First, a bit about me: I have been playing CCGs since 1995, starting with MTG (of course), and then many other games such as Netrunner the 1st, Legend of the Five Rings, Highlander, VS System, Star wars.... I also play a lot of board games as well as online CCGs (formerly HS, Marvel Snap, Runeterra), and LCGs such as Marvel Champions; but my time as a paper TCG player was mostly behind me as I grew older, got married, had 2 kids...
Still, with my daughters getting older and loving games, as well as the influx of new great TCGs recently (such as Lorcana that I started to play with my eldest daughter), I couldn't help but to look a bit at MTG again (something I tend to do from time to time).
And as usual, I have been amazed at the cards' art as well as the imagination of the devs when they design new cards and new mechanics to go hand in hand with the different universes. I couldn't care less about Fallout or Assassin's creed or Dr Who as an IP but I have to admit that I find some of the cards very unique and interesting. And I still love reading Rosewater's designer's notes.
Also, I discovered a new format on Magic Arena, Timeless, which seems quite fun for an old player such as myself. In addition, as I was looking at recent top standard or pioneer decks, they seemed "reasonably" priced (at least for Izzet phoenix and lotus field)...well, of course, it depends what you call reasonable but as I have been looking at other games such as FaB, YGO or even Lorcana and it is more or less in the same price range and sometimes even lower (notably vs YGO or FaB).
So here I am, wondering what to do. Above all because I see a lot of complaints on forums, on Youtube about balance, about how greedy Hasbro is and that there are too many products, about the fact that Standard is too stale...to the point that I wonder whether this is a good idea for me to go back to MTG.
Hence, here are a few questions:
1. what do you think about the state of the game from a competitive standpoint (both in paper or in Arena)? It seems there are much fewer playing paper Magic competitively right ? What about Commander ? This is something I have never tried but I like the idea of having a kind of "leader" card upon which you build your strat and it also seems the format is heavily oriented towards combo, something which I like.
2. For people who play semi-competitively (meaning, not pro but who like to attend tournaments), do you play both live and online ? If online, do you use MTGO or Arena to practice ?
3. Is it possible, both on Arena and on paper (but maybe first on Arena) to slowly build one's collection by playing Standard first and then expand to other areas such as Pioneer for paper and timeless for Arena ? Notably, I have seen that MH3 will arrive in June: will it lower the barrier to entry for Modern/pioneer ? I like the idea of playing both a rotating format and a non-rotating one (and maybe Commander as well, depending on the cost and whether there are "economies of scale" in terms of card pool).
4. And finally, why do you keep playing the game after all these years vs all the other games out there ? What continues to draw you to the game ? Is it the gameplay ? the Community ? For me personally, even though I don't play that much, I am still amazed at the diversity of mechanics (such as the cases cards in Manor) they come up with as well as the sheer variety in deck playstyles. I have always had trouble finding the control/combo decks that were dear to my heart while playing Magic in other CCGs...
5. Oh, and what are the best places (beyond here of course and r/spikes) to discuss the competitive aspect of the game ? It seems forums are much less popular than in my time...
Any other suggestions will be appreciated.
Thank you
Regarding question 4, Universes beyond is what brought my group back to magic. It started with the Tales of middle earth commander decks, but my friend was asking if we were interested in some old school formats. We were drawn back by the nostalgia of when we first were playing back in 1995-1996.
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pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
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First, a bit about me: I have been playing CCGs since 1995, starting with MTG (of course), and then many other games such as Netrunner the 1st, Legend of the Five Rings, Highlander, VS System, Star wars.... I also play a lot of board games as well as online CCGs (formerly HS, Marvel Snap, Runeterra), and LCGs such as Marvel Champions; but my time as a paper TCG player was mostly behind me as I grew older, got married, had 2 kids...
Still, with my daughters getting older and loving games, as well as the influx of new great TCGs recently (such as Lorcana that I started to play with my eldest daughter), I couldn't help but to look a bit at MTG again (something I tend to do from time to time).
And as usual, I have been amazed at the cards' art as well as the imagination of the devs when they design new cards and new mechanics to go hand in hand with the different universes. I couldn't care less about Fallout or Assassin's creed or Dr Who as an IP but I have to admit that I find some of the cards very unique and interesting. And I still love reading Rosewater's designer's notes.
Also, I discovered a new format on Magic Arena, Timeless, which seems quite fun for an old player such as myself. In addition, as I was looking at recent top standard or pioneer decks, they seemed "reasonably" priced (at least for Izzet phoenix and lotus field)...well, of course, it depends what you call reasonable but as I have been looking at other games such as FaB, YGO or even Lorcana and it is more or less in the same price range and sometimes even lower (notably vs YGO or FaB).
So here I am, wondering what to do. Above all because I see a lot of complaints on forums, on Youtube about balance, about how greedy Hasbro is and that there are too many products, about the fact that Standard is too stale...to the point that I wonder whether this is a good idea for me to go back to MTG.
Hence, here are a few questions:
1. what do you think about the state of the game from a competitive standpoint (both in paper or in Arena)? It seems there are much fewer playing paper Magic competitively right ? What about Commander ? This is something I have never tried but I like the idea of having a kind of "leader" card upon which you build your strat and it also seems the format is heavily oriented towards combo, something which I like.
2. For people who play semi-competitively (meaning, not pro but who like to attend tournaments), do you play both live and online ? If online, do you use MTGO or Arena to practice ?
3. Is it possible, both on Arena and on paper (but maybe first on Arena) to slowly build one's collection by playing Standard first and then expand to other areas such as Pioneer for paper and timeless for Arena ? Notably, I have seen that MH3 will arrive in June: will it lower the barrier to entry for Modern/pioneer ? I like the idea of playing both a rotating format and a non-rotating one (and maybe Commander as well, depending on the cost and whether there are "economies of scale" in terms of card pool).
4. And finally, why do you keep playing the game after all these years vs all the other games out there ? What continues to draw you to the game ? Is it the gameplay ? the Community ? For me personally, even though I don't play that much, I am still amazed at the diversity of mechanics (such as the cases cards in Manor) they come up with as well as the sheer variety in deck playstyles. I have always had trouble finding the control/combo decks that were dear to my heart while playing Magic in other CCGs...
5. Oh, and what are the best places (beyond here of course and r/spikes) to discuss the competitive aspect of the game ? It seems forums are much less popular than in my time...
Any other suggestions will be appreciated.
Thank you
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation