The Official Magic the Gathering card game Rules, Questions, and General Discussion Thread

[Space Lynx]

I have 8 decks now. I think I'm just a habitual collector and this game definitely feeds off that energy. Won a few 1v1 games, our 3-4 person games are definitely the most fun and big learning games for me. One game saw 5 board wipes and lasted nearly 2 hours! I managed 5 new decks for $15-20 each which seemed like a bargain. The other 2 were closer to MSRP, and the final was my original birthday gift. All in all I'm having a ton of fun and managing to get a game in fairly often. Turns out many of my coworkers play or used to and some are starting back up in the last few months.

if you can get 6 people together someday, Emperor game mode is a hoot of fun. honestly Emperor is one of the best ways to play Magic the Gathering, but it requires 6 people, 3 vs 3 and it requires 1-2 hours of play time. some of the best days in my entire life were playing Emp 1-1-1 (this references the lanes being limited) on Magic ONline original client back in 2005 or so.

it's really sad to me MTG Arena does not have Emperor or 2H Giant, cause quite frankly I don't have the money to spend on original client anymore, so I exclusively use Arena these days, being poor and all lol

 

[Space Lynx]

I don't know how anyone can stand playing meta and just playing these copy/paste decks. It's so freaking boring to me. My love for magic, was and has always been the same for the last 21 years (yes I have been playing I think close to 21 years now).

+beautiful jaw dropping art work that impresses me every expansion and is unparalleled in its beauty
+quotes that make me think more deeply the majority of the time
+improves my vocabulary so much that I get compliments on my ability to use creative words when writing
+not being able to access every card, but instead make decks creatively based on what card packs I end up opening
+having the Standard format to always play in to keep things mostly fair and balanced (before meta type player base is reached in ranking anyway)
+made many great friends over the years, and regardless of what country you are in, there is a Friday Night Magic place down the road somewhere
+Emperor game mode in Magic Online back in the day was insanely fun and a missed opportunity for WotC
+2H Giant Standard themed events were super fun back in the day, and another missed opportunity for WotC
+ Arena allowed me to enjoy Magic again in an unexpected way, very cheaply. I enjoyed it a lot up until Alchemy
+overall just being creative with new deck ideas based on cards I have, trading cards back in Magic Online in 2002-2004 was pretty fun, before the bots and mega merchants set up shop anyway... funny how bots were even ruining my life back then

-cost/expense
-my Magic Online 2002-2007 purchases have been lost to time (I wish I could figure out how to get them back or at least have them transferred to Arena the equivalent cost spent)... that's another negative imo, the constant spending of money never transfers over time, its just a money sink really... at least until Arena came out.
-Commander is overrated imo, because so many cards are legal that should be illegal... it ruins the fun if you are going up against rich opponents (this happened to me recently... they defeated 5 people by turn 4 or 5, can't remember) and it was all legal because Commander is so lenient with what cards are allowed... its nonsense. I wouldn't mind themed Commander decks that are meant to face each other, or maybe singleton Commander to kind of keep things more balanced.
-Alchemy ruined Arena for me, its just shoved in your face so much I can't stand it. I can barely keep up with the other 20 game modes and Standard should always be pinnacle, and they made it out to be Alchemy is a new version of Standard, a huge error on their part imo. I haven't played as much since they introduced Alchemy, I am probably not alone, and as the pandemic fades, people will move on in droves from the sheer overwhelming nature that Magic has become



any thoughts on all of this? mostly just venting, while still trying to praise the game I love.

 

[Vayra86]

> Commander... yea, LGS Commander tables are like that. You don't really need those though. Organize your own table, your own playgroup, and this format is endless fun. It will evolve. Someone bringing the heavy hitters? That someone is primary target. I'm that guy on our table, I always bring a new deck every time, or 3-4 even, and all my decks keep changing, and I do push some huge bombs in them. But do I always win or even dictate every round? Nope... But if you find me at your local LGS and don't realize what's happening, yep... sucks to be you The thing is, you either play constructed or you play draft or sealed. If you play constructed, build a good deck. Doesn't have to be high in price. You can build killer decks without even a single rare, there is just less access to exotic stuff/synergy/builds. But good ones? Definitely.

