Me and Reid and Other Cool People Play Magic the Gathering

[wease]

New guy here -- what's a commander?

Well you’re definitely not winning

[washing machine]

New guy here -- what's a commander?

Well you’re definitely not winning

Don't count me out. I've seen comebacks in duels that you wouldn't believe.

Spoiler: show

unfortunately I have been on the losing end of most

[Simple Torture]

New guy here -- what's a commander?

Commander is similar to the Brawl format in Arena if you’ve ever tried that. Instead of a 60-ish card deck, you make a 99-card deck, and there can be no duplicates except for basic lands (except for very rare circumstances). Then you have a 100th card that’s your commander, usually a high-powered card, and the thing about it is when you play it and then it dies, it goes back into the “command zone” which is basically your hand. You can then play it again, but each time it leaves play there’s a “commander tax,” where its cost increases by two generic mana. So if it’s a 3-mana card, say, and it gets killed or exiled, you can play it again for 5 mana. And then if it’s put out of play again, you can play it for 7 mana. Etc.

The difference between Brawl on Arena and actual commander is that commander is usually played with around 4 people, and everyone gets 40 life, so games tend to be longer and involve much more strategy on whom to target and how to protect yourself. It’s a more social game and is one of the most popular formats. As I mentioned above, Wizards is working on a commander-specific app that will allow people to play those 4-player games online, but no release date has been announced.

[washing machine]

Ah, got it. Thanks ST.

Haven't actually done Brawl on Arena yet. Mostly Jump in duels and the occasional draft. Can't decide if I want to save my coins for packs or drafting. As tempting and fun as drafts are, it's probably better to save up for final fantasy packs and keep getting my ass kicked in jump in until I learn the mechanics.

[Simple Torture]

I don’t play draft very often, only once in a while if I have gems. Drafting a deck is just a skill I’ve barely worked on. Constructed is my jam.

[washing machine]

I'm having a hard time understanding how "the stack" or main/second main works..

This crucial part of the game isn't making sense to me yet and is really fucking up my mana curve.

[washing machine]

^That being said, I have a positive win % playing a red/white deck right now in Jump In.

It has some big dinosaurs with haste and a handful of white protection spells to get me aggressive early enough to wear down my opponent before my knowledge handicap slows me down. Big dumb punchy deck to get my confidence up. Not a style I want to play long-term, but it's worth it now to grind for XP.

[blueviper]

If you wanted to give commander a try on a budget, there are some cheap starter decks you can buy. Here are two that are around $20:

https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/44843 ... ge=English

https://www.tcgplayer.com/product/44843 ... ge=English

Cool, might take a look. Thanks!

[washing machine]

Any of y'all Vorthos?
ST and epilogue, I'm looking at you.

[Simple Torture]

Any of y'all Vorthos?
ST and epilogue, I'm looking at you.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of the lore (I didn’t know what that meant until I clicked the link). I’ve watched a few videos explaining where the Eldrazi come from, and those all sound pretty cool in a Lovecraftian sort of way.

[washing machine]

Yeah, it seems crazy overwhelming to even start.

I've started diving into the most recent story, Tarkir: Dragonstorm, but not without a primer because it's like part 4 of an ongoing saga.

[Simple Torture]

Was tooling around on TCG Player at 4:45 this morning and found a seller offering $3-$4 cards for $0.45 each. I ended up spending $25 on probably $75 worth of cardboard, including a bunch of Thunder Junction cards, so I’m that much closer to a complete set.

[washing machine]

Was tooling around on TCG Player at 4:45 this morning and found a seller offering $3-$4 cards for $0.45 each. I ended up spending $25 on probably $75 worth of cardboard, including a bunch of Thunder Junction cards, so I’m that much closer to a complete set.

I've begun exploring the Lost Caverns on Ixalan.

[washing machine]

Also, I had a pretty productive conversation with my MTG coach (ChatGPT) today. I can't wait to apply some new mantras to my gameplay.

https://chatgpt.com/share/6837ca5a-d5a4 ... 8b111151a5

I'm good enough now to get at least four daily wins needed for the gold rewards, and even went 3/6 in a recent draft event, but I'm nowhere near good enough to maintain this regularly yet.

[Simple Torture]

Was tooling around on TCG Player at 4:45 this morning and found a seller offering $3-$4 cards for $0.45 each. I ended up spending $25 on probably $75 worth of cardboard, including a bunch of Thunder Junction cards, so I’m that much closer to a complete set.

I've begun exploring the Lost Caverns on Ixalan.

That’s a cool set, especially if you like the dinosaur, merfolk, or subterranean creature cards. Also from before the introduction of play boosters, so the set boosters had lots of cool borderless cards regularly. Some favs:

[washing machine]

Ojer looks like something Archimboldi would have on his wall.

[zeb]

I don't play or collect anymore but I really dig what they're doing through Secret Lair.

[Simple Torture]

Trying to get more organized and to get all this shit off my desk:

[washing machine]

Actually organized mine today too. I didn't organize them by collection like you did, Just colors, lands, artifacts, and tokens.

My goal is to get a better feel for color personalities. Realizing quickly that I might be...gasp, izzet.

[Ello Sailor]

If I played MTG I'd definitely pick up the Final Fantasy set. Or at least everything involving the first 9 games. The art is so damn good.