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therearerules

By therearerules
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Stejay

Stejay

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, cavalcade said:

I would start with a simple kit, containing a couple of decks for you to start playing. The Arena starter kits are good and you may find your local GAME has them in (and at a super cheap price - usually 6-10 quid). 

 

They contain a couple of decks, a cardboard life total counter (although you'll find hundreds of free apps you can use) and will be simple to pilot and relatively balanced. They will also give you a code to get the same decks on Arena. I would recommend the latter(Arena)  as a good way of learning the basics of the game - even if you just play against the AI to practice the phases of play. You could even both download it on a tablet and play against one another a few times just to be sure you have the rules down.  

 

Then, the world is really your oyster. You could perhaps buy a couple of booster packs and start to enrich those decks you have, but I would recommend finding your local FLGS. They may even be able to give you piles of free cards, official intro decks and even help you through your first few games. 

 

Thanks for the reply.  I actually just ordered an Arena starter kit from Amazon after I posted here.  Less than £7 for two 60 card starter decks seems great value for money.

 

I downloaded Arena for Mac and iOS yesterday, but don't laugh but I'm stuck at the end of the tutorial and unable to defeat Nicol Bolas at the moment.

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cavalcade

cavalcade

Posted
Posted

MTG has a few heuristics you can use as a crutch for playing the game as efficiently as possible. Clearly it has a lot of variance, so skill isn't always going to be the deciding factor, but how you play has a far bigger impact than a lot of new players to the game often think. 

 

It's best to think of MTG in terms of resources. Your life total is a resource. You can win at 1 life or 20. Yours cards are resources. You're looking to utilise those resources better than your opponent and end up at the end of any interactions coming out better in terms of the resources you lost. Also, think about timing. Is it more efficient to use this instant removal spell now or if I wait are they going to spend resources to enchant creature with something and then if I remove it I get a two for one..... that sort of thing. It's this delicate balance that makes MTG infinitely enjoyable. Not so much about gotchas or tactical outplays of your opponent, but efficient deck piloting coming together over multiple turns. 

 

It's worth watching some of the better MTG players on Twitch to see the decisions they go through when playing. Not all are very verbose (so, for example, as a beginner I wouldn't watch Reid Duke) but some give a really great window into what they're thinking about. LSV for example. 

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Jimmyzilla

Jimmyzilla

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Stejay said:

 

Thanks for the reply.  I actually just ordered an Arena starter kit from Amazon after I posted here.  Less than £7 for two 60 card starter decks seems great value for money.

 

I downloaded Arena for Mac and iOS yesterday, but don't laugh but I'm stuck at the end of the tutorial and unable to defeat Nicol Bolas at the moment.

 

Oh that's cool it says those starter kit codes can be used twice with a friend.  I saw two different starter kits on Amazon, are you interested in trading codes?  I wouldn't mind getting back into Magic.

 

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B093CHZ62N

Is this the starter kit you got?

 

The other one is here 

 

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0881XZ49W
 

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Stejay

Stejay

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, Jimmyzilla said:

 

Oh that's cool it says those starter kit codes can be used twice with a friend.  I saw two different starter kits on Amazon, are you interested in trading codes?  I wouldn't mind getting back into Magic.

 

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B093CHZ62N

Is this the starter kit you got?

 

The other one is here 

 

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0881XZ49W
 


Yes, I’ve bought the first one, and I’m happy to trade codes with you. 🙂

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cavalcade

cavalcade

Posted
Posted

Arena does come with a set of starter decks and does have a free to play model that isn't too bad. For sure the starter decks will probably get hammered in most of the queues but you should be able to do daily quests and build up towards competitive decks fairly quickly. 

 

The starter kits give you activation codes for those decks online, but they are fairly weak in the scheme of things. 

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El Geet

El Geet

Posted
Posted
On 30/08/2021 at 21:25, Jimmyzilla said:

I'm a bit lost after the tutorials and the colour challenges, are there any guides for where to go from here?  I don't even know where to start with deck building these days...

Yeah I’m in the same boat. Did the ‘colour challenges’ and no real idea where to go from here. Have built up some xp to be able to buy packs but no idea which packs to buy! 

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Jimmyzilla

Jimmyzilla

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, El Geet said:

Yeah I’m in the same boat. Did the ‘colour challenges’ and no real idea where to go from here. Have built up some xp to be able to buy packs but no idea which packs to buy! 

I think the longer it takes to find an opponent the worse it's going to be, there's no way for the starter decks to beat someone using any of the new mechanics like dungeons! If I haven't been matched in 10 seconds I quit to try again. 

