standard that are printed in Planechase, but some are not.
The four blocks are, Kaladesh, Eldrich Moon, Shadows Over Innistrad, Oath of the Gatewatch? Is there premade decks consisting of cards in these 4 blocks? If so, please suggest them. Thanks!
The 4 current blocks are Battle for Zendikar block (Battle for Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch), Shadows over Innistrad block (Shadows over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon) and Kaladesh block (Kaladesh). Check out this website to see what is currently in Standard:
There are some Intro Decks (From Zendikar and Innistrad) and Planeswalker decks (Kaladesh) that are standard legal. These are typically sold for $12 - $15 and are a good way to get into the format, but the power level is pretty low (especially when compared to the Planechase decks). None that I know consist of cards from all 3 blocks though as they are usually tailored to the newest block.
You are usually better off buying singles from online retailers or your Local Game Store and build a deck with those. SaffronOlive on MTGGoldish and YouTube has articles/videos for budget Magic lists that might get you some decent lists to play with that are a higher power level than the Intro/Planeswalker decks.
Thanks a bunch. I'm going to buy two intro packs and go on from there. Going to play with a friend and teach and learn as the games flow on.
WizardMN, do you by any chance go to Air Traffic's (@MOA of course) MTG meet-ups? How often do you guys get newbies like me in to play? I just don't want to go there and it'd be all awkward. However I figured that'd be the best way to learn, by playing with other newbies and watching the pros play. I bet Air Traffic in MOA is packed to hell since all the other locations sadly closed down.
Thanks a bunch. I'm going to buy two intro packs and go on from there. Going to play with a friend and teach and learn as the games flow on.
WizardMN, do you by any chance go to Air Traffic's (@MOA of course) MTG meet-ups? How often do you guys get newbies like me in to play? I just don't want to go there and it'd be all awkward. However I figured that'd be the best way to learn, by playing with other newbies and watching the pros play. I bet Air Traffic in MOA is packed to hell since all the other locations sadly closed down.
I don't want to "spam" the thread, so I just will PM you
I have another newbie question. Let's say I am doing this based off standard play; If I were to buy two deck builder sets that are in the current blocks list, are the two decks interchangeable with each other if I were to combine them to build my own deck? If they can be combined, are they still "technically" usable in play? Meaning do a lot of people do it or does it significantly drop your win-rate because there are so many different cards containing different things from different sets? Thanks!
EDIT: Also, Can I play standard rules without the rule that it has to be in the current block? Thanks.
I have another newbie question. Let's say I am doing this based off standard play; If I were to buy two deck builder sets that are in the current blocks list, are the two decks interchangeable with each other if I were to combine them to build my own deck? If they can be combined, are they still "technically" usable in play? Meaning do a lot of people do it or does it significantly drop your win-rate because there are so many different cards containing different things from different sets? Thanks!
The intro decks aren't supposed to be competitive decks. Rather they are just built to give players an idea of some of the themes in a block and provide a jumping off point for other deck ideas. If you combine 2 different decks you are not going to do very well as there is not going to be any internal synergy in the deck.
EDIT: Also, Can I play standard rules without the rule that it has to be in the current block? Thanks.
AS Wizard said in his first post there is only one set of rules for the game which ever format you use. All standard is, is a discription of a format that limits what sets you can use. The only thing that changes with the formats is the size of card pool you can use and therefore the sorts of keywords and abilities you are likely to see. Apart from that the basic rules structure of the game does not change.
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Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag and start slitting throats.
- H.L Mencken
I Became insane with long Intervals of horrible Sanity
All Religion, my friend is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination and poetry.
- Edgar Allan Poe
I have another newbie question. Let's say I am doing this based off standard play; If I were to buy two deck builder sets that are in the current blocks list, are the two decks interchangeable with each other if I were to combine them to build my own deck? If they can be combined, are they still "technically" usable in play? Meaning do a lot of people do it or does it significantly drop your win-rate because there are so many different cards containing different things from different sets? Thanks!
The key aspect, as I see it, is where you plan to play. You could be exclusively playing at home with friends and/or playing Standard at FNM or equivalent in a store.
Offhand, the options are Deck Builders Toolkits (the latest being Kaladesh), Planeswalker Dual Decks (latest: Nissa vs Ob Nixilis), Planeswalker intro decks, or picking up singles for an existing deck.