> Standard... too bad it happens in MTGA because that atrocity is not getting a single megabyte allowance on my machine ever again since Alchemy. That was insta-hard-boycot and done. I do like the prerelease drafts in LGS. Standard though to me is a money sink, but then my focus is commander. I only 'check' standard rotation/sets to cherry pick Commander cards. And that's also where I get profit in trading. Every set lately has had uncommon and even common hits that exploded in value - I tend to buy a few common/uncommon sets (1x every card in the set of that rarity) at 15 eur for a pack of both, they always break even and I have every card there is minus a few rares I buy as singles on top.

Cards like this are straight up money makers You just gotta have an eye for it. This started at 2 cents - each one of them.

Expressive Iteration (STX) - MTG Singles | Cardmarket

Buy & sell Expressive Iteration from Strixhaven: School of Mages in Europe's largest online marketplace for Magic: The Gathering. Easy, secure, best prices.

www.cardmarket.com

Deadly Dispute (AFR) - MTG Singles | Cardmarket

Buy & sell Deadly Dispute from Adventures in the Forgotten Realms in Europe's largest online marketplace for Magic: The Gathering. Easy, secure, best prices.

www.cardmarket.com

Bala Ged Recovery // Bala Ged Sanctuary (ZNR) - MTG Singles | Cardmarket

Buy & sell Bala Ged Recovery // Bala Ged Sanctuary from Zendikar Rising in Europe's largest online marketplace for Magic: The Gathering. Easy, secure, best prices.

www.cardmarket.com

And this list just keeps expanding with new things as the meta evolves and all the Standard/Modern sheep follow it religiously. Clickyclick! I just make money This game is all about cherry picking now. Find the niche you like, and make it work. If you try to understand its trading better, you can make almost anything work! I checked the other day... I'm at 6K EUR spent since july 2020. 3.5K was made back on selling cards. And my collection has reached a value of about 7K EUR total. Is crypto even this good...? You don't see value plummet ever, the worst that can happen is you misfire on thinking a card has value.

Cherry picking applies bigtime to preconstructed and commander cards; to Standard sets, and even to buying booster boxes. An MH2 box is likely to still turn you a break even, or a small profit. A Double Masters 22 box is likely to get you a net loss but you could get lucky. Every standard set draft box is a certain net loss. Etc..

And those trades then allow me to build something like this (just waiting on last few cards, so hyped lol - the commander is in yellow sleeve)

> The Meta
Yeah... the all consuming meta. I get ya. Its boring AF or gets there soon enough. I did play a Modern deck just to see how I would like competitive play in LGS on that format. Built a newly styled Dimir Mill thing, including Oboro (35 euro land) and all those painlands, total price just over 300 eur (IOW, it had everything a tournament deck would want for)... After two nights of play I got fed up with it. And it didnt even suck in terms of play, I think I won just under 50%, and sure did get a nice peek on how 'the meta' plays and where the fun is supposed to be at. Its about those tiny tweaks, an expert knowledge and insight plus your own developed idea on how to 'play against the meta'. After all, its there for everyone. The key is adaptation... But yeah, we're talking about adaptation in three numbers behind the comma really. Not my favorite thing if I want to play fun/relaxing games, it feels a bit like work. Commander in that sense is much more free form. And if you come into commander with 60 card deck notions, you will not have a good time. The dynamic is just different, big things work in commander, while in Standard and Modern meta, they tend to suck hard.

The Dimir Mill deck got sold two months after building it... and apparently I could price several cards higher than I bought them for. Made +40 eur on that in total... and Oboro is still up for sale (!).

So what is better? The tight meta with few surprises, or the free form of commander with lots of surprises and the immense chance your scissors won't find a paper at all, but only rocks? That's personal, and perhaps its a bit of both. Everything gets boring if you do it too much.

> Cost
Yeah. No Not seeing that issue, as you can read... Every card you own holds its value, for the most part, but selling unused cards off is a great way to keep the thing cost neutral at some point, I'm there now and its awesome. Bought a DM22 box from card profit alone, and parting it out now enabled me to build that Animar Eldrazi deck for zero!

By the way... isn't Commander always a singleton format? That's the whole thing, sure you have that 100 dollar card... in your 99. That's what the whole idea of synergistic/themed deck builds rides on.

