iatee's old school magic the gathering tournament (ile companion thread)

A quick thread to say that a group of are playing MAGIC on another board with a free program called Magic Workstation and it is great fun.

If you would like to play MAGIC (magic you guys!) but don't have access to that board you should post here and sealed deck high jinx will ensue.

oh yeah i got the email about this, i'd like to play.

Are you on a PC or a mac?

Here's a place that has some pictures that may interest you - http://mws.mtgbr.com/Full-01.htm

Let me know when you'd able to play!

We were experimenting on Monday with taking all boosters from the same set, which ended up working really well - it feels a lot 'magic-ier' when you know what's coming a bit more (possibly only saying this because I can't play 'real' sealed deck for toffee and iatee always beats me)

Wow, they've come out with a lot of new series/sets since I played Magic in 6th grade.

We played with Mercadian Masques on Monday - surprisingly dope!

I think our youngest dude is Rev, who played up to the Urza block? Cinderpress might be even younger but he's kind of a pro. Most of us stopped sometime around homelands?

yeah 6th grade was when i played the most too (tempest and urza blocks were the newest sets) but i had relapses in high school and again recently so i've played with most of the sets. they're still doing the 1 3-set block per year thing with a few strange exceptions.

also it's funny that you thought mercadian masques was dope, it's considered one of the worst blocks afaik. i kinda like it though.

I think we found it dope more just cause of the strangeness of playing w/ new cards

Anyone fancy a game?

i am intrigued by this - can you build your own deck using this software? or do you already have to have a real one?

The software has as many as you want of every card ever - and it even has the pictures!

yeah it gets around the copyright laws & stuff by being 'generic trading card game software' that just happens to be tooled specifically for a generic game with the exact same rule set as magic

We mainly play what's called 'sealed deck', where the program pretends you've just bought a certain number of booster packs, and then restricts you to just those, but that's 100% by choice.

It's really unclear how they get away with it - it has 'magic' in the name?

(Have you played much before btw?)

me? i played all the time from like...5th through 7th grades. a group of friends and i tried to bring it back sophomore year of college, lasted only a few months iirc. there's probably all sorts of new shit i don't understand but i'm sure the gameplay itself will come back to me. is this tournament on secret borad?

We are sort of ignoring all the new shit tbh

"tournament"

(it is more like people just playing each other when they get a moment, right now? i think a grand battle of wizards is totally planned on secret borad when we get more people but you would have to ask iatee)

well the original idea was a grand battle of wizards but then we quickly realized that our wizards all have very different work/play schedules and our castles are in very different parts of the world and it's better to just use the thread as 'anyone up for a game'?

not opposed to one happening, but the payoff probably isn't worth the effort, ya know? I'd rather just play lots of games w/ whoever's on

I seem to have messed up my sealed deck generator. :/ Maybe time for an uninstall/reinstall

Any americans up for playing when they get home from work? Could stay up a little.

guessing you went to bed :/

anyone else?

Me and two friends went to Friday Night Magic, played in an 8-person draft, and took the top 3 spots. (I got third.) I don't feel as bad about aquiring new cards as I would like to. :/

yeah booster drafts are the most fun magic format imo, i would do them all the time if they didn't cost $10 per

MTG booster packs have really always been one of the worst deals in gaming, if you don't care about having many rare cards you can buy huge bins of commons/uncommons from resellers on ebay for the price of a few boosters

I'm justifying it to myself as paying for an evening's entertainment, rather than the product. (About the same as a movie and maybe popcorn, right?)

Still lolling about the three of us walking in there after having barely played magic in years and just rocking the regulars btw.

The booster economy on [online service that should not be mentioned] is definitely way more insane than I remember - like, a standard pack ($3.99) contains 14 cards that might be worth $0.50 total if you're really lucky, then a rare that's likely about $0.60, but there's a one-in-eight chance you get a mythic rare (fuck wizards for this lame crap) that's worth $5 if it's a weak one and $40 if it's a strong one?

Still only averages about $2, and that's value, not sell price.

Movie and popcorn argument is strong I think, especially when you're unfamiliar with the set and every card you see is a surprise.

I play a lot of people online who use all-foil lands. Like, a lot. IT'S NOT EVEN REAL FOIL.

Yeah, we were thinking about going to a movie anyway, but nothing we all wanted to see.

