[Community Discussion]: Group Spirit
General forum
Posted on Oct. 27, 2015, 6:48 p.m. by ChiefBell
Magic is a game about community. Whether you play Commander with three old friends around the kitchen table, or grind huge Modern opens with like-minded individuals, this game is characterised by other people and the groups we play in.
So tell me people of TappedOut, how do you foster group spirit? What is your group like, and how do you support it?
Do you perhaps give away free commons and uncommons at your LGS to help out new casual players? Maybe you are a tournament grinder that regularly meets up with others and swaps decks or cards to test before the next big event? Do you use a Facebook group to organise meet-ups and trips to the next big event? Or maybe you meet your friends every Friday at your LGS?
Wizard_of_the_Broke says... #3
Same. Wouldn't be able to play anything decent without mutual card-borrowing.
October 27, 2015 7:55 p.m.
Eliiiiiiiiiiiiiiza says... #4
My playgroup is unique to say the least. You see, I'm currently staying at home to make money for college, but I still like to play Magic with the people I met during my one year of community college. On my days off, I will head down to campus and play EDH or emperor (often both at the same time) and I think that my lack of exposure to my primary playgroup keeps my enthusiasm going strong about magic. However, I don't get to play a lot during the day because work, so I don't know if this is the most useful addition to this discussion, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
October 27, 2015 8:06 p.m.
someguy5587 says... #5
my playgroup is the same as the first two comments. a lot of card sharing going on, especially when i took an 8yr hiatus and came back to play edh. my collection was very weak coming back and my friends helped me get back into it. now that i have several yrs of edh playing/general card collecting under my belt i pass that along with newer people to the format at my work as well.
also, as far as the social aspect goes i'm not sure if this is unique to the format of edh or within our playgroup (maybe some of both) but we often will point out misplays and/or unusual plays to each other even if we are on different teams. i feel it helps facilitate learning and it is always fun to see new/interesting approaches to card and player interactions which is probably why i am most drawn to edh.
October 27, 2015 8:28 p.m.
I share cards with my roommate to build decks. My playgroup only plays EDH a couple times a week so we just have fun doing weird things in a massive expansive format. We also allow proxying so that we can try out new decks without breaking the bank.
October 27, 2015 8:57 p.m.
titanreaver says... #7
I play with a lot of new people and people that don't have the card stock to build much on their own. I would like to say we share cards but honestly I just lend most things right now. In my old play group when I was in Baltimore, we just gave commons and uncommons and even some rares. The only things of which we would keep track were the things that were worth some serious dough.
I have also had mixed success with groups that allowed for proxies to be played. At times it was fine, and it was mostly just for play testing or placeholders that would eventually get filled, while other times people would abuse that leniency and would just try to proxy everything with out ever planning on actually getting the cards.
Lastly in all of my groups we had our very competitive decks and games but we all kept a stock of casual stuff to play when we were feeling it, and I have every random expansion thing so we would play Planeschase, Archenemy, and Vanguard regularly even sometime in combination. Then we even played other Planeshase style things where you had rules that changed or game effects that were essentially random that would get thrown into the game.
We even did whole tournaments of Unglued, Unhinged and even entire custom sets (thanks to a friend in the print shop). Which those were a lot of fun. So I guess the main thing is foster fun, let others join, play nice, and the community builds itself.
October 27, 2015 9:47 p.m.
I crush everyone in playgroup's hopes and dreams to the point where they hate Magic, me, and themselves. No will goes unbroken. No table unflipped.
Sadly, I'm a relatively new player with a college budget, so there isn't a lot I can offer my group in terms of cards, nor advice outside of EDH. I do trades at discounted rates, and occasionally spot my friend when we go to draft events, but other than that, it's just hanging out at lunch and playing a few casual matches.
October 28, 2015 2:01 a.m.
JakeHarlow says... #9
I mostly play in tournaments at the FNM level and above, and I have a cadre of players located in my town that do the same. We often roll together to various events in the region. We almost never play casually though.
The problem I've been having with casual play is that a lot of my friends who want to play Magic at the kitchen table with me don't have decks. Consequently they need to borrow one, usually requesting one from yours truly. This is where I've run into issues.
