The plastic wrapping could probably be recycled but I suppose they could try to switch to some sort of paper packaging, as well. I have no idea what that might do to the cost of the product, though.
They tested a switch to paper based packaging during one of the Modern Masters series (1 or 2 I don't remember - pretty sure it was MM1) and stated they learned from the test, although it wasn't perfect and it effected card quality. It's something they have stated on numerous occasions they are working on. I'm not sure what we want from them? Print their cards with magical pixie dust dust instead of ink or... print jank limited commons on the skin fiber of Amazonian Rainforest Loggers? It's a Trading CARD Game in case you missed that point when you were introduced to game.
This. I put together pauper Elves, Sultai Delver, Reantimator, U-Tron, RG Tron, Caw Blade, Affinity, Mono U, Mono B, UB Control, Goblins, Burn, UW Blink, Infect and ZOO. All together it took about $200 to put all those decks together (I probably already had about 40% of the needed cards.)
I don't particularly play standard that often but my quick opinions:
1) I agree with Rosewater's statement that a complete lack of bans means they aren't pushing the envelope and improving the game.
2) The only recent "mistake" was the copy-cat combo. Energy and vehicles have been at the heart of the majority of recent bannings and both are interesting new additions to the game. History shows that interesting new additions are often riddled with issues at the beginning. Vehicles are very reminiscent of equipment and there were serious power level issues with equipment in the beginning. Energy is an excellent concept that is also very dependent on building a shell that harnesses it. When cards are built for a particular archetype they make the whole much more powerful than the individual cards and in this case they dedicated a chunk of two sets to the archetype.
Pauper has grown leaps and bounds in the past couple of years and that is while being almost completely tied to MTGO. If they would ever cement a paper pauper format by identifying a proper banlist and clarify the early rarity classifications for pauper purposes I think it would be one of the most popular paper formats.
So here's my edited version, with sideboard. Thoughts?
So I've had the pieces of Affinity lying around for a while from the good old days of Scars block and I've recently cobbled something together for a maindeck. What sort of things should I have in Sideboard? The meta there seems to be a lot of CoCo/Counters Company/Abzan Exalted, with a mix of Eldrazi Tron, Bant Eldrazi, Gx Tron, and a few people running Bogles, Gifts Storm, and BUG Death's Shadow.
Main deck looks pretty stock. I vary just a bit: three Memnite instead of two and a full set of Darksteel Citadel will help increase the chances of getting Opal online turn 1. The only big recommendations I can make is running a basic a mountain to make Path to Exile and Ghost Quarter hurt less, and if Eldrazi is that big in your meta I'd run an equal 2/2 main deck split of Champion and Master.
Sideboard:
*I would just run two cages instead of RIP. With Affinity drawing the sideboard bullet you brought in is only half the battle, you still have to ensure you have the colored mana to get it on the field.
*I like three Spell Pierces side board. It's won me more games than any other card in my extra 15. With Affinity 1 turn can win you a game and negating any hate they might bring for just 1 turn is often the difference and will break your opponent's back.
*I tried Dispatch for awhile and just like Dismember so much better, but that's just a preference.
*Also a preference, but I prefer Wear/Tear over Ancient Grudge if I don't expect to see Lantern or the mirror matchup.
All that said, I've only being playing Affinity dedicated for just over a year so there are probably people with almost a decade more experience who could provide more.
Very few renter's and homeowner's policies will cover collectibles and those that do will cover very little. For my sports memorabilia I used Collect Insure for awhile before I moved the valuable items to a safe deposit box. It was afforadable and fair for what it was. I would, however, only recommend it if you are insuring a handful of items at high value (P9 and early unopened). It's great for insuring 15-20 items that are irreplaceable but not really built to insure 10,000 items at the same value.
It a lot like one I used to run and I tried forever to make a viable modern miracle deck. It's just insanely tough without hand fixing. Miracles on the draw are dead until you discard them for revival and having one hit with Remand is even worse. The problem with it is that you spend so much effort trying to control your top deck when you should be worrying about controlling your opponent. Supreme Verdict is just better than Terminus in UW IMO and Luminarch's Ascension is just a better Angel engine and finisher (and is a 3x in my UW shell.) I wish you best though!
