Here's a Video from the "Tolarian Community College", they do Magic: The Gathering Product Reviews. Check out this comedic video about Magic:
Rewind the video for all the humor... But to be real honest, I really love where the professor says: "No one builds their own deck from scratch!"
For a Deck Construction CCG ... And players only PLAY what the PROs play.
That is freaken HILARIOUS!!!
Full disclosure: Haven't played this game in over two decades now so I'm almost completely disconnected from the "scene."
In all seriousness, is the main argument against "pay to play" winners the fact that: "Since the game has been around so long, that the pool of cards to draw from nowadays is so deep that there's no way to know just what will be in someone's deck" ?
I do think the video does make a valid point about being able to research winning strategies/decks online. How do players combat this phenomenon? If I were to jump in on M:TG now, would I need to just throw in a lot of cash (instead of, you know, play a lot) to be competitive?
Full disclosure: Haven't played this game in over 3 years (But I can't help buying the cards occasionally...)
With the way they release cards in sets, the "Standard" format only allows cards in the few most recent sets, so the card pool isn't overwhelming.
essentially yes, fans will figure out which deck types are the ideal ones for the current meta, and you can just pay a bunch of money to buy the cards individually and have an ideal deck. In practice, most people buy a few packs here and there and come up with something workable.
My favorite format is the draft, where you buy 3 or so booster packs, everyone sits down and drafts from them, and ends up with a small deck. These are way weaker than the standard ones, but they are comparable to each other. Also it rarely costs more to do a draft than the 3 packs you are buying anyway.
And I think this is a very clever business model. Show up to a weekly Friday night magic event, and spend $15 on half a deck worth of cards. Make friends and get hooked!
So most people COLLECT and TRADE cards??? Is that what you are saying? If this is the case, well then it's 100% accurate to call the game a TCG: Trading Card Game. One FLGS owner told me: "These kids don't know how to read...!" And I thought to myself: "Well then how the heck do they play the game?!?!"
You've got me on this one. IDK. If true, well then maybe that owner wasn't far off from the truth either. But some of the kids do enjoy playing the game...
BTW, an aside, what came first: Magic or Pokemon???
Because one is a RIP of the other, from what I have understood...
Apparently, Magic was created in 1993, while Pokemon first appeared in 1995.
That's what's listed on Wikipedia, anyway.
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Knowing what I know about the game... I would probably LIKE the "Commander" Format where you have a "Leader/Boss" and you have minions and creatures at your disposal to try an defeat the opposing player's "Leader/Boss". IDK it just sounds COOL to me!
Funny thing I used to have a friend who would BUY "Magic" cards. What's funny is that he never figured out HOW to play the game... I don't know if he ever got into the local scene at the FLGSs near us... Because there is a board game night (every Tuesday which is now cancelled because of COVID-19) and I visit the place with prototypes and games that I design to get a "fresh" gamer's perspective on whatever it is that I am designing.
Bottom line: Commander sounds cool.