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YOU'RE NEVER SAFE FROM MY LOVE.

anyone play MTGO? seems alright.

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Originally posted by Meat187

Not Losing = Winning?

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Originally posted by Lira Not Losing = Winning?

Well, that's a rather philosophical question, isn't it?

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Originally posted by MSZ anyone play MTGO? seems alright.

It's enjoyable, and the interface is surprisingly smooth, but I really resent paying the same price for online drafts as I would in an actual store.

The benefit is that there's always enough people for a Swiss, 4-2-2, or 8-4 draft at any given time on any given day, which is useful if you can't make it out to an actual tournament.

Speaking of tournaments, I got utterly destroyed at the San Jose National Qualifier today. Death to [[ LINK REMOVED ]]
and all the varieties of Caw-Blade it's being used in (though I admittedly only ran into one Caw-Blade deck, today).

quote:

Originally posted by Paradox Lost It's enjoyable, and the interface is surprisingly smooth, but I really resent paying the same price for online drafts as I would in an actual store. The benefit is that there's always enough people for a Swiss, 4-2-2, or 8-4 draft at any given time on any given day, which is useful if you can't make it out to an actual tournament. Speaking of tournaments, I got utterly destroyed at the San Jose National Qualifier today. Death to [[ LINK REMOVED ]] and all the varieties of Caw-Blade it's being used in (though I admittedly only ran into one Caw-Blade deck, today).

let me guess, these guys play $700 worth of deck ya? wouldnt mind drafting, but 14 bucks a pop or so doesnt seem that great. im signing up as soon as my paypal clears. recently looked into that jace card, $80 bucks a pop is pretty immense lol. im not really up to date, and i dont really know the mechanics well.

quote:

Originally posted by MSZ let me guess, these guys play $700 worth of deck ya? wouldnt mind drafting, but 14 bucks a pop or so doesnt seem that great. im signing up as soon as my paypal clears. recently looked into that jace card, $80 bucks a pop is pretty immense lol. im not really up to date, and i dont really know the mechanics well.

Standard has essentially been dominated by Jace, the Mindsculpter for the past year or so, and it's created such a metagame pillar that even Wizards has stated that they're displeased as to the impact it's had. It seems as though the top 8 decks at any major qualifier are all running four copies of Jace, and I'm not faulting anyone for it; the card is amazing, and does everything you need it to in order to put yourself in a winning position.

Unfortunately, it also means that Standard has since become an incredibly stale format, and has driven away a lot of players who aren't able to fork over four hundred dollars for four copies of Jace. The top decks in Standard right now are Caw-Blade, RUG, Valakut, UW Control, and UB control, and all of them (except Valakut) just can't function without running four copies of Jace. Of course, there have been a few non Jace-centric builds that have seen successful results lately, such as BR Vampires, Valakut, Elves, Eldrazi Green, Boros, and a few other aggro decks, but they're all very draw dependent, and just not quite as stable as the Tier 1 builds I mentioned (Valakut is essentially the most competitive deck not using Jace, at the moment).

Here's a list of some of the most recent first place decklists. You'll notice that anything running blue is also running JTM (which is the majority of the decks you'll see there):

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck_...ange2=4/16/2011

Wizards is obviously aware of the problem, and have just issued an announcement regarding the banning of Jace. The new expansion is set to be released in May, and it sounds as though they've included several anti-Planeswalker cards that are intended to balance the game away from Jace's dominance in the format.

http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazi...tg/daily/ld/138

I played it years ago I enjoyed it with friends but as soon as I got into competitive venues I grew tired of the dynamics and stopped playing. The game ends up funneling ppl towards rare/expensive cards. The founders intended that you would buy sealed packs and build a deck based on whatever happened to be in the packs. But if you are interested in winning you leave nothing to chance. You buy the exact cards you need to build a proven winning deck. Takes the fun out of it.

If you're interested in having fun, don't play competitive Magic (though I suppose this reasoning applies to any other recreational activity that has slowly become refined enough to warrant a competitive domain). 'Kitchen table' Magic is becoming less and less common, and I find that Limited and EDH are essentially the only formats remaining that have 'fun' at their forefront while still being competitive.

Playing Standard has little to do with having a good time, lately.

And yes, the original founder of Magic has expressed quite a strong degree of dissatisfaction with the direction the game has taken. When he originally designed it nearly 20 years ago, he never wished for a card's value to exceed 10 dollars, thus making all competitive deck designs accessible to all levels of players. Now, most tier 1 builds run anywhere from 450 to 750 dollars, mainly due to the recent addition of 'Mythic Rares' and Planeswalkers.

Look at the obscene price of this recent first place UW Control deck:

http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=819715

Its really nothing new its been that way from the start. The game is designed to drive people into addictive buying. They keep releasing new sets and cards that obsolete previous ones.

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Originally posted by igottaknow Its really nothing new its been that way from the start. The game is designed to drive people into addictive buying. They keep releasing new sets and cards that obsolete previous ones.

