My fiancee and I went to Commander Night again last night, and a friend of mine, HM, decided he'd come along. He's been playing since 1994, and has an extensive collection, but the bulk of said collection is in storage in Vancouver. So, I loaned him my Kaalia of the Vast deck and we headed downtown.
We got two games in, our fourth player being a guy I'll call C, who's a pretty cool guy. He's a psychology student that looks and dresses like Duff McKeegan, which is sort of random, but I'm a Guns n' Roses fan, and the world needs more psychologists/psychiatrists that people can connect to. The four of us had a couple of great games, and it was an excellent opportunity to relax. C won the first game with combo Karn, and I won the second by exiling Venser, the Sojourner off the top with Chandra, Pyromaster and casting him with my last 5 mana. Unblockable for just enough to prevent HM from winning, and then I finished off C the next turn.
So, it was a good evening, as many of the usual "problem people" weren't there. Which was the main topic of discussion when HM, my Fiancee, and I went to a nearby Starbucks for a coffee after Commander Night.
We regaled HM with my fiancee's experience some weeks ago, where she was cheated out of a likely win. This led to a discussion about a distinct lack of diversity in the local Commander community, and of the community as a whole here.
The community here is disproportionately large for such a small town. This is largely due to our proximity to three large cities that often get GPs and PTs, and the presence of a major university. But for such a large community, my fiancee is the only regular Commander player, and there are maybe half a dozen women that play Magic on even a semi-regular basis in public, spread across three stores.
This isn't indicative of a healthy community.
I'd say there are several factors in this. The first would be the misogynistic attitude of some of the more "neckbeardy" players. Calling female players "bitches," making kitchen-related comments, and a general attitude of condescension isn't exactly the way to encourage more women to come out to things like Commander Night. I'd say getting hit on by these same people in the next breath can't be helping, either.
Logically, many local female players have joined the local chapter of the Lady Planeswalker Society, or LPS. My understanding of the group is that they're a somewhat exclusive club that encourages women to play in a welcoming and safe environment. Some chapters allow men, the one here does not. They tend to meet at private residences or bars/restaurants to cube draft or play Commander, and avoid all of the shops in town. While I'd agree that this solution makes sense, it's pretty sad. A large demographic of Magic players doesn't feel safe or welcome to play in public, and that says a lot about the local community.Closing themselves off and forming an exclusive group is the unfortunate second problem; how do we reach out as a community?
And while the problem exists elsewhere, this is the worst I've ever seen it. In Kingston, the local meta was more welcoming; I recall a few female regulars that consistently placed well at FNM. And I had the opportunity to play Magic in Hawaii for the Born of the Gods prerelease, and there were as many women playing as there were men. Women who were by all accounts highly attractive, but I didn't hear of one instance where a female player was made to feel uncomfortable or unwelcome because of her gender. There, it was par for the course, and the community there was thriving.
I don't understand why the community here is as unwelcoming as it is. The province in which we live is well known for being liberal and progressive, as is the city. So why isn't our Magic community that way? There are only 2 or 3 individuals that tend to be excessively negative toward women, and while I agree that one such person is too many, surely this group can't be the sole reason that most women don't want to play in public here.
It's hard to say. There are players here that rub everyone the wrong way, and maybe the two groups combined are enough to damage the community. As a Magic player that solely plays Commander, I have to deal with much less crap than a female player that plays the same amount. I might have to deal with an annoying trade guy, that can't grasp that people will trade with him when the game ends. I might have to deal with the guy that will wander off in the middle of a game to go next door for pizza. I might even have to deal with the highschool kid that has a super original 5-Colour Planeswalker deck he "invented" that's "so awesome." But a female player has to deal with all of the regular problems a community faces, plus the comments, catcalls, and comtempt a select few reserve for those with the second X-chromosome.
I can see why it might be too much.
Hell, me presuming to guess at the problem might even be an issue.
But how to repair the damage?
My main goal is to grow the Magic community, and by extension, the Commander meta here in town. I'd love to see more players coming out every Tuesday to cast giant creatures and ridiculous spells. I'm not saying they must be women, but if we have female players playing Commander anyway, why not try to mend the rift?
It will be a challenge, but with the right ambassador, and getting on track as group by not tolerating intolerance, maybe we can get there.
Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Tuesday, 16 December 2014
Introspection
Well, that week flew by.
The holidays are time of reflection for me at the best of times. For years, my mother had a needlepoint... thing that she'd hang on her wall around the Christmas season every year that read:
Never a Christmas morning,
Never an old year ends
when someone thinks of someone
Old days, old times, old friends.
That's something that's stuck with me, a perennial reminder that the past can bring you a timeless joy , thoughts of all the times and people that have helped you get to where you are. And this year in particular, it means a lot to me.
I started this blog as a way to write about Magic, and gaming in general, as way to stay connected to those hobbies when time, frame of mind, and other factors were keeping me from playing. It's since turned into a memoir of all the times I've had with my crew playing these games, and today won't be much different.
I've always been kind of a fluff/flavour guy. This really came to light when we were playing 40k in university. I'd been playing 40k since ~2002, and played in the Eye of Terror campaign (mostly fighting the T'au- nowhere near the damn Eye of Terror). So when it caught on at RMC, I was thrilled, since we could run a campaign.
I'm not a very good 40k player. Really, I'm not. I built a mechanized Black Templars army that could compete, but was always led by a tricked out Marshal named Jenkins that cost way too many points. He could usually recoup thos points, but I had to get him stuck in. Usually a problem. I'd get so needlessly worked up over the game. I regret that. But in spite of that, there were some fun times, too. Like when Jenkins finally got to fight Abaddon the Despoiler, only to have the latter commit seppuku in the first round of combat. Or when the 2IC of CB's Imperial Guard army was the last man standing in an entire sector, literally surrounded by Necron Monoliths. Lt Guns was a bad-ass motherfucker. I should say "is;" I think he survived that battle. So. Many. Medals.
Or when CB called down a orbital strike on his Colonel's coordinates, after forming a single file with the eponymous Colonel at the furthest end of the line from the signaller. And having those 2 be the only surviors of the blast. Or when every single goddamn Vindicare assassin ever could only roll ones to hit. Motherfucker needs 2+, always missed. Elite sniper, my ass.
Writing up those battles as short stories/journal entries was a blast, and a hell of an opportunity to flex my creative writing muscles.
I've always found that flavour and fluff add a lot of value to the game. The same holds true for Magic, but mostly because you can't make heads or tails of it sometimes. For example, at the last Commander Night, I had a Clever Impersonator pretend to be a Moat. Made for a lot of laughs (at least, until everyone else realized they were screwed). Or having two cards representing the same character in play. Or having two players control Sorin Markov, who sets both players to ten life. It makes him seem like a vindictive, selfish asshole (which might not be wrong). Magic is a game in which game mechanics usually trump flavour, and the results are hilarious.
Brings back fond memories of games past, and of the good times.
The holidays are time of reflection for me at the best of times. For years, my mother had a needlepoint... thing that she'd hang on her wall around the Christmas season every year that read:
Never a Christmas morning,
Never an old year ends
when someone thinks of someone
Old days, old times, old friends.
That's something that's stuck with me, a perennial reminder that the past can bring you a timeless joy , thoughts of all the times and people that have helped you get to where you are. And this year in particular, it means a lot to me.
I started this blog as a way to write about Magic, and gaming in general, as way to stay connected to those hobbies when time, frame of mind, and other factors were keeping me from playing. It's since turned into a memoir of all the times I've had with my crew playing these games, and today won't be much different.
I've always been kind of a fluff/flavour guy. This really came to light when we were playing 40k in university. I'd been playing 40k since ~2002, and played in the Eye of Terror campaign (mostly fighting the T'au- nowhere near the damn Eye of Terror). So when it caught on at RMC, I was thrilled, since we could run a campaign.
I'm not a very good 40k player. Really, I'm not. I built a mechanized Black Templars army that could compete, but was always led by a tricked out Marshal named Jenkins that cost way too many points. He could usually recoup thos points, but I had to get him stuck in. Usually a problem. I'd get so needlessly worked up over the game. I regret that. But in spite of that, there were some fun times, too. Like when Jenkins finally got to fight Abaddon the Despoiler, only to have the latter commit seppuku in the first round of combat. Or when the 2IC of CB's Imperial Guard army was the last man standing in an entire sector, literally surrounded by Necron Monoliths. Lt Guns was a bad-ass motherfucker. I should say "is;" I think he survived that battle. So. Many. Medals.
Or when CB called down a orbital strike on his Colonel's coordinates, after forming a single file with the eponymous Colonel at the furthest end of the line from the signaller. And having those 2 be the only surviors of the blast. Or when every single goddamn Vindicare assassin ever could only roll ones to hit. Motherfucker needs 2+, always missed. Elite sniper, my ass.
Writing up those battles as short stories/journal entries was a blast, and a hell of an opportunity to flex my creative writing muscles.
I've always found that flavour and fluff add a lot of value to the game. The same holds true for Magic, but mostly because you can't make heads or tails of it sometimes. For example, at the last Commander Night, I had a Clever Impersonator pretend to be a Moat. Made for a lot of laughs (at least, until everyone else realized they were screwed). Or having two cards representing the same character in play. Or having two players control Sorin Markov, who sets both players to ten life. It makes him seem like a vindictive, selfish asshole (which might not be wrong). Magic is a game in which game mechanics usually trump flavour, and the results are hilarious.
Brings back fond memories of games past, and of the good times.
Tuesday, 9 December 2014
Loyalty
Loyalty is strange in the gaming world, as it's most often associated with one's patronage of a given store. Yesterday, I wrote about the LGS I learned to play at likely closing its doors. That same day, I received an online order from Channel Fireball. Is online shopping hurting brick-and-mortar stores? It can. But sometimes we have no choice.
Why does one order online?
For myself, I tend to order from an online vendor if I can't get a given single at any of the shops in town. While this will sometimes include the two stores I tend to find suboptimal, I consider myself a supporter of small business, and the more LGS we have here, the more events we get. So, as a rule, if I can find it in a shop in town, I will buy there; the caveat being that the price of the card in question has to be within ~$5 for cards less expensive, and within ~$10 for harder to find cards. Your rule might vary, but many folks I talk to are comfortable with similar rules. A few bucks is worth that instant gratification, and you'd likely have to pay that difference in shipping anyway.
I run into a problem, personally, when shops charge obscene rates for cards. I understand that they have overhead costs. I understand that many retailers fall into the Star City Games trap, wherein they believe they can charge the same amount of money that the largest card retailer in the world can. But when a shop has 20, 30, 100 dollar discrepancies?
I tend to take my business to the internet.
Does this make me an unloyal customer? I think the relationship between and LGS and its clientele is a little more complicated than that. Loyalty works both ways. The best shop in my town tends to use SCG for pricing, which can be a problem. I shop there in part because they tend to price a lot of their foils and high end cards (my targets) to sell, rather than what they could charge. They're willing to trade stuff I want for stuff they need (and they give me a better rate than most; usually closer to 100% than the 75% most others get). And due to the money I spend there, I usually get breaks- free singles, sometimes they'll cover the taxes. We've built a relationship, this store and I. I pay a small premium, they make it worth my while to come back. As such, I go in several times a week and seldom leave empty-handed. An example? Before a big Modern event, I went in and traded a set of Jittes, a set of Noble Hierarchs (somewhat regret that now, but keep reading), and a couple Modern and Legacy playable foils I wasn't using for a Beta Badlands. The Badlands isn't in perfect shape, but it's a piece of Magic history. They could have asked about $800 for it, but for me, they let it go for $526 in trade. I keep going back.
Every once in a while, this shop doesn't have what I'm after. It's not common, but it happens. Before I hit the internet, I check out the other two shops. One shop seldom deals in foils, so I don't go there often. Which is a plus, because the place smells like boiled ass and is packed with YGO and Pokemon players. This wouldn't be an issue if it weren't 9-year old kids more often than not. That leaves one store.
This place had a lot going for it. It's bright, well ventilated, has a window in the back, has laminate flooring (carpet can absorb smell), and lots of free parking. I helped in a couple small ways to get the store going, and was even offered a job there. I had to decline, because of my day job, but it would have been cool. At least until recently.
I mentioned earlier that they're the most expensive place in town for a lot of their gaming supplies, and their prices on their singles isn't competitive, either. They strictly adhere to SCG prices, which again, isn't a huge problem on its own. I use SCG prices for trading; noone I've ever traded with has had an issue there. But SCG doesn't update their prices as often as other online sellers, like CFB. This can be a problem when trying to buy Standard and Modern cards from shops that take SCG prices as the gospel. $80 for a foil Garruk, Apex Predator, when I can get one for $40 shipped online? Yeah, no.
