MTG Salvation

I'm sure this kind of trend has happened before. For those who know, how long does a cycle like this last? At some point, people will have to back off buying packs due to it being easier/cheaper to just buy the singles they need to make their decks. When I did play, I pretty much bought 6 packs every Friday. Now, I wouldn't touch packs because the odds of getting cards that even match the price of the pack are very slim.

I used to be a fairly hard core player from the Alara block through Battle for Zendikar. Due to various reasons, I've pretty much dropped out. The other day, I was scanning Star City Games's price list and was shocked at how low card prices are for recent sets. When I played, one of the most fun things about Magic was cracking packs, always hoping you'll get one of the gems in the set or at least make your money back on the pack. Cracking a pack and pulling a $20 card was rare, but awesome when it happened.

Now, it doesn't even seem like there are any gems in the sets. AR has been out for a week and the new Ajani planeswalker is worth less than $10. When I was playing before, it seemed automatic that new planeswalkers would be around $20 on release, with the rare exception of cards like Tybalt. Are the cards just really low powered and have a good balance? I haven't played a constructed format in over a year so I'm not sure what the meta is like now, so I was shocked to see how little value there is in cards now a days.

What does this card do?

Last standard I had a GB hydra deck I did very well with. It wasn't uncommon to get a start like this:

T1: Land
T2: Land > Gyre Sage
T3: land > Renegade Krasis - evolves Gyre Sage
T4: land > Corpsejack Menace - evolves Gyre Sage and Renegade Krasis and because Krasis evolved, Gyre Sage gets more counters, now with a total of 5. Tap Gyre Sage for 5G and cast Kalonian Hydra, which, after all triggers, enters as a 10/10.
T5: Attack with everything. After triggers, Hydra is 30/30 with trample, Gyre Sage is 15/15 and Renegade Krasis is 7/6

Thragtusk seemed more powerful due to cards like Huntmaster and Restoration Angel. In a vacuum, Siege Rhino is more powerful. Siege Rhino is warping the format in a way that Thragtusk never did. When Thrags was in standard, you could play against many decks that used it and the decks would still feel very different and somewhat unique. In today's standard, Abzan is pretty much Abzan. I haven't played standard since November because it just got too boring. Whether you go 6-0, 0-6 or somewhere in between, when you play against 6 Abzan decks in a row that are pretty much card for card identical, standard is boring.

Off the top of my head, the weirdest two that I recall was opening a box of New Phyrexia that had 4 mythics, 2 Karns and 2 Swords. I also opened two boxes of Avacyn that had the exact same 5 mythics.

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I'm on the verge of quitting. I pretty much only play standard and over the last few years, it's just been going downhill. Thought it would be better after rotation, but, at least in my meta it's not. It's just boring. For almost the past year, everyone basically has played the same deck. Right now, it's all Abzan midrange. Prior to rotation it was mono black. Prior to that it was RG monsters. When you play a 4 or 5 round FNM tournament and at least 3 of the matches will be against the exact same deck, card for card, it just gets boring, even if you're using a deck that can beat them.

talk to your local game store owner or our playgroup about holding a workshop on other areas of MTG that might peek someones interest into making new decks. Talk about lore, clandecks, other formats, talk about the endless possibilities. My wife will only play with 1 deck, while I have like 8 or so. And im always making new decks. Shes all like why not just keep 1 deck if it always wins or if you like it? Because Ive learned that MTG is about variety. Its about making your mind work up new ideas. Not just going with the flow. Remember back when yugioh had either the yugi deck or the kaiba deck? that got old real fast.

idk, you just gotta try and peek peoples interests into making a new deck. never just give up. you dont love the game and community enough if you just give up. I love MTG, and you can have the whole world tell me to give up, and I never will quit fighting to share new perspectives with people.

The problem is that it's a very competitive environment and the people there basically look at FNMs as testing/practicing for big tournaments (PTQs, GPs, etc). I don't mind the fact that it's highly competitive and I like playing against good players, I just get bored when they all start testing/practicing the same deck. Looks like it's going to be Azorius Heroic now based on the email thread I'm on for them.

I'm on the verge of quitting. I pretty much only play standard and over the last few years, it's just been going downhill. Thought it would be better after rotation, but, at least in my meta it's not. It's just boring. For almost the past year, everyone basically has played the same deck. Right now, it's all Abzan midrange. Prior to rotation it was mono black. Prior to that it was RG monsters. When you play a 4 or 5 round FNM tournament and at least 3 of the matches will be against the exact same deck, card for card, it just gets boring, even if you're using a deck that can beat them.

I have Red Dragon Inn 1 and 2. I need to get 4 as that one has some new interesting elements. Not sure if I'll get 3 or not. I also want to get the Pookie character deck.

I've never even seen Magic products at Wallgreens.

This card has pretty much driven me out of standard for the time being. In my meta, if you play a 5 round FNM, you're likely to face Abzan midrange at least 3 times. Your best bet to win is to play the mirror and hope you win the draw war. That's just not fun. The problem with this is that it was printed in the first set of the block so this is going to be around for a while.

In my local mega, the vast majority of players are all running Abzan midrange/control decks. If you play a 5 round tournament, it's likely you'll face that deck at least 3 times. It just seems to be a very good deck with solid threats, the best removal, and tons of life gain. Other than running a mirror deck against them, what are some good options?

I would definitely recommend Cities & Knights. It makes the game a lot more fun. I won't even play vanilla Settlers anymore. I'm not a fan of Seafarers. It's ok if you use a house rule to make it so you can build roads and convert straight to ships without needing a settlement, but it's way too easy to get trapped. I haven't played the other two expansions.

I remember a friend of mine opened a box of Zendikar that had 1 rare, 3 commons and the rest were uncommons.

At least in Modern, I'd like to see a rotating ban list. Unban Ponder/Preordain but ban Exarch, Kiki Jiki and whatever else would be broken with those cards unbanned. Unban big Jace and Bloodbraid, but ban Goyf and what else would keep Jund in check. I'm not specifically saying these cards, but just spitballing the idea.