Increasing my nerd-ness

[Nita]

I played Magic: The Gathering for my first time last night. I had originally heard of this game through Brian Goat and Devin (spies4Naomi/spies5Luke) - they came to mafia from an MTG site - and had heard other nerds talk about it, but I had never seen a single card.

I played a blue & white premade intro deck against a green & red deck. I chose to let my opponent's 2 grizzly bears through undefended, twice, because I had 2 white spells that each allowed me to gain back 4 life and I wanted to sacrifice my wimpy 1/1 guys against somethiing worse than 2/2. I stalled long enough to play 2 blue monsters (forget the name ... gizzerbezzer or something with z's) that had 6/6 attack/defend and I slaughtered my opponent once those were in play.

Then I played my intro deck against one of my opponent's favorites. This black/red deck was designed to knock out cards from my hand, and then rob me of life on my turn once my hand got down to 0, 1, or 2 cards. I had nothing to counter my opponent's card-stealing flying monsters and he knocked my spells out of my hand before I even got to use them, so I was screwed.

I don't think I'll ever be addicted to this game - too much money and it seems like the internet takes away the fun of experimenting generating decks - but I will admit it was fun.

Just thought I'd share here since I don't really know anyone except my opponent's friends who play MTG (or even know what MTG is).

[Chance]

I approve this post. ^

Seriously though, I like this game. It's fun.

[Kiara]

I played Magic in high school. I loved it, but you're right DC, it is expensive. I've got a PC version of Magic that I bust out every now and against when I get the itch. And there's a MTG game on xBox Live that I downloaded. Deck customization there is almost zero, but still a fun game.

[Chance]

Re: the XBox Live version - yeah, it's pretty fun. You're right about there being really no customization, though.

[spies7vladimir]

Awesome! This makes me happy. I think the blue creature you're thinking of is Vizzerdrix. Also, it seems like you were already playing it pretty well! Generally you think of your life total as a resource, just like anything else. It's OK to let creatures through and lower your life total and generally better to do so rather than throw away your own creatures to block them. Card advantage is often thought of as king in magic. If you use a 1/1 creature to block a 2/2 creature, you've lost a card (your 1/1) and gained only 2 life. Your opponent is now one card ahead of you. Oftentimes it doesn't matter how much life you gain, you have to eventually find a way to deal with everything your opponent plays or they will still grind you down and win eventually.

Magic is a really fun game. I've been playing off and on for the past 4-5 years and I'd say it's the most complex strategical game I've ever had the opportunity to play. Even something as simple as playing premade intro decks against each other can result in skill-intensive decisions.

Also, the internet doesn't really take away all the fun of designing your own decks. People still generate new ideas all the time, and I've won money in plenty of tournaments with "rogue" decks of my own design rather than simply copying those the pro players recommend. There are also numerous formats of magic (where different cards and sets are legal) and some (such as Elder Dragon Highlander) are made to be exactly that. A format where people build their own decks with whatever cards they want to play for fun.

I think you would be really good at magic and would enjoy the game a lot DC. It seems like the kind of game that is right up your alley, and I've found there to be a lot of similarities between Magic and other games. For example, I've gotten better at other games simply by playing Magic and being able to transfer the skills from Magic to the other game.

I will admit that it's very expensive though. That is the big downside of the game right now and something that a lot of players are raising an outcry about. The deck I currently play in Standard (a format comprised of the last 2 years of sets) costs roughly $600 if you were to simply buy the cards from a dealer. The most expensive deck in the format is between about $800-$1000. I managed to amass the cards from trading and winning tournaments and things, and I didn't actually invest any money directly into it (although obviously money was spent indirectly in driving costs, food, etc.), but it can be daunting for new people to get into the game and compete without being able to afford a lot on it.

At any rate, I've been doing very well lately in tournaments and I believe I will qualify for the pro tour within the next 6 months to a year. It's been a goal of mine to play on the pro tour at least once, and I've narrowly missed on a few occasions. If anyone wants to talk about the game, shoot me a PM or an IM or something. I'm always happy to discuss it.

I hope you stick with playing DC, even just off and on from time to time. It's a great game, very well designed, and very fun to play.

[Owen]

Gathering magical.

Rage against the ravine.

[Nita]

What does that even mean?

