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Just got back into Magic

I first got into MtG when I was in high school, and I made a deck out of a buddy's extra cards. I didn't actually own any. Right at the end of high school, some friends and I pitched in together to buy an Unhinged box, split up the colors, and played a 4-way game, picking over the multi-colored and artifact cards based on who won. At that point, the only cards I owned were the white and green cards from an Unhinged box, plus some artifacts.

Skip ahead to now, and a local game store got me into their weekly draft tournament. And now I've been sucked back into the game. And now, without a friend supplying extra cards for a deck, I'm buying my own :D

In the spirit of previous collectible card games I've been a part of, I bought myself a M11 box yesterday. So I now own a little more than 2 decks' worth of Unhinged, and a little more than a box of M11 (box plus two draft tournaments). I'm a little short on land to make decks, but I've ordered a bunch of Zendikar basics from Troll and Toad (specifically because I love having the full card art from Unhinged, and everywhere I looked except TaT either had none for sale, or wanted upwards for $1 per land).

In short, I'm wondering if anyone had any general recommendations for me? I've got enough to make a deck once my basic lands arrive, but it would be entirely M11 creatures and spells, and I'm curious if there's anything else I should get, or any other set I should look into. (Between the two M11 drafts and the box, I'm missing 33 M11 cards and have just a single of 38 others.)

Alternatively, I would welcome tips for the weekly draft tournament! My first draft (first actual tournament ever), I lost 0-2 three times with a Green/Blue deck. My second draft I lost 1-2 twice, and won 2-0 once with a pure White deck. Neither deck had any real focus: with the G/B I grabbed pretty much anything I could use, and by the time I was building the W, I started thinking about stealing stuff that I didn't want to face off against, either.

(At the shop where the draft takes place, I know one regular loves burn decks, another loves vampires, and a third is infamous for running to time. These are things I can regularly expect to encounter. EDIT: as far as I know, no other regulars have such set draft choices.)
Posted 29 July 2010 at 04:36

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4 replies

most shops will give you basic land for free, or at little or no cost. Either that or buy some on ebay. Forget about Unhinged land however because that 1$ per land is cheap. Unhinged full art lands are rare and sought after.
If you like full art land buy some zendikar land, those are full art as well and pretty common.

Sticking to draft for a while is good to build up a collection and practise your deck building skills. Lots of people play only draft and prereleases and don't play any magic outside of that.
Singles these days of tournament cards cost you a lot so it's better to first learn to play and then start buying what you think you need.

Some drafting tips

- 24 spells/16 land is usually where you start at, if you play really big spells that can win you games go up to 18 land/ 22 spells

- stick to 2 colors if you can, 3 max. That 3th color is usually just for 1 or 2 cards and you play up to 3 lands in that color, It's usually something you might want late game and that can be game altering.

- Always study what cards are in the set by looking at the visual spoilers at the wizards site, so you know from the mana an opponent has open what you might expect.

- draft lots of removal if you can, in M11 stuff like Doomblade and assassinate can win you games. Crystal ball is obviously good.

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Posted 29 July 2010 at 06:57

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Slightly OT but relevant to your opening: You do know unhinged is a joke set and you can't ever use those in a "real" game right? Ordinarily I wouldn't even bother asking but I actually had someone try and use Mons Goblin Waiter and City of Ass to get two mana...

I actually feel somewhat bad about how I handled that, took me a good few minutes to stop laughing and get back into my chair after I heard him say "I sacrifice a goblin for half a red mana"...
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Posted 29 July 2010 at 08:40

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lol

...well you can use them in casual games where both players agree to allow un-sets. I have a bunch of these cards and they just sit there at the bottom of a box filled with crap cards.
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Posted 29 July 2010 at 09:09

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[QUOTE=Seth]most shops will give you basic land for free, or at little or no cost. Either that or buy some on ebay. Forget about Unhinged land however because that 1$ per land is cheap. Unhinged full art lands are rare and sought after.
If you like full art land buy some zendikar land, those are full art as well and pretty common.[/quote]Yeah, that's exactly what I did. Zendikar came out after I stopped playing, but when I found they have full art, and found a place selling them cheap in bulk, I got them.

[QUOTE=Seth]Some drafting tips

- 24 spells/16 land is usually where you start at, if you play really big spells that can win you games go up to 18 land/ 22 spells

- stick to 2 colors if you can, 3 max. That 3th color is usually just for 1 or 2 cards and you play up to 3 lands in that color, It's usually something you might want late game and that can be game altering.

- Always study what cards are in the set by looking at the visual spoilers at the wizards site, so you know from the mana an opponent has open what you might expect.

- draft lots of removal if you can, in M11 stuff like Doomblade and assassinate can win you games. Crystal ball is obviously good.[/QUOTE]Yes, I've had some rough spots against black decks (Doomblade, Assassinate, etc.) as well as land hate in my drafts so far. The first time, a single destroyed Forest cost me the game :(

I had a Crystal Ball in my second deck, but never got much opportunity to use it.

I must admit, I hadn't really thought about anticipating specific cards they could come up with. But in retrospect, I realize it's a great idea. With only a limited variety, it's a lot easier to expect what's coming up than a game with so many sets open for use.

[QUOTE=Shadowex3;10975]Slightly OT but relevant to your opening: You do know unhinged is a joke set and you can't ever use those in a "real" game right?[/quote]Absolutely. I mean, I've got AWOL and OMRSTPLRLCNSWMTCTHTALCNEE. Some cards resemble 'playable' (Uktabi Kong is really only a joke because of his... 'reproduction'), but I do realize Unhinged is a joke set (and the same for Unglued).
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Posted 29 July 2010 at 19:40

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