MTG Salvation

I really see more impetus now for a 3rd party organizer/sanctioning body. they are banning the wrong cards when answers exist to put a stop to combos that will always be around. ie counterspell, etc.
I'm so losing faith in wotc to manage their own product and it's play

I had a novel idea that could gain wotc a huge amount of sales and help the limited supply of expensive cards in vintage/legacy.
what if they randomly put a chase reprint in boosters. limited printing, but making crazy sales of the current set. the expeditions in boosters aren't standard legal, and this would be no different.

on the other hand. WPN will stop being attractive to LGS and who knows another ssnctioning body is born. just as in any sport. there are leagues and tournaments organized by different orgs with slightly different rules.
I do think MTG will outlive wizards. its unique in tcg's. it will be collectible as long as there is a fan base. magic is bigger than wotc and they are alienating too many in love with the game.

Im not up on the law, but isn't it 7 years after a copyright isn't renewed it falls into public domain? ha. a new company takes over printing cards and life is good haha

"I'm splashing C" in print and I would say colorless when talking. we'll get used to it...

Quote from Ashiok »

82 pages of arguments and discussion just for one of the very first theories that showed up to be correct. I imagine what is going on in the internal dialogue of the minds of people here on this topic:

"Really, 82 pages... was it worth it? Was it? WAS IT?"

"Yes"

"Cool"

yes! it was so worth it, even tho I was among the losing theories' factions. I enjoyed maybe 25 pages of the 80+ lol

yeah standard is just a money pit when you can buy 5 booster boxes and still not have enough playsets for a strong competitive deck. those decks start at about $600 and if you need to fine-tune weekly for your local meta, think its more like 800.

you have to have a fun reason to play magic. tournaments are fun but the cost in any format is prohibitive.
EDH is probably the best way to have a long term good time with mtg. kitchen table magic too. FNM (here) is not cheap either if you want to win half your games.
I remember Hatred and suicide black costing under 300. many staple uncommon and commons. Urza block decks also were easy to build cheaply just from a couple booster boxes and they could hang with T1 decks.

But I'm not hear to cry about the cost.
wizards needs to enhance the player experience. little perks, that are cheap like artwork, promo cards instead of mythic rarity at that slot. work with LGS to provide great prizes at no cost to the lgs.

also they should recognize that legacy are the hardcore players with the largest collections, the people that are loyal to the game since forever. alienate them and watch the the slow demise of the game

you'd like to archive the game after the match for possible study? If you put the notes away after a match that's fine.

it'd get very complex to accurately use notation for each action in a game and bog play down? you might have 5 actions during a single turn our more!
it works for chess with only limited pieces and squares. 1. e4 c5 2. nf3 g6 etc

I don't know why digital recording isn't allowed at serious events. every other sport is. It could only educate players and improve gameplay


on a side note. I always thought MTG as sort of a mix of chess, Stratego and poker all in one

the Eldrazi should be getting desperate at how the battle is going and maybe enhanced effects that deal with exile... better processors or that work differently

for Standard, 4x Drana in any Bx deck Gideon is a 5/5 for 4 and the emblem off the rip = big money card. Abzan allies will be strong. I don't think Ulamog will get out often. you'll include 1of but I think most people won't want to wait for the 10cc to play or really be a thing to invest in multiples?
Overall the mythics are pretty good. Ob Nixilis, thumbs up... Kiora (artwork omg she's hot!)

