So far I've been enjoying the game well enough. I've been playing on Xbox One since it was released. I have a lot of the same problems that other people seem to have. Quest system is buggy at the best of times, Deck Wizard makes stupid choices, etc. My biggest complaint is that the game has a lot of latency issues. When I'm playing online, I will often have the game lock up at the worst of times and that eats my entire response timer. For instance, I'll have a burn spell and my opponent will go to put an aura on something so I'll press X and nothing will happen. I'll press X again but by this point my window is missed.
My second biggest complaint is that some of the cards in this game seem way more powerful than they should be just by virtue of the limited cardpool. The only decks I see that seem to be performing really well are B/G elves and R/W or G/W auras. I don't lose often, but when I do it's because my opponent plays some guy and puts 5 auras on it and I can't do anything about it. Nimbus Wings and Lys Alana Huntmaster are the biggest offenders and they're both from the starting kit. Perilous Myr is also very strong.
I made top 4 of a PPTQ yesterday with much the same list I posted a few pages back with a few minor changes. I cut the two Dark Confidant for another Ooze and a Tasigur. A few observations:
-Still didn't play Liliana, still don't miss it.
-Ooze is...pretty medium at best. Whenever I drew more than one in a single game I was unhappy. Adding the third was probably a mistake.
-Having some way to interact with lands game one is pretty useful, but it does come at a cost.
I went 4-1-1 in the swiss. 2-0 against Chapin's grixis control list. 1-1 against tron. 0-2 against Chapin's grixis control list. 2-1 against Elvish company. 2-0 against U/R twin. 2-1 against collected zoo. In the top 8 I beat infect 2-0 then lost against affinity 1-2.
The all-star of most of my games was Lingering Souls. People seem to be moving away from it, but it's still very powerful.
As I said, the mana base is definitely not optimal. Though Verdant is basically the same as Marsh Flats for what I'm playing. I find myself fetching for a basic Plains often and I don't have any double black spells with no Lilianna. I played against two budget decks total, everything else was established modern. Some were piloted by GP regulars that I know from my shops. I just don't think she's as good right now as some seem to think. I can honestly say there were no points during games where I was like, "Aww man, if I was only running Liliana she would be so good here!". If things change, I'll work her in, but I just don't see it right now.
I've played in 3 modern tournaments so far and I've only lost one match, going 2-0-1, 3-1, and 5-0. I've played against basically different decks each time. Not different archetypes necessarily, but differences like Grixis Twin and U/R Twin. I've very happy with how the deck plays and its general match-up against the field at large.
Some of my card choices might look weird so I'll talk a little about them. I'm not playing Liliana of the Veil in part because I don't really like her in the current meta. She seems a bit slow for some match-up and others they just couldn't care less about her (Tron). Siege Rhino is already fairly slow, so I feel like I need to really be controlling the board on my way to four mana and Lili isn't really helping. This is all my opinion, of course. Next I'm playing more discard that a lot of people. I'm doing this to compensate for the lack of discard from Lili. I can always side out a Thoughtseize or two when needed. The format seems really fast right now. The land base is not exactly optimal, but it's been fine thus far. I'm thinking about cutting the Woodland Cemetery for a fourth Heath. I also have five basics so I can beat Blood Moon. I have to play more shocks as a result. I'm not really loving the Bobs. I find myself siding them out in so many different match-ups. I'm considering cutting them for a third Ooze and a singleton Kitchen Finks but I'm not sure. I absolutely love Slaughter Pact. It has been good in so many match-ups, from Burn, to Twin, to Infect. They never see it coming or play around it. It lets me develop my board and keep up pressure while also not just dying. I wouldn't play more than one, but it's so nice to have.
The sideboard is the part that I'm least sure about. Sideboard 1 I played for my first two tournaments and Sideboard 2 was for the 5-0 run. I feel like I want to have a lot of hate for the matches that I'm bad in, but that also leaves me open to lose match-ups that I'm good in but need a bit of extra hate. Any advice on this would be so helpful. I really don't like my chances against burn so I think the FtC are staying. I'm also bad against Tron and Bloom, so the four Fulminator seem reasonable. I didn't like Relic, Duress, Thrun. I might want so more artifact hate. Leyline I boarded specifically because I knew several people were on burn/combo that needed to target me to win. They won't stick around.
Match-ups:
Tournament 1 -
2-0 (Mono-green) - He was playing basically a standard deck. I don't know.
2-1 (Boros) - This was some weird burn/aggro hybrid deck that played Reckoner and some other odd ducks. I didn't really even need to sideboard since he was dependent on creatures for most of the damage.
1-1-1 (Grixis Delver) - In game two I had to mulligan to five but I got lucky and I was able to hold him off for a long time. He built up a massive board with multiple Young Pyromancers and Delvers but I had him at 3 and I was on 13. He's dead to spirit tokens so he attacks me all out. I fall to 1 and attack back for lethal. That game dragged on so long so we didn't have time for a game three.
Tournament 2 -
2-0 (Wilted Leaf Abzan) - This was a pretty easy win for me since his deck was budgetish (no Goyf, no Bob).
0-2 (Tron) - There wasn't much I could do here. I didn't see any Fulminators until he had already resolved Karn. He also just drew incredibly well both games.
2-0 (Naya Burn) - We both flooded out game one so it was an awkward game until I started drawing Rhinos. Game two he got me to 3, so I was dead to any bolt but he missed for two turns so I got him with Goyf. A note here is that I only survived because I had Slaughter Pact for a Swiftspear after I had tapped out for something.
2-1 (Grixis Twin) - These games were pretty good. I kept a triple Thoughtsieze hand game one and he just didn't draw enough action after having his hand stripped. Game two he resolved turn three Blood Moon. Game three was a real grind. I Thoughtseized a Keranos, God of Storms so it was my Batterskull racing his Thundermaw Hellkite I managed to squeak that one out.
Tournament 3 -
2-0 (Jund Burn) - He flooded game one. Game two I had turn zero Leyline but drew so badly that I almost lost. The only creature I saw for the first 10 turns was one Rhino and it died to dismember. He Skullcracked himself to keep me from using FtC. He finally drew a Destructive Revelry and dealt me 14 in one turn. I peeled Ooze and ate all of his Bump in the Nights so I wouldn't just die. I ended up at 2 and he had a Searing Blaze but no land. He threw a huge hissy fit.
2-1 (Affinity) - Died hard game one to turn one Steel Overseer which put a counter on two Inkmoth Nexus. Game two I had a solid combination of discard and removal to really "Jund him out". Game three he made a critical misplay when he went to Galvanic Blast my 4/5 Goyf and block with a Memnite. There was no instant in the yard...
2-1 (Infect) - I won game one with discard and removal. He had me dead blazingly fast in game two. Game three I had Slaughter Pact at just the right instant to not die.
