Good format for beginner that also have events available?
General forum
Posted on July 19, 2013, 3:05 p.m. by Quick3nd
Which format requires the least initial investment but at the same time have event/tournament supported?
I'm a complete stranger to Magic, and since I know nothing about this game, I plan on spending only a small amount in order to build a good foundation.
But, at the same time, I would love to eventually enter events (once i've gotten better) and hopefully win some events in order to fund future purchases.
I've heard of pauper standard, but i just found out that there is no event/tournament supported by the game officially. T_T
Modern can be tough to get into without a collection or friends that can get your started, mostly due to the high cost of some very important staple cards (fetchlands, Tarmogoyf and the like, etc.). Standard is the easiest format to get into and get started with the game, as it's the most tournament/event play supported (Friday Night Magic, every friday at most Local Game Stores - pay the entry fee, bring your deck, and play against other people), but it's not a good format to build a collection on. The problem with Standard is that the only cards legal to use are the most recent ones, so the format is constantly changing and shifting as new sets come out and old sets rotate out. So for casual, low-cost play, but some booster packs/event decks/fatpacks/whatever from the Standard sets and build a deck. It probably won't win very often, but it'll be a starting point that you can play with every week.
July 19, 2013 3:19 p.m.
Standard is really your best choice as far as physical cards go, buying packs and getting hold of newer cards is far easier than a lot of the older stuff. Packs usually just increase in price as time goes on, many of the packs from recent years sell for $10-20 apiece.
Standard rotates in septmber or october with the release of Theros, so there will be a much smaller pool of cards to choose from, which may make things a little easier for assembling a deck.
While modern doesn't change much, there are far more cards available. This tends to cause a lot more of the expensive decks to be more effective than many of the budget ones. I suggest browsing around for budget decks in both standard and modern to find a deck style that you like, building a deck by yourself with limited knowledge and card pool can be quite difficult if you want it to be competitive.
The easiest format by far to build your collection and win tournaments is Sealed and Draft. In these formats, you only use the packs you get during the event, not decks that you make beforehand, leaving everyone at the same level of opportunity. You also keep the cards afterwards, allowing your collection to grow.
In Draft, people pass packs around s table and take one card from each that passes, so it can be a lot easier to find many of the cards that you need for your own decks outside of the tournament when you aren't looking specifically to win.
July 19, 2013 3:26 p.m.
Also going to limited formats (drafts and sealed)is a good way to acquire new cards but that really depends on your local game shops meta. How aggressively people play and how helpful the players are.
July 19, 2013 3:27 p.m.
I agree, Limited (Sealed/Draft/etc.) is better than Constructed (Standard/Modern/etc.) for getting started with the game, as you'll learn the ropes while getting cards for less money than just buying packs. It's also equal opportunity like they mentioned; the only advantage is in experience, not in how much money you can spend on your deck.
July 19, 2013 3:32 p.m.
KrazyCaley says... #7
Limited formats are best. There your money goes to building your card collection, at least, and you can get familiar with the cards before you try for Standard, which I think is the best next step.
July 19, 2013 8:44 p.m.
As a tip, removal is very powerful in Limited formats. Cards like Shock , Doom Blade , Pacifism , Plummet , Cancel all are able to remove creatures from the opponent (Cancel only does it before it hits the field), and creatures are usually very important in this type of format.
MagicalHacker says... #2
Least initial investment: MTG Forge. It is a java program that lets you play against AI opponents and these opponents are in fact very good! If instead you want to practice against human opponents too, Cockatrice is very good from what I hear.
I would suggest playing Modern due to a few reasons:
Since it costs $0 to use Forge or Cockatrice, you won't have to worry about any up-front fees or payments to play one of the most diverse formats that is very much supported by events and tournaments.
Modern changes less than Standard, so you can feel confident about getting better at a format that you can actually win once you buy the cards.
Because of all the variety in cards available in modern, you will be able to learn very quickly about everything Magic related.
The downsides:
July 19, 2013 3:13 p.m.