SCG and pretty much all speculators/hoarders are a cancer on the game. They do little to nothing for the game and instead take and harm it for personal gain. It's these people that stop staples from getting reprinted in reasonable quanities, or keep the reserved list going. The game would be a thousand times better if they ceased to exist.
The day SCG goes out of business is the day I throw a party.
Yeah, all SCG does is provide a large national circuit of events for Standard and Legacy players to play in. I mean, who even looks forward to playing in one of these events? I mean, if they canceled them, I'm sure no one would mind, right?
I'm sorry if this comes off as too ranty, but seriously, can we cut down on the misinformation? The day SCG goes out of business would probably mean the game of Magic is dead/nearly dead. If you are fine with no more new cards, a drastic cut in game stores (who basically stay open on the back of Magic), less people to play with/no new players, then yeah, good riddance.
Magic would be fine without SCG or SCG events, and makes it sound like you're spreading misinformation. You're just mad at his opinion because you clearly want to profit from speculation yourself.
Clearly you misunderstand. I'm not mad at his opinion because I want to profit (if I wanted to profit on the scale you suggest, I'd open a store, not sell random cards on ebay for people who don't have ebay accounts of their own). I'm just sick of seeing all these baseless comments that contribute little to the discussion besides more whining. Attributing printing or reserved list decisions to anyone other than WotC is actual misinformation, since they are the ones making the decision. Calling SCG a "cancer on the game" and saying they do "little to nothing for the game" is misinformation, as their contributions have been pointed out by others in this thread. Also, I'm not saying that the game of Magic NEEDS SCG. I'm saying that if SCG were to go out of business, that would probably indicate that the game is dying. It would be a symptom or result, not a cause. So before you resort to a baseless personal attack, why not do some reading and logical thinking before you decide who is and who isn't spreading misinformation.
Re-reading the rest of this thread, it seems that most of the reasonable discussion has already happened. I'm guessing it'll be more of the whiners rather than actual informed discussion, so I guess it's time to check out of this thread.
SCG and pretty much all speculators/hoarders are a cancer on the game. They do little to nothing for the game and instead take and harm it for personal gain. It's these people that stop staples from getting reprinted in reasonable quanities, or keep the reserved list going. The game would be a thousand times better if they ceased to exist.
The day SCG goes out of business is the day I throw a party.
Yeah, all SCG does is provide a large national circuit of events for Standard and Legacy players to play in. I mean, who even looks forward to playing in one of these events? I mean, if they canceled them, I'm sure no one would mind, right?
I'm sorry if this comes off as too ranty, but seriously, can we cut down on the misinformation? The day SCG goes out of business would probably mean the game of Magic is dead/nearly dead. If you are fine with no more new cards, a drastic cut in game stores (who basically stay open on the back of Magic), less people to play with/no new players, then yeah, good riddance.
Thanks. The fifth edition art is cool in and of itself, my only problem with it is that it's not an ankh. I'm not sure what happened in the art department the day that art was picked, but I suspect that somebody had no clue that an ankh was actually a real-world symbol.
I heard a story that instead of "ankh" they thought it was "ark" like Noah's Ark. No idea how true it is, but it makes some sense out of the situation if true.
Hi everybody, this is my first alter and first post in this thread. I want to thank everyone for sharing their work. It's been a great source of inspiration and motivation.
I chose Spell Pierce specifically as a first card as the colors and style are very forgiving to an extended border in my opinion. I'm not too pleased with some of the color transitions on the right by the set symbol or the spell effects in the upper right hand corner but I learned a lot on this card.
Also a question I had about sleeving up cards. I plan on altering an entire deck that will get played quite a bit. How do people sleeve cards for use? Are perfect fits useful/necessary?
That Spell Pierce looks fine especially for a first-time alter. Everyone's gotta start somewhere!
Perfect Fits are great at keeping cards safe from random dirt and possible spills. With just single sleeves, the tops of the cards tend to get dirt on them. While it can be kinda a hassle, I think that double-sleeving is worth it especially for cards that will see a lot of play (and you'd especially want to protect them if they are all altered).
I mean, as long as we are nitpicking statements, I would point out that "Could" connotes an option. It is different from "Should," which connotes a mandate. Therefore Dio was in fact not saying that you should do anything, only that you have the option to. (In the context of you saying you are Jewish, as if that alone prevents you from having anything to do with Christmas.)
