-Being able to build a deck from the ground up in less than a minute.
-Being able to play any deck you've ever made, without carrying around all those decks.
-Being able to cube draft EDH decks.
-Not having to buy duplicates for all those expensive auto-includes, like duals and fetches.
"That's impossible," you might say, "Nothing could do all of that, least of all for 5 easy payments of $19.99." And you'd probably be right. But I have imagined, and now I can't stop imagining - the ultimate way to play EDH, with infinite variability and zero boredom, playing a deck only as long as you want to, and then assembling an entirely new deck instead.
How? Yeah, seriously, I have no idea. I might need your help on that one. But here are a two of the ideas I've had, one fairly reasonable, and one that's completely deranged.
The cards are separated into their packages within your deck box(es), and each card in the package has a sticker on the front of the card that identifies it as being from that package, with an additional number on it that won't matter until later. Packages could be very specific, as above, or could be a little more vague, like "black auto-includes", which might include tutors, like demonic tutor as well as removal, like decree of pain, or those might be in separate packages related to their function.
Needless to say, all cards have to be in the same sleeves.
In order to build a deck, pick your general and then pick 11 (or maybe 9) packages that work well with your general and fit within their color(s). Pull them out, shuffle up, and play. To disassemble, separate the cards by their stickers and put them back into their respective locations in the box.
If you have a specific, tuned deck you want to play, though, it's a bit more complex...you'll need a list of the cards in the list, by package with the additional number on them as well. Then pull out each package and remove the cards you need for the deck. Of course, you could try to configure the packages to match some of the decks you have, though, so you can use as many complete packages as possible.
To cube draft EDH decks, it's simple enough, except that you'd need to put everything back into the correct package when you're done. Better get your friends to help.
Plusses:
-ideal for making new decks given a relatively simple starting point
-not too complicated
-fairly easy to update
-even if you tune on the fly you can put stuff back where it goes when you're done
Minuses:
-slow to assemble existing decks
-can't have complete customization without more hassle
-can't include rare synergies (i.e. baubles with glissa, rebels with lin sivvi) without special, one-general-only packages, which is even less practical with, for example, wort, boggart auntie.
The Comb (the deranged one)
Ok, so bear with me.
Step 1: get a list of EDH decks.
Step 2: combine the lists and remove the duplicates, so you have one long list
Step 3: get 1000 or so toploaders.
Step 4: drill a hole in the bottom of all of the toploaders.
Step 5: glue all your toploaders together into one giant perfectly-straight stack, you crazy bastard.
Step 6: put all your cards into the slots in your crazy toploader stack in some order you've written down (might want to number them for easier replacement)
Step 7: for each decklist, make a sort of....weird, comb-lookin' thing. like, a long piece of something with a bunch of little pokey-things sticking off of it. And make sure all the pokey-things are lined up to exactly where the cards in the deck are.
Step 8: to retrieve a deck, stick the comb into the holes in the toploaders and push out the cards. Or, probably not, probably the cards will get stuck in there and the pokey-things will slide over or under them. But, I mean, hopefully they come out.
Step 9: play your deck.
Step 10: put them all back into the corresponding slots, and you can get another comb for your other deck and play it instead.
Plusses:
-in magic christmas land, it's an easy way to configure a slew of existing decklists
Minuses:
-in reality, the stack of toploaders would be huge, the "combs" would never line up, they'd never push all the cards out, it'd probably take up more room than having dozens of regular decks with you, the combs would be really fragile and awkward to carry, and you'd probably damage the cards.
So yeah, that's the best I could think of: one organizational method, and one mechanical method. That took me a disturbing amount of time to come up with, too. So I think I'd better hand the reigns over to you - yes you! - before I hurt myself.
Any other mind-blowing ideas on how to make this happen?
Play on MTGO. Solves all of these problems, minus the "edh cube draft" one, which is kind of narrow anyway. If you play EDH online, though, all the rest of your paper cards are free to be used for any kind of cube you want.
