Magic: The Gathering

[SteelSD]

Originally Posted by Johnny Footstool

Yes, always 2 colors. One-color decks can be negated with just a few cards. Three-color decks are too unwieldy -- you never seem to get the right colors in your hand.

Noooo...

I've won a State Championship with a mono-colored deck (Academy), have two other top 4 finishes with mono-colored decks (Goblins, Rogue Black), and a top 8 Pro Tour qualifier finish with a pure-black Necropotence creation. And I finished second in 2006 States with a three-color deck (Solar Peace), losing two games to one in the final. During Grand Prix Minneapolis, mono-color White Weenie dominated the format. For a newer player, mono-color decks are actually a good thing because they eliminate the need for expensive multi-colored land and they can actually be more consistent and faster than a two-color deck.

You'll just have to trust me on this one, but multiple Pro-Tour qualifiers, Grand Prix's, Nationals, and even World Championships have been won using mono-color and 3-color or 4-color decks.

[camisadelgolf]

I played for a few years in junior high, but it wasn't worth the money it took to stay the best, so I stopped playing. I still have hundreds of cards ordered alphabetically, but I figure I'll just set them aside, let them collect value, and then sell them on eBay in a few decades.

[FutureRedsGM]

I was a player from around 93 to around 05. I thought the game became stale when they starting sanctioning events and limiting the cards that you could play with. I never played the sanctioned tourneys because I liked my "old" cards and the market was getting saturated with new sets that were being forced on players if they wanted to be active on the tournament scene. My favorite deck of all time was a mono black discard and land descruction deck (hymns, spectors, sink holes). I sold out on ebay a couple years ago for around $1000.

[Johnny Footstool]

Originally Posted by SteelSD

Johnny is giving you good feedback, except that a tourney-legal deck is a minumum of 60 cards.

Yeah, my memory is fuzzy. I thought it was a 40 card minimum.

Still, you want to be as close to the minimum as possible. The more cards you use, the greater the chance that the one card you really need won't come up.

Originally Posted by SteelSD

Noooo...

I've won a State Championship with a mono-colored deck (Academy), have two other top 4 finishes with mono-colored decks (Goblins, Rogue Black), and a top 8 Pro Tour qualifier finish with a pure-black Necropotence creation. And I finished second in 2006 States with a three-color deck (Solar Peace), losing two games to one in the final. During Grand Prix Minneapolis, mono-color White Weenie dominated the format. For a newer player, mono-color decks are actually a good thing because they eliminate the need for expensive multi-colored land and they can actually be more consistent and faster than a two-color deck.

You'll just have to trust me on this one, but multiple Pro-Tour qualifiers, Grand Prix's, Nationals, and even World Championships have been won using mono-color and 3-color or 4-color decks.

I believe you about tournament play, where card cost and card scarcity are not issues. I'm thinking more along the lines of recreational play, with decks build from common cards found in foil packs.

I played a couple of small tournaments and did well (2nd and 3rd). I gave up the game when I realized the game was less about creativity and more about economics. Building a deck from limited resources is a challenge and a lot of fun. Building a deck of "perfect" cards is a different game.

[TRF]

my god you guys need to get out more.

kidding. I played a bit when most of you were in middle school (I was in college). It's fun but IMO requires a lot of time and devotion. Maybe requires is not the right word. the game can suck you in real quick, causing you to lose track of time.

[SteelSD]

Originally Posted by Johnny Footstool

Yeah, my memory is fuzzy. I thought it was a 40 card minimum.

Still, you want to be as close to the minimum as possible. The more cards you use, the greater the chance that the one card you really need won't come up.

40-card minimum is for sealed deck or booster draft tournament play. And you're 100% accurate about wanting to keep it at the minimum number in order to maximize card drawing probability.

I believe you about tournament play, where card cost and card scarcity are not issues. I'm thinking more along the lines of recreational play, with decks build from common cards found in foil packs.

Ok. Sure. You're right there, although there are cheap options for mono-Red (weenies/burn), mono-White (White Weenie/Kithkin) and mono-Green (mana acceleration into fat creatures) even in casual play.

I played a couple of small tournaments and did well (2nd and 3rd). I gave up the game when I realized the game was less about creativity and more about economics. Building a deck from limited resources is a challenge and a lot of fun. Building a deck of "perfect" cards is a different game.

It's an investment, that's for sure. I've played tourneys with decks worth well over $500.00. But I've also done quite well at tourneys with decks worth less than $50.00 and with almost no rares. Early versions of mono-Red "Sligh" (named for it's creator) used zero Rares and a very low mana-curve to dominate the tournament scene for quite a while. "Red Deck Wins" was a huge cheap uppercut to the MTG tourney scene when it won Pro Tour LA a few years ago. A cheap White Weenie deck with four (IIRC) cheap rares took a World Championship quite a few years back. I've made States top 8 with a mono-Red Goblin deck using exactly four Rares cards in the main deck.