Loyalty comes from cultivating a give-and-take relationship with a LGS. If a shop is overcharging and even borderline hostile when you happen to mention how expensive things are in realtive terms, you shouldn't feel obliged to spend your money there, even if they're the only game in town. It would suck if you find yourself facing the only store in a reasonable distance closing, given that LGS tend to be a nexus for people to congregate and play together, but only you can decide if that service is worth it to you. I'm lucky, in a way, to have three or more stores within a fair distance, and I understand that not everyone is as fortunate. But for my dollar, I'd prefer not to be price-gouged, even if the bad shop was the only place I could shop and play at.
Now, with regard to the shop I used to play at closing, it has more to do with circumstances that make it impossible for that store to compete with another in the area that can afford to sell at wholesale prices. It's not that applicable to what I wrote above, save for the fact that competetion can hurt stores as much as it helps you. I'd encourage people to patronize a local shop rather than shop online, but only if it makes sense for you to do so.
Why does one order online?
For myself, I tend to order from an online vendor if I can't get a given single at any of the shops in town. While this will sometimes include the two stores I tend to find suboptimal, I consider myself a supporter of small business, and the more LGS we have here, the more events we get. So, as a rule, if I can find it in a shop in town, I will buy there; the caveat being that the price of the card in question has to be within ~$5 for cards less expensive, and within ~$10 for harder to find cards. Your rule might vary, but many folks I talk to are comfortable with similar rules. A few bucks is worth that instant gratification, and you'd likely have to pay that difference in shipping anyway.
I run into a problem, personally, when shops charge obscene rates for cards. I understand that they have overhead costs. I understand that many retailers fall into the Star City Games trap, wherein they believe they can charge the same amount of money that the largest card retailer in the world can. But when a shop has 20, 30, 100 dollar discrepancies?
I tend to take my business to the internet.
Does this make me an unloyal customer? I think the relationship between and LGS and its clientele is a little more complicated than that. Loyalty works both ways. The best shop in my town tends to use SCG for pricing, which can be a problem. I shop there in part because they tend to price a lot of their foils and high end cards (my targets) to sell, rather than what they could charge. They're willing to trade stuff I want for stuff they need (and they give me a better rate than most; usually closer to 100% than the 75% most others get). And due to the money I spend there, I usually get breaks- free singles, sometimes they'll cover the taxes. We've built a relationship, this store and I. I pay a small premium, they make it worth my while to come back. As such, I go in several times a week and seldom leave empty-handed. An example? Before a big Modern event, I went in and traded a set of Jittes, a set of Noble Hierarchs (somewhat regret that now, but keep reading), and a couple Modern and Legacy playable foils I wasn't using for a Beta Badlands. The Badlands isn't in perfect shape, but it's a piece of Magic history. They could have asked about $800 for it, but for me, they let it go for $526 in trade. I keep going back.
Every once in a while, this shop doesn't have what I'm after. It's not common, but it happens. Before I hit the internet, I check out the other two shops. One shop seldom deals in foils, so I don't go there often. Which is a plus, because the place smells like boiled ass and is packed with YGO and Pokemon players. This wouldn't be an issue if it weren't 9-year old kids more often than not. That leaves one store.
This place had a lot going for it. It's bright, well ventilated, has a window in the back, has laminate flooring (carpet can absorb smell), and lots of free parking. I helped in a couple small ways to get the store going, and was even offered a job there. I had to decline, because of my day job, but it would have been cool. At least until recently.
I mentioned earlier that they're the most expensive place in town for a lot of their gaming supplies, and their prices on their singles isn't competitive, either. They strictly adhere to SCG prices, which again, isn't a huge problem on its own. I use SCG prices for trading; noone I've ever traded with has had an issue there. But SCG doesn't update their prices as often as other online sellers, like CFB. This can be a problem when trying to buy Standard and Modern cards from shops that take SCG prices as the gospel. $80 for a foil Garruk, Apex Predator, when I can get one for $40 shipped online? Yeah, no.
Loyalty comes from cultivating a give-and-take relationship with a LGS. If a shop is overcharging and even borderline hostile when you happen to mention how expensive things are in realtive terms, you shouldn't feel obliged to spend your money there, even if they're the only game in town. It would suck if you find yourself facing the only store in a reasonable distance closing, given that LGS tend to be a nexus for people to congregate and play together, but only you can decide if that service is worth it to you. I'm lucky, in a way, to have three or more stores within a fair distance, and I understand that not everyone is as fortunate. But for my dollar, I'd prefer not to be price-gouged, even if the bad shop was the only place I could shop and play at.
Now, with regard to the shop I used to play at closing, it has more to do with circumstances that make it impossible for that store to compete with another in the area that can afford to sell at wholesale prices. It's not that applicable to what I wrote above, save for the fact that competetion can hurt stores as much as it helps you. I'd encourage people to patronize a local shop rather than shop online, but only if it makes sense for you to do so.
With a Big Iron on His Hip
Last night, I was talking to my fiancee about what deck she was going to bring down to Commander Night tomorrow. She decided on Anafenza, as she finds it fun to do all of the things that Jhoira can't, and her Narset deck isn't 100% done yet. She turned the question around on me, and I was a little confused. I'd planned to play my 5-Colour deck.
Apparently, she feels I shouldn't.
Her reasoning? The deck wins a lot, and she doesn't want people to be afraid to play with us.
That kind of got me thinking about a couple of things. What did the deck say about me, and should I mix it up to level the field a little?
I mentioned in an earlier post that I foiled out my 5-Colour deck; at least, as much as I can. All told, the deck would cost me about ten grand to replace. For a little perspective, it's worth about the same as the 2007 Nissan Sentra we drive. I play the deck a lot to get some value out of the cards, and never gave much thought to what others must think. I think this is mostly because the deck can combo out, can close out the game, but usually doesn't. I win maybe 50% of the time, and know that the deck isn't frightening.
But it seemed as though some others did feel this way. There was a definite and unintended psychological factor to presenting a deck as visually impressive as mine seems to be. Now, the point of this post isn't to brag. I focused so much on tuning the deck for my own enjoyment that I never bothered to consider the opinion of anyone else. No one in my original playgroup ever even cared; some of them undoubtedly thought going out of my way for foils and original printings was stupid. They weren't intimidated, and on a good day could appreciate the aesthetic aspect, but it never made much of a difference.
But, in the here and now, it looks like I'll have to dial back how much I use the deck, and play something else sometimes.
Anyone else ever have to play another deck, cut a card, or change how they did business to keep playing? Share your stories!
Apparently, she feels I shouldn't.
Her reasoning? The deck wins a lot, and she doesn't want people to be afraid to play with us.
That kind of got me thinking about a couple of things. What did the deck say about me, and should I mix it up to level the field a little?
I mentioned in an earlier post that I foiled out my 5-Colour deck; at least, as much as I can. All told, the deck would cost me about ten grand to replace. For a little perspective, it's worth about the same as the 2007 Nissan Sentra we drive. I play the deck a lot to get some value out of the cards, and never gave much thought to what others must think. I think this is mostly because the deck can combo out, can close out the game, but usually doesn't. I win maybe 50% of the time, and know that the deck isn't frightening.
But it seemed as though some others did feel this way. There was a definite and unintended psychological factor to presenting a deck as visually impressive as mine seems to be. Now, the point of this post isn't to brag. I focused so much on tuning the deck for my own enjoyment that I never bothered to consider the opinion of anyone else. No one in my original playgroup ever even cared; some of them undoubtedly thought going out of my way for foils and original printings was stupid. They weren't intimidated, and on a good day could appreciate the aesthetic aspect, but it never made much of a difference.
But, in the here and now, it looks like I'll have to dial back how much I use the deck, and play something else sometimes.
Anyone else ever have to play another deck, cut a card, or change how they did business to keep playing? Share your stories!
Monday, 8 December 2014
More in Store
I heard from DK yesterday that the shop in Kingston where we all used to play, and where I learned to play, could be closing its doors forever in the coming months.
There are a lot of reasons for this decision, by the sound of things, but it's still something of a shock. I'll admit, it's been more than three years since I've set foot in the place, but that shop is the standard by which I measure all others. They had a lounge area, where anyone could just come in and play video games, lots of table space, a good selection of product. The place was clean, run by genuinely good people, and a lot of effort was made to support local artists and attract people involved in the comic book industry to the shop.
I've never found another shop quite like it.
I had to move in 2011, to a city about as far as you can get from Kingston while remaining in Canada. The stores in my locale are very much hit and miss. One is quite consistently good, if occasionally smelly. I go there 3-4 times a week, and play in their weekly Commander Night. They're right downtown, so it's maybe 8 minutes away by bus. It's probably the best store in the area.
The other two stores are pretty bad. The one that's been around longer largely caters to Yu-Gi-Oh, is in a rough part of town, and smells awful. The owner often overcharges, and will ignore you for 15-20 minutes while trying to trade kids out of valuable YGO cards. I go there very, very rarely, and only if they might have something I can't find anywhere else.
The last store in the area opened this past summer, in June. We found it on online, and decided to go check it out, since it's only a 5 minute drive away. It was a promising store; the owner is ex-Navy, and while his plan was to deal primarily in sports memorbilia, he figured Magic would help keep him afloat. I donated almost all of my bulk commons and uncommons, which he mostly just gave kids to get them into the game. He was doing things right, at the start; for packs and most other things, he was the cheapest place in town.
But he experienced too much success too quickly. Soon, he became the most expensive place in town for deck boxes, sleeves, and singles. He ordered the new Commander decks, and promptly charged at least $45 dollars each, more for the red and white ones. Not surprisingly, most of them are still on his shelf. It's a damn shame, but when I can get my dollar to go further elsewhere, I'm going to. And anyone that knows me knows that I'm not afraid to spend money on this hobby.
My point in elaborating on all of this is that the store in Kingston, where it all began, did everything right. And they still might not make it.
It's saddening, and hopefully they can be saved.
There are a lot of reasons for this decision, by the sound of things, but it's still something of a shock. I'll admit, it's been more than three years since I've set foot in the place, but that shop is the standard by which I measure all others. They had a lounge area, where anyone could just come in and play video games, lots of table space, a good selection of product. The place was clean, run by genuinely good people, and a lot of effort was made to support local artists and attract people involved in the comic book industry to the shop.
I've never found another shop quite like it.
I had to move in 2011, to a city about as far as you can get from Kingston while remaining in Canada. The stores in my locale are very much hit and miss. One is quite consistently good, if occasionally smelly. I go there 3-4 times a week, and play in their weekly Commander Night. They're right downtown, so it's maybe 8 minutes away by bus. It's probably the best store in the area.
The other two stores are pretty bad. The one that's been around longer largely caters to Yu-Gi-Oh, is in a rough part of town, and smells awful. The owner often overcharges, and will ignore you for 15-20 minutes while trying to trade kids out of valuable YGO cards. I go there very, very rarely, and only if they might have something I can't find anywhere else.
The last store in the area opened this past summer, in June. We found it on online, and decided to go check it out, since it's only a 5 minute drive away. It was a promising store; the owner is ex-Navy, and while his plan was to deal primarily in sports memorbilia, he figured Magic would help keep him afloat. I donated almost all of my bulk commons and uncommons, which he mostly just gave kids to get them into the game. He was doing things right, at the start; for packs and most other things, he was the cheapest place in town.
But he experienced too much success too quickly. Soon, he became the most expensive place in town for deck boxes, sleeves, and singles. He ordered the new Commander decks, and promptly charged at least $45 dollars each, more for the red and white ones. Not surprisingly, most of them are still on his shelf. It's a damn shame, but when I can get my dollar to go further elsewhere, I'm going to. And anyone that knows me knows that I'm not afraid to spend money on this hobby.
My point in elaborating on all of this is that the store in Kingston, where it all began, did everything right. And they still might not make it.
It's saddening, and hopefully they can be saved.
What YGO Could Teach MTG
Modern Masters 2015 was announced yesterday, and the news is troubling.
Like the last Modern Masters, this set will be a limited release. This is good for folks that like exclusives, and pretty bad for everyone else. The MSRP per pack has also climbed, from $6.99 to 9.99, driving the price of the box up. This is to increase the bottom line for stores, which would be fine if many stores weren't charging 15-25 dollars a pack for the last MMA. At these prices, MMA packs can still be had, if not boxes. The reason? No one wants to pay these prices. Feels pretty bad to put down $20 for a pack to treat yo' self and open your 43rd Auriok Salvagers.
I think that's the problem with these sets.
WotC wants all the money for the cards, but they have to put relatively low-quality cards in the set to make for a balanced limited environment. Want me to pay 20 dollars for a random booster pack? Then take a leaf out of Yu-Gi-Oh's book (never thought I'd type that). YGO often has collector's tins that include a promo or two, and a pile of packs. Sometimes, this promo is good, sometimes it's bad, but getting an alternate finish card, a collectable tin, and often packs that are out of circulation is not a bad pickup for about 20 bucks. WotC could do the same thing- print a set full of powerful/desireable reprints, disregard the limited environment. Pick your mythics wisely, including some fan-favourites, but print the foil mythics with alternate art.
