MTG Salvation

Just because reprints tank prices doesn't mean that they won't eventually go back up in price. Exploration (Urza's Saga) was 43$ before Conspiracy, went down to 11$, and is now up at 78$.

I am kind of confused by this argumentation, especially the reference to Garfield's Manifesto. He is taking a shot at games whose business model is to get huge amounts of money from a small percentage of players.

That is not the MTG business scheme. Everyone pays for products. They want less enfranchised players to become more enfranchised and spend more money. You are right that more recently they are targeting people who spend a lot on magic - because some people love getting alternate frames, full-art, etc. But you can get the same cards without spending large amounts of money. This is more akin to cosmetic microtransactions in video games and mobile games.

Of course, some people spend more than they should. FOMO and competitive play drive many to spend more than they should. There is also an inherent gambling issue - I have seen too many kids trading their rares for packs hoping to open a money card (probably so they can get more packs). But parents should not give kids freedom to spend money as they do not have the maturity to be smart investors. Magic is addicting for many reasons.

You should also remember that what you invest in a mobile game is not tangible and often gives you a short-term gain. It's like exclusively eating at the most expensive restaurant in your city - it's fun, but at the end of the day your ***** is still *****. You don't get anything of long-term value.

When you buy Magic products, you get something with resale value. I know that at any time I can sell my collection and recover most of what I have spent (or even make a profit).

I would like to think that whatever I spend on new product will, on average, be worth about 60% of what I spent should I resell/trade within a year. If I am willing to hold onto it long-term, the value eventually goes up and can be worth what I spent or even more.

Interesting.
How did you go about selecting multicolor cards?

I know I am thinking of something much lower budget, since I wanted to make 8 copies if possible. But the shell should still hold.

Do you think it is important for the lands to be balanced (like you have one of each shockland)?

Quote from migrena »

Quote from jamis »

If we see signs of long-term health issues resulting from high metagame share of companion decks, we're willing to take steps up to or including changing how the companion mechanic works.

I think it's interesting they would consider this as an option. It's not uncommon for something like this in a digital-only card game, but it seems unexpected for Magic to change a mechanic after set release.

edit: I guess they did sort of change a mechanic post-release with Lifelink, but still my interpretation is that the change would be bigger than something like changing a mechanic from a triggered ability to a static ability. But like more of a power-level errata.

Convoke was significantly changed when it was reprinted. Initially only generic mana could be paid with convoke and now colored mana can be paid as well with matching creature.

It's incredibly scummy behavior to not ban companions in other formats as well. It's obvious that the same problem is visible in all formats with varying degree depending on the availability of cards that fulfill companion restriction and decks that can leverage having free additional card in starting hand.
The argument that there was enough data to warrant banning Lurrus in vintage and not enough data to ban anything in modern/pioneer/standard is laughable considering comparison between the number of matches that is being played in those formats.

That is not correct. Convoke always allowed you to tap creatures for color.

Originally, convoke was an additional cost that reduced the cost in mana. With the return of convoke in Magic 2015, the rules for convoke changed to their current form as an alternative way of paying a mana cost. This affects how it interacts with, for example, Eldrazi Spawn tokens' sacrifice-based mana ability (mana abilities must be activated before paying costs), and effects such as Trinisphere that care about total costs.

Duplicate sealed is a format where each player has an identical sealed pool. I thought I would post this in here since I think the design would overlap a lot with Cube principles.

Here are some basic structural rules:
1. 90 card pool, though I have seen people do 120 cards for more depth
2. Multiple builds need to be supported, across all 5 colors
3. The skill-testing aspect of Duplicate sealed isn't to make the best deck with the pool, but to figure out what kinds of decks others can make with the pool and to build a deck that does well against those strategies. For example, if the theme of the pool is ramp into big creatures, prioritize small efficient creatures and removal spells.

I have had a lot of trouble finding any recommendations for making such a 'cube'. I have seen articles about how specific duplicate sealed builds were put together, and the though process, but I have not found anything for someone building from scratch.

My thoughts, which I suppose are debatable:
4) The different archetypes need to overlap significantly
5) There should not be any auto-include cards

My questions:
A) Does anyone have experience building something like this?
B) How many archetypes would be needed?
C) How would you balance the colors? I don't want to just make 5 monocolor strategies and have people mix and match. I want a lot of multicolor too. But I can't exactly put enough for 10 guilds in a 90 card pool.

Thanks!

Quote from thatmarkguy »

Quote from Dunharrow »

Quote from Cranial_extraction »

I hope stuff like Arcane Signet being printed means the broken rocks (Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt) eat a ban soon.

Wizards is not responsible for the commander ban list, so no.

That said, I wouldn't be surprised if this became an every-commander-precon-inclusion taking over the slot that had, to date, been used on Sol Ring.


While they don't actually administrate either Commander banlist, it probably irks them that every commander deck they print is duelcommander-illegal out of the box and if they can conveniently change that (by no longer jamming Sol Ring in every deck, but replacing it with a card of comparable demand and utility), they might.