What's the audience at that kind of event like these days- how does it break down into teens/comic book guys/other?

it was us, a hyperactive latino teenager, and a few 20-28ish white dudes, a couple of whom were overly serious, but only one of whom seemed completely unused to social interaction. none seemed to be power-magic players. a guy who came in to trade and play a couple pickup games around the time we finished (still in his pizza delivery uniform!) did seem a bit obsessive, though.

magic?

work

wish this was 4 mac :(

cockatrice.de

or, actually this seems ever better! http://www.lackeyccg.com/

gchat me thru this?

r!chardg!n0rg @ gml

IT BEGINS

ok that is an all-time awful interface but it works!

magic?

any other mac heads get the Lackey thing

magic?

I just got a mtg web advertisement

the internet knows

lol

lackey vers?

tonite?

??? rev???

too tired. recooping from 12-hr day.

:( get some rest

maybe later this week?

prob not until at least after tuesday. crunch time until then.

k I will bug gravel

gravel??? anyone??/

Lackey?

okay I gotta dl that one
you got aim or gmail?

yes

r!chardg!norg@gm

!'s the other way. It's kinda a pita interface, so I suspect we won't be playing for a lolwhile.

just figured out how to do random deck in lackey, I think

i can do this tonight

but not til after i take a piss

ya I can prob do this

long pee?

nah i'm here

mirage x5 visions x3

sounds good

ready when you are

sorry, technical difficulties

making my deck now tho

k

up

I am very interested in playing online, is there any room for a new challenger? Also I have access to both a PC and a Mac, is Lackey the best way to go?

of course! we want as many players as we can get

lackey is apparently the best to play w/ mac people but mws is a better program.

Yeah Lackey is horrible but worth having to play with mac ppl.

The better PC program is 'magic workstation' which can do sealed decks and other nice things - here is a site with the card art: http://mws.mtgbr.com/full-01.htm

lackey can actually do sealed decks too

me and jimmy the mod figured this out, but still never got to play cause the server was down

tonight I found out that gf's sis plays w/ her bf. they print out pics and paste them on cards.

also - rev? mebbe?

sure. 4 us, 2 ul, 2 ud

k

ugh. my sealed deck generator is busted so i am trying to find a web-based generator

hmm could I generate one and save the file and send it to you?

okay i found a app called djinni that seems to work

yup, this works just fine

ready, game is up

Anyone up for some games today/this weekend?

possibly tonight if you'd stay up late
more likely possible tomorrow

if you are around, i can play.

late nite magic?

ayo

4 mirage 2 visions 2 weatherlight

otm

just got back from playing a few games with my homeboy

he might be on mws soon :)

game up, grabbing a beer

gravel and I played homelands-only constructed

not recommended for the weak of heart

really the only decent card:

http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardscans/MAGHOM/apocalypse_chime.jpg

next one is legends-only constructed
4 of each revised dual land allowed
if anyone else wants to prep decks for that, can play them sometime this week

(just to check - we're playing 6th-edition-and-later rules for mirror universe?)

I'm actually not against banning Mirror Universe - worried it'll lead to chime-like stalemates, and there's not much artifact removal in this set. But up to you.

yeah let's ban it

otoh, falling star is obv allowed

can tilt computer screen and drop things on it

god what where they thinking

were

I actually really like my deck - such a change from homelands!

(we're using Lackey for this btw)

tonite?

either legends-only or sealed

sealed. tempest-stronghold-exodus. in an hour or so. gonna run to the store and then eat dinner first.

4/2/2? having some mws problems actually, may need to reinstall like you did.

yeah 4/2/2

8:30 your time work?

assuming I get this to work

well, i just got back and i'm starting on my deck now so i'll probably be ready sooner than that.

what's up with your mws? is it refusing to generate sealed decks?

before it wouldn't generate sealed now it will but won't let me load decks

keep getting "load deck error: invalid file format"

shied

aim?

so pumped for this weekend

I actually have to work this saturday :/ idk we might still be able to find some time...

my legends deck is pretty good, I think.

Oh no!

would you be able to stay up on saturday?

I'll try - it's probably slightly easier for me to stay up tonight? Really want to play this deck!

hmm will try, might be able to play for a while tonight but not an extended period?

but yeah I'm curious as to how similar our decks look

Mine is not very 'you' I think! But tell me when you're free this weekend and we'll try to make this happen.

you still around?

I'm around!

after a ~100 turn legends-only game, me and gravel decided that we're going w/ ice age only next, if anyone is innerested

(we're prepping two decks, one where necro is banned, one where it's not. zuran orb banned regardless)

Decks prepped, ready for revenge.

(I've done mine on lackey again fwiw)

rev mebbe?

i have a couple legends decks btw

what prog?

mws

I have to leave the house in 40 mins but if you're still up we can bash legends decks - gmail me.

oh sorry been drinking and doing other shit don't know if you're still here

Gotta go now - you free Sunday?

mebbe mebbe probly

ayo ayo ayo

can prob play around 9 your time, if you'll be round

yeah, think so

aim yourself actually

where u gooooo?