2-0 (Goblins) - This deck is no joke. I won both games fairly easily, but I can definitely see how this deck has a lot of power. Unfortunately for him, all of his guys are X/1s and casting multiple Souls both games makes it really hard for him to win.
2-0 (U/R Twin) - Had Slaughter Pact to not die to the combo game one. Beat him to death with Stirring Wildwood game two. U/R has a really hard time dealing with a 3/4 land.
I'm feeling pretty good about my chances at upcoming PPTQs except that I need to work out the sidebaord. The deck has so much raw power though that it seems like it will go well.
Okay, I'm pretty sure that I already know the answer to this, but there was a big argument at my LGS' modern tournament tonight and I just wanted to make sure from an actual judge. This is to help me make sure that I understand the rules correctly.
My opponent has a Young Pyromancer in play and we're the last match going so there are a bunch of people standing around watching. He makes a comment about having missed a few triggers earlier in the game when he cast spells. This led to a huge discussion of whether or not I (as his opponent) would get a warning for "Failure to maintain the game state". For the record, this tournament was not even sanctioned and we didn't have a judge on hand. One of the spectators for our match started talking about what would happen at a GP if this were to come up. He said that I would get a warning because I didn't remind my opponent that his mandatory trigger was missed. I told him that the rules regarding triggers had been changed a while ago and I was not responsible for reminding my opponent about his triggers.
1) If my opponent were to call a judge at a GP after he took other game actions, would he get the tokens?
I think that he would not because of the trigger change and this not being a "detrimental" trigger. Though it may depend on where we were in the turn. I pointed out that something with a negative effect can't be missed but something like making a token could.
2) Would I get a warning for not pointing out the trigger to my opponent?
The article regarding the trigger changes makes it pretty clear that I am not required to remind my opponent of triggers that do not involve the word may. In effect this would make most triggers function as though they were may. The exception being ones with a negative component, such as life loss, etc.
3) At a GP or up, spectators are not allowed to, in any way, interact with a match beyond calling a judge, correct?
The spectator at our match was going on about how he had stopped people before at a GP for this kind of stuff and that everyone had gotten a warning. I told him that you were not allowed to interact with the players during a game except to call a judge. If a spectator sees a rules violation or a missed trigger, they can go talk to a judge but they can't point it out to the players. I believe doing so could get you in a lot of trouble.
Guys I'm in LOVE with this card. Seriously I freakin love this art. I can understand why people dislike it but personally I love it. I REALLY want one. I hope more people hate it that way it's easier to get lol
Since this is a thread dedicated to the advantages and pitfalls of PucaTrade, I just wanted to warn everyone about a recent issue I have had in the hopes that it may help protect people in the future.
I posted several pages ago about a situation that I got into involving a really expensive card being sent to me in less than NM condition and how I attempted to first work out this situation with the sender and then I got an admin involved because they refused to work with me. The admin asked me what I would like to have happen and asked me to post all of my evidence in the case (which included high-res pictures and scans of the card to show the damage that I was claiming), the admin then didn't reply for several days and I got an email today from a different admin saying that the case was closed and that the sender had been credited with points IN FULL.
I would like to point out that I had evidence of the damage and the sender only repeatedly said, "That's not my card! That's not my card!". The only thing they could come up with was that someone that had wanted to trade for it weeks ago says it didn't look like that. Which is in no way evidence of the condition of the card. That didn't seem to matter to the PucaTrade admin team, though.
They offered no reasoning for this decision. All that was said was that they decided to resolve the case. Apparently it's acceptable to just send someone a card that's messed up and get full value for it. I'm very irate about this because I've been cheated out of a fairly significant sum of money not only by the sender of the card, but also by the admins of the site. I sent them a strongly worded email about my displeasure at their decision and I told them that I will no longer be using this service if they will allow their members to be scammed out of, again, a significant amount of money. I'm not complaining about less than 10 dollars here, I'm talking about anywhere from 50-250 dollars that they've essentially stolen from me given how the case was resolved. I am now stuck with a card that has damage to it and I've had all of my points taken away.
I've sent in the neighborhood of 500 dollars worth of cards on the site and this is how I've been repaid? For this reason, I must now warn everyone: I DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT YOU USE PUCATRADE.
Edit: I was contacted by another admin and the issue has been resolved in a way that I find satisfactory.
I've not been having any problems until last week; but like many of you have previously stated, one bad egg can really sour the experience...
So, I amassed hundreds of dollars in points, added a ludicrously expensive card to my wants list and wouldn't you know it, before my morning class was done it was already committed and marked as shipped. I considered that a little suspect, but figured that the guy was just marking it shipped and planned to head to the post office that day. I was patiently awaiting a message about tracking but to no avail. I had to message him twice over 5 days to try and get the tracking number but when he finally did reply, he said that he didn't get tracking because "the post office was too busy." I felt like vomiting.
Luckily it arrived safe and sound, the next day and everything seemed alright! Though when I took the card out to inspect it before marking it as completed, it had several cuts/scratches on the card face and a bunch of white gunk. They were deep enough to worry me but overall it was passable so I shot him a message saying that I would keep it but I wanted the adjusted rate because it wasn't NM. I offered to do 80% like PucaTrade says you should. I was even willing to go to 90% since I needed it and didn't really want to mess around. He messages me back basically saying that I was a liar and his card was perfect. I sent him pictures and scans and he didn't bother to reply, he just opened a case against me posting that I had falsified my claim and that the card pictured was, and I quote, "clearly not the card that [he] sent". About as clear as muddy water. I'm still waiting to have this resolved by an admin, but I'm quite unhappy. I don't feel like there can be a solution that will make me happy. If it's decided that I send the card back, it's already gone up in price so that sucks. Besides that I'm "lying" about the card anyway so he's not like to accept what he gets back anyway. He refuses to work with me at all. Ugh. I doubt the mods will do any of this magical credit everyone with points stuff.
Assuming they do require me to return the card, do you think it's unreasonable that I have the following conditions? I want him to acknowledge that the pictured card is his card (to protect myself from another case if he gets it back and doesn't like the condition). I want him to pay return postage. And I want to be off the hook if anything happens once I ship it (since he sent it PWE, I feel like I should be able to do the same).
Even though I feel confident that I will win the case, I have evidence and he does not, I still am turned off of the idea of building up my point reserves again after this is over.
That really sucks - I guess no matter where you go there are bound to be idiots.
Here is what I would recommend doing.
If you are going to post a Want for a high value card, add a notation to your name to read your profile page. On your profile page, specify that for that specific card, you require scans of the card before shipping. This should help avoid getting scammed by a sender.
