magic the blathering

King of Posters
#76

I have a Yasova deck since her archetype leans on a weird Voltron/Steal Em and Eat Em hybrid that I don’t see much of with other colors as well besides Grixis. Issue I have with other RUG commanders is that they’re fine on paper, I’ve even built lots of different Riku lists because he is pretty open ended but I prefer more niche/weirder archetypes, commanders that play with more obscure cards and produce interesting interactions.

Actually I’ll just link my deck since I have it online tho it is not the same as my paper version since I always tinker with it but most of the cards are the same:https://archidekt.com/decks/267307#Yasova_Temur_Trader

#77

Dope deck yo

#78

How do you all keep track of what cards you own?

#79

I don’t, which is horrible! Anytime that I have a few spare days, which is what it would take to organize it at this point, I usually have something far more pressing to do.

I take solace that if the ridiculous speculation-led price curve continues, my idleness is in the long-run making me money.

1 Like
#80

vague recollection

it also helps that I haven’t added or removed any cards from these boxes in, like, five years

1 Like
#81

I have a big spreadsheet with one worksheet per set where I keep track of every card I have, how many I have, where/when I got it from, and if it’s actively being used in something, where it’s being used.

It comes in really handy when I want to build something out of my existing collection and can’t figure out where the one copy of a card I have disappeared to.

2 Likes
#82

I keep having opportunities to buy or trade for cards on a whim but I can’t remember if I have 3 or 4 or whatever

#83

Yeah I use conditional formatting to highlight anything I have over 4 of already, spreadsheets are my best friend

#84

The main thing I need to do and I’ve never done is get rid of all my chaff. I’ve drafted from nearly ever set ever printed and as such I have a ton of cards that are pretty much worthless. I’d be much better off taking them all down to a store and selling them in bulk. This would require sorting through them and pulling out all the worthwhile cards though.

1 Like
#85

There are websites out there to log your collection. I think that tappedout site I linked has that feature, as well.

#86

But what’s the good one

#87

I agree, the goal of a competitive game is to win. But when a game gives rise to more interesting possibilities than winning? I’d say that’s players evolving the design. That said, EDH was not initially a competitive format to begin with, so the goals aren’t the same if you’re playing it in the spirit it was created.

#88

And what I’m saying is I’ve played plenty of tabletop games where winning is mechanically interesting, so I don’t see the point of playing a game where playing to win makes the game worse?

And if I want to explore my expression and creativity in a game with my friends without winning or losing, why not play an RPG or something?

1 Like
#89

I’m not saying playing to win makes the game worse, even in a casual format. Playing to explore a game’s possibility space has to be valid though if it’s to remain interesting, regardless of the goal. It’s part of why speedrunning for games often has so many formats. Winning is a highly contextual thing to a lot of people. If I determine winning is to draw the game or get players to draw lots of cards and then play Eureka, I can interpret that as me “winning” even if it’s not how the game defines it.

3 Likes
#90

The best thing a game can have is interesting decisions.

2 Likes
#91

Because there are entire classes of people for whom tabletop RPGs do not resonate at all with how they like to express themselves through games?

Tabletop RPGs are writing short stories and playing Magic is like building with Lego. Both are ostensibly creative tools for self-expression. Writing fiction requires little up-front investment to get started, but you also start with a blank slate and need to synthesize almost everything from your own imagination. Building with Lego will cost you money to acquire a bunch of pieces from which you can build your own work. If you get one of those themed Lego sets, there’s going to be a template from which you can build upon if you don’t have any ideas out of the box, or you can just ignore it and go your own way. Over time you can build up a larger collection and maybe you’ll notice how parts from different sets can be combined into something you hadn’t thought of before, and that can lead you to building more ambitious things.

Tabletop RPGs are about synthesizing flavour out of thin air to flesh out your character (I admit this comparison is probably weaker due to my lesser experience with them), Magic is a game about assembling decks out of disparate parts that do something cool. Both are going to appeal to wildly different people. RPGs don’t feel like games to me, they feel more like an improv class or homework for a creative writing class, and that’s just not what I want to be doing in my spare time.

And yes, tournament/competitive Magic doesn’t really showcase this aspect of the game very well because everyone is aiming to win and builds whatever they believe is optimal. Luckily, the overwhelming majority of paper Magic players out there engage with more casual formats that serve as a venue to showcase this kind of deck building, and EDH, having 4 players and often just 1 winner, is extremely well suited for it because you’re probably not going to win most games. So most people just build a deck that does something cool, don’t worry so much about winning, and have a good time.

I dunno, your post really rubs me the wrong way. It’s hard to read it as anything other than “why are you wasting your time playing this garbage game when you could be playing these better ones” and I’m just tired of all the tabletop RPG players telling me why I shouldn’t be playing Magic and should be playing something I have absolutely zero interest in

7 Likes
#92

You can be Spike or Johnny in any game you like. But if you play MtG with Spikes and aren’t a Spike, it sucks

5 Likes
#93

I’m sorry, I really was trying not to be a jerk, but I got carried away by my own biases here and I very much was.

Intention doesn’t justify effect. And I’m truly upset at any hurt I have caused here.

1 Like
#94

And if you’re a mox jet you’re mox jet all the way

#95

How about them incomming new cards?

1 Like