 

[Space Lynx]

So far my Dominaria United runs:

4 wins 3 losses in my first draft

5 wins and 3 losses in my first sealed deck tournament

and I am hoping to get one more draft and sealed in tonight before bed. lol

Overall I think Dominaria United is a bit of a weak expansion, I like that they are encouraging multiple land decks, but those cards don't draft well due to the 40 card limitation.

I just wish Arena would bring in Commander and 2 Headed Giant modes, and possibly Emperor mode with some older cards to support Emperor (perhaps even a pre-constructed Emperor only mode, where you don't even get to use your own cards, that way everyone can experince the true joy of old school Emperor 1/1/1 gaming)

 

[Space Lynx]

So Unfinity comes out October 7th. "Space Carnival Sci-Fi" is the theme for this side fun magic the gathering expansion/experiment... interesting theme I like it.

Unfinity looks like fun for those of you that have a group of friends that can draft it together or do a sealed deck together. I won't be playing it unless it comes to Arena, too expensive to play IRL magic these days. still neat though, hope they bring it to Arena.

I think this card below looks kind of fun, source was PCGamer for this picture.

@Vayra86 have you got to play with the Commander you pictured above yet? that looks like a fun one I admit.

 

[Space Lynx]

Not very impressed with this latest expansion, Toxic is just a bit of a dumb mechanic imo.

I really wish they would have a "throwback expansion" so Odyssey block only cards, and then 6 months later do a throwback of Onslaught block. I'm not a fan of a lot of this new stuff.

Also, the nostalgia would be super fun... I would actually spend some money on Arena if they did some Throwback stuff like this. I didn't do a single sealed or draft with this latest expansion, I probably will next expansion though.

also, I won 10 games in a row yesterday, was quite fun... haven't had that long of a win streak in a long time. I wasn't using standard meta cards though.

 

[Vayra86]

So Unfinity comes out October 7th. "Space Carnival Sci-Fi" is the theme for this side fun magic the gathering expansion/experiment... interesting theme I like it.

Unfinity looks like fun for those of you that have a group of friends that can draft it together or do a sealed deck together. I won't be playing it unless it comes to Arena, too expensive to play IRL magic these days. still neat though, hope they bring it to Arena.

I think this card below looks kind of fun, source was PCGamer for this picture.

@Vayra86 have you got to play with the Commander you pictured above yet? that looks like a fun one I admit.

View attachment 262693

Animar was a complete letdown lol. Eldrazi on the field... never really materialized. I was more busy feeding Animar its counters to get there... and then you realize you might as well just add more rocks to do so and a different commander

I'm trying a somewhat similar-ish approach (get big creatures fast) now with Kykar:

...and 7-9x this sort of effect of which recent sets brought 3 or 4 new ones:

It comes in several shapes and sizes, exile or destroy; all or single or choice number of targets. The idea: Kykar generates free spirits off noncreature spellcasting. I sacrifice these spirits to the effect above, and run a deck full of noncreature spells plus a handful of bombs like Agent of Treachery... I'm considering to push more onto blink effects and ETB creatures like a Molten Primordial; Sephara's also extremely nice as she can also be cast for just 1 white if you have 4 spirits and immediately protects your commander. Lots of ways to take this in terms of 'value'. The version I played until now focused on 'X Damage' spells to finish alongside copy triggers (like Jin-Gitaxias) or recasting from graveyard, while Spirits generate my mana to make a really big fireball, but I reckon creature-based focus and blink will be that much nastier and much more value. If you're taking it the spellslinger way... Magnus the Red is an absolute powerhouse; it instantly doubles Spirit value for mana, which can easily put you at lethal X damage numbers.

I'm also running a completely revamped (as in: not the precon) Urza, Chief Artificer deck now and it runs like clockwork... its not uncommon to gain 2-3 constructs for free every turn... with menace... that scale on artifact count. Green stompy can't even compete Very powerful commander, very underrated.

And Phyrexia... flavor wise I love the set, also lots of fantastic (overpowered?) cards like Mondrak and Elesh Norn, new enablers for several commander-specific archetypes. Toxic... yeah. For 60 card competitive formats I suppose its fine. For commander its a fantastic way to paint a massive target on your forehead People strongly dislike being on 'your clock' that only counts to 10. I tried 4-5 takes on Atraxa with Infect a few years ago and it was absolutely horrible to play on any table. Just not fun.

