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Post by JuniorFE on Feb 16, 2023 23:04:43 GMT
I was mostly confused by proxies and I still have no idea what a commander is, but the planeswalker stuff was more or less clear. Big explanation ahead, spoilered so as not to clutter the thread: A Commander deck is made up of 99 cards, each of them unique (unlike most other formats' limit of four) unless the card itself says otherwise (like Persistent Petitioners) or is a basic land, as well as one Commander (some mechanics can shift that to 98 cards and two commanders, but that's not relevant here). Your Commander has to be a legendary creature or a Planeswalker that specifically states "[Card Name] can be your Commander" (like Daretti, Scrap Savant, for example). Your Commander's colour identity (any mana symbols present in their mana cost and rules text -abilities etc-) defines the colour of the rest of the cards you can put in the deck, with colourless cards (like most artifacts) being allowed no matter what. To use some examples I've already mentioned, Daretti would only allow you to use cards with a red or colourless colour identity (so nothing that's red plus something else, or has any non-red colour in general). Meanwhile, Sisay and Jodah have rules text that includes all five mana symbols as part of their abilities, so you can play whatever you want with them. As far as actually casting your Commander goes, it remains in a zone of its own (the command zone) rather than being in your hand or library, and can be cast from the command zone like any other creature. The big difference is what happens when your Commander would be removed from the battlefield in any way. You can let it go to whatever zone it should go to (for example, if it would be destroyed, you can let it go to the graveyard as usual), or you can put it back in your command zone to be cast again later. However, in order to cast it from the command zone again, you have to pay an extra two mana of any type for each time it's been cast from the command zone beforehand in addition to any other costs. A "commander tax" of sorts, for the convenience. Example: I'm playing with Sisay, Weatherlight Captain. There's no other card that affects costs on the battlefield. I cast her for her usual cost of 2W (2 mana of any colour and one white, for the uninitiated) and she immediately eats a Lightning Bolt and dies. I send her back to my command zone. To cast her again, I now have to pay 4W instead, her usual cost plus two. She dies again, so I put her back in the command zone... and now have to pay 6W instead, her usual cost plus 2 and 2. And so on. Bonus: having cast her again, she's about to die again (talk about bad luck) so I decide to play a spell that returns her to my hand. My hand is not the command zone, so now I only have to pay her original cost of 2W, whereas the next time she goes in the command zone again she'd now need 8W to play. I hope this all makes sense, I'm not very good at explaining this stuff without actually showing it during a game 😅 |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2023 23:06:22 GMT
I only play in person. I have a modern deck (burn), a pioneer (boros aggro) a pauper (madness) and a standard (orzos planeswalkers.) Spent a fucking fortune on these and love doing tournaments etc, but fuck me I just can't get into commander.
A higher buy in than even modern and you don't actually play. It is more of a social thing where you experiment, you generally don't actually play to win. I borrow mates decks and play regularly but I can't seem to get the fun.
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Post by JuniorFE on Feb 16, 2023 23:07:19 GMT
I was mostly confused by proxies and I still have no idea what a commander is, but the planeswalker stuff was more or less clear. Commander format is worth reading up on, and only worth buying into if you have INFINITE MONEY. TLDR: 4-player format. You pick one card as your Commander, which is eternal so you can cast it whenever during the match. You have a deck of 100, restricted to singles only. It's a money format really, people are still using sols, bitterblossom, Urza's cycle cards, skullclamp etc. It is interesting to read about, and probably fun to play if you have a social group It's not really necessary to have four players, and there are quite a few deck recipes that can be built on a budget (and upgraded later, if you so desire) but in general this is about right. Or you can be like me and just proxy everything and build a dozen decks with any cards you want, for only the price of paper and time  (also Sol Ring -if that's what you were talking about- is worth barely a dollar nowadays unless you're looking for special versions, it's reprinted in every preconstructed deck out there) |
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Post by JuniorFE on Feb 16, 2023 23:18:12 GMT
I only play in person. I have a modern deck (burn), a pioneer (boros aggro) a pauper (madness) and a standard (orzos planeswalkers.) Spent a fucking fortune on these and love doing tournaments etc, but fuck me I just can't get into commander. A higher buy in than even modern and you don't actually play. It is more of a social thing where you experiment, you generally don't actually play to win. I borrow mates decks and play regularly but I can't seem to get the fun. It really depends on the playgroup and the type of decks each of you brings in, to be honest. You can have playgroups that go full try-hard mode all the time, or playgroups that play the most ridiculous ideas imaginable and just have fun with the crazy stuff that happens. I myself have "built" (again, proxies) wacky stuff like a salad deck (almost every creature is some sort of plant), sorority and fraternity decks (all legendary creatures and Planeswalkers, and they have to be female or male respectively), Cat-and-Dog tribal (there's a dedicated commander for that, actually (link fixed): gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=489663 ) ...and even a deck specifically for DadFE where I tried to make as many cards as possible reference rock bands or songs! And on the other hand, I've built things like a Yarok Landfall deck that wrecks shit with only a little bit of luck. With so many cards available, chances are you'll find something that's to your liking. |
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Post by Nanocrystal on Feb 16, 2023 23:22:43 GMT
Having only ever played digitally I find the idea of IRL MTG a bit insane. Keeping track of all the different numbers, tokens, abilities, turn stages, what resolves first, etc., seems like a nightmare.