I think you'd get about 75 Mythics in a case I think?
2 or 3 play sets of the best cards would be good, especially if you dont need 3 play sets and can sell off quickly to defray the cost.

waitlands lol

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Table of contents:

• 1 – Cardtags
• 1a – [card]-tag
• 1b – [cardimg]-tag
• 1c – [cards]-tag
• 1d – [deck]-tag
• 1e – [mana]-tag and other mana symbols
• 2 – The Post Editor Tags
• 2a – [list]-tag and [numlist]-tag
• 2b – [size]-tag
• 2c – [color]-tag
• 2d – [spoiler]-tag
• 3 – The Hidden Tags
• 3a – [noparse]-tag
• 3b – [anchor]-tag and [alink]-tag
• 3c – [youtube]-tag
• 3d – [tab]-tag and [space]-tag
• 3e – [box]-tag and [boxvar]-tag
• 3f – [float]-tag
• 3g – [wiki]-tag
• 3h – [hr]-tag
• 3i – [font]-tag

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1 – Cardtags

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It's recommended that you use cardtags on MTG Salvation to make discussion of deck lists and individual cards easier. Cardtags are tags you can put around card names or around complete deck lists, which makes the image of the card pop up when you hover your mouse over the card name. The card name also turns into a link you can click on for additional information about oracle wording, price, other printings, and so on.

Fortunately, cardtags are quite easy, and in this tutorial I'll explain all you need to know about these handy little things!

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1a – [card]-tag

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If you want to cardtag an individual card, you can just put [card] directly before and [/card] directly after the card name.

Example:
will turn into . Pretty simple stuff.
Do note, of course, that you need to accurately type the card name - [card]Wooly Thoctar[/card] will not link to Woolly Thoctar, [card]Islands[/card] will not link to Island, and [card]Squee[/card] will not link to Squee, Goblin Nabob.

There are various other things you can do with the card tag as well. If you want to link to a card from a specific set (the default is the newest set it has been printed in), you can do that.

Example:
will turn into .

You can also cardtag indirectly, in that you can make any text into a cardtag for any given card.

Example:
will turn into .

You can even combine the two.

Example:
will turn into .

You can also use the [c]-tag in place of the [card]-tag. These are completely interchangeable.

For reference, here is a list of the set names you need to use for the cardtags to recognize them (for example, "Alpha" won't do; you need to write "Limited Edition Alpha"):

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1b – [cardimg]-tag

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This is a very useful tag if you want to post, say, the contents of a booster pack, as it allows you skip the annoying find-image-then-copy-paste-using-image-tags part, and instead just let the cardtags to do the work for you.

Example:

will turn into:


Just like with the [card]-tag, you can also specify which version of the card you want to display.

Example:

will turn into:

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1c – [cards]-tag

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The [cards]-tag allows you to easily cardtag a list of cards.

Example:

will turn into:


As you can see, there are a few things to note here:

1. Numbers and numbers followed by Xs won't break the cardtags. However, if you write x2 instead of 2x, for example, you will mess up the tags.
2. The card link stops when the sentence is completed, or is interrupted by parentheses, brackets and dashes. This means you should use these if you want to include comments in the card list. Note that braces - { } - won't work.
3. Other tags (like bold, italics or underline) in the middle of the [cards]-tag will break up the tag.

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1d – [deck]-tag

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If you're posting a full decklist, it's recommended that you use the [deck]-tag. The [deck]-tags tag all the cards between them, and make your deck show up as a pretty box that gives a more professional look to your decklist. Using the [deck]-tags is quite easy. You just need to put [deck] before and [/deck] directly after your decklist, and all the card names in that list will be automatically linked.

Example:

will turn into:


Neat-o!

Additionally, you can title your decklist (the default is [username]'s deck).

Example:
would in this case turn into .

You can also add section names. All you need to do is have it immediately before a section (say, lands) and don't write a number in front.

Example:

which will turn into:


Another thing: The same rules apply to the [deck]-tag as to the [cards]-tag, namely:

1. 1 or 1x will work, x1 will not.
2. Use parentheses, brackets or dashes if you want to add comments to individual cards.
3. Other tags inside the [deck]-tag will break it.

Also, do note that you'll need to put a number in front of all cards in your list, otherwise those cards won't show up in the decklist at all. So even if you're making a Commander decklist with only one of every card, you still have to type "1" in front of all cards in your list!

Lastly, see those icons in the top right corner?

