>mtg
>current year

Why is your username always Prime "X'?

so do you just play, or are you also collecting

like, do you care what condition the card is in

Near Mint (fresh from the package)

but yeah no, that's smart

i was gonna say, if you don't care about condition, it should be easy enough to find the stuff you want for cheap, if you know where to go (e.g. not amazon)

or just try your luck by buying a whole box of them--which is a greater value than individual packs, of course

then again, i haven't fucked with MtG in yeeeeaaaarrrsssssss

Quote from: Prime Kruphix on April 30, 2016, 01:18:28 AM

Near Mint (fresh from the package)

but yeah no, that's smart

i was gonna say, if you don't care about condition, it should be easy enough to find the stuff you want for cheap, if you know where to go (e.g. not amazon)

or just try your luck by buying a whole box of them--which is a greater value than individual packs, of course

then again, i haven't fucked with MtG in yeeeeaaaarrrsssssss

Buying individuals is better than boxes, especially if you're planning on doing tournies like me. The card I'm complaining about in the OP is a rare card that's also really good. It's $25 per card atm. The alternative to 4 of those is a combination of 12 other cards for like $8, but it's not as effective.

If they don't drop, I'll just have to pick them up with store credit down the line after more modern nights.

Buying individuals is better than boxes, especially if you're planning on doing tournies like me.

how so, exactly

'cause you'd be paying more for less back in the day, unless things have changed

Because there are thousands upon thousands of MTG cards and a deck probably 15 of those in duplicates and quadriplicates. If I want a Cryptic Command, I'm not going to dump money on mystery boxes or boosters. The chances of getting one that way is astronomically low, especially from boosters (1 card per pack is a rare, CC is rare even as a rare).

I'd buy a box for EDH, but Modern requires very precise strategies.

there's not thousands and thousands of cards per set, though

there's 301 for the set your card is in, so your odds are low, but they're not that low

the real reason you wouldn't by a box is holy shit they're way more expensive than i thought they'd be

Quote from: Prime Kruphix on April 30, 2016, 01:52:14 AM

Because there are thousands upon thousands of MTG cards and a deck probably 15 of those in duplicates and quadriplicates. If I want a Cryptic Command, I'm not going to dump money on mystery boxes or boosters. The chances of getting one that way is astronomically low, especially from boosters (1 card per pack is a rare, CC is rare even as a rare).

I'd buy a box for EDH, but Modern requires very precise strategies.

there's not thousands and thousands of cards per set, though

there's 301 for the set your card is in, so your odds are low, but they're not that low

the real reason you wouldn't by a box is holy shit they're way more expensive than i thought they'd be

It's not like it's a 1 in 249 chance, though. There are a 61 rares in MM15, and only one rare per booster. There is a 0.0000000001% chance of me pulling for Cryptic from four packs in a row ($14). The odds to just pull one Cryptic is 0.11%, which is not a good idea when every attempt is $3.50.

Actually it's worse than that, because you can get a foil instead of a rare sometimes.

What on Earth is this thread about

trading card games for adults like myself

I'm sure all the old cards have been power creeped into obsolescence, yeah?

Not really. Cards are often reprinted into new sets, meaning that select older cards are still modern legal. Most of the cards in the deck I'm building were initially released around 2003, some going as far back as 1997.

If anything, MTG got much more balanced after the first few sets. Things post-Revised tend to have trade-offs for huge amounts of power.

Quote from: Prime Kruphix on April 30, 2016, 10:47:52 AM

Quote from: Verbatim on April 30, 2016, 10:38:41 AM

I'm sure all the old cards have been power creeped into obsolescence, yeah?

Not really. Cards are often reprinted into new sets, meaning that select older cards are still modern legal. Most of the cards in the deck I'm building were initially released around 2003, some going as far back as 1997.

Oh, cool. That's usually an unavoidable thing, because there's typically only so many ideas you can come up with--so OP strategies become the easiest to think of, and the easiest to sell.

Have you been playing for awhile, or are you just getting into it?

I've been playing for a few months, but casual play. I'm just getting into the competitive scene.

There are certain kinds of decks that tend to dominate, such as Jund, Living End, Affinity, Burn, and Infect. The key there is that they all  (except Jund) have decks that counter them and they aren't just a specific set of cards. A deck type is built around a common idea.

Living End, for example, cycles cards into the graveyard. The player continuously cycles until they have a lot of creatures in the graveyard. They play a card called Living End that destroys all creatures (both players) on the field and moves all creatures from the graveyard (both players) to the field. This means that, in 4 turns, they can play a dozen creatures. The only things that the deck requires are Living End and a lot of creatures with cycle abilities. You can freely optimize and customize within those parameters.