I too dwell in the online and real worlds. The sticker shock of paper cards is crazy. And on the other side, when you sell online cards, you feel ripped off compared to RL prices. Where to spend the most time & money? Both have advantages... I play a weekly draft at a pizza parlor and enjoy hanging out with the gang. But being online whenever is a nice plus too. Your adventure in first trying the deck online and then making it in real cardboard was interesting.
And your take on the stores was spot-on. There are comic shops with some cards and full-blown game stores that run tournaments. But the bigger ones lose some customer services aspects. But the small ones are usually unorganized. Online has the inventory problem taken care of even if you never "talk" to anyone.
And I used to play with a causal group and know what you mean by bending the rules when appropriate. Having fun and being a rules stickler is sometimes opposites. It can ruin the game vibe by arguing too much. But if the casual player ever wants to play at a FNM, they had better get the rules down. Missing the right mana on a fireball with multiple targets, for example, is kind of embarrassing.
But that's what makes this game so great - many ways to have fun!
I own or have owned just about every card in paper and online, and I have always felt that they should/could reprint any card. IMO, if you invest in a game, you are asking for trouble. When cards are worth $100+, to me, it is more a collectible at that point than a game. And 99% of the players cant afford that kind of investment to play a game.
I like some of the ideas you wrote about. While I understand adding some reprints into the set wouldn't quite fit the starting goal of Masters Edition, it would make the set more exciting and fun to play. Imagine having the chance to open some Legacy Staples like Survival of the Fittest, Wasteland, Deed, or any other hard to find cards that could help get someone started in the Legacy format or could help someone play in a 100 classic singleton. Of course, players that had invested in some of these cards would be upset if this happened. I was disappointed opening Masters Edition sets and seeing the junk that was in them. Sure, some of cards brought back memories of older cards. But as you said, most of it was filler junk that is barely played by anyone.
Great article here. You provide a lot of information here and I especially like the explanations and card analysis. Having sections on New Cards to try, cards that didn't live up to your expectations and notables that aren't in the deck makes it so you cover almost any base that someone that is really interested can use. 100 Singleton is one of those formats that I really want to start playing in, just have to pick up some of the staples first, especially for the mana base.
One request for future articles though is could you possibly write the name of the card next to the small pictures, as I don't recognize some of the older cards and clicking over just to find out what the card is gets kind of annoying.
Black is also used for Mystical Teaching's Flashback cost in that case. And yes, I consider that a splash too.
At a minimum, if I was adding blue, I'd add Fact or Fiction before Venser, so if I was going to make that change I'd probably add at least 2 cards, and call it a splash.
Of course it all depends on your definition of a splash. I consider one card, a splash.
well it wouldn't so much be a splash as a card additon, kind of how UW control runs like two black sources for mind twist, which is the only black card in deck
Interesting article. It would seem to me that blau is advocating MED to look more like M20XX sets, just with older cards. I think that would be a welcome change by all, but WOTC might not think it differentiates itself enough from M20XX aside from the chase rares.
In future 100 singleton articles I'll look at budget alternatives.
Although it's kind of hard to find build a survival deck without Survival of the Fittest. Fauna Shaman is good, but it's already in the deck, and it's a lot slower than Survival of the Fittest.
This article is two weeks old, and it was written up while I was working on 100 singleton decks before Scars came up so I haven't written anything about Scars and 100 singleton yet. I'm not sure why it took so long for this article to be posted.
Anyway, the metagame has shifted quite a bit and I'm currently working on a Bant version of the deck because I need some control elements to deal with the combo and control decks that I've seen lately. Mono-red burn decks and Naya Zoo aggro decks have completely dropped off the map.
Venser (The planeswalker) would be a good splash, but I've never had much luck with 4-color decks. (He's in my Bant deck.) I know a lot of people have been successful with 4-5 color decks but I've never been one of them.
I also love the collectible aspect of any kind of game, MTGO included, but no matter how you swing it your collection is really just rented server space.
However, I agree 110% with your thoughts on the comments. Blau put forth an opinion, an idea, and no one should hold that against him. There's no need for anyone to be hostile, though I understand one can be sensitive of their investments.
I don't agree with Blau's views on MED, and Blau doesn't agree with the way I choose to uses grammar. What of it?
great stuff, I find that no matter what deck I run in 100cs I always get 0-2 in the first two rounds and drop 0-4 in matches, I can't catch a break in the format, which is so disappointing as it's one of my favorites.