Think- how much more M15 would have sold if, like the Priceless Treasures promotion for Zendikar, you had a chance to open an SDCC style planeswalker instead of the standard foil? Keep the standard foils, as some prefer them, but if every so often someone opened a really cool alternate art/style/finish version of a powerful/popular card? Money made. Look up the price of a first-run box of Zendikar. See what I mean?
Building a set not for limited, but to increase the supply of Modern "staples," might be the way to go. To drive demand, print alternate art foils. Maybe one "guaranteed" per booster box, like in hockey card sets. People won't buy them to play sealed, but they'll be collectable/desireable enough pickups that WotC could get away with a $10 MSRP. Build a set with the goal of making Modern more accessable in mind, print 4x as much as MMA (evidence suggests that there was about 3 times as much demand for MMA 2013 as there was supply), market it toward collectors. Alternate art promos will offset the financial impact of reprints on collectors, people trying to buy into Modern will be able to obtain sets of cards without a bank loan, and WotC makes money. Everyone wins but limited players, but Conspiracy 2 can't be far off.
What do you guys think?
Like the last Modern Masters, this set will be a limited release. This is good for folks that like exclusives, and pretty bad for everyone else. The MSRP per pack has also climbed, from $6.99 to 9.99, driving the price of the box up. This is to increase the bottom line for stores, which would be fine if many stores weren't charging 15-25 dollars a pack for the last MMA. At these prices, MMA packs can still be had, if not boxes. The reason? No one wants to pay these prices. Feels pretty bad to put down $20 for a pack to treat yo' self and open your 43rd Auriok Salvagers.
I think that's the problem with these sets.
WotC wants all the money for the cards, but they have to put relatively low-quality cards in the set to make for a balanced limited environment. Want me to pay 20 dollars for a random booster pack? Then take a leaf out of Yu-Gi-Oh's book (never thought I'd type that). YGO often has collector's tins that include a promo or two, and a pile of packs. Sometimes, this promo is good, sometimes it's bad, but getting an alternate finish card, a collectable tin, and often packs that are out of circulation is not a bad pickup for about 20 bucks. WotC could do the same thing- print a set full of powerful/desireable reprints, disregard the limited environment. Pick your mythics wisely, including some fan-favourites, but print the foil mythics with alternate art.
Think- how much more M15 would have sold if, like the Priceless Treasures promotion for Zendikar, you had a chance to open an SDCC style planeswalker instead of the standard foil? Keep the standard foils, as some prefer them, but if every so often someone opened a really cool alternate art/style/finish version of a powerful/popular card? Money made. Look up the price of a first-run box of Zendikar. See what I mean?
Building a set not for limited, but to increase the supply of Modern "staples," might be the way to go. To drive demand, print alternate art foils. Maybe one "guaranteed" per booster box, like in hockey card sets. People won't buy them to play sealed, but they'll be collectable/desireable enough pickups that WotC could get away with a $10 MSRP. Build a set with the goal of making Modern more accessable in mind, print 4x as much as MMA (evidence suggests that there was about 3 times as much demand for MMA 2013 as there was supply), market it toward collectors. Alternate art promos will offset the financial impact of reprints on collectors, people trying to buy into Modern will be able to obtain sets of cards without a bank loan, and WotC makes money. Everyone wins but limited players, but Conspiracy 2 can't be far off.
What do you guys think?
On Vengance and Closure
Lately, I've convinced myself that there's a certain catharsis in seeing people get what they deserve.
I've had the tendency in the last few months, in light of events that transpired over the last year and a bit, to believe it just when someone that's wronged you finally gets a taste of the pain they've inflicted on others.
Which I suppose is why the last Commander Night has me thinking.
A few days ago, I wrote something about a Commander Night at a local store at which my fiancee was made to feel uncomfortable. Elements of this included misogyny, lying, and slight of hand. And so, when the opportunity arose last night for her to beat the living shit out of one of those responsible, I'd have thought she'd have enjoyed it more.
But this wasn't the case.
The guy in question joined our pod as our fourth person. The misogyny was back in full force, but my fiancee's reaction was different- she was impassive, and focused on playing the game. I focused fire on this guy, and eventually came to win both games our pod played. My fiancee had a lot of fun, got to do some cool things, and she claims to have genuinely enjoyed herself. But she didn't go after him, when she clearly could have killed this guy with a giant robot.
But if nothing had changed, why was her outlook so different?
As it turned out, something had changed after all.
She realized that she likely couldn't change this random stranger's comments, but she could change how she took them.
While I admit to some outrage that it was she that had to change, rather than the community becoming less toxic to beigin with, the latter is unlikely enough that it might as well be considered impossible. My fiancee's decision to take the high road and not kill this guy outright and to ignore the vitriol is an admirable one, and I don't know that it's the one I'd have made if I were in her position.
But I might now.
Her thought process? This guy might have the social graces of a turnip, but he, like us, just came to play Magic.
Maybe the people that wrong us on the daily are just trying to get by.
Taking the high road might not be easy, but maybe it's unfair to judge others in such an offhand manner. Perhaps we should give others the benefit of the doubt more often than we do.
Perhaps.
I've had the tendency in the last few months, in light of events that transpired over the last year and a bit, to believe it just when someone that's wronged you finally gets a taste of the pain they've inflicted on others.
Which I suppose is why the last Commander Night has me thinking.
A few days ago, I wrote something about a Commander Night at a local store at which my fiancee was made to feel uncomfortable. Elements of this included misogyny, lying, and slight of hand. And so, when the opportunity arose last night for her to beat the living shit out of one of those responsible, I'd have thought she'd have enjoyed it more.
But this wasn't the case.
The guy in question joined our pod as our fourth person. The misogyny was back in full force, but my fiancee's reaction was different- she was impassive, and focused on playing the game. I focused fire on this guy, and eventually came to win both games our pod played. My fiancee had a lot of fun, got to do some cool things, and she claims to have genuinely enjoyed herself. But she didn't go after him, when she clearly could have killed this guy with a giant robot.
But if nothing had changed, why was her outlook so different?
As it turned out, something had changed after all.
She realized that she likely couldn't change this random stranger's comments, but she could change how she took them.
While I admit to some outrage that it was she that had to change, rather than the community becoming less toxic to beigin with, the latter is unlikely enough that it might as well be considered impossible. My fiancee's decision to take the high road and not kill this guy outright and to ignore the vitriol is an admirable one, and I don't know that it's the one I'd have made if I were in her position.
But I might now.
Her thought process? This guy might have the social graces of a turnip, but he, like us, just came to play Magic.
Maybe the people that wrong us on the daily are just trying to get by.
Taking the high road might not be easy, but maybe it's unfair to judge others in such an offhand manner. Perhaps we should give others the benefit of the doubt more often than we do.
Perhaps.
Wednesday, 3 December 2014
Something Something Staples Something Something Easy Button
When I began playing Commander, I had a couple fat pack boxes full of mostly white cards. Around the same time, the store we frequented in Kingston was offering "Retro Boxes."
These were repacks that were guaranteed a foil rare or mythic, one "good" rare or mythic, 9 other rares, and some number of commons and uncommons. They included cards as far back as revised and were a good mix.
Obviously, I bought a few.
They really were a mixed bag, but for 15 dollars, we got our money's worth; at least, we opened cards that found homes in our decks. CB had a few older cards, but none of the rest of us did, until TB brought some cards out some time later. My first Retro Box had a foil Lich's Mirror and a Revised Balance. After 2 games with Balance, we found out it was banned, and for very good reason. I miss it, but it's probably way too good. I still have it in my binder as a reminder of those early days. Someone else opened a foil Fracturing Gust, which I traded for (DK has a nasty Karn deck, Fracturing Gust blows him out). Some of the foils are memorable, like a Mind's Eye I traded to DK, but I recall very few of the "good" cards.
This is important: "Good" is subjective. "Good" will vary based on your needs.
Look at my Balance- Balance is an awesome card.
So awesome, in fact, that it's banned in Commander.
I'm not complaining- I don't regret these repacks at all. We opened a lot of cards for our decks, built up our collections. But while the guy who built them was correct in his view, it didn't suit my needs; I couldn't play it! So cards that someone else deemed good from their frame of reference weren't good to me.
So let's talk about "staples."
The concept of staples in Commander is a somewhat broken one. Almost every week I see Reddit threads or posts on the WotC forums wherein players ask for "staples" or "must-run" cards of a given colour combination.
Staples are cards that popular opinion dictates you should run in a deck with X characteristics, where X is Commander, colour, mana cost, etc. Makes sense, right? You only get 99 cards; it stands to reason you'd want to run the best ones you could.
But this game has been around for more than twenty years. It's almost defined by corner cases and exceptions. There are a handful of hard-to-refuse cards for each colour and each colour combination, but I would make the case that there are exactly zero staples. For any deck.
Look at Command Tower. Staple, right? References your commander, easy to obtain, no downside apart from being a non-basic land. When wouldn't I run this?
Well... was it in the mono-coloured decks released this year?
That's the kind of thing I mean. Here's another example. Sol Ring. Cheap, readily available, makes for an explosive start. But it makes you a target if that's your turn one, and what if my meta is heavy on artifact hate? Suddenly, not so good.
So we have mechanical reasons not to run cards considered to be staples. We have the political aspect. One's meta can dictate whether or not some staple cards are even worthwhile, much less good.
There's one other reason I can think of that should cause people to take such lists with a grain of salt.
Budget.
I have a taste for foils, and my tendency is to run goodstuff-style decks. And there's nothing necessarily wrong with that, particularly since I run some less-than-ideal cards because they're "pimp." This has caused me to really watch what I recommend to people when they ask for advice. I don't say, "Run Moat." I might suggest similar effects, but I consider it bad taste to suggest cards out of the price range of most sane, rational people. It has nothing to do with profiling; many of the people I know and play with would balk at spending $400 on one card, when an entire deck can be built for less and still have a shot at winning.
There are so many reasons one can come up with for not playing a given "staple." People will ask you at some point in your Magic career why you're playing Y card when Z card is so much better.
Aside from the fact that this message can be delivered politely and decidedly less so, it should be remembered that you don't answer to these people. People will play the cards they want to, and that should be that.
These were repacks that were guaranteed a foil rare or mythic, one "good" rare or mythic, 9 other rares, and some number of commons and uncommons. They included cards as far back as revised and were a good mix.
Obviously, I bought a few.
They really were a mixed bag, but for 15 dollars, we got our money's worth; at least, we opened cards that found homes in our decks. CB had a few older cards, but none of the rest of us did, until TB brought some cards out some time later. My first Retro Box had a foil Lich's Mirror and a Revised Balance. After 2 games with Balance, we found out it was banned, and for very good reason. I miss it, but it's probably way too good. I still have it in my binder as a reminder of those early days. Someone else opened a foil Fracturing Gust, which I traded for (DK has a nasty Karn deck, Fracturing Gust blows him out). Some of the foils are memorable, like a Mind's Eye I traded to DK, but I recall very few of the "good" cards.
This is important: "Good" is subjective. "Good" will vary based on your needs.
Look at my Balance- Balance is an awesome card.
So awesome, in fact, that it's banned in Commander.
I'm not complaining- I don't regret these repacks at all. We opened a lot of cards for our decks, built up our collections. But while the guy who built them was correct in his view, it didn't suit my needs; I couldn't play it! So cards that someone else deemed good from their frame of reference weren't good to me.
So let's talk about "staples."
The concept of staples in Commander is a somewhat broken one. Almost every week I see Reddit threads or posts on the WotC forums wherein players ask for "staples" or "must-run" cards of a given colour combination.
Staples are cards that popular opinion dictates you should run in a deck with X characteristics, where X is Commander, colour, mana cost, etc. Makes sense, right? You only get 99 cards; it stands to reason you'd want to run the best ones you could.
But this game has been around for more than twenty years. It's almost defined by corner cases and exceptions. There are a handful of hard-to-refuse cards for each colour and each colour combination, but I would make the case that there are exactly zero staples. For any deck.
Look at Command Tower. Staple, right? References your commander, easy to obtain, no downside apart from being a non-basic land. When wouldn't I run this?
Well... was it in the mono-coloured decks released this year?
That's the kind of thing I mean. Here's another example. Sol Ring. Cheap, readily available, makes for an explosive start. But it makes you a target if that's your turn one, and what if my meta is heavy on artifact hate? Suddenly, not so good.
So we have mechanical reasons not to run cards considered to be staples. We have the political aspect. One's meta can dictate whether or not some staple cards are even worthwhile, much less good.
There's one other reason I can think of that should cause people to take such lists with a grain of salt.
Budget.
