I got out just around this time as well and had Fallen Empires and Ice Age to play with.
More than thirty-three. That’s just the ones in blocks. They’ve been publishing 4 sets a year for a number of years now. In terms of when they were printed, here’s the breakdown from Tempest to now in roughly reverse order, newest to oldest. Forty-six counting un-sets, and core sets. Taking those out(leaving the Portal because they are now tournament legal) you get thirty-eight sets which have introduced new cards(the starter sets, while tournament legal, did not introduce new cards) into the tournament-legal cardpool. As of today there are
AR Alara Reborn
CF Conflux
SA Shards of Alara
EN Eventide
SM Shadowmoor
MT Morningtide
LW Lorwyn
FS Futuresight
10E 10th Edition
PC Planar Chaos
TSN Time Spiral
CS Coldsnap
DI Dissension
GP Guildpact
RA Ravnica
9E 9th Edition
SK Saviors of Kamigawa
BK Betrayers of Kamigawa
UH Unhinged
CK Champions of Kamigawa
FD Fifth Dawn
DS Darksteel
MI Mirrodin
8E 8th Edition
SC Scourge
LE Legions
ON Onslaught
JU Judgment
TR Torment
OD Odyssey
AP Apocalypse
PS Planeshift
IN Invasion
7E 7th Edition
ST2 Starter 2000
PR Prophecy
NE Nemesis
MM Mercadian Masques
ST Starter 1999
UD Urza’s Destiny
P3K Portal Three Kingdoms
6E Classic 6th Edition
UL Urza’s Legacy
US Urza’s Saga
UG Unglued
PO2 Portal Second Age
Enjoy,
Steven
Only legal in Vintage tournaments.
Unglued and Unhinged aren’t tournament legal. Which your last sentence or so makes it sound like they are, so forgive me if I’m misunderstanding you.
Yea, that wasn’t very clear. The “those” in “Taking those out” referred to “un-sets and core sets”. So when I took out the sets which didn’t introduce new cards into the pool I eliminated the basic sets(all reprints) and the un-sets(not legal). I left in the Portal sets(tournament legal) and did a second pass of weeding out sets which didn’t introduce new cards(the Starter sets). It seemed I miscounted though. Re-counting I come up with 37 card sets post-Tempest block which introduced new cards. Ten blocks of three sets, two blocks of two, two Portal sets, and Coldsnap(the odd duck). Starting this year we’ll have to include core sets in this calculation because they’re moving away from core sets only being reprints. Starting with M10 they’re introducing new cards in core sets again(which hasn’t been done since Alpha/Beta).
Enjoy,
Steven
you can play online now for starters (didnt see that mentioned up thread)
I have a few friends who played way back who are playing online now and loving it.
What’s the link?
Magic: the Gathering Online. You download the game client for free and can play some for free with a preconstructed deck. Basically it’s an interface for multiplayer play. There’s a virtual room with players at tables. Clicking on a table with open slots will allow you to join a game, if the player accepts. Some players put restrictions on the type of games they want to play(casual only, no netdecks, commons only, etc.). There are several “rooms” including one for casual play, one for tournament prep, some for online tournaments, lots of drafts, etc. Once in a game you get a virtual tabletop and the game enforces the rules(mostly, there are some notable bugs). There is a chat interface and you can chat with your opponent or other players watching the game(clicking on a table which is already occupied allows you to watch a game, if the participants allow it). When offline the game functions as a collection tracker where you can store info about the physical cards you own as well as the digital cards you own. You can print trade lists, want lists, track decklists, etc.
The major downside is the $$. While there is no charge to get the game client or to connect to play, you don’t get anything to play WITH for free beyond a loaner preconstructed deck. And then you’re only allowed to play with other people using preconstructed decks. You have to buy your cards online through the Wizards store. They sell them for full MSRP to give you digital copies of the cards. You can build your collection and trade with other players through the marketplace, and there are some stores which run virtual storefronts where they’ll sell you singles of the digital cards. Also if you want to play in any events or drafts you’ll need Event Tickets(tix) which cost a couple bucks each. They’re commonly used as both a medium of exchange and to even out trades. Tix mean that even after you’ve built your collection, you’re still paying WotC to play non-casual games. Occasionally they’ll have free events or events with double prizes where people can make back their investment if they do well, but for the most part it’s like Vegas. Over time, the house wins.