With all of your fetch and such would you consider running Venser? Adding one or two duals that produce blue as well would easily cover the total cost of U to your entire deck and there's a ton of combo cards with it from draw to fetch to the witness and the titans. Maybe a bit of a stretch, but the potential when its in play in a deck like this is high. Do I also take it this is just pre-SoM?
Gotta say, the knee-jerk reaction of the responders here is pretty extreme.
Everyone has a right to their opinion, but insulting people isn't anything but abuse.
I for one like the collectible aspect of the game, but not at the expense of a healthy play environment. I would prefer if the collectible cards and avatars were rare special versions and that versions for use in competition and casual were much more reasonable (like 10 times more reasonable).
Digital cards are as real as paper cards. You think the material that paper cards are printed on is of anything but negligible value? Paper cards are worth money for the same reason online cards are: the community perceives them as valuable and the game is perceived as valuable altogether.
I think when an idea that someone proposes makes you angry it's often because they are threatening a belief that is of almost religious degree. They are a blasphemer just for having mentioned it. Maybe you are also right, but if you actually want to convince someone that you are right and that their perception is wrong you must first convince the other person that you respect them. Without that you aren't doing anything but attacking a person for holding an idea and only likely to get energized support from those that already agree with you.
Those are some of my opinions, and it's fine if you disagree with me.
The hostility is what amazes me. I understand underlying concerns but the frankly arrogant and antagonistic method of stating them is the bummer. But then Whiffy doesn't exactly have a reputation for being nice to people, even fellow authors.
I feel that same way about reading your response to him.
I know this is the internet where we all have licenses to be complete a-holes. But I would suggest you try learning a bit about tact, because in a nutshell all your response said was, "You're a freaking idiot." Which frankly I find appalling coming from another fellow author on this site.
Firstly, wiffy, I didn't MAKE you read this. I'm sorry you hate reading it. You could have gotten a paragraph in and bailed out. In fact, in the description I used the words "outlandish" and "foolhardy," which should have been an indicator of the content inside. You only have yourself to blame.
Secondly, $1700? Good for you. If you managed to crack all the cards you sold, then your ROI is great. However, if you didn't, then you just proved my point. I've heard so many people say, "I sold X cards for $X, I'm awesome!" Not realizing that they spent more than that to get the cards. If I sold my cards right now for $1700, I would feel insulted.
Thirdly, I did draft all three sets and each of them was a waste of money. I have no use for cards like Goblins of the Flarg. Those are wasted slots filled with junk filler just to pad out the set. You can say, "MED3 was much better" all you want; it doesn't excuse the first two.
Fourthly, this one is for everyone, did any of you even read the 1020 in 2010 articles. Most of the cards he looks at got NO votes. So, hmm let's think about it, if they follow Caliban's lists, then ME4 will be a tiny set. Clearly they are not going to do that. They're going to pad it with crap just like the other three sets. Are you excited for Black Ward? I hope you are because you know it will see print rather than getting ignored.
Fifthly, I realize I left this out of the article, which might clear up some confusion. MY dream set would contain most of the "playable" cards that have not been put online yet. It would also have reprints as well. Sorry that was not more clearly illustrated.
Cube came out of this idea but Cube is a bit more selective and reverses the premise. In cube draft you are basically drafting the best cards (in any commonality) the owner of the cube could get a hold of. Also Cubes are entirely singleton.
Hey Blau ...can't say I agree with your take on ME4 but I respect your right to feel that way.
You said: >>"If you want to try this in real life, do a junk rare draft. Get some friends to each bring 45 “bad/reject rares.” They are easier to find than you think. I pulled 45 out of my trade binder in about four minutes. We had a rule that each player was not allowed to have any duplicates in his own 45 cards. This gave players a fairly good chance of not seeing any duplicates during the draft, which actually made drafting harder. It’s a ton of fun and I recommend it to everyone."<<
Reject Rare Draft is an old old format that has been around longer than Modo. Read this to see what I mean (One of my old old NG articles. I would love to see someone do it online except that it would be a pain in the tuckus to organize, collect and pull off.
Off topic, Festizio is a real word, and a band.
I too dwell in the online and real worlds. The sticker shock of paper cards is crazy. And on the other side, when you sell online cards, you feel ripped off compared to RL prices. Where to spend the most time & money? Both have advantages... I play a weekly draft at a pizza parlor and enjoy hanging out with the gang. But being online whenever is a nice plus too. Your adventure in first trying the deck online and then making it in real cardboard was interesting.
