Why do you play your favorite format?
General forum
Posted on March 29, 2014, 2:58 p.m. by Sov92
I am wondering what makes other people play the format they do and possibly not play others.
I play Modern because I like the large card pool. There is a lot of cool decks to be built and played. I also get better use of my entire card collection.
I dont play standard because of its rotation. Dont get me wrong my magic budget is pretty high compared to others but I am not trying to spend 300$ on a standard deck when I am not going to get to in my personal situation play it much before it cycles out.
I dont play legacy because of the necessity to play extremely collectible original dual lands.
lol I will play commander off and on but I dont play it on a serious level.
March 29, 2014 3:06 p.m.
sertsew123 says... #4
I play standard not because i want to win but because it think that that and limited is where the innovation is. I, personally am the first person to not only play with, but to win with, a minotaur tribal deck standard. You dont see the same type of innovation in modern or edh where the strategies have been the same for years with little to no change. if you want to see the minotaur deck that went 3-1 at fnm here Minotaur Aggro
March 29, 2014 3:09 p.m.
Blizzicane says... #5
I only play standard right now because its a very popular format so I always have at least one standard deck. Otherwise, I have moved away from standard in favor of Modern for reasons stated by OP. I am also in the process of making a EDH deck since a lot of people I play with also have one. :3
March 29, 2014 3:11 p.m.
sertsew123 says... #6
sorry wrong deck minotaur aggro although that one works it wasn't what i was playing.
March 29, 2014 3:12 p.m.
A friend of mine has a pretty good Minotaur deck its pretty interesting to see him play with it.
March 29, 2014 3:14 p.m.
miracleHat says... #8
@sertsew123, congratulations on doing so well with minotaurs. Two things that i want to discuss and learn more about. When you say that there is more innovation in standard then say, EDH, could you please articulate. If i wanted to, i could make an oyster edh deck and have a fun time. I can also make a brutal combo deck that relies off of pure card advantage. Also, there is a larger card supply with edh. Standard has 1278 cards. That is a lot. EDH has 13635 cards. Also, EDH has the same cards that standard has, so it can make whatever any standard deck can make, and improve upon. Second, when you say that you were the first to play minotaurs, does that mean that you were playing in alpha and Hurloon Minotaur ? And, that nobody else in the world of magic was making a minotaur deck?
March 29, 2014 3:16 p.m.
Dalektable says... #9
My favorite format is probably...ummm...i...THIS IS DIFFICULT! I like both Standard and Modern, but for practically opposite reasons. I like standard because it forces you to work with a small card pool, which can be interesting. On the other end of the spectrum I absolutely love modern because of the huge card pool available. You have so much room for innovation and you can do basically whatever you want, if you wanted to just net deck or hell make a tribal sea monsters deck then you can do that. So i guess my answer is modern, i've been loving it since recently getting into the format.
March 29, 2014 3:19 p.m.
Dalektable says... #10
Copy and pastes what Droxium said, i was going to say something but then decided against it to prevent causing internet raging, lol.
March 29, 2014 3:22 p.m.
I play EDH:
- The other people I know that play MTG play Commander
- I like the added social dynamic factor - it makes the game more interesting (although it can get out of hand at times, in my opinion, when people take it too far)
- I like the wider pool of cards - and the fact that so many of them are viable in the right kind of deck
- I like the added uncertainty / randomness factor of running 65 odd singletons. It adds a lot to the replay value for me.
- You can make EDH decks on a budget (compared to other formats), EDH staples are far cheaper than Vintage or Legacy or Modern and don't lose their playability like Standard
March 29, 2014 3:39 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #12
I play standard because I am forced to; All of the shops around me only play Standard for FNM. My home shop is, however, working on getting enough interest in modern to host modern events on occasion.
My favorite format to play would be modern, because of my three favorite cards: Life from the Loam , Smallpox , and Lingering Souls . It's also great with the huge amount of things that are possible. Sure, there's net deckers that kind of kill the buzz, but they're in every format. I think that there's the most room for innovation in Modern. Granted, EDH is a good place to play, but in my experience, there really isn't too much innovation save a handful of people. When I play Modern, I literally have no idea what I could be playing against, because everyone plays a different deck, and there's often switching between people playing decks as well as what decks people play.
