Discussion Forum

The problem with whining about netdecking is that it's effectively saying nobody can use anything that's been proven to be good, and in any finite scenario there will be many things that are just strictly better and it would be stupid and counterproductive to not use them just because someone else did.

it's fine to get inspiration and ideas, but honestly..playing a deck you had no part in conceiving is, to me, horrendously boring.

then again, i understand some ppl enjoy deck building and some ppl just like playing the game.

Personally, I don't mind when people use decks from the net, but at the same time, showing up at FNM and having to play against netdecks all night kind of takes the creativity out of it. That's why I don't have any netdecks...in fact, I like looking at them (and their combos that seem to be everywhere) and try to find ways to disable them. :)

I don't care, I actually like looking at them and seeing how they work out, and then see if I can change anything to make them better, but it also helps me get ideas for my own decks

like with the evolution of sience the net helped speed up things conciderably. Big breakthroughs in wathever field are usually not the result of one individuals work but are born from a cumulation of knowledge, experimentation and cooperation.

The same is true for Magic deck building. One guy makes a great deck, others pick up on it and through testing make improvements. That's what netdecks are, they are the result of many people testing a specific deck until it's as good as it can be.
Casual players make a big deal out of net-decks simply because they need to be able to point a finger when they loose. Playing a netdeck doesn't mean you'll win games. Netdecks are the domian of tournament play, you take one of the top X decks and learn to play it, maybe even make a few changes of your own. You play it versus other people who do the same and the fun in that is that now the skills of the player make the difference and no longer the holes in the deck construction.

When you play casual it's often more fun to create your own decks because playing the same deck over and over becomes boring fast. For tournament play it's a nessecary evil to play the same deck over and over and test it versus all the other popular decks because if you don't you'll loose. That is what playtesting is all about. Learning to play a deck and get to know the meta.

If you don't like netdecks start playing multiplayer games. Netdecking in multiplayer chaos games doesn't work. It's a different kind of magic. Still the best players and best deckbuilders will win 9 times out of 10. If you are starting out playing magic in a group of good players (as I did) you learn to loose, every time, over and over and over. It's a valuable experience, because you learn with each game but it takes a long time to catch up with good players and that has nothing to do with netdecking.

If it was up to me all people should have access to all cards. At the start people will always blame others for playing expensive cards as the reason that they can't win. But once you get to a point when you have all the cards you'll start to get it. If every one fights with the same weapons it's no longer about the cards/weapons, it's about the player. A lot of players I know are simply a lot better at deck building and playing then I am, that is often the reason I loose and not the cards we wield. I know guys I will win against game after game and I know guys I will loose to game after game. It's not about the cards, it's about the pilot. there's your answer!

I will admit, i have used decks from the net before. after two or three rounds fo kickin rear end, i lay em down. They get boring after a while, but then they also serve as a good resource in sharpening your own deck building capabilities. if you pay attention to card types and such, you become more and more knowledgeable.

I think its a good learning tool for newer magic players. As time goes by, you should be familiar with what cards you own, but lets face it, i dont think anyone has a total knowledge of every single one of his / her cards. we usually have just too many heheeheh

Personally, I enjoy testing decks from the net, trying to tweak them, playtesting them, using them as inspiration. Me and some friend play with proxy cards a lot, and that's a great way of doing it, giving you the oportunity to really test everything you can think of. Fiddling around with netdecks is just a great way of giving you ideas and helps you improve your own deckbuilding.

It's important to not though that I very rarely take a deck directly from the net and play it as my own. Half the game is deckbuilding, and winning with someone elses deck just isn't as fun as when you put a good deck together yourself.

Also, playtesting netdecks is the best way of figuring out how to counter them ;)