And your take on the stores was spot-on. There are comic shops with some cards and full-blown game stores that run tournaments. But the bigger ones lose some customer services aspects. But the small ones are usually unorganized. Online has the inventory problem taken care of even if you never "talk" to anyone.
And I used to play with a causal group and know what you mean by bending the rules when appropriate. Having fun and being a rules stickler is sometimes opposites. It can ruin the game vibe by arguing too much. But if the casual player ever wants to play at a FNM, they had better get the rules down. Missing the right mana on a fireball with multiple targets, for example, is kind of embarrassing.
But that's what makes this game so great - many ways to have fun!
I own or have owned just about every card in paper and online, and I have always felt that they should/could reprint any card. IMO, if you invest in a game, you are asking for trouble. When cards are worth $100+, to me, it is more a collectible at that point than a game. And 99% of the players cant afford that kind of investment to play a game.
I like some of the ideas you wrote about. While I understand adding some reprints into the set wouldn't quite fit the starting goal of Masters Edition, it would make the set more exciting and fun to play. Imagine having the chance to open some Legacy Staples like Survival of the Fittest, Wasteland, Deed, or any other hard to find cards that could help get someone started in the Legacy format or could help someone play in a 100 classic singleton. Of course, players that had invested in some of these cards would be upset if this happened. I was disappointed opening Masters Edition sets and seeing the junk that was in them. Sure, some of cards brought back memories of older cards. But as you said, most of it was filler junk that is barely played by anyone.
will do.
Great article here. You provide a lot of information here and I especially like the explanations and card analysis. Having sections on New Cards to try, cards that didn't live up to your expectations and notables that aren't in the deck makes it so you cover almost any base that someone that is really interested can use. 100 Singleton is one of those formats that I really want to start playing in, just have to pick up some of the staples first, especially for the mana base.
One request for future articles though is could you possibly write the name of the card next to the small pictures, as I don't recognize some of the older cards and clicking over just to find out what the card is gets kind of annoying.
"Black is also used for Mystical Teaching's Flashback cost in that case."
ah, touche
Black is also used for Mystical Teaching's Flashback cost in that case. And yes, I consider that a splash too.
At a minimum, if I was adding blue, I'd add Fact or Fiction before Venser, so if I was going to make that change I'd probably add at least 2 cards, and call it a splash.
Of course it all depends on your definition of a splash. I consider one card, a splash.
:-)
well it wouldn't so much be a splash as a card additon, kind of how UW control runs like two black sources for mind twist, which is the only black card in deck
Interesting article. It would seem to me that blau is advocating MED to look more like M20XX sets, just with older cards. I think that would be a welcome change by all, but WOTC might not think it differentiates itself enough from M20XX aside from the chase rares.
In future 100 singleton articles I'll look at budget alternatives.
Although it's kind of hard to find build a survival deck without Survival of the Fittest. Fauna Shaman is good, but it's already in the deck, and it's a lot slower than Survival of the Fittest.
This article is two weeks old, and it was written up while I was working on 100 singleton decks before Scars came up so I haven't written anything about Scars and 100 singleton yet. I'm not sure why it took so long for this article to be posted.
Anyway, the metagame has shifted quite a bit and I'm currently working on a Bant version of the deck because I need some control elements to deal with the combo and control decks that I've seen lately. Mono-red burn decks and Naya Zoo aggro decks have completely dropped off the map.
Venser (The planeswalker) would be a good splash, but I've never had much luck with 4-color decks. (He's in my Bant deck.) I know a lot of people have been successful with 4-5 color decks but I've never been one of them.
I also love the collectible aspect of any kind of game, MTGO included, but no matter how you swing it your collection is really just rented server space.
However, I agree 110% with your thoughts on the comments. Blau put forth an opinion, an idea, and no one should hold that against him. There's no need for anyone to be hostile, though I understand one can be sensitive of their investments.
I don't agree with Blau's views on MED, and Blau doesn't agree with the way I choose to uses grammar. What of it?
great stuff, I find that no matter what deck I run in 100cs I always get 0-2 in the first two rounds and drop 0-4 in matches, I can't catch a break in the format, which is so disappointing as it's one of my favorites.
