MTG Salvation

So I finally played my first game of Paper Magic in over 11 years. I attended a Modern event at the FLGS and went 2-1.

1. UR Delver vs. Death and Taxes (2-1)

First game was really slow as I had to get used to playing with paper cards again. I actually missed my first Delver trigger, but it didn't matter because I drew a land anyway. I won the first game and was told before the beginning of the second game that there was five minutes left in Round 1. I played much faster in Round 2, but didn't make any play mistakes, only strategic mistakes (accidentally locked myself out of blue mana by playing Magus of the Moon, which I fixed by suiciding him into the enemy, who had no choice to block or otherwise take lethal damage). Lost game 2, but then won game 3 very quickly, before time ran out (got two flipped Delvers very early into Game 3).

2. UR Delver vs. Infect (2-1)

I made a lot of play mistakes in this game, but my opponent was patient with me. Fortunately, all the stuff I missed were mandatory effects: I kept forgetting to draw after Gitaxian Probe and Remand because Magic Online did that automatically for me. I also kept forgetting to place played spells into the graveyard, again, because the game automatically did that for me. Surprisingly, I didn't actually miss any of my Delver triggers, and I didn't mess up Serum Visions at all (this card is annoying Online because you can accidentally send the wrong card to the bottom with no way to undo your mistake).

3. UR Delver vs. Affinity (0-2)

Last time I played Affinity was in Mirrodin Block, i.e. when Affinity was first released, so I played according to my previous experirence, unaware of how much the archetype has changed. Game 1 was won by my opponent when he managed to cast Whipflare while I was tapped out, taking out two Delvers. Game 2 was a very close game that I threw by playing Blood Moon. I wasn't paying attention to my mana base and didn't notice that I only had one real Island in play (rest were real Mountains and nonbasic lands).

During an standoff between the Affinity army and mine, I told my opponent, "During the Declare Attackers phase, after declaring attackers and after you pass... Oh... Oh crap." I was planning on going Snapcaster Mage into Hurkyl's Recall and then swinging for lethal next turn. However, I had one blue mana source, leaving me unable to do much more than flash in Snapcaster Mage. I laughed so hard at the epic fail and asked my opponent if he noticed that I had only one Island. He thought that I had another Hurkyl's Recall in hand, and was waiting for him to overextend so I could bounce everything back. As it was the last round, and there was a lot of time left, we just played it out. He slowly whittled away at my life lead and brought me down to zero.

Overall, it was fun. A lot of fun. It was a much less frustrating experience than Magic: Online. Not once did I accidentally Electrolyze the wrong targets, or send a card to the bottom by accident when scrying, nor did I accidentally pass my whole turn because I didn't notice that it was already my upkeep. I also didn't target the wrong spell with Snapcaster Mage. Not once. On the other hand, I kept missing mandatory draws, and kept forgetting to move spent cards to the graveyard. Also, shuffling took more time than I realized, and restoring my deck to its original composition took time (in Magic Online, the game automatically restores your main deck and sideboard for you).

I've been a customer of MTGOTraders.com for a long time. Today, I sold my collection to them. Farewell, Magic Online, you were good. You were the best. You used to be the best.

Never had any problems with them at all since the beginning.

Edit: By "them," I mean MTGO Traders, not Magic Online.

I'm going back to paper magic, and I'm going to have four DFCs in my paper deck (a recreation of my online deck). Which transparent sleeves do you recommend for the actual DFC? Obviously, the checklist card will use my normal sleeves, but I don't want to keep taking out my DFC and damaging it over time with constant handling. I haven't had to deal with this in Magic Online because card sleeves and card backs are never an issue there.

I am in the process of liquidating my Magic Online collection. It's been a good nine years of Magic Online, but everything has been slowly going downhill since v3, and finally v4.

However, I haven't played Paper Magic since 2003. Thirteen years without playing Paper Magic; there's probably a lot of things I've forgotten about handling physical cards. Things like keeping track of my cards because they can be stolen, or having to purchase more than four copies of a card if I use it in more than one deck, to buying deck sleeves to protect cards, to making sure I don't play too much that I become too tired to drive home.

Also, I noticed that paper card prices are insane compared to Magic Online. I tried to replicate one of my online decks (Modern UR Delver) and it clocks in at over $1,000! Holy *****. Removing the dual lands and Blood Moon brings it down to around $400 (it's not exactly a high power meta in my FLGS so running Blood Moon might be counterproductive). There are some cards that I absolutely cannot take out, like Snapcaster Mage, because he's too important to the deck.

So, um, what do I need to know about getting back to Paper Magic? What do I need to relearn?

You shouldn't try to force something into a sport. Starcraft 2 lost a huge amount of its player base because Blizzard forced it into an esport and made design decisions that favored progamers and spectators. Essentially, changes were made to make the game harder (so it's easier for the most skilled players to show off their abilities) and flashier (so spectators get to see more explosions and other exciting stuff). Unfortunately, these changes are terrible for most players who just play for fun.

Making the game harder, i.e. raising the skill floor, results in a huge barrier to entry for beginners. You need to do a lot just to be able to play Starcraft 2 at a baseline level, and very few people are willing to do that for a game that's not even F2P. There are abilities that should be on autocast but are not because otherwise players wouldn't need any skill to use them, even though they require no brainpower to use (the question is not whether you should use Inject Larvae but whether you can do it as soon as it goes off cooldown). There are activated abilities (Adept Shades, Meditanks, Fast Regen Mutalisks, etc.) that result in combat that looks exciting to viewers but feel absolutely ridiculous and comical from a gameplay perspective (yaketysax.mp3 would be appropriate).

