magic the blathering

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

But what’s the good one

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.

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?

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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.

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The best thing a game can have is interesting decisions.

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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

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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

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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.

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

How about them incomming new cards?

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love the new basic land art

nadir kraken and staggering insight both look pretty fun, im a sucker for card draw and more blue token spam is welcome

I’m in favor of the “Pokemon lands”

New Elspeth seems good. Little concerned that drafting the set is going to turn out to be very Gary-centric.

I think the fact that escape doesn’t exile means it’s very strong. They made Gary uncommon a least.

@gary is not just uncommon, she is exceptional

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i believe you mean mythic rare

is it the same as old gary otherwise or am i just misremembering?

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It’s a reprint, same card just upshifted to uncommon

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hahaha haha ha haha ha ha

finally a use for this Niv-Mizzet I have lying around

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