I'm super, super particular about the condition of my cards (and try to keep my sleeves nice too). I do everything I can to prevent any level of wear on them, and it shows when I play. I don't shuffle roughly/aggressively, I don't bend my cards when I lay them on the table, and I don't drum my fingernails on my cards -- not even when they're double sleeved. However, most folks aren't like me, it seems. Whenever I lend a deck, I always notice that at least one thing is amiss upon its return -- bends, unnecessary sleeve wear, indentations from aggressive fingernail stabbing (seriously, why do people do that?), etc. So I've quit lending decks because I've grown sick of replacing damaged cards, re-sleeving, etc. (As a side note, I've also encountered these issues when one of my opponents gets to control a card I own via effects like Control Magic, etc.) My remonstrations about keeping my cards nice, and my numerous verbal efforts to prevent my friends from damaging them during play, seem to fall roundly upon deaf ears.
And with my near-universal refusal to lend decks at the kitchen table (on the grounds that my things aren't being respected and treated delicately), my opportunities to play casual Magic have all but vanished. I guess I need to link up with a more like-minded playgroup.
October 28, 2015 2:35 a.m.
I play Standard every Wednesday at my LGS, joined by my husband, and sometimes Standard on Friday at the same place, with a friend I met through Magic.
I am starting to know some of the people there.
I also play once a month at my place, with my hubby and two friends. We play various different styles: mini-Cube, Modern, Standard, co-op vs Challenge decks, Archenemy, etc. We've know each other for a long time, so it's a fairly relaxing pace.
October 28, 2015 8:24 a.m.
Ive got a group of friends who texts about the game and new decks, but I team with my buddy to test for events. It works well, and Im very happy with it :)
October 28, 2015 6:37 p.m.
I should post my response now.
My girlfriend and I both play together and train for large modern events. We play with friends in person and on untap etc. She sticks to Selesnya and mono-green, I play Abzan or Jund. We share our card pool and as a result have a wide variety of deck configurations.
I also enjoy the community here and often play on untap or cockatrice with a lot of guys in the modern forum. I play A LOT of modern! Probably most days actually, and a lot of that is thanks to TappedOut.
On a more casual level I used to play a lot of cube with a guy who had a pretty high powered set. That was loads of fun. A few good friends, some pizza, some beers and high powered legacy cube always made a great night. Honestly, if you enjoy limited formats and want to be able to sit around every sunday without spending money every time - invest in a cube. I've had hours of fun with it. Unfortunately I've now moved house so I don't play with them anymore but I do miss it.
October 28, 2015 7:36 p.m.
VampireArmy says... #14
Tappedout is my playgroup. I used to play with a circle of 6-8 people every day. We even shared a huge collection for a short time. We all moved though and now I'm the only one who plays
October 28, 2015 8:35 p.m.
GeminiSpartanX says... #15
I kind of have 2-3 groups that I play with. My brother and one group only play casually, and they often accuse me of spending too much on this game (completely untrue, I've just been playing long enough to have the good cards since I got them cheap forever ago). As such, I still have a few of my casual decks that I've kept since I started playing back in Timespiral (fungus, knights, monoblack, 5-color dragons, etc). I also have 2 buddies who would like to play more, but are always busy with school since they're studying to be a lawyer and nurse practitioner and will remain in school pretty much forever it feels lol. They still keep up on what decks are good and such, and we borrow cards from each other often. The last group are the guys I play with at FNMs and occasionally travel to GP's with. They're pretty competitive although some can be quite opinionated. They're always down to test any competitive format (few people seem interested in EDH, let alone the random ones like tiny leaders or archenemy).
I focus primarily on Modern, making me the outcast in 2 of my groups. My 2 buddies are Modern aficionados, but even though the competitive crowd at my lgs often have modern decks, they are always more interested in playing legacy or standard. Often we have 8 people show up on Modern night but still can't fire an event because they'd rather not play Modern. It's pretty frustrating. As such, my goal is to build all of the higher-tiered Modern decks myself that my 2 other buddies don't already have. Often I'm the guy who lends the people who want to play modern decks in order to get some testing in. Some of the lgs guys joke that I'd be able to play any legacy deck I wanted if I just traded in my Modern stuff since I have about 8 good Modern decks, but I just tell them that I like having a little variety. ;)
October 29, 2015 8:24 a.m. Edited.
