tbarrie Posted March 1, 2017 Share Posted March 1, 2017 On 2/26/2017 at 5:46 AM, AxB said: I never got why people would play those Magic: The Gathering card games. In a world that already had D&D and all the character-based tabletop RPGs, and Warhammer and all the tabletop wargames, why would you choose to play something that's not as interesting as either? Not to mention it's pay to win. Less interesting than Warhammer??? And it's hardly pay to win. That's just nonsense that bad players console themselves with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 I never looked hard enough at those card games to see if there was any strategy involved, it just looked like whoever spent the most money buying the best cards tended to win. Whereas anyone with eyes can see that Warhammer has strong tactical elements (to go along with the buckets of dice) involving troop deployment and attack strategies and so forth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbarrie Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Well, even boardgamegeek ranks Magic in the top 200 games of all time, and boardgamegeek is no fan of the CCG business model. It's an extremely well-designed strategy game. I'll confess I haven't looked at Warhammer any more closely than you've looked at Magic, but my impression has always been that it's the game Magic would be if Magic's makers were completely shameless in their money-grubbing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AxB Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 No, all you need is a friend with the rule book and access to a photocopier. Then you just buy a big piece of cardboard, cut it into pieces the size of the character bases, and write on them what figure it's representing. Only an idiot or a showoff buys all the figures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Wilson Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 To be fair, Magic can also be played by photo copying the cards or hand writing them out, but part of the fun of these games is collecting the pieces/cards/etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert C Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 So far my day has included a call to poison control and a small electrical fire. And it isn't noon yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 I assume someone tried to drink some bleach and vomited it on something that shorted and started the fire. Then a bunch of rats ran through the room when someone left a door open. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 Regarding Magic, I think there's too much money in it now. It's gotten too big. I got out of competitive play in 2006 or so, just before Tarmogoyf hit in the Future Sight set. Before then, then highest cost a card would have in a deck would be $19 to $20. I checked back on the Magic scene a year after Future Sight to see that Goyf was going for $100! Then came planeswalkers, the mythic rarity, and so much other shit that hyper inflated the cost of cards on the secondary market. I look at net decks now and some approach $700 to $800. It's just totally insane. It got so crazy that I sold off around 20 cards about a year ago and made just over $1000 off of them. A lot of that has to do with the Modern format. Even today I'll see a card that used to be a $5 card when it was in Standard, like Goblin Guide, and it's now $25. Wizards has done nothing to mitigate this inflation and in fact feeds into it. Now there are gimmicks when you buy boxes of cards, like special artwork foil versions of artifact cards, reprinting all of the classic lands, etc. In potentially turns a $100 box of cards into a goldmine. Hell, boxes of cards are worth more unopened than they are opened, which hasn't really happened since the early days of Beta or Revised. I bought two boxes of Modern Masters (the first edition of it) for a jacked up price because game shops don't have to stick to Wizard's MSRP. So I think I paid close to $200 a box. Those boxes now, unopened, go for $400 on eBay. So if you want a reason why people get into Magic, it's that there's more money in it now than ever. That collecting aspect is very attractive and LGS have done a ton to hold more events to get younger and younger ages involved. I don't know of many people who really care about the lore of Magic now since it revolves around the planeswalkers who are all very comic book character-y. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireThunder Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 25 minutes ago, Craig H said: I don't know of many people who really care about the lore of Magic now since it revolves around the planeswalkers who are all very comic book character-y. Which is funny because Hasbro thinks that the Super Friends are their bread and butter. Their design and R&D teams have made some huge mistakes in the last few sets: e.g. Emrakul/Marvelworks, Smuggler's Copter being forced in every deck, missing the Saheeli/Felidar Guardian combo. With that said, I got bit by the bug again, so I started up an account on Magic Online and built a couple of pauper league decks to play in my spare time. If I ever lose my mind and decide to play standard/modern/legacy/vintage, a deck only costs a fraction of what it would cost to make that deck IRL. Online drafts are pretty