Vintage is just not a very interactive format. Legacy on the other hand is similar to extended but with spells that actually keep the creature creep in check. Legacy has combo, but not as degenerate as vintage. Turn 1-2 kills being pretty easy to hit compared to turn 1-2. Sure Legacy has some soft locks that you can hit on turn 1-2 but not many reliable kills that aren't easily disrupted. ANT is a strong deck but not the easiest to play, and not as reliable as aggro-control strategies.
Also most playgroups are more likely to play Legacy than they are Vintage rules for 2 reasons.
#1 one guy would always play a powered Deck
#2 the other guys either don't own or want to use their power and risk damage of any sort.
I don't own power personally, but I can guarantee I would never sleeve it up if I did. And one of my friends would play his power in every deck he could create. He'd do this simply because winning, casual games no less, is that important to him. He's a true Spike to the fullest.
You can never underestimate the power of strong relationships. Either it be in your marriage or your friendships, the heart will always be fulfilled with the daily reminders of how important those you love are.
at this point i feel the FoW barrier argument is running dry.. time and time again writers here have written articles proving that FoW isn't a necessity to play.. then you look at the top lists from wizards and theres often a majority of deck there that don't have FoW.. same for Legacy.. writing about all the deck types theres several competitive ones that don't need it.. I'm not saying there isn't a price barrier, but it's more along maybe the lands not just FoW imo
You did a TON of work and it is all really useful information; however, I feel like all the hard leg work was let down by the charts. I found them really hard to read (I did anyways because the info is great) but I am sure some people though, "pfft riiight". I would love a better way to show the hard work you put into this. Just some constructive criticism and I really appreciate the number crunching! Hazzaaa
Honestly though sorry to hear about your and your friend's loss. After a rough event/day/week nothing helps me get out of a funk and back on track than some games of magic. Sure I tend to do terrible when i'm fresh off a terrible ordeal (death in the family, Job Loss, Jobs themselves, etc) but by the end of a 1-2 or 0-3 draft i'm happy and laughing about how terrible I drafted and played. Winning is not everything, even with money and prizes on the line. Enjoying the game is the important part. That said I'm a Spike, but an enlightened one.
I have also spent a lot of time reflecting on what this game means to me. It's definitely difficult when it takes a tragedy to shake us up and force us to reflect on what really matters in life.
I'm sorry Alex. Sorry, for your loss, and for the family affected by it as well. I read this and the beginning broke my heart. I am actually headed up to NYC(West Central Park area) later today to do mission work on college campuses for spring break. I'll be keeping the family and you in my prayers. We have certainly had ups and downs, but I can definitely say you have been an inspiration to myself as a writer, and as a community member. Thanks for all you do. Maybe I'll see you in NY.
so basicaly with your card prediction we,l have kinda like a lobotomized vintage? all but power? i can,t say i like that.coz i love vintage and power 8 are so pretty(timetwister excluded)i can,t pray for a time twister in my opening hand every game.
As someone who's taken alot of inspiration from your writing (Both in playing and writing), and as someone who stopped writing simply because I felt like a dilettante in the face of your articles, I really am sorry for your loss. It sounds like a terrible thing. I really just can't imagine it.
And I sympathize about Magic as a safe place. It is mine.
I was gunning for P9 in ME4, but with all the legacy talk, I am no longer confident about it. My guesses for ME4: Sinkhole, Maze of Ith, Elemental Blasts, Regrowth (I think those are the only worthwhile pre-Mirage Legacy cards left), then some vintage cards like Library, Workshop, Mana Vault, Sol Ring, Time Vault. Cards like that will help classic have its own identity (especially Workshop), but it won't be enough without power. It will be dark days for classic until it becomes vintage (which I am still hoping for in ME5).
But look at the other guy's series on this site.. 1020 cards left, and only 20 or 30 that anyone wants. They'd better start doing a ton of promos or something.
Well, I did playtest my homemade Magic cards and I did play Magic while holding a sleeping baby. I think I'm also doing your point 5 (hey I'm married!). But to me Magic is a hobby and I like to keep it like that.
Now a few words about ZEN Block: Last year these days we were playing ALA Block and the best decks were Naya, Dark Naya, Mono White and to some degree Bant and 4 color Control. Today in ZEN Block we have WU Control, Vampires, Valakut, Kor, Mono Red and Mono Green. And these are the early days of the format; I'm sure we will see many more different decks in the coming days. So I can easily say that after two sets ZEN Block is a more successful format than ALA Block in terms of variety and diversity of its Tier-1 decks.
But to be honest, I can't stop myself from thinking about Rise of the Eldrazi after seeing that monster.
Heya Marcus great article! I like the advice you give. Magic can indeed become larger than it should be. I know I get angry and competitive playing it at times and then other times wonder at how others can take it so seriously. I used to be that way with Chess until Magic came along. Well not quite. I'd stopped reading the grandmasters, and analyzing infinite games to extract tactical gems or end game scenarios in my mid 20s but I was fairly immersed in chess for a very long time. Now I play sometimes in the summer with the guys in the park but I don't take it too seriously. Magic has that honor now. Strangely I am the only real gamer in my family. My Dad brought us up to be game players but he doesn't really get into that himself. My sister is too busy raising her children to think about games much, and well my mom was never really interested in games. She felt they were beneath us. Even so I enjoyed reading about how Magic affects you and your life.