 

[Space Lynx]

Animar was a complete letdown lol. Eldrazi on the field... never really materialized. I was more busy feeding Animar its counters to get there... and then you realize you might as well just add more rocks to do so and a different commander

I'm trying a somewhat similar-ish approach (get big creatures fast) now with Kykar:

View attachment 286211

...and 7-9x this sort of effect of which recent sets brought 3 or 4 new ones:

View attachment 286207View attachment 286212
It comes in several shapes and sizes, exile or destroy; all or single or choice number of targets. The idea: Kykar generates free spirits off noncreature spellcasting. I sacrifice these spirits to the effect above, and run a deck full of noncreature spells plus a handful of bombs like Agent of Treachery... I'm considering to push more onto blink effects and ETB creatures like a Molten Primordial; Sephara's also extremely nice as she can also be cast for just 1 white if you have 4 spirits and immediately protects your commander. Lots of ways to take this in terms of 'value'. The version I played until now focused on 'X Damage' spells to finish alongside copy triggers (like Jin-Gitaxias) or recasting from graveyard, while Spirits generate my mana to make a really big fireball, but I reckon creature-based focus and blink will be that much nastier and much more value. If you're taking it the spellslinger way... Magnus the Red is an absolute powerhouse; it instantly doubles Spirit value for mana, which can easily put you at lethal X damage numbers.

View attachment 286208View attachment 286209View attachment 286210View attachment 286213

I'm also running a completely revamped (as in: not the precon) Urza, Chief Artificer deck now and it runs like clockwork... its not uncommon to gain 2-3 constructs for free every turn... with menace... that scale on artifact count. Green stompy can't even compete Very powerful commander, very underrated.

And Phyrexia... flavor wise I love the set, also lots of fantastic (overpowered?) cards like Mondrak and Elesh Norn, new enablers for several commander-specific archetypes. Toxic... yeah. For 60 card competitive formats I suppose its fine. For commander its a fantastic way to paint a massive target on your forehead People strongly dislike being on 'your clock' that only counts to 10. I tried 4-5 takes on Atraxa with Infect a few years ago and it was absolutely horrible to play on any table. Just not fun.

I'm just not a huge fan of Commander allowing almost any card into the format, I have played Commander IRL with people, and they just have super super expensive decks and always win by like turn 5 from some kind of weird infinite combo that was banned in Standard ages and ages ago. I just can't stand Commander for this reason.

If I could find people willing to like like "only cards from the last 5 expansions" Commander, it would probably be more fun to me. Or maybe a Common and Uncommon only + 1 mythic commander, no rares and no mythics allowed minus the one commander. That would be fun.

Otherwise it just turns into theorycrafting dick measuring context and is no fun at all, unless you have a good bunch of people to play with, which it sounds like you do, so ignore all of that.

I only ever got to play Progres Tyrant once, guy instant conceded, lol

Sephara, Sky's Blade was fun, I did enjoy my all flying deck with 3 of those in it.

I'm really burned out on regular Magic, I just want to do some weird shit, like an uncommon only deck requirement, no rares, no mythics, two headed giant. that sounds like a blast to me

 

[Vayra86]

I'm just not a huge fan of Commander allowing almost any card into the format, I have played Commander IRL with people, and they just have super super expensive decks and always win by like turn 5 from some kind of weird infinite combo that was banned in Standard ages and ages ago. I just can't stand Commander for this reason.

If I could find people willing to like like "only cards from the last 5 expansions" Commander, it would probably be more fun to me. Or maybe a Common and Uncommon only + 1 mythic commander, no rares and no mythics allowed minus the one commander. That would be fun.

Otherwise it just turns into theorycrafting dick measuring context and is no fun at all, unless you have a good bunch of people to play with, which it sounds like you do, so ignore all of that.

I only ever got to play Progres Tyrant once, guy instant conceded, lol

Sephara, Sky's Blade was fun, I did enjoy my all flying deck with 3 of those in it.

I'm really burned out on regular Magic, I just want to do some weird shit, like an uncommon only deck requirement, no rares, no mythics, two headed giant. that sounds like a blast to me

Yeah you don't want to play on tables that are 'cEDH' oriented. The best commander tables are those that are filled with people who want to do weird shit, off-meta. And that's the vast majority of commander players I've noticed. Even in LGS as far as I know.