I play in two different play groups that sometimes converge. They both play EDH and, both having purchased a couple expensive decks, we've adopted the practice of proxying decks to avoid buying more cards. They are both fun though there is a mix of newer players that don't have the deck building and card knowledge some of us have.
October 30, 2015 6:03 a.m.
Man you all have generous nice friends. And it is AWESOME reading about how everyone's playgroups run. In my playgroup we don't share shizzle. Every time one of us plays a new deck and drops a new card the reaction is something along the lines of "Damn that card is messed up" followed by a "don't like it, get your own!"
We play casually, and they allow me to make proxies because I am new. But things feel extremely competitive. Every new deck forces the creation of a newer better deck. But it is all budget. I imagine to pro players it looks a lot like poor kids playing in the mud with sticks. and every time a kid brings a larger stick, the others go out to look for a branch.
We have only done one tourney together and it was the prerelease. The playgroup is actually an assortment of friends that I all knew, never knew each other, and all played magic. So I got them all together, they taught me, and we were like "damn we need to do this more often!" That was about six months ago.
October 30, 2015 7:59 a.m.
My group shares cards so we can all build whatever we need for modern and standard. EDH is 100% proxied with no limits. No one in our group wants to spend more on magic. After all, we spend quite a bit on it just to play the 1v1 formats as is.
I also sit by some tables at my college between classes and talk to other players from time to time. I no longer bring decks there because the college has insane differences between the caliber of players and I've had some bad experiences. Some people come there with intro decks while others have incredible collections. I once witnessed someone using an unsleeved alpha or beta wheel of fortune face down in place of a kithkin soldier token. Yah...
October 30, 2015 11:52 p.m.
JakeHarlow I have the same card lending philosophy eg. I don't.
I used to give cards I didn't want to a person in my group but I worked out that he is just a user and don't any more.
October 31, 2015 12:06 a.m.
JakeHarlow says... #20
@ Argeaux: Yeah, makes sense. There's a difference between being a beneficiary and a freeloader. Best to cut the latter off since those types are useless and won't generally return good treatment when they have the chance.
And yeah, about the card lending. Glad somebody else feels as I do about that. I just knew that I wasn't alone -- I'm just extremely vocal about my defense of my cards' conditions.
October 31, 2015 5:02 a.m.
Yeah it's definitely an issue and I think it comes down to how much you trust your playgroup, and how your playgroup treats your cards. I'm happy lending cards because I know they'll be returned in the same condition, which makes it a simple decision for me. If I knew that they wouldn't be then I simply wouldn't do it.
October 31, 2015 8:13 a.m.
Swamp_Thing says... #22
My playgroup is vicious ;) we mostly just criticize eachother's decks, but we share cards sometimes.
October 31, 2015 8:32 a.m.
ToolmasterOfBrainerd says... #23
My playgroup doesn't share at all. We trade a lot, but we all have to have our own collections and cards. They also never play. We have a mtg club at school, and for the past 2 months it's been me and 2-3 kids who have played the game for less than a month and don't own a single card. We play 40 card unsleeved bulk common decks that I threw together (mono-white midrange, BG elves, and mono-red aggro. I'm trying to make sure they never discover the fifth color) from Khans block and Origins. This also means unless we do a 2-on-1, my modern deck never sees play and since my LGS's modern tournament is horribly inconvenient for me, I'm kinda stuck paying for a $500 deck but playing with a $0.50 deck week after week.
Even if the more serious kids did show up, I still outclass them by a long shot because they only play standard and jank modern. Like Bant Twin, mono-red glass cannon, half-built storm, etc. Any competitive play in paper is few and far between for me, but my god is it worth it when I finally get out. Thankfully my LGS has a lot of tier-1 decks so I can regularly get my butt handed to me, which is refreshing after explaining how lands work for the third time that game.