I have a taste for foils, and my tendency is to run goodstuff-style decks. And there's nothing necessarily wrong with that, particularly since I run some less-than-ideal cards because they're "pimp." This has caused me to really watch what I recommend to people when they ask for advice. I don't say, "Run Moat." I might suggest similar effects, but I consider it bad taste to suggest cards out of the price range of most sane, rational people. It has nothing to do with profiling; many of the people I know and play with would balk at spending $400 on one card, when an entire deck can be built for less and still have a shot at winning.
There are so many reasons one can come up with for not playing a given "staple." People will ask you at some point in your Magic career why you're playing Y card when Z card is so much better.
Aside from the fact that this message can be delivered politely and decidedly less so, it should be remembered that you don't answer to these people. People will play the cards they want to, and that should be that.
Monday, 1 December 2014
You Will Call Me... Commander!
GI Joe quotes aside, my fiancee asked me kind of a neat question while we were hanging out last night. I've been really into Dragon Age: Inquisiton the past few days, but her question caused me to set the controller down and give this some thought.
Her question was, "How do you choose which guys to build decks around?"
A hell of a question.
When my playgroup first got started, legendary creatures were in relatively short supply. I had exactly three to choose from: Darien, King of Kjeldor, Rafiq of the Many, and Rhys, the Redeemed. I wound up eventually building all three, but Darien was first. So a limiting factor is supply.
Supply not withstanding, Darien seemed like the most fun and the biggest challenge to build. He was. A six mana 3/3 is already pretty rough. Add that to the ease in which his ability can be played around, and white's limited ability to damage self for fun and profit, and you've got something of an uphill battle.
Privileged Position was out. Aceticism? Nope. Even if I pulled off Indestructibility, he gets sacrificed. If they have no answer, I just don't get attacked. This is cool, but then how do I win if I can't make a bunch of dudes, gain the life back with Soul Warden, and crush someone?
Darien can be a powerful general, if a needy one. He needs a lot of support. Other ways to make tokens, Soldier Tribal cards, graveyard recursion (I don't want to pay 6 for a 3/3; why the hell would I pay 8? Or more?). And I have to reliably hit 6 mana in white?
That deck didn't last all that long.
Cool effects are another reason to choose a Commander; but note: some will be worth it; others will not.
One of my earlier posts goes into detail about my group's transition to Commander. CB in particular built a Uril, the Miststalker deck that made every effort to win, or it'd collapse by turn 7. Uril is a powerful Commander that a lot of people dislike. He's in colours that can tutor up and recur enchantments, he's Hexproof, and he gets out of hand very quickly. Pretty powerful, and the deck does sort of build itself. Power level is another factor in choosing a Commander.
The flip side to this is the multiplayer aspect of the game. Strong Generals like Uril can get hated out very quickly because of their overall strength. When Rafiq of the Many was my main deck, I brought it with me downtown when I first got posted to the West Coast. Everyone knows Rafiq is powerful, but I wasn't prepared for having to take on 4 other guys at the same time just for bringing the deck. I killed two of them before I was eliminated, but everyone was pretty upset that I brought a "competitive" deck to play with.
Not all playgroups are created equal, I guess; and people are very willing to judge you for playing the cards you play.
This kind of leads us into another reason: mind games.
I sat down to play a game of Magic last week with my fiancee and an acquaintance of mine. His general? Johan. Yes, this drag queen Darth Maul that can give your team Vigilance at the cost of attacking. I made the choice to ignore him and try to knock my fiancee out of the game (Suspended Ulamog is scary, yo). I succeeded in that, only to be Scapeshifted when he landed an Admonition Angel. Whether or not he ran Queer Eye for the Jedi for the colours, to hide what his deck could do, or becasue of some kind of attachment remains unknown to me, but the deck was effective.
I think that covers all the reasons I can think of that one would play a given Commander. If I've missed any, let me know!
Her question was, "How do you choose which guys to build decks around?"
A hell of a question.
When my playgroup first got started, legendary creatures were in relatively short supply. I had exactly three to choose from: Darien, King of Kjeldor, Rafiq of the Many, and Rhys, the Redeemed. I wound up eventually building all three, but Darien was first. So a limiting factor is supply.
Supply not withstanding, Darien seemed like the most fun and the biggest challenge to build. He was. A six mana 3/3 is already pretty rough. Add that to the ease in which his ability can be played around, and white's limited ability to damage self for fun and profit, and you've got something of an uphill battle.
Privileged Position was out. Aceticism? Nope. Even if I pulled off Indestructibility, he gets sacrificed. If they have no answer, I just don't get attacked. This is cool, but then how do I win if I can't make a bunch of dudes, gain the life back with Soul Warden, and crush someone?
Darien can be a powerful general, if a needy one. He needs a lot of support. Other ways to make tokens, Soldier Tribal cards, graveyard recursion (I don't want to pay 6 for a 3/3; why the hell would I pay 8? Or more?). And I have to reliably hit 6 mana in white?
That deck didn't last all that long.
Cool effects are another reason to choose a Commander; but note: some will be worth it; others will not.
One of my earlier posts goes into detail about my group's transition to Commander. CB in particular built a Uril, the Miststalker deck that made every effort to win, or it'd collapse by turn 7. Uril is a powerful Commander that a lot of people dislike. He's in colours that can tutor up and recur enchantments, he's Hexproof, and he gets out of hand very quickly. Pretty powerful, and the deck does sort of build itself. Power level is another factor in choosing a Commander.
The flip side to this is the multiplayer aspect of the game. Strong Generals like Uril can get hated out very quickly because of their overall strength. When Rafiq of the Many was my main deck, I brought it with me downtown when I first got posted to the West Coast. Everyone knows Rafiq is powerful, but I wasn't prepared for having to take on 4 other guys at the same time just for bringing the deck. I killed two of them before I was eliminated, but everyone was pretty upset that I brought a "competitive" deck to play with.
Not all playgroups are created equal, I guess; and people are very willing to judge you for playing the cards you play.
This kind of leads us into another reason: mind games.
I sat down to play a game of Magic last week with my fiancee and an acquaintance of mine. His general? Johan. Yes, this drag queen Darth Maul that can give your team Vigilance at the cost of attacking. I made the choice to ignore him and try to knock my fiancee out of the game (Suspended Ulamog is scary, yo). I succeeded in that, only to be Scapeshifted when he landed an Admonition Angel. Whether or not he ran Queer Eye for the Jedi for the colours, to hide what his deck could do, or becasue of some kind of attachment remains unknown to me, but the deck was effective.
I think that covers all the reasons I can think of that one would play a given Commander. If I've missed any, let me know!
Blame it on the Rain...bow?
I never seriously began to experiment with 5-Colour "Rainbow" decks until I crossed the country and settled in Western Canada once more. I had a Rafiq of the Many deck that was mostly foiled out and that could really lay the hurt on someone. I was content with that, but had acquired one of each ABUR dual land, had all the fetches, and had collected one of each RTR block shockland in foil.
So, with an optimized mana base in the bag already, I took the plunge. Mostly as a deckbuilding exercise.
I upped the land count to 40. The mana was good, but I've always said that the best mana accel is never missing a land drop. I rounded out my lands with Command Tower, City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Gemstone Mine, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, along with one of each basic land. Urborg is in there so I can tap fetchlands for mana if I'm low on life, or want to save them to make Elemental Tokens with Titania, Protector of Argoth. Urborg is in there as a trial, as I normally run a Reflecting Pool in its place. I was considering making it a rotating utility land spot. Halimar Depths, Kher Keep, Flagstones of Trokair, Shizo, Forbidden Orchard... lots of possibilities.
From there, it was a matter of finding fun/cool/powerful cards to build the deck. In its current version, the Commander is Horde of Notions. Not because there are a huge number of Elementals, but the 2 that I have are worth bringing back, especially with the potential to cast them at instant speed from the graveyard. Titania is 10 power for 5 mana and a life if my deck's been working alright, and you still Cascade twice with Maelstrom Wanderer if you cast him for free from the graveyard.
I wanted to showcase all of the coolest planeswalkers I could in the deck. So I went through all of them, and made a pile. Some seem suboptimal, but I either had a SDCC promo or they fill some important niche role in the deck. Liliana of the Dark Realms, for example, is awesome for hitting land drops, and with Urborg out, she can provide a massive boost to one of my creatures, or take out an opponent's indestructible blocker. Not bad utility, if she seems narrow at first glance.
If the deck was going to be "Superfriends," then running Rings of Brighthearth (lets me grab two lands for one fetchland activation, too!) and The Chain Veil makes sense. Both cards are outstanding in the deck. To protect the team, I picked up a Moat as a gift to myslef to commemorate winning a significant legal battle. The rest of the money had to go toward responsible, adult things, but my fiancee said I could have one high-end card. Power is banned in Commander (for the most part), so I went with something I know I'd play. Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Elspeth, Sun's Champion help make Moat a little more one-sided.
With a bunch of planeswalkers, and DK already having a mostly evil-themed 5-Colour deck, I decided I'd run good or apparently good-aligned legends for most of my creature base. Captain Sisay, Sigarda, Host of Herons, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight. Linvala. Titania. Venser. I also opeted for a couple neutral ones, like Vendilion Clique, Zegana, and Maelstrom Wanderer. In fact, the only one you could make a case for being evil is Thraximundar (Marchesa has some evil motives, but the lore we have suggests she's not wholly evil; Thassa is aloof, and Sakashima is actually chaotic good). Thraximundar is in there to clear blockers. Drana was in his spot, but she doesn't quite make the same impression, even if she's better with Moat. If there are any suggestions, let me know!
Finally, a few non-legendary utility creatures. Loyal Retainers is kind of a no-brainer. Bloom Tender makes too much mana in this deck to not run. Chromanticore should have been legendary so it could be the general. And Clever Impersonator is amazingly useful.
As an aside, I tried to avoid any card with CCC in its mana cost, where C is a coloured mana symbol. So, no Sorin Markov, no Avacyn, no Cryptic Command. The mana base could probably handle it, but I opted not to take risks. It sucks to have a hand full of awesome cards and be unable to play them.
So, with all that in mind, we have a deck that looks like this:
Akroma's Memorial (M13, foil)
Lands:
Savannah (Revised)
Tundra (Revised)
Badlands (Beta)
Taiga (Revised)
Underground Sea (Revised)
Plateau (Revised)
Bayou (Revised)
Tropical Island (Revised)
Volcanic Island (French Revised, white border)
Scrubland (Revised)
Temple Garden (Ravnica: City of Guilds, foil)
Hallowed Fountain (Return to Ravnica, foil)
Blood Crypt (Return to Ravnica, foil)
Stomping Ground (Gatecrash, foil)
Watery Grave (Ravnica: City of Guilds, foil)
Sacred Foundry (Gatecrash, foil)
Overgrown Tomb (Return to Ravnica, foil)
Breeding Pool (Dissension, foil)
Steam Vents (Return to Ravnica, foil)
Godless Shrine (Gatecrash, foil)
Windswept Heath (Judge, foil)
Flooded Strand (Onslaught, foil)
Bloodstained Mire (Onslaught, foil)
Wooded Foothills (Onslaught, foil)
Polluted Delta (Onslaught, foil)
Arid Mesa (Zendikar, foil)
Verdant Catacombs (Zendikar, foil)
Misty Rainforest (Zendikar, foil)
Scalding Tarn (Zendikar, foil)
Marsh Flats (Zendikar, foil)
Command Tower (Judge, foil)
City of Brass (Modern Masters, foil)
Mana Confluence (foil)
Gemstone Mine (Judge, foil)
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (M15, foil)
Plains (Judge, foil)
Island (Judge, foil)
Swamp (Judge, foil)
Mountain (Judge, foil)
Forest (Judge, foil)
Foiling out the deck has been a project of mine, and it's there, minus the duals and the new cards that don't exist as foils. I'm proud of the deck, and I play it as much as I can. Some of the cards are a little suboptimal (Chandra probably springs to mind first), but they're pimp, and they're fun. Hit me up with feedback or if you feel there's anything I overlooked, and maybe we can make a little Cockatrice happen soon.
So, with an optimized mana base in the bag already, I took the plunge. Mostly as a deckbuilding exercise.
I upped the land count to 40. The mana was good, but I've always said that the best mana accel is never missing a land drop. I rounded out my lands with Command Tower, City of Brass, Mana Confluence, Gemstone Mine, and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, along with one of each basic land. Urborg is in there so I can tap fetchlands for mana if I'm low on life, or want to save them to make Elemental Tokens with Titania, Protector of Argoth. Urborg is in there as a trial, as I normally run a Reflecting Pool in its place. I was considering making it a rotating utility land spot. Halimar Depths, Kher Keep, Flagstones of Trokair, Shizo, Forbidden Orchard... lots of possibilities.