Yeah, I thought about that, though I still don't know if I'm even going to bother with the service anymore once this gets worked out. It's a shame really, because it's just one bad experience.
To update a little, the person has finally started to budge on their stance and offered to give me back 1500 points if I'll just drop the case. That's barely anything, but I'm considering it just because I'm sick of this.
I've not been having any problems until last week; but like many of you have previously stated, one bad egg can really sour the experience...
So, I amassed hundreds of dollars in points, added a ludicrously expensive card to my wants list and wouldn't you know it, before my morning class was done it was already committed and marked as shipped. I considered that a little suspect, but figured that the guy was just marking it shipped and planned to head to the post office that day. I was patiently awaiting a message about tracking but to no avail. I had to message him twice over 5 days to try and get the tracking number but when he finally did reply, he said that he didn't get tracking because "the post office was too busy." I felt like vomiting.
Luckily it arrived safe and sound, the next day and everything seemed alright! Though when I took the card out to inspect it before marking it as completed, it had several cuts/scratches on the card face and a bunch of white gunk. They were deep enough to worry me but overall it was passable so I shot him a message saying that I would keep it but I wanted the adjusted rate because it wasn't NM. I offered to do 80% like PucaTrade says you should. I was even willing to go to 90% since I needed it and didn't really want to mess around. He messages me back basically saying that I was a liar and his card was perfect. I sent him pictures and scans and he didn't bother to reply, he just opened a case against me posting that I had falsified my claim and that the card pictured was, and I quote, "clearly not the card that [he] sent". About as clear as muddy water. I'm still waiting to have this resolved by an admin, but I'm quite unhappy. I don't feel like there can be a solution that will make me happy. If it's decided that I send the card back, it's already gone up in price so that sucks. Besides that I'm "lying" about the card anyway so he's not like to accept what he gets back anyway. He refuses to work with me at all. Ugh. I doubt the mods will do any of this magical credit everyone with points stuff.
Assuming they do require me to return the card, do you think it's unreasonable that I have the following conditions? I want him to acknowledge that the pictured card is his card (to protect myself from another case if he gets it back and doesn't like the condition). I want him to pay return postage. And I want to be off the hook if anything happens once I ship it (since he sent it PWE, I feel like I should be able to do the same).
Even though I feel confident that I will win the case, I have evidence and he does not, I still am turned off of the idea of building up my point reserves again after this is over.
So, your argument is that because YOU want something, it should cost exactly what you want it to cost?
No, that's your argument. Seriously, I have absolutely no idea how you read this into anything Dio said, but it seems pretty obvious in your "I'd be pretty hurt if tomorrow Tarmogoyf cost $5, as would my LGS and a lot of tournament players there." It's entirely a product of your mind, you're just assuming that Dio sees things the same way you do (and believes that $5 is not an absurd hyperbole, despite explicitly saying the opposite). As Dio said, making Modern available to more players is a good thing for all Modern players because it is easier to find opponents/schedule tournaments that way. I don't see how you can paint this view as selfish except by simply ignoring what Dio is actually saying and strawmaning him. Strange that you accuse him of doing this yet take so little care to guard against the same mistake.
Putting a key word in italics doesn't make it true. I don't want Tarmogoyf, as I already own them so there's really nothing you can use to rationalize calling me the selfish one except for maybe falling back on the tried and true strategy of politicians to make the other guy look bad. I got annoyed at Dio because he was the latest in a long line of people that whine because they don't have a card and they want it for $1. Obviously $5 Goyfs was intentionally hyperbolic; that was implied. I doubt it will even dip below $150. Dio decided to not read what I had to say and instead attack me as an individual with a bunch of stuff that had little to do with what I was actually talking about. It seems that you are quite eager to do the same. As to the quote, yes, I did say that. That's because people often feel something akin to grief and anger when they spend a lot of money on something and then it becomes worthless overnight. As a game that banks on its players deriving happiness from it, this seems counterproductive. Controlled reprints are what we need, not a series of products designed to completely decimate all value from the game. You and Dio seem to have intense tunnel vision because all you seem to want are Goyfs and other staples at the price you want them to cost. That is your argument, I've read it several times now. When are we all going to get that availability and cost are not the same thing?
I really have no idea what you're even talking about in the second paragraph. I don't really need to sell anything to stores, nor would I.
Then your loss in the case of catastrophic devaluation of Tarmogoyfs would be zero. If you are never going to sell them then it doesn't matter what their value is. You spent the opportunity cost of selling your Tarmogoyfs the moment you decided not to sell them. You don't get to double count it if later they fall in value. Moreover, you spent that cost (rightly, in my opinion) on the ability to play with Tarmogoyf for however long you have owned them. It would be nice if the cost of that enjoyment was zero or even negative, but in reality it seldom is; even in the cases where a card does appreciate in value you still accept the risk that it will depreciate and this is a cost too. For all your examples of collectable markets which you believe experience universally positive returns, my understanding is that rigorous analysis demonstrates that the EV and standard deviations in these markets are not up to the standards of pure investments. If you want to make money, buy a diversified portfolio of stocks and other financial instruments. If you want to have fun, you accept at the very least the opportunity cost of not spending your money on a better investment. This is as it is in Magic as well.
I'm not scrambling to off-load my Goyfs because I don't need to do so. In the time since the the spoiler was announced, the Future Sight version (which are the ones I own.) have gained value. Even if the stars align and Goyf drops hard after the MM15 release, the original printing will likely be worth more. I disagree with the premise that something can have monetary value or play value, but not both. I'm going to play with my Goyfs, and if Wizards has done things correctly, I'll sell them at some point in the future. I would appreciate it if you would stop putting words in my mouth. It's generally a bad way to have a discussion with someone. Though, I do find it amusing that everyone here thinks they're an investment banker. If you're so economically savvy, where are your modern staples wrought in gold?
As far as the Heartstone and LoL discussion goes, the free to play model is simple. You can buy anything, but if you grind long enough everything is available to you for free. Sometimes cosmetic items like skins, or hats in TF2 aren't, but they're like a foil card - you don't need them to be competitive.
Which is why I think the comparison between Magic and those games is a bad one. You can't really play magic and not spend money and stay competitive (unless you are a high level pro player, which none of us are.) I mean, in the same vein, you don't HAVE to play junk. You could play that mono-U ninja bear deck. I think a more apt comparison would be wanting to break into the competitive CoD or Halo scene. I need to make an initial investment; I have to get my gaming computer/Xbox One, I have to buy the game, I need a headset, batteries, and other stuff. Magic is not so different. If I want to build Junk, I'll need Goyf and Lilli and lands. They probably end up costing about the same by the time all is said and done. But I'll not need to spend money for a while and I can keep playing.
