Which format would be best for me?

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Posted on July 16, 2019, 11:31 a.m. by Farel

I've been trying to get into magic for years. Once again I failed, but I'm willing to give it another try, however I feel like I should first question what format I should play in. Had tried these:

Prerelease - I have no clue how to build a deck of my own. No chance

Standard - only a few decks are good, and they quickly rotate out. Frustrating

Commander - I spend a lot of time building a deck, but it sucked against removal, so that was a waste. Another annoyance was that if I came late, when everybody was playing, I had to wait like an hour for the game to end, so I could join in. This is horribly frustrating...

So what remains? I'd like to have fun with a quick game, and preferably one where I can win. Id also prefer it if the cards wouldn't rotate out too quickly

greyninja says... #2

EDH/commander is a great and quite popular casual format. It gets expensive, like any format, but they're constantly printing new and reprinting old cards for it

Maybe ask to play 2HG (two headed giant) if there are four or six players (2v2 or 2v2v2), so that you aren't getting singled out and can have another player coach you as you go. There are so many freakin' rules and interactions in this game, it's ridiculous

I'd suggest a deck as it gives you the most access to ramp and draw spells. Definitely a one or two color deck to keep the land base simple and inexpensive. Doesn't have to be specifically but I'd suggest running at least one of those two colors to start

Just my $.02

Have fun!

July 16, 2019 11:58 a.m.

Farel says... #3

But.... that's what I got. An expensive UG Ezuri deck. It all ended with everybody always nuking me, so that no strategy of mine ever worked. Some told me to get more cards, some for defense, but before I could think about those, I had that situation I named: I sat there for over an hour, and got frustrated. It felt like I not only sucked, but wasn't even given the chance to actually play :(

July 16, 2019 12:05 p.m.

Caerwyn says... #4

At the risk of being a tad uncouth, it seems your major problem is not the format, but your lack of experience with the game (also being late, but that's a separate issue, and it's unfair to blame the format for that!). That's not something that is going to be fixed right away, but, if you stick with it, you'll get better over time and a lot of your above issues will disappear.

You might want to start by downloading Magic's new online game - Magic Arena, and fiddling around with that for a bit. That way you can develop some of the basic gameplay and deckbuilding skills, without having to spend any money.

Beyond that, here is a list of the major formats, and some pros and cons for each:

Limited, either Draft or Sealed (Sealed is what Prerelease is).

Speed: Limited games tend to be on the slower side, since no one has ultra-tuned decks.

Pros: With limited, you do not need to own a bunch of expensive cards, and everyone starts on a level playing field. This means you're not going to simply get pubstomped by someone running a perfectly optimized deck each time you play.

Cons: You need a decent knowledge of the game to build a deck. This is particularly true in Draft where you need to know what cards to draft in the first place. Limited can also get rather expensive as the entry fees add up. Also, you have to be there on time, which you indicated might be an issue.

Standard:

Speed: A bit faster than limited, but not as quick as Modern or the Eternal formats.

Pros: You can find Standard events at most game stores. The decks tend to be less expensive than Modern or Eternal formats. Lots of players.

Cons: Rotation - though, this is really not as big of a deal as people think. Rotation does not happen all that often, and only a few sets at a time rotate. It's very predictable, and easy to plan for, making it less scary than it seems.

Modern:

Speed: Modern is known as the turn-4 format, as that's when a lot of games end.

Pros: Modern has a great selection of cards, giving a lot of leeway in deckbuilding. It's fast and fun, and seems like something you might be interested in based on your post.

Cons: Cost - competitive Modern decks get rather pricey.

Legacy/Vintage (lumping them together since, while there are differences, the pros and cons are the same).

Speed: Extremely fast - turn 1 wins are possible.

Pros: The gameplay is fast, brutal, and short, but, by no means solitary. These formats are intense battle for domination, often defined by vicious counterspell wars.

Cons: Cost - between the Alpha lands, Force of Will s, and, for Vintage, Power Nine, these decks cost thousands of dollars. It's also rather hard to find Legacy/Vintage events, since they're not really supported.

Commander:

Speed: Depends on your meta - some can be long games lasting an hour, some can be tables that tend to end games with turn 1-3 combos.

Pros: Fun, social, and the singleton nature makes it a tad less consistent, so the game can be a bit more forgiving to newer players.

Cons: Commander is pretty meta-dependent, so your experience might be drastically different depending on who you play with.

Cost: Again, this is really meta-dependent. A competitive-meta deck might cost thousands; a casual deck might cost a hundred or so. The cost of buying a deck will really depend on what needs to be spent to be competitive in your specific environment.