From there, it was a matter of finding fun/cool/powerful cards to build the deck. In its current version, the Commander is Horde of Notions. Not because there are a huge number of Elementals, but the 2 that I have are worth bringing back, especially with the potential to cast them at instant speed from the graveyard. Titania is 10 power for 5 mana and a life if my deck's been working alright, and you still Cascade twice with Maelstrom Wanderer if you cast him for free from the graveyard.
I wanted to showcase all of the coolest planeswalkers I could in the deck. So I went through all of them, and made a pile. Some seem suboptimal, but I either had a SDCC promo or they fill some important niche role in the deck. Liliana of the Dark Realms, for example, is awesome for hitting land drops, and with Urborg out, she can provide a massive boost to one of my creatures, or take out an opponent's indestructible blocker. Not bad utility, if she seems narrow at first glance.
If the deck was going to be "Superfriends," then running Rings of Brighthearth (lets me grab two lands for one fetchland activation, too!) and The Chain Veil makes sense. Both cards are outstanding in the deck. To protect the team, I picked up a Moat as a gift to myslef to commemorate winning a significant legal battle. The rest of the money had to go toward responsible, adult things, but my fiancee said I could have one high-end card. Power is banned in Commander (for the most part), so I went with something I know I'd play. Elspeth, Knight-Errant and Elspeth, Sun's Champion help make Moat a little more one-sided.
With a bunch of planeswalkers, and DK already having a mostly evil-themed 5-Colour deck, I decided I'd run good or apparently good-aligned legends for most of my creature base. Captain Sisay, Sigarda, Host of Herons, Gisela, Blade of Goldnight. Linvala. Titania. Venser. I also opeted for a couple neutral ones, like Vendilion Clique, Zegana, and Maelstrom Wanderer. In fact, the only one you could make a case for being evil is Thraximundar (Marchesa has some evil motives, but the lore we have suggests she's not wholly evil; Thassa is aloof, and Sakashima is actually chaotic good). Thraximundar is in there to clear blockers. Drana was in his spot, but she doesn't quite make the same impression, even if she's better with Moat. If there are any suggestions, let me know!
Finally, a few non-legendary utility creatures. Loyal Retainers is kind of a no-brainer. Bloom Tender makes too much mana in this deck to not run. Chromanticore should have been legendary so it could be the general. And Clever Impersonator is amazingly useful.
As an aside, I tried to avoid any card with CCC in its mana cost, where C is a coloured mana symbol. So, no Sorin Markov, no Avacyn, no Cryptic Command. The mana base could probably handle it, but I opted not to take risks. It sucks to have a hand full of awesome cards and be unable to play them.
So, with all that in mind, we have a deck that looks like this:
5 Colour EDH Deck
General: Horde of Notions
Creatures:
Captain Sisay
Maelstrom Wanderer
Thraximundar
Sakashima, the Imposter (foil)
Vendilion Clique (Judge foil)
Sigarda, Host of Herons (foil)
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight (foil)
Prime Speaker Zegana
Venser, Shaper Savant
Surrak Dragonclaw
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite (Judge, foil)
Linvala, Keeper of Silence (foil)
Loyal Retainers
Knight of the Reliquary (Conflux, foil)
Bloom Tender
Eternal Witness
Imperial Recruiter (Judge, foil)
Chromanticore
Clever Impersonator
Planeswalkers:
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Elspeth, Sun’s Champion (foil)
Ajani Steadfast
Ajani, Mentor of Heroes (foil)
Gideon Jura
Jace, the Mind Sculptor (Worldwake, foil)
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage
Liliana Vess
Liliana of the Dark Realms (SDCC 2013 Promo, foil)
Liliana of the Veil (Innistrad, foil)
Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Chandra, Pyromaster (SDCC 2013 Promo, foil)
Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker (foil)
Garruk, Apex Predator
Karn Liberated
Venser, the Sojourner
Dack Fayden
Vraska, the Unseen
Ral Zarek
Kiora, the Crashing Wave (Born of the Gods, foil)
Nissa, Worldwaker
Artifacts:
The Chain Veil
Rings of Brighthearth
Crucible of Worlds
Akroma's Memorial (M13, foil)
Enchantments:
Doubling Season
Mirari’s Wake
Sorceries:
Demonic Tutor
Austere Command
Primal Command
Tooth and Nail (Mirrodin, foil)
Wargate
Instants:
Eladamri’s Call
Lands:
Savannah (Revised)
Tundra (Revised)
Badlands (Beta)
Taiga (Revised)
Underground Sea (Revised)
Plateau (Revised)
Bayou (Revised)
Tropical Island (Revised)
Volcanic Island (French Revised, white border)
Scrubland (Revised)
Temple Garden (Ravnica: City of Guilds, foil)
Hallowed Fountain (Return to Ravnica, foil)
Blood Crypt (Return to Ravnica, foil)
Stomping Ground (Gatecrash, foil)
Watery Grave (Ravnica: City of Guilds, foil)
Sacred Foundry (Gatecrash, foil)
Overgrown Tomb (Return to Ravnica, foil)
Breeding Pool (Dissension, foil)
Steam Vents (Return to Ravnica, foil)
Godless Shrine (Gatecrash, foil)
Windswept Heath (Judge, foil)
Flooded Strand (Onslaught, foil)
Bloodstained Mire (Onslaught, foil)
Wooded Foothills (Onslaught, foil)
Polluted Delta (Onslaught, foil)
Arid Mesa (Zendikar, foil)
Verdant Catacombs (Zendikar, foil)
Misty Rainforest (Zendikar, foil)
Scalding Tarn (Zendikar, foil)
Marsh Flats (Zendikar, foil)
Command Tower (Judge, foil)
City of Brass (Modern Masters, foil)
Mana Confluence (foil)
Gemstone Mine (Judge, foil)
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth (M15, foil)
Plains (Judge, foil)
Island (Judge, foil)
Swamp (Judge, foil)
Mountain (Judge, foil)
Forest (Judge, foil)
Foiling out the deck has been a project of mine, and it's there, minus the duals and the new cards that don't exist as foils. I'm proud of the deck, and I play it as much as I can. Some of the cards are a little suboptimal (Chandra probably springs to mind first), but they're pimp, and they're fun. Hit me up with feedback or if you feel there's anything I overlooked, and maybe we can make a little Cockatrice happen soon.
Thursday, 27 November 2014
Competition
Magic, and by extension, Commander, is a game.
People play games for a number of reasons. There's a social element to Magic that I've always enjoyed. Folks that can appreciate a game's rules and mechanics often refer to Magic in discussions related to elegant game design. Some people enjoy the art (I can relate to this as well), and others still enjoy the fantasy settings in which the storylines take place.
And, of course, at any competitive level, people play for prizes.
And that's where some problems exist, at least on the Commander front.
For those that aren't aware, Commander was invented in Alaska by a handful of US Army guys. It was called EDH because the early decks played by these men were built around the 5 Elder Dragons from Legends. It was invented to be a relaxing, casual format where people would be forced to get creative with their deck building. Giant spells would be cast, huge creatures summoned, stolen, and killed, obscure cards would abound.
The format existed mostly underground when my playgroup got into it. I sort of went over that in another post, but CB and I agreed to give it a try, and the rest of the crew followed suit. We got into it, really into it, and our drive to win really put some strain on our group sometimes. Prizes weren't even on the line; we were just a group of guys that knew the game, knew what was good, and fought hard to win.
This kind of mindset can be healthy. Sometimes.
But there becomes a point at which it just becomes exhausting.
Problems also occur when not everyone at the table has the same mindset.
I got to talking with TB yesterday about this project. He was impressed with my post on getting one's SO to play Magic, though he correctly pointed out that that framework could (and should!) be applied to anyone you want to share a hobby with. We got to talking about my fiancee's progress in learning the game, and about how she can get overwhelmed playing in a game with more than three players.
This isn't a slight against her in the least; she's still learning, and that's fantastic. Enough goes on in the average 1v1 Commander game that the players involved can't always track everything. But to exacerbate her troubles during a 4 player game she played 2 weeks ago, one of the players in her pod actively cheated her out of the win.
To elaborate, it was a few days after the 2014 Commander decks had come out. I'd bought my set on release day (mentioned in an earlier post), and had already augmented our decks. The weekly Commander night we play in had a different layout to encourage more people to come out. 16 players showed up, so 4 pods of 4 players each would play, with the winner of each pod playing their own 4 person game for a Commander precon of their choice.
We had our set, but we still wanted to play to test out all the new cards we'd added to our decks. So we stick around to play. We get assigned different pods, but I advise my fiancee to stay calm, believe in her skills, and if she has a question, to ask the TO/judge. I know she had the skills to win, she was playing her favourite deck, and we were both excited.
My game goes well enough. It was the first one done. I was far ahead of the rest, when the Sharuum player rips a Demonic Tutor off the top for the win (Disciple of the Vault combo). Whatever; my deck played smoothly, some cool stuff happened, and I had fun.
My poor fiancee had a different story.
She had her first run in with a foreign language card. The way the player described the card's effect doesn't match any printed card. She was told that she should know more cards before trying play in an event like this one.
Misogyny reared its ugly head, as well. She was the only woman that had come to play, and comments like "I'm a man, I take what I want!" and other overtly sexual comments made her extremely uncomfortable. I pulled the guy that made the above remark aside and sorted him out. But he wasn't the only one. Apparently, it was a "psychological tactic" meant to put her on tilt (she was kicking ass). Indeed, it worked, as she started just playing to get the hell out of there.
The final straw was some sleight of hand. Someone's turn one Halimar Depths became their turn 5 Halimar Depths, as well (without any legal bouncing). By this time, she was so upset that she wasn't sure if she was just mistaken.
I tried to talk to everyone responsible, and we went in to talk to the store owner the next day (who wasn't there at the time) and he was more pissed off than I'd ever seen him. He was grateful I'd let him know, but we both knew that without the offending people being caught in the act or immediately reported, that there wasn't much that could be done.
As for my fiancee, she was upset enough that we didn't even go to Commander Night last week. I was upset. Not because I didn't get to go play Magic, but because a handful of "competitive" assholes had potentially ruined the game for someone close to me.
We didn't even play at home for a week.
She agreed to return this week, but I knew she didn't want to play with anyone from her last game ever again.
Fortunately, for their sake (and perhaps mine), none of them showed. We had a few games with an associate of mine, just the three of us, and had some fun.
I was just grateful she was still willing to play.
Obviously, the examples of cheating in her pod are extreme, and were committed by 2 of the three other players. And I get that misogynistic remarks aren't cheating, just unbelievably poor taste. But that's what prizes do. It would seem that some players resort to whatever they think they can get away with when prizes are on the line.
Competition isn't negative in and of itself. It causes people to innovate, helps players focus, and like TB mentioned yesterday, encourages light-hearted "trash-talking," which is fine among friends. But lines shouldn't be crossed, and rules shouldn't be broken. And the being mislead by a foreign card? It's why I'm not a fan of them to begin with (exculding German and French, as I can read them).
I guess the bottom line is: compete. Play to win. But if you're on track to lose, being an asshole shouldn't be plan B.
People play games for a number of reasons. There's a social element to Magic that I've always enjoyed. Folks that can appreciate a game's rules and mechanics often refer to Magic in discussions related to elegant game design. Some people enjoy the art (I can relate to this as well), and others still enjoy the fantasy settings in which the storylines take place.
And, of course, at any competitive level, people play for prizes.
And that's where some problems exist, at least on the Commander front.
For those that aren't aware, Commander was invented in Alaska by a handful of US Army guys. It was called EDH because the early decks played by these men were built around the 5 Elder Dragons from Legends. It was invented to be a relaxing, casual format where people would be forced to get creative with their deck building. Giant spells would be cast, huge creatures summoned, stolen, and killed, obscure cards would abound.
The format existed mostly underground when my playgroup got into it. I sort of went over that in another post, but CB and I agreed to give it a try, and the rest of the crew followed suit. We got into it, really into it, and our drive to win really put some strain on our group sometimes. Prizes weren't even on the line; we were just a group of guys that knew the game, knew what was good, and fought hard to win.
This kind of mindset can be healthy. Sometimes.
But there becomes a point at which it just becomes exhausting.
Problems also occur when not everyone at the table has the same mindset.
I got to talking with TB yesterday about this project. He was impressed with my post on getting one's SO to play Magic, though he correctly pointed out that that framework could (and should!) be applied to anyone you want to share a hobby with. We got to talking about my fiancee's progress in learning the game, and about how she can get overwhelmed playing in a game with more than three players.
This isn't a slight against her in the least; she's still learning, and that's fantastic. Enough goes on in the average 1v1 Commander game that the players involved can't always track everything. But to exacerbate her troubles during a 4 player game she played 2 weeks ago, one of the players in her pod actively cheated her out of the win.