Not all sets are online and they have a limited print run online(artificial scarcity) meaning that the first card sets released(Invasion block) are pretty hard to come by. They’ve released pretty much all the sets past Invasion but they’ve also gone back and implemented a couple older sets. I’d guess they have about 60% of the physical cardbase represented online.
One thing Wizards has done which helps out is the redemption policy. Once you’ve collected a full set of the digital versions of the cards you can trade them in for a full set of the physical cards, at least for sets which are still, or have recently been in print, if you buy older sets, like Mirage, you’re SOL. This makes the investment in digital cards a bit more palatable, but I still prefer to play with the physical cards and face-to-face. I’m a Johnny with a touch of Spike, and it doesn’t stroke my ego properly to play a cool combo or sequence of actions and be met with uncaring pixels. If I’m exhibiting my deckbuilding skills I like to be in a position for people to appreciate it. I’d probably get over that if the money thing wasn’t a barrier though. I just can’t afford to maintain two collections, especially not if I’m paying full price for everything. Now if they ever allow people to send in physical cards in exchange for digital versions, I can probably afford to build a pretty good collection out of some of my extras, and get some closet space back too.
I never really got into it because I can’t stand to pay full price for even physical cards, let alone digital cards where I don’t own anything but the rights to play on their servers, and those can go away if they decide to pull the service. Kind of like those people who invested years of their lives in characters in MMOs only to have the game shutdown. I can’t really go for that. And I don’t see myself spending much time online playing. In my, admittedly limited, experience in playing with the free preconstructed deck I ran into people who would either ignore me, treating me as an AI, insult me, or disconnect/abandon the game whenever anything went against them. This was probably not the norm, most players were polite, but it doesn’t take may bad experiences to balance out a lot of decent ones.
Enjoy,
Steven
I’m frankly amazed that they were able to implement the game so fully. Yeah, a creature with off-the-shelf abilities, or something simple like a Fireball, I can see those, but the game includes enough odd mechanics that it doesn’t seem like you’d be able to implement them all without way too much programmer time. How would you program in Sheherazad, or Lich? (well, OK, those two probably aren’t implemented just by virtue of being so old, but I’m sure that newer sets have similarly convoluted cards.)
Is there still such a thing as playing for ante? It was always part of the rules, from what I remember, but nobody ever seemed to do it. The only two ante games I ever played were one with a couple of friends where we each chose our ante card, and one versus a guy at high school who had tons of cards but no skill whatsoever, and could only get people to play him by playing for ante.
I realize that my question was pretty vague (it’s difficult even to know what to ask!), but thanks for all of your replies, especially iamthewalrus(:3='s block overview.
Mtgman, in response to your question: I’ve given a lot of thought about what appealed to me back when I used to play regularly. I was definitely not a Spike, although I did like to win tournaments (who doesn’t?), although mostly at the local level. I guess I was essentially a Johnny (with a bit of “Nuts-and-Bolts Spike” from “Timmy, Johnny, and Spike Revisited”): I loved building decks, but they had to be mine, even if they followed the broad deck types that were then popular. I didn’t like what appeared to me to be the groupthink that developed in Standard/Type II, which had become the principle tournament format by mid-1995, if I remember correctly. Standard seemed (and still seems) all about breaking the game, and the three or four killer decks that everyone used eliminated all of the spontaneity. Not that Vintage didn’t have it’s own groupthink: when I played, Vintage decks seemed to share all but 15-20 cards at most. Looking around at some recent Vintage decks there appears to be a little more diversity within them…but having 30+ more sets from which to choose ought to change a few things. The mechanics of the game have obviously changed considerably, but the competitiveness looks very much the same as always!