The thing about various Magic formats is that cards never really go obsolete, as they simply rotate to a different format after a certain period of time (and EDH has finally given people a use for their otherwise junk rares). The rotation of these cards dramatically affects the state of the metagame within those formats, and the overall value of those cards. Right now, Jace, the Mindsculpter is the dominant card in Standard, which currently consists of six sets. Eventually, it's going to rotate to Extended (unless they decide to reprint it), and when it does, it's going to create new card interactions, and ultimately new deck designs; and the value is going to tank, dramatically. Several years from now, it will rotate to Legacy.

Wizards have always attempted to foster frequent purchasing habits, but the problem now is that there's an additional scarcity that's been created through the inclusion of Mythic Rares (which are included in only one in eight packs). These cards are generally potent enough to see serious play, and this, combined with their scarcity, results in a dramatic inflation in price. It's absurd.

a good friend of mine plays magic professionally, actually. or at least he used to (haven't been in contact with him in a year or so..) but he plays on the pro tour. he won an event like 2 years ago for 50grand. un-fuckin-believable. I think that he won it in a really crazy fashion too (with a strategy that nobody put any stock in...annihilated the top seeded players with his strategy though). Now, as far as I know, he still plays, and even writes for various magazines relating to it.

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Originally posted by LAdazeNYnights a good friend of mine plays magic professionally, actually. or at least he used to (haven't been in contact with him in a year or so..) but he plays on the pro tour. he won an event like 2 years ago for 50grand. un-fuckin-believable. I think that he won it in a really crazy fashion too (with a strategy that nobody put any stock in...annihilated the top seeded players with his strategy though). Now, as far as I know, he still plays, and even writes for various magazines relating to it.

Fuck, that's pretty cool. $50K

I should have been nerdier, perhaps.

A friend of mine used to be a ninja gamer, and would win about $30K a year from playing CS (I think?) tournaments. The first prize in one of the tournaments he went in (with his "team") was a brand new Ferarri. They came third and won like $12K each or something.

Tough life

Eh. It seems like a lot of money, and it is, but what opportunity for advancement does it really offer?
That's how I've always looked at it...My friend was lucky in that he's educated and, having won in what was a 'revolutionary' fashion his insights into the game were respected so he was offered writing positions. He makes a little bit of extra money doing that.

I think that a lot of the people who possess the intelligence and ethic to be successful at games like that are truly wasting their intelligence and drive, though. That's not to say that I look down on them --whatever makes you happy in life, well good for you. Just don't tell me that you're making great money playing monopoly and couldn't ever see yourself doing anything else because you don't think you could do better..

You couldn't do better playing a game that you love for a living and making great money at it?

I used to be one of the top players in Guild Wars and made several thousand dollars off it several years ago, before I quit to concentrate on stuff like, you know, real life. I went back a couple months ago to catch up with people and when we were talking about what we were up to now it got a bit awkward.

Me: Oh, I'm at university studying international relations and philosophy, planning on going to law school after I graduate. What have you guys been up to?

Friend 1: Oh, well my parents kicked me out of the house so I play poker online to pay my rent. Between poker and Starcraft I get about 30,000 a year so it's good.

Friend 2: Similar depressing story.

Me:

My bf has a black and blue Magic deck, full of rare cards. Prolly worth a few hundred bucks or more.

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Originally posted by Lews I get about 30,000 a year so it's good.

Does not compute.

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Originally posted by shaw Does not compute.

Hence my

I never played Magic so I only have a handful of beaten up cards somewhere. Probably not even worth $5. My SW:CCG collection is almost complete, though, and worth several thousand dollars.

Kinda ridiculous how much these things end up being worth. Guess that's supply and demand at work. Still seems insane, though.

quote:

Originally posted by Halcyon+On+On You couldn't do better playing a game that you love for a living and making great money at it?

great money for a 22 year old does not equal great money for a 35 year old
so while you're making 'great money' for the time being what skills are you cultivating?

lews' story was a pretty good depiction, i think.

quote:

Originally posted by LAdazeNYnights so while you're making 'great money' for the time being what skills are you cultivating?

I guess it all depends on what you want out of life. I hear nothing but regret from people who (nowadays) said they spent their youth improving on nothing but their portfolio - life is about way more than that if you ask me, though I'm hardly an authority on the matter I suppose; Games really encapsulate this dynamic we have of rationalizing indulgence in a post-industrial society.

And yeah, I'm sure it's easy to become a complete loser if all you have is gaming - your parents will kick you out (for the better) and you'll come to realize what's important to you by necessity (for the better). You said it yourself, it's difficult to judge someone when they truly pursue their dreams, however inane those may seem - but what is the point of living, really? People have to create that for themselves, and there's no use passively condemning them for actively pursuing their earnest interests, especially if your ultimate standard is what looks good on a resume.

p.s. TRANCE FOREVER

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