Play on MTGO. Solves all of these problems, minus the "edh cube draft" one, which is kind of narrow anyway. If you play EDH online, though, all the rest of your paper cards are free to be used for any kind of cube you want.
Well, except that it also kills most of the point of my playing magic (and EDH in particular) in the first place, which is playing it with other people, face to face, where I can smell their fear. If I wanted to sit in front of my tv in my bathrobe, I'd just play some other video game.
Also, all my expensive stuff is in paper. I don't relish the prospect of buying all of them again.
I've considered this as well, and the solution I ended up with was an EDH box, organized by archetype, then color, then name, so Stax-Black-Briads, Cabal Minion, for example, then decklists. It still is about a 5-10 minute thing to swap decks, but not bad.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Decks:
Modern: Jund
Legacy: Pox
EDH: Chainer Reanimation and The Dragon Show, with Zirilan of the Claw
Main trouble with MTGO isn't the card prices but rather that you can't play combo decks as well as you can in real life, because the clunky priority system makes all your opponents have to click OK every time you tap and untap Basalt Monolith + Power Artifact (for example) for infinite mana, unlike in real life where you can just announce "I use this combo to generate 20 or whatever).
Main trouble with MTGO isn't the card prices but rather that you can't play combo decks as well as you can in real life, because the clunky priority system makes all your opponents have to click OK every time you tap and untap Basalt Monolith + Power Artifact (for example) for infinite mana, unlike in real life where you can just announce "I use this combo to generate 20 or whatever).
Food for thought.
I knew mtgo was cheaper, I didn't realize THAT much cheaper, but nevertheless, especially with EDH I'd rather play someone face-to-face. If I was only building highly-tuned combo decks and trying to perfect my play or whatever, MTGO would probably be the place to do it, but I'm usually playing just for fun, and I've never had much fun with online competition. Plus I like the physical cards themselves.
I guess mostly the price issue isn't so much about the cost of acquiring the new cards, so much as that I wouldn't be able to show off all the cool cards I've accumulated over the years.
-Being able to build a deck from the ground up in less than a minute.
-Being able to play any deck you've ever made, without carrying around all those decks.
-Being able to cube draft EDH decks.
-Not having to buy duplicates for all those expensive auto-includes, like duals and fetches.
"That's impossible," you might say, "Nothing could do all of that, least of all for 5 easy payments of $19.99." And you'd probably be right. But I have imagined, and now I can't stop imagining - the ultimate way to play EDH, with infinite variability and zero boredom, playing a deck only as long as you want to, and then assembling an entirely new deck instead.
How? Yeah, seriously, I have no idea. I might need your help on that one. But here are a two of the ideas I've had, one fairly reasonable, and one that's completely deranged.
Packages (the semi-reasonable one)
savannah
windswept heath
gavony township
grove of the guardian
horizon canopy
razorverge thicket
selesnya sanctuary
sunpetal grove
temple garden
The cards are separated into their packages within your deck box(es), and each card in the package has a sticker on the front of the card that identifies it as being from that package, with an additional number on it that won't matter until later. Packages could be very specific, as above, or could be a little more vague, like "black auto-includes", which might include tutors, like demonic tutor as well as removal, like decree of pain, or those might be in separate packages related to their function.
Needless to say, all cards have to be in the same sleeves.
In order to build a deck, pick your general and then pick 11 (or maybe 9) packages that work well with your general and fit within their color(s). Pull them out, shuffle up, and play. To disassemble, separate the cards by their stickers and put them back into their respective locations in the box.
If you have a specific, tuned deck you want to play, though, it's a bit more complex...you'll need a list of the cards in the list, by package with the additional number on them as well. Then pull out each package and remove the cards you need for the deck. Of course, you could try to configure the packages to match some of the decks you have, though, so you can use as many complete packages as possible.
To cube draft EDH decks, it's simple enough, except that you'd need to put everything back into the correct package when you're done. Better get your friends to help.
