I totaly agree that the customer service website is not vey intuitive. To get refunds you have to keep the event and game number to submit it as you said, but than it worked great for me. Good to get some free tix as you did, maybe they hope to see you coming back for more limited events?
I don't buy it. So IF you play white, and IF you play a flying tribe then you have a chance against goblins. Meanwhile you are also able to hose most of the tribes in the format.
I think the only reason it doesn't dominate is because of it's scarcity and because it's a dead card against other flying tribes.
But that's just my opinion so I'll trust the people that have a lot more experience in the format than I do. :P
- Most popular 100 CS module:
Stoneforge Mystic, Sword of Fire and Ice, Sword of Light and Shadow
for casual you can extend it by Stonehewer Giant and Argentum Armor
- Tooth and Nail, Defense of the Heart, [use your imagination here]
I don't play casually anymore because I was getting blocked far too easily. In fact I think I've been blocked for using variations on at least 3 of the modules you mentioned here. People get really finicky about who and what they play against in the casual room.
On the competitive side of things, Trinket Mage is fully competitive and found it in many top decks. I've also used Changeling Berserker a lot. He's very good with Goblin Matron, but he's also good with a number of staples in the format that have "enters the battlefield" effects. I really hope they bring back the "Champion a" mechanic in a future set. It's so good.
I've played with Eldrazi Conscription along with Sovereigns of Lost Alara in a couple of competitive decks and it's been reasonably good. Have you tried Academy Researchers with the Conscription yet? That's probably the Timmy in me talking.
Wishes are another set of cards I should play more, but I keep forgetting about them. They don't seem all that casual to me.
The token deck is fun to play. It can catch a person by surprise. I am actually playing SOM Block now. I find it more rewarding. Best part? No, Jace.
You should finish your article. I enjoy fun articles for entertainment value. I actually saw the first Dune movie almost two years ago when I joined a Friday night Classic event. I remember it because I top 8. The movie was ok but you can definitely tell they are missing a lot. I will have to give the books a try but I heard they can be very in depth and confusing. I am a fairly intelligent person. So I may try and rise to the occasion.
This was a fun article to read, I started something similar to this months ago and never finished it. I even have a similar line to your closing of "Magic provides us entertainment not just in the games we play but in the cards. The art, the flavor text." Maybe I'll dust it off and give it a finish.
"He who controls the Spice, controls the universe."
Nice! Even after reading the first five books in the series, I have yet to see either of the Dune movies (the 1984 original or The Made for TV series) but I believe I saw it was available on Netflix Streaming, which I'll have to make time to watch it soon.
Thanks for the mention of my article. How is that token deck treating you? I just picked up my third copy of Elspeth, been looking forward to trying her out.
I have asked for a refund on 3 occasions and they were very prompt and courteous. That being said, the customer service website is not very intutitive. Also this past SOM prerelease I was lagged out and had not wrote down the event number. They would not refund my tix until I found that number. I had to ask my computer savvy brother-in-law to find it on my computer. They then gave me my tix back. The best part was that I ripped a mox opal and sold it for 24. So it was like a free 24 tix.
profit by WotC is not bad per se, but some changes (like introducing mythics - what is it good for beside selling more boosters?)are bad for players on a budget.
I'm willng to pay for the stuff I want to enjoy, but some things really went wrong in the last years I guess. Right now in germany you can't run official events in paper if you don't own a shop that works together with WotC. So the events run in my town where always PREs that are gone now wthout any replacement.
The movie theatre is a great example. I don't complain about their profit, but if a company that makes movies will show them to me for the same prize as a theatre, making much more profit, I would complain. So while I get the benefits of mtgo, I don't know why are the boosters at the same prize as in paper? To prevent paper from drying out? Did you ever get a discount when buying 100 boosters online?
I don't feel attacked and I'm thankful for your commen :-)
great story! If they payed back in cash, i'm really suprised!
By the way: If they deleted those Draft packs immediately, I ask myself why it is not possible to get rid of those gold boardered cards...I was always told that it is not possible.
Personally I never read the game reports. What I want to see is the draft simulator, seeing the draft as you did and learning from your picks. What is missing from most draft reports that I'd like to see is a very obvious one sentence game summary of the deck performance at the end, something along the lines of :
"This deck went 1-0 in matches, I felt it would have been strong enough for 3-0 if I'd played out all the matches".
At the end of the day the two things I want to take from reading any draft report are:
1) how strong did you think the archetype you drafted would be relative to the packs you saw, and
2) how did it perform relative to expectation
Once I entered the online store to buy me 10 tix. And instead of buying those tix, I ended up buying 10 draft sets! This is what happens if you click too fast and don't look at your shopping basket.
Anyway, I immediately contacted the customer service and basically told them about my own stupidity. And they immediately deleted those draft sets from my account and I got my refund. I was shocked (in a good way) that they were so fast and friendly, and even paid back what they normally shouldn't have. That was, after all, my own problem and my own stupidity.
So that was the only time I contacted them and my experience with them was very positive.