Making the game flashier was accomplished by speeding up the game (start with 12 workers instead of 6, less resources per base, extremely lethal combat). Right now, fights are over so quickly that if you're not paying attention at the right time, you can lose your army in an instant. Oftentimes when you hear the unit is under attack voiceline for your units, it will have been too late, and you'll go to a screen filled with the corpses of your units quickly being covered by the fog of war.

To sum it up, Blizzard went Full Yawgmoth and threw Timmy and Johnny down the well so he could lavish all of his attention on Spike. Not that Spike is an ******** (he's awesome in his own way), but sacrificing most of the player base to cater to Spike is detrimental to the health of the game. Or at least, it used to be, because Blizzard realized a month ago that their super-casual game mode added as an afterthought (Coop Mode) was being played more than actual ladder games. Player numbers skyrocketed until they got their fill of the handful of coop missions released until it dipped again.

I have a 27" screen. It's not much, but it's bigger than the screen I used back when I played Magic Online regularly. Also, I played in V3 back then, with all its sound cues and effects that signalled to me what the various cards did.

In retrospect, they were probably as difficult to see on v3, but the sound cues really helped. That rumbling sound when a removal spell is cast (Wrath of God with its loud boom) or the various color-specific sound effects (shwing-like sound for White, woosh for Blue, bubbling something for Black, crackling flames for Red, and insect sounds for Green all helped).

I just lost six matches this game (six whole matches, not six games) because I had a very hard time reading the text on the cards even when zoomed in. There's so much wasted space on the table that could've allowed the cards to be bigger (move the lands to the left, stuff to the right, and bam, you have more space.

I cannot find a single way to increase the text size. This is absurd. Both chat text and game text are tiny, and I'm wearing my glasses. No other game I'm playing requires me to squint and put my face to the monitor when wearing glasses. Not Starcraft, not Team Fortress, not DotA.

Is there any way to do this, or am I going to have to quit Magic Online after a single day back?

I came back to Magic Online yesterday and discovered that leagues are back. The last time I played in a league was during 10th Edition, and I was excited to learn that one of my favorite game modes is back.

I also discovered this new thing called Play Points. I did some research and it turns out that they're worth about 0.1 tix, and that the consensus among Magic analysts is that they're good for the vast majority of players, but bad for high-level and professional players. Is this true? I don't really care that much about Magic progaming, as I've seen how an obsessive focus on progaming can ruin a game like Starcraft 2. I still play Starcraft 2, but it's a shadow of its former self because Blizzard chased away all the casuals, then chased away those who were hardcore but not hardcore enough.

For what it's worth, I don't like going into competitive games with the goal of making a profit, because that implies that someone had to lose for me to gain something. I'm not saying that I don't try my hardest to win, just that it isn't my main goal (my main goal is to actually play Magic, win or lose).

Thank you for your time.

Hello,

I play exclusively on Magic Online, but I think this thread is relevant to those who play paper Magic, too, so I'm posting this here. I have some extra cash lying around that I can spend on whatever I want, and I was thinking of getting some high-ticket cards so I can wade into Modern tournaments in Magic Online. As a rule, I don't buy cards that cost more than 10 tix (USD 10.00) unless they can be used in a wide variety of decks or if getting a full playset is impractical or unnecessary, e.g. Demonic Tutor is over 10 tix, but is restricted in Classic so I only really need to buy one copy; Mutavault is pricey but can be used in a wide variety of decks, etc. For those who don't play Magic Online, you only really need four copies of a card since you can use a single card in any number of decks, unlike in real life where you have to have separate copies for each of your decks.

Anyway, I was wondering how many copies I should get of these high-ticket cards:

1. Vendilion Clique

Getting a full playset of a legendary card is generally impractical unless the card is simply that broken *cough* Jace the Money Shredder *cough*. Should I get three copies of this card, or just two? I don't have unlimited funds, and I want to have as few unused copies of high-price cards as possible so as not to feel like I'm wasting my hard-earned dollars. The blue decks I'm running are UR Delver and Mono Blue Merfolk, and I may put together a UB Faeries deck when I have the funds, so right now, it only goes into one of my decks. However, the deck it's going to, UR Delver, is the closest I have to being tourney-worthy.

2. Scalding Tarn and its fellow enemy-color fetchlands

Color-fixing is pricey in competitive Magic. Right now, my UR Delver deck uses 2 copies each of Terramorphic Expanse and Evolving Wilds, which are more than enough for the Just for Fun room but are too slow for the high-powered meta of competitive Magic Online. I know I need four of these, but can I possibly get away with half of the common fetchlands and half of the rare fetchlands?

3. Lilianna of the Veil

The most expensive black card in Magic Online, used in Modern, Legacy, and Classic. Lily dies often enough (yielding card advantage in the process) that it's quite practical to have four copies of her. I have two black decks which are quite powerful in the Just for Fun room but get demolished by "real" decks: Mono Black Vampires and Mono Black Rogues. They're basically tribal versions of Suicide Black. Should I even bother getting Lily or should I pour my resources into the much more affordable UR Delver?

4. Bitterblossom

Not as pricey as Lily, though I'm not sure if it's practical to run four copies. I have little personal experience with this card, and all I know is that it is a powerful addition to Faeries or other black aggro decks.

That's all for now. Thanks in advance for your replies!