How much is too much?

Magic is fun, magic is physically accessible, magic can be competitive. Magic is expensive.

As a new player, it took me a full 1.5 matches on my very first day playing to get a feel for the difference between a deck fuelled with flavour and a deck fuelled with power (and by power I mean money). It makes sense, it's supply and demand, cards that are more powerful are more in demand. Cards that are more in demand can be sold at a higher price. Winning is fun, magic can be a money pit if you like fun. I like fun.

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Magic is a collectable, tradable, card game. Meaning you buy randomized packs of cards and revel in the almost mythical reputation the "cracking" packs of cards hold. What will you get? It's the power lottery; $3 in might net you $50 out! 

I stopped buying packs of cards when I realized that I liked winning more than gambling (I don't like gambling). I think this is something that most players will go through relatively early in their card-slinging lives. That's not to say I don't like opening packs, I just won't go out of my way to buy them with the veiled hope of pulling the one card in 250 with a high rarity reducing the odds further. I tried an intro pack, a thematic deck designed to get me up and running. After playing a Tier 1 deck, I realized the discrepancy between the haves, the have nots, and the price tag that goes with winning. 

I found myself watching the SCG event last night cheering for Mono Red, why? "It's such a cheap deck", "takes no skill to play", blah blah (you're wrong on both fronts but that's for another article). I liked the idea of a deck priced at under $200 kicking the crap out of cards that run $40 a piece. I still do. Lowering the cost ceiling of standard is something I can only dream of. Winning because you're a better player, and not because your budget is bigger, is another pipe dream. 

And then it hit me, when Mono Red wins, the value goes up. Mono Red has the potential to also break the bank. *Ugh*

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Magic is not chess. Not everyone is entitled to the same pieces when they sit down to play. Variety and the ensuing complexity make MTG fascinating to me. I WANT to play with big powerful cards, because they're big and powerful, AND go along nicely with the winning game plan.

People in Magic talk about "power creep" and if you cite my earlier logic, I completely agree. This game is going to "power creep" me and my wallet right out of the game. 

@Ricostravels

MTG player survey...watch this space!

<SOON>

Hearthstone is the elephant in the room MTGO isn't talking about

MTGO, it's time for a reality check. There's an elephant, it's not in the room JUST yet, but its time to talk about it. Hearthstone is going to shake things up.

Hearthstone, is Blizzard's answer to MTG and without any paper basis, it's looking to take over the TCG world. But it's not a TCG...it's a CCG. That's right, at the time of launch there will be no trading, just "in game purchases" in the form of packs. As WoW has proven though, auction houses supporting 12 million people is perhaps not outside of Blizzard's grasp (D3 not withstanding).

But without getting too far into the nitty gritty, let's see what we're dealing with here.

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To the horde of WoW/D3/SC2 fans, Hearthstone is about to introduce the millions of them to card games and it's going to be easy to get started, simple to play, instantly have a massive player base, and be incredibly profitable. This is the company that smashed video game records and arguably was one of the most influential elements of mainstreaming geek-culture to date.  This is first REAL challenge the MTGO program has ever seen.

MTGO is clunky, it's ugly, it can take hours to set up and run (I'm a Mac user, you don't want to know what I went through) it hasn't been forced to change before because it hasn't had to, it's been the only kid on the block.

If I have a shiny, clean, interface that instantly connects me to other users, I don't need to go through that hassle. Now I'm already in the system, I love MTG and I've crossed the hurdles but I'm also part of the community that's almost brand spanking new. This is where things get interesting.

My forecast for the impending Hearthstone release, a mix of sun a cloud:

Blizzard will single handedly cause the biggest surge of interest in card games in years. New players, who have for years been on the fringe of playing cards will be immersed in the mechanics and strategies that make MTG awesome. But they'll be introduced to the beginner friendly Hearthstone and gradually discover its underlying intricacies. Some of those players are going to break into paper MTG "horah!" and some of those are going to TRY to play MTG online...