I'm not surprised that people who have sunk thousands into the hobby don't want a major price drop. But those of us who haven't are obviously going to feel differently. When I see a 200$ Tarmogoyf, all I see is a ridiculously priced piece of cardboard. Even from a gameplay standpoint its not particularly interesting. Its simply breaks the cost effectiveness standards in Magic thereby giving an unfair advantage. 800$ for a playset? Three iPhones worth of cardboard? Seriously?
I feel like this is a pretty selfish argument. Full disclosure, I do own Tarmogoyfs. I didn't pay anywhere near the 800 dollars for mine, but that's neither here nor there. As an individual, I'm sure you'd love to see $5 Goyfs, and you're not the only one. As I mentioned in my last post, that's bad for a lot of people. I'd be pretty hurt if tomorrow Tarmogoyf cost $5, as would my LGS and a lot of tournament players there. That's just people that I know. Why would anyone want to invest in modern as a format, if in a month or 5, they're just going to lose all of their money? I know this is what happens in standard, but to a much lower extent. What I would like to see out of MM products going forward is a biannual release of a limited run product that would reprint staples like this. Every other year you would have your chance to get what you needed without completely decimating the value of the format.
It's not selfish. These cards are meant to be played with, and your attitude is the reason why we have the reserved list in the first place. I do think it is ridiculous to think that goyf could get so low as $5, but that will most likely not happen. The thing is that when you buy a card, you're getting enjoyment out of it, not to sell it later. That's entertainment value. Magic is higher EV that just going to the spa or going to the movie theatre. If you think tarmogoyfs are an investment, then you are sorely mistaken, as any non-reserved list card is a bad investment. I remember Volcanic Island going up to $300, but then it went down and it's stable. For what they're at I don't think they'll change, and these are the GOOD "investments". Anything not on the reserved list can and will be reprinted, or otherwise have a card that's better than the card you were speculating on.
If you wanted to get the most out of your goyfs, you probably should have sold them before it was spoiled. High value reprints such as goyf in limited sets like this are a given, and now you can only sell yours to stores for $110 cash each instead of $150. Honestly if people like you leave modern then that means more cards, and cheaper prices for more people who want to get into the format. Modern Masters 1 saw price drops for almost all of the cards in the set and I didn't hear anyone complain about prices dropping. What I did hear were complaints about the big three, goyf, bob, and clique going up. If anyone quit modern over the first and second waves of MM1, I must not have noticed, because there ended being way more players for modern. We had at least 2-3 MM1 drafts firing every Friday at my LGS. My LGS owner is anticipating getting so many boxes that he's going to have drafts every Monday, Friday, and Saturday for as long as he has the supplies. And he's not even selling the boxes by themselves like he did with the last one.
Honestly, I don't know why would you feel bad about price drops happening, since it's good for the format. It's a GOOD thing.
So, your argument is that because YOU want something, it should cost exactly what you want it to cost? That's precisely why it's selfish. It seems rather than reading what I wrote and the replies to that, you've settled on Ad Hominem attacks about how I, specifically, am ruining magic. But sure, I'll bite. I made a point to say that I disagree with the reserved list, but apparently that was overlooked. I also mentioned that I'm a fan of reprint sets like this, as long as they're handled carefully. I honestly don't know why people keep comparing Magic to mundane stuff like the movies. This is a collectable card game that has many sets with a limited number of printings. I'm pretty sure if Avatar was a limited print product, the DVD would be worth a lot more than it is now. I'm pretty sure that antique car collectors want to enjoy their vehicles and have them retain value. As do art collectors. As do comic book collectors. I bet if you bought a house, you'd want that to hold value too. Magic is none of those things, but it still feels nice to know that my money isn't being flushed down the toilet when I buy something for a game that I enjoy. If enjoyment and value are mutually exclusive, then I guess I'm playing the wrong game. (Spoilers, they're not.) I guess the word investment has negative connotations because people jump to the conclusion that there are Wall Street bankers in nice suits that carry around briefcases full of reserved list staples. That's not the case. When I say investment, I mean that I am putting my money into magic, with some expectation of a comparable amount back later. I'm not looking to make money. I'm looking to enjoy the game, then when I'm done with it, I'll sell my Goyfs and move on to something else. The sad part is that the list of $50+ non-reserved list cards seems to be growing all the time, and you're crazy if you think a product like MM is going to make that all go away.
I really have no idea what you're even talking about in the second paragraph. I don't really need to sell anything to stores, nor would I. Not once did I mention anything about the prices of cards from MM. I suppose the last bit is your attempt at bragging. Most people were not so lucky in their experiences with MM. They didn't get to draft the set because their LGS sold their boxes online. As for me, I got a box at well below MSRP from my LGS owner. Drafted probably 10-15 times and ended up pulling two Goys, and one in foil. I hope that this set is just as fun of a limited environment.
Good is a matter of perspective; but feel however you want. Maybe you'll finally pull a Goyf and you won't have to feel so bitter.
Doc we WANT IT. You are talking about the "value" of format. hey noone of the cardpool in modern format it's in reserved list (modern born for this), how the hell i should buy tarmo at 200$ instead of an italian tabernacle or 2 dual? if i want an investment i will buy tabernacle (as card in reeserved list) and not a vanilla creature....same argument for noble hierarch: manadork at 60$.It's not madness,this is Sparta omfg!
There is quite a long list of non-reserved list cards over $50. Your point?
So I've tried standard on a budget for a while. It was fun, but I had no interest in speding money on standard staples, knowing most of them would be useless later.
This is exactly what I'm saying. I don't want to build a modern deck only to have it completely tank later.
Meanwhile I check the budget forums and I see ''budget decks'' are considered to be 100-250€. I mean, I don't know but as a student 100€ is a lot. Let alone 400 or more. I have spend a lot of money through the years on Magic already, and I just cant justify spending another fortune (yes, 500€ is a lot to some people) on it. Especially since I don't even have a way to know how enjoyable this will be for me. At the same time I have this itch for playing though, but all I can do is play subpar decks. Which really sucks if you are a competitive person as I am. So right now I'm just hanging around these forums, following the MM reveals and hoping the prices crash. Which they probably won't, atleast from what we've seen so far. With Tarmo being a mythic and all. And if the prices won't go down I will just go back to playing casually and get my competitive fix from a number of cheaper games out there. There are probably tons of players out there like me, I just hope Wotc would care about us for a change. For the guys who think of this as a game, and not as a speculatorship/business/whatever...
EDIT: By cheaper prices I don't mean 5€ tarmogoyfs, but just something more affordable.
I have a legitimate question for not just you, but anyone else. What does "affordable" mean? I mean, we all have different incomes. We all have other hobbies and expenses and whatnot, so what is really affordable for everyone?
