Musings on why I hate the MTG Community

First off, not all of you are bad people; I have actually made a lot of friends playing the game, as well as some enemies. I enjoy the game's set up, lore, and art as well as it is a strategy game. But unfortunately, my spark for Magic isn't there any more. The community has driven me insane due to the nature of the people, and the nature of the game its self.

First off, the game is straight up pay to win. A lot of the good cards fetch a pretty penny online and in shops, while the cheaper cards are usually sub-par in tournaments. While these cards can be decent, they have better alternatives that see more play and thus driving the Market. While I do have a bit of money in Magic Cards, it is still rather silly to pay 60$ for a piece of cardboard. To boot, I don't have the money to actually buy all the good cards, and the only method I have to obtain the expensive cards is to trade very well. Other card games like Netrunner, while having a higher price floor, have a lower price ceiling(if I recall it is about 300 to get the core set and all expansions that come with full playsets of each card). While with Magic, the price ceiling is infinite, due to new cards being released and the fact that the market is dependent on what people play and what is popular.

While competition is good for some people, it frustrates me in a way if I don't do well. I looked into EDH for a good time, to have a relaxed format to where I could make funny decks and have fun with people. I see EDH as a format that says "Hey I have these spare cards laying around why don't I try to make something of them and have fun with friends," not as this super competitive format where everyone builds a deck to dick over the group the fastest. Another thing it has become is people pouring money into EDH decks to make them god like, like a Force of Will(100$) or a Kozilek(50$).Every game has a meta, and something will always beat something else, but when people start making a super competitive meta out of a fun format, become irritating as it becomes "OK, how many turns before someone combos off and kills everyone."

Worst of all, it is the community's attitude towards winning and loosing. The winners are what I call sore winners: they are all in your face saying "Look at me I'm so great" or "Your deck sucks, noob," and to me that does not promote healthy game play. They're also the same ones that say when they loose "I've spent so much money on this deck, how can it loose to a noob deck like yours?"The loosers end up going on tilt when they don't win because of this, and to be honest, it is a luck based game. A good friend of mine went to a grand prix and actually quit standard because he got frustrated with the meta (can we be honest and say that walkers mirror matches suck?).

All in all, I'm pretty much on the verge of liquidating my magic cards. I have a fair chunk in value through good trades and semi decent luck. Would I be able to make full value? Probably not. But it saddens me that the community I have experienced has become so toxic. I guess that is the nature of competitive gaming: there is always a few rotten eggs.

A Few Words on the Banning of Sylvan Primordial

If you are an avid Elder Dragon Highlander, or EDH, player like me, then you know that there is anew card to the banned list: Sylvan Primordial from Gatecrash. Ironically, the card was actually designed for EDH to replace Primeval Titan, a six drop that said whenever Primeval Titan enter the battle fiend or attacks, search your library for two forest cards and put them into play. Now while Sylvan Primordial only triggered when it entered the battlefield, it could have still been a problem.

Although I have never used Sylvan Primemordial in EDH, I can see where some problems might arise such as reanimation or flickering, but there are other cards with much worse effects to animate to,such as Kokusho, the Evening Star. When i read Sylvan Primordial, it was intresting to see green get some destruction, even some land destruction;it doesn't destroy creatures.  Along with that is mana ramp, which green does very very well, although since Sylvan Primordial is a seven drop, i was doubting its usefulness. 

Overall, I am very very surprised it got banned in EDH, and Honestly , i don't think it deserved it, because it doesn't destroy creatures. 

Return to Ravnica

As all of you Magic the Gathering players already know, the start of a new block started: The Return to Ravnica block. It brings us the joy of the gold standard block, meaning there are many multi-colored cards with a golden border along with new mechanics along the way. This set, you can choose between 5 guilds: Selesnya, Rakdos, Izzet, Azorius,and Golgari, each with their own schemes and mechanics.
First we have the Conclave of Selesnya, the green/white guild of Ravnica. They value the Oversoul, nature, strength in numbers, so naturally if you play a token generator, this is the guild for you.To aid your token swarm, there is the new mechanic, Populate, which allows you to produce a copy of a token you already have. With a land becoming an 8/8 token, and token generators from previous sets, (Increasing Devotion I'm looking at you) your token generation gets even faster and more powerful. Like with green/white, there is life gain installed somewhat in it, but in my opinion, there needs to be more. True, the legendary creature, Trostani, Selesnya's Voice, gives you life equal to creature's power when it enters the battle field, other than that and a few other cards, life gain is few and far between. Over all though, I'll admit to liking Selesnya on a whole due to the fact it's everything it either token generation of life gain. Now, I'm waiting for them to reprint Soul Warden or Essence Warden.

On the contrast to nature loving Selesnya, next we have the mean, party loving red/black Cult of Rakdos. In this set, they have creature destruction, and even a card that allows you destroy planeswalkers(Dreadbore) along with burn spells to help summon the guild leader, Rakdos, Lord of Riots. He is a 6/6 flying trample for two black and two red, but someone has to take damage before casting him, but with the Rakdos mechanic of Unleash, which allows players to put a +1/+1 counter on the creature in exchange for it not being able to block, damage comes easy to those creatures. Honestly, the unleash mechanic is weak just due to the fact that next turn the opponent could have a creature as strong as the one you unleashed, and the fact that they don't have haste. If they made it a bit stronger, then Rakdos could potentially dominate standard more.