Currently, my consolation is that as soon as winter starts (like, 1-2 weeks) all of their schedules free up an although I'd still have a 90% win rate with my modern deck among them, one of the guys has a cube for which we have proxied every piece of power, all 10 ABUR lands, and all 10 fetches. It's a blast when we can find the time. Cubing is one of my favorite things in mtg, and we all pooled our extra cards together to build it. I even made some alters for it to keep it flashy.
October 31, 2015 9:29 p.m.
I play in a casual EDH playgroup, I have been playing EDH for so long that one of my decks got to the point where it became the Black Hand of Tyranny so I split my collection up and helped kind of empower my playgroup.
November 1, 2015 1:23 p.m.
titanreaver says... #25
I really guess I don't understand why you wouldn't lend things to other people. I haven't met anybody in a while that has been playing continuously for quite as long as I have, and as such most of them don't have the collection that I have. I have over 50,000 cards just sitting in boxes most of them collecting dust.
The second longest time player next to me started in Lorowyn and he hasn't even played constantly. The first pack I bought with my own money was the Dark, so it just isn't fair to them. I also don't have the time to seriously compete anymore so when I do play it is mostly for fun, and I find it better to spend that time helping other people learn to play better and play better decks than to Overrun them (lol magic puns).
Then even when I was competing (who remembers states, and regionals?), my group wanted to be successful as a group so why not lend each other things to ensure we were all ready for the tournament. Even the pro groups do that much.
Sure not everybody reciprocates appropriately but why let one bad apple spoil the whole bunch. Sure some of my cards have been bent over the years but again so what. I tell you what the power cards we used to play with unsleeved in the parking lot during recess, or throw in our back packs for hiking trips are still power, and are still worth more than I paid for them. They actually have more value to me because of the sentimental attachment.
MtG is a game at its core and games are meant to be fun, so have fun. If your livelihood isn't based around the game you should play for fun, and even if it is, all of the traveling and work wouldn't be worth it if you don't have fun doing it.
Lastly not everybody has bottomless pockets or even pockets but that shouldn't stop them from playing at all. I am no rich man but I have more than some people and I want them to have the same fun that I have, so why not give them some of my extras, or at least help them. I know I sold someone a Belcher deck somplete with side board for 100$ including all four LED's about a year ago. (Technically I still made money on that since the LED's were 25c when I bought them.) Now that guy was able to play a deck that he loved and we had plenty of fun at local events. I buy boxes for drafts pretty regularly just so people can play, or when someone is brand new buy two starters to play against each other or a duel deck then give them to that person so he can start his collection. SO just be generous when you can and everything will come around in the end. I do this for others because it was done to me, and hopefully the people I help will help others and overall WoTC will make more, I will play more, more people will play, and everybody will be happy.
November 1, 2015 9:17 p.m.
The thing is, my play group all started playing at the same time and we all earn the same amount of money. If anything I earn a bit less than they do. So it's not a case of anyone having access to more resources than anyone else.
A guy in my group hasn't spent one cent on cards. He quite happily accepts cards we give him, to the point that we assembled his entire first deck for him.
It came to a head for me one night when we were at a game store and found a card that would help his deck, that cost five cents. He asked if I could buy it for him. You heard right. Five cents.
He also used to hoard cards that were quite expensive for us, that he wasn't using. We had five Bow of Nylea in our group. He cracked one and was lent two more for his deck. We had to change his deck and take all copies out, because they weren't working. He never offered to give any copies back. I eventually told him that he really should give at least one back to another friend who needed it.
I used to trade cards with one of the other guys in my group but he would only ever offer me shit trades. Always wanted rares and mythics and would only ever offer commons or uncommons in return. I eventually ended up just giving him cards I thought would help his deck, but he never reciprocated.
I do have one friend who I give cards to, and who gives me decent cards in return. He isn't in my regular playgroup, though.
So, it's lovely if you have a playgroup who can all share. I got sick of giving and not getting anything in return.
I also have a mental illness with an OCD component. Mistreated cards are very difficult for me to play with. If I see a card dropped on the floor, bent, or covered in muck it's like having someone scratch their fingernails down a blackboard. I can't live like that.
I don't expect other people to act like I do. We are all different and no one has the right to berate others who aren't like them.