I feel like part of the problem is exactly what you wrote about. You have a competitive side but you don't want to shell out for a tier one deck. If everyone wants to play top decks, they get expensive. That's exactly what has happened to modern. There are some cards that are in really low supply and that's exactly why this product exists.
While I would not mind a 5$ Tarmogoyf (or care much for it, to be honest), in the post above I make it clear that I'm not advocating a rock bottom drop in card prices. Even if I was, WotC would never, ever, do it so its a moot point.
I feel that the whole "investing in MTG" approach is wrong for so many reasons. When you pay 50$ to take your family to the cinema and watch whatever the flick of the day is, you're not investing your money, you're spending it on entertainment. There is no return here, once you've had your fun its gone. It just so happens that MtG has grown into something that has the possibility of getting your money out of the game, instead of flopping to nothingness like so many other CCG's. But if your entire mindset is preoccupied with the monetary value of the cards than I wonder why you got into the game in the first place?
I liked this game because of the artwork, theme and because it is fun to play. I never even considered the monetary value of cards for years. Money spent on it was spent, not invested.
Regardless, I understand the perspective even though I disagree with it. If my perspective is selfish, what is to be said of the people whose only covert or overt desire is for the prices to steadily rise so they can one day resell for a profit, and scream bloody murder when the question of price dropping is mentioned? It doesn't matter that no one else can get in, just as long as they "can have their cake and eat it too".
The difference is that this is not a movie. If you're going to make that comparison, it's more like buying a DVD than going to theaters, anyway. Though, that's still not really at all relevant.
If your question was rhetorical, than I apologize, but; I started playing magic because it's a fun game. It has neat interactions and a lot of depth that few other games can provide. The reason why I care about the value of my cards is that I can't own everything. Eventually I'll get done playing with Goyf and I'll want to trade it for something else. If it's worth nothing, then I can't get the other cards to continue my enjoyment of the game. It's not like I'm stockpiling cards to retire on. I don't need prices to increase, just not drop off entirely.
As far as the Heartstone and LoL discussion goes, the free to play model is simple. You can buy anything, but if you grind long enough everything is available to you for free. Sometimes cosmetic items like skins, or hats in TF2 aren't, but they're like a foil card - you don't need them to be competitive.
Which is why I think the comparison between Magic and those games is a bad one. You can't really play magic and not spend money and stay competitive (unless you are a high level pro player, which none of us are.) I mean, in the same vein, you don't HAVE to play junk. You could play that mono-U ninja bear deck. I think a more apt comparison would be wanting to break into the competitive CoD or Halo scene. I need to make an initial investment; I have to get my gaming computer/Xbox One, I have to buy the game, I need a headset, batteries, and other stuff. Magic is not so different. If I want to build Junk, I'll need Goyf and Lilli and lands. They probably end up costing about the same by the time all is said and done. But I'll not need to spend money for a while and I can keep playing.
I'm not surprised that people who have sunk thousands into the hobby don't want a major price drop. But those of us who haven't are obviously going to feel differently. When I see a 200$ Tarmogoyf, all I see is a ridiculously priced piece of cardboard. Even from a gameplay standpoint its not particularly interesting. Its simply breaks the cost effectiveness standards in Magic thereby giving an unfair advantage. 800$ for a playset? Three iPhones worth of cardboard? Seriously?
I feel like this is a pretty selfish argument. Full disclosure, I do own Tarmogoyfs. I didn't pay anywhere near the 800 dollars for mine, but that's neither here nor there. As an individual, I'm sure you'd love to see $5 Goyfs, and you're not the only one. As I mentioned in my last post, that's bad for a lot of people. I'd be pretty hurt if tomorrow Tarmogoyf cost $5, as would my LGS and a lot of tournament players there. That's just people that I know. Why would anyone want to invest in modern as a format, if in a month or 5, they're just going to lose all of their money? I know this is what happens in standard, but to a much lower extent. What I would like to see out of MM products going forward is a biannual release of a limited run product that would reprint staples like this. Every other year you would have your chance to get what you needed without completely decimating the value of the format.
4) This is actually less relevant to DTK but more an issue I've had since first learning of KTK. When they did the original Shards block, they gave each of the shards a name. I believe they had unofficial names from way back when; Dega, et cetera. They wanted some official term so that when you were talking about WUG you could say Bant and everyone would know what you were talking about. I liked the shard names; Bant, Jund, Naya, Grixis, and Esper. They were generic fantasy names that rolled off the tongue quite nicely. They were the names of the different shards of Alara, but they also weren't tied to some very strict real-world location. I abhor the transition to calling BUG Sultai and Junk Abzan.
Only Temur is a real name (and indeed of Mongolian origin). So what? If you google Esper the first thing you'll find is a long-running internet chat service and a few random tech companies (although the inspiration for the name is probably another existing usage, derived from ESP).
My point was not that they referenced specific real places, but more that they had a specific feel to them that could not be overcome. The shard names could conceivably be used anywhere since they're just generic fantasy names. The khan names are tied too rigidly with the Mongolian/Tibetan/Hindu culture.
R-U-G and B-U-G sound fair enough, but calling decks 'bug' or 'rug' is somewhat embarrassing (and Bant is hardly better than Wug). Junk certainly doesn't carry any indication of what the deck represents for anyone not previously aware that it refers to WBG. While WBR didn't have a name and 'America' wasn't widely used or liked. Personally I like the clan names except Mardu and Abzan, but strongly dislike Jund and Bant. I'd probably dislike Grixis more if it was a commonly-enough used combination to hear it regularly.
What's embarrassing about it? The color combination just so happens to form a simple word. I did purposely leave Junk off of the list, because it's not as straightforward as the others. I'm not crazy about it, but I think it's better than Abzan. WBR was the problem spot. I've heard it called, for lack of a better term, Nazis (due to the colors of the flag). Obviously it needed a name, I'm just not excited about Mardu. I'll disagree about America not being widely used, but that's not really important. To each there own; my complaint was simply that there was a set of simple fantasy names and then a set of culture specific ones.
4) This is actually less relevant to DTK but more an issue I've had since first learning of KTK. When they did the original Shards block, they gave each of the shards a name. I believe they had unofficial names from way back when; Dega, et cetera. They wanted some official term so that when you were talking about WUG you could say Bant and everyone would know what you were talking about. I liked the shard names; Bant, Jund, Naya, Grixis, and Esper. They were generic fantasy names that rolled off the tongue quite nicely. They were the names of the different shards of Alara, but they also weren't tied to some very strict real-world location. I abhor the transition to calling BUG Sultai and Junk Abzan. Not only are they obviously Mongolian in origin, they feel really awkward to say. They're not generic fantasy names and they invoke thoughts of a very specific setting/locale. RUG, BUG, America were already really elegant and great ways to refer to the color combinations. There was no, "What colors is RUG?" it was literally in the name. Every time I'm watching legacy and someone refers to the Shardless BUG deck as Sultai, I throw up a little in my mouth. It has to be the actual most unattractive set of names they could have picked for the wedges. And they're so heavily accented. It's not Ab-zan, it's Ooooob-zoooooon. It's not Tem-ur, it's Teeeeeee-muuuur (exaggerated for effect). You know what Sarkhan should have done after he saved Ugin? Slapped the Khans around until they came up with some good names!