Plusses:
-ideal for making new decks given a relatively simple starting point
-not too complicated
-fairly easy to update
-even if you tune on the fly you can put stuff back where it goes when you're done
Minuses:
-slow to assemble existing decks
-can't have complete customization without more hassle
-can't include rare synergies (i.e. baubles with glissa, rebels with lin sivvi) without special, one-general-only packages, which is even less practical with, for example, wort, boggart auntie.
The Comb (the deranged one)
Step 1: get a list of EDH decks.
Step 2: combine the lists and remove the duplicates, so you have one long list
Step 3: get 1000 or so toploaders.
Step 4: drill a hole in the bottom of all of the toploaders.
Step 5: glue all your toploaders together into one giant perfectly-straight stack, you crazy bastard.
Step 6: put all your cards into the slots in your crazy toploader stack in some order you've written down (might want to number them for easier replacement)
Step 7: for each decklist, make a sort of....weird, comb-lookin' thing. like, a long piece of something with a bunch of little pokey-things sticking off of it. And make sure all the pokey-things are lined up to exactly where the cards in the deck are.
Step 8: to retrieve a deck, stick the comb into the holes in the toploaders and push out the cards. Or, probably not, probably the cards will get stuck in there and the pokey-things will slide over or under them. But, I mean, hopefully they come out.
Step 9: play your deck.
Step 10: put them all back into the corresponding slots, and you can get another comb for your other deck and play it instead.
Plusses:
-in magic christmas land, it's an easy way to configure a slew of existing decklists
Minuses:
-in reality, the stack of toploaders would be huge, the "combs" would never line up, they'd never push all the cards out, it'd probably take up more room than having dozens of regular decks with you, the combs would be really fragile and awkward to carry, and you'd probably damage the cards.
So yeah, that's the best I could think of: one organizational method, and one mechanical method. That took me a disturbing amount of time to come up with, too. So I think I'd better hand the reigns over to you - yes you! - before I hurt myself.
Any other mind-blowing ideas on how to make this happen?
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Well, except that it also kills most of the point of my playing magic (and EDH in particular) in the first place, which is playing it with other people, face to face, where I can smell their fear. If I wanted to sit in front of my tv in my bathrobe, I'd just play some other video game.
Also, all my expensive stuff is in paper. I don't relish the prospect of buying all of them again.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Modern: Jund
Legacy: Pox
EDH: Chainer Reanimation and The Dragon Show, with Zirilan of the Claw
I respect the other stuff you said, but just as an FYI, cards on MTGO cost nothing like what they do in real life.
Legends, p3k, a/b/r duals, antiquities, arabian nights, etc. etc. cards that cost hundreds of dollars IRL cost a few cents on MTGO.
A few examples to put my "money where my mouth is" no pun intended:
Moat is currently $4.13
Imperial Seal is currently $5.39
Bazaar of Baghdad is currently $11.11
Candelabra of Tawnos is currently $10.13
Tundra is currently $23.54
etc etc
Main trouble with MTGO isn't the card prices but rather that you can't play combo decks as well as you can in real life, because the clunky priority system makes all your opponents have to click OK every time you tap and untap Basalt Monolith + Power Artifact (for example) for infinite mana, unlike in real life where you can just announce "I use this combo to generate 20 or whatever).
Food for thought.
Legacy: GWR Enchantress <--That's my banner! (lol tinypic removed it)
Casual: WB [[Primer]]Clerics Tribal; BU Affinity
EDH: ...U [[Primer]]Arcum Dagsson; BG Legal Stax; B Illegal Stax
Proxy: .WX TriniStax
Other stuff: [[Official]]Shuffling, Truth + Maths
I knew mtgo was cheaper, I didn't realize THAT much cheaper, but nevertheless, especially with EDH I'd rather play someone face-to-face. If I was only building highly-tuned combo decks and trying to perfect my play or whatever, MTGO would probably be the place to do it, but I'm usually playing just for fun, and I've never had much fun with online competition. Plus I like the physical cards themselves.
I guess mostly the price issue isn't so much about the cost of acquiring the new cards, so much as that I wouldn't be able to show off all the cool cards I've accumulated over the years.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6