Tournament 1: http://challonge.com/mtgsim1 Getting online cockatrice.woogerworks.com is the server, port 4747. Taking signups ATM. If we get 8+ people will run it. Basically will allow people to start with Magic: Origins intro packs I think, and a bunch of standard legal packs (6) like Yugioh sim (I can recommend packs if we get enough people but basically goes like this for a rough guide) http://magic.wizards.com/en/article...lash-pack-and-intro-pack-decklists-2015-07-09 For intro pack lists (ignore first 3, bottom 5 is relevant, the correct link doesnt show one of the decks for some reason) Basically choices are Green/White play dudes and attack Blue/White fliers Red/Blue artifacts Black/Red Sacrifice stuff and graveyard Green/Black Elves Khans-Lots of good cards, multicolour lands at commons, pretty cool set Fate Reforged-Pretty bad commons, some really good uncommons and the rares will all be strong by the standards we're playing at. High-end rares from this might be insane. Dragons of Tarkir-DARGONS! Kinda average and other than the dragonlords at mythic, there's a few good things at all rarities Origins-Simple, naturally supports starter decks more than other sets I guess? Battle for Zendikar-New, seems lower power but cool. If interested choose a theme, 6 packs (can ask for advice on that) and we'll go from there. If you're not too confident playing magic but wanna play, I'm here to help. As for engines for playing on, Cockatrice is fine if people don't mind that shit isn't automated though hotkeys make it simpler to use and it takes a little getting used to, XMage has some issues but is quite automated (I've never used this though), so you can say what you think on that too. Guide for Pack Choices Green/White-A lot of the best supporting cards (mostly rares) are in Dragons, though sticking with Origins or going for Fate's strength should be OK Fliers-Wants generally good cards in these colours. Khans had a 3 colour theme but stronger cards so may want to avoid that unless you want to add red. Dragons and more origins again I guess, Fate's a good choice. Black/Red-Adding blue and going for Dragons and a bit of Fate might not be bad. The theme you're after in Khans is Black/Blue/Green so maybe avoid that. More origins might be OK but not impressive Artifacts-Sticking with Origins might be good, since the other sets aren't particularly artifact themed though some good things exist around in other sets. May want to try and just trade for those Elves-Basically all the relevant elves are in Origins I think. Other sets have good cards but none you particularly want I reckon. Might not want to stick to the elf theme and go somewhere else You may notice I don't reccomend BFZ. Firstly the fullart lands and Expeditions mean nothing in this (Where a lot of the sets popularity will come from IRL). Also I don't rate the set highly and commons/uncommons don't seem great. However if you want some cool shit and big creatures/spells it's not bad and shit like Rolling Thunder at uncommon will probably win a lot of games in this. So up to you really http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles...sts-2014-09-18 Abzan (Black/White/Green) Grindy card value midrangey deck. Looks like it's a bit more focussed than a few others, but the outlast mechanic may scale off further in but it shouldn't be too bad if you want to use the good ones early. Rares are OK for this I'd say and a couple very good other cards Jeskai (Blue/White/Red) Aggressive card quality midrangey deck. Rares are meh IMO, uncommons seem very good, commons are OK I guess. Not a requirement to start with this for a Jeskai deck later though, but same goes for Abzan Sultai (Blue/Black/Green) Graveyard based stuff. A LOT of trash and a lot of stuff you want (Including Satyr Wayfinders which aren't exactly available otherwise.) Will require significant upgrades, probably would not recommend Mardu (Red/Black/White) Aggro, sort of Warrior based. Some decent stuff, Crackling doom and a lot of stuff that will need replacing, not a bad start for an aggro strat though. Temur (Red/Green/Blue) Rampy big stuff. This might be the best, Rares aren't fantastic but there are 2 Elvish Mystics which is a reason to take it alone and a few other nice things. Seems pretty legit if you want to play a ramp deck. Most of these lend towards more Khans and some Fate for packs, and a bit more towards Dragons for Abzan, with Origins not being awful for all. http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles...sts-2015-01-15 BW=Warriors Aggro deck. Warriors are spread throughout Khans/Fate/Dragons for packs. If you want to play this deck overall take this pack. Otherwise no. RU-Prowess Midrange-3 Lightning strikes the main draw. Simply a play dudes and attack deck, can build into Jeskai later. All packs bar BFZ should go well for developing this sort of deck (Less Dragons though) BG-Looks a far better shell than the Sultai one. Hornet Queen, 2 Gurmag Anglers and a bunch of other things. Would recommend if you want to play a graveyard deck (Don't take the sultai one). Hornet Queen will win games on it's own in this. Lends towards Khans/Fate cards and a little towards Origins. RW-Aggro again. Looks like a decent draft deck from FRF low on bombs. Not sure this is particularly strong, especially