To keep it on topic, I like to use cards that I find aesthetically pleasing, or cards that I have tied to memories/associations. For example, I like the look of Alpha/Beta dual lands best; then Unlimited; then FBB; then Revised. Therefore, I sold my Revised dual lands (I had around 80, many of which I wasn't using) to get Betas for the decks that I actually play + extra cash. This was back before Beta duals cost so much, so it was mostly an aesthetic decision.
Shelter is a pet card of mine. While it isn't in my Cube, it has a permanent home in my Stack. As DerBK said, the cantrip is a must. I give at least some consideration to any card that has the three magic words: "draw a card."
Sulfuric Vortex for Red? (Get the Duel Deck printing if you want Modern borders.) It is the one card that makes me jump into drafting red aggro, and it is the one card I don't want to see an opposing red aggro deck play.
I'd worry about how creature light that deck is. If you don't hit either of your token producers you basically have a lot of draw/counters/burn. Which will only suffice for so long. I'd also add Hellspark Elemental since it's an elemental and combos with the Master in addition to getting in some much needed early damage in a creature-light deck.
A lot of draw/counters/burn is a deck archetype in itself. When you have a certain threshold of X-for-1's you end up just burying your opponent in raw card advantage. In my early years of playing Magic, I thought the draw-go and Counter-Phoenix decks that Randy Buehler played were some of the coolest decks ever. Stalking Stones a single Rainbow Efreet and an avalanche of card advantage were good enough win conditions.
That said, I did think about how it is more or less 11 creatures (counting Control Magic and Tempt with Vengeance because they basically are creatures), but then I figured with Recall, Brainstorm, Ponder, looting with Cryptologist and Charm, draws from Jace and maybe Ice, I should be able to dig into a decent chunk of the deck and find some creatures. I did think about the Hellspark, but it seems like more of a burn spell with flashback in a creature-light deck; wouldn't you want a permanent body? I don't know, what would you cut for the Hellspark?
Basically I figure the deck has a bunch of X-for-1's that will give me time to dig into one of my token engines, and possibly set up a big combo turn with Hellrider and a bunch of tokens. Seems like Hellspark would be more at home in a curve-out aggro deck that has 2-power 1-drops. I'd also feel better with more than just one fetchland or other shuffle effect for the Brainstorm.
I've been using these CubeTutor drafts to try drafting decks that I don't usually draft. Having even 10 creatures in a deck is more than my average; I usually take mana rocks/fixing really high and end up with some kind of Wildfire or Upheaval deck, or a control deck that uses planeswalkers or a typical control finisher as the win condition, or a reanimator/Tinker style deck. I don't like drafting "fair" decks, except for mono-red. Sulfuric Vortex FTW!
Anyway, hope its cool to have more discussion on this thread! I'm learning a lot.
Like you said, alters and signatures are pretty standard for non-foil versions. If you have enough of a combination of time, money, connections, and/or luck, you can go for miscuts/misprints/crimped versions of cards. Depending on how well your group knows the cards, some go for foreign versions. Still others choose certain printings of a card, such as the original printing vs. a reprint with different art.
Having that second Wildfire is really nice if you have drafters that like drafting that deck. Or Ravages for the aggro players. For those that don't proxy, it is rough getting some of the P3K cards. I was happy to see some of them get reprinted in the Commander product; it would be sweet if some of the P3K cube cards similarly would get reprinted in a future product.
Edit: I haven't tried the Master of Waves/blue devotion package yet. I tried drafting it in your list and ended up with this deck. It seems like it could be fun, with all the Elemental tokens from Pyromancer, Tempt, and Master of Waves pumping them all. I had a hard time deciding on the 22nd and 23rd cards in this deck. Is this the kind of deck that your group gets with Master of Waves? Seems like it needs more blue 1-2-drops. One of these times I'd like to try it with Opposition too.