To elaborate, it was a few days after the 2014 Commander decks had come out. I'd bought my set on release day (mentioned in an earlier post), and had already augmented our decks. The weekly Commander night we play in had a different layout to encourage more people to come out. 16 players showed up, so 4 pods of 4 players each would play, with the winner of each pod playing their own 4 person game for a Commander precon of their choice.
We had our set, but we still wanted to play to test out all the new cards we'd added to our decks. So we stick around to play. We get assigned different pods, but I advise my fiancee to stay calm, believe in her skills, and if she has a question, to ask the TO/judge. I know she had the skills to win, she was playing her favourite deck, and we were both excited.
My game goes well enough. It was the first one done. I was far ahead of the rest, when the Sharuum player rips a Demonic Tutor off the top for the win (Disciple of the Vault combo). Whatever; my deck played smoothly, some cool stuff happened, and I had fun.
My poor fiancee had a different story.
She had her first run in with a foreign language card. The way the player described the card's effect doesn't match any printed card. She was told that she should know more cards before trying play in an event like this one.
Misogyny reared its ugly head, as well. She was the only woman that had come to play, and comments like "I'm a man, I take what I want!" and other overtly sexual comments made her extremely uncomfortable. I pulled the guy that made the above remark aside and sorted him out. But he wasn't the only one. Apparently, it was a "psychological tactic" meant to put her on tilt (she was kicking ass). Indeed, it worked, as she started just playing to get the hell out of there.
The final straw was some sleight of hand. Someone's turn one Halimar Depths became their turn 5 Halimar Depths, as well (without any legal bouncing). By this time, she was so upset that she wasn't sure if she was just mistaken.
I tried to talk to everyone responsible, and we went in to talk to the store owner the next day (who wasn't there at the time) and he was more pissed off than I'd ever seen him. He was grateful I'd let him know, but we both knew that without the offending people being caught in the act or immediately reported, that there wasn't much that could be done.
As for my fiancee, she was upset enough that we didn't even go to Commander Night last week. I was upset. Not because I didn't get to go play Magic, but because a handful of "competitive" assholes had potentially ruined the game for someone close to me.
We didn't even play at home for a week.
She agreed to return this week, but I knew she didn't want to play with anyone from her last game ever again.
Fortunately, for their sake (and perhaps mine), none of them showed. We had a few games with an associate of mine, just the three of us, and had some fun.
I was just grateful she was still willing to play.
Obviously, the examples of cheating in her pod are extreme, and were committed by 2 of the three other players. And I get that misogynistic remarks aren't cheating, just unbelievably poor taste. But that's what prizes do. It would seem that some players resort to whatever they think they can get away with when prizes are on the line.
Competition isn't negative in and of itself. It causes people to innovate, helps players focus, and like TB mentioned yesterday, encourages light-hearted "trash-talking," which is fine among friends. But lines shouldn't be crossed, and rules shouldn't be broken. And the being mislead by a foreign card? It's why I'm not a fan of them to begin with (exculding German and French, as I can read them).
I guess the bottom line is: compete. Play to win. But if you're on track to lose, being an asshole shouldn't be plan B.
Tuesday, 25 November 2014
Hit the Deck(s)!
I've been playing for something like 6 years now, and in retrospect, I buy a surprising number of preconstructed decks.
Not the intro packs, or even the event decks.
But I buy just about every duel deck that's come out since Garruck vs. Liliana, and I buy all of the Commander decks I can.
My last post was about teaching my fiancee to play Magic. While Commander got her hooked, some of our earliest games, where I showed her the basics, were with the Sorin vs. Tibalt duel deck.
I see a post on Reddit about every two days where someone is asking how to get their friend/wife/bookie/kidnapper/grandmother to play the game with them. Being someone who buys the duel decks for parts anyway, I can't recommend them enough to teach someone the basics. They're relatively inexpensive (minus a few outliers, once out of print), have at least one nice reprint in the box (Demonic Tutor, Remand, Regrowth, Knight of the Reliquary, Counterspell), and aren't exactly optimized.
A few slow-time, walkthrough-style games with those (plus a bonus demo of Tibalt is just so damn bad), and she had a good grasp of the basics of the game. Card types, the mana system, the stack, and a few of the more common mechanics (lifelink, trample). Not a bad deal for your money, to be honest. Some will be better than others, in terms of value, fun, and availability. But they aren't bad by any stretch. Hell, the only thing on my Xmas list is the forthcoming Anthology, which includes the first two duel decks (the ones I missed). I'll probably keep those decks together, as tempting as the Tutor will be, just to shuffle them up to play with my friends and fiancee.
The other precons I buy are, obviously, the Commander decks.
In 2011, I was posted to Western Canada after I graduated from university. In and around the move, I only picked up two of the commander decks, the Kaalia one and the Mimeoplasm one. So, that was lucky, as the demand for those two seems pretty significant even today.
But I still wish I'd picked up the others for MSRP when they came out.
It's not an issue, since I'm not exactly a Sol Ring guy, and I have most of the cards from the decks anyway, but I still wish I'd picked them up.
For every release since then, for Commander (and Planechase!) anyway, I've picked up complete sets of decks. I have hardly touched the 2013 decks, but it's nice to keep them in the pocket for lower powered games where I want to just screw around and blow off some steam.
The exception would be Commander's Arsenal, which was an insulting piss-off to Magic players. A friend picked one up and I traded him for the few cards I actually wanted out of it, and we both walked away happy (he found it for closer to MSRP). I have the opportunity to buy an open but complete Arsenal, but I'm probably not going to pull the trigger. $275 CDN isn't even close to what I want to pay, considering I only want the life counter. And even I'm not going to pay that much.
This year's Commander decks in particular were a nice pickup- planeswalker Commanders! Mono-coloured decks present their own unique challenges in Commander. Among these are Iona, ramp in Red and White decks, the inability of Black to deal with enchantments, etc. Colour pie stuff. I have mono-coloured decks built, and they can be powerful if built well, but I have more fun, personally, when I play more than one colour.
So, these decks would be dismantled for parts as well.
A few highlights, for those reading this for inspiration.
Teferi, Temporal Archmage: Mono-blue Superfriends doesn't exactly evoke a sense of overwhelming power. You'd draw a pile of cards, tutor up an artifact, and that'd be that. I have a 5-Colour Superfriends deck that loves having Teferi around, however. Him, The Chain Veil, and Bloom Tender? Provided I have another planeswalker, things start to get ridiculous. My fiancee runs him with a pile of mana rocks (Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Basalt Monolith, Grim Monolith, etc). She very regularly hardcasts Eldrazi. Now, she can do two in a turn.
Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury: Another tribute to Magic's past. Freyalise is one of my favourite oldwalkers, and I am thrilled she finally has her own card. Her art is incredible, but how to use her? Ezuri is a better elf deck. So what does Freyalise bring to the table? I'll put it this way- I've played aainst very few deck that don't use artifacts/enchantments to some degree. This includes creatures that happen to be one of the above types. Freyalise shows up, nukes one every second turn. Her druids block, ramp your mana, and can eventually lead to drawing a few cards. Worth running ooverall? Hard to say. But for as long as my fiancee runs an artifact-heavy Jhoira deck, Freyalise can continue to lead the Planeswalker Initiative.
Nahiri, the Lithomancer: The third deck I ever built was Rafiq of the Many. He went into drydock about 2 years ago when I consolidated all of my singleton ABUR duals into my 5-Colour deck. I rebuilt him when Nahiri was spoiled, deciding to finally go the Voltron route with a deck. I have a matched foil set of the Swords of X+Y, a foil Stoneforge, and a foil Stonehewer. It was time. I hope to pilot the deck tonight for the first time tonight, but on paper, the deck is nuts.
Titania, Protector of Argoth: I was most excited for Titania, by far. I run a lot of fetchlands. Knight of the Reliquary has gone into every deck I can put it in since I started playing Commander. I have a foil Crucible of Worlds. I am hoping with everything I've got that she gets the Nekusar/Riku treatment and is a judge foil soon. I have to run her, but it irks me she isn't foil. Such a fun card. By herself, she forced my fiancee to run Ratchet Bomb. Sad times.
Those are the main ones I've got experience with so far. Daretti is in my fiancee's Jhoira deck, but hasn't come up soon. Maybe tonight?
Not the intro packs, or even the event decks.
But I buy just about every duel deck that's come out since Garruck vs. Liliana, and I buy all of the Commander decks I can.
My last post was about teaching my fiancee to play Magic. While Commander got her hooked, some of our earliest games, where I showed her the basics, were with the Sorin vs. Tibalt duel deck.
I see a post on Reddit about every two days where someone is asking how to get their friend/wife/bookie/kidnapper/grandmother to play the game with them. Being someone who buys the duel decks for parts anyway, I can't recommend them enough to teach someone the basics. They're relatively inexpensive (minus a few outliers, once out of print), have at least one nice reprint in the box (Demonic Tutor, Remand, Regrowth, Knight of the Reliquary, Counterspell), and aren't exactly optimized.
A few slow-time, walkthrough-style games with those (plus a bonus demo of Tibalt is just so damn bad), and she had a good grasp of the basics of the game. Card types, the mana system, the stack, and a few of the more common mechanics (lifelink, trample). Not a bad deal for your money, to be honest. Some will be better than others, in terms of value, fun, and availability. But they aren't bad by any stretch. Hell, the only thing on my Xmas list is the forthcoming Anthology, which includes the first two duel decks (the ones I missed). I'll probably keep those decks together, as tempting as the Tutor will be, just to shuffle them up to play with my friends and fiancee.
The other precons I buy are, obviously, the Commander decks.
In 2011, I was posted to Western Canada after I graduated from university. In and around the move, I only picked up two of the commander decks, the Kaalia one and the Mimeoplasm one. So, that was lucky, as the demand for those two seems pretty significant even today.
But I still wish I'd picked up the others for MSRP when they came out.
It's not an issue, since I'm not exactly a Sol Ring guy, and I have most of the cards from the decks anyway, but I still wish I'd picked them up.
For every release since then, for Commander (and Planechase!) anyway, I've picked up complete sets of decks. I have hardly touched the 2013 decks, but it's nice to keep them in the pocket for lower powered games where I want to just screw around and blow off some steam.
The exception would be Commander's Arsenal, which was an insulting piss-off to Magic players. A friend picked one up and I traded him for the few cards I actually wanted out of it, and we both walked away happy (he found it for closer to MSRP). I have the opportunity to buy an open but complete Arsenal, but I'm probably not going to pull the trigger. $275 CDN isn't even close to what I want to pay, considering I only want the life counter. And even I'm not going to pay that much.
This year's Commander decks in particular were a nice pickup- planeswalker Commanders! Mono-coloured decks present their own unique challenges in Commander. Among these are Iona, ramp in Red and White decks, the inability of Black to deal with enchantments, etc. Colour pie stuff. I have mono-coloured decks built, and they can be powerful if built well, but I have more fun, personally, when I play more than one colour.
So, these decks would be dismantled for parts as well.
A few highlights, for those reading this for inspiration.
Teferi, Temporal Archmage: Mono-blue Superfriends doesn't exactly evoke a sense of overwhelming power. You'd draw a pile of cards, tutor up an artifact, and that'd be that. I have a 5-Colour Superfriends deck that loves having Teferi around, however. Him, The Chain Veil, and Bloom Tender? Provided I have another planeswalker, things start to get ridiculous. My fiancee runs him with a pile of mana rocks (Sol Ring, Mana Vault, Basalt Monolith, Grim Monolith, etc). She very regularly hardcasts Eldrazi. Now, she can do two in a turn.
Freyalise, Llanowar's Fury: Another tribute to Magic's past. Freyalise is one of my favourite oldwalkers, and I am thrilled she finally has her own card. Her art is incredible, but how to use her? Ezuri is a better elf deck. So what does Freyalise bring to the table? I'll put it this way- I've played aainst very few deck that don't use artifacts/enchantments to some degree. This includes creatures that happen to be one of the above types. Freyalise shows up, nukes one every second turn. Her druids block, ramp your mana, and can eventually lead to drawing a few cards. Worth running ooverall? Hard to say. But for as long as my fiancee runs an artifact-heavy Jhoira deck, Freyalise can continue to lead the Planeswalker Initiative.
Nahiri, the Lithomancer: The third deck I ever built was Rafiq of the Many. He went into drydock about 2 years ago when I consolidated all of my singleton ABUR duals into my 5-Colour deck. I rebuilt him when Nahiri was spoiled, deciding to finally go the Voltron route with a deck. I have a matched foil set of the Swords of X+Y, a foil Stoneforge, and a foil Stonehewer. It was time. I hope to pilot the deck tonight for the first time tonight, but on paper, the deck is nuts.
Titania, Protector of Argoth: I was most excited for Titania, by far. I run a lot of fetchlands. Knight of the Reliquary has gone into every deck I can put it in since I started playing Commander. I have a foil Crucible of Worlds. I am hoping with everything I've got that she gets the Nekusar/Riku treatment and is a judge foil soon. I have to run her, but it irks me she isn't foil. Such a fun card. By herself, she forced my fiancee to run Ratchet Bomb. Sad times.
