What is your favorite format? And why?
General forum
Posted on Nov. 11, 2015, 2:09 a.m. by Havok.Bane
So I was just curious what people like about their favorite format and why they play it.
For starters my favorite format is probably standard because of the constantly shifting meta and the rotation of sets. I don't like things to stay the same for long and absolutely love building new never before seen decks and the best way to do that is in standard!
So what are yours?
buildingadeck says... #3
kengiczar: How do you expect to improve your experiments without someone being there to question why one card isn't a staple? If you can explain a card choice based on logic and have it work, well, you might be on the verge of a breakthrough. People scoffed at Baby Jace, and look at him now. I guess what I'm saying is, hear those players out. They have a LOT of knowledge of the format, but then play test and see how you like your experiment. The best players in the game started by experimenting and challenging preexisting ideas.
My personal favorite format, at the moment, is cube draft. I love the skill-intensiveness of the format and the fact that you get to create a new deck every single time. I'm also really proud to have spent a solid month hand-selecting each card for my cube and having the courage to continue to rethink certain choices as I go along.
A solid second place would be EDH, right now. I've revisited playing my own version of poorpinkus's Phelddagrif Group Hug deck, and my experience with it has been fantastic. It's a rigorous deck to play successfully on a continual basis simply because you have to avoid going into full combo deck because then you'll be hated out of the group, you have to make a decision on every single play in order to keep things in balance or start tipping the scale in favor of the player with the smallest library, and you have to be able to be a team player wholeheartedly. It's really a blast.
November 11, 2015 2:53 a.m.
Modern because the power level is high but not too high as to force out innovation and weird janky decks, and because the meta does actually shift surprisingly often. Sure a lot of the T1 decks stay T1 for a long, long time but if you take a look at T1.5/2 you'll see the decks in those categories constantly changing.
November 11, 2015 2:57 a.m.
MADMatt7777 says... #5
Modern for all of the reasons ChiefBell listed as well as it's relatively cheap to enter and once you have a deck, it's very cheap to maintain.
November 11, 2015 3:01 a.m.
@ buildingadeck There is so much bottled up inside my about my LGS. I cannot put my feelings on your reply in less than ten-thousand words.
Long story short I know there are idiots everywhere, but each idiot is their own special idiot-flake, falling from the idiot-sky. As such please be content to let me loathe and despise them.
November 11, 2015 4:12 a.m.
Commander. I just really like the singleton nature of the format.
"Long story short I know there are idiots everywhere, but each idiot is their own special idiot-flake, falling from the idiot-sky. As such please be content to let me loathe and despise them."
Is fluffybunnypants still doing that wall of hilarious comments?
November 11, 2015 4:28 a.m. Edited.
Pauper MOL, allows me to play a new deck every week if I want to and with every new edition there's a ton of commons to experiment with (Gurmag Angler for example was a nice addition).
November 11, 2015 4:36 a.m.
zyphermage says... #9
I like legacy and commander mainly. I have played high tide with 2 candels, burn, miracles, lands, enchantress, led dredge, pox and storm in that order. I like modern pretty well too, I have played affinity, burn, and grixis control. My baby deck is lands, that thing is sweet. I have played it since tabernacle was around $300 and before the legend rule change, basically the grindy rug version splashing black for creeping tarpit. I have been playing since scars of mirrodin. Though I did play some around 96, 98-99 but I was a kid with a rw burn deck and budget rebels. The few times I have played standard I rarely use the deck more than 3 times before I trade the deck away.
November 11, 2015 5 a.m. Edited.
Hootiequack says... #11
I love commander, sealed, and draft. Standard is fun too when I get the time to actually go to events (it's annoying shelling out for a competitive deck and then working every Friday).
Commander just has so many possibilities. You can build a deck to be competitive, casual, straightforward, interactive, janky, or just about anything else. And almost every game offers up new scenarios and interactions.
Limited, in general, is maybe my favorite format. I love draft because it's a great exercise in judging power level, synergy, etc in cards. Plus it's great as a social event. Sealed is a true test of being able to build a deck that you can win with with any card pool. Granted, it's possible to get the shaft with an awful pool, but more often than not, there's some competitive synergy hiding in even the worst cards and I like trying to solve that puzzle.
November 11, 2015 8:24 a.m.
Hands down my favourite format is cube, because of the same reasons as everyone else.
I also like Pauper alot, because you can just minmax any deck you want to make on a very low budget. And there are no annoying cards there.
Also pretty much any Casual format are great fun.