November 1, 2015 9:49 p.m.
Swamp_Thing says... #27
@Argeaux covered in muck? How will it be covered in muck? It was in a sleeve, right? Cards must be in sleeves. Always. eye twitches
November 1, 2015 11:10 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #28
I'm with Argeaux. If damage to a card doesn't bother you, that's perfectly fine and wonderful. For people like her (and I'm one, too), damaged cards are bothersome and unplayable. Hell, if one of my cards is damaged at all, I get rid of it immediately. The important point here is for everyone to respect each others' differences. So I definitely respect your position, titanreaver. You sound like a fine fellow who's quite generous and kind -- and that's a good thing. You should be proud to be that way. Card wear doesn't bother you, and that's perfectly fine, too. I myself would be happy to lend cards if I had confidence that they'd be in the same condition upon their return, but alas experience has taught me that this simply isn't the case most of the time. Card damage bothers me, so to protect my collection's personal value to me, I quit lending cards. It's not a miserly thing, it's simply a reaction to what I perceive as the mistreatment of my property by others. So it's a very fine thing to exhort others to be generous, but all the same you should know there are other legitimate points of view and respect them accordingly.
November 2, 2015 12:57 a.m.
titanreaver says... #29
@Argeaux I understand what you are saying, and just to be clear I am not berating anybody. I understand what you are saying, probably more than you think. I understand OCD all to well myself, trust me.
Like I said in both posts, there are people who are spoiled fruit. They take and do not give back. I get that, and I agree with those people you should not be so liberal with your generosities.
I move around a lot (active duty what can you say), and I have had many play groups through out the years. Some better than others but in all of them there were some spoiled fruits. Now I suppose I have been lucky in that the core group has always been good, and so the less desirable members would tend to drift away over time. Probably when we started treating them like they would treat us.
Now I have to ask though, if people are being quite as bad as you describe why play with them? I have always found it most important to have like minded and ethically aligned people with which to play. I would even go so far as to say it is more destructive to have a bad play group then it would be to not have one at all, and there is nothing more constructive than a good play group.
November 2, 2015 1:01 a.m.
titanreaver says... #30
@JakeHarlow I started typing the last post before you posted.
Once again if I came off as degrading, or insulting that was not the intent. As a matter of fact if some one could tell me what I said that made it sound like I didn't respect the other people here I would appreciate it. I only meant to offer counter points. I suppose sometimes I sound like I am spewing self righteous pontification at everybody but I really am not. Again I am sorry if anything I have said could be construed as offensive, and I appreciate the responses. My initial statement was that I don't really understand and now after further discussion I understand more and am better for it.
November 2, 2015 1:09 a.m. Edited.
JakeHarlow says... #31
I pretty much quit playing with people who weren't willing to respect my things without requiring embarrassing and repeated admonitions. So yeah, I cut a playgroup. Now I have a couple people from my local area who know and respect the way I am about cards, and we have a good time. If I give any of them a card, though, it's for keeps. I just know that most peoples' standards of proper card handling are far less strict than my own. If I have spare copies of cards that my buddies need, I will give them to them happily. It certainly feels good to help out friends, especially now that I've found a way to do it without lending my own things. Of course, in return, my play buddies always attentively ask me if I'm trying to acquire anything and always let me know when they come across a pack-fresh copy. It's a good arrangement so far and it serves everyone's interests so far. I agree, though, titanreaver, that the worst thin possible is to have a toxic playgroup. That guy who always receives cards and never reciprocates? Awful. What about the player who always wants to play Magic but never has his own cards? Terrible. I cut my previous playgroup because I was sick of those self-serving personalities ruining my experience.
November 2, 2015 1:13 a.m.
JakeHarlow says... #32
Oh, and no need to apologize, titanreaver. I know you weren't trying to Castigate us OCD players (pun!). I just wanted to offer a more complete explanation of our position to compliment your earlier post, which was very good and valid. I also quite agree with your ideas about what constitutes a healthy playgroup.
November 2, 2015 1:16 a.m.
JakeHarlow look away now.
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Swamp_Thing one of my friends never sleeves any of his cards. Eats potato chips and oranges while we play.
