Discussion Forum

Hi TFG

I'm working on a hover over on the Card Search page - I need to add in a couple more columns (P/T and CMC come to mind), so it's not quite ready yet.

We are looking at "tagging" decks, instead of labelling them as a type / standard, but haven't started this yet. Would also love to build in a legality checker, which would say what standards a deck may be legal in, but we don't even have any card legality data yet :p

We could add a standard type dropdown on the deck creation process, then we could build that search functionality in where necessary... will ponder this one :)

Thanks for the feedback, it's definitely appreciated :-)

Ian

[QUOTE=Ian]We could add a standard type dropdown on the deck creation process, then we could build that search functionality in where necessary... will ponder this one :)

Thanks for the feedback, it's definitely appreciated :-)

Ian[/QUOTE]

I was just about to create a thread to suggest that :) Furthermore, it would be nice if the search function were extended to filter other formats as well. It is a slight nuisance when trying to make a T2 Standard deck, but have to refine your search criteria multiple times for each individual set. This feature would definitely be fantastic! ^-^

Hmm T2 could be a little bit trickier, what with the sets changing all the time :p Not played magic in ages, so might be a basic question but...

What are the most common formats?


* Standard
* Extended
* Legacy
* Block
* Vintage


Is T2 Standard another format entirely? Anything I'm missing?

Cheers

Ian

@Ian

as you might remember i'm a noob and i'm getting to know all (well some of) the cards pretty well but my only problem is searaching for good lands to compliment them. Ive tired to search under lands as the type and as the card text and any other way i could think of. Is this human error or technical? would very much appreciate it if could be fixed or just told how to do correctly. thanks

Sent you a pm D_ROC.

Ian

thanks for the help ian, and for anyone else who was having a hard time it helps not to try and sort by color, just search for all of them and they all come up but won't if you choose a specific color, but the rare thing made a big difference, thanks again ian :o

[QUOTE=The Flying Goat]One thing I would love to see is a function where when you look at a deck, whether it be your own or someone elses, you can just move your mouse over a card name, and it show a picture.[/QUOTE]

If you use Firefox and are familiar with the Greasemonkey extension, I've written a script to add the exact hover feature you are talking about. The script can be found here.

Zak

[QUOTE=Ian]Hmm T2 could be a little bit trickier, what with the sets changing all the time :p[/QUOTE]

Perhaps it would be easier to make it so multiple sets could be included in the search? For instance, instead of refining a search to only 2011 or Rise of Eldrazi, let it include Rise, Worldwake, Zendikar, 2011 and 2010. Currently when I'm searching and building standard I just search the same query 5 times, one for each set included. That would speed things up for me. Of course, so would just being able to select T2 from a drop down menu, ha. But I guess now you have to ideas to work from.

Cheers!

[QUOTE=Ian]Hmm T2 could be a little bit trickier, what with the sets changing all the time :p Not played magic in ages, so might be a basic question but...

What are the most common formats?


* Standard
* Extended
* Legacy
* Block
* Vintage


Is T2 Standard another format entirely? Anything I'm missing?

Cheers

Ian[/QUOTE]

Ok, here's the Rundown on formats for ya:


* Standard is also known as Type 2, and it includes the last 2 blocks and the most recent core set. Currently it is Shards of Alara Block, Zendikar block, M10, and M11. When Scars of Mirrodin comes out, Shards of Alara Block and M10 will rotate out of the format.
* Extended, also known as Type 1.x, includes the last four years of Magic. Right now that's everything that's Standard legal, Time Spiral Block, Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block, and Tenth Edition. When Scars of Mirrodin is released, Tenth Edition and Time Spiral block will rotate out.
* Legacy has all the sets legal for play.
* Vintage has all the sets legal for play, but no banlist. Instead, there is a list of Restricted cards, meaning that you may play up to 1 copy in a deck.
* Block Constructed only uses the cards from a single block of sets. Examples: Shards of Alara Block consists of Shards of Alara, Conflux, and Alara Reborn. Zendikar Block consists of Zendikar, Worldwake, and Rise of the Eldrazi.


Again, each of these formats has its own banlist, found on the wizards website. This information was pulled from http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Resources.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/resources/formats-sanctioned

Hope this helps!

[QUOTE=Zanmor]Perhaps it would be easier to make it so multiple sets could be included in the search? For instance, instead of refining a search to only 2011 or Rise of Eldrazi, let it include Rise, Worldwake, Zendikar, 2011 and 2010. Currently when I'm searching and building standard I just search the same query 5 times, one for each set included. That would speed things up for me. Of course, so would just being able to select T2 from a drop down menu, ha. But I guess now you have to ideas to work from.

Cheers![/QUOTE]

This would probably be the easiest method.. since sets / blocks within the "Show only cards from this set" dropbox are provided in chronological order. Rather than including a single selection, perhaps change the dropbox to a drop-down check list, allowing a user to refine their search to any combination of sets.

This would be more functionally beneficial than searching by format, as a user might instead wish to search only within sets that they own cards from.. or for some other reason not obvious at the moment. This could remove entirely the need for a "search by format" option (or, if you have an easy solution to search by format, you could include both ;) )

A few thoughts to make this function work...
-- Each block should also be selectable, checking / unchecking all sets within this block.
-- All checked data should be stored locally, and persist until the user leaves MTG Vault (or until some other more reasonable criteria is met). This would remove the need to reselect all desired sets each time a new card is added to the decklist. I would assume that most users refining their search in this manner are most likely going to continue using those search criteria throughout the entirety of the deck building process.
-- To remedy the persistent nature of the selected set-search criteria, "All Sets" should remain at the top of the checklist, and by selecting it all other selected criteria is deselected. Similarly, once another set/block is selected from the list, "All Sets" should be deselected.

What do you think?

Only on a flying visit to the forums, so just skim read the above - but looks good. Like the checkbox on dropdown option. Having sub headings within a dropdown list in .NET is actually a bit of a hack, it's not something the web control does out of the box, so the check boxes may be tricky, but i like the idea :D

Not sure about persisting data, it's something i need to look into.

Thanks for the ideas!

Cheers

Ian

Great! :D

Even if you could not select by block, that wouldn't be a big deal. Just, the fewer steps the user is required to take, the more power is given to them to search in a timely and efficient manner. The ability to reduce three clicks into a single click is only marginally important in this regard. But persistent search criteria, on the other hand, would be much more important. But even that, if it would be more difficult to impliment than it'd be beneficial, just having the option to search within a specific list of sets would be a huge step forward, and would provide a great deal more power to the search engine.