..and WotC is going to lose them right out of the gates. MTGO for many new players isn't intuitive, it isn't easy to follow along, and there is no one there to offer you help (Orcs? Are you kidding me..). If you haven't got the drive to play MTG with all the "conveniences" of playing online, you're not sticking around.

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I think WotC has a real opportunity here, but they're going to be playing catch up the entire time (odd for a game that's been around 20 years). The Duels of the Planeswaker series of games are fantastic, they're made for new players, and they're what hooked my attention in the first place. WotC needs to accept that the MTGO "client" that they've been flogging for so long, is going the way of the dodo and that DotP is the future. But it's not one or the other. For WotC to thrive online, as it has immense potential to do, it needs to merge a few things:

- The interface and intuitive design of DotP, over several platforms
- The events and trade options of MTGO
- Incorporate the wider (paper) player base, like they're starting to do with Planeswalker Points
- The social elements (arguably the soul) of playing a card game

Paper is never going to go away, but digital is the future if WotC wants to continue to control the direction of its own market. Blizzard are getting a major head start, it's up to WotC to go with the flow or keep fighting against the current.

@Ricostravels

Netdecking and me

"Ugh, another netdeck? Get some skill, build your own, WHY would you just play someone else's list you found online."

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm a neckdecker (def: one who puts together decks they saw were successful online and plays them in paper) and I make no apologies for it. I would go so far to say, that netdecking has been one of the most influential elements for my growth as a player and a student of the game.

"How is that possible? If you ripped someone else's deck, you clearly haven't enough creativity or skills of your own. You stunt your own growth in the game."

Dead. Wrong.

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When I started scouring the internet to learn how to play MTG, I came across the same line over and over "I hate netdeckers and net decking". I was new to the culture and the lay of the land, so I followed suit and adopted the same attitude, without really thinking where it was taking me. Everyone was talking about "homebrews" and "secret tech" and "testing" they'd done and I was enticed by this world of untapped potential that lay within the cards that only seemingly required the right magic *pardon the pun* combination to smash fools.

I spent weeks, my first few weeks, maybe even months "brewing" what I thought was the perfect mix of cards that were failsafe to make what I saw was the most controlling UW control deck that ever was!

One problem. I had no idea how to win, I could stop you playing just about everything in the first few turns. You weren't getting any creatures out, you weren't casting anything on my watch. You were basically doomed to draw or fall asleep as I got the match to run 40mins until I ran out of cards and you ran out of patience. I had no idea where I was going wrong, and my mash of cards was so far from what anyone had ever seem played, that every suggestion I got seemed different from the last. The weeks went by, and I started to get a hangover from my own homebrew.

That's when I watched my first Pro Tour. I watched David Caplan (Canadian) rip up the scene with his Mono Red Burn deck. It was everything my deck wasn't. It was fast, it did damage straight to the opposing player, it was inexpensive, it was Canadian! (Note: that last point isn't a real factor) I walked straight to my local shop, picked up all the cards I could and mail ordered the rest. I watched his coverage over and over. What did he do here, what was the right play there, finally I had a template and a battleplan to work with.

The very first casual event I went to with my Mono Red "Canadian" Burn deck, I placed in the top 10 of my 30 some group of people. I was so thrilled you could not imagine. For a guy who had won only a handful of points in the weeks before. I felt like a million bucks.

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"Netdecking is still for chumps"

Netdecking is a great resource. It provides a common framework for players to analyze what cards work and in what combinations. It puts labels to the decks we craft and brings minds together. For me, netdecking was my first taste of success in a world filled with veteran players playing Tier 1 decks (not of their own creation) and eccentric homebrewers who had played the game since its inception.

The next time you rip on a player for beating you with a netdeck, ask yourself. Who am I more mad at, the guy who walks in with the same deck as someone else online, or myself for not reading the meta and predicting what you're going to see in play. The internet and its resources and free and available for everyone to use. Use the tool, don't be one.

@Ricostravels

Wait..please Innistrad, don't go

I've got a bone to pick with you WotC. You're about to say that I can't play with the cards I've grown to love in the most popular format around. You may say that's irrational, just-reality, change is good, but I'm going to go for a little stroll down memory lane as I wave goodbye.