None of my decks use infinites, and if there is one, its not one I'll race towards to win. Those one trick ponies go stale super fast.

Commander is really all about finding the right table/rules for your table. Bit of a balancing trick, that, and at the same time you have to be wary not to bog the game down with all sorts of silly limitations 'you can't play this or that because'. I play with a half-fixed group for a long time now, and we keep challenging each other that way.

 

[Space Lynx]

Yeah you don't want to play on tables that are 'cEDH' oriented. The best commander tables are those that are filled with people who want to do weird shit, off-meta. And that's the vast majority of commander players I've noticed. Even in LGS as far as I know.

None of my decks use infinites, and if there is one, its not one I'll race towards to win. Those one trick ponies go stale super fast.

I have only played Commander with two groups, one in America and one in Finland, both in person. Both times there was always that one wanker who had a copied "meta deck" for Commander and broken combo that just ruined all the fun and ended the game by turn 5. Such a fucking waste of time.

You are lucky you have good groups, I just have bad luck I guess.

 

[kilo]

I'm just not a huge fan of Commander allowing almost any card into the format, I have played Commander IRL with people, and they just have super super expensive decks and always win by like turn 5 from some kind of weird infinite combo that was banned in Standard ages and ages ago. I just can't stand Commander for this reason.

There are a ton of banable cards they won't ban. Oringinal Atraxa should be one. When Atraxa came out, I admittedly copy pasted a Stax deck list. I won. A lot. but did I have fun and did my opponents have fun doing nothing to 10 turns? No and no. Slivers is another one that should have liberal bans to most of them. I usually judge a person's character by willingness to play slivers.

During pandemic times, I only played with one play group and stopped attending LGS events. I think a lot of burn out was avoided that way. We even have annual events that are specifically budget oriented, or goofy decks, or having someone else choose your commander, etc.

A while back I used to go to a LGS (which closed permanently in 2019) that had a house rule of a game where a player wins by an infinite combo (including storm), then they take the win and the other players may continue without the winner. This allowed the combo/storm $5,000 deck folks to still have a good game and take a technical win, but also not effectively annoy the table.

 

[Vayra86]

Best way for commander is find a playgroup of like minded ppl. Its not really fit for true competitive play if you ask me; that gets boring fast.

But Slivers... yeah. Thats why the playgroup matters. Running Slivers works the first time, but next game youll find hatebears on your path; and additionally table politics. The political game in multiplayer is probably just as big a part of your deck as the actual cards.

Thats also the spirit of commander; its about having fun and actually being able to play those interactions that would never make competitive meta. It just broadens the playing field massively; the best commander decks are those that play underdog and come out swinging for lethal. Supposedly weak cards are potentially super strong in commander just because they dont draw attention.

 

[Space Lynx]

My favorite deck of all time was UG Madness back in like 2003-2005, can't remember the exact year. Those were some fun times. I also remember having a ton of fun with cabal coffers land and corrupt. Surprisingly this latest expansion did bring back some Odyssey block cards, like Phrexyian Arena, major nostalgia there.

I still wish they would do Emperor 1/1/1 game mode on Arena, I know they never will, but those were hands down the most fun nights I have ever played Magic the Gathering, when your Emperor gets out Howling mine, so you draw and extra card, but the range is only one, so your enemies don't get to benefit from it, and the Emperor is protected by the flankers. Good fucking times. Man I miss that so much.

Same with New Frontiers, your Emperor needed to time this stuff just right. lol man I miss it, fuck.

 

[Space Lynx]

So for pre-order on Arena right now we have something called Shadows over innistrad remastered, is this $29 set of cars Standard legal format? or is it only playable in historic mode?

 

[Vayra86]

So for pre-order on Arena right now we have something called Shadows over innistrad remastered, is this $29 set of cars Standard legal format? or is it only playable in historic mode?

Shadows over Innistrad Remastered

Shadows over Innistrad Remastered is a Magic Arena-specific reprint set that was released on March 21, 2023.[2][3][4][5] Shadows over Innistrad Remastered features the set-defining cards and iconic mechanics you remember from both Shadows over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon but with updated...

mtg.fandom.com

Most of what you see on Arena is not in-paper formats. The entire Alchemy nonsense, and most Remastered's are of that caliber. Its also subject to change - they can change the cards on the fly. I saw a 'new' Blade Splicer the other day...

