I gots me free Magic cards

[Jibar]

I signed up in this Magic: The Gathering freebie thing, a free Magic The Gathering Core Game.
I did that two months ago.
It's just come through.
I don't know whether to be happy that it came through, despite cancelling my membership a month ago, or sad that I have nobody to play with.

[Psychotic]

I enjoy Magic, but the cost of keeping a deck competitive just turns me off severely.

If I were you, I would just go sit in a corner...Or go get some iHop or something.

[Morrandir]

Alternatively, find some people who'll play regardless of what your cards are, as long as they aren't the fan-made ones.

Seriously, I don't know how people even enjoy tournaments. the slowest deck I've seen wins on turn 4. Doesn't "have a chance to win," it WINS on turn 4.

The slow one.

Fastest is turn 2, roughly 80% win, turn 3 is guaranteed.

[Gaelbert]

I play magic with a lot of my buddies from Scouts. We're competitive, but since a lot of us don't really want to spend all our money on Magic, it's more trying to find good combinations of the cards we already have, which, I think, is how it should be.

[Ominous]

I was into magic for a few months until I played against my uncle who has a full set of alpha cards. After getting my rear-end handed to me, I decided that it was just too expensive to try and become competitive in whatever it is they call the tournaments where all blocks are allowed, and too expensive to constantly buy new decks for the tournaments where only the newest block is allowed.

[Totally Guy]

I'd only ever play sealed deck tournaments. That way there's a random fairness. Sort of. Some people would look up the cards online to see what the big game turners were called so they could spot them, others would get lucky with all the powerful cards being the same colour.

Best I did was 2nd Place out of about 40. I can't remember the set even... I think I had an Atog-Atog. If that's any help.

[Reinboom]

I'd only ever play sealed deck tournaments. That way there's a random fairness. Sort of. Some people would look up the cards online to see what the big game turners were called so they could spot them, others would get lucky with all the powerful cards being the same colour.

Best I did was 2nd Place out of about 40. I can't remember the set even... I think I had an Atog-Atog. If that's any help.

Odyssey block.

I pulled a 1st place sealed in Champions of Kamigawa prerelease in one of the flights in Chicago, that was interesting.
Jibar: Ever try playing online? There's many ways to do so.

[Were-Sandwich]

Speaking of free cards, can someone clear something up for me: In July, I went to a Tenth pre-release event (2HG Sealed), and consequently had to get me a DCI membership. I did. They also gave me this form to fill out, where I filled out one half, and an experienced player folled out the other half, and both of us were suppoed to recieve free stuff. It still hasn't arrived. Anyoen else done this scheme, and if so, has it arrived yet? I live in England, if that matters.

[Yeygresh]

Those "Wins on turn 3 100% of the time" decks are in T1(Tier 1, or 'Vintage'), which is every single set released, and the average deck runs $4,000(Yes, four thousand). This is because of certain cards called "The Power Nine", consisting of Black Lotus($2,000ish), Mox Sapphire/Ruby/Jet/Emerald/Pearl($600-800+), and some other cards that have waned in price and power. Some tournaments allow people to 'proxy'(scan a copy of a card, glue it to another card, and insert it in a sleeve) 5-10 cards, lowering the price of entry down to $800ish.

There are other tiers, including T2, T1.5, T1.x, and Block.

T2(Also known as Standard) is the most popular, consisting of the two latest blocks(Currently Ravnica and Time Spiral, I think), and the latest Core(10th now). The price of T2 decks shift from $80-400(Ravnica had rare land cards costing $20-40 each, and you might use 4, or 12 depending on the deck). While T2 is much cheaper, you do have to buy new cards every time a new block comes in, as the old block shifts out(When 10'th Edition came in, 9'th went out, and once Llorwyn comes in, Ravnica goes out). The average game of T2 lasts between 8-20 turns, depending on if the players are using Combo(A combination of 2-3 cards that usually win the game), Aggro(Lot's of creatures and/or direct damage spells), or Control decks(Lots of counter and removal to stop your opponent, the ending the game with a large finisher).


T1.5(Also known as Legacy) is the same as T1, but a larger restricted list(including the P9). Last time I checked, the average deck ran $200-800, depending on what lands you used. Combo decks are popular(and some can even win on turn 1!), but any control deck can stop them dead(making control decks powerful). Aggro decks, while not unheard of, are rare; Combo decks beat them 99% of the time, and Control decks can typically steamroll over them.