I do not think they care about Duel Commander. Duel Commander is a small portion of commander players.
Also, new players are excited to get their Sol Rings. People being excited trumps people who just don't need them and can sell them. It is not like people are showing up at Duel Commander events with precons.

That being said, I hope signet is printed in all commander decks the same way they have Command Tower.

Quote from Cranial_extraction »

I hope stuff like Arcane Signet being printed means the broken rocks (Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Mana Crypt) eat a ban soon.

Wizards is not responsible for the commander ban list, so no.

That mana rock though. I need 18 of them. So.... I guess I am buying this product?

Quote from Drain Life »

There are so many great replies in here that I am hesitant to even add my own.

I am a believer in using proxies if you own the card and it is an expensive staple. For example, I own one of each fetch land, especially thanks to Khans and Modern Masters 2 or what ever set it was. I keep them in a small binder with other powerful staples I proxy in multiple decks and can show them if needed. Having fetch lands changes the game. More so since check lands were printed. It took me a while I get my hands on them, but in my three and four color decks, the play line which involves a fetch land into a shock land and following that up with check lands is smooth. I cannot justify the cost of a full set of fetch lands for each deck, nor do I feel I should punish myself and only use them in one deck, nor do I want to swap them in and out between decks either, which I could and would just waste time. Especially for a kitchen table format without prizes.

Lands are the perfect example of where MtG is "pay to win". Sure, you can use cheap commons and slow play, or use a ton of basics and suffer color screw, or you can buy expensive singles from the secondary card market and have a fast and smooth experience.

So much of what I wanted to write was some variation of all the above, be it our holistic detective, Pokken the cat and others.

Thanks for this post
I personally dislike proxies and refuse to play with them. But that's just me. This is a good solution that I have seen by many people.

I think the WB Innistrad angel will be in one of the precons this year.

So basically, you need 5 colours.


I would use Jodah. He is 5 colours, flies, and has some utility.

Quote from osieorb18 »

Not only is it more convenient to stay, but I found the font and UI of Nexus to be miserable on PC, and only tolerable on mobile. Some of the people who made this site a good location are following the staff to Nexus, unfortunately. But given the attitude of the new owners so far, I am holding out hope that MTGS will have more continued support and possibly better features than Nexus. It could be that Nexus looks terrible because it's still in development, and the aesthetic nightmare will change. But currently I'm staying with the devils that I know.

It has been a solid year that I only get alerts on 1/10 things that are supposed to generate alerts. I made a complaint and have heard nothing since.
I am looking forward to the new site and to having the Mods also be the people responsible for making the site all we want it to be.

If you have issues with the font and the UI maybe you can specifically mention the issues and they can work on them. I am also not huge on the font and would like to be able to change it to something else.

Boldwyr Heavyweights

I wish there was a way for me to put all these creatures into play under my opponents' control.

Registered

will have to get into the habit of checking it

Will try to post any new threads there for sure.

Run a lot of artifact ramp- 15-20 pieces. You want to get Oona out early and keep up protection
Play a lot of two-card infinite mana combos. Probably all of them.
Aggressively tutor for Urborg to make big black mana better.
Ideally, you want to include Palinchron since it can go infinite with a lot of lands that tap for multiple mana.

This is not a 75% deck. This is going to be cEDH or 90%. There is nothing about this deck that is fair, the only thing that differentiates the power level will be the number of tutors and the number of free counterspells you run.

Quote from ox4 »

i know its an old thread, but ive been wondering similar things lately as ive been foiling out my legacy burn deck....
my general rule of thumb, both for my foil decks and non foils, is that the original printing is always the most desirable.
im sure many of you realize that some of the burn cards were printed before there was such a thing as foils....
so i pick up promos and reprints as close to the original as i can. the FNM magic fireblasts, the fire and lighting price of progress, i cant afford the judge lighting bolts, but they exist and are on my mega millions wish list.
the only card in my deck that doesnt exist in foil with its original art is chain lighting, and i probably couldnt afford it even if it did.

so anyway, Light up the stage is giving my OCD fits.
which printing is the original printing? is it the pack foil? or the FNM promo? they both have the original art, and they both have the ravnica allegiance set symbol. i believe the promo was a pre release and was available about a week before you could buy the packs, but it feels wrong to say that the card in the booster packs for the set is not the original printing.

as to my own personal artistic eye, the promo is cool just in that it looks different from all the other cards in my deck, but i like that the pack version has the rules explanation for spectacle.
its not a very expensive card, i might wind up buying both versions, but im curious as to what other people think.
thanks for your thoughts

1. Necro an old Commander thread
2. Talk about Legacy


I don't know what to tell you. Play the foils you like best. If you can't afford to foil out the hold deck, then don't waste your money foiling out part of the deck.

Honestly, foiling out expensive cards is something I rarely do. I prefer to foil out jank commons that are EDH all-stars.