Rev can you do Monday morning/afternoon?

anyone (rev) in an hour maybe?

yeah sure

aim?

magic today?

Next week's constructed: Exodus & Stronghold, no other sets.

oath of druids allowed?

oh actually there's no good creatures in those sets for oath abuse so nevermind

yup - the weird sets leads to crazy metagaming, which is sort of the delight of it - it wouldn't be as good with a basic set allowed.

(btw I'll have trouble being around next weekend so I've already made the deck - hit me up for games etc)

i'm down 4 sealed

tonite?

eh nvm I should sleep

i better do this or else i will read the rest of the p4k kanye review and i don't know if that will be good for my health

argh okay I can but I need to sleep in exactly 70 mins

nvm that got veto'd

too late my blood pressurealready went up 30 points

i need more alcohol

I can play in a couple of hours? That might not be useful.

yo? i woke up hella early for some reason

I can play in 40 mins? Half past?

okey doke

sealed? legends? ice?

sealed. i'll start a game, we'll talk about it there

wait. no, let's play legends hehehe.

ok legends is onnnn

MWS or Lackey?

mws. game is up.

i have to see if this wild and crazy deck works.

I need to transfer my deck across then, 1 sec (I'm not fully free yet but I should be very soon - the person who is meant to be relieving me is late)

are you "Player"?

No :(

This is stupid, I am trapped here until they come. Can you do lackey? I want to play LEGENDS.

i don't have lackey

dude just arrived!

yay! say what up to u mans n dem!

got disconnected; deck's ready

(and game's up)

be there in a min

lost uuuuu

lost link :(((

checked library and lyrist was near bottom tho. wp - ggs!

u too! i had an unfair card. :(

magick

in a bit.

k aim me

(in a bit)

iateeeeeeee

i think i lost iatee... :(

anyway, we just played the most epic game. we were playing ice age/alliances sealed and i had barely any good creatures in any color and ended up playing this weird U/R/b control deck with only 8 creatures. iatee was playing a more conventional red/black. so he trounces me the first two games, then in the third game, he's applying beats but i slow him down by trading creatures, burning his dudes and using my icy manipulator. he eventually gets me down to 5, but the only creature he has left is his walking wall, which can attack for 3 if he pays mana. i binding grasp his wall and start beating him with it, getting him down to the same life total. it's tied at 5. at the end of my turn, he casts demonic consultation, naming soul burn. the first 6 cards turn up two incinerates, another burn spell, and 2 good creatures, all of which would have been useful to him. the soul burn is his 4th to last card. he untaps, takes note of my icy manipulator, but after a clarification taps out to play soul burn with just enough mana to kill me and.....

arcane denial.

...at which point iatee says he's quitting magic forever. i could have killed him, but thought it would be funnier to let him just run out of cards, as he did a couple of turns later.

internet went down last night and wouldn't come back up again :(

I had a very good position in the last game, lots of burn and a howl from beyond in my hand. did you have counters?

I had a counter, two burn, a bounce, and Binding Grasp, which I was going to play on your dude next turn.

I guess my position was more fragile than I thought. I coulda used his ability to blackjack him to death in response to the grasp tho (I only thought of this 5 minutes after reading the post, so maybe I wouldn't've last night.) prob be free around the usually time tonight if you're around.

also ps gravel, I have friday andd saturday off and the girl's working = flexible for british time. still have to work on my strong/exodus deck tho.

that's true, you could do that. hadn't thought of it myself.

yo

4 US, 2 UD, 2 UL

see u in a bit

you there?

I have Friday off too! I'm away Saturday though.

cool, let's have our saturday on friday then

So I just started playing this again (IRL). I bought 6 Eldrazi packs and played some limited games with a friend. They were fun, but I really have to be careful because buying booster packs is like crack for my brain and I could see myself spending a lot of money on it.

yeah despite playing a ton w/ ilx folks online, there is no way wizards of the coast is getting any of my (non-existent) money

i had like a 3-prong attack of the og 77 thread, old school homeboys wanting to break out the cards again and dating a magic player all at once :/

i wouldn't ever buy booster packs unless i'm at a draft or sealed tournament, they are a huge ripoff. theres tons of ebay resellers who open up boxes upon boxes to sell the money rares, and then sell off all the commons/uncommons for dirt cheap, its the best way to get cards imo. you can get 4x of every common/uncommon in a set for like $20ish on ebay, and then just buy any rares you want for your decks individually.