My second biggest complaint is that some of the cards in this game seem way more powerful than they should be just by virtue of the limited cardpool. The only decks I see that seem to be performing really well are B/G elves and R/W or G/W auras. I don't lose often, but when I do it's because my opponent plays some guy and puts 5 auras on it and I can't do anything about it. Nimbus Wings and Lys Alana Huntmaster are the biggest offenders and they're both from the starting kit. Perilous Myr is also very strong.
-Still didn't play Liliana, still don't miss it.
-Ooze is...pretty medium at best. Whenever I drew more than one in a single game I was unhappy. Adding the third was probably a mistake.
-Having some way to interact with lands game one is pretty useful, but it does come at a cost.
I went 4-1-1 in the swiss. 2-0 against Chapin's grixis control list. 1-1 against tron. 0-2 against Chapin's grixis control list. 2-1 against Elvish company. 2-0 against U/R twin. 2-1 against collected zoo. In the top 8 I beat infect 2-0 then lost against affinity 1-2.
The all-star of most of my games was Lingering Souls. People seem to be moving away from it, but it's still very powerful.
Zealous Persecution is a good suggestion.
4 Marsh Flats
3 Windswept Heath
2 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Forest
3 Overgrown Tomb
3 Temple Garden
1 Godless Shrine
1 Treetop Village
2 Stirring Wildwood
1 Woodland Cemetery
Creatures (13)
4 Tarmogoyf
2 Scavenging Ooze
2 Dark Confidant
4 Siege Rhino
1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
4 Path to Exile
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Thoughtseize
4 Abrupt Decay
4 Lingering Souls
1 Maelstrom Pulse
1 Dismember
1 Slaughter Pact
4 Feed the Clan
4 Fulminator Mage
1 Stony Silence
1 Golgari Charm
1 Batterskull
1 Duress
1 Relic of Progenitus
1 Kitchen Finks
1 Thrun, the Last Troll
4 Feed the Clan
4 Fulminator Mage
3 Golgari Charm
3 Leyline of Sanctity
1 Stony Silence
I've played in 3 modern tournaments so far and I've only lost one match, going 2-0-1, 3-1, and 5-0. I've played against basically different decks each time. Not different archetypes necessarily, but differences like Grixis Twin and U/R Twin. I've very happy with how the deck plays and its general match-up against the field at large.
Some of my card choices might look weird so I'll talk a little about them. I'm not playing Liliana of the Veil in part because I don't really like her in the current meta. She seems a bit slow for some match-up and others they just couldn't care less about her (Tron). Siege Rhino is already fairly slow, so I feel like I need to really be controlling the board on my way to four mana and Lili isn't really helping. This is all my opinion, of course. Next I'm playing more discard that a lot of people. I'm doing this to compensate for the lack of discard from Lili. I can always side out a Thoughtseize or two when needed. The format seems really fast right now. The land base is not exactly optimal, but it's been fine thus far. I'm thinking about cutting the Woodland Cemetery for a fourth Heath. I also have five basics so I can beat Blood Moon. I have to play more shocks as a result. I'm not really loving the Bobs. I find myself siding them out in so many different match-ups. I'm considering cutting them for a third Ooze and a singleton Kitchen Finks but I'm not sure. I absolutely love Slaughter Pact. It has been good in so many match-ups, from Burn, to Twin, to Infect. They never see it coming or play around it. It lets me develop my board and keep up pressure while also not just dying. I wouldn't play more than one, but it's so nice to have.
The sideboard is the part that I'm least sure about. Sideboard 1 I played for my first two tournaments and Sideboard 2 was for the 5-0 run. I feel like I want to have a lot of hate for the matches that I'm bad in, but that also leaves me open to lose match-ups that I'm good in but need a bit of extra hate. Any advice on this would be so helpful. I really don't like my chances against burn so I think the FtC are staying. I'm also bad against Tron and Bloom, so the four Fulminator seem reasonable. I didn't like Relic, Duress, Thrun. I might want so more artifact hate. Leyline I boarded specifically because I knew several people were on burn/combo that needed to target me to win. They won't stick around.
Match-ups:
Tournament 1 -
2-0 (Mono-green) - He was playing basically a standard deck. I don't know.
2-1 (Boros) - This was some weird burn/aggro hybrid deck that played Reckoner and some other odd ducks. I didn't really even need to sideboard since he was dependent on creatures for most of the damage.
1-1-1 (Grixis Delver) - In game two I had to mulligan to five but I got lucky and I was able to hold him off for a long time. He built up a massive board with multiple Young Pyromancers and Delvers but I had him at 3 and I was on 13. He's dead to spirit tokens so he attacks me all out. I fall to 1 and attack back for lethal. That game dragged on so long so we didn't have time for a game three.
Tournament 2 -
2-0 (Wilted Leaf Abzan) - This was a pretty easy win for me since his deck was budgetish (no Goyf, no Bob).
0-2 (Tron) - There wasn't much I could do here. I didn't see any Fulminators until he had already resolved Karn. He also just drew incredibly well both games.
2-0 (Naya Burn) - We both flooded out game one so it was an awkward game until I started drawing Rhinos. Game two he got me to 3, so I was dead to any bolt but he missed for two turns so I got him with Goyf. A note here is that I only survived because I had Slaughter Pact for a Swiftspear after I had tapped out for something.
2-1 (Grixis Twin) - These games were pretty good. I kept a triple Thoughtsieze hand game one and he just didn't draw enough action after having his hand stripped. Game two he resolved turn three Blood Moon. Game three was a real grind. I Thoughtseized a Keranos, God of Storms so it was my Batterskull racing his Thundermaw Hellkite I managed to squeak that one out.
Tournament 3 -
2-0 (Jund Burn) - He flooded game one. Game two I had turn zero Leyline but drew so badly that I almost lost. The only creature I saw for the first 10 turns was one Rhino and it died to dismember. He Skullcracked himself to keep me from using FtC. He finally drew a Destructive Revelry and dealt me 14 in one turn. I peeled Ooze and ate all of his Bump in the Nights so I wouldn't just die. I ended up at 2 and he had a Searing Blaze but no land. He threw a huge hissy fit.