This is a pretty useful article. I've never had cause to contact the customer services (which is probably due mostly to the fact that I haven't played any online limited since leagues disappeared), but if I ever do, I can imagine myself coming back to this article.
Your draft seemed to go very well. I don't think I've ever been brave enough to go for infect from the very first pick, so congratulations.
The only picks I'd quibble over were P2P7 and P3P1 where I think you could have picked untamed might up much more aggressively. Also, P2P1 I'd've taken consuming darkness over the trigon, but that's probably more debatable.
On a note aimed as much at the site as the author though; Is this really enough content to bother posting as an article? It's a draft followed by one full game report, a second game report which reads;
"This one MTGO didn’t record but it was something like Turn 2 Stinger Turn 3 Nim turn 4 Trigon attack you for 7 turn 5 throne of geth and concession. It was a fast game indeed and it was nice to see my deck was doing so good."
and then an admission that you fell asleep after that.
To my mind, this is pretty low on content to qualify as an article..
thanks for your comment and many thanks again for helping me to correct some mistakes of the article.
It's interesting to realize that a lot of people have very positive/successful experiences with the customer service refund. It seems to be no big subject on the forums (or I missed it :-). Maybe some people don't share their experiences because they don't want to lose that positive point.
pretty good run down of some of the common issues players have at event making an account and dealing with cust service, but ya theyre usually more than generous with refunds for documented issues, just make sure you have a screensot, that always helps.
I don't see how profit by WotC is a bad thing, per se. It is a business after all-much like puremtgo. To me, if you are pleased with teh service and enjoyment you get for what you pay then it is actually good. I think it is good because if MTGO was doing poorly they would 1)become stingy with things like refunds and 2)MTGO would eventualyl fizzle and any fun you have or money you have "invested" in said fun will be gone. Profit, as long as you are pleased with what you get for your money, is a positive for us and WotC. I don't always agree with waht Wizard's does but if I am displeased with this game and feel as though I am not getting the level of enjoyment for my money then I won't do it. I don't think this is anything more or less than that: it's like going to the movies---I don't think anyone complains about the movie theatre making a profit. I would also like to say I wasn't attacking you at all, sorry if it came off that way.
Hey gimlicolby,
I totaly agree that the customer service website is not vey intuitive. To get refunds you have to keep the event and game number to submit it as you said, but than it worked great for me. Good to get some free tix as you did, maybe they hope to see you coming back for more limited events?
Naga
I don't buy it. So IF you play white, and IF you play a flying tribe then you have a chance against goblins. Meanwhile you are also able to hose most of the tribes in the format.
I think the only reason it doesn't dominate is because of it's scarcity and because it's a dead card against other flying tribes.
But that's just my opinion so I'll trust the people that have a lot more experience in the format than I do. :P
I think Steven Spielberg for me,
that guy has ruined so many good scripts with such good actors and funding. =P
X-
- Most popular 100 CS module:
Stoneforge Mystic, Sword of Fire and Ice, Sword of Light and Shadow
for casual you can extend it by Stonehewer Giant and Argentum Armor
- Tooth and Nail, Defense of the Heart, [use your imagination here]
I don't play casually anymore because I was getting blocked far too easily. In fact I think I've been blocked for using variations on at least 3 of the modules you mentioned here. People get really finicky about who and what they play against in the casual room.
On the competitive side of things, Trinket Mage is fully competitive and found it in many top decks. I've also used Changeling Berserker a lot. He's very good with Goblin Matron, but he's also good with a number of staples in the format that have "enters the battlefield" effects. I really hope they bring back the "Champion a" mechanic in a future set. It's so good.
I've played with Eldrazi Conscription along with Sovereigns of Lost Alara in a couple of competitive decks and it's been reasonably good. Have you tried Academy Researchers with the Conscription yet? That's probably the Timmy in me talking.
Wishes are another set of cards I should play more, but I keep forgetting about them. They don't seem all that casual to me.
The token deck is fun to play. It can catch a person by surprise. I am actually playing SOM Block now. I find it more rewarding. Best part? No, Jace.
You should finish your article. I enjoy fun articles for entertainment value. I actually saw the first Dune movie almost two years ago when I joined a Friday night Classic event. I remember it because I top 8. The movie was ok but you can definitely tell they are missing a lot. I will have to give the books a try but I heard they can be very in depth and confusing. I am a fairly intelligent person. So I may try and rise to the occasion.
This was a fun article to read, I started something similar to this months ago and never finished it. I even have a similar line to your closing of "Magic provides us entertainment not just in the games we play but in the cards. The art, the flavor text." Maybe I'll dust it off and give it a finish.
"He who controls the Spice, controls the universe."
Nice! Even after reading the first five books in the series, I have yet to see either of the Dune movies (the 1984 original or The Made for TV series) but I believe I saw it was available on Netflix Streaming, which I'll have to make time to watch it soon.
Thanks for the mention of my article. How is that token deck treating you? I just picked up my third copy of Elspeth, been looking forward to trying her out.
"I'd fight Abraham Lincoln."