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El Geet

El Geet

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Jimmyzilla said:

I think the longer it takes to find an opponent the worse it's going to be, there's no way for the starter decks to beat someone using any of the new mechanics like dungeons! If I haven't been matched in 10 seconds I quit to try again. 

Yeah I’ve invariably been up against much better and very different decks to the big standard ones I have. Have only managed to win 3 times out of say 10. 

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Keiths_Dad

Keiths_Dad

Posted
Posted

I'm a bit late to the party, but if you are going to play Arena, there are always a few good budget decks that can be put together without using a large number of rare wildcards. There was a cycling deck that was good enough to get me to Mythic rank a few times whilst I filled out my collection, but that has just rotated - however, with the dawn of a new set, there's a load of budget options available at https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/thirty-casual-decks-under-20-for-magic-the-gathering-innistrad-midnight-hunt-standard. As with any free to play game, the economy in Arena is extremely predatory, but as a game, Magic itself is hard to beat.

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strider

strider

Posted
Posted
25 minutes ago, Jimmyzilla said:

Anyone got tips for playing drafts?

 

I got that draft token from the daily deals but it feels daunting to give it a try!  I don't think I ever did that well when I tried a couple times in high school and I still don't even get all of the new card mechanisms :lol:

Watch drafters like Numot The Nummy and Legend or Nicholbolas (all on youtube) to get an idea of the set.

Generally you'll want to focus on bombs, removal, evasion over anything else. Two drops are always a priority as well because you need to get threats down early to either beat down or trade with their creatures so you can get to your bigger spells.

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Jimmyzilla

Jimmyzilla

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, strider said:

Watch drafters like Numot The Nummy and Legend or Nicholbolas (all on youtube) to get an idea of the set.

Generally you'll want to focus on bombs, removal, evasion over anything else. Two drops are always a priority as well because you need to get threats down early to either beat down or trade with their creatures so you can get to your bigger spells.

I might be moving into the 21st century watching a streamer gaming for the first time!!

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strider

strider

Posted
Posted
35 minutes ago, Jimmyzilla said:

I might be moving into the 21st century watching a streamer gaming for the first time!!

Innistrad is a complicated set so it’s absolutely worth watching someone. Channel Fireball’s luis scott vargas is good value as well.

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strawdonkey

strawdonkey

Posted
Posted

I've used this group in the past, though it's been a while so worth doing a little research of your own too: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mtgUKtradeandsale/

 

You also have the option of selling to a trader, though you will definitely get significantly below market value for it. Places like Manaleak, Dark Sphere, Axion Now, Magic Madhouse or somewhere local to you.

I previously had a Taiga, Savannah and Plateau and found that if I wanted to shift them even privately had to either wait a very long time or still take a bit of a market-value hit.

This also reminds me that I have a few Polluted Deltas that I need to do something with...

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Ninja Doctor

Ninja Doctor

Posted
Posted

I used to play many years ago with my now passed away housemate. I did sell up to him when I moved away as I had no one to play with. 
 

Fast forward 9 years and I think it’s time to get my daughters into this. Heh heh. 
 

obviously being out the scene for a few years but is the current two deck starter pack best option for getting them into it?

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Djx

Djx

Posted
Posted

Yep. It's a decent way to teach people to play -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Magic-Gathering-Starter-Multicolor-D05660000/dp/B09XF8DTD7

 

Decklists are here and you can also check out the artwork on the cards to make sure it is suitable for kids -

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/magic-gathering-2022-starter-kit-2022-06-02

 

The 2021 Kit is also in stock in some stores -

https://www.totalcards.net/magic-the-gathering-arena-starter-kit-2021-dragonsguard-elite-cyclone-summoner?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-6nkgsaz-gIViKztCh1yEg0PEAQYBiABEgKqjPD_BwE

 

A review of the 2021 kit -

 

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ravon

ravon

Posted
Posted

Recently started playing commander with some friends who are very seasoned players, it's very kind of them to take the time to teach me the basics. 

It's such a steep learning curve to get your head around at first and I don't think it helped I picked up the kawagami neon destiny to try and learn.. That failed pretty quickly so I swiftly move to the dragonic destruction starter deck which is so much more user friendly...

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ravon

ravon

Posted
Posted

So just over a month has gone by and our Thursday night game resulted in my first win against another 5 players.

One playing a totally insane Athreos shrouded veil, they kept swapping life totals and resetting back to 40. And the other was playing slithers which were equally terrifying.

 

Was playing a zombie deck I had mashed together from online resources.

 

MVP was Rooftop storm closely followed by noxtious ghoul.

 

I must say I have been watching a lot of MTG content which I have definitely picked a few things up from.

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