How many people play Magic?

What's your format of choice?

You open your first pack in BSG SOM SOM.

Spine of Ish Sah
Viridian Corrupter
Kuldotha Flamefiend
Piston Sledge
Spread the Sickness
Blightwidow
Phyrexian Rager
Morbid Plunder
Ichor Wellspring
Divine Offering
Blisterstick Shaman
Burn the Impure
Fangren Maurader
Leonin Skyhunter

Gimme your pick order!

I play, but only the sporadic draft with friends. I don't really track the changes, or buy cards with an intent to keep. Also, you lost me when you started using acronyms. =)

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Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].

BSG SOM SOM is the newest draft format.

Mirrodin Besieged, Scars of Mirrodin, Scars of Mirrodin.

Been a long time. Think I kinda got out of it around Ice Age or 4th Edition?

Most memorable MTG moment... A friend of mine almost drew a first turn kill in a tournament - Black Lotus, Channel, but no fireball. He said "screw it" and played Lotus, Channel, Mind Twist (at the time all were restricted in Type 1, but not banned). His opponent resigned.

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KGS 4 kyu - Game Archive - Keyboard Otaku

Wow, that's ridiculous.

I've played semi-competitively for about a year now(I still don't have a playset of Jace, and I don't think I ever will).

And really, being a Go player makes Magic a lot easier. I make less mistakes, I can see mistakes more easily, and the path to improvement is really quite straightforward, imo.

I also just stare blankly whenever people tell me how hard Magic can be and how there are so many different possible plays at many different junctures.

Because I know better.

Wow. I used haven't played this in about 15 years--soon after it was introduced. Your list makes absolutely no sense to me. I think I gave all of my cards to a friend--no doubt some of them would be valuable now.

I think I played from 1994 to 2000. I had two friends I'd play with 4 or 5 days a week, and we all spontaneously stopped play at the same time, and it took us three weeks to register it.

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Occupy Babel!

That's about my story as well. I've probably got around 300 Unlimited Edition cards floating around the house in various piles but I haven't even really thought about it in 10+ years. IMO CCG games can be fun in themselves, but there is just too much overhead in actual costs of cards and keeping current with the inevitable card inflation over time. I'd much rather find something with a fixed set of rules and/or cards and work with that (like the Evangelion CCG) instead of re-learning the game every year (and $200...).

Bruce "What do I do with 5 Wastelands?" Young

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Currently reading: Plutarch, Cerebus, and D&Q 25th Anniversary

epic pack, that's hard...

Lets see, top picks are
Sledge
Wellspring
Flamefiend
Burn the impure

I've never disliked having the sledge, and wellsprings can usually be grabbed pick 2-4.
The Flamefiend is just amazing, but these days I tend toward a faster deck, and the 6 drop is a little too pricey against the others...

so Sledge vs Burn... hmm, I'm inclined to go Burn, but, given all the other great stuff in the pack, I think I'd rather take the artifact and see what the person to my right is pushing.

Deferred color choice ftw!

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Tactics yes, Tact no...

To those of you with old cards which are Legacy staples, like Wasteland, it's definitely a good time to get rid of them. Legacy Tournaments are getting more and more popular, and the prices for cards are skyrocketing.

Sword of Fire and Ice is now worth 60 dollars and still rising. What is this I don't even.



I made the pack on purpose to see what kind of archetypes people like. Do you notice, that it's even got the correct number of Mirran and Phyrexian cards?

I think my pick order would go...

Kuldotha Flamefiend
Spine of Ish Sah
Viridian Corrupter
Piston Sledge
Fangren Marauder(HUGE bias!)
Spread the Sickness
Phyrexian Rager
Blightwidow
Burn the Impure
Blisterstick Shaman
Morbid Plunder
Divine Offering
Leonin Skyhunter
Ichor Wellspring(THAT'S WHERE IT BELONGS, JHIRAD)

To those wondering what we're doing, this is a pack of Mirrodin Besieged. To put the pack in pick order, you look at the pack, and pick what you would pick, first pack, first pick. Then, take that card out, and repeat the process, eventually putting the pack in order of best to worst.

I guess I didn't represent Blue that well here, but it show people their biases when you get to around the midrange. It looks like I favor green and black, while undervaluing White and Red. Ichor Wellspring is a tech card that's pretty much only useful if you're running white or red, so I don't really value it very high.

Hmm, maybe I should nab my brother's Power Nine (or however many). What's a beta Mox or Timewalk go for these days?

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KGS 4 kyu - Game Archive - Keyboard Otaku

I play FNM, when I can, so Standard is my format of choice most often (though I do draft occasionally). I've never pursued the game very competitively, as I am a complete Johnny player ... to the detriment of my deckbuilding.

