Magic Online

[DÛke]

Heard a lot of it. Have no idea how it works: how do you buy cards? how expensive are the cards? do you get any cards when you get into the game for the very first time?

Trading? The community? The atmosphere?

How much will it cost me to get started, and by "get started" I mean have the program, plus some cards that I often enjoy or have plenty of ideas for? How hard is it to get cards? and...cards you want?

Say I want an Erratic Portal and some Unmasks - how hard would it be to obtain those?

I really want to jump in, but I'm afraid that iI might have to spend hundereds of dollars just to get into the game...

 

[Istanbul]

You buy cards through the Magic Online store, or - if you're smart - buy event tickets and use those to buy singles.
Trading? Several thousand prospective trading partners.
Get started, have cards you want - see above. Dump $20 into the game and you should have nothing to complain about.
Erratic Portal and Unmask - Completely, 100% impossible. No cards before Invasion are available, with the exception of Morphling, Sliver Queen, and Serra Avatar...and those were promos.

Magic Online is a very basic study in economics. Time vs. Money. If you're willing to spend some time doing the old buy-low-sell-high, you can technically get whatever you want without paying a dime. If you have enough cash, you can get whatever you want quickly.

 

[DÛke]

...was quite quick!

Erratic Portal and Unmask - Completely, 100% impossible.

Beginning with Invasion? Ok. Not spending a dime. That was the quickest and easiest decision I have ever had to make.

 

[Ferret]

It worked out nicely for me that it allowed me to pick up w/ online cards right where I left off when I stopped playing tabletop - but, in all honesty I fail to see the harm in doing OoP sets (as mentionned in another thread) to allow for some fun Type I action - it would also be great for people that want to practice for Type I sanctioned events, but don't have anyone to practice on...

-Ferret

"...like the RL version, MTG:O has its share of good players, bad players, nice people, and jerks..."

 

[Istanbul]

Originally posted by Ferret
but, in all honesty I fail to see the harm in doing OoP sets (as mentionned in another thread) to allow for some fun Type I action

What do you need to play Type 1? Cards.
Where do cards come from? Packs.
How can WotC justify taking any sets out of print if you can buy older ones? Does it make sense to be able to buy TeStEx but not IPA? And let's face it, a lot of the stuff in Urza Block, I want to STAY gone.

Sorry. I like it the way it is.

 

[Oversoul]

And I'm happy for Magic Online that it doesn't have Mana Drain. That's the only one I'd take back...

Even though I think that it is imperitive to have the whole cardpool, I could forgive cutting the pre-Invasion since it includes Mana Drain IF they made an exception for Saprazzan Heir!

 

[DÛke]

...

Let me put it this way: I play casual decks. I don't like the fact that Rebels, and more so, Mercenaries, are nonexistent. And if you try to convince me that there are no casual cards between Tempest through Prophecy then you will fail miserably. Ok, so the Urza block is not admired by some people for whatever reason they have (...perhaps they fail to compete against better cards and obsess with dry, slow cards such as the one's that plague Invasion and..."Mirrodin," which I despise the more I look at)...

Nevertheless, those of us, and there are many of us, who want the challenge, and more so, want some of our favorite cards are left with no choice. What's wrong about wanting the sleeping enchantments of the Urza block, the Avatars of the MM block, the many great cards that populate the Rath cycle? Not all of us want Time Spiral and Windfall, Rewind or Masticore or Palinchron. Some of us actually want Barrin and Rayne! Some of us love playing against the so-called "broken" cards and actually winning. It seems not even the challenge is worthy to some of us.

Why would they have to print every set pre-Invasion if they printed every set starting with Mirage and onwards? Instead of having Invasion as the starting set, we can have Mirage. Not that difficult to concieve, let me assure you. And it would make a hell of a lot players happy.

 

[orgg]

Well, for Unmask you're out of luck, unless other discard (which will get you blocked by a lot of people who don't like 'that kind of thing') will suffice. There's some good discard out there right now, too, on MOL. With Erotic Portal, you're in luck... somewhat, if you play Blue. The 'reprinted' it with a cost of 3, and activation of 3... or an activation of a single U. It's made quite a splash, and can probably be gotten four for a ticket, with four other things thrown in to boot.

Yes, I also miss some very casual things that Masks block had; I miss a lot of things, one of which is the ability to play Magic IRL. MOL is the best stubstitute I've got for what I once had, even if the whole level of 'fun' isn't there.

...but there are some fun things in the more recent blocks, too... The 'Tribal' theme was entertaining, though a little forced in Onslaught, The Threshold cards from Oddy were quite fun to me, and Mirroden's artifacts might hold some appeal to you.

Assuming you cannot play Magic IRL and have a desire to... MOL is the best chance you'll get.

 

[DÛke]

With Erotic Portal, you're in luck...

Well, I hope it's still Erratic Portal.

I do know there are lot of fun cards in post MM-block sets; I was still playing Magic when Invasion came out. I still have to ask, do I get any cards to begin with or do I have to start buying cards right away, or what?

I can play Magic IRL, I choose not to because I have no time, between school and work and recent life changes; I don't have time to go to a store or whatever to play with whomever; and I certainly don't have friends that play Magic because all of them are "too good" for card games or something. MOL seems like the perfect thing for me, as I still enjoy many, many aspects of the game.