Innistrad was my first set. My first EVER card was Ludevic's Abomination (FOIL), and my first real exposure to the MTG community. I'd never played magic before. I'd seen it around, I'd seen people playing it and couldn't get my mind around a game that played out like epic battles over pieces of cardboard. I went for a stroll in downtown Newcastle, England, and stopped in at a comic-book shop. I hadn't been in one of these in 15 years. I popped in and truly in friendly Canadian fashion just started talking and talking, and talking. Then I talked some more. I wanted to know what the buzz was about. People were being handed shiny packs of something, even shiner pieces of cardboard, and proceeding to the basement where clearly there was palpable excitement. On the spot I paid for discounted packs and was signed up and immediately dropped from a "Innistrad Release Event" (to get packs at a cut rate). I'm usually up for new experiences, but unbeknownst to me, I had literally JUST walked into a brand new world (a plane?) with no concept of how any of this worked. All I wanted to do was figure out what the heck was in these "packs" and come back later when the coast was clear.

--

Fast-forward 2 weeks, I'd come back armed with hours of reading up on game mechanics, youtube demonstrations, and most importantly a pre-made "intro deck" that I thought looked pretty cool. In truth I'd been practicing; tapping, hitting for damage, and casting creatures. I had NO IDEA what I was doing. And so 2 weeks into this monster I proceeded down into the basement to see what all the fuss was about.

"DCI number?"
"..um, what?"
"You're new?"
"Yeah, Canadian"
"We'll get you sorted!"

And that's all it took. 30 minutes of waiting later, I was apologizing for not knowing a thing about the game I was so enthusiastically charging head first into. I won my first game (not match) much to my amazement, and never won a single other game for 3 weeks.

Let me walk you through some highlights:

- Everyone knew I was some mysterious traveller (@Ricostravels) with my funny accent and constant apologizing and welcomed me with a smile and stories of their early days
- The second game I ever played, I killed a "Lilliana of the Veil" and at that point it didn't matter what else happened that evening, I felt like I'd already beaten a final boss
- I saw the raw power of a "Tier 1" deck tear my intro stuff to pieces
- I had a great time, in a great culture of people, of all different backgrounds, shapes, sizes, and genders

--

A lot has happened since walking into Travelling Man, Newcastle. But Innistrad marks my first foray into Magic the Gathering culture, gameplay, and the sense of community. The game fascinates me, it's easy to get into, and incredibly difficult to master. My personality is obsessed with working on something until I see personal improvement and progression. This game has so many layers, so much history, and so many dimensions, that truly, in a new players position, it's impossible to not get pulled in.

It's hard to believe that it's been 2 years since the Innistrad burst on the scene, but as sets come and go, so do new experiences and the adventures that go with them. Bring on Theros!

@Ricostravels

The worst game I ever played

A new player is impressionable and I was lucky to start out with a great group of players at my original gaming store in Newcastle, England (Travelling Man). The store had a warm encouraging attitude towards new players and as a result was experiencing a real boom in player turnout. If they hadn't been so welcoming, I probably would have never starting playing this game in the first place.

I remember the very first time I wanted to take my cards and just throw them in the garbage (UK: rubbish), it was the worst game I had ever played and a great example of the person I never EVER want to be.

When playing magic in a casual scene, you do what you normally do with friends, enjoy each others company and learn a thing or two. Your guard is down because you're in the same nerd-cave as everyone else, playing out your shared interests that you likely don't share with most of the rest of the world.

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I remember introducing myself, excited as ever to see what my opponent was playing, and joking that I was new so "sorry if I take a bit longer than usual, I'm learning". I asked the guy sitting across the table how long he'd been playing and was impressed and interested in hearing a bit more about his experience with the game. There is a mechanic in MTG called "poison" where you win the game if your opponent accumulates 10 poison counters (in place of the 20 damage points a normal player has to defend from going to 0). I didn't understand this mechanic. I was playing a home-brew (my very first attempt at making a deck my own, UW control). I was intimidated with the short impatient answers I was getting. I sucked it up and tried my best.