T1.x(Also known as Extended) is the mid-range tier, that consists of the latest six blocks(Currently Time Spiral, Ravnica, Kamigawa, Mirroden, Onslaught, and Odyssey block) and their base sets(10'th, 9'th, 8'th, and 7'th edition core sets). I don't know much about this format, but it typically consists of whatever decks were popular in Standard(when the blocks were new), upgraded by cards from other sets. Decks normally cost $300-700, but if you've been playing standard for a long time, you should have most of the expensive cards already.

The last(and least, cash wise) tier is Block. This consists of only the very latest set(Now Time Spiral, soon it will be Llorwyn). Block decks typically cost $40-80, seeing as most decks are made up of 80% commons. I can't really comment on block decks, see as they change completely every year.


There are also many popular fan made tiers, including Highlander(There can only be one. of each non-basic land card in the deck), Peasant Magic(Only allowed 1 rare, 8 uncommons, and the rest commons), and Two-Headed Giant(2v2, players share life points).

If you don't want to spend a ton of money, ask your LGS to run a Peasant Magic tournament, they're normally very popular, and only cost $10.

[KoDT69]

There are decks that monkey-stomp the opponent in 1-3 turns that cost $4,000+ and there are also common $0.05 cards that can counter such combo decks. It's all about strategy. Here is some advice from a guy playing since the inception of the game: Don't worry about the price or rarity of the cards you use. I have around $12,000 invested in my collection and a lot of times I don't use the really expensive cards. I had a deck worth maybe $40 win me 1st place 3 tourneys in a row when the Stonghold set came out, and it only included 6 rares, none worth more than $5 or $6 each. I can't say too much about my dragon deck though... It books at around $600 and is capable of dropping a 3rd round kill even in multiplayer, but it's graveyard recursion and 4 Kokushos!

A good way of getting good cards if you just play with a tight group of friends who won't mind... proxy cards you don't have. As long as it's not a DCI sanctioned tourney, who cares? There is no sense in spending as much as some do to keep a deck competitive. I feel bad enough every time I buy cards. A good way to limit spending is find a shop that sells singles cheap. Check the net and pick what you want before you go. The place I buy from sells me commons 20-40 for $1, and uncommons at $0.50, and a lot of rares at $1-3 that easily sell for triple at the other places in town. Buy lots of commons. They're cheap and a lot of them are quite powerful. Here are some really good commons:

Smite, Disenchant, Naturalize, Shattering Pulse, Counterspell, Boomerang, Vitalize, Rampant Growth, Stone Rain, Reclaim, Rancor, Rewind, Empyrial Armor, Darksteel Ingot, Myr Servitor, Unearth

Most of my decks are all commons and my friends still hate playing against me :smallbiggrin:

[Ronsian]

Anybody ever tried Magic Workstation? I have an old version, and got it free. I dunno if it costs money now adays, but it had all the cards so far (not all the new ones). It's fun, and you can play over the internet (IP connect and a internet server I think).

[Were-Sandwich]

Magic Workstation is still free. And I still can't get the hang of the damn thing, I just use Apprentice.

[tgva8889]

Those "Wins on turn 3 100% of the time" decks are in T1(Tier 1, or 'Vintage'), which is every single set released, and the average deck runs $4,000(Yes, four thousand). This is because of certain cards called "The Power Nine", consisting of Black Lotus($2,000ish), Mox Sapphire/Ruby/Jet/Emerald/Pearl($600-800+), and some other cards that have waned in price and power.

If you payed $2000 for your Black Lotus, you got ripped off. My brother got his for about $750, and his was near mint signed. We got the moxes at about $500 each, also. And a lot of times, you don't actually want all 5 moxes in your deck, so you don't necessarily have to buy all of them.

Ancestral Recall is actually one of the most expensive, probably about $750-$1000, right around Black Lotus. Though I think Lotus can go for $1250 sometimes.

And if you like magic but don't want to shell out a ton of money, play in limited events. They're definitely the most fun I have playing the game, and I play competitively a lot.

[exodus_dragon]

If any says anything about gettting ripped off they are wrong. any item is only worth as much as a person is willing to spend. Black lotus isnt worth a penny. it s piece of paper with some writing on it. now when someone is looking for it then it gains a worth of what the spender is willing to pay. i personally wouldnt pay any high amount for a card.