as the best cards are probably commons/uncommons but not awful. Plenty of decent stuff from all sets bar Battle for Zendikar for this strategy UG-Manifest defensive ramp deck. May as well just take Temur instead. Not too impressed. http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles...sts-2015-03-19 Dargons GW-See the Origins one, similar. Arashin Sovereign in this might be kinda nuts with meh removal? UW-Pseudo-Prowess evasive attacking deck. Looks really meh to me personally. UB-Seems a decent value deck based around sacrificing creatures and Exploit. Synergises nicely but probably won't scale amazingly with new cards, but solid choice. Lends itself to a lot more dragons cards and previous graveyard stuff a bit. BR-Aggro stuff. Seems to want Fate/Dragons cards and some Khans, not too bad overall I think. Dash.dec isn't a great overall strat but for this it could work. Cards for it aren't awful but wants Heelcutters. GR-Aggro leaning Midrange, has a dragons subtheme. Decent removal suite, creatures early on seem solid. Doesn't particularly ramp though. Goes well with entire Temur theme though I guess, look at that packwise BFZ (Ignore first deck, it's not a choice. Far too good) http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles...cks-2015-09-24 WR-Allies (tribal subtheme). Aggressive, lacks removal, obvious theme. For packs if you want this, get all BFZ and trade better stuff you won't use for actual removal. UG-Eldrazi, ramp-based. No proper ramp outside the Scions and 4drops, may have insane lategame compared to other decks. Seems quite strong tbh but will die horribly to aggro most likely, can always start Temur and move towards this. Definitely a bit different, fun, and a lot of pack choices. WB-Lifegain and Flying. Lifegain is ew, so it's a midrangey WB strategy with fliers. If you wanna play that sure I guess it's fine. Goes towards whatever has decent cards in black/white that isn't warriors so may want to adopt green and become Abzan later. BR-Eldrazi Aggro-A bit WTF for me, rares aren't great, deck is VERY interesting and seems to go a lot of ways, but if you think it seems cool it's fine. Likes BFZ packs I guess RG-Landfall (Lands entering play), sorta aggro variant that wants to play a lot of lands. Super-generic and doesn't really scale well, rares aren't amazing like some but synergises with non-BFZ packs a lot better than the other BFZ decks. Does fucking nothing when not playing lands though and REALLY shit removal for a deck that is very creatures and attack focussed. Does have a Rolling Thunder I guess too? COMPETITORS HOWE-Temur IRIDIUM-Abzan TARTMASTER-R/G ESCATH-B/R Dash DROOS-Abzan AVA-Temur ARHEINER-Undecided
Yeah that's not an issue, I'll make a list of cards to cut first from each starter at the very least, since I assume the boosters will change the decks a lot.
Added some extra recommendations. Don't read into them too much, I'll probably ignore them a bit myself. Just know that Khans=Different colour themes to stuff around it, BFZ=big shit, Fate=bomb rares, other two=probably safer if you're not on enemy colours,
Keen. Relatively experienced with magic in general, although haven't played for quite a while so am noobish with new sets & abilities etc. I actually just pulled apart all my old decks and found all my other cards. So many fucking cards, especially considering I haven't really played for like 10 years.
I'm prepared to teach people how to play if they're interested. Will slow the start by a bit but should make it better overall, just message me sometime I'm on and have access to a computer (so like 4.3pm or later NZ time during the week) Alternatively, Magic Duels is free on steam and's pretty good for teaching people the game, particularly if you've never played before.
Interested, complete noob as well, but have downloaded this on steam and will test it out in the next couple of days.
Been playing Magic 2015 DotP. The first boss was way too good for my starter deck so I built a new one with some of the cards I got. Ended up beating her pretty easily. I'm a pro now
Few other things 1) Probably adding more starter choices. These ones narrow it down too much I reckon especially thematically 2) Trading will be far more important than YuGiOh sim. Card values IRL may give some sort of indicator but for the pool we got will be way off in this. Fetchlands particularly will be worth a lot less with more value to good nonland cards for the format. With people (most likely) trying to improve one deck, offcolour pulls will be great for trading and unlike YuGiOh, most of the cards you can't use that are good don't' require a load of support that doesn't exist in the overall card pool. (Will veto REALLY bad trades but if they're nothing like a real life trade that's fine)
Gonna take this as lack of interest for now, if people actually do registrations might not be but meh.
Basically an 8 man format which involves taking cards out of packs one by one for 3 packs and passing them round, then adding lands and building decks. Gonna make sure everyone knows what they're doing before considering stuff like that though +obvious logistical issue.
Also I will probably allow more intro packs (tart you're welcpme to change) especially because 2/5 here are kinda narrow for future decks.