If you will be playing in a store or otherwise playing standard, I think you really have only two options: Planeswalker intro decks and picking up singles for an existing deck. The Deckbuilder's Toolkits and Planeswalker Dual Decks are both decent products that will teach you about playing. The Planeswalker Dual Decks have nonstandard cards that you won't be able to use in a store and the cards don't map to a solid standard deck. The value in a Deck Builder's Toolkit is in the boosters and it is a solid value. However, the cost of a competitive Standard deck is nearly exclusively in the rares and mythics. Acquiring the expensive cards for a coherent standard deck by opening packs would be ridiculously expensive and the four packs that are in a Deckbuilder's toolkit would be a drop in a bucket.
If you are going to be playing standard in a store or with existing players, the decks you can make with a Deck Builder's Toolkit (or two, three or four) will not be competitive just due to the limited card pool. Around here, FNM includes people playing the best decks from the latest pro tournaments. Others are talented brewers with essentially unlimited card pools who have built decks that are competitive with those best decks in Standard.
There are reasonably competitive decks that are not incredibly expensive such as the RG Energy/Pummeler deck or MTGGoldfish has a bunch here. With these decks you can be competitive in a store and learn a ton about playing. You will also learn about deckbuilding by seeing how these decks are constructed and how they work. You can also learn about deckbuilding by tweaking them yourself. You can pick up singles must affordably online, IMO. I have had good luck ordering from tcgplayer.com.
I expected the beginner Planeswalker decks to not be remotely competitive. But a few weeks ago I was in the finals at an FNM with my nearly state-of-the-art Naya Marvel deck and I got trounced by someone who took the Nissa intro Planeswalker deck, tweaked in three Verdurous Gearhulks, and won the event. I wouldn't expect those results, but I have a newfound respect for at least the G intro Planeswalker deck.
If you do go to a FNM comparable event at a store or play standard at a meetup and are reasonably friendly, there is a good chance you can get help with your gameplay and deck construction. There are people who draft that have piles of the commons and uncommons that fill the Deckbuilder's Toolkit that might be happy to give you some of the cards you need also. If you go to a shop, bear in mind that many stores sell the cards and, while they allow trading cards for cards, they frown on people paying cash for cards to each other.
If you can attend a prerelease at your local store (ideally with a friend), I highly recommend it. Prereleases for Aether Revolt are in two weeks. You will learn about the last two sets, gameplay and deck construction while acquiring some new cards, networking and hopefully having a fun experience. The full Aether Revolt set should be spoiled and you will be able to practice deckbuilding a prerelease pool here. Wizards will likely publish an Aether Revolt update, but here is the Kaladesh prerelease primer, which includes excellent guidelines for deck construction.
I used to play Magic about 5 years ago and I totally forgot how to play because it's been so long. However I have been binging on playing Magic Duels and regain some knowledge back. I now want to start up playing again and teach my friends how to play. I was wondering if I can use 1 of the 4 decks and my friend use 1 of the 4 decks as well, is it possible to play under standard rules with those decks?
I am going to want to know more about the style of playing standard. I've decided that playing in real life with friends and other people at the weekly MTG meet-up at a local hobby store will help.
Thanks for taking your times reading this, hope to hear your replies.
EDIT: I forgot to add; If there are other or ways or sets to better play MTG Standard rather than just the Planechase Anthology set? If so, please enlighten me. Thanks.
That being said, cards in the Planechase Anthology are not legal in Standard. Standard consists of a card pool using the last 3-4 blocks released by Wizards and Planechase is not a block. It is a supplemental set so it is outside the card pool for Standard (and Modern for that matter). There may be some cards legal in Standard that are printed in Planechase, but some are not.
The four blocks are, Kaladesh, Eldrich Moon, Shadows Over Innistrad, Oath of the Gatewatch? Is there premade decks consisting of cards in these 4 blocks? If so, please suggest them. Thanks!
http://whatsinstandard.com/
There are some Intro Decks (From Zendikar and Innistrad) and Planeswalker decks (Kaladesh) that are standard legal. These are typically sold for $12 - $15 and are a good way to get into the format, but the power level is pretty low (especially when compared to the Planechase decks). None that I know consist of cards from all 3 blocks though as they are usually tailored to the newest block.
You are usually better off buying singles from online retailers or your Local Game Store and build a deck with those. SaffronOlive on MTGGoldish and YouTube has articles/videos for budget Magic lists that might get you some decent lists to play with that are a higher power level than the Intro/Planeswalker decks.
And add Standard to the Format is another way to do it. It would pop up some other printings of legal cards.
WizardMN, do you by any chance go to Air Traffic's (@MOA of course) MTG meet-ups? How often do you guys get newbies like me in to play? I just don't want to go there and it'd be all awkward. However I figured that'd be the best way to learn, by playing with other newbies and watching the pros play. I bet Air Traffic in MOA is packed to hell since all the other locations sadly closed down.