I have sold off all my cards then rejoined the game twice in my lifetime. I originally started in 94 at the tail end of Legends ... up to just before Ice Age. Sold my duals and any powerful cards I had acquired ... got into it again around the time of Mercadian Masques and again sold just after Mirrodin block. Got in again at the tail of Shadowmoor, and have continued playing casually ever since.

I have an urge to brush off my old MTGO account and see if I have more time to play online, since I only get out about once a month for FNM.

As for your draft picks, I haven't actually done the newest draft format, and I tend to suck at drafting, especially in the current climate. My picks in draft tend towards a slower control build more than anything, which while it can be very powerful and is usually consistent ... I get blown out by bombs or get rushed in the early game making my performance about middling (I do play well, most of the time).

From what I could find...

Beta Emerald: $630
Beta Jet: $1000
Beta Ruby: $1100
Beta Pearl: $650
Beta Sapphire: $950
Beta Lotus: $2400
Beta Walk: $780
Beta Recall: $720
Beta Twister: $700

All in all, around $9000 for a set of Power.

Lemme get this straight, you'd pick a rager over a burn the impure? it's a good card, no doubt, but wellspring has more utility for the draw, (and costs less). Burn is splash-able and goes a long way toward winning the race against infect...

You crazy lee, CRAZY

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Tactics yes, Tact no...

Actually, let me organize it this way, because the color combinations in there are going to force a lot of colors to my left. I'm just going to put a range for each pick.

Kuldotha Flamefiend (1-3)
Spine of Ish Sah (3-5)
Viridian Corrupter (1-3, but I hate being in green, the pack needs to be terrible otherwise)
Piston Sledge (1-3, amazing card, sac engine of choice)
Fangren Marauder (2-5, great card, and I grab them all the time, but I wouldn't go to green for it)
Spread the Sickness (2-4)
Phyrexian Rager (meh, 4-6, it's good, but it's in perfect removal range)
Blightwidow (2-4, I avoid blightwidows, they're great, but usually you're fighting like 3-4 people for infect)
Burn the Impure (1-2, this forces me red in a lot of games, short of an amazing rare)
Blisterstick Shaman (4-6, great, but it won't force the person to my left red, so I can usually let it go for a bit)
Morbid Plunder (5-9, good card, but almost always better ways to get into black)
Divine Offering (5-9, I splash these)
Leonin Skyhunter (4-8, eh, if there's room)
Ichor Wellspring (2-6, disclaimer: I will pick these up on 2 if the pack otherwise sucks, usually I get them 4-5)

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Tactics yes, Tact no...

Rager's a dude, AND a card. Ichor Wellspring sits around until you draw a card to make it into something other than a 2:cycle this piece of garbage.

Rager blocks a Contagious Nim, and you draw off of it. It's NUTS.

Does your Ichor Wellspring block an infect creatures? Naw, didn't think so.

2/2 + card > Silly burn spell.

Also, I've ran 3 colors, and still splashed for Fangren. It's just too good.

Blightwidows don't need to be in an infect deck, just by themselves, they shut down the flier aggro deck. No more 2/2's or 3/3's hitting you each turn. It's like how Giant Spider was insane in M11, Blightwidow is insane in this format.



Also, Solch, I've only been playing for a year, and as such, I've only been collecting for a year. I barely recognize Lotus and Tormod's Crypt.

What are the logistics of selling cards? (As in, do you know how people mail them?)

I played forever ago... had a plains oriented deck... I lost it when when I moved a couple years back though... I barely remember anything about the game now.

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I'm thinking...

Blightwidows don't NEED to be in infect, but if I'm just grabbing them as a blocker, I'd really rather pick something else. (Had an amazing infect deck, brutally fast, got me to the finals of the 8-4, only to lose to certarchs and tumbles, it's kind've turned me off to these guys, and pushed me in a removal-heavy techy direction)

(2/2 + card) / (3 mana) vs ((Lightning bolt to a creature) + 0.5*(lightning bolt to a player))/(2 mana)

I'd say the latter wins hands down

My wellspring re-equips my sledge, cycles, regenerates my slasher, proliferates, grabs me another card through a glint hawk, gives me goblin tokens, nets me card draw when I have artifact removal and I'm facing a deck sans artifacts, gives me a solid, difficult to remove artifact for metalcraft.... vs your puny little 2/2 beatstick

And strictly speaking, there's nothing wrong with a 2-cycle in draft... I've never missed the finals though with a sledge, at least 1 wellspring and a burn the impure (and a mortarpod, god those are amazing)

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Tactics yes, Tact no...