Clearly you misunderstand. I'm not mad at his opinion because I want to profit (if I wanted to profit on the scale you suggest, I'd open a store, not sell random cards on ebay for people who don't have ebay accounts of their own). I'm just sick of seeing all these baseless comments that contribute little to the discussion besides more whining. Attributing printing or reserved list decisions to anyone other than WotC is actual misinformation, since they are the ones making the decision. Calling SCG a "cancer on the game" and saying they do "little to nothing for the game" is misinformation, as their contributions have been pointed out by others in this thread. Also, I'm not saying that the game of Magic NEEDS SCG. I'm saying that if SCG were to go out of business, that would probably indicate that the game is dying. It would be a symptom or result, not a cause. So before you resort to a baseless personal attack, why not do some reading and logical thinking before you decide who is and who isn't spreading misinformation.
Re-reading the rest of this thread, it seems that most of the reasonable discussion has already happened. I'm guessing it'll be more of the whiners rather than actual informed discussion, so I guess it's time to check out of this thread.
Yeah, all SCG does is provide a large national circuit of events for Standard and Legacy players to play in. I mean, who even looks forward to playing in one of these events? I mean, if they canceled them, I'm sure no one would mind, right?
I'm sorry if this comes off as too ranty, but seriously, can we cut down on the misinformation? The day SCG goes out of business would probably mean the game of Magic is dead/nearly dead. If you are fine with no more new cards, a drastic cut in game stores (who basically stay open on the back of Magic), less people to play with/no new players, then yeah, good riddance.
I heard a story that instead of "ankh" they thought it was "ark" like Noah's Ark. No idea how true it is, but it makes some sense out of the situation if true.
That Spell Pierce looks fine especially for a first-time alter. Everyone's gotta start somewhere!
Perfect Fits are great at keeping cards safe from random dirt and possible spills. With just single sleeves, the tops of the cards tend to get dirt on them. While it can be kinda a hassle, I think that double-sleeving is worth it especially for cards that will see a lot of play (and you'd especially want to protect them if they are all altered).
To keep it on topic, I like to use cards that I find aesthetically pleasing, or cards that I have tied to memories/associations. For example, I like the look of Alpha/Beta dual lands best; then Unlimited; then FBB; then Revised. Therefore, I sold my Revised dual lands (I had around 80, many of which I wasn't using) to get Betas for the decks that I actually play + extra cash. This was back before Beta duals cost so much, so it was mostly an aesthetic decision.
I like the RoE artwork better, but the Theros flavor text is so great.
So...something like this?
A lot of draw/counters/burn is a deck archetype in itself. When you have a certain threshold of X-for-1's you end up just burying your opponent in raw card advantage. In my early years of playing Magic, I thought the draw-go and Counter-Phoenix decks that Randy Buehler played were some of the coolest decks ever. Stalking Stones a single Rainbow Efreet and an avalanche of card advantage were good enough win conditions.
That said, I did think about how it is more or less 11 creatures (counting Control Magic and Tempt with Vengeance because they basically are creatures), but then I figured with Recall, Brainstorm, Ponder, looting with Cryptologist and Charm, draws from Jace and maybe Ice, I should be able to dig into a decent chunk of the deck and find some creatures. I did think about the Hellspark, but it seems like more of a burn spell with flashback in a creature-light deck; wouldn't you want a permanent body? I don't know, what would you cut for the Hellspark?
Basically I figure the deck has a bunch of X-for-1's that will give me time to dig into one of my token engines, and possibly set up a big combo turn with Hellrider and a bunch of tokens. Seems like Hellspark would be more at home in a curve-out aggro deck that has 2-power 1-drops. I'd also feel better with more than just one fetchland or other shuffle effect for the Brainstorm.
I've been using these CubeTutor drafts to try drafting decks that I don't usually draft. Having even 10 creatures in a deck is more than my average; I usually take mana rocks/fixing really high and end up with some kind of Wildfire or Upheaval deck, or a control deck that uses planeswalkers or a typical control finisher as the win condition, or a reanimator/Tinker style deck. I don't like drafting "fair" decks, except for mono-red. Sulfuric Vortex FTW!
Anyway, hope its cool to have more discussion on this thread! I'm learning a lot.
Edit: I haven't tried the Master of Waves/blue devotion package yet. I tried drafting it in your list and ended up with this deck. It seems like it could be fun, with all the Elemental tokens from Pyromancer, Tempt, and Master of Waves pumping them all. I had a hard time deciding on the 22nd and 23rd cards in this deck. Is this the kind of deck that your group gets with Master of Waves? Seems like it needs more blue 1-2-drops. One of these times I'd like to try it with Opposition too.