Plays UB Control with Jace, Vryn's Prodigy in it.
Eye Twitch indeed.
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Although I hate how my playgroup tests cards, I love playing with them. We have been friends for years.
They respect the fact that I don't share cards any longer, and I don't tell them how to treat their cards, so we're good on that front.
titanreaver I found these statements more than just expressing a different point of view.
"I really guess I don't understand why you wouldn't lend things to other people.
why not lend each other things to ensure we were all ready for the tournament. Even the pro groups do that much.
why let one bad apple spoil the whole bunch. Sure some of my cards have been bent over the years but again so what.
MtG is a game at its core and games are meant to be fun, so have fun. If your livelihood isn't based around the game you should play for fun
SO just be generous when you can and everything will come around in the end.
I will play more, more people will play, and everybody will be happy."
Lots of assumptions here and, although a lot of this was framed in the form of a question, they come across as rhetorical, whether or not that was intended.
Basically telling me that I should have a "so what" attitude to my cards being bent, that I'm not being "generous" because I don't share cards (you should see the amount of non-card product I have given people), and an implication that I am not having fun, and I will be happier if I lend more cards.
You may not have intended these things, to which I will say that your statements may have perhaps needed better phrasing.
I didn't want to be the copy/pasta person, as I'm sure this conversation will now drag on FOREVER, but you did ask.
November 2, 2015 2:15 a.m.
GeminiSpartanX says... #34
In the same vein of conversation, this past FNM I played a new kid who was playing an unsleeved Sultai deck that had 2 Tasigurs and an Ugin, the Spirit Dragon in it. After our match I traded him a bunch of cards and $10 for his Ugin, mostly so I could throw that thing in a sleeve! (and b/c I wanted it for EDH.) On the other hand, guys at my lgs have a FB group where we talk about MtG. Often before an FNM someone will post a few cards they'd like to borrow and we lend them to each other just for the event that night. Everyone plays with sleeves (either KMCs or Dragon Shields) so condition is never an issue with that group.
November 2, 2015 8:19 a.m.
titanreaver says... #35
@Argeaux. I see your point, and I understand that when you read something the inflection of the person writing it is not present in your mind. Especially when you don't know that person. I do tend to speak in a way that is exaggerated, and a bit flowery. Also I did ask, and thank you for answering.
My intent wasn't to tell you to have the same attitudes that I have. I was simply speaking about the way I feel. I never meant to say that anyone wasn't generous or kind, handing out cards isn't the only way to achieve this end. If you are acting in a kind manner and giving the things you can, or mostly feel comfortable giving or doing then the intent is met. Which at the end of the day is the important thing.
I did make several assumptions, some more closely based in empirical evidence than others, but assumptions none the less. However assumptions must be made from time to time, especially when using the pathos and ethos styles of argument.
The very fact that anyone is posting in a thread about community spirit, says to me that they at least care some what about it and are probably decent people with genuine concern for the others in their group or other groups. Which is, most of all, what I would consider to be the greatest tenet of one's personality.
The last thing I will say (for now) which might sound like more of the pontification about which I spoke earlier, is everybody has their intricacies, and individual quirks, and character attributes. These are important to the commune as a whole, and are essential parts of the human existence. Good people breed good acts, and positive attitudes breed a positive environment. This is the fundamental basis on which any successful community is built, and is crucial to the continued success of said community. So what ever it is that you do to further this goal, teach, tutor, give, lend, or even just provide a place to be, or a pleasant personality when you are there is enough and should be lauded with appreciation. For those that would detract from this goal by stealing, cheating, bullying, or berating those within his or her group should be urged to reconsider or vacate. That is my belief.
One more thing I am sorry for the length of my posts but I only get like four hours a day off right now, so I have a lot of pent up frustrations with the people who are consistently making lives harder for those around them, and this happens to be a place where I feel it is appropriate to use that energy on something productive rather than destructive.
November 3, 2015 12:19 a.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #36
My playgroup is a bunch of poor high schoolers - except for me. Most of them build super cheap and as a result, fairly janky decks. I've been labeled as "wrecker of noobs" because my decks are so much better than theirs. It's not that I'm better at Magic than them, it's just that I'll throw $500 into a deck and think nothing of it ($1000 EDH deck here) but they think $50 is a lot for one deck.