I think these lands are great even without an ETB untapped mode. If that turns you off you might not be considering the full context of how use can use them in eternal (particularly modern) formats . As already stated they seem to have great synergy with Loam, but they also feed dredge, pump cards like Knight of the Reliquary at an instant un-counterable speed (while replacing itself), dig for answers and.... are fetch-able.
Personally I can't wait to test 2-3 out in Modern UW and Esper control. I'm a huge fan of Think Twice in both shells and IMO if you can't top deck the answer you need the next best thing is to top deck a card that can dig the answer you need. I can't even count the games I've won top decking a TT and digging a Verdict, Path, Cryptic or Snap to turn the corner. Early take is I love this design and think lots of uses can be nudged out of them
As a sport card collector primarily, here's a couple notes:
1. Beckett doesn't grade packs. PSA is the only reputable TPG company that will grade packs and that's only because of their contract with BBCE and Steve Hart. If you want a pack graded it is PSA and PSA only.
They tested a switch to paper based packaging during one of the Modern Masters series (1 or 2 I don't remember - pretty sure it was MM1) and stated they learned from the test, although it wasn't perfect and it effected card quality. It's something they have stated on numerous occasions they are working on. I'm not sure what we want from them? Print their cards with magical pixie dust dust instead of ink or... print jank limited commons on the skin fiber of Amazonian Rainforest Loggers? It's a Trading CARD Game in case you missed that point when you were introduced to game.
Hasbro purchases carbon emission offset credits for 100% of their energy usage on a yearly basis. So yeah, they have...
1) I agree with Rosewater's statement that a complete lack of bans means they aren't pushing the envelope and improving the game.
2) The only recent "mistake" was the copy-cat combo. Energy and vehicles have been at the heart of the majority of recent bannings and both are interesting new additions to the game. History shows that interesting new additions are often riddled with issues at the beginning. Vehicles are very reminiscent of equipment and there were serious power level issues with equipment in the beginning. Energy is an excellent concept that is also very dependent on building a shell that harnesses it. When cards are built for a particular archetype they make the whole much more powerful than the individual cards and in this case they dedicated a chunk of two sets to the archetype.
Main deck looks pretty stock. I vary just a bit: three Memnite instead of two and a full set of Darksteel Citadel will help increase the chances of getting Opal online turn 1. The only big recommendations I can make is running a basic a mountain to make Path to Exile and Ghost Quarter hurt less, and if Eldrazi is that big in your meta I'd run an equal 2/2 main deck split of Champion and Master.
Sideboard:
*I would just run two cages instead of RIP. With Affinity drawing the sideboard bullet you brought in is only half the battle, you still have to ensure you have the colored mana to get it on the field.
*I like three Spell Pierces side board. It's won me more games than any other card in my extra 15. With Affinity 1 turn can win you a game and negating any hate they might bring for just 1 turn is often the difference and will break your opponent's back.
*I tried Dispatch for awhile and just like Dismember so much better, but that's just a preference.
*Also a preference, but I prefer Wear/Tear over Ancient Grudge if I don't expect to see Lantern or the mirror matchup.
All that said, I've only being playing Affinity dedicated for just over a year so there are probably people with almost a decade more experience who could provide more.
I think these lands are great even without an ETB untapped mode. If that turns you off you might not be considering the full context of how use can use them in eternal (particularly modern) formats . As already stated they seem to have great synergy with Loam, but they also feed dredge, pump cards like Knight of the Reliquary at an instant un-counterable speed (while replacing itself), dig for answers and.... are fetch-able.
Personally I can't wait to test 2-3 out in Modern UW and Esper control. I'm a huge fan of Think Twice in both shells and IMO if you can't top deck the answer you need the next best thing is to top deck a card that can dig the answer you need. I can't even count the games I've won top decking a TT and digging a Verdict, Path, Cryptic or Snap to turn the corner. Early take is I love this design and think lots of uses can be nudged out of them
T: add G to your mana pool. Spend this mana only on spells.
In my opinion it won't.
http://www.ultrapro.com/product_info.php?products_id=651
1. Beckett doesn't grade packs. PSA is the only reputable TPG company that will grade packs and that's only because of their contract with BBCE and Steve Hart. If you want a pack graded it is PSA and PSA only.
2. Use these: They will fit your packs just fine.