Topic: Magic the Gathering 2010 rules changes

[idolminds]

Blame Pyro for getting me interested.

I'm still reading it, so far mostly terminology changes.

EDIT
Oh look, mana burn is gone!

[gpw11]

What the shit are you getting yourself into?

[idolminds]

Don't worry, I can't afford the game and have no one to actually play with. I just like reading game rules.

[scottws]

What the shit are you getting yourself into?

I know.  Whenever I think of Magic: The Gathering I think of the biggest nerds in high school huddling around in the cafeteria all the time.  I was a pretty big nerd but even I wouldn't go near those guys or this game.

Sorry idol, guess it's a bit of a troll post.  Uh... yeah have fun with this game.

[idolminds]

heh, I know Magic has those sorts of....fans. But its actually a pretty fun game. Don't let stereotypes stop you from playing stuff.

[scottws]

For me, seeing myself playing MTG is sort of like seeing myself eating egg salad.  It just isn't going to happen.  Ever.  In fact, even entertaining these thoughts is completely alien.

Besides, this is a tabletop type of thing.  Even though MTG is the very last of anything I would ever contemplate playing, I thought all the other tabletop stuff I've played before was... well it just wasn't my thing.

[Quemaqua]

I guess you're pretty closed-minded, eh scott?  I don't mean this as an insult, so I hope it doesn't come across as one.  I just observe that when you make up your mind, there's no question... you're done with the subject.  Like this, or watching another Tim Burton movie.  It's sort of a foreign concept to me, because even at my most vehement I'm usually willing to second-guess myself if somebody I trust and respect tells me I should.  Like idol said, I don't want stereotypes to get in the way.  I never in a hundred years thought I'd be playing D&D, and yet on Saturday my wife and I are going to somebody's house to do just that.

[scottws]

I don't take it as an insult, because it's completely accurate.  And I'm not going to lie and say stereotypes don't have anything to do with it.  It's not just "ultimate nerd stuff" though.  There are other things that I will never try.  I already mentioned food.  Egg salad is but one example.  Tongue, heart, liver, bloodwurst, and rice pudding are a few others.

I can't really say why I'm not open to these things.  I'm just not and I don't think it will change.  It's almost like they go against the fiber of my being, or are absolute truths like mathematical proofs or scientific laws.  To me, there is just no way that these things would happen; they are impossible in a real sense (to me).  I never really thought about it.  But in thinking about it now, I feel even more certain.  Maybe it's weird, I don't know.

This isn't to say I'm like this in all things.  Before I met Jennie, there were tons of foods I'd never tried.  For instance, I used to never eat beans and now I have no problem with them.  There are just some things that I won't try, or will suddenly start hating.  Usually it's due to a memory.  Biting into a tomato as a small child, thinking it was an apple (curiously I have no issue with salsa, marinara, or ketchup).  My mom slathering on pounds of mayonnaise on my sandwiches.  Seeing the super-nerds huddled around a card game about wizards and other fantasy crap.

Regarding Tim Burton though, I don't think my opinion there is unreasonable.  I have seen a few of his movies and thought they were some of the most unbelievable crap I'd ever seen.  Well, maybe that's not fair.  I can offer that he was creative in set and character design.  I just thought it all sucked really bad and don't have any desire to subject myself to any more.  And sure, people I respect here and other places have asked me to give Burton a second chance (I look at it more like a fourth chance since I already saw and hated three movies I know he made).  But people I respect have also told me that Anchorman, Borat, and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby were not only funny movies, they were downright hilarious.  Let's just say that I didn't agree and will never get those 4.5 - 6 hours of my life back.

Anyway, I need to apologize for trolling on this thread.  I didn't really intend to.  I guess MTG is just one of those things that strikes my "anti-me" chords and resonates.

[PyroMenace]

I have seen the stereotypical magic card playing nerd but you maybe surprised at the variety of crowd MGT attracts. I've come across all kinds of people that play who I'd never guess would play it, even my older brother used to play and I always pictured him the furthest thing from a nerd. Me and another guy I work with play and you would pin him as a total frat boy. One weekend when we were both working and there was no supervisor, me and him made a trip to walmart and bought a bunch of cards from the newest set, came back and had a good time messing around with making decks and playing.

[idolminds]

What other tabletop stuff have you done, scott? I find tabletop games to be a hell of a lot of fun. But some games do a poor job of letting people have fun. Everyone thinks "Monopoly" when they think board games or tabletop games, and its really the worst game ever. It drags on so long people quit out of boredom and frustration. So a lot of people get a bad idea of how fun tabletop games can really be.