[spies7vladimir]

You see, there was a ravine in my old town. Everyone hated it. People fell down it all the time on accident and stuff, so eventually the town council got together and decided to put an end to it. In an event called "Rage against the Ravine" we gathered up as a community and finally filled it in. Never again would we trip near its treacherous edge and fall down it. It was pretty magical.

[Broderick]

Liar.

It is a card in Magic the Gathering, with a pun from Rage against the Machine. though I forget the actual name of that card.. something Ravine.

[spies7vladimir]

Raging Ravine. It's imperative to make quality card name puns whenever applicable to enrich your experience.

[Nita]

You would think that, but sometimes it is too much.

As a parallel example, Dominion is a card game with named cards - "Thief", "Laboratory", "Province" for example. An acquaintance of mine, Aaron, is a big D&Der and he makes each of his turns in Dominion into an RPG session:

"I wander through the "Village" to seek my friend working in the "Mine"! I say to him, "Good sir, pray tell, will you exchange my pithy "Copper" for one of the "Silvers" you have recently mined?" He says, "Why of course, good friend!" and with a newly-minted "Silver" in my pocket, I purchase a "Duchy" and expand my kingdom! Ho ho!"

When he does this, I want to kill him.

[Jenny]

I can just see you snapping, and it going something like

"I say good sir, there now appears to be a spoon entrenched into your cheekbone. Ho ho!"

[Nita]

There's no way. Aaron is a complete psycho. I shit you not. For example, you know the gaming convention I went to (posted about it during Spies 6, went again this summer)? A couple of years ago, Aaron and a friend were checking out knives at one of the weapons booth, and Aaron, for no reason, stabbed his friend. Literally stabbed him. At a gaming convention. Just because. The poor guy was bleeding all over the place. A couple of years before that, Aaron held another friend hostage with a knife to the guy's throat, again out of the blue, and someone had to hold a gun to his head to get him to back down.

Oh, but I can dream.

Aaron is also a Magic the Gathering player

[spies7vladimir]

Sept 24, 2010 9:50:02 GMT -6 Nita said:

Aaron is also a Magic the Gathering player

Hey now. That comment wasn't related and is purely slanderous!

Most of the people I play magic with laugh at my jokes and puns...like, actually break down into laughter, not just a "heh." I can't really ask for more.

I do know there are times when they don't find them particularly funny. For example, if I use a tectonic edge to destroy one of the lands they needed and I say something like "I think I have the...edge...in this game," then they aren't exactly loving it, but that's just taunting, which is also a necessary aspect of any game.

On the flip side, I've never stabbed anyone with a knife, pulled out a knife, held someone at knife point or engaged in any acts of violence.

[Cory]

But you came close after that guy slandered you on Fox News for refusing to concede, right?

[spies7vladimir]

Perhaps. Perhaps.

[Jenny]

Sept 24, 2010 9:50:02 GMT -6 Nita said:

There's no way. Aaron is a complete psycho. I shit you not. For example, you know the gaming convention I went to (posted about it during Spies 6, went again this summer)? A couple of years ago, Aaron and a friend were checking out knives at one of the weapons booth, and Aaron, for no reason, stabbed his friend. Literally stabbed him. At a gaming convention. Just because. The poor guy was bleeding all over the place. A couple of years before that, Aaron held another friend hostage with a knife to the guy's throat, again out of the blue, and someone had to hold a gun to his head to get him to back down.

Oh, but I can dream.

Aaron is also a Magic the Gathering player

Um. Has this person seen a therapist by any chance?

[Jenny]

Well hey, nice timing. Half price thing on steam for some Magic the Gathering game. Online play, and probably cheaper then if you got all those cards physically in the first place.

store.steampowered.com/app/49400/

[Nita]

Ooo diabolic puzzles.

[Kiara]

Looks like the same as the xBox one, in which case: Meh, the puzzles aren't all that difficult.

[Gertrude]

If Kiara says meh, I agree. Totes meh.

[spies7vladimir]

I found a used copy of that game from some guy in Meh-ssissippi.

[Nita]

Figures. Guy from the south can't spell. Redneck.

[Gertrude]

^

That is a sign that your pun sucked, Bdubs.

[Gertrude]

Come back at 6:22, though, I'm sure it'll be better.


<3.

[spies7vladimir]

Hey, bad pun of the hour didn't get the name for nothing. The pun is supposed to be bad.

Also, my neck is pasty white, thank you very much.