This is F2P in all of its filthy glory - everything subject to change and value can be destroyed with a single patch.
Also... does it get any more lazy than this? 'Oh Phyrexian sets are out, let's change cards that have seen a half dozen reprints already'

Blegh. Imagine how this works out on paper, if it ever goes there... its not impossible. We've seen changes in tribes before. Shit's getting nebulous AF - consider also that acorn-stamped nonsense in Unfinity that is legal in other formats. Its one massive info-overload clusterfuck hoping the consumer stops understanding the system so he buys more.

Except the consumers with brains are quite heavily invested in this game and WotC franchises overall. This is a OGL-document update-disaster waiting to happen here.

They've already achieved that Standard set releases are barely interesting to even get into on Paper, and in Arena they're fighting for attention over more 'dynamic' formats like Historic etc. Crowd on paper is moving to Modern, Commander, and Pioneer, but mostly the latter two, which kinda means you're one foot out of the door already when it comes to Standard to begin with, there is no reason whatsoever to move into such a limited format filled with temporarily overpriced cards. So you can wait for it... an overhaul is going to happen and they clearly pushed for it. You can guess what'll happen to your Arena card collection then.

 

[Space Lynx]

Shadows over Innistrad Remastered

Shadows over Innistrad Remastered is a Magic Arena-specific reprint set that was released on March 21, 2023.[2][3][4][5] Shadows over Innistrad Remastered features the set-defining cards and iconic mechanics you remember from both Shadows over Innistrad and Eldritch Moon but with updated...

mtg.fandom.com

Most of what you see on Arena is not in-paper formats. The entire Alchemy nonsense, and most Remastered's are of that caliber. Its also subject to change - they can change the cards on the fly. I saw a 'new' Blade Splicer the other day...

View attachment 287088

This is F2P in all of its filthy glory - everything subject to change and value can be destroyed with a single patch.
Also... does it get any more lazy than this? 'Oh Phyrexian sets are out, let's change cards that have seen a half dozen reprints already'

Blegh. Imagine how this works out on paper, if it ever goes there... its not impossible. We've seen changes in tribes before. Shit's getting nebulous AF - consider also that acorn-stamped nonsense in Unfinity that is legal in other formats. Its one massive info-overload clusterfuck hoping the consumer stops understanding the system so he buys more.

Except the consumers with brains are quite heavily invested in this game and WotC franchises overall. This is a OGL-document update-disaster waiting to happen here.

They've already achieved that Standard set releases are barely interesting to even get into on Paper, and in Arena they're fighting for attention over more 'dynamic' formats like Historic etc. Crowd on paper is moving to Modern, Commander, and Pioneer, but mostly the latter two, which kinda means you're one foot out of the door already when it comes to Standard to begin with, there is no reason whatsoever to move into such a limited format filled with temporarily overpriced cards. So you can wait for it... an overhaul is going to happen and they clearly pushed for it. You can guess what'll happen to your Arena card collection then.

I don't spend any money on Arena, just do my daily quests for gold and then just meh

Thanks for the info though, I was just curious.

 

[kilo]

The whole situation with tribes and tribal cards was poor design. When they include the species (for lack of a better term) and class into the same system, it gets weird. It would have been better to have tribal only apply to one or the other. This way you avoid a merfolk soldier deck being applicable to both the species "merfolk" and the class "soldier" for example. Back when they made the shift from creature type being whatever to species + class, tribal cards from onslaught were already under the current system where everything tribal counted species and class as the same stat. ONS I think was Clerics (class), soldiers (class), wizards (class), beasts (species), and a few other I'm not recalling.

A split in those stats causes issues like with Coat of Arms (EX) or Extinction (TEM) where it counts both stats as one.

I'm also upset they added the phyrexian type as well. Since before a few sets ago, there were none and now shoehorned into all sorts of older cards. As a paper only player, any major errata like that I have to discuss with each group, "Hey are we doing this rule or that rule?" OH and the new guy always wants to play with all the changes. Same deal with the planeswalker damage rule.

But all complaining aside, I think they're shifting towards online play and I'm not opposed to that. It is significantly easier to update cards or even alter wording (partner). They have to walk a tightrope between the paper monolith and the internet age (mtgo/arena/future products) without making either camp angry.

 

[Vayra86]

Sharing my daily dose of cringe inducing art here.