One thing I really enjoyed more than anything were the social aspects of the game, which I suppose makes me part Timmy: hanging out on game nights and, especially, playing in Limited tournaments/events were a lot of fun. I’m definitely going to check out if there is any Limited play in my area, once I can get back up to speed on the recent stuff. However, I think I am too competitive to be an average Timmy: one can hang out with friends and still enjoy beating them, right? 
I also really liked the collectible aspect of the game, which is a dangerous temptation right now, given the thousands and thousands of cards out there that I don’t know. I’m trying to resist the urge to drop money on cards left and right…
Mtgman, in what kinds of formats do you usually play?
Ante was done away with a long time ago. The last set which had any Ante cards was Homelands. Both to get around “anti-gambling” statutes and rules, and because it just didn’t work as a mechanic. No one wanted to risk their valuable cards. I have friends who used to play for ante all the time, typically a pre-arranged ante.
MTG Online has TONS of issues implementing new cards. It’s definitely a programming challenge. On the other hand, since 6th edition the rules have become far more streamlined and manageable. The game has become more implementable and the fact that some of the key programmers are people who know the game intimately(former pro and now member of the Pro Tour Hall of Fame Alan Comer most notably, but Michael “elf” Fuell as well) have made huge differences.
If you get a little time, download it and try a few games with the preconstructed deck.
Enjoy,
Steven
Hey, a Magic thread!
I’ve been playing since Revised/The Dark, with a couple of breaks for personal reasons. Can’t afford to buy cards nowadays, but I have a good collection of the early stuff.
Those who want to know something about the evolution of Magic might want to look at The Returning Player Rules Primer on WotC’s forums. It’s a good resource for the evolution of Magic since the release of 6th Edition in 1999, which made some major changes in the way the game was implemented. It’s still the same philosophy - resource management and reaction to an opponent’s moves - but some of the things you can do changed.
Then you’ll enjoy the archives of House of Cards and From the Lab on Mtg.com Especially Mark Gottleib’s run on House of Cards. Serious evil genius Johnny stuff going on there. Take a look for Magicthegathering.combos and search for Bennie Smith in the archives too. If cool, and non-obvious, card interactions are your thing, these guys give you plenty to chew over and highlight some of the most interesting cards.
I find it interesting that you disclaim Spike-ishness, even though you enjoy winning. It’s hard to be a Spike because most people think of them as jerks, and there is no doubt a significant number of Spikes are, but I don’t think the two are inseparable. Some of my best friends are Spikes and I don’t hold anything against them, hell my wife is a Spike(yes she plays) and gets VERY intense during tight games. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying victory, as long as you remember to win respectfully and lose graciously. It’s the Spikes who bitch and moan all the time who turn people off.
That hasn’t really changed much. The netdecks still dominate the tournament scene and a few archetypes tend to surface and most decks become variations on them. Vintage is probably least succeptible to this for a handful of reasons, firstly the number of events are small and not formally sanctioned in most cases. The high profile Vintage tournaments tend to be $$$-fests full of super-powered decks, but the average Vintage night at the neighborhood store is someone’s standard deck with a few lands having been sharpied into Moxes and a Lotus. I’d guess that of all the Vintage tournaments all over the world, White Weenie wins a fair number of them instead of insane combo decks. They just don’t get reported because they’re local and non-sanctioned.
I’m an old-timer(playing since '94) and I play with even older-timers and I often tell people that out of the history of the game, this is probably the best time to play. We’re really in almost a golden age. R&D has learned from the mistakes of the past and the rules have never been clearer. They just printed a creature with “Protection from Everything” and the rules are stable enough to support it. I can’t begin to tell you the kinds of hell that would have caused in 5th ed rules. R&D and the editors have been working REALLY hard on using consistent templates for abilities and mechanics so the cards are clear. The game has grown up a lot and picking it up today is much easier than it was in 94. Part of this was so they could get it coded into a computer game, but most of it was competition. When Pokemon, Star Wars CCG, Star Trek CCG, etc. started hitting the shelves, well MtG had to change or die. Star Wars CCG introduced the stack(which MtG had been using all along, but very inelegantly) and although most of these didn’t have staying power(WotC’s Patent on TCGs had a significant impact here), they made a difference. MtG in 6th edition scrapped a TON of useless junk like “interrupt windows” and simplified the rules a lot. I once printed out all the rules and rulings from 5th ed, it was over 700 pages. If I did it today? About 300 pages, and that’s with an additional 37 sets which introduced new cards.
