Does anyone have that friend?
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Posted on July 12, 2015, 11:19 a.m. by DX5
Me and my friend both got into Magic at the same time over a year ago, but we both decided to get into Modern. I googled how to build a good modern deck while he has still been trying to figure the format out himself. He is very bad at figuring out card powers. I get some gem quotes from him like:
"You might want to think about adding Torrent Elemental to your (U/R Twin) deck"
"True but not many people run that" - On Path to Exile when I was saying that Torrent Elemental was not as resistant to removal as Batterskull in a twin sideboard.
Do you guys have that friend that loves Magic and has no idea how to deck build or is it just me?
VampireArmy says... #3
Sounds like the Johnny vs spike thing. Happens often.
July 12, 2015 11:27 a.m.
MagicalHacker says... #4
I think any person who is a Johnny would push themselves to understand card power related to interactions. I think this seems like an issue of humility/pride, where someone thinks they are too good at magic to need other people's experience to make judgments. Granted, we need to think critically, but that first means to first of all think. Your friend needs to learn how to play magic like an advanced player.
July 12, 2015 11:58 a.m.
It depends on how your friend wants to play magic though. I have some friends that strictly play kitchen table and abhor anything like a combo deck. For their level of play they don't need to learn any advanced rules, or whether or not this card is strictly better than that card. For them, they just enjoy playing the game however they want to play it. And if that means playing 5 color goodstuffs then so be it.
July 12, 2015 12:06 p.m.
MagicalHacker says... #6
Truth. Wish we had an upvote system here on TO, but it's not really necessary.
July 12, 2015 12:10 p.m.
I think the Internet is a great tool for learning MTG. Looking at deck lists and trying to understand, teak and, modify them helps deck building. Watching videos of experts playing their decks helps for getting better at playing. Some people seem to consider things like this to be a form of cheating and strive for a form of creative purity. It is harder to learn that way, but if everyone relies on the Internet and doesn't engage in this kind of originality, there is a chance that the gaming community will continue to miss overlooked cards, combos, synergies and strategies and at it's extreme, the game could stagnate. I think there is room for both kinds of thinking and approaches to the game.
July 12, 2015 12:22 p.m.
One of my friends got me into it, but he became much more of a casual type of player more interested in the "cool-looking" cards than anything else and always messages me showing me these "silly cards" or just straight up well-known and really powerful cards (no examples off the top of my head, but rest assured that it does happen). I turned into much more of a competitive player with a tiny bit of wiggle room for fun decks, but generally my profile would be a Spike. It's fine, really - I play casually with him and competitively with other people.
July 12, 2015 12:58 p.m.
I used to have a friend of a friend like that. He got into MtG during RTR, played for 4 months, and quit. He left us his collection. When I saw it, I had no idea he had spent that much money on the game. Playsets of Overgrown Tomb, Abrupt Decay, Desecration Demon (during standard), and basically every golgari card imaginable. That's a lot of money for a casual player...
July 12, 2015 1:03 p.m.
A friend of mine lost his shit when he saw Hold the Line and wanted to main it in his Soul Sisters deck. Took a bit of explaining.
July 12, 2015 1:05 p.m.
HolyFalcon says... #12
I come from a school where my Treasure Hunt deck isn't allowed to be played. I do have two competitive standard and modern decks, but I also have some casual decks for school. Most of my little playgroup doesn't play competitive, just everyday at school with each other. There's like 3 of us that do FNM and other stuff regularly, and so far I'm the only one to have gone to a Competitive REL event.
July 12, 2015 1:16 p.m.
buildingadeck says... #13
Ya know, I have always loved playing oddball decks and have been quite successful with them; both my Mono-U Tempo Flyers deck and my TurboFog have done quite well at FNMs with a 2nd place finish in the two times I played the first build, and two 3rds, a 4th, and a 6th with my Fog deck. But Modern is a different ball game. There are well-established archetypes that are very hard to beat by "trying something different." I've tried to build Fog in modern, but burn is now Tier 1, so that was a flop.
Point-being, there are ways to make brews competitive if you know your deck inside and out. Your friend definitely seems less competitive than you, so maybe make some silly synergy decks that cost $20 to play against him.
July 12, 2015 1:34 p.m.
BarfQuackers says... #14
I have a friend that strictly net-decks (not that theres anything wrong with net-decking I do it from time to time) and then tries telling me what I should and shouldn't have in my home-brews. I'm not gunna take advice from someone that never built a deck in their life, he tells me not to main-deck Batterskull in U/R Delver so I purposely beat him down with it every game.
July 12, 2015 1:35 p.m.
I mean, I also do this with my friends, but in more of a theory crafting way. I don't think it's a bad thing. Like, "hm, have you considered running a torrent elemental in your food chain deck in case someone thoughtseizes into surgical extraction and takes your griffons?". Or "maybe Encrust would be a decent side board card against sultai reanimator, stops the whip, what do you think?" back during Khans. Probably bad ideas, and definitely not something that would come up often, but it's just screwing around with ideas. And then you realize, "oh wait, surgical extracting the griffons is a terrible idea, sorry for being an idiot". Just stuff like that.
Edit: Of course, none of us are gonna claim something like "swords to plowshares isn't played much in legacy" or something like that.
July 12, 2015 1:40 p.m. Edited.
I would be more inclined to take his "off the beaten path" suggestions if he had actually seen Path to Exile being played. I mean you can't have much Modern experience to not know that is a staple of the format.
July 12, 2015 4:57 p.m.
Servo_Token says... #18
I work with a lot of kids at church that really enjoy magic, but don't for the life of them understand card power. It's adorable. I once had one of my third graders tell me that I should put Volley of Boulders in my modern burn deck, and a sophomore tell me that Sunblast Angel is the absolute perfect control card that everyone is playing. Just comes down to experience and level of competitiveness. We're all different there.
July 12, 2015 5:06 p.m.
My brother's first deck was a deck that revolved around tapping cards, Sunblast Angel and Gideon's Avenger. Brings me back.
July 12, 2015 5:19 p.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #20
People will do what's fun for them. So long as everyone's having a good time there's no harm in it.
If it's a problem the solution I've seen (and been on both sides of) is less "this is not as good as you think" and more "here's something even better". The former makes many people defensive. The latter makes them excited. Of course you need to know the person well enough to have an idea what they go for, but I can usually watch a person play and get a feel for that. Just see what plays make their eyes light up..
Plus, some people have more fun making silly brews than the perfect competitive deck.
July 16, 2015 2:10 a.m.
TheAnnihilator says... #21
@xzzane Hey bro, I dare you to tap all of THESE TOKENS -- Lingering Souls, Spectral Procession, Intangible Virtue, win.
July 16, 2015 1:51 p.m.
Hahaha he ran cards like Downpour so my vigilance wasn't always a for sure win.
July 16, 2015 3:35 p.m.
That too actually. I'm pretty sure his list is on tappedout actually.
ChiefBell says... #2
It happens. I have a few. They just don't play high tier often. That's ok.
July 12, 2015 11:22 a.m.