We play almost exclusively EDH, because everybody is poor and can't afford Modern/Legacy, which means their 60 card decks are pretty bad.
We don't share cards at all, mostly because I don't trust any of those guys farther than I could throw them. I also tend to avoid lending out my decks for that reason (and because Kaalia is expensive as hell)
So yeah that's my playgroup
November 3, 2015 2:51 p.m.
My group is mostly college graduated, much old than I am, adults who have vast collections or vast funds for 2-3 boxes every set + Fat packs.. Then a few high school kids and casuals.
I tend to give away my prizes and most of any pack I win to new players.. If non show, certain casuals. Promos often have no value to me.
T/O is my only true play group.. Games have never been more fun anywhere else.
November 3, 2015 9:06 p.m.
KnightsBattlecry001 says... #38
My group is small with me and four others. We share cards all the time to help each other out when we build decks. We keep everything written down to keep track of who has what, so when we no longer need a card we borrow we can just give it back. We also trade back and forth.
Sometimes on weekends when I'm off, I we will get together and spend the whole day brainstorming deck ideas, tweaking decks we already have, and play testing the hell out of them. When Battle for Zendikar came out, me and my brother (who is part of the group) both bought a box abd then split one, and just brainstormed ideas, and tweaked our decks we had.
We don't get together as often now since it's football season. My Saturdays are spent watching games all day, but I do try to keep in touch with everyone with ideas and whatnot.
November 3, 2015 10:13 p.m.
@ThisIsBullshit That's rough. Is there any way to balance out the group? I'm surprised they're ok with playing against you when you've got a much more expensive deck than the rest of the group. I'm guessing that turns you into a pin cushion most games then.
The last time I experienced something like this was when I first got into EDH. A friend of a friend came over for some games with a highly tuned Omnath deck. He wrecked face several games in a row until we just gave up on a few games, popped in a video game we knew he hated, and essentially forced him to leave. His attitude and demeanor were incredibly hostile, especially considering how he had entered what was essentially a foreign circle of players. One of my friends told us later on that he saw this person rig his opening draw and the top of hi deck a few times during the games as well. Due to his non-confrontational nature, he never really voiced his concerns during the games. This individual is obviously no longer welcome in our group even though our decks have evolved well past the point of being able to compete with his deck. My situation is obviously very different than yours, but it's never cool to face decks that are vastly different from your deck's power level.
November 3, 2015 10:28 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #40
Totally realized I forgot to mention that there's another guy who's way better at Magic than me in my group - so he's usually the pincushion. When I play with them I usually reserve Kaalia for 1v1s, and I play my Azami deck instead. It's still probably not very fun to play against, but it's much less expensive and much less tuned so it gives them more of a chance.
November 3, 2015 10:44 p.m.
Yeah, I don't think Azami is the first thing people think of when they hear the the word fair.
November 4, 2015 12:02 a.m.
my friends and I will compile 20 decks between the play group of 4-5 people, assign each deck a number, and roll a d20 to see who uses what deck. its very fun, so long as you don't mind other people using your deck sometimes. It's just a strange habit we've developed after getting too sic of seeing one deck play against another.
November 4, 2015 9:04 a.m.
I have a few primary groups that I'm a part of, the first consisting of my girlfriend, my co-worker and his wife, and myself. This group is a lot more casual and laid back, typically we play either EDH or Standard as a way to equalize the playing field since I'm a spike in every defintion of the word (Budget Standard has a better shot at winning and EDH there's multiple players to stop me). This group I'm more than willing to share stuff with, and if it's a standard rare that I'm not playing with and has zero use for me in EDH I'm happy to let my friends have it in this group. I also share all my stuff with my girlfriend, she doesn't really have any of her own decks as it stands right now so she play's my modern Elf Company list at FNMs.