Next we have the scientists of Ravnica, the Izzet, led by Niv Mizzet, the smartest being on the plane of Ravnica. While blue/red might seem like a contrast at first, once you delve into the Izzet guild, you'll find that these colors provide for a wonderful counter spell deck with a hint of burn. The Izzet mechanic of Overload makes it so that a spell that only affects one creature, affects each creature that either you or opponent control, depending on the effect of the card. Niv Mizzet, Dracogenious provides for pinging your opponents for a damage while yo draw a card. I'll admit that that he is not as powerful as his counterpart, Niv Mizzet, Firemind, but still provides for interesting gameplay.

The Azorius serve as Ravnica's justice system, and what better to control the people than blue/white? Azorius uses the mechanic of Detain, which prevents target creature from activating activated abilities or from attacking or blocking. While the mechanic might sound amazing at first, you then realize that it's only for a turn that they're detained only for a turn, and next turn they're up and going again. I honestly don't like the mechanics because it just slows the opponent down, but if you can't keep up the detainment, then you will die. Isperia, the legendary creautre, just detains creatures whenever she attacks, but other than that, compared to the other legendary creatures, she is severely underpowered. Azorius is good to slow the game down, but if you're looking to play aggro, then Azorius is not for you.

Lastly, we have Golgari, the green/black guild that believes that in in death, there is life. They run on a mechanic called scavenge, that allows the player to pay the scavenge cost when the creature is in graveyard to put +1/+1 counters on a creature on the battlefield equal to the power of the creature being scavenged. The creture being scavenged is then exiled. Honestly, I'll admit, I hate Golgari with a passion. True they work on graveyard grab so that you can't truly kill them, but I just hate the way it runs. Maybe I just don't value my stuff in the graveyard and prefer to keep my creatures alive as long as possible.

Overall, I am impressed with the Return to Ravnica block so far. It provide a different balance than Avacyn did, but it can still be used in different decks. Personally, I think standard just got a bit more fun, and this provides good chances for people to make multi-colred decks. Now, if only Gatecrash would hurry up and get here.

Avacyn Restored

If you're a huge Magic the Gathering fan like me, the you know that there was the release of the new set, Avacyn Restored, this weekend. It got a lot of hype, due to the story line, and potentially good cards, and two new mechanics: Soul-bound and Miracle. This weekend, I had the chance to go to a pre-release tournament, where I got to play with the new set. With all the new stuff introduced in the block, was it a good decision? Personally, I am mixed like a lot of people I know are.

First is the mechanic of Soul-Bound. They are creature that can attach them selves to other creatures to give them new attributes, such as double strike, hexproof, and trample for example. They are not equipment, for the creature has attack and toughness, but they just give the creature they latch on to special qualities. You can choose to soul-bound two creatures, or you can not, and each creature, both the one with soul-bound, and the one without, can stand on their own. Now, with the introduction of soul-bound, they decided to make a few creatures that would die instantly if they are not soul-bound to anything, which to me is a dumb move, but I guess anything to introduce the mechanic.

Miracle is where I think Wizards of the Coast, the publisher of the cards, have really broken the game. Miracle allow you to cast a card for considerably less than the original cost if it's the first card you draw for the turn.My main problem with this is the fact that you can essentially cast Day of Judgement(In this case Terminus) for one white. And to make matters worse, it adds all creatures in the bottom of the deck, and there is almost no chance of getting the creatures unless you have shuffle cards and search cards. In a way, I guess it makes it easier to board wipe, but at the same time, it's being rather unfair. Also, the other miracle cards are rather ridiculous as well, due to power effects being cast for very little if its the first card you draw in a turn. The flip side of this is the fact if its in your opening hand, then you can't use it for its miracle cost, which could potentially balance out the mechanic.

The Avacyn story that goes along with the set is also pretty good. Grislebrand, a demon who is rebelling against the angels, traps Avacyn, the protector of Innistrad,in her own Hevault along with him self. Lilliana Hess went to the plain of Innistrad and tricked Thalia into opening Helvault, freeing not only Avacyn, but Gislebrand and all the other demons. She fails to kill Grislbrand, but Avacyn restores power to the humans of Innistrad, and she drives away the demons and zombies away from Innistrad.

The story is actually pretty good, and it adds for an interesting background for the set. I personally like it, due to the good vs. evil , but also somehow evil vs. evil. Avacyn is the supreme angel, and she is well designed, and Grislbrand  is also well designed. The story has all of the characters from Innistrad and Dark Ascension, which connects the Avacyn to the rest of the set

Overall, I am pleased with the new set, though some of the mechanics seem a bit broken. If they can work out the kinks in the mechanics, then this set would be perfect and add more diversity to the set. All I must say is that I hope they don't add to many new, and possible broken mechanics.