Then in my second game, after losing the first in about 2 minutes, I played a card.

"That is the worst play I have ever seen....Hey <name>, this guy just played a <the card I just played> come check this out"...*friend comes over, looks at me and laughs*.

I had played a white card, against one of his creatures that I didn't get a chance to read, that I'd never ever seen before, that had protection against white. In MTG lingo, my card fizzled. No take-backs, no explaining why I was being laughed at, nothing.

I could have thrown my cards, I could have told this guy what I really thought of him, I could have pointed out that his Grand Prix and +15 years of experience probably dwarfed my 4th week of playing. Instead I crawled into my own little excited newbie hole and died. After going 0-2 in the shortest match I have ever played, I sat across the table, looking at my cards, while my opponent treated me like I didn't exist watching other games play out.

*Cast reanimate*...and then I got back up and swore to never EVER treat any player, new or experienced, like this as long as I lived.

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New players are fragile, they don't have to play this game, there are thousands of others out there, and even more people to play with. If you're a beginner, listen to those around you and try to go with the flow of things. If you're experienced, do what you can to create a patient and encouraging environment, you never know where new and unique experiences are going to emerge.

@Ricostravels

Gentlemenburninatorsociety

I'm going to let you in on a little secret. I'm terrible at magic. Not terrible, AWFUL. On mtgo, I've never had a release event I've placed in the top half. I think I have 1 pack on my record, thanks to some strategic disconnection tech on the part of my opponent's internet provider.

No it's true, I'm not very good at this game. Then why do I stick around? That's a tough question to answer, but luckily I've given it a lot of thought. I've challenged myself to do it in one word.

Victory, intensity, competition, challenge, adversity, earned value? Nope.

Community.

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MTG at its core, is about making and enjoying experiences. In my MTG career infancy that meant meeting the same group of people on a set day of the week, coming together and throw our decks at each other. It meant getting to know the people around you, and getting to know a subgroup of everyday life even more.

When I left my home-store where I learned to play back in England (Travelling Man, Newcastle), I was stuck. What do I do? I don't play online. I didn't know where the closest card shop was at my next destination was (turns out it's a 1hr flight away in a different time zone). I continued to obsess over cards but I couldn't physically play with with other people. I turned to what at the time, seemed like a group of guys who loved kicking back and shooting the stuff over everything to do with this game. The esteemed gentlemen @KevyMetall and @MattyStudios who started as a couple of guys and a couple of drinks on a podcast. Soon my listening turned to tweeting, and tweeting turned to sharing, and sharing turned to making new connections online. When the #HMSVU was formed and suddenly the listening collective had a label, a tag, an identity. What does it take to be an SVU member? A shared interest in the game and a willingness to passively or actively share your interest with others. Top tier decks? Nope. Experience? Nope. Conformation to a set of rules and regulations? Nope. Show up online, you're welcome here. If I can do it from a small island with questionable internet in the caribbean anyone can!

What I enjoy most of all, other than busting a gut week in and week out, is hearing about how our small community is growing and what people are doing in the name of the group, for the betterment of the game. This community, whether is likes to acknowledge it or not, is growing at an astounding rate to the point that when we start travelling to events, people know who we are and what we represent. A good group of people, looking for a good time to share with others. If you found your way to this site, you're part of that growth. Welcome. Do us proud.

--

The gentlemenburnintorsociety started as a simple hashtag, but I think it represents something a bit larger. It's the way some of use carry ourselves. We play our game, and shake hands at the end of the day, regardless of the outcome. It's about recklessly slinging spells and having them slung right back at us, but still holding a door for someone, giving someone help when the need it, and looking out for your fellow player. Be bigger than just yourself, grow your community :)

@Ricostravels

Mic check..1 2 3

1 2 3..

...Who knows where this will go. I'm a connoisseur of mtg, traveler of the world, and completely fascinated by both.

I've seen mtg from a few unique angles and have (what I think) are a few unique ideas and perspectives. Looking forward to sharing!

#gentlemenburninatorsociety #HeavyMeta

@Ricostravels