Onto Zen Block...wow at all the U/W and Vamps...only one burn deck? Sounds like a metagame emerges post wwk. I never really find blocks very interesting to analyze but I'm used to hearing about a wider spectrum of deck types. The ETBT lands are all interesting in their ways, giving back something for the tempi lost in their play. I think it might be that every deck wants to play ETBT lands so they all balance out in the end. Dunno, as I said Block isn't my usual cuppa, but it seems like the case. With that said...looks like Collonade keeps going down in price (cf Hammy's article) despite this.
Does anybody actually think that the power 9 wont be in ME4? Wizards is not foolish... Classic will be fine when the horde of new players that hear about their chance to grab the online versions of the cards they've always wanted to play with flock to the program. If you don't think the power 9 are in ME4 than tell me the cards that will sell the set... sinkhole, workshop, andddddddd? Wizards wont do all that coding and development to sit with another exodus on their hands.
Sorry to hear of your loss Alex. It is truly mind-numbing to have something hit so close to home. I understand also the need to assuage your grief for a little while by finding an escape like a game of magic. As with all great cliches the phrase "Time heals all wounds" is both true and not trite (despite being a cliche) but hard to grasp until experienced. The healing is on going and does not take away the pain but makes it more acceptable in your daily life. I hope your friend makes it through this.
No offense, but you should get your eyes checked, graveyard is even visible - any bigger and the load time would be horrible and irritating :) With all the Anonymous haters here, I'm sure a HD video screen would STILL get a critique like that
The images that make up so much of the article's content are quite difficult to decipher, too. It's hard enough to identify cards on the screen, so a reduced-size screen-shot is probably not a good way to illustrate a game's finer points.
Vintage is just not a very interactive format. Legacy on the other hand is similar to extended but with spells that actually keep the creature creep in check. Legacy has combo, but not as degenerate as vintage. Turn 1-2 kills being pretty easy to hit compared to turn 1-2. Sure Legacy has some soft locks that you can hit on turn 1-2 but not many reliable kills that aren't easily disrupted. ANT is a strong deck but not the easiest to play, and not as reliable as aggro-control strategies.
Also most playgroups are more likely to play Legacy than they are Vintage rules for 2 reasons.
#1 one guy would always play a powered Deck
#2 the other guys either don't own or want to use their power and risk damage of any sort.
I don't own power personally, but I can guarantee I would never sleeve it up if I did. And one of my friends would play his power in every deck he could create. He'd do this simply because winning, casual games no less, is that important to him. He's a true Spike to the fullest.
You can never underestimate the power of strong relationships. Either it be in your marriage or your friendships, the heart will always be fulfilled with the daily reminders of how important those you love are.
I am sorry for your loss Alex......
at this point i feel the FoW barrier argument is running dry.. time and time again writers here have written articles proving that FoW isn't a necessity to play.. then you look at the top lists from wizards and theres often a majority of deck there that don't have FoW.. same for Legacy.. writing about all the deck types theres several competitive ones that don't need it.. I'm not saying there isn't a price barrier, but it's more along maybe the lands not just FoW imo
You did a TON of work and it is all really useful information; however, I feel like all the hard leg work was let down by the charts. I found them really hard to read (I did anyways because the info is great) but I am sure some people though, "pfft riiight". I would love a better way to show the hard work you put into this. Just some constructive criticism and I really appreciate the number crunching! Hazzaaa
Huh? No strategery?
Honestly though sorry to hear about your and your friend's loss. After a rough event/day/week nothing helps me get out of a funk and back on track than some games of magic. Sure I tend to do terrible when i'm fresh off a terrible ordeal (death in the family, Job Loss, Jobs themselves, etc) but by the end of a 1-2 or 0-3 draft i'm happy and laughing about how terrible I drafted and played. Winning is not everything, even with money and prizes on the line. Enjoying the game is the important part. That said I'm a Spike, but an enlightened one.
The ascendancy of paper Legacy and the decline of paper Classic doesn’t help, either.
I'm sorry to hear about your loss.
You will also be in my prayers.
I have also spent a lot of time reflecting on what this game means to me. It's definitely difficult when it takes a tragedy to shake us up and force us to reflect on what really matters in life.
If the power nine are not in ME4 then classic will fall as Legacy takes its place, once a format dies its hard to bring it back.
Its the key card in this weeks Building On A Budget. Happens a lot.
I'm sorry Alex. Sorry, for your loss, and for the family affected by it as well. I read this and the beginning broke my heart. I am actually headed up to NYC(West Central Park area) later today to do mission work on college campuses for spring break. I'll be keeping the family and you in my prayers. We have certainly had ups and downs, but I can definitely say you have been an inspiration to myself as a writer, and as a community member. Thanks for all you do. Maybe I'll see you in NY.