• is a quick link to buying the cards in the deck on TCGPlayer.com.
• lets you download the decklist in Apprentice-format.
• lets you download the decklist in OCTGN-format (Online Card and Tabletop Gaming Network).
• lets you download the decklist in Magic Online-format.

Sometimes the latter three won't work until you refresh the page.

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1e – [mana]-tag and other mana symbols

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Manatags exist to make your post aesthetically pleasing, and is particularly crucial in the Custom Card Creation forums. Manatags turn letters into colored mana symbols and numbers into colorless mana symbols.

Example:
will turn into .
You can also get other specialty symbols this way using the mana tags:

Anything else will result in the planechase symbol. For instance:

If you need to make hybrid/phyrexian mana symbols, you need to use icons. Here are the codes:

:SYMWG: or :SYMGW: =
:SYMRW: or :SYMWR: =
And so on.
:SYM2G: =
You get the gist.

:SYMPW: =
:SYMPU: =
:SYMPB: =
:SYMPR: =
:SYMPG: =

You can also just hit the smiley button and then "MTG" for a full gallery of various symbols, including guild symbols ( , etc) and various other mana symbols.

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2 – The Post Editor Tags

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The post editor tags are the common ones that you have access to via the podt editor, i.e:

These generally do not require a whole lot of explanation, but I will still select a few of them to talk about.

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2a – [list]-tag and [numlist]-tag

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We have two different list-tags: one that creates bullet points (•), and one that creates numbers. You'll have to surround what you'll turn into a list with the appropriate list-tags, and immediately before each point on the list, add [*].

Example:
will turn into .
You can also nest list-tags. You just put complete list tags within another list tag.

Example:
will turn into .
(there is an extra line break that occurs after the list; this is just a quirk that is a part of the tags for the time being)

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2b – [size]-tag

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The [size]-tag does not really require any additional explanation, but I wanted to add it just to give a visual example of each possible text size. We have seven text sizes in total, and you choose the appropriate one by wrapping the text in [size=X][/size], where X is the desired text size.

This is size 1.

This is size 2.

This is size 3.

This is size 4.

This is size 5.

This is size 6.

This is size 7. Whelp!

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2c – [color]-tag

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You can use [color]-tags to format your text with the color of your choice. You can, of course, choose [color=blue] or [color=darkgreen] or the like, but you could also be more specific by using HTML color codes.

Example:
will turn into .
You can get an assortment of HTML color codes from websites such as this one. Remember to use the hashtag, or it will not parse.

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2d – [spoiler]-tag

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[spoiler]-tags are used primarily to either hide information from those who might not want to see it (like the ending to a movie), or simply to make a block of text not take so much space on the screen.

Example:
will turn into .
You can also leave the spoilers themselves blank and/or nest them.
Example:
will turn into .

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3 – The Hidden Tags

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These are the tags that you won't find shortcuts to in the post editor; you'll have to already know them to use them. And that's what I'm here for, so here are the tags that you can use to give your thread just that little extra.

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3a – [noparse]-tag

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I can tell you right away that the [noparse]-tag has been the most useful tag in making this tutorial. What it does is quite simply to disable all tags surrounded by them.

Example:
will turn into .
Basically, nothing happened. And that's the entire point. So if you, like me, are in need of a handy tool to make a tutorial thread, look no further.

I will note that smilies will work in spite of [noparse]-tags. You can still get around this, however, should you wish to. Let's do some cheating.

Example:
will turn into .
On the other hand, had you used the [noparse]-tag, this would have happened:
turns into .
As you can see, it doesn't work. So you need to use some dummy tag to break up the smily tag. I prefer the [size]-tag; using something like the [color]-tag will technically work, but due to skins, it is not recommended. But for the [size]-tag, you need to insert nonsense into the tag, as you can't actually use it to replicate the forum's default text size, which is somewhere between 2 and 3. Using [size=initial] leaves it at the initial size.

So there you go. A bit of a corner case tag, but when it's useful, it's really useful.