I was floored upon knowing that they have not included any of the earlier sets. For as long as I know, I thought they did. Still, i need to know how much is a good amount of money I should choose to invest "at the beginning."

 

[EricBess]

It's called "Crystal Shard", but it had much the same effect as Erratic Portal. But not the name

 

[orgg]

Here's how starting up MOL works:

1. Download it.
2. Click 'new account' or 'trial server.'
3. Assuming 'new account' was chosen, go to the store and register an account for ten bucks.
4. wait half an hour, get a cupon for 9.99.


Here you branch off... packs, tickets, decks... at retail, or just buy tickets and go to the Marketplace.

Here's the 'goody' thing to do: Get tickets, then go to the marketplace. With some patience, you should be able to get 128 commons per ticket from the newer sets. Uncommons run 12-16 (or sometimes 32) per ticket, and REALLY BAD rares go two for a ticket... most of the 'fun' rares are in this catagory, too!

It's cheaper than IRL if you don't go for the tournaments, though it sometimes takes a little while to get a game in the best room, Anything Goes.

 

[DÛke]

Seems simple enough. How much are these "tickets" you're talking about? And...is there "bundle deals"?

 

[Ferret]

Originally posted by DÛke
Seems simple enough. How much are these "tickets" you're talking about? And...is there "bundle deals"?

Tickets can be purchased from the MTG:O Store at $1 each. Having about 10 of them could help you build up a nice collection of Commons and Uncommons (and horrible Rares) from the start. You can also find some pretty generous people that are willing to give you lots of cards for just saying 'hi' and hanging out w/ them.

Imagine those few times you went into a gaming store and some guy w/ his shoebox of Dirt Commons said "Hey, take a look. Grab what you like. I don't mind." and multiply that by about 100. Most of them can be found in the early AM hours (EST) while the psycho traders are still sleeping off last night's games.

It's a pretty nice community. Of course, like all communities, you'll find your share of nice people, annoyances, and village idiots.

-Ferret

"...should you actually get the urge, look for FerretCPA..."

 

[DÛke]

Wow. That's actually really cheap. So where do you redeem those tickets, and do you get to select which commons/Uncommons/Dirt Rares you want, or is the whole process random?...

The coupon for 9.99 - can that be used for any purpose, such as buying tickets? Or is it for decks?...

Actually, it's less expensive than I thought. I can easily invest $100 right at the beginning, so it seems it's not as bad as I thought...

 

[Chaos Turtle]

Unless it's changed, you can use the $9.99 for anything at the MOL store.

 

[Ferret]

Originally posted by DÛke
Wow. That's actually really cheap. So where do you redeem those tickets, and do you get to select which commons/Uncommons/Dirt Rares you want, or is the whole process random?...

The coupon for 9.99 - can that be used for any purpose, such as buying tickets? Or is it for decks?...

Actually, it's less expensive than I thought. I can easily invest $100 right at the beginning, so it seems it's not as bad as I thought...

All of it can be purchased for MTG:O product - so you can use it to scoop up nothing but tickets and when you logon go to the trading area. It consists of two parts: an auction site that's similar to a chat room and a sort of message board where people post what they're buying/selling.

The auction's a little difficult to navigate at first, but once you get the hang of it you can work the system to get some fantastic cards (just ask Istanbul). The "Marketplace" is pretty cut-and-dry. The sellers list what they're offering. You PM them, enter a trade and go to work. Using these methods I was able to turn about $40 into about 1250 cards - cards that *I* want so I can build the decks that I like to play. It's easier than trading in stores or conventions and it's virtually impossible to get hosed in the deal.

-Ferret

"...also, if you play well w/ others you can join a clan and your clanmates will usually have cards that they could just give to you..."

 

[Istanbul]

Duke...

If you can invest $100 at the beginning, you should have nothing to complain about. That should easily get you 4x common and uncommon sets from OLS and MRD and 8E, select commons and uncommons from OTJ and IPA and 7E, and a fairly substantive number of rares you want.

I do NOT recommend buying packs. That won't get you nearly as many cards, nor will it be likely to get you the ones you want. Buy $100 worth of event tickets and trade them for the particular cards you want. You should be able to construct several decks and have tickets left over to trade for packs or enter events or do whatever you like.

If you get in soon, you'll even arrive in time for the Champions of Kamigawa release on Monday.

Contact me in-game (I'm Istanbul there too) and I'll see what I can do about guiding you through the do's and don'ts of Magic Online. I know it like the back of my hand, and I can steer you away from some of the more hazardous situations and guide you towards places to get good deals.

 

[orgg]

Also, the 96-128 deals take some PATIENCE to get.

Most people try to sell 32 commons for an event ticket, a really bad deal.

Sometimes you can get Uncommons at that price. 64 commons per ticket also isn't too good of a deal.

 

[train]

or you can buy precons...

 

[Trigger]

I play Magic online A LOT, the main account i use is Riggers (i have bucket loads of cards and will happily sell you guys 128 commons for a tix (as long as you mention CPA)) but i also play with friends, main one being AndyMcnish so if you see either of those online i'm probably there