Pauper:

I don't know how popular Pauper events are, but this could be the right meta for you if you find an event. There are a couple viable decks, the cost for entry is relatively low, and it is still fast-paced. The biggest problem is going to be finding people to play with.

July 16, 2019 12:17 p.m. Edited.

Fellin22 says... #5

Use pauper

July 16, 2019 12:19 p.m.

legendofa says... #6

Farel How much money and time are you willing to budget for this? Like pretty much anything else in life, it takes an investment. How well do you know the rules of the game, and and how much experience do you have? Your initial post says that "I have no clue how to build a deck of my own." If you know the rules well enough, I suggest starting with a Challenger Deck. These are prebuilt decks based on Standard tournament lists, but have a certain amount of room for development and customization.

In my opinion, there are two important steps to getting involved and winning matches. First, find what you enjoy and get comfortable with it. I pretty much never play or aggro above a very casual level--I don't have as much fun with those archetypes as I do with more controlling or attrition-based decks. Second, and this is common advice to where it's almost cliché, practice. The best way to get better at anything is to do it, find what you're doing well and what you need to improve, ask for help when you need it, and learn what the best option is at any given point.

Of course, there are other ways to get into the game. Do you follow the story? Are you trying to win every match, or to build a unique deck, or just have fun? What about Magic: the Gathering brings you in?

July 16, 2019 12:25 p.m.

edengstrom1 says... #7

"I'd like to have fun with a quick game, and preferably one where I can win. Id also prefer it if the cards wouldn't rotate out too quickly"

This sounds like Modern, which is conveniently a format you have yet to try. The cards don't rotate out and there are several good decks. The only real con about Modern is the cost of the decks, which can get quite high.

There are decks that you can buy into and still be competitive at your local game store. Something like 8 Whack Goblins or Mono G Elves can win a couple games at FNM.

Here are a couple of links if your interested.

Link

Link

July 16, 2019 3:26 p.m.

edengstrom1 says... #8

Sorry here are the links. Apparently I don't know what I'm doing.

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-98-13-tix-combo-elves-modern-magic-online

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/budget-magic-66-21-tix-modern-8-whack-goblins

July 16, 2019 3:29 p.m.

Demarge says... #9

standard right now is dirt cheap if you want to buy a top tier deck, both mono blue and mono red aggro are strong enough to put up top finishes and both are in the $40-under 60 range, if you play arena they both also only have 4-7 rotating rare cards each, even if they rotate in a few months I could buy one of those decks and attend upwards 32 events at the nearest store meaning I'd have paid more into entry fees than I did for the deck before it rotated. Though I admit I really don't want to suggest either just because they're so cheap to make resulting in seeing them all the time in arena... mono blue in best of 1 all you need is 4 rares.

July 16, 2019 4:33 p.m.

As a modern and legacy player, I recommend giving commander another shot. Do not get into modern. It's a cesspool of tears. You will lose on turn 3 most games and go 0-4 in events. And if you don't lose on turn 3, then you will watch your opponent kill every creature you play, make you discard or counter any spell you play, and you won't feel like you got to play at all. If you play a competitive modern deck, then it's better, but modern is extremely unforgiving to decks which are not fully competitive (and accordingly, really expensive).

The pre-built Commander 2019 decks are coming out soon (late August). Those tend to be balanced and powerful decks, and only set you back about $45. If you're not a good deckbuilder yet, play one of these straight out of the package and you'll find that you have a lot of resilience to what other players are trying to do.

Commander has a lot of downsides, but I think it's the only format that is both widely played and good for casual players.

The biggest downside of commander, for you specifically, is probably the game time. But I feel pretty strongly that you will not enjoy or feel like you can win fast games in other formats. Commander is an inherently casual format. It's designed to be that way. You're supposed to be able to play and win with decks of any budget. Of course you can't expect a $40 pre-con to beat a $1000 combo deck, but to tell you the truth, in about 10 games we played, my friend playing the Meren pre-con deck did beat my expensive combo deck once, so anything is possible. Finding players which have the same power level decks as you is necessary, but most commander players will have 10 or more decks built at a range of powers. Commander is the unique format which is both widely played and friendly to new players.

July 17, 2019 11:26 a.m.

Farel says... #11

Thank you everybody for your input. I've made the decision to give MTG Arena a try. As for formats, I do see the biggest potential in Pauper or .... ugh... Commander, but... I will try it all out in Arena to get some idea on how it all should work, before I get back to the store.

Once again, thank you very much

July 20, 2019 5:18 a.m.

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