MtG

[BinoAl]

Soo... Started learning Magic the Gathering today. I played a bit at school with a couple friends, then bought the pc game on steam when I got home. There goes my next few paychecks, I'm picking up some cards at work tomorrow >:)

[FlowerChild]

I propose a moment of silence for our fallen comrade.

I got into it back when the 2nd printing first came out (right after the black border cards...there was no other change really) back when dinosaurs still roamed the earth. I lost interest when they removed the ante from the game (the gambling aspect rocked at start), and sold off all my valuable cards for a nice little profit.

[BinoAl]

http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Ante
Huh, sounds interesting as hell. Although, I can see that as deterring most new players, as they would do nothing but lose cards at first. Hell, I know I'm going to get boned at school thursday playing with a basic starter deck, and I might not play knowing I had to give up cards, too :p

[Gargantuan_Penguin]

I never really got into magic. I played a bit, but never got interested.

[morvelaira]

As I sit and stare at the alpha and betas on my bookshelf, I remember the convention at the hotel by my house where they were handing the cards out for free... just trying to get people interested in the game. The tournament match a few years later (after I grew boobs) where they foolishly went easy on me because all they saw was a girl...

[BinoAl]

I never really got into magic. I played a bit, but never got interested.

Just the little bit I've played, I'm really enjoying it. I just managed to pull this off:
http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/7656 ... 3193143255
That's probably not too significant to some people who have played a while, but that was incredible to me. Pulled off a crazy ass combo involving blowing up every creature in play except one, who gained +1/1 for each creature destroyed. *nerdgasm*

[BinoAl]

where they foolishly went easy on me because all they saw was a girl...

Baha. The few girls I know that would play magic would utterly destroy them and insult them the whole time. I love my friends. xD

[Ribky]

I played a lot in middle school, then took a break, then got really into it when I was stationed in Korea (you see, in Korea only hot Asian college girls play Magic, and on base there was a DCI judge in my squadron). Fun game, really would like to start playing again, but it does get rather expensive once you get into it as much as I did.

[Horizon]

According to what I've heard, crack is cheaper.

[BinoAl]

According to what I've heard, crack is cheaper.

And a bit less addictive, to boot ^.^

[Ribky]

Yeah but hot Asian college girls don't smoke crack

[FlowerChild]

Yeah but hot Asian college girls don't smoke crack

Opium then?

[Battlecat]

According to what I've heard, crack is cheaper.

And a bit less addictive, to boot ^.^

No kidding! My entire group of friends and I have been playing casually for years. It's great fun, I love building decks.

[Ribky]

Opium then?

More likely... though I really only saw them drink vast quantities of soju in Korea

...

http://soju.co.uk/

[Itamarcu]

I played it for about 3 years. I love it, but the latest addition pretty much ruined the game for me...
I still have my awesome overpowered Sliver deck. I presume it could even be sold for ~50$ easily.

[DreamsofFury]

Wow....I now have the urge to go dig up all my cards, started around the second printing as well but didnt sell my cards like FC did.....should see what the value is nowadays for my old stuff.

[morvelaira]

Wow....I now have the urge to go dig up all my cards, started around the second printing as well but didnt sell my cards like FC did.....should see what the value is nowadays for my old stuff.

The last time I looked up my collection, it was worth about five thousand dollars or so. Resisting temptation to sell and get me that much closer to house down payment.

[DreamsofFury]

Wow....I now have the urge to go dig up all my cards, started around the second printing as well but didnt sell my cards like FC did.....should see what the value is nowadays for my old stuff.

The last time I looked up my collection, it was worth about five thousand dollars or so. Resisting temptation to sell and get me that much closer to house down payment.

I'll have to consider that....as I promised myself I would never get into another TGC after Yugioh, so it would let me fix my car so I could get a new job and start working on moving out of my aunts.....again...possibly get myself a new vid card as well.

[Flesh_Engine]

Well, i'm not too shy to admit that i'm a MtG veteran; was judge & organizer for local tournaments.

There are some free programs that set up a "virtual table" so you can play over IP against someone or join a hosted game such as magic workstation. There are others but that's the one i used to test my decks.