Those are the main ones I've got experience with so far. Daretti is in my fiancee's Jhoira deck, but hasn't come up soon. Maybe tonight?
The 4 P's of Teaching Your SO to Play Magic
My fiancee is not a nerd.
She has a science background, but has little interest in fantasy, sci-fi, games, any of that. She likes Grey's Anatomy, teaching our somewhat challenged dog basic tricks, and recreational sports.
I never had an issue with that, we had lots in common above and beyond those things, but I always felt bad when I had people over to play Magic and she'd retreat to the office or bedroom to read or do homework. I wanted her to play, and offered to teach her, but she was intimidated. She'd watched a few games of Commander and was floored by the number of rules, the number of cards, the way my group just knew what cards did.
So, for the first 6 months we were together, she sat games out.
The first P: no Pressure. People have different interests, and I was grateful she let me have my hobby and was understanding of the time I gave it.
She came around eventually, and I was thrilled to share my hobby with her. We started with Commander. A daunting choice, but a lot of people become attached to their Commander decks, and foiling it/customizing it becomes its own hobby, in a way. I had a Jhoira deck, an homage to the foil Jhoira I pulled out of a Future Sight fat pack and then traded away (like an idiot); and my fiancee, being a pretty redhead herself, took a liking to Jhoira. She learned the ins and outs of the deck, loved suspending giant robots, and loved the mana the deck could make.
She'd miss triggers, forget to attack, miss land drops. But we were playing Magic together, and some things are more important than having every single game flow smoothly. And she would be so happy when she made a good play.
The second P is for Patience. Don't lose sight of the fact you're having fun; you weren't that great a player when you first started playing, either. Focus more on sharing the experience with someone close to you.
This ties in directly to the third P: Prompt. Gently remind your SO about things like land drops if you notice they have cards in hand. Ask how much damage you're taking if you're tapped out, have no blocks, and their 2/2 General is on the battlefield. These reminders usually lead to me getting my ass kicked by an Eldrazi or something, but she has more fun. I can take a few game losses if it means she has fun, stays engaged, and wants to play again.
My fiancee's come a long way, and she often wins 1v1 games, and has a good shot at winning multiplayer games. She hasn't quite mastered some of the more subtle nuances of the game, but she plays well, makes good decisions, and like I said above, wins.
Enter the fourth P: Praise. This is difficult for some people I know, and it's not something that has to be overdone. But when your SO makes an awesome play, let them know. They're learning the game, and the first time I lost to my fiancee, I felt genuine pride. I let her know, and her smile lit up the room.
Now, this approach might not work for everyone. The reason I wrote this is because people are different. But a patient, guiding, no pressure approach can't hurt. And when they play well, let them know.
She has a science background, but has little interest in fantasy, sci-fi, games, any of that. She likes Grey's Anatomy, teaching our somewhat challenged dog basic tricks, and recreational sports.
I never had an issue with that, we had lots in common above and beyond those things, but I always felt bad when I had people over to play Magic and she'd retreat to the office or bedroom to read or do homework. I wanted her to play, and offered to teach her, but she was intimidated. She'd watched a few games of Commander and was floored by the number of rules, the number of cards, the way my group just knew what cards did.
So, for the first 6 months we were together, she sat games out.
The first P: no Pressure. People have different interests, and I was grateful she let me have my hobby and was understanding of the time I gave it.
She came around eventually, and I was thrilled to share my hobby with her. We started with Commander. A daunting choice, but a lot of people become attached to their Commander decks, and foiling it/customizing it becomes its own hobby, in a way. I had a Jhoira deck, an homage to the foil Jhoira I pulled out of a Future Sight fat pack and then traded away (like an idiot); and my fiancee, being a pretty redhead herself, took a liking to Jhoira. She learned the ins and outs of the deck, loved suspending giant robots, and loved the mana the deck could make.
She'd miss triggers, forget to attack, miss land drops. But we were playing Magic together, and some things are more important than having every single game flow smoothly. And she would be so happy when she made a good play.
The second P is for Patience. Don't lose sight of the fact you're having fun; you weren't that great a player when you first started playing, either. Focus more on sharing the experience with someone close to you.
This ties in directly to the third P: Prompt. Gently remind your SO about things like land drops if you notice they have cards in hand. Ask how much damage you're taking if you're tapped out, have no blocks, and their 2/2 General is on the battlefield. These reminders usually lead to me getting my ass kicked by an Eldrazi or something, but she has more fun. I can take a few game losses if it means she has fun, stays engaged, and wants to play again.
My fiancee's come a long way, and she often wins 1v1 games, and has a good shot at winning multiplayer games. She hasn't quite mastered some of the more subtle nuances of the game, but she plays well, makes good decisions, and like I said above, wins.
Enter the fourth P: Praise. This is difficult for some people I know, and it's not something that has to be overdone. But when your SO makes an awesome play, let them know. They're learning the game, and the first time I lost to my fiancee, I felt genuine pride. I let her know, and her smile lit up the room.
Now, this approach might not work for everyone. The reason I wrote this is because people are different. But a patient, guiding, no pressure approach can't hurt. And when they play well, let them know.
Monday, 24 November 2014
Transition
So, I was talking to CB last night, which isn't unusual in and of itself; we talk everyday. Even if it's just, "sup?" We got to talking about this project, and what the point of it all was, and in talking, we sort of reminisced about getting into Magic and making the shift from more competitive Magic to EDH.
It was not a seamless transition.
Our meta at FNM was an odd one, and it was mostly our fault. You had a good mix of guys with netdecks that were there to win, more casual guys that just wanted to hang out while waiting for the bar across the street to open, and guys that were mostly there to trade. A pretty common mix, I came to realize, as I traveled more and played in more places.
And then there was our playgroup.
The "RMC guys," as we were known, were hell on the meta. See, we had our own way of building decks, and had only each other to test against. So CB built things like a Pili-Pala deck that went infinite. I tended to build decks that used less-loved mechanics, like Exalted or Allies. DK actually won with Mortal Combat. [i]That[/i] deck ruined people. No one trying to rack up points to play at the professional level wants to lose to a ~200 card pile that ran Mortal Combat. People got upset and dropped after losing to the deck.
So we were a group of 3-7 people, depending on who had time to go on a given Friday, of rogue decks. That could win.
This led to a local phenomenon that the other regulars called "RMC Sideboards." They actually included specific hate cards to try to beat us.
This led to a couple problems when we all started to move away from Standard.
The first problem was that we all enjoyed some degree of success in a more competitive setting, as in, some nights our guys were 3 of the top 4. The second problem was that we're all intelligent people, used to innovating and coming up with ways to win out of nowhere.
The last problem was that we confused "winning" with "having fun."
Our early EDH decks highlighted these. I ran enough board wipes that it dragged games out. CB's Uril deck was built to win by turn 6 or lose. GC ran all of the discard and counter-magic he could find. His first two deck were Kuon and Erayo. DK ran nothing but removal.
It was a classic arms race. Our games were generally good-natured, but something had to give. Everyone was trying to win by turn 6, at the latest. Cool interactions happened, but they were a byproduct of our desire to beat each other. Wins were stolen, feelings were hurt, and all of this just fueled the arms race.
Somewhat ironically, Archenemy saved us.
CB remembers it was DK who took the first steps toward de-escalation. He's probably right. Archenemy came out, and DK built a 5-Colour deck to take us all on. Built to a high enough standard, a 5-Colour deck with Schemes is probably as close as one can come to unbeatable in Magic.
But his deck wasn't unbeatable. It was very good, and could do amazing things. But three of us could take him (well, about half the time, anyway). We began to run cards that had huge, splashy effects as our "last ditch" efforts to beat the Archenemy before we got steamrolled. Imperial Mask made appearances. The Archenemy did insane things (like tutor up Grozoth with Conflux, and use Grozoth to grab Plague Wind), the 3-4 of us relied on teamwork. I remember having Rhys the Redeemed equipped with Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang, and CB was regenerating it every turn because Rhys was the best blocker we had, and happened to have more than 5 power.
DK's 5-Colour Reaper King deck (that later became Cromat, when I found one) was full of cards he included for thematic reasons, or because they were fun. He actually ran Grozoth to tutor up the Bringer cycle. It was awesome when it worked.
And so we began to do things the same way.
I cut Putrefax from my Rafiq deck. CB retired Uril, and built an Experiment Kraj combo deck. Erayo was banned, eventually. Because fuck that shit. This isn't to say that powerful cards don't have a place in the format. CB's Experiment Kraj deck pretty much required me to run Linvala as a silver bullet to not die, for example. But aggressively trying to win all the time put way too much strain on our playgroup. Like a team against the Archenemy, our play-to-win mentality was our obstacle to over come.
Our decks are still powerful. Absurdly so, in some cases. But they do a better job of showcasing who were are, and doing cool things for their own sake.
This way, everyone wins.
It was not a seamless transition.
Our meta at FNM was an odd one, and it was mostly our fault. You had a good mix of guys with netdecks that were there to win, more casual guys that just wanted to hang out while waiting for the bar across the street to open, and guys that were mostly there to trade. A pretty common mix, I came to realize, as I traveled more and played in more places.
And then there was our playgroup.
The "RMC guys," as we were known, were hell on the meta. See, we had our own way of building decks, and had only each other to test against. So CB built things like a Pili-Pala deck that went infinite. I tended to build decks that used less-loved mechanics, like Exalted or Allies. DK actually won with Mortal Combat. [i]That[/i] deck ruined people. No one trying to rack up points to play at the professional level wants to lose to a ~200 card pile that ran Mortal Combat. People got upset and dropped after losing to the deck.
So we were a group of 3-7 people, depending on who had time to go on a given Friday, of rogue decks. That could win.
This led to a local phenomenon that the other regulars called "RMC Sideboards." They actually included specific hate cards to try to beat us.
This led to a couple problems when we all started to move away from Standard.
The first problem was that we all enjoyed some degree of success in a more competitive setting, as in, some nights our guys were 3 of the top 4. The second problem was that we're all intelligent people, used to innovating and coming up with ways to win out of nowhere.
The last problem was that we confused "winning" with "having fun."
Our early EDH decks highlighted these. I ran enough board wipes that it dragged games out. CB's Uril deck was built to win by turn 6 or lose. GC ran all of the discard and counter-magic he could find. His first two deck were Kuon and Erayo. DK ran nothing but removal.
It was a classic arms race. Our games were generally good-natured, but something had to give. Everyone was trying to win by turn 6, at the latest. Cool interactions happened, but they were a byproduct of our desire to beat each other. Wins were stolen, feelings were hurt, and all of this just fueled the arms race.
Somewhat ironically, Archenemy saved us.
CB remembers it was DK who took the first steps toward de-escalation. He's probably right. Archenemy came out, and DK built a 5-Colour deck to take us all on. Built to a high enough standard, a 5-Colour deck with Schemes is probably as close as one can come to unbeatable in Magic.
But his deck wasn't unbeatable. It was very good, and could do amazing things. But three of us could take him (well, about half the time, anyway). We began to run cards that had huge, splashy effects as our "last ditch" efforts to beat the Archenemy before we got steamrolled. Imperial Mask made appearances. The Archenemy did insane things (like tutor up Grozoth with Conflux, and use Grozoth to grab Plague Wind), the 3-4 of us relied on teamwork. I remember having Rhys the Redeemed equipped with Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang, and CB was regenerating it every turn because Rhys was the best blocker we had, and happened to have more than 5 power.
DK's 5-Colour Reaper King deck (that later became Cromat, when I found one) was full of cards he included for thematic reasons, or because they were fun. He actually ran Grozoth to tutor up the Bringer cycle. It was awesome when it worked.
And so we began to do things the same way.
I cut Putrefax from my Rafiq deck. CB retired Uril, and built an Experiment Kraj combo deck. Erayo was banned, eventually. Because fuck that shit. This isn't to say that powerful cards don't have a place in the format. CB's Experiment Kraj deck pretty much required me to run Linvala as a silver bullet to not die, for example. But aggressively trying to win all the time put way too much strain on our playgroup. Like a team against the Archenemy, our play-to-win mentality was our obstacle to over come.
Our decks are still powerful. Absurdly so, in some cases. But they do a better job of showcasing who were are, and doing cool things for their own sake.
This way, everyone wins.
Sunday, 23 November 2014
Magpies
I grew up, for the most part, in rural Alberta, in Western Canada. The screech of the magpies as they attacked other birds still stands out in my mind. Their propensity to crap all over my dad's car as soon as I finished washing it still makes me shake my head. Their attraction to shiny things baffled me growing up. How stupid was that? Divebombing bits of foil on the road, attacking the glass birdfeeder (my mother liked having robins around, but the magpies ran them off all the time).