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3b – [anchor]-tag and [alink]-tag

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This section is a 2-for-1, as these two tags are very much intertwined. [anchor]-tags create points within a thread that you can link to with the [alink]-tag. This is, of course, particularly useful when you have a very long post that you'd like to be a bit easier to navigate. For example, a detailed primer thread (or, I suppose, a tutorial thread...).

Example:
will turn into .

So you just call the Anchor something, and then have the Alink look for whatever you called the Anchor. Unsurprisingly, having multiple Anchors with the same name won't work out, so make sure you give them different names. Anchors/Alinks will also work across multiple posts in the same thread, so you can use Alinks in the first post of a thread to look for Anchors in, say, the fourth post of a thread. It will not work if the anchor is on a different page within the same thread, however; it needs to be on the same page.

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3c – [youtube]-tag

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Got an interesting/funny/topical YouTube video you want to share? You can embed it to MTG Salvation using the [youtube]-tag. What you need is the video ID. The video ID is the highlighted part here:

You then take that ID and surround it with [youtube]-tags.

Example:
will turn into .
And that's it.

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3d – [tab]-tag and [space]-tag

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The [tab]-tag and [space]-tag are both tags that exist to create spaces and indents. They have slightly different functionality, which I'll explain here.

Example:
will turn into .
The [tab]-tag is one you don't have to close; just a single [tab] will do the trick. You can also stack [tab]-tags to create bigger indents.

Example:
will turn into .
Other things to note:

• [tab]-tags are not restricted to the beginning of sentences; you can use them in the middle of one to create an extra wide space.
• The [tab]-tag will not create an indent for a whole paragraph.

The [space]-tag is slightly different; it can be used to create indents for a whole paragraph, but it can't be used in the middle of sentences.

Example:
will turn into The [space]-tag uses a variable that you'll need to specify; this refers to how long (in pixels) the indent should be. Additionally, unlike the [tab]-tag, it requires a closing tag (i.e. [/space]).

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3e – [box]-tag and [boxvar]-tag

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The [box]-tag creates a customizable quote-like box that can be filled with text, images, videos, and the like. They're what I've used for all the examples in this tutorial!

Example:
[box]This is a box. There are many like it, but this one is mine.[/box]

will turn into


Additionally, we have the [boxvar]-tag. This is much like [box]; the difference is that you can customize its width. While [box] will be as wide as the longest sentence, you can force the [boxvar] to be of the width you want.

Example:
[boxvar=250]This box is 250 pixels wide.[/boxvar]

will turn into

One neat thing that [boxvar]-tags do is reducing image size. If you have a large image that you surround with [boxvar]-tags, it will automatically scale down to fit the box.

Example:
[boxvar=250][img]http://i.imgur.com/H3Ih5JZ.jpg[/img][/boxvar]

will turn into

The image is fairly large, but gets scaled down substantially. It's pretty neat and easy tool to have one or more images be of the exact size you wish it to.

Box tags can also be used quite effectively with [float]-tags. These will be covered in the next section!

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3f – [float]-tag

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[float]-tag are the best way to include images and such in your post that won't interrupt the overall text flow of the post. You can also use them to essentially create two separate columns. You can do either [float=left] or [float=right].

Example:
will turn into (look to the right)
In these examples, I've used the [box]-tag. This is, I think, by far the best way to use [float]-tags, as it lets you keep better control of the float-tag, and makes it easier to keep separate from the rest of the text. But you don't have to use [box]-tags. If you want to float a lot of text, like a long quote or the like, it would be prudent to use [boxvar]-tags.

Example:
will turn into (again, look to the right)

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3g – [wiki]-tag

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I'll go over this one really quickly, as it's quite simple. The [wiki]-tag is essentially an [url]-tag that only works for Wikipedia articles, but easier to use, as you just need to surround the topic that you think someone else really better read about in [wiki]-tags.

Example:
will turn into .
Very much not difficult.