Sure. Timmy’s thing is he wants to experience something. Crushing defeat at the hands of a master is an experience. One can enjoy the beauty of the tiger while being savaged.
You’ll be happy to know you can find most cards, even rares, for <$1. If you still have your older cards, hang on to them. They’re the hard ones to get. Cards printed since Tempest tend to be pretty easy to get. Check out FindMagicCards.com and use it as a reference whenever you’re reading articles about deckbuilding and cool cards. You’ll be able to find a shop with most of the cards being talked about for a buck or less. I ordered about 200 rares one day and spent an average of $0.49 each. They weren’t “tournament worthy” you see, but I’ve enjoyed the heck out of them. The downside to this is the few cards which are “tournament worthy” skyrocket in price because each shop which sells singles has to pop dozens of boxes to get decent stock and in order to cover that cost(which the non-worthy rares won’t) they have to sell the hot singles for huge money. And if you’re a completist collector, well, you may want to do some research on alternate-version cards and foil cards. They’ll make you nuts if you want one of every type of card, and Summer Magic(Edgar)? Forgiddiboutit. Uncommons that go for $1000+.
Kitchen table formats. My playgroup makes up our own. We don’t like restrictions so if it’s a Magic card we allow it, often multiples of it even if it’s restricted/banned in tournament. There are multiple people at the table who play with four copies of Black Lotus. About the only thing my group won’t stand for is large numbers of Time Walk type cards and that’s just because we don’t want to put up with spending the entire night without anyone but the Time Walk guy getting a turn(I’m looking at you Ken).
Enjoy,
Steven
I’m not sure which type of player I am… Let me tell you about the two funnest games I’ve had. One of them, it was a fairly slow-moving game (my deck was still in the playtesting-and-refining stage, and my opponent was using an all-artifacts deck he kept around for fun), and I managed to get an 11/11 flying trample banding first strike Serra Angel, via… Nature’s Blessing, I think it was called? A green/white enchantment that let you discard cards to give creatures permanent bonuses or abilities. It frustrated the heck out of my friend, since he had plenty of methods to deal with nonflying creatures, or tapped creatures, or pretty much everything except an oversized overpowered angel.
The other favorite game, I was playing a red/green deck that mostly used red for offense and green for defense, and a different friend was playing a black/white deck that mostly used black for offense and white for defense. I had managed to get out a Lifeforce, with plenty of forests to power it, and he had managed to get out a Conversion, so it was a race to see whether he got a Disenchant or I got a Tranquility first, to take down the other’s defense and hit him with a killer attack. Meanwhile, his life was continually increasing thanks to a Fountain of Youth he was using every turn, while my potential mana was increasing at the same rate thanks to an Icatian Store I was keeping tapped (I don’t have the red storage land, and white mana works just fine for powering a Fireball). I don’t even remember who ended up winning that one, but we both ended up using nearly everything we had before it was over.
I’d call that a Timmy. You enjoyed the experience of the game. If you were a Spike you would have remembered who won the game in your second example. Spikes tend to remember wins and losses more than individual game details. The first example sounds more Johnny/Timmy than anything else, using the synergies of your deck to build a massive creature that makes you smile. But there’s an online test/questionnaire at the link I provided earlier which may be able to tell you more details. You’ll have to read each card because you’ve probably never played with most of them, but each card name is a hyperlink to a card database.
Enjoy,
Steven
If only there were a way to use these cards and play online without buying them. How have the Magic: the Gathering computer games been? Do they update?