The MtG games on steam are "entry" level products; they offer you a just a tiny taste of what the physical game is like. If you want you could check out MtG online which has rules enforcement, digital packs and 24/7 tournaments.

There are lots of sites with good reads on mtg such as starcitygames or mtgsalvation forums.

If you're investing cash in the physical game; the one piece of advice i'd urge you to take to heart is; make sure to check the value of the cards you wish to trade on a decent site (such as http://www.magictraders.com/) so you don't get ripped off and that the sum of lesser cards is sometimes not worth the total value of one awesome one.

Other advice is;
Try all the colours but don't trade in your cards to try em out
Don't make decks larger than 60 cards, ever. (Unless you're playing commander (Elder Dragon Highlander) a real hit with the casual crowd and an excellent format for beginners)
Commons are just that, you'll be drowing in them after you crack a box or two of a certain set. NEVER trade for them, you can usually get some for free from other players.
Uncommons are usually solid cards that are the backbone of most decks, a good uncommon can usually fetch a better price than mediocre rares.
Play boosterdraft tournaments, they are a good source of cards and experience.
Be prepared to lose, a lot.
Invest in protection for your cards, a dented card is a worthless card.
Talk to other players, ignore the blabbermouths.

I'm starting to sound like that sunscreen song so i'll stop there ;)

[FlowerChild]

http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Ante
Huh, sounds interesting as hell. Although, I can see that as deterring most new players, as they would do nothing but lose cards at first. Hell, I know I'm going to get boned at school thursday playing with a basic starter deck, and I might not play knowing I had to give up cards, too :p

Well, there was a certain self-balancing mechanism to it. The thing was, beginner decks were basically worthless. Sure, they would lose most of the time, but if they did win against an opponent with a better deck, the payout was often much better than the cards they were putting on the line.

I lost a 40$ card in a 4-way game once (A Force Of Nature actually...I can still remember it), and when I plopped that down in the ante pile, people's eyes went wide.

Another guy had a 15-20$ card in there too, and the game turned absolutely brutal. Definitely the best I ever played.

[morvelaira]

Ahh, Ante. :) I earned one of my Black Lotuses that way. Only tournament match in the early days that the guy took seriously against me from the get-go. Everyone was appalled at the time, but since the card artist was at the tournament, I had him sign the card. (I only rarely played black, never after my plauge rats were limited.) As soon as Black Lotus was restricted from tournament play, it became the backbone of my financial collection.

I remember the match too. He had this fancy shmancy black, red and artifact deck that I'm still not sure what he was trying to do with it. I steamrolled him with a basic green deck. Llanowar Elves, Wild Growth, Lifestream and a crap ton of Craw Wurms. :)

[DaveYanakov]

I was really into MtG back in school. Started early but gave up on it a little after Fallen Empires after getting two thirds of my collection stolen. Sold the remainder for a couple hundred bucks after that.

I picked up a couple premade decks two years back but all the dozen or so new mechanics struck me as 'we need a new gimmick this year' additions. Figured I should get out while I still could. That lasted right up until last years Steam sale that included the digital version. Which I would reinstall if I had opponents I knew.

[Donzaffi]

Soo... Started learning Magic the Gathering today. I played a bit at school with a couple friends, then bought the pc game on steam when I got home. There goes my next few paychecks, I'm picking up some cards at work tomorrow >:)

If you like such card games ( I played too Magic, but its nearly 10 years ago now, ) I am playing a game on Kongregate that may interested you

[BinoAl]

--Wall of advice--

Thanks :) Yeah, I figured that the MtG game on steam was just a basic entry level type thing. I've got a few friends at school I'm going to be playing with after class, and they offered to give me a lot of their extra common cards. One of the guys actually said he has nearly 10000 cards, and only stopped buying them because he got married. Lmao. I don't plan on doing much trading, though. I'm terrible at bartering, and almost always get ripped off. Haha ^.^

[rmdashrrootsplat]

Hmm... I should sift through my old stuff and see if I have anything of value... Think I have a few Mox's and a Chaos Orb. Haven't touched the stuff since the Ice Age expansion. :D

Edit: Holy crap! I just looked up a few prices online... You mean to tell me a low-quality Unlimited edition Mox Sapphire is $700!? O.o