fun, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted March 2, 2017 Share Posted March 2, 2017 I was going to comment on Magic Online, and maybe this would be best served for the Gaming folder, but holy shit is Magic Online still fucking terrible. Wizards makes money hand over fist off of the paper product and more than likely off of the online product as well, and yet Magic Online is still the same as it was when it was first released in 2000! Their design updates and platform updates have been largely bullshit improvements, it's still buggy as hell, it looks like complete dogshit (hell, it looked like dogshit back on Windows XP), and it's such a chore to play with setting up the phase stops and everything. That said, it is the best way to just jump into a draft if you get the bug to play some drafts, although I would prefer drafting with paper products anyway. Also like you, getting into Pauper is a cheapish investment, but I eventually stopped playing those because grinding out tickets or whatever to then try and exchange them was such a pain. And then there's Cube and Commander/EDH, which got popular because of Magic Online, and sadly Magic Online is the best place for those formats if you don't have a local playgroup or a LGS. Anyway, I'm just bitching now, but it just sucks that Magic Online is still stuck in something that closely resembles its initial release back in 2000 and it's not available on any mobile platform. As for mobile platforms, it sucks just as much to see that whatever their Duels thing is called is only available on iOS, Steam, PSN, and XBL, which leaves Android totally behind. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 Money spent on Magic could be better spent on other more enjoyable endeavors in life, like prostitution or crack cocaine. I'm not suggesting one do this, but having played it like twice and being bored to death by it, this seems like good advice. I have played board games and other games with cards in them, but they're not CCG/TCG. I can't even recall their names, my friends own a bunch of them. Playing Dead of Winter takes forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig H Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 Dead of Winter is a good one. Sometimes there's a betrayer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSJ Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 On 2/26/2017 at 7:13 PM, Casey said: It's not an odd time of night for me to be up. I work 7pm to 6am through the week, so it's perfectly normal for me. The Yeezy shoes are my "holy grail", the brand of shoes I really want to own but they're incredibly hard to get ahold of (and expensive, as far as sneakers go). I don't usually like Nike, much less Jordans, but the ones I wanted were low-cut, plain black and didn't have the Swoosh symbol. However, it appears they aren't available anymore, at least for the moment, so I'm likely going to just go ahead and get a pair of classic Adidas instead. I think it's funny that you think collecting shoes is "somewhat disturbing", but then you go into a paragraph long spiel about collecting Magic cards. Yeeeeah... @Casey, okay, got it...Kanye's shoes are far preferable but for you (and you cite a variety of logical reasons), an unlikely purchase. Please note, I actually walked away from a successful business because it was becoming apparent that I would have to branch into carrying Magic:The Gathering. I was willing to tolerate stocking the lesser sports, and were I still at it, there would be such a heavy focus on wrestling cards that the shop would be a destination for the nerdiest among us, (yes, those of us that not only watch fake fighting, we collect cards of the participants). I totally get the collecting thing, ever since 2011 when Non-Stop Press published Volume #1 of Carol Emshwiller's collected stories, I've been waiting for Volume #2. More specifically, I've been waiting for a SIGNED copy of Volume #2. As Ms. Emshwiller is 96 years of age, there's no telling how long she'll be around and willing to sign books. Sure, there's a trade paperback $29.99, hardcover $44.99 signed, limited hardcover only 50 copies $100.00. Yes, all three editions have the same number of pages (638) and all the material is the same, but if you've been reading my posts very long, there should be little doubt as to which edition OSJ will be buying... When Michael Dirda at The Washington Post says: " … Carol Emshwiller is one of the greatest living writers of fantasy and science fiction." That's certainly all you should need if you're a fan of imaginative literature, to know that you need this book. (Of course, you might also consider OSJ's book, (available with personal inscription for $30.00 within the US), I just need to sell three copies and I've got Carol's book covered... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbarrie Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 5 hours ago, Craig H said: Regarding Magic, I think there's too much money in it now. It's gotten too big. I got out of competitive play in 2006 or so, just before Tarmogoyf hit in the Future Sight set. Before then, then highest cost a card would have in a deck would be $19 to $20. I checked back on the Magic scene a year after Future Sight to see that Goyf was going for $100! Then came planeswalkers, the mythic rarity, and so much other shit that hyper inflated the cost of cards on the secondary market. I look at net decks now and some approach $700 to $800. It's just totally insane. This is true. I randomly decided to start playing constructed again last fall, and a competitive deck ran me a few hundred dollars, which is definitely more than back in my heyday. (On the plus side, it prompted me to look through my old cards, and I found a few that weren't worth selling back in the day that I could now sell for a few hundred total. Magic giveth, and Magic taketh away.) 5 hours ago, Craig H said: Wizards has done nothing to mitigate this inflation and in fact feeds into it. Now there are gimmicks when you buy boxes of cards, like special artwork foil versions of artifact cards, reprinting all of the classic lands, etc. I'm not sure I follow your reasoning here. Reprinting all the classic lands IS something they do to mitigate the inflation. Similarly, those special artwork artifacts were pretty much all reprints of cards that got played in older formats. Reprinting them increases the supply, thereby keeping prices down. Tarmogoyf is getting reprinted again in Modern Masters 3, along with a bunch of other high-price tag cards. They do a lot to mitigate inflation, without going too far and pissing off the people who've paid the high prices those cards currently command. 5 hours ago, Craig H said: I don't know of many people who really care about the lore of Magic now since it revolves around the planeswalkers who are all very comic book character-y. There was never a time to my knowledge when anybody gave a rat' ass about the lore of Magic. 5 hours ago, FireThunder said: Their design and R&D teams have made some huge mistakes in the last few sets: e.g. Emrakul/Marvelworks, Smuggler's Copter being forced in every deck, missing the Saheeli/Felidar Guardian combo. I very much doubt they missed the Saheeli/Felidar Guardian combo. More likely they just decided it wasn't a problem, and so far they seem to be right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireThunder Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/m-files-aether-revolt-part-1-2017-02-03 Quote We did miss the interaction with Saheeli, however, and that has led to some . . . interesting decks in Standard. While we were pushing for more combo decks in Standard with Aether Revolt, this is not the kind of deck we would intentionally take a risk with. In hindsight, Felidar Guardian definitely should've said "creature or artifact." Pro Tour Aether Revolt is this weekend, and we'll be watching to see how these decks do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbarrie Posted March 3, 2017 Share Posted March 3, 2017 Huh. My mistake. Still not sure it's a big deal, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bustronaut Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Y'all a buncha nerds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Everyone who posts on this board is a nerd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Sweetser Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 I quit my job today! But I'm using the time to take classes and find a much better spot. Sometimes you have to go sideways to go around the brick wall. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 The Brick Wall in this case is Braun Strowman. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikoBaltimore Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 7 hours ago, Michael Sweetser said: I quit my job today! But I'm using the time to take classes and find a much better spot. Sometimes you have to go sideways to go around the brick wall. Congrats, dude. It's not easy to make that kind of decision but here's hoping things work out for you. Besides, you can always make a side business promoting Botch Man. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tabe Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 22 hours ago, Ryan said: Everyone who posts on this board is a nerd. Wait a second!!! I am... uh... yeah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Sweetser Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 17 hours ago, NikoBaltimore said: Congrats, dude. It's not easy to make that kind of decision but here's hoping things work out for you. Besides, you can always make a side business promoting Botch Man. Thanks. It was definitely stressful but it's gotten easier since. I've already been talking to recruiters and I've got a number of good possibilities lined up already, plus a very supportive wife. (The recruiters did not land me the supportive wife. I got that one myself. Somehow.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 Strowman says he's willing to negotiate to be your personal wall instead of standing in your way if you give him one steak a week. (Good luck, Mike, in all sincerity.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Sweetser Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 5 hours ago, Ryan said: Strowman says he's willing to negotiate to be your personal wall instead of standing in your way if you give him one steak a week. (Good luck, Mike, in all sincerity.) One steak a week? I'll pay him more than that. I'll get a job easy with that monster intimidating the recruiters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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