With all of your fetch and such would you consider running Venser? Adding one or two duals that produce blue as well would easily cover the total cost of U to your entire deck and there's a ton of combo cards with it from draw to fetch to the witness and the titans. Maybe a bit of a stretch, but the potential when its in play in a deck like this is high. Do I also take it this is just pre-SoM?
Gotta say, the knee-jerk reaction of the responders here is pretty extreme.
Everyone has a right to their opinion, but insulting people isn't anything but abuse.
I for one like the collectible aspect of the game, but not at the expense of a healthy play environment. I would prefer if the collectible cards and avatars were rare special versions and that versions for use in competition and casual were much more reasonable (like 10 times more reasonable).
Digital cards are as real as paper cards. You think the material that paper cards are printed on is of anything but negligible value? Paper cards are worth money for the same reason online cards are: the community perceives them as valuable and the game is perceived as valuable altogether.
I think when an idea that someone proposes makes you angry it's often because they are threatening a belief that is of almost religious degree. They are a blasphemer just for having mentioned it. Maybe you are also right, but if you actually want to convince someone that you are right and that their perception is wrong you must first convince the other person that you respect them. Without that you aren't doing anything but attacking a person for holding an idea and only likely to get energized support from those that already agree with you.
Those are some of my opinions, and it's fine if you disagree with me.
Mike-
The hostility is what amazes me. I understand underlying concerns but the frankly arrogant and antagonistic method of stating them is the bummer. But then Whiffy doesn't exactly have a reputation for being nice to people, even fellow authors.
"i hate that i spent time reading this."
I feel that same way about reading your response to him.
I know this is the internet where we all have licenses to be complete a-holes. But I would suggest you try learning a bit about tact, because in a nutshell all your response said was, "You're a freaking idiot." Which frankly I find appalling coming from another fellow author on this site.
Firstly, wiffy, I didn't MAKE you read this. I'm sorry you hate reading it. You could have gotten a paragraph in and bailed out. In fact, in the description I used the words "outlandish" and "foolhardy," which should have been an indicator of the content inside. You only have yourself to blame.
Secondly, $1700? Good for you. If you managed to crack all the cards you sold, then your ROI is great. However, if you didn't, then you just proved my point. I've heard so many people say, "I sold X cards for $X, I'm awesome!" Not realizing that they spent more than that to get the cards. If I sold my cards right now for $1700, I would feel insulted.
Thirdly, I did draft all three sets and each of them was a waste of money. I have no use for cards like Goblins of the Flarg. Those are wasted slots filled with junk filler just to pad out the set. You can say, "MED3 was much better" all you want; it doesn't excuse the first two.
Fourthly, this one is for everyone, did any of you even read the 1020 in 2010 articles. Most of the cards he looks at got NO votes. So, hmm let's think about it, if they follow Caliban's lists, then ME4 will be a tiny set. Clearly they are not going to do that. They're going to pad it with crap just like the other three sets. Are you excited for Black Ward? I hope you are because you know it will see print rather than getting ignored.
Fifthly, I realize I left this out of the article, which might clear up some confusion. MY dream set would contain most of the "playable" cards that have not been put online yet. It would also have reprints as well. Sorry that was not more clearly illustrated.
Cube came out of this idea but Cube is a bit more selective and reverses the premise. In cube draft you are basically drafting the best cards (in any commonality) the owner of the cube could get a hold of. Also Cubes are entirely singleton.
http://www.google.com/search?q=accruing&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.m...
Btw I AM a festizio and proud of it. :)
I thought this was just called Cube drafting, and I would give my left leg to see that available on MTGO.
Article reminded me of this quote:
"First of all, if you're from America, get over yourself. You had to take a mulligan? Please. To what? Eleven cards?"
Let's all cry some more.
Now you're just being a festizio. See? I can make up words too!
Hey Blau ...can't say I agree with your take on ME4 but I respect your right to feel that way.
You said: >>"If you want to try this in real life, do a junk rare draft. Get some friends to each bring 45 “bad/reject rares.” They are easier to find than you think. I pulled 45 out of my trade binder in about four minutes. We had a rule that each player was not allowed to have any duplicates in his own 45 cards. This gave players a fairly good chance of not seeing any duplicates during the draft, which actually made drafting harder. It’s a ton of fun and I recommend it to everyone."<<
Reject Rare Draft is an old old format that has been around longer than Modo. Read this to see what I mean (One of my old old NG articles. I would love to see someone do it online except that it would be a pain in the tuckus to organize, collect and pull off.
How about Accruing?