I just got back into magic, and when googling for a Born of the Gods spoiler, I was delighted to come across mtgsalvation.
So I'm back to the Multiverse and mtgsalvation after being gone roughly a decade from this site and a tad more from the game. I shelved my magic cards when I got a job; didn't have the time. I live in a rural area, so driving to the nearest game store wasn't at all convenient and without people to play with I lost interest. When I left this site, it had just crashed a couple of times in the timespan of about a month and pretty much everything got wiped, so I lost interest here too. The only time I checked back was a couple years thereafter and it was closed down due to a lawsuit or something.
Recently, I ran into a couple of guys I used to play with through business. At one point the subject of our original acquaintance came up and we decided to go to the game store we used to haunt - we're hooked again. A lot has changed in the past 10 years!
When I quit playing the game, Revised had just rotated out of Extended and duals halved to ~$15 for Underground Sea and $6-11 for the others. UL Moxen had just hit $100 and Beta Black Lotuses were testing $1000. Alpha was less than half the cost of Beta, because they weren't tournament legal. The funny thing is, if I'd had the money to put together a complete set of magic cards, I would've done it in a heartbeat. Now that I do have the money, there's just no way. For me, I can't help but think I could either have cardboard (very aesthetically pleasing and a blast to play with, but still cardboard) or a square mile or more of land or a mansion (real estate is cheap here)... And the latter wins out.
There's goofy new names for all the formats and some new formats at that. Type 1 is now "Vintage," Type 1.x is "Legacy," Type 2 is "Standard," Drafts are "Limited," and there's "Modern" (like I'm an antiquated relic or something for remembering cards from the '90's). Extended is still Extended, but apparently no one plays it anymore. Bummer.
My buddies and I have settled on playing Singleton Pauper. It turns out we timed our return to the local game store just right for it becoming the most popular format there.
This site looks fantastic by the way, and runs infinitely smoother than it did at the beginning of the millennium. Although, that could just be an improvement in internet service. At any rate, I'm glad you're back up and running, supplying a reliable source of MtG information and a place of discussion.
Crypto-currency will influence the world more than the internet has/will. The internet is essentially communication and knowledge with gatekeepers cut out. Crypto-currency will cut the gatekeepers or at least de-power them(by giving them valid competition they can't cheat away.
I take no joy in squashing dreams and hopes, but no, cryptocurrencies won't influence the world more than the internet. There is not necessarily a physical need to exchanging information. You tell a joke, I tell a joke, we laugh, and value is derived. For the exchange of money to be involved, there is always a physical component. That's where the "gatekeepers" insert themselves as middle-men.
Unless you know of a way how or a time when bitcoins, litecoins, or whatever can be used to buy aircraft carriers, fighter jets, and armored vehicles, the middle-men will remain. I'd even accept your argument if you could posit a plausible scenario in which you could clad a few thousand people in kevlar and arm them with tear gas and then somehow get them all to accept bitcoins in payment of salaries. For as long as I can foresee, those people will be paid with dollars derived from taxes. Crash the dollar and all those armed people suddenly can't pay the rent or buy food. If there's not enough dollars to pay them, it's because people are using bitcoin to evade their taxes, which will land you in prison quicker than murder or rape (I'm not making fun, that's just a sad fact). Most likely if bitcoin or something similar were ever to pose a material risk to vested interests, it would either be crushed or subverted.
Quote from Merriam-Webster Dictionary »
re·al·po·li·tik
noun, often capitalized \rā-ˈäl-ˌpō-li-ˌtēk\
: a system of politics based on a country's situation and its needs rather than on ideas about what is morally right and wrong
So I'm back to the Multiverse and mtgsalvation after being gone roughly a decade from this site and a tad more from the game. I shelved my magic cards when I got a job; didn't have the time. I live in a rural area, so driving to the nearest game store wasn't at all convenient and without people to play with I lost interest. When I left this site, it had just crashed a couple of times in the timespan of about a month and pretty much everything got wiped, so I lost interest here too. The only time I checked back was a couple years thereafter and it was closed down due to a lawsuit or something.
Recently, I ran into a couple of guys I used to play with through business. At one point the subject of our original acquaintance came up and we decided to go to the game store we used to haunt - we're hooked again. A lot has changed in the past 10 years!
When I quit playing the game, Revised had just rotated out of Extended and duals halved to ~$15 for Underground Sea and $6-11 for the others. UL Moxen had just hit $100 and Beta Black Lotuses were testing $1000. Alpha was less than half the cost of Beta, because they weren't tournament legal. The funny thing is, if I'd had the money to put together a complete set of magic cards, I would've done it in a heartbeat. Now that I do have the money, there's just no way. For me, I can't help but think I could either have cardboard (very aesthetically pleasing and a blast to play with, but still cardboard) or a square mile or more of land or a mansion (real estate is cheap here)... And the latter wins out.
There's goofy new names for all the formats and some new formats at that. Type 1 is now "Vintage," Type 1.x is "Legacy," Type 2 is "Standard," Drafts are "Limited," and there's "Modern" (like I'm an antiquated relic or something for remembering cards from the '90's). Extended is still Extended, but apparently no one plays it anymore. Bummer.
My buddies and I have settled on playing Singleton Pauper. It turns out we timed our return to the local game store just right for it becoming the most popular format there.
This site looks fantastic by the way, and runs infinitely smoother than it did at the beginning of the millennium. Although, that could just be an improvement in internet service. At any rate, I'm glad you're back up and running, supplying a reliable source of MtG information and a place of discussion.
So... hey there.
Primary Education/9th Grade
F
I take no joy in squashing dreams and hopes, but no, cryptocurrencies won't influence the world more than the internet. There is not necessarily a physical need to exchanging information. You tell a joke, I tell a joke, we laugh, and value is derived. For the exchange of money to be involved, there is always a physical component. That's where the "gatekeepers" insert themselves as middle-men.
Unless you know of a way how or a time when bitcoins, litecoins, or whatever can be used to buy aircraft carriers, fighter jets, and armored vehicles, the middle-men will remain. I'd even accept your argument if you could posit a plausible scenario in which you could clad a few thousand people in kevlar and arm them with tear gas and then somehow get them all to accept bitcoins in payment of salaries. For as long as I can foresee, those people will be paid with dollars derived from taxes. Crash the dollar and all those armed people suddenly can't pay the rent or buy food. If there's not enough dollars to pay them, it's because people are using bitcoin to evade their taxes, which will land you in prison quicker than murder or rape (I'm not making fun, that's just a sad fact). Most likely if bitcoin or something similar were ever to pose a material risk to vested interests, it would either be crushed or subverted.