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Post by Danno on Feb 16, 2023 23:26:08 GMT
I'd quite like to get back into it (physical games)from a social perspective but wouldn't know where to start, for similar reasons- who's to keep track of all that. Me? Is this my job now?
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Post by JuniorFE on Feb 16, 2023 23:27:28 GMT
Nanocrystal It can be, depending on the format, but for the most part it's nothing that a few dice (and maybe a notepad for tracking life) can't solve, in my experience. I haven't run into many situations where effect stacks go above maybe three, if that, and if anyone is confused about ongoing abilities we usually figure it out on the spot pretty easily.
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Post by Danno on Feb 17, 2023 0:08:46 GMT
Nanocrystal It can be, depending on the format, but for the most part it's nothing that a few dice (and maybe a notepad for tracking life) can't solve, in my experience. I haven't run into many situations where effect stacks go above maybe three, if that, and if anyone is confused about ongoing abilities we usually figure it out on the spot pretty easily. Sounds like a job dude. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 17, 2023 0:42:03 GMT
Nanocrystal It can be, depending on the format, but for the most part it's nothing that a few dice (and maybe a notepad for tracking life) can't solve, in my experience. I haven't run into many situations where effect stacks go above maybe three, if that, and if anyone is confused about ongoing abilities we usually figure it out on the spot pretty easily. Yeah, once you get a grasp on timings it's mainly just knowing the sequence. I personally need +1/+1 and d20s for tracking, but that is all. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2023 17:06:11 GMT
At my first proper tournament today. 500 nerds casting spells at each other is a cool atmosphere actually.
Did pioneer first, lost, won, lost. A bit miserable, my Boros Heroic deck never really fired.
Now playing modern with the big boys. Some serious shit here with people being very serious and being dicks about rules etc. Given top 6 get a grand or so I can understand why, but some of them really need to chillax.
Lost first game 1-2 and was bloody close, but my Burn deck fucking slayed the second game, and I was playing a pro, so that was a great feeling. Only 2 more to go...
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Feb 22, 2023 19:33:26 GMT
White is kind of bullshit at the moment. So many cheap removal cards. I really hate playing against white decks right now.
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Post by Nanocrystal on Mar 30, 2023 4:31:37 GMT
Totally addicted to this now, and am still managing to not spend any real money on it. I'm finding if I get my daily 15 wins and spend all my gold on packs, I can get enough cards and wildcards to make a decent new deck every month or so. Currently enjoying a mono black deck based around Xander's Wake. Its win rate isn't that great but it's good fun when I can get it going. Also, my mono red deck based around Urabrask's Forge finally got me to mythic rank!
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Mar 30, 2023 7:50:56 GMT
Daily 15 wins, eh? And here I am being content if I can fulfill my weekly 15.
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Post by Nanocrystal on Apr 15, 2023 7:58:48 GMT
OK, blue decks are actually pretty fun. Been enjoying playing around with a janky mono blue deck with a lot of counter spells, a bit of card draw, and a few big hitters such as Lier, Tolarian Terror and Hullbreaker Horror.
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Apr 15, 2023 8:22:43 GMT
The problem is that the other guy will save all his removal spells, so your big hitters are toast, even if you can counter 1 or 2 of his spells after summoning.
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Post by Nanocrystal on Apr 15, 2023 8:26:27 GMT
Yeah, which is why I try to keep a few Shore Ups on hand.
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aubergine
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I must get over myself
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Post by aubergine on Jun 25, 2023 0:50:09 GMT
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Post by Nanocrystal on Jun 25, 2023 1:08:27 GMT
I've quit Arena sadly, due to addiction. It's a brilliant game but I got to the point where I felt obligated to get my 15 wins every day and it began to feel like a chore. It's the second game I've had to quit for this reason, the first being Destiny 2.
Also, not really a fan of mixing different universes so the LOTR set being released felt like a good time to put it down. Might jump back in after a break.
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zagibu
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Post by zagibu on Jun 25, 2023 11:25:52 GMT
I got tired of all the battlefield wiping cards that have been so very popular lately in most people's decks. It just drags out fights that I'll still win eventually, but takes like 5-10 turns longer than it would have to. So yeah, I've also dropped it for now.
Oh and yeah, this one ring artificial scarcity bullshit can fuck right off. Besides that, I hate the integration of other fantasy worlds into Magic anyway.
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