2-1 (Affinity) - Died hard game one to turn one Steel Overseer which put a counter on two Inkmoth Nexus. Game two I had a solid combination of discard and removal to really "Jund him out". Game three he made a critical misplay when he went to Galvanic Blast my 4/5 Goyf and block with a Memnite. There was no instant in the yard...
2-1 (Infect) - I won game one with discard and removal. He had me dead blazingly fast in game two. Game three I had Slaughter Pact at just the right instant to not die.
2-0 (Goblins) - This deck is no joke. I won both games fairly easily, but I can definitely see how this deck has a lot of power. Unfortunately for him, all of his guys are X/1s and casting multiple Souls both games makes it really hard for him to win.
2-0 (U/R Twin) - Had Slaughter Pact to not die to the combo game one. Beat him to death with Stirring Wildwood game two. U/R has a really hard time dealing with a 3/4 land.
I'm feeling pretty good about my chances at upcoming PPTQs except that I need to work out the sidebaord. The deck has so much raw power though that it seems like it will go well.
My opponent has a Young Pyromancer in play and we're the last match going so there are a bunch of people standing around watching. He makes a comment about having missed a few triggers earlier in the game when he cast spells. This led to a huge discussion of whether or not I (as his opponent) would get a warning for "Failure to maintain the game state". For the record, this tournament was not even sanctioned and we didn't have a judge on hand. One of the spectators for our match started talking about what would happen at a GP if this were to come up. He said that I would get a warning because I didn't remind my opponent that his mandatory trigger was missed. I told him that the rules regarding triggers had been changed a while ago and I was not responsible for reminding my opponent about his triggers.
1) If my opponent were to call a judge at a GP after he took other game actions, would he get the tokens?
I think that he would not because of the trigger change and this not being a "detrimental" trigger. Though it may depend on where we were in the turn. I pointed out that something with a negative effect can't be missed but something like making a token could.
2) Would I get a warning for not pointing out the trigger to my opponent?
The article regarding the trigger changes makes it pretty clear that I am not required to remind my opponent of triggers that do not involve the word may. In effect this would make most triggers function as though they were may. The exception being ones with a negative component, such as life loss, etc.
3) At a GP or up, spectators are not allowed to, in any way, interact with a match beyond calling a judge, correct?
The spectator at our match was going on about how he had stopped people before at a GP for this kind of stuff and that everyone had gotten a warning. I told him that you were not allowed to interact with the players during a game except to call a judge. If a spectator sees a rules violation or a missed trigger, they can go talk to a judge but they can't point it out to the players. I believe doing so could get you in a lot of trouble.
This is exactly how I feel!
I posted several pages ago about a situation that I got into involving a really expensive card being sent to me in less than NM condition and how I attempted to first work out this situation with the sender and then I got an admin involved because they refused to work with me. The admin asked me what I would like to have happen and asked me to post all of my evidence in the case (which included high-res pictures and scans of the card to show the damage that I was claiming), the admin then didn't reply for several days and I got an email today from a different admin saying that the case was closed and that the sender had been credited with points IN FULL.
I would like to point out that I had evidence of the damage and the sender only repeatedly said, "That's not my card! That's not my card!". The only thing they could come up with was that someone that had wanted to trade for it weeks ago says it didn't look like that. Which is in no way evidence of the condition of the card. That didn't seem to matter to the PucaTrade admin team, though.
They offered no reasoning for this decision. All that was said was that they decided to resolve the case. Apparently it's acceptable to just send someone a card that's messed up and get full value for it. I'm very irate about this because I've been cheated out of a fairly significant sum of money not only by the sender of the card, but also by the admins of the site. I sent them a strongly worded email about my displeasure at their decision and I told them that I will no longer be using this service if they will allow their members to be scammed out of, again, a significant amount of money. I'm not complaining about less than 10 dollars here, I'm talking about anywhere from 50-250 dollars that they've essentially stolen from me given how the case was resolved. I am now stuck with a card that has damage to it and I've had all of my points taken away.
I've sent in the neighborhood of 500 dollars worth of cards on the site and this is how I've been repaid? For this reason, I must now warn everyone:
I DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT YOU USE PUCATRADE.
Edit: I was contacted by another admin and the issue has been resolved in a way that I find satisfactory.
Yeah, I thought about that, though I still don't know if I'm even going to bother with the service anymore once this gets worked out. It's a shame really, because it's just one bad experience.
To update a little, the person has finally started to budge on their stance and offered to give me back 1500 points if I'll just drop the case. That's barely anything, but I'm considering it just because I'm sick of this.
So, I amassed hundreds of dollars in points, added a ludicrously expensive card to my wants list and wouldn't you know it, before my morning class was done it was already committed and marked as shipped. I considered that a little suspect, but figured that the guy was just marking it shipped and planned to head to the post office that day. I was patiently awaiting a message about tracking but to no avail. I had to message him twice over 5 days to try and get the tracking number but when he finally did reply, he said that he didn't get tracking because "the post office was too busy." I felt like vomiting.
Luckily it arrived safe and sound, the next day and everything seemed alright! Though when I took the card out to inspect it before marking it as completed, it had several cuts/scratches on the card face and a bunch of white gunk. They were deep enough to worry me but overall it was passable so I shot him a message saying that I would keep it but I wanted the adjusted rate because it wasn't NM. I offered to do 80% like PucaTrade says you should. I was even willing to go to 90% since I needed it and didn't really want to mess around. He messages me back basically saying that I was a liar and his card was perfect. I sent him pictures and scans and he didn't bother to reply, he just opened a case against me posting that I had falsified my claim and that the card pictured was, and I quote, "clearly not the card that [he] sent". About as clear as muddy water. I'm still waiting to have this resolved by an admin, but I'm quite unhappy. I don't feel like there can be a solution that will make me happy. If it's decided that I send the card back, it's already gone up in price so that sucks. Besides that I'm "lying" about the card anyway so he's not like to accept what he gets back anyway. He refuses to work with me at all. Ugh. I doubt the mods will do any of this magical credit everyone with points stuff.
Assuming they do require me to return the card, do you think it's unreasonable that I have the following conditions? I want him to acknowledge that the pictured card is his card (to protect myself from another case if he gets it back and doesn't like the condition). I want him to pay return postage. And I want to be off the hook if anything happens once I ship it (since he sent it PWE, I feel like I should be able to do the same).
Even though I feel confident that I will win the case, I have evidence and he does not, I still am turned off of the idea of building up my point reserves again after this is over.