November 11, 2015 9:03 a.m.
lemmingllama says... #13
EDH is definitely my favorite format, simply because the games are never the same. You get to argue and use politics, and even a bad deck can do well depending on how you play it. Also it is a lot less expensive than some other formats.
I'm also a huge fan of Modern right now, simply because it is the best format for brewers. You can make a silly brew and still have it be competitively viable (not saying as good as tier 1, but you can still beat them about half the time).
November 11, 2015 10:09 a.m.
buildingadeck says... #14
kengiczar: I understand that. Well, I'm sorry to hear it. Maybe try a different game shop?
vault: Have you ever played a cube draft? It is also a singleton format that you might enjoy if you like drafting.
It's interesting that EDH seems to be the most vouched-for format. My LGS does Saturday EDH events. Do you think there will ever be competitive scene for Commander? The demand seems high enough.
November 11, 2015 12:34 p.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #15
EDH because I can play big janky stuff that wouldn't be even close to viable in other formats but still appease my inner Spike.
November 11, 2015 5:09 p.m.
buildingadeck: I haven't played Cube draft, but I want to. I love drafting, I just haven't taken the time to build a Cube, nor do I have enough people to play with.
Competitive Commander will happen eventually. It's getting more and more popular. Once the demand is there, it will become a thing. Interesting thing to note is that it'll give rise to new "pro players" since EDH deckbuilding requires a different mindset than Standard or Modern.
November 11, 2015 6:14 p.m.
buildingadeck says... #17
vault: I agree. An EDH Pro Tour would be so cool! Though I'd hate it if it were French... Multiplayer is what makes the format truly fascinating to me. Then again, I run Phelddagrif, so take that with a grain of salt.
November 11, 2015 6:17 p.m.
I agree that I would prefer traditional Commander over Duel Commander, but the problem I see arising is the time length a 4 man pod would require.
November 11, 2015 6:22 p.m.
titanreaver says... #19
Vintage is far and away my favorite format. In my opinion there is no format that is nearly as challenging, skill intensive or fun. Every decision you make can either win you or loose you the game. Plus I get to play all of the best cards in MtG history. If I had to pick a second it would be legacy. I love eternal formats. There every set and supplement is in your toolbox. You get to craft with cards that span over twenty years of printing. Plus when I make a deck one day years later I will probably still be able to play it. It may not be as good, because fun fact decks do update, but I don't have to completely recreate things constantly. These formats also allow for an incredibly intense and diverse format where anything can happen.
In addition the banned/restricted lists are reasonable. In modern cards I can't even play Bloodbraid Elf, or Ponder for crying out loud. Then standard rotates to often and the card selection is so limited that you play three CMC targeted removal spells, and think its okay. I just hate it when I sit down and say "okay lets make U/B control" and not having Hymn to Tourach, or Force of Will. Now I am not saying I believe in always playing the "staple" cards for a given slot but I want to have them available if I can't find an alternative. As a matter of fact I spend most of my time trying to find other random unknown cards or less popular options and trying to make them work.
The main reason though is in eternal formats, there is no restriction to the deck types you want to play. In standard sometimes combo is almost never a real option, and sometimes you just can't play ramp no matter how much you want to. In modern as soon as you come up with a first turn kill, you will probably have to make another deck because all of your cards just got banned. In vintage the worst thing that can happen is they say your 4xChalice of the Voids are a little to strong lets cut back to one. So I shrug and say yeah you are probably right.
So anyway that is why and yes I agree the introduction to these formats can be hard, and expensive. However in my time I guarantee you I have spent more money total on my standard decks than my other ones. Think that I have had Stasis for about eleven years in its basic form. However I have had a standard deck since that has been a format. So how many different decks have I had to build in that time? Like Vegeta I'm just saiyan.
November 11, 2015 9:44 p.m.
Lets be the different guy... limited 2 headed giant!
I started doing 2HG pre-release events in RTR with a buddy, and they by far the most entertaining. You can always laugh and joke around, but still play to win. I am not a spike, I play to be competitive but mostly to have a good time, and the fun I have in any format is largely dependent on the people I play with. Modern/vintage etc might be bloody great, but if your LGS is full of dickheads... i'll skip it, mate.
I do play standard and modern, and i would play vintage if i won the bloody lottery. But in 2HG, it doesn't matter who your playing against, if you and your friend are fun - you're going to have a good time.