I have asked for a refund on 3 occasions and they were very prompt and courteous. That being said, the customer service website is not very intutitive. Also this past SOM prerelease I was lagged out and had not wrote down the event number. They would not refund my tix until I found that number. I had to ask my computer savvy brother-in-law to find it on my computer. They then gave me my tix back. The best part was that I ripped a mox opal and sold it for 24. So it was like a free 24 tix.
Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies. Could be childhood nostalgia...but I feel it still holds up to this day.
Hey Monkey,
profit by WotC is not bad per se, but some changes (like introducing mythics - what is it good for beside selling more boosters?)are bad for players on a budget.
I'm willng to pay for the stuff I want to enjoy, but some things really went wrong in the last years I guess. Right now in germany you can't run official events in paper if you don't own a shop that works together with WotC. So the events run in my town where always PREs that are gone now wthout any replacement.
The movie theatre is a great example. I don't complain about their profit, but if a company that makes movies will show them to me for the same prize as a theatre, making much more profit, I would complain. So while I get the benefits of mtgo, I don't know why are the boosters at the same prize as in paper? To prevent paper from drying out? Did you ever get a discount when buying 100 boosters online?
I don't feel attacked and I'm thankful for your commen :-)
Naga
Hey Lord Erman,
great story! If they payed back in cash, i'm really suprised!
By the way: If they deleted those Draft packs immediately, I ask myself why it is not possible to get rid of those gold boardered cards...I was always told that it is not possible.
Naga
Personally I never read the game reports. What I want to see is the draft simulator, seeing the draft as you did and learning from your picks. What is missing from most draft reports that I'd like to see is a very obvious one sentence game summary of the deck performance at the end, something along the lines of :
"This deck went 1-0 in matches, I felt it would have been strong enough for 3-0 if I'd played out all the matches".
At the end of the day the two things I want to take from reading any draft report are:
1) how strong did you think the archetype you drafted would be relative to the packs you saw, and
2) how did it perform relative to expectation
Once I entered the online store to buy me 10 tix. And instead of buying those tix, I ended up buying 10 draft sets! This is what happens if you click too fast and don't look at your shopping basket.
Anyway, I immediately contacted the customer service and basically told them about my own stupidity. And they immediately deleted those draft sets from my account and I got my refund. I was shocked (in a good way) that they were so fast and friendly, and even paid back what they normally shouldn't have. That was, after all, my own problem and my own stupidity.
So that was the only time I contacted them and my experience with them was very positive.
LE
Hey StealthBadger,
when I got my issues with mtgo I had to figure it out by myself. So I thought it could be helpful for some people.
Thx for reading the article
This is a pretty useful article. I've never had cause to contact the customer services (which is probably due mostly to the fact that I haven't played any online limited since leagues disappeared), but if I ever do, I can imagine myself coming back to this article.
Your draft seemed to go very well. I don't think I've ever been brave enough to go for infect from the very first pick, so congratulations.
The only picks I'd quibble over were P2P7 and P3P1 where I think you could have picked untamed might up much more aggressively. Also, P2P1 I'd've taken consuming darkness over the trigon, but that's probably more debatable.
On a note aimed as much at the site as the author though; Is this really enough content to bother posting as an article? It's a draft followed by one full game report, a second game report which reads;
"This one MTGO didn’t record but it was something like Turn 2 Stinger Turn 3 Nim turn 4 Trigon attack you for 7 turn 5 throne of geth and concession. It was a fast game indeed and it was nice to see my deck was doing so good."
and then an admission that you fell asleep after that.
To my mind, this is pretty low on content to qualify as an article..
I see we have similar taste in movies,
Gotta love Conan the B, old clash of the titans and princess bride heh.
X-
Hey Xaos,
thanks for your comment and many thanks again for helping me to correct some mistakes of the article.
It's interesting to realize that a lot of people have very positive/successful experiences with the customer service refund. It seems to be no big subject on the forums (or I missed it :-). Maybe some people don't share their experiences because they don't want to lose that positive point.
CU
Naga
*nudge* go check out my messages on your forum.
Lol @ "On my second match I fell asleep and lost " Yep, I've totally done that before. Beer, It's a killer.
Thuh-Nagarjuna,
congrats on the first article!
pretty good run down of some of the common issues players have at event making an account and dealing with cust service, but ya theyre usually more than generous with refunds for documented issues, just make sure you have a screensot, that always helps.
X-
will do Lyth
heh,
tx Naps-as-Rox-em =P
I don't see how profit by WotC is a bad thing, per se. It is a business after all-much like puremtgo. To me, if you are pleased with teh service and enjoyment you get for what you pay then it is actually good. I think it is good because if MTGO was doing poorly they would 1)become stingy with things like refunds and 2)MTGO would eventualyl fizzle and any fun you have or money you have "invested" in said fun will be gone. Profit, as long as you are pleased with what you get for your money, is a positive for us and WotC. I don't always agree with waht Wizard's does but if I am displeased with this game and feel as though I am not getting the level of enjoyment for my money then I won't do it. I don't think this is anything more or less than that: it's like going to the movies---I don't think anyone complains about the movie theatre making a profit. I would also like to say I wasn't attacking you at all, sorry if it came off that way.