ps rev / anyone else interested

gravel and I decided next week's challenge is a deck w/ the invasion expansion, which neither of us has played w/ but which seems sorta fun

yeah invasion's pretty straightforward, its just lots of multicolor stuff and cards that reward you for playing 3+ colors instead of the usual 1 or 2

yeah those cards seem cool

the split cards are sorta retarded tho

ole dewey

warning i am well on my way to wasted

let's do tempest block

oh man I played a lot w/ gravel

okayyyy I will play

aim

if you guys are slowly creeping forward thru the blocks heres a quick synopsis of what they're based around:

invasion - multicolor
odyssey - graveyard
onslaught - creature type (goblins, merfolk, etc)
mirrodin - artifacts
kamigawa - lame japan/samurai theme
ravnica - 10 'guilds' one for each color pair
time spiral - weird-ass bizarro stuff i dont even know whats going on here hellp
lorwyn - creature type again but somehow different
shadowmoor - did this set even exist im not sure
shards of alara - 3-color combos
zendikar - lands
and the new one is another mirrodin block w/ artifacts

useful!

wtf 8/0

I'm willing to venture up to mirrodin I think. kamigawa no.

i stopped after onslaught and had a relapse last year with zendikar (which i liked a lot!) everything in between i only know because my friend gave me a bigass box of cards he didn't want which spans that whole period

my prob is the abilities that really fuck up the gameplay

grav where u at?

iatee is sleep

iatee is awake

is rev off partying?

he's having a little party at home by himself :/

but my laptop don't work no more and i'm not supposed to dl stuff on my parents computer. might anyway if i really get bored or you convince me i should

where my magic bros at?

I wanna play my 5-color invasion deck

was at ATP! can play whenevs.

http://www.coolstuffinc.com/images/Products/mtg%20art/Urzas%20Saga/Dragon%20Blood.jpg
rev?

mebbe later?

down with this

urzas

around 9 your time

cool

I'm ready for whateva

we should

I think I was watching a movee, tonight mebbe?

maybe prep ice age 5/3?

Tru confession - I've been playing Magarena and it's basically perfect for me - each game a new 40 card deck of all really powerful post-2002 cards I don't recognise, lose against an AI that's explicitly better at MtG than me, repeat.

last night i found a m:tg card lying in the middle of the street. i picked it up and saw another one, then another, and followed the trail down the block until i had like twelve of them.

i showed them to my gf at home but we didn't understand how half of them are supposed to work, they're either worded really vaguely or involve mechanics like "kicking" that are new to me.

hope you realize that a group of nerds is now horribly lost and will never find their way home

yeah i assume they froze to death, it was very cold

i had the same experience with magic cards recently

i mean, i don't understand the eight million new mechanics. not that i found a trail of them leading me to the monster lair.

i hope they belonged to the annoying kid who lives next door.

this was one of them: http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=194007

unless there's some kind of new common mechanic that removes counters from cards, it seems kind of awesome?

yeah seems like a good combo card

it's a decent card -- you wouldn't fight a card like that by trying to remove its counters tho, you'd use a remove enchantment spell like http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=207336

I found some on the street too last week! Was just like Mirridon-era commons and uncommons but I still got that pang of excitement I used to get when you'd "stumble" upon cards like 10 years ago, back when you'd hear a lot of stories about guys going to garage sales and buying a binder full of Power 9 cards and Mana Drains for like $20 from Moms whose sons used to play but are now overseas after joining the military or something. I had like, wet dreams about that.

Just thinking about that makes me realize I've played a hell of a long time...I haven't really played "seriously" since Masques/Invasion block (2002?) but the Sealed Decks/drafts are always fun, especially the pre-releases. I loved the Time Spiral block though, it was just one huge gift to the guys who have been playing a long time, really one of the better things they've done. Constructed has really lost a lot of appeal to me since they started the "mythic" rare concept, which they promised would not include tournament level rares but the sort of huge powerful expensive spells/creatures that you'd "only want one or two of anyway". Lo and behold it only took them like one year to print the most ridiculous shit in mythic, cards you definitely want 4 of, some that don't even have any "special" abilities but just rank really high on the power curve. Look up "Baneslayer Angel"...my god. There's even a card in Standard that fetches $100!! I mean Standard was expensive "in my day" but if you had to spend $100 you'd at least get 4 of something!!

i played in '94/'95, and it's kind of amazing to me that it's still a thing.

hmmm the girl is gone hmmm

Oh, sorry I missed you. I haven't thought about magic in a while tbh. Team Fortress 2 has monopolized my free time.

spells > guns

tbh

otm