Putting a key word in italics doesn't make it true. I don't want Tarmogoyf, as I already own them so there's really nothing you can use to rationalize calling me the selfish one except for maybe falling back on the tried and true strategy of politicians to make the other guy look bad. I got annoyed at Dio because he was the latest in a long line of people that whine because they don't have a card and they want it for $1. Obviously $5 Goyfs was intentionally hyperbolic; that was implied. I doubt it will even dip below $150. Dio decided to not read what I had to say and instead attack me as an individual with a bunch of stuff that had little to do with what I was actually talking about. It seems that you are quite eager to do the same. As to the quote, yes, I did say that. That's because people often feel something akin to grief and anger when they spend a lot of money on something and then it becomes worthless overnight. As a game that banks on its players deriving happiness from it, this seems counterproductive. Controlled reprints are what we need, not a series of products designed to completely decimate all value from the game. You and Dio seem to have intense tunnel vision because all you seem to want are Goyfs and other staples at the price you want them to cost. That is your argument, I've read it several times now. When are we all going to get that availability and cost are not the same thing?
I'm not scrambling to off-load my Goyfs because I don't need to do so. In the time since the the spoiler was announced, the Future Sight version (which are the ones I own.) have gained value. Even if the stars align and Goyf drops hard after the MM15 release, the original printing will likely be worth more. I disagree with the premise that something can have monetary value or play value, but not both. I'm going to play with my Goyfs, and if Wizards has done things correctly, I'll sell them at some point in the future. I would appreciate it if you would stop putting words in my mouth. It's generally a bad way to have a discussion with someone. Though, I do find it amusing that everyone here thinks they're an investment banker. If you're so economically savvy, where are your modern staples wrought in gold?
So, your argument is that because YOU want something, it should cost exactly what you want it to cost? That's precisely why it's selfish. It seems rather than reading what I wrote and the replies to that, you've settled on Ad Hominem attacks about how I, specifically, am ruining magic. But sure, I'll bite. I made a point to say that I disagree with the reserved list, but apparently that was overlooked. I also mentioned that I'm a fan of reprint sets like this, as long as they're handled carefully. I honestly don't know why people keep comparing Magic to mundane stuff like the movies. This is a collectable card game that has many sets with a limited number of printings. I'm pretty sure if Avatar was a limited print product, the DVD would be worth a lot more than it is now. I'm pretty sure that antique car collectors want to enjoy their vehicles and have them retain value. As do art collectors. As do comic book collectors. I bet if you bought a house, you'd want that to hold value too. Magic is none of those things, but it still feels nice to know that my money isn't being flushed down the toilet when I buy something for a game that I enjoy. If enjoyment and value are mutually exclusive, then I guess I'm playing the wrong game. (Spoilers, they're not.) I guess the word investment has negative connotations because people jump to the conclusion that there are Wall Street bankers in nice suits that carry around briefcases full of reserved list staples. That's not the case. When I say investment, I mean that I am putting my money into magic, with some expectation of a comparable amount back later. I'm not looking to make money. I'm looking to enjoy the game, then when I'm done with it, I'll sell my Goyfs and move on to something else. The sad part is that the list of $50+ non-reserved list cards seems to be growing all the time, and you're crazy if you think a product like MM is going to make that all go away.
I really have no idea what you're even talking about in the second paragraph. I don't really need to sell anything to stores, nor would I. Not once did I mention anything about the prices of cards from MM. I suppose the last bit is your attempt at bragging. Most people were not so lucky in their experiences with MM. They didn't get to draft the set because their LGS sold their boxes online. As for me, I got a box at well below MSRP from my LGS owner. Drafted probably 10-15 times and ended up pulling two Goys, and one in foil. I hope that this set is just as fun of a limited environment.
Good is a matter of perspective; but feel however you want. Maybe you'll finally pull a Goyf and you won't have to feel so bitter.
There is quite a long list of non-reserved list cards over $50. Your point?
This is exactly what I'm saying. I don't want to build a modern deck only to have it completely tank later.
I have a legitimate question for not just you, but anyone else. What does "affordable" mean? I mean, we all have different incomes. We all have other hobbies and expenses and whatnot, so what is really affordable for everyone?
I feel like part of the problem is exactly what you wrote about. You have a competitive side but you don't want to shell out for a tier one deck. If everyone wants to play top decks, they get expensive. That's exactly what has happened to modern. There are some cards that are in really low supply and that's exactly why this product exists.
The difference is that this is not a movie. If you're going to make that comparison, it's more like buying a DVD than going to theaters, anyway. Though, that's still not really at all relevant.
If your question was rhetorical, than I apologize, but; I started playing magic because it's a fun game. It has neat interactions and a lot of depth that few other games can provide. The reason why I care about the value of my cards is that I can't own everything. Eventually I'll get done playing with Goyf and I'll want to trade it for something else. If it's worth nothing, then I can't get the other cards to continue my enjoyment of the game. It's not like I'm stockpiling cards to retire on. I don't need prices to increase, just not drop off entirely.
Which is why I think the comparison between Magic and those games is a bad one. You can't really play magic and not spend money and stay competitive (unless you are a high level pro player, which none of us are.) I mean, in the same vein, you don't HAVE to play junk. You could play that mono-U ninja bear deck. I think a more apt comparison would be wanting to break into the competitive CoD or Halo scene. I need to make an initial investment; I have to get my gaming computer/Xbox One, I have to buy the game, I need a headset, batteries, and other stuff. Magic is not so different. If I want to build Junk, I'll need Goyf and Lilli and lands. They probably end up costing about the same by the time all is said and done. But I'll not need to spend money for a while and I can keep playing.
I feel like this is a pretty selfish argument. Full disclosure, I do own Tarmogoyfs. I didn't pay anywhere near the 800 dollars for mine, but that's neither here nor there. As an individual, I'm sure you'd love to see $5 Goyfs, and you're not the only one. As I mentioned in my last post, that's bad for a lot of people. I'd be pretty hurt if tomorrow Tarmogoyf cost $5, as would my LGS and a lot of tournament players there. That's just people that I know. Why would anyone want to invest in modern as a format, if in a month or 5, they're just going to lose all of their money? I know this is what happens in standard, but to a much lower extent. What I would like to see out of MM products going forward is a biannual release of a limited run product that would reprint staples like this. Every other year you would have your chance to get what you needed without completely decimating the value of the format.
My point was not that they referenced specific real places, but more that they had a specific feel to them that could not be overcome. The shard names could conceivably be used anywhere since they're just generic fantasy names. The khan names are tied too rigidly with the Mongolian/Tibetan/Hindu culture.
What's embarrassing about it? The color combination just so happens to form a simple word. I did purposely leave Junk off of the list, because it's not as straightforward as the others. I'm not crazy about it, but I think it's better than Abzan. WBR was the problem spot. I've heard it called, for lack of a better term, Nazis (due to the colors of the flag). Obviously it needed a name, I'm just not excited about Mardu. I'll disagree about America not being widely used, but that's not really important. To each there own; my complaint was simply that there was a set of simple fantasy names and then a set of culture specific ones.
Thank you. The only one I could remember off the top of my head was Dega.