November 12, 2015 9:28 a.m.
poorpinkus says... #21
Just wanted to mention how awesome it was for buildingadeck to mention my stuff,
I'd say my favourite format is EDH, followed by Cube draft. The great thing with EDH is that you can basically make any kind of deck you want (for example I made a deck mostly based on flipping coins), and you'll still have a chance to win. The freedom of doing what you want really allows people to be creative in their deckbuilding, and that's what I like the most
Secondly, any form of draft, I only mentioned cube draft because it's easier to re-play the cube as much as you want without spending extra money. The great thing about drafting is that you can realize the potential of cards that would be slightly mediocre in other formats (for example, running a Village Bell-Ringer in an innistrad draft is surprisingly great), and it also allows you to make themed decks that have odd twists to them (like when I tried to run mono-white humans, and other people took a lot of them so I decided to do Naya human werewolf tribal instead, and ended up almost winning all of my games) which makes the game super interesting
November 12, 2015 11:43 a.m.
+1 on brcap's comment about Two-Headed Giant!
A 2HG game is what got me back into Magic, and I'm forever grateful for the format because of that!
Beyond that, Commander for sure!
Before I discovered EDH, it was seriously kind of a bummer to crack a cool rare in a booster, because I would want a playset! The singleton format (like vault mentioned) makes that a non-issue. The multiplayer aspects are great as well. I play on a pretty tight budget, but I can practice table skills/politics to make up for individual card weakness.
November 12, 2015 1:50 p.m.
Thanks clayperce. I should also mention, as others have stated, that Cube can be a great way to play. Arguable the best, with the right group.
Everyone basically needs to be at the same ability level, but if they are, it's always good time. You'll always remember that time you didn't choose a Karn Liberated in your pack, because there was something better.
People are divided on proxies, but I say a cube is the place to do it. My cube would not have a Black Lotus ... scratch that... NO CUBE should have a real black lotus. But tossing that stuff in there is what it's all about. Maximum good times.
November 12, 2015 4:39 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #24
My two favorite formats are legacy and modern. I like legacy because it allows cards from virtually all sets, but bans some of the most powerful cards that are unfairly unbalanced, and I like modern because it is a non-rotating format that is supposedly more balanced because it does not contain cards that are too powerful. I also am fond of EDH (also known as COmmander), because of how different it is from most other formats.
November 12, 2015 10:36 p.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #25
Haven't tried Legacy or Vintage (which doesn't look like something I'd enjoy even if I could afford it), but I've done just about everything else.
EDH is awesome. There's a lot of variance and having multiple opponents makes things go in bizarre ways that you just don't see otherwise. It's also a format that's usually fun even when you get your ass kicked. Then there's the fact that no two decks are alike. You can never be quite sure what's going to happen.
It's the kind of format that leads to games you tell stories about.
But Modern is cool too. It's widely varied, the pacing is what I'd consider ideal for the games I'd like to play, and you see all sorts of strange and unexpected things. It's not dominated by one color or archetype (yes, aggro is the most prevalent but you don't have to do it to succeed) and it evolves in periodic and very exciting leaps or sudden, new iterations of existing concepts rather than the constant chaos and fickle nature of Standard.
Honorable mention to Planechase, because it's hilarious.
November 13, 2015 5:16 a.m.
ThisIsBullshit says... #26
ComradeJim270 my playgroup once did seven-player EDH planechase.... Nobody won because we all had to go home before the game was over.
November 13, 2015 7:53 a.m.
poorpinkus says... #27
ThisIsBullshit Yeeaah I think that'd happen in seven-player anything, and EDH just makes it even longer
November 13, 2015 11:32 a.m.
Commander because I can play with both my brother and cousin at the same time. It is less competitive, therefore it is more fun due to less stress over winning. Also it allows a vast amount of cards to be played unlike standard or modern.
Finally I get to play the black cards I love, allowing me to build a reanimation deck with the best reanimation cards.
November 14, 2015 5:59 a.m.
Named_Tawyny says... #29
Draft is, was, and always will be #1 in my heart. It has everything you could possibly want in a format - an ever changing landscape, a wide pool of playable cards, an affordable competitive scene, a highly-skill focused format, a game that requires well rounded players, and it's highly adaptable, and requires its players to be as well.
What's not to like?
After that, Standard (in theory; I'm sitting this standard out), EDH, and modern.
kengiczar says... #2
Commander currently. I don't play in any tournaments though 1v1 or otherwise though. I get sick of all tournaments because what it boils down to is there are 2 types of people. Those who follow the format conventions and those who experiment. Being a person that experiments in any format is very disheartening because the first type of person will quack at you endlessly about what you should play and never stop questioning your choices, to their face, which have nothing to do with them.
I like standard for all the same reasons you do but the players have put me off of it. Maybe one day if I move I'll get into it again.
November 11, 2015 2:30 a.m.