I think when people say they're having a debate about netdecking vs homebrew, they're *actually* having a conversation about using the cards you have vs buying your deck.
The fact of the matter is that if you're a casual player that has 500 cards, you're almost certainly not going to be able to build a deck that's going to be able to compete with something that someone constructed by buying $50 of playsets on eBay.
I honestly couldn't care less where the deck that I'm playing against came from. I personally am not willing to go out and buy individual cards just to try to put together an "ideal" deck.
Does that result in weaker decks? Absolutely. Does that mean that I'd probably have a hard time at tournaments? Sure does. But the fact of the matter is that I largely play with friends, and most of them are either building from whatever they've got or using dual decks anyway.
If I were bringing Tier1 tourney decks to the table in that environment:
a) It would be no fun because there would be very few close games
b) Nobody would want to ever play me
So what did I get myself by sinking $100 on a tournament deck? Lousy games and no friends. Wow... great investment.
People get frustrated because there's no equivalent in the constructed tournament scene to "build a deck from what you've got." Of course that's what limited is for, but limited isn't really the same either. Them's the breaks though. If you want to compete for real, you have to spend cash. If you don't want to drop the cash, then constructed tournament play isn't for you.
The fact of the matter is that if you're a casual player that has 500 cards, you're almost certainly not going to be able to build a deck that's going to be able to compete with something that someone constructed by buying $50 of playsets on eBay.
I honestly couldn't care less where the deck that I'm playing against came from. I personally am not willing to go out and buy individual cards just to try to put together an "ideal" deck.
Does that result in weaker decks? Absolutely. Does that mean that I'd probably have a hard time at tournaments? Sure does. But the fact of the matter is that I largely play with friends, and most of them are either building from whatever they've got or using dual decks anyway.
If I were bringing Tier1 tourney decks to the table in that environment:
a) It would be no fun because there would be very few close games
b) Nobody would want to ever play me
So what did I get myself by sinking $100 on a tournament deck? Lousy games and no friends. Wow... great investment.
People get frustrated because there's no equivalent in the constructed tournament scene to "build a deck from what you've got." Of course that's what limited is for, but limited isn't really the same either. Them's the breaks though. If you want to compete for real, you have to spend cash. If you don't want to drop the cash, then constructed tournament play isn't for you.