My second group consists of the LGS I work/play at. I only let myself play modern like once every four weeks so as to keep people from having too man feel bads from getting turn 4 Iona, Shield of Emeria or staring down a Liliana of the Veil and flipped Jace, Vryn's Prodigy Flip with an empty board. It does me, and frankly the store, no good if people feel like they can't win given the fledgling modern community, ie kids. Then maybe once or twice a month I'll play standard since, again, the bridge in terms of competitive play. I wouldn't lend out my things to 99.99% of this group for similar reasons as other people have stated. My decks are too expensive to really lend out and not be worried over, and kids don't understand how expensive things are.
Last group would be people that I know and hang out with that play in some more competitive events like local PPTQs and the occasional RPTQs. Card lending really just depends on the person. There's a handful of guys I've known for years and I wouldn't have any issue lending them whatever for whenever, and then the vast majority of this group I probably wouldn't be lending anything too without some sort of collateral that's heavily skewed in my favor so I could go buy cards again or trade for them should things get wrecked/stolen/lost.
For my LGS and more close personal group I try to be more like a mentoring/figure head for group morale I guess. Theres a lot of younger kids in middle school/high school that frequent the store since we're near (within like 2 miles of) both the middle school and high school in the area, so I kind of have to really curb my spikey tendencies so as not to make some of them feel bad or make them feel like there's no point to coming and playing.
November 4, 2015 9:43 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #45
We tried switching up decks once but the power level differences were such that I felt frustrated because the deck I was playing couldn't do anything and the person playing my deck didn't know how to use it and didn't do much.
So we never did that again.
November 4, 2015 10:15 p.m.
That sounds really painful ThisIsBullshit. I've been a part of severely casual/budget based communities before that seem similar to yours, and I would be lying if I said that it really gets a whole lot better over time. What it kind of takes for that community to get off the ground in my experience is basically for one o two people to trade up/be able to borrow better decks and to actually learn how to correctly pilot them.
Though it sounds to me like that isn't likely to happen with your group, which brings me back to my original point: That sounds just so painful man.
November 5, 2015 12:11 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #47
It makes it worse that I'm that one person that worked to trade up - I found people and traded hardcore for close to a year in order to improve my decks, but nobody else (except for the other couple guys who also are pretty good) wants to try, as far as I can tell.
November 5, 2015 1:50 p.m.
titanreaver says... #48
What is so painful about playing a worse deck than someone else? I am actually asking not judging. I feel like I have the most fun when my friends are playing U/R Delver, or Miracles and I show up with . I feel like my friends aren't going to get any better just by being beaten down. Now I also think you need to loose a lot in order to actually get better so I don't always play jank. However I would never play a fully tuned deck against a new person, or a learning player. Which is why I try to gave many decks of various skill levels for people to play, or for me to play against them. That way they can actually "level up" if you will.
I do agree with iLikeDirt though. It does take time and effort to get better and the group needs to want to get better as a whole for that to happen. I mean Trading Up is a pivotal part of every TCG, and MtG is no different in that aspect. However sometimes to start that process you need a lucky break or a few people early on willing to take the bad end of the deal for you to improve.
November 5, 2015 9:44 p.m.
It feels awful to play in a group with mismatched power and experience levels. On one hand, you're pubstomping and winning game after game. On he other, you're playing with either a terrible deck or have no idea how to pilot whatever you've got in your hands. Both of those cases result in you losing pretty much ever game.
November 5, 2015 10:09 p.m.
JonathanSamurai says... #50
My play group before the Army had a shared collection until it got to valuable cards, then we traded, though usually on need rather than value unless it was reasonably valuable. Since the Army I pretty much buy my cards and play with my new group. I have given away cards I'm not using and stuff like that. Most of my decks are tribal/block anyway and aren't too expensive to begin with. I try to help players in my new group as much as possible because I am the most experienced. I try to tell them that the best decks aren't always the most expensive ones either. We usually play free for all 3-6 people. Occasionally for play testing purposes 1v1. I'm still new to my area so I haven't done any tournaments yet, though I am building my decks toward that goal. I would like to go as a group to kind of see where everyone is. I know I like when people see something about my deck that I might not see.
Maringam says... #2
Me and most of the guys in my playgroup share our collections to build each others decks.
October 27, 2015 6:59 p.m.