I have another newbie question. Let's say I am doing this based off standard play; If I were to buy two deck builder sets that are in the current blocks list, are the two decks interchangeable with each other if I were to combine them to build my own deck? If they can be combined, are they still "technically" usable in play? Meaning do a lot of people do it or does it significantly drop your win-rate because there are so many different cards containing different things from different sets? Thanks!
EDIT: Also, Can I play standard rules without the rule that it has to be in the current block? Thanks.
The intro decks aren't supposed to be competitive decks. Rather they are just built to give players an idea of some of the themes in a block and provide a jumping off point for other deck ideas. If you combine 2 different decks you are not going to do very well as there is not going to be any internal synergy in the deck.
AS Wizard said in his first post there is only one set of rules for the game which ever format you use. All standard is, is a discription of a format that limits what sets you can use. The only thing that changes with the formats is the size of card pool you can use and therefore the sorts of keywords and abilities you are likely to see. Apart from that the basic rules structure of the game does not change.
- H.L Mencken
I Became insane with long Intervals of horrible Sanity
All Religion, my friend is simply evolved out of fraud, fear, greed, imagination and poetry.
- Edgar Allan Poe
The Crafters' Rules Guru
The key aspect, as I see it, is where you plan to play. You could be exclusively playing at home with friends and/or playing Standard at FNM or equivalent in a store.
Offhand, the options are Deck Builders Toolkits (the latest being Kaladesh), Planeswalker Dual Decks (latest: Nissa vs Ob Nixilis), Planeswalker intro decks, or picking up singles for an existing deck.
If you will be playing in a store or otherwise playing standard, I think you really have only two options: Planeswalker intro decks and picking up singles for an existing deck. The Deckbuilder's Toolkits and Planeswalker Dual Decks are both decent products that will teach you about playing. The Planeswalker Dual Decks have nonstandard cards that you won't be able to use in a store and the cards don't map to a solid standard deck. The value in a Deck Builder's Toolkit is in the boosters and it is a solid value. However, the cost of a competitive Standard deck is nearly exclusively in the rares and mythics. Acquiring the expensive cards for a coherent standard deck by opening packs would be ridiculously expensive and the four packs that are in a Deckbuilder's toolkit would be a drop in a bucket.
If you are going to be playing standard in a store or with existing players, the decks you can make with a Deck Builder's Toolkit (or two, three or four) will not be competitive just due to the limited card pool. Around here, FNM includes people playing the best decks from the latest pro tournaments. Others are talented brewers with essentially unlimited card pools who have built decks that are competitive with those best decks in Standard.
There are reasonably competitive decks that are not incredibly expensive such as the RG Energy/Pummeler deck or MTGGoldfish has a bunch here. With these decks you can be competitive in a store and learn a ton about playing. You will also learn about deckbuilding by seeing how these decks are constructed and how they work. You can also learn about deckbuilding by tweaking them yourself. You can pick up singles must affordably online, IMO. I have had good luck ordering from tcgplayer.com.
I expected the beginner Planeswalker decks to not be remotely competitive. But a few weeks ago I was in the finals at an FNM with my nearly state-of-the-art Naya Marvel deck and I got trounced by someone who took the Nissa intro Planeswalker deck, tweaked in three Verdurous Gearhulks, and won the event. I wouldn't expect those results, but I have a newfound respect for at least the G intro Planeswalker deck.
If you do go to a FNM comparable event at a store or play standard at a meetup and are reasonably friendly, there is a good chance you can get help with your gameplay and deck construction. There are people who draft that have piles of the commons and uncommons that fill the Deckbuilder's Toolkit that might be happy to give you some of the cards you need also. If you go to a shop, bear in mind that many stores sell the cards and, while they allow trading cards for cards, they frown on people paying cash for cards to each other.
If you can attend a prerelease at your local store (ideally with a friend), I highly recommend it. Prereleases for Aether Revolt are in two weeks. You will learn about the last two sets, gameplay and deck construction while acquiring some new cards, networking and hopefully having a fun experience. The full Aether Revolt set should be spoiled and you will be able to practice deckbuilding a prerelease pool here. Wizards will likely publish an Aether Revolt update, but here is the Kaladesh prerelease primer, which includes excellent guidelines for deck construction.
RNA Standard: Grixis Midrange, Jund Deathwhirler, Sultai Vannifar
GRN Standard: Red Midrange, Mono-Blue Tempo, Wr Aggro, Gruul Experimental Dinosaurs, Sultai Midrange, Jeskai Midrange
Modern: Bant Spirits
Forcing a single archetype in all formats: too many colors, bad mana.