March 29, 2014 3:40 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #13
Technically, I don't "play" any format; for every 10 decks I build, I have only 1 of them in real life, often unfinished.
I build for Standard, Modern, and EDH. I dislike building decks that people would expect to play, like MBD in Standard or Pod in Modern. Instead, I enjoy the WTF looks on my opponent's face when I slap down a Codex Shredder turn 1 and proceed to mill them out with it or Day of Judgment a board filled with tokens and Blood Artist . I love to build EDH because you can do almost anything! For example, my lastest EDH build features the Gods of Theros playing the roles of The Breakfast Club. There isn't another format that I can build that and still have it play well.
March 29, 2014 3:58 p.m.
sertsew123 says... #14
Droxium as Dalektable(love the pun by the way) said there is a more limited pool to work with. I didn't necessarily mean to say that edh has no innovation. actually i love the sheer amount of innovation available in edh, i just prefer standard's type of it, where instead of picking the best and most creative of everything you have to make the best, newest, most fun thing with what you have. and as to the comment about alpha, i meant to add that i was the first at my LGS to play with and win. Also i couldn't have possibly played during alpha as i am only fifteen years old
March 29, 2014 4 p.m.
Although i dont officially play Magic at shops or tournaments, I love to play Legacy because you have essentially every card from every set, and you can play cards older than eighth edition. most of the freinds that i play with dont have the money to afford older cards (such as dual lands and OP cards), so money is the only thing that really affects our decks.
March 29, 2014 4:01 p.m.
Dalektable says... #16
GoldGhost012 We must be one in the same, i'm always brewing but i own hardly any of the decks haha though i'm working on it
March 29, 2014 4:07 p.m.
If I had more expendable income, I would play drafts and sealed. I think this would be a great way to get more involved in the MTG community. Fro the time being, I have to keep within realistic limits for myself that allow the rest of my life to also happen outside of MTG.
I am thinking about building some 60-card legacy/modern/pauper (depending on what I sideboard and what I just leave out etc. - I want decks that can easily be adapted between formats ... its complicated). The purpose for these is mostly nostalgia.
March 29, 2014 4:07 p.m.
I may spend a lot of time brewing (especially when I am learning a new format etc.), but I do eventually get the cards .... eventually ...
At this point, there are really only three EDH decks that I can think of that I never decided to get cards for (considering the 16 decks I do have and own).
It takes me a while to pick between decks for a format (since I can't run with every idea I come up with). I also am in no rush to get new decks or try new formats since I'm pretty well set for going to Monday night EDH as I am right now.
March 29, 2014 4:10 p.m.
sertsew123 says... #19
I do enjoy limited and drafts. especially pre-releases. I went 4-0 with a sweet r/g deck with black splashed for underworld cerberus at born of the gods. I do play a little casual edh but nothing special with a cheap deck and rarely any modifications. one format I have been interested in for a while but haven't started yet is tiny leaders. It's like edh but 50 cards, 20 life and everything has to have a converted mana cost of 3 or under.I have been wondering about Isamaru, Hound of Konda voltron or mabye Rhys the Redeemed populate. thoughts. i think there was a forum on this site about it under general fairly recently if you are interested
March 29, 2014 4:14 p.m.
lord_of_the_snakes says... #20
does draft count as a format? if so, it is definitely my favorite, everyone is on a fairly even playing field since everyone picks from the exact same pool of cards, and, you get the flavor of a specific set/block and you still get the no 2 decks are the same of edh, without the insanely expensive decks. (I'm in high school, anything more than 50$ is expensive for me)
March 29, 2014 4:25 p.m.
sertsew123 says... #21
bantam1234 yeah i'm in high school as well and i cant always afford the absolute best tournament winning decks but in drafts it is all about who knows the cards best, who is the best at building decks and who gets lucky. in my mind that is as even of a playing field as you are going to get
March 29, 2014 4:33 p.m.