Oh, and explore and beastial menace are horrible. Vines is THE card for a mono green deck!
My name, My name was in there! To happy, going into mental joy overdrive. Recognition, fame, women, wealth, mwohahaha!
so basicaly with your card prediction we,l have kinda like a lobotomized vintage? all but power? i can,t say i like that.coz i love vintage and power 8 are so pretty(timetwister excluded)i can,t pray for a time twister in my opening hand every game.
As someone who's taken alot of inspiration from your writing (Both in playing and writing), and as someone who stopped writing simply because I felt like a dilettante in the face of your articles, I really am sorry for your loss. It sounds like a terrible thing. I really just can't imagine it.
And I sympathize about Magic as a safe place. It is mine.
Why deaths shadow jumps in so high?
I briefly thought I'd broken magic when I read Jewelled Bird. I mean, it's an automatic 56 card deck!
Unsurprisingly, it's banned everywhere, so my joy was short lived.
I was gunning for P9 in ME4, but with all the legacy talk, I am no longer confident about it. My guesses for ME4: Sinkhole, Maze of Ith, Elemental Blasts, Regrowth (I think those are the only worthwhile pre-Mirage Legacy cards left), then some vintage cards like Library, Workshop, Mana Vault, Sol Ring, Time Vault. Cards like that will help classic have its own identity (especially Workshop), but it won't be enough without power. It will be dark days for classic until it becomes vintage (which I am still hoping for in ME5).
But look at the other guy's series on this site.. 1020 cards left, and only 20 or 30 that anyone wants. They'd better start doing a ton of promos or something.
Well, I did playtest my homemade Magic cards and I did play Magic while holding a sleeping baby. I think I'm also doing your point 5 (hey I'm married!). But to me Magic is a hobby and I like to keep it like that.
Now a few words about ZEN Block: Last year these days we were playing ALA Block and the best decks were Naya, Dark Naya, Mono White and to some degree Bant and 4 color Control. Today in ZEN Block we have WU Control, Vampires, Valakut, Kor, Mono Red and Mono Green. And these are the early days of the format; I'm sure we will see many more different decks in the coming days. So I can easily say that after two sets ZEN Block is a more successful format than ALA Block in terms of variety and diversity of its Tier-1 decks.
But to be honest, I can't stop myself from thinking about Rise of the Eldrazi after seeing that monster.
Great article by the way :).
LE
Death's Shadow went up from 0.4 to 3.0
Did the chart miss it ?
I for one am fairly certain they will not be in ME4 or 5 or XI or whatnot. Why not? Gut instinct plus what they have said in the past.
Heya Marcus great article! I like the advice you give. Magic can indeed become larger than it should be. I know I get angry and competitive playing it at times and then other times wonder at how others can take it so seriously. I used to be that way with Chess until Magic came along. Well not quite. I'd stopped reading the grandmasters, and analyzing infinite games to extract tactical gems or end game scenarios in my mid 20s but I was fairly immersed in chess for a very long time. Now I play sometimes in the summer with the guys in the park but I don't take it too seriously. Magic has that honor now. Strangely I am the only real gamer in my family. My Dad brought us up to be game players but he doesn't really get into that himself. My sister is too busy raising her children to think about games much, and well my mom was never really interested in games. She felt they were beneath us. Even so I enjoyed reading about how Magic affects you and your life.
Onto Zen Block...wow at all the U/W and Vamps...only one burn deck? Sounds like a metagame emerges post wwk. I never really find blocks very interesting to analyze but I'm used to hearing about a wider spectrum of deck types. The ETBT lands are all interesting in their ways, giving back something for the tempi lost in their play. I think it might be that every deck wants to play ETBT lands so they all balance out in the end. Dunno, as I said Block isn't my usual cuppa, but it seems like the case. With that said...looks like Collonade keeps going down in price (cf Hammy's article) despite this.
Does anybody actually think that the power 9 wont be in ME4? Wizards is not foolish... Classic will be fine when the horde of new players that hear about their chance to grab the online versions of the cards they've always wanted to play with flock to the program. If you don't think the power 9 are in ME4 than tell me the cards that will sell the set... sinkhole, workshop, andddddddd? Wizards wont do all that coding and development to sit with another exodus on their hands.
Sorry to hear of your loss Alex. It is truly mind-numbing to have something hit so close to home. I understand also the need to assuage your grief for a little while by finding an escape like a game of magic. As with all great cliches the phrase "Time heals all wounds" is both true and not trite (despite being a cliche) but hard to grasp until experienced. The healing is on going and does not take away the pain but makes it more acceptable in your daily life. I hope your friend makes it through this.
No offense, but you should get your eyes checked, graveyard is even visible - any bigger and the load time would be horrible and irritating :) With all the Anonymous haters here, I'm sure a HD video screen would STILL get a critique like that
The images that make up so much of the article's content are quite difficult to decipher, too. It's hard enough to identify cards on the screen, so a reduced-size screen-shot is probably not a good way to illustrate a game's finer points.