Unfortunately, things have gone in the other direction more recently.

I think you'd really like the sealed Two Headed Giant format. That's a blast as you and a partner build two decks out of sealed product and then play collaboratively against another team. Unfortunately, it appears that format had a very short run (two years) as a sanctioned "State" tournament, but it's still pretty popular for weekend tourneys.

[RedsManRick]

I played back during 4th edition and ice age -- mid 90's, middle school -- the heyday apparently. I always like my green/white deck because it felt more strategic, but it took forever to develop (green creatures tend to be bigger and more expensive) and I often got killed before I got anything rolling due to land problems. Always had problems finding the right balance. My brother was almost always Red and/or Black, focused on quicker, often direct damage with a wall off tinier creatures (damn you Will o' the Wisp!) to stop my green brute offense. I was never a big fan of blue, which seemed to me like a meta-game.

In the later sets, they started introducing more mechanics which complicated strategy and I got bored with it. I never really embraced my nerdom either, and Magic wasn't too popular with the athletic types. I never really played it competitively and ended up giving all my good cards to my brother for Christmas one year.

Fun stuff though. My only advice is to think simple and think synergy. Sort of like baseball, designing your offense around a string of unlikely events is a poor strategy. Get 'em on, get 'em in, and prevent your opponent from doing the same.

[*BaseClogger*]

Originally Posted by RedsManRick

I played back during 4th edition and ice age -- mid 90's, middle school -- the heyday apparently. I always like my green/white deck because it felt more strategic, but it took forever to develop (green creatures tend to be bigger and more expensive) and I often got killed before I got anything rolling due to land problems. Always had problems finding the right balance. My brother was almost always Red and/or Black, focused on quicker, often direct damage with a wall off tinier creatures (damn you Will o' the Wisp!) to stop my green brute offense. I was never a big fan of blue, which seemed to me like a meta-game.

In the later sets, they started introducing more mechanics which complicated strategy and I got bored with it. I never really embraced my nerdom either, and Magic wasn't too popular with the athletic types. I never really played it competitively and ended up giving all my good cards to my brother for Christmas one year.

Fun stuff though. My only advice is to think simple and think synergy. Sort of like baseball, designing your offense around a string of unlikely events is a poor strategy. Get 'em on, get 'em in, and prevent your opponent from doing the same.

Yeah, I certainly won't be buying any of the new sets. I prefer looking/using the old cards. I wish I could find a bunch of cards from the 90's for cheap.
Anyways, I checked and I've got cards from the sixth, seventh, and eight core sets. I like the idea of a red deck with goblins and spells that directly inflict damage on an opponent. So far, I'm looking at a deck of cheap goblins, Goblin King, Trained Org, an array of Lava Axes/Lightning Blasts/Shocks, and about 20 mana. How does that sound?
Also, what is a "mana curve"?
And, I read on a site that Blue is considered the strongest color. Is that true?

[Joseph]

Any of you cats nerdy enough to have played the Star Wars CCG Decipher put out back in the early/mid 90s?

For the record, I was, so I'm not pointing fingers.

[*BaseClogger*]

Originally Posted by Joseph

Any of you cats nerdy enough to have played the Star Wars CCG Decipher put out back in the early/mid 90s?

For the record, I was, so I'm not pointing fingers.

I see... hide your shame in my thread!

[Joseph]

Its easier than taking all the shame into its own thread.

[pahster]

Originally Posted by Joseph

Any of you cats nerdy enough to have played the Star Wars CCG Decipher put out back in the early/mid 90s?

For the record, I was, so I'm not pointing fingers.

Yep. Also the Star Trek CCG.

[Johnny Footstool]

Originally Posted by pahster

Yep. Also the Star Trek CCG.

I own a few of those cards, given to me by a friend who wanted me to play him.

I think I played it twice.

[Dom Heffner]

I've won a State Championship with a mono-colored deck (Academy), have two other top 4 finishes with mono-colored decks (Goblins, Rogue Black), and a top 8 Pro Tour qualifier finish with a pure-black Necropotence creation. And I finished second in 2006 States with a three-color deck (Solar Peace), losing two games to one in the final. During Grand Prix Minneapolis, mono-color White Weenie dominated the format. For a newer player, mono-color decks are actually a good thing because they eliminate the need for expensive multi-colored land and they can actually be more consistent and faster than a two-color deck.

Steel, I'll bet you a beer at the next Redszone gathering that savafan breathed a sigh of relief in regards to you hitting on his soon to be wife when he read the above.

[Caveat Emperor]

Originally Posted by Joseph

Any of you cats nerdy enough to have played the Star Wars CCG Decipher put out back in the early/mid 90s?

I had a couple decks of that when I was in middle school / freshman year. I collected more for the sake of collecting all things Star Wars. I think I've played a grand total of 3 games of that in my life.

As to Magic cards -- are the older ones from the 90's worth anything at this point? I had a ton of the regular white-border cards from c1994-1995. I think they're still in the basement somewhere.