Magic: The Gathering

[Masamunemaster]

Ok, so for years I told myself that this card game would be lame and suck balls hard; but alas my manager ended up forcing me to play it out of boredom and I am hooked. I just bought the 2k11 core set, and started making me a deck up. I was just wondering if there was some place on the interwebs that allowed me to insert the deck that I made and play a few games with it....kinda like practice to see how good it is ya know.

I would appriciate if someone knew a place like so, but Id also like to talk about it some since I don't see a topic about it

[Bunny]

I don't have much experience with it since I quite playing M:TG after I graduated from high school (save for a pick-up game here and there) but Magic Workstation (http://www.magicworkstation.com/) might be a good place to start.

I enjoyed M:TG when I played it but it got to the point where I couldn't afford to spend money to expand my collection so I decided to quit playing. At the time I did play, I played two decks primarily:

A deck comprised almost entirely out of squirrel cards with the main goal of getting out an unsurmountable army of squirrels as fast as possible. I think the quickest game I won with this deck was in five or six turns.

The second deck was fairly solid but not as winning as my squirrel deck. It focused on elves and was primarily a defensive-focused deck with offensive capabilities. I gained life faster than most players could handle.

I never played tournament-style and the deck construction style that I used wasn't entirely free range (so tournament banned cards were fine to use) because it was with a large group of friends.

[Masamunemaster]

Yea he told me you could get about 34 squirrels out by the 3 turn, I like blue decks so far. My newest deck im going to try for a red/blue or white/blue if I get some good white stuff

[Yue Kitsune]

it's been a few years since i've played Magic, but i used to love it. If you've got a card shop near by, they almost always have Friday Night Magic, it's a tournament (usually sanctioned by Wizards of the Coast) the price depends on the event or the place. it used to be $1 for a begginers bracket at one place i went, and $5 at another (no begginers bracket), the more expensive ones were more fun though, $10 for a team tournament, or a sealed deck / booster draft. i'd explain those but this'd get all the longer if i did XD.

anyway to answer your question, if there's a card shop near by, just go there (again usually fridays) and play around, it'll give you a good idea of what everyone else is playing and some great ideas for your own decks.

otherwise, there was a program that was basically a Magic data base that'd let you make your own deck, but it realied on the players to know the rules and follow them, all you could do was play the cards, draw, and tap them.

there's also 2 decent Magic video games. the first (and cheapest) is the Magic: Duels of Planeswalkers or something like that, limited amount of cards and you hafta use the provided decks (they let you swap some cards in and out) but if your straped for cash probly the better way to go.

the other is Magic: online, just go to the Magic website and look around. basically you buy virtual cards (if you collect a whole set they'll send you a hard copy of the set) can make your own decks and play online in tournaments and pickup games. if you go this route then i wouldn't bother to much with buying real cards, plus this'll always have people you can play. i stopped playing when i went to college because there just wasn't enough people that played.

they both cost the same to start, but online you hafta buy boosters and individual cards, and duels you can't (i think they have an expansion though)

sorry that's so long (obviously i'm still very much a fan XD) if you have any questions feel free to ask

[Ultima Shadow]

Just a friendly warning: once you've got hooked, there's no return. You'll be a MTG nerd FOREVER!!!

[Masamunemaster]

only problem is that I usually am working friday nights and the closest place I know of for sure is about 45mins away lol

[Yue Kitsune]

ouch, well other than those options it's just play with your friends.

i think you mentioned making a white red, or white blue deck before, so just some tips from my experinces with those color combos;

white / red: try and keep everything as cheap as possible, nothing over say 4 converted mana cost (ex: 1 mountain, 3 whatever) unless it's a game winner. white will mostly be defense, and boosts for your creatures, 'holy strength' and other enchantments that give +1 / +1. red will be mostly offense, raging goblin and other cheap guys with haste or first strike, and damage to target player or creature spells like shock. you'll probly wanna throw in that one angel that gives you 3 life when it comes into play.

white / blue: white will prity much be the same thing, this color combo is less about swarming with an army of small stuff, and more about controling everything, you'll know you're doing it right if the game starts dragging out a bit or your opponent can't keep anything decent in play. you'll want pacifism in both combos, and that soldier creature that lets you tap target creature. for blue, go with counter spells, and things that let you see what you are going to draw, and that return stuff on the field to your opponents hand. it's always a good idea to leave enough lands untaped at the end of your turn to play a counter spell even if you don't have one, just the possiblity that a card will be countered will make them think twice about playing it.

hope this helps you out a little

[Ultima Shadow]

Red/White is awesome if you want to kick ass with a cheap (cheap to buy) deck. Or at least used to be. I used to play a Boros deck back in the day when Ravinca was Standard-legal, with almost only commons and uncommons in it. And I still managed to beat decks with $80+ price tags. It was glorious. Boros Swiftblade will remain my fav creature forever.

[Yue Kitsune]

yeah, borros was pretty good. i never saw alot of the black green deck from Ravnica though, i alway thought that would have done well but nobody used it (at least not at the shop i went to). now Izzet was awsome, red blue with that crazy slime that you tap to deal damage and untap when you played a spell XD

[Masamunemaster]

I have a red blue to start off then switch to white blue later on when I get better stuff for it(whites). the main thing my deck is revolving around at the moment is the stormtide leviathan (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=205029) which can decimate when paired with a few tough reds and Frostwind Invoker (http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193476), but that is all due to what rules I get to playing

[Yue Kitsune]

better than the Invoker would be Levitation, it's an enchantment that gives all your creatures flying without having to pay an extra cost, and it's cheaper than the invoker. and considering the cost of the Stormtide Leviathan, i would go blue green to help get lands out quicker, or invest in some cheap costing artifacts that give you mana so you can get that out asap.

plus with green you get stuff like fog (prevent all combat damage this turn) Elvish Visionary (lets you draw a card when it comes into play) and if you happen to have some money to burn, the ever popular Birds of Paradise (tap to add one mana of any color to your pool) and Elvish Piper (pay a green and tap it to put a creature fom your hand into play) and that's just from the Magic 2010 set

[Værn]

I like running art decks. It takes the issue of color mostly out of the picture and makes it a matter of playing around with what you have~

[Masamunemaster]

well I have a few "tap to add 1 mana to your mana pool" mainly for a heavy hitter thats a very last resort...it wont be hard at all getting it out....plus with 3 jace's ingenuity gettin enough cards in hand wont be a prob.

Maybe I should put what I have in my first deck up when I wake up so you all can see what I have?