How stupid were these goddamn birds?
And then I got into Magic.
My first post explains how that went down, but the astute reader will notice I made mention of a foil Preeminent Captain I pulled out of a Morningtide booster at the end of that first FNM. The card is okay, nothing fantastic, but LL, my opponent, new friend, and cardshark, took immediate interest.
He offered to trade me for it.
In hindsight, I suppose I could have just traded it. But, I can't deny having some attachment to the card. I politely declined, and luckily he let it go. He still asked after it from time to time after, but it was no big deal. I later learned that LL referred to himself as "The Magpie" sometimes, due to the reasons I've alluded to.
I had a foil! And people wanted it!
I knew that foils exisited for most modern-era cards. DK's enthusiasm for the game stemmed in part from him opening a foil Cryptic Command at a draft. CB had cards from years ago, and got us both into the game, but the demand for the Cryptic really seemed to pique DK's interest in the game.
From the moment I opened my Preeminent Captain, I was hooked on foils. It wasn't like YGO, where only some of your cards could be foil. In Magic, I could have foil lands? Hell yes! Sign me up!
I began to understand the magpie (both annoying bird and Magic player) a little bit.
Nothing wrong with enjoying shiny things.
As with any hobby, enjoy with some degree of moderation, and don't overdo buying into foils. As well, LL taught me a great lesson. Not one I needed, myself, but assuming you stumbled on this blog to actually learn something, and not because you know me, I'll spell it out here.
LL Wanted to trade, I said no, and life went on.
Too often, you see guys that don't take the hint (more on that in a later post) and try to bully, coerce, and otherwise pressure people into trading.
Un. Sat.
Any kind of pestering, bullying, and other manipulation can't be tolerated if we want this game to endure. I can't even recall all the times I've been playing a game and some guy has sidled up to the table to trade with me or another player.
Take-aways from today: collecting shiny things: good. Being annoying: bad.
How stupid were these goddamn birds?
And then I got into Magic.
My first post explains how that went down, but the astute reader will notice I made mention of a foil Preeminent Captain I pulled out of a Morningtide booster at the end of that first FNM. The card is okay, nothing fantastic, but LL, my opponent, new friend, and cardshark, took immediate interest.
He offered to trade me for it.
In hindsight, I suppose I could have just traded it. But, I can't deny having some attachment to the card. I politely declined, and luckily he let it go. He still asked after it from time to time after, but it was no big deal. I later learned that LL referred to himself as "The Magpie" sometimes, due to the reasons I've alluded to.
I had a foil! And people wanted it!
I knew that foils exisited for most modern-era cards. DK's enthusiasm for the game stemmed in part from him opening a foil Cryptic Command at a draft. CB had cards from years ago, and got us both into the game, but the demand for the Cryptic really seemed to pique DK's interest in the game.
From the moment I opened my Preeminent Captain, I was hooked on foils. It wasn't like YGO, where only some of your cards could be foil. In Magic, I could have foil lands? Hell yes! Sign me up!
I began to understand the magpie (both annoying bird and Magic player) a little bit.
Nothing wrong with enjoying shiny things.
As with any hobby, enjoy with some degree of moderation, and don't overdo buying into foils. As well, LL taught me a great lesson. Not one I needed, myself, but assuming you stumbled on this blog to actually learn something, and not because you know me, I'll spell it out here.
LL Wanted to trade, I said no, and life went on.
Too often, you see guys that don't take the hint (more on that in a later post) and try to bully, coerce, and otherwise pressure people into trading.
Un. Sat.
Any kind of pestering, bullying, and other manipulation can't be tolerated if we want this game to endure. I can't even recall all the times I've been playing a game and some guy has sidled up to the table to trade with me or another player.
Take-aways from today: collecting shiny things: good. Being annoying: bad.
Friday, 21 November 2014
Humble Beginnings
I picked up Magic: the Gathering in 2008. Not that long ago, I'll admit, but let me tell you that at 19, I had no way of knowing how deep this particular rabbit-hole went.
Let me set the stage.
I was in university at the time, at RMC in Ontario, and Morningtide had been released. I'd made a few friends during my first semester, other nerdy people that, like me, were into games of all kinds. Our cast includes:
Me, AS, our hero: I'll skip this one, you'll learn more about me as this goes on.
DK: the first real friend I made at university, since I went to school in Ontario after spending most of my life in Western Canada. He and I had (and still have) a lot in common. This led to some friction at times, but even today I consider him one of my best friends.
CB: DK and I met CB in a common chemistry class. We were all into Yu-Gi-Oh (I know) at some point in our lives, and YGOTAS was just becoming kind of big, so we all decided to hang out and draft a YGO set that was in no way intended to ever be drafted. CB has a unique sense of humour that likely stems from him being a robot from the future. A good and loyal friend.
GC: GC and DK were both in my platoon during basic training before we arrived at university. I didn't interact with him much then, but we became friends through school and PT. He was in to a lot of the same stuff. He doesn't have much time for gaming anymore, given his wife and 2 young children, but never was there a more generous guy. Always down for tea at 3am.
TB: TB and DK played water polo together, and I sort of got into that a bit later. Another awesome guy. Builds computers, plays a lot of red decks, always down for whatever. Focuses nore on what's awesome than what makes sense or what's powerful.
SD: He played Magic with us from time to time, and I considered him one of my best friends. We don't talk anymore, unfortunately.
RP: More an acquaintance than a friend, we live in the same city now, but we don't talk. He was more into video games than anything else, but he was a part of our crew while we were at school, for the time he was there.
We played a lot of games as a group. D&D, YGO, some video games. I introduced 40k to the group, and it got picked up enthusiastically (I'm a bad man, I know). That was pretty popular, too, but Magic was number one among most of us.
Getting into Magic felt like something of a natural progression. I played YGO, but made it clear to DK and CB that I didn't want to get into another expensive hobby. Sure, fine, they said. But come with us downtown; you can hang out at the shop and play video games, and we'll eat after FNM.
I went. Video games, socializing, and pizza? Other than the homework I wasn't doing, I couldn't lose.
We arrive, and I sit down to watch the two of them have a game, when they hand me a pile of cards.
What.
"We signed you up," they said. "Here's a deck, we need to teach you the game before the event starts."
I thumb through the cards. Mirror Entity. Plains. Whitemane Lion. Knight of Meadowgrain.
I count. 57 cards. I have a basic understanding of some of the game's elements. 60 card deck, lands are usually required to cast spells, that kind of thing. Hence, bit of a small problem.
Other than not knowing the deck, not really knowing the rules, and knowing only these two guys in the whole place, of course.
DK frowns. "I'll be right back." He buys a pack of Future Sight, grabs the three white cards from the pack, shuffles them into the deck.
I had a deck.
And then they announced pairings.
Balls. Naturally, we never got a around to the whole "teaching me how to play" bit.
I got paired up against the local "high roller." We'll call him LL, and he picked up the game in 1994. He had binders of cards to rival Romney's binder o' women, had a deep understanding of the game, and was looking for, at the time, FNM foils. I can't recall why.
I don't remember much about that round, or even about that night, to be honest. But I remember a few things. One, that I got my ass kicked that first round. Two, that his deck used multiple Flagstones of Trokair to "Legend-rule" Plains out of his deck. And three?
I finished ahead of CB [i]and[/i] DK. Something like 11th of of about 25 players.
LL asked how long I'd been playing at the start of our match, and so I looked at my watch, and told him," Oh, about 20 minutes now."
He looked at me. "This... will be painful for you." Ouch. That cut real deep. I jest, but his response does seem odd, in hindsight.
He wasn't wrong, but who talks shit while playing a card game (settle down, poker folks)? I lose in two games, but between my basic understanding and a few tricks he showed me, I was able to save it and come out with a positive record. As a bonus, I made something of a friend in LL, which would become a benefit when getting into Magic's best format: EDH.
Anyway, I was hooked. I bought a pile of kithkin cards and built a pretty solid monowhite deck, and started going to events with those guys. It didn't hurt that I opened a foil Preeminent Captain at the end of the night, either.
And the rest is history.
My standard run was somewhat short-lived. I did well enough, but got tired of rotation. And so, I mostly gave it up in favour of Commander (called EDH then). My time playing EDH will mostly be the focus for this, from the evolution of our playgroup, to alternative multiplayer formats, to playing games and keeping up with your old playgroup across thousands of kilkometres.
Hopefully, you stick around.
Thanks for reading!
Let me set the stage.
I was in university at the time, at RMC in Ontario, and Morningtide had been released. I'd made a few friends during my first semester, other nerdy people that, like me, were into games of all kinds. Our cast includes:
Me, AS, our hero: I'll skip this one, you'll learn more about me as this goes on.
DK: the first real friend I made at university, since I went to school in Ontario after spending most of my life in Western Canada. He and I had (and still have) a lot in common. This led to some friction at times, but even today I consider him one of my best friends.
CB: DK and I met CB in a common chemistry class. We were all into Yu-Gi-Oh (I know) at some point in our lives, and YGOTAS was just becoming kind of big, so we all decided to hang out and draft a YGO set that was in no way intended to ever be drafted. CB has a unique sense of humour that likely stems from him being a robot from the future. A good and loyal friend.
GC: GC and DK were both in my platoon during basic training before we arrived at university. I didn't interact with him much then, but we became friends through school and PT. He was in to a lot of the same stuff. He doesn't have much time for gaming anymore, given his wife and 2 young children, but never was there a more generous guy. Always down for tea at 3am.
TB: TB and DK played water polo together, and I sort of got into that a bit later. Another awesome guy. Builds computers, plays a lot of red decks, always down for whatever. Focuses nore on what's awesome than what makes sense or what's powerful.
SD: He played Magic with us from time to time, and I considered him one of my best friends. We don't talk anymore, unfortunately.
RP: More an acquaintance than a friend, we live in the same city now, but we don't talk. He was more into video games than anything else, but he was a part of our crew while we were at school, for the time he was there.
We played a lot of games as a group. D&D, YGO, some video games. I introduced 40k to the group, and it got picked up enthusiastically (I'm a bad man, I know). That was pretty popular, too, but Magic was number one among most of us.
Getting into Magic felt like something of a natural progression. I played YGO, but made it clear to DK and CB that I didn't want to get into another expensive hobby. Sure, fine, they said. But come with us downtown; you can hang out at the shop and play video games, and we'll eat after FNM.
I went. Video games, socializing, and pizza? Other than the homework I wasn't doing, I couldn't lose.
We arrive, and I sit down to watch the two of them have a game, when they hand me a pile of cards.
What.
"We signed you up," they said. "Here's a deck, we need to teach you the game before the event starts."
I thumb through the cards. Mirror Entity. Plains. Whitemane Lion. Knight of Meadowgrain.
I count. 57 cards. I have a basic understanding of some of the game's elements. 60 card deck, lands are usually required to cast spells, that kind of thing. Hence, bit of a small problem.
Other than not knowing the deck, not really knowing the rules, and knowing only these two guys in the whole place, of course.
DK frowns. "I'll be right back." He buys a pack of Future Sight, grabs the three white cards from the pack, shuffles them into the deck.
I had a deck.
And then they announced pairings.
Balls. Naturally, we never got a around to the whole "teaching me how to play" bit.
I got paired up against the local "high roller." We'll call him LL, and he picked up the game in 1994. He had binders of cards to rival Romney's binder o' women, had a deep understanding of the game, and was looking for, at the time, FNM foils. I can't recall why.
I don't remember much about that round, or even about that night, to be honest. But I remember a few things. One, that I got my ass kicked that first round. Two, that his deck used multiple Flagstones of Trokair to "Legend-rule" Plains out of his deck. And three?
I finished ahead of CB [i]and[/i] DK. Something like 11th of of about 25 players.
LL asked how long I'd been playing at the start of our match, and so I looked at my watch, and told him," Oh, about 20 minutes now."
He looked at me. "This... will be painful for you." Ouch. That cut real deep. I jest, but his response does seem odd, in hindsight.
He wasn't wrong, but who talks shit while playing a card game (settle down, poker folks)? I lose in two games, but between my basic understanding and a few tricks he showed me, I was able to save it and come out with a positive record. As a bonus, I made something of a friend in LL, which would become a benefit when getting into Magic's best format: EDH.
Anyway, I was hooked. I bought a pile of kithkin cards and built a pretty solid monowhite deck, and started going to events with those guys. It didn't hurt that I opened a foil Preeminent Captain at the end of the night, either.
And the rest is history.
My standard run was somewhat short-lived. I did well enough, but got tired of rotation. And so, I mostly gave it up in favour of Commander (called EDH then). My time playing EDH will mostly be the focus for this, from the evolution of our playgroup, to alternative multiplayer formats, to playing games and keeping up with your old playgroup across thousands of kilkometres.
Hopefully, you stick around.
Thanks for reading!
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