Aragorn fell in some Mordor swamp it seems... Luckily the card is extremely bad, but still.

 

[Space Lynx]

Sharing my daily dose of cringe inducing art here.

Aragorn fell in some Mordor swamp it seems... Luckily the card is extremely bad, but still.

View attachment 288009

yeah the new lotr stuff honestly looks disappointing to me. also, using the one ring has a willy wonka golden ticket so use peasants buy as many collectors we can in the hopes of getting rich is a bit disgusting in my eyes.

i will stick to the free daily quests, I already have 80k gold in Arena, and nothing to spend it on, i will spend it on drafts/sealed tourny's whenever a expansion comes out that interests, but i doubt that happens, i skipped the last two

 

[Vayra86]

yeah the new lotr stuff honestly looks disappointing to me. also, using the one ring has a willy wonka golden ticket so use peasants buy as many collectors we can in the hopes of getting rich is a bit disgusting in my eyes.

i will stick to the free daily quests, I already have 80k gold in Arena, and nothing to spend it on, i will spend it on drafts/sealed tourny's whenever a expansion comes out that interests, but i doubt that happens, i skipped the last two

Well I think the set is positioned very well. Modern legal, but the power level is - so far - kept lower than what's regular in Modern, so apart from some very specific niche, its not going to throw away the (expensive) MH2 meta.

Similarly, for EDH, I don't see any game changers just yet. Reprieve is nice - a white Remand basically - and reprints like the Great Henge are welcome, but other than that? The whole One Ring affair and 'tempting' on cards seems very much like the Initiative we saw in Baldurs Gate set - totally forgettable.

And that's really the corner Universes Beyond should be in imho. If its full of cards you 'need' to have, you can't prioritize on flavor anymore in neither EDH or other legal formats, while Modern players are also unhappy.

But yeah... as much as the flavor of the set seems to be in OK condition... the art so far imho is below par. Those basic lands, too man... they all look alike, they use a futuristic /metallic border that was great in WH40K flavor but ridiculous in high fantasy, and the locations don't even make sense. Mechnically though I have little complaints, its a set made for itself and that's fine.

 

[Space Lynx]

One thing I do like about Arena is when a good expansion does come around, and I think March of the Machines actually does look mildly decent... I can do a draft for free. I have 3 draft tokens saved up I bought sale for 9000 gold each. Still haven't spent any irl money, and I still get to enjoy some drafts and sealed deck tournaments. I just don't like spending irl money on that stuff anymore, so its nice to be able to enjoy this.

MtG Arena has too many modes though, I find it overwhelming, Brawl is junk imo. Also, the fact there is no Emperor 1/1/1 or 2H Giant is still a sin imo.

 

[Selaya]

i might've overdone it when they handled out free draft tokens @IKO release (thanks covid-19) ... there's like 50 or so more i've created for sharing that aren't tracked on that spreadsheet (it's only tracking the personal ones ive made)

and i havent played this shitshow in like half a year or something now. dm me if you want free 6-3 drafts in bronze.

 

[Space Lynx]

i might've overdone it when they handled out free draft tokens @IKO release (thanks covid-19) ... there's like 50 or so more i've created for sharing that aren't tracked on that spreadsheet (it's only tracking the personal ones ive made)

and i havent played this shitshow in like half a year or something now. dm me if you want free 6-3 drafts in bronze.

You skipped a good half year then, because last two expansions were junk. March of Machines looks a little better, not great, but better. So I am excited to play a couple free drafts on launch day.

I won 15 games in a row in Standard meta the other day, just with a random deck I made, once I hit Platinum Tier Rank 2, I hit a wall though. lol

 

[Selaya]

meh.
their entire design direction's ass backwards, cba
i've hit mythic twice (both w/ historic; the inaugural season and UHM i believe sometimes around innistrad-refresh-repost or something?)
played either angels or humans during the inaugural and almost certainly humans the 2nd time around but honestly, can't even fucking remember

type2's just a sad excuse of a format cash grab, never saw the point (besides maro's pockets ig) nor the appeal of it

 

[Space Lynx]

march of the madness wasn't all that good, I did a couple free drafts on Arena. not going to waste my time on it. hopefully a future expansion looks interesting. starting to get bored, but i still do my daily quests to stack my gold, so eh.