[iPPi]

I have several coworkers and friends that were big into Magic back in the day.  However, I hear that it's gotten kind of ridiculous now and that if they play at all, they put caps on what set is allowed and stuff.

Right now, when we have time, we try and get a game of World of Warcraft TCG in.  It plays similarly to Magic, but in some respects is more complicated, more simpler, and more ambiguous... for better or for worse.

The worst part of playing TCGs -- it's fucking expensive.

[Quemaqua]

I think a lot of people have some lines they just won't cross, even if they couldn't say why.  My coworker Mo couldn't deal with a lot of kinds of food and had no reason why she wouldn't try them.  She'd always insist and say, "No, I hate that!  I don't like it!" and we'd have to tell her that she hadn't tried it and thus couldn't say that.  That's different from scott, but for her it was sort of the same thing just taken to a whole new level, heh.  I guess everybody's personal psychology directs them differently in that regard.  I can think of a lot of things that I really have no desire to go out and try, but I think that's the difference for me... if somebody I knew and trusted could convince me that it was worth the effort to experience, I'd probably go out on a limb and give it a whirl.

I really can't picture myself playing Magic either, actually, but Pyro and Idol have convinced me to try it sometime.

[scottws]

D&D and Pokemon, just once each.

I don't think of games like Monopoly like a "tabletop game".  I think of it as a "board game" or a "family game".  And I agree that the game sucks ass.  Either virtually everything turns into monopolies with hotels and you run long gauntlets and get your ass kicked, or no one gets monopolies (property trades that create monopolies never happen since the different monopolies clearly have different values and it is obvious that someone would be screwed badly in any trade since a monopoly has far greater value than virtually any dollar amount) and the game drags out forever like you said.

[idolminds]

The WoW TCG looks interesting. No need for the Magic equivalent of "lands" so you never get mana screwed.

[wizall]

I played a bit back in 8th grade or so. We still make nerd jokes about it to this day, but in actuality that wasn't the deterrent; it was the bloody cost. I honestly don't see how it's different from playing any of the bajillion variations of poker...socially that is.

Anyway, I am excited for the XBLA game coming soon. That I can contend with.

[scottws]

I played a bit back in 8th grade or so. We still make nerd jokes about it to this day, but in actuality that wasn't the deterrent; it was the bloody cost. I honestly don't see how it's different from playing any of the bajillion variations of poker...socially that is.

That's an interesting statement.  It reminds me of my group of friends' views on my videogame and computer habits.  While I don't play games nearly as much as I used to (only a few hours a month now, when it used to be that much per day) I spend most of my time on the computer.  Most of my friends are just not gamers or computer nerds and don't understand it at all.  When I lived with two of them as roommates, they would always tell me that they didn't understand how I could play so much.  I would always fire back that I didn't understand how they could watch so much TV.  I just view TV, computer, videogames, riding bikes, playing baseball, etc. all as different, but equal, forms of entertainment.

I guess in a sense I'm the pot calling the kettle black.  The only thing I can say in my defense was that these guys playing MTG in high school were... wow were they ever giant nerds.  Maybe it's all relative, since my friends probably think I'm pretty nerdy compared to them.

[gpw11]

It's funny how girls and parent's view videogames and computers.  They just don't understand that 90% of guys look at stupid shit on the internet and play games a fair bit.

[Dragonlor]

I loved playing MTG but after some of the newer sets my interest died.  Not only that but I pretty much lost contact with everyone that I played with.  I would like to get back into it but I jsut don't have the money to.

[Ghandi]

I used to play MTG when I worked at an Italian place many years ago. Some co workers and I would play after we closed the restaurant at night. We'd cook pizza and make subs and play for awhile. It was fun.

[Pugnate]

I was hardcore into this card game at school called top trumps. Crazy days.

[idolminds]

The XBLA/PC Duels of the Plainswalkers will use the new damage rules. Oddly, the new wording won't be (though I imagine that will be changed in an update).

[W7RE]

Bumping this old ass thread to ask. Has anyone played the XBLA game? Do you have to buy card packs or anything to get more cards, or do you win them from within the game? It's on sale for $5 this week, and I may pick it up if there's not a huge money investment like the actual cards are IRL.

[idolminds]

It might have some DLC decks, I forget. But for the most part its all self-contained and you unlock new cards.