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3h – [hr]-tag

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I shall not provide visual examples of these, I don't think, as it'd make my delicious formatting look silly. But the [hr]-tag (HR stands for horizontal reference, in case you're wondering) is what makes these lines that stretch across the entire post. The ones I use are [hr]black[/hr], which, unsurprisingly, create black lines. You can also make green ones, red, etc, similar to how the regular [color]; you can use color codes for these as well. [hr]#1F45FC[/hr], for example, would create a line with the color of blue orchid.

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3i – [font]-tag

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One tag that you might think is in the post editor, but isn't, is the [font]-tag. This one is, again, very simple. You wrap the tags around the desired area, and choose the font you prefer. Note that the default font on the site is Arial (size 10.5, in case you were curious).

Example:
will turn into
We do not have every single font out there, but the selection is quite substantial. Most fonts that you'll find in Office programs or the like, you'll find here as well. However, keep in mind that your fellow forumites are unlikely to appreciate it if you use the Wingdings font. NNN

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That's all, folks; I hope this tutorial has been helpful!

The new art is on a playmat and the artist seems to think it's from the new set.

I want to introduce you to the Classic Art Token Project. The project has been a year in the making and I'm finally ready to share it with the MTG Salvation community.

Here are the basics of the project:

The project will be launching on Kickstarter on Feb 2, 2016.

The project will include:

• 48 Tokens (Growing up to 108+ with Stretch Goals)
• 5 Playmat designs (Growing up to 9+ with Stretch Goals)
• Package Deals, Uncut Sheets, and tons of Add Ons

The Project page can be found at: www.classicarttokens.com

Here is a small selection of tokens from the full set. If you like the tokens, make sure to back the spread the word. The more support the project receives, the more tokens I can include.

Quote from nightgaunt98c »

Drain life is also there for necro players to both damage opponents and regain life to draw more cards. And with Hypnotic Spectre, duress, mind twist, and more disruption available, no strategy is safe. The card advantage Necropotence provides wins games, plain and simple.

Mind Twist wouldn't be legal in the format, even if Necropoetence was banned, Twist is just too powerful. Personally, the more I talk about the format, the more I want to play it. I think the fact that Necro was so dominant early in Magic's history is clouding peoples perception of it's actual power in this format. I think the second deck I posted is well positioned to deal with a deck running Necro and other decks in the format.

If Wizards wont support the players, then players must take matters into their own hands.

Lets look at the core problems and solutions.

1. Wizards wont provide adequate eternal formats tournaments.

Then its up to players and communities to organize tournaments that reward playing eternal formats. Even if that means unsanctioned proxy-allowable non-WPN endorsed. As long as prizes are attractive and venues accessible.

You can also play Magic without owning a single card using digital software, like Magic Workstation and Cockatrice. Organize paid events for online tournaments with prize support.

2. Reserved list

At this point reserved list is a scapegoat. Its presence and unwillingness to abolish means Wizards never ever cares about accessibility to eternal formats and older cards any more. Wizards would also never reprint older cards in mass quantities to support the player base. So it would behoove players to save energy and money by ignoring Wizards ploy. If they dont want to make money from eternal players, then they dont deserve any.

So play to your hearts content with proxies and online software where Wizards gets no monetary benefit. Encourage new players by teaching them about proxy Magic. Start local non-WPN tournaments to breed community and competition.

I like Magic, a lot. I've played it off and on since the game came out, but I've about had it with Wizards.

They'll make an awesome promo for their horribly unfunctional online money trap, but they aren't printing this as a promo for an FNM or GP?

I've been discussing it with friends, and I think we're just going to boycott sealed product. Many of us didn't buy boxes of OTG because of recent WOTC actions anyway. I like drafting, but if it means hurting WOTC at this point I'll do it. We're going to just buy singles from our LGS, and give WOTC the finger. They don't deserve my dollars currently.

Greatest of card games, terrible company.

Comment Hidden

Offering free hugs to Pod and Twin players.

Comment Hidden

That flavor text is so aggressively graphic
that I have a hard time believing it came from the same people who wrote the OGW text.

Great reprint... hope they make a paper one.