McSleuthburger says... #22
Standard is the go to, but ill probably be getting into more modern and EDH soon (kinda want to make an angel EDH deck)
I love to try and make different ideas work though that are not the first thing people who usually play think of, I usually do a good bit of testing but I always try to keep it cheap as can be though so sometimes the ideas dont really come through because I cant afford all the cards I want/need
March 29, 2014 4:37 p.m.
Hate standard because of rotation and lame money making machine with weak ass cards.
Play EDH because you can play it like vintage with more ridiculous shenanigans. Great fun.
March 29, 2014 4:49 p.m.
sertsew123 says... #24
but with standard and, to a lesser extent edh, the meta is constantly changing and evolving with every single card spoiled. In standard, although i do see it primarily as a money making scheme, the reason it evolves is because of old cards that rotate out to make space for new things to be made without it becoming stagnant like legacy.
March 29, 2014 5:21 p.m.
My only problem with EDH is that lack of consistency in cards to the point that you have to either tutor it out of your deck or use some sort of draw engine to get what you want.
March 29, 2014 5:41 p.m.
So you just buy all the tutors and card draw. The power level is insane if you can afford it..... like vintage.
March 29, 2014 5:43 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #28
If you can't afford to do it, do something else.
My EDH deck is super budget, but it beats on expensive kaalia decks all day. The only thing that I actually had to buy was Maelstrom Wanderer and shock lands, the rest I just had.
Just like with every other format, you either need to have the money to do the best thing, or the brains to make the next best thing.
March 29, 2014 5:55 p.m.
miracleHat says... #29
Then you run the cheap draw spells and tutors. If i was running u/b, then i could run (on a budget):
Ponder
Preordain
Brainstorm
Diabolic Tutor
Long-Term Plans
Merchant Scroll
Planar Portal
Ring of Three Wishes
and that was just off of the top of my head.
Blue Sun's Zenith
Mind Spring
Stroke of Genius
Diabolic Revelation
Beseech the Queen
That being said, EDH can be as cheap as you want. You just have to find the right cards to go with your budget. You do have a point that EDH is expensive, but i ask you this. If i wanted to make a tier 1 mono black devotion deck, how much would i have to spend compared to a deck that can consistently win on turn 4, and will never drop in price?
March 29, 2014 5:58 p.m.
NerdPounder says... #30
I like standard because I like the dynamic nature of the format. Everyone says that Modern is a wide open format, but every time I watch competitive modern play it's the same matches over and over. Sure, you could invent new decks but if you're not on one of the well known decks, you're probably below .500. Even at the Pro Tour, the only reason Blue Moon did well was because Blood Moon gave them free wins from time to time. Take blood moon out of the deck and it's not that great, just a really weird U/R control deck or something that loses to other decks.
At the beginning of this standard season, everyone was wanting to play the old staples, Mono Red aggro, Esper Control and the like, but what turned out to be the top deck of the format for a long time? A mono blue beatdown deck.
With the standard format changing there is a time period where nobody knows what will be good and I have to come up with a brew. Then, after it rotates I have to come up with another brew. The drop in card value sucks, but it's worth it to keep inventing new decks and learning new meta games.
March 29, 2014 6:07 p.m.
NerdPounder says... #31
And as far as EDH goes, it's as cheap as you want it to be, true, but I also hate playing bad decks, and that's what I would get if I tried to get into it. I just make them on the computer with good cards and play my friends that are also broke.
March 29, 2014 6:10 p.m.
I can understand what makes standard a good format but it seems like a poor investment in the end when as soon as stuff cycles out its gonna be like half the price. Back when it was in standard for example Cavern of Souls was like a 25$ card. Now its like 15 in my LGS. What I think makes standard a more accessible format though is that anyone can go to a walmart and buy a couple packs and possibly get that staple they need for cheaper. Aside from modern masters I do wish they would have packs that were revolved more around modern.
March 29, 2014 6:13 p.m.
I play EDH mostly because it's completely open to funtime shenanigans or demolishing competitive builds. It's an extremely social format (though sometimes that can be a problem) and games can always go unexpectedly. The thing about the inconsistency of EDH is that it makes you build knowing that it's inconsistent. You're not building with auras and equipment knowing that you're going to pull one of your Slippery Bogle or Gladecover Scout early game. It challenges you as a player to be adaptive to any hand and board situation, and to really work around what your deck gives you rather than what you put in your deck. That's why I don't like tutoring in EDH (unless it's something fun like ramp or Chord of Calling ) and just try to go with the flow.
