Going "infinite" on MTGO
Online Magic forum
Posted on Sept. 18, 2016, 2:05 p.m. by ducttapedeckbox
As some of you may have read in other forums, I don't get to play much throughout the school year. I've been looking into supplementing my paper Magic experience by creating an MTGO account and playing budget Standard/Modern.
My goal here would be to invest as little as possible, with the ideal situation of "going infinite" (not putting in additional investments other than the initial $10 for account creation and ~$20 for a deck). While I can just play on free online programs such as Cockatrice or Untap, I find their interfaces clunky and the communities toxic (not that this will change much by switching to MTGO). I also see it as a challenge to improve my skills as a player to avoid further monetary commitment.
I would wait until Kaladesh is released and the meta starts to settle down so that the deck I build will last and be somewhat tuned to the meta. I recognize that I would likely end up playing an aggressive deck as those are often the cheapest. I'm content with this despite being a control player at heart - it's will be beneficial for me to understand how other archetypes work from the pilot's perspective.
Has anyone attempted this? If so, were you successful? What do you think made you successful or unsuccessful? How large should my initial investment be?
More generally, do you think this is a good idea? Why or why not?
ducttapedeckbox says... #3
I've read that Standard Leagues are the best bang for your buck- going 3-2 or better allows you to play again.
Is this true?
September 19, 2016 11:07 a.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #4
I don't know, since I don't play MTGO, but I also heard on Reddit that Draft or Sealed Leagues have the "best" chance for continued play.
September 19, 2016 12:44 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox says... #5
I've read that too, but it is completely dependent on skill, and I'm not overly comfortable in a draft environment. If you're great at draft, it can be really good to continue playing.
September 19, 2016 12:57 p.m.
Best place to go infinite is definitely standard leagues, the pay-out is by far the best for the commitment.
That said, no matter what you will need to win a minimum of 60% of your matches. Best place to start at the moment would be playing a very low-to-the-ground aggro deck at the start of Kaladesh, as most midrange/control decks won't be as refined which will help your matchups tremendously. As Kaladesh gets more figured out the worse it is for the faster decks, as people will find the best answers.
Best aggro decks that I have seen/played with so far are the nRG and RW Artificer aggro decks.
September 25, 2016 5:04 p.m.
Fleetwood-Mat says... #7
Let me just say first off that if you're planning to compete in standard (whether you're playing aggro or control or anything for that matter) in MTGO, I think your deck might be a bit more than $20 to build. Standard cards aren't cheap, especially the ones in the decks that win most, and if you want to go unlimited, you're probably going to need a deck like that. I would advise that you don't cut too many corners building the deck, take a look at the current best MTGO decks in standard and from there you can have a clearer picture.
September 30, 2016 5:49 p.m.
You can build strong decks for that amount. You can also more or less break even by drafting (especially if you're a strong limited player) and trading cards, if you pay attention to their prices, and make some correct guesses about trends here and there.
However, in general it would be wrong to say that it's ever going to be completely free to play. You will have runs where you don't win boosters, so you'd probably have to put some more money in to keep playing in leagues, and the current state of prize returns is a little iffy, so you might want to hold off until Wizards work out where they're going with Treasure chests and booster returns.
Also if you're a control player at heart, how happy will you be playing decks which don't suit your style? Will the money you save make up for it? Sometimes, the money you save not buying a playset of a card doesn't really add up to more than the enjoyment you'd get from playing with those cards. And usually you can trade the cards off down the line and get out what you put in, if they're strong staple cards.
For constructed I'm not really sure I agree with you about Cockatrice. The standard of games I get over there, and the table chat, and the chat outside the game, is not really something that happens on MTGO. As in basically nobody talks on MTGO, it's a pretty anti-social crowd. But maybe you're fine with that.
GoldGhost012 says... #2
Are you thinking to do a lot of Standard Leagues, or just play 1-on-1 matches?
September 19, 2016 11:02 a.m. Edited.