The story of Magic: the Gathering computer games is long and tiresome. The closest you’ll get to playing for free is Apprentice. It’s an app which allows you to connect to another player and play virtual objects on a virtual tabletop, and manipulate them largely as you would cards. It does not have ANY rules enforcement. You can skip turns, phases, gain life with the press of a button, etc. Both players need to be VERY aware of how the game works and the game state. It’s best used between two experienced players who want to practice with cards they don’t own. Cards in the game are just raw text, no pictures or frames. The Apprentice interface is cluttered and not easy to describe, but there are people who swear by it. Most people prefer M:tG Online for playtesting because it enforces the rules, even if you have to build a digital collection with cash. Apprentice has card data files you can update any time, so it always has the full set of cards. But it’s more like playing in the real world where you have to keep track of the game state yourself. There are some handy tools in the app to do it with, but it’s kind of difficult to keep track of advanced game states like the stack and triggered abilities and pseudospells by yourself.
There is also Magic: the Gathering - Battlegrounds on XBox, but it’s not a card game, it’s a RTS using a M:tG theme.
There hasn’t been a stand-alone game with a computer AI and a lot of cards available by default since ~1997-1998 and the Microprose game. These days if you want to play, you need two players at least. You can use Apprentice to get a virtual tablespace if you don’t mind tracking all the game states yourself and you want to spend no money, or you can use MTGO(sometimes called MODO, Magic Online with Digital Objects, a pre-launch name which has stuck in some of the old-timer’s heads, just like they call Vintage “Type I”) for rules enforcement, structured tournaments(with prizes), and shell out cash.
Enjoy,
Steven
In case anyone is actually following the links I provide: Here is the somewhat live coverage of Grand Prix: Seattle that’s taking place, well, now.
Through the years, I’ve kept an ear and an eye open when a new Magic game gets released. It sounds like the game is bigger and clearer than ever and was great for developing strategies even when I was playing. If they came up with a better online/software-based game, I’d probably buy it.
I’m not quite sure what you mean by this. MTGO is about as good as it gets for online and software based Magic. It’s not perfect, and the interface is SO far from perfect, but as far as online M:tG goes, it’s best of breed. It enforces the rules, and provides a framework for leagues, tournaments, casual play, and multiplayer. It doesn’t have an AI, but there are always people to play against available, unless you prefer some specialty game like pauper Elder Dragon Highlander. In any case, M:tG AIs have never been very good. The only thing wrong with it, and this is mainly my point of view, is the choice they made to keep the business model of purchasing cards instead of purchasing a game with all the cards. It’s more like real M:tG but that isn’t particularly what I want. IMHO that’s one of the worst parts of the paper game. In chess it isn’t like you have to be a grandmaster to be able to play with a Queen, why do you have to drop tons of cash or have been playing forever to be able to play with all the different Magic cards?
Don’t get me wrong, I think the collectibility of the game has been a huge factor it its success, but it’s damn annoying to see a digital object(with no real reason to be scarce) be forced to be scarce. That’s doubly true for MTGO, which started up with cards which are now very rare but the only way to get them was to play a very buggy, laggy, piece of crap game(the initial release). I’ve got a lot of friends who play online, so I’m going to try it out. I’ll drop ~100 on an account and a bunch of commons and play casual pauper and see how I like it. I’m thinking I’ll stick with my game nights in person though.
Enjoy,
Steven
Erm. Are you and your roommate more interested in limited or constructed play? I can’t recall when they launched drafting as a viable format, so I’m not sure if you played when it was around.
If you have any interest in limited at all, it might be worth hunting up a local store and taking in a booster draft or two. For about $12, you’ll at least get a look at what’s making the rounds in the current sets and get some idea how the state of the game is. Most booster drafts are reasonably tolerant of new players (or returning players after a long hiatus) and will be excited to have potential new blood around. I know that’s true of the store I play at (if you happen to be in the NYC area, I can recommend a great store!), and a fair number of our regulars are competitive on the national and international level in several different formats.
Then again, I’m an almost pure limited player, so I’ve got a bias in that direction. Constructed gives me the prickly heat.