I used to play standard, but for now I've given up on it because I find that Theros block is kind of disgusting to me, value-wise.
March 29, 2014 8:29 p.m.
NerdPounder says... #34
I would agree that Theros stuff isn't going to hold much value, where as a lot of Innistrad/New Phyrexia/X cards still hold their value.
March 29, 2014 9:03 p.m.
I mostly play EDH because I can play older cards that I used to play back when I started in 1996. I was able to rebuild an old deck with some newer cards that weren't available back then. It kept a lot of the same synergies while also adding in new ones as well as additional win-cons.
I've never been one to build on a budget, as can be see in the decks I have listed on here, which are the only decks I have as of now, but I don't like Standard much because of the investment required to either keep it playable across rotation or start over with something new after rotation. My Jund EDH is 2 cards from being complete and my BUG Standard is complete and will remain as-is for the rest of the time it's legal, then be dismantled as I will be stepping away from the format because I want to get more into Modern. My Grixis EDH still needs a lot before it's complete.
With Modern, I can build something that I only have to invest in once, won't rotate, and only change if something new comes out that will help my deck. For me, that's most likely gonna be my own take on Melira-Pod (not one for netdecking so I gotta put my own spin on it). I'm not as concerned with it being able to win every game as I am with it being fun to play, both with and against.
March 29, 2014 10:28 p.m.
Rhinowarrior says... #36
@ GoldGhost012 do you have a link to your breakfast club deck? that sounds awesome!
March 29, 2014 11:43 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #37
The Breakfast Club- What the Hell Am I Doing? Playtest
Commander / EDH
SCORE: 1 | 2 COMMENTS | 158 VIEWSMarch 29, 2014 11:48 p.m.
capt_pantsless says... #38
I like Casual because I only play with friends, and no-one spends an inordinate amount of cash on cards. Thus, I play a whole lot of crappy-yet-fun decks. We play an inordinate amount of Emperor-games with no Range-of-Influence rules, so things tend to get interesting fast.
March 31, 2014 3:08 p.m.
Rasta_Viking29 says... #39
Standard because in the words of Mark Rosewater "Restrictions breed creativity". The constantly rotating card pool means you will always be seeing/playing new decks. Also the tournament scene is very alive here in Denver with events every weekend.
March 31, 2014 5:58 p.m.
I play modern for all the reasons listed by the OP, plus the fact that I absolutely love how so many decks can perform well in the format!
Weird home-brews can, and often do, take down tier 1 decks. Modern relies more on the pilot because the power levels of the format are so high. (I know tier 1 wins the most though).
In modern, I see more types of decks than any other format i have played, and while the barrier to enter is relatively high, I think the initial investment is worth it.
March 31, 2014 11:08 p.m.
Not favorites, but I play Booster Draft and Standard because that's all that offered around here event-wise. My favorites are actually Modern (because of the larger pool and can keep a Modern deck together without worrying about rotations), and Sealed Limited (because it's a level playing field and focuses more on deck-building skill than on card-buying "skill.").
Unfortunately, there are no Modern events around here - or other formats I'd like to do like Block Constructed. And Sealed seems to only happen during pre-release events.
EDH is very popular in my area for Casual, so I tried making a Commander deck, but have yet to test it out. I wish I could get more people together regularly for good ol' kitchen table casual to try out new things, because it gets stale to play against (and have to play with to be competitive) the same decks all the time.
miracleHat says... #2
I solely play edh. You get nearly every card printed in magic's history to use at your disposal. The cards don't rotate and they won't lose their value (suck it standard). You can make a good EDH deck for $200, or if you are crazy enough, make it $2000. In my opinion, EDH is the most creative format. You can try nearly anything within magic borders in EDH and you will have a chance. Also, i refuse to call it "commander". That is just wizards being morons and trying to take over a format that was better than what they could come up with.
March 29, 2014 3:05 p.m.