Magic the Gathering Online

[Nanshork]

Is it worth it?  Is it fun?

[Sinfire Titan]

Is it worth the initial fee? Certainly, if you are really good at Draft (it's possible to never pay for any draft beyond the first one you use to get started, you just need to be really good at drafting or get good packs). In other words, casual magic players are better off sticking to freeware.

Is it fun? If you can build a solid friend list, yes. But playing with random people carries a strong risk of running into jackasses. People on MTGO are more prone to disconnecting if they would lose a single game (or even playing against a mono-Blue deck) than they are on Cockatrice (although that has actual server issues). Not as bad as MWS, but still really bad.

If MTGO were Mac compatible without me needing to emulate Windows or instal Windows 7 directly, I would debate getting back into it for some of the features that MTGO has that Cockatrice lacks (namely Vanguard, Planechase, and Archenemy, which are tedious to do in Cockatrice). But that's because I have an existing MTGO account (forgot the password years ago) and have several cards that would be high-value today (allowing me to build a mini-collection).

If you are strapped for cash, or if your local playgroups don't also play online, I don't recommend MTGO at all.




I really should start a Cockatrice thread and see how many BGers I can get to join up so I have a legitimate reason to use my friends list...

[Nanshork]

A) I've never played in a MtG tournament in my life. 

B) I don't have any kind of a group at all, that's why I was thinking about it.  I have a bunch of cards but none of my friends care about playing anymore and I have no interest in playing at the local store.  That's why I'm curious about MtGO.\

What is Cockatrice?

[Sinfire Titan]

A) I've never played in a MtG tournament in my life. 

B) I don't have any kind of a group at all, that's why I was thinking about it.  I have a bunch of cards but none of my friends care about playing anymore and I have no interest in playing at the local store.  That's why I'm curious about MtGO.\

What is Cockatrice?

A) Then MTGO isn't worth the money unless you really put effort into going pro.

B) Then download MTGO's trial version to refresh yourself on the current rules of the game (they've changed quite a bit), but don't go any further.

Cockatrice is a recently-released freeware version of MTG. It requires no fees at all, and uses the Oracle provided by WotC to keep the game free for everyone. I'm an avid user of the program, especially because it makes it easy to build a deck.


There are some issues with Cockatrice's coding, but it runs smoothly enough that you'd almost never notice.

[Nanshork]

So using Cockatrice I just "own" every card ever printed and can make decks out of it?  That sounds intimidating.

[Sinfire Titan]

So using Cockatrice I just "own" every card ever printed and can make decks out of it?  That sounds intimidating.

Yeah, pretty much. It gives significant more freedom than MTGO does when building a deck, but it is perfect for more casual players.

[Nanshork]

Honestly that might be a little too much freedom for me, that why I was thinking of MtGO.  It's like building decks from scratch all over again. 

Cockatrice is free though so I guess I should check it out.

[Nanshork]

Okay, I'm rummaging around in Cockatrice and I have two basic questions.  A) Is there any way to sort the card list to find out which cards are good for which formats?  B) Where can I find good looking 156x60 avatars?

[Sinfire Titan]

Okay, I'm rummaging around in Cockatrice and I have two basic questions.  A) Is there any way to sort the card list to find out which cards are good for which formats?  B) Where can I find good looking 156x60 avatars?

1: Not really, no. I typically use Magiccards.info to search for cards I want to put into a deck, write the names down in Notepad, and then use the "Load deck from clipboard" option that the Cockatrice deck builder has.

2: Avatars for the actual program are identical to your forum profile's avatar over at Cockatrice's forums. You need to edit your avatar there, then connect to Cockatrice's server using your screenname from the forums (it won't show up if you aren't connected).


Also, look around for the hotkeys you need to play. Speeds things up dramatically.

[Nanshork]

I know how to use the avatars and whatnot, I just can't find any good looking ones with those exact pixel specifications. 

Alright, time to fiddle with this program.

[Agita]

I know how to use the avatars and whatnot, I just can't find any good looking ones with those exact pixel specifications. 

Alright, time to fiddle with this program.

I generally just make my own avatars by cropping and resizing. Anything specific you want?

As for listing cards, Gatherer can search for pretty much anything.

[Nanshork]

I know how to use the avatars and whatnot, I just can't find any good looking ones with those exact pixel specifications. 

Alright, time to fiddle with this program.

I generally just make my own avatars by cropping and resizing. Anything specific you want?

As for listing cards, Gatherer can search for pretty much anything.

Cropping and resizing the few that I have didn't look good so I'm at a loss for what to do for an avatar.

I'm just intimidated by searching through every card ever made to build a deck.   

[Agita]

I know how to use the avatars and whatnot, I just can't find any good looking ones with those exact pixel specifications. 

Alright, time to fiddle with this program.

I generally just make my own avatars by cropping and resizing. Anything specific you want?

As for listing cards, Gatherer can search for pretty much anything.

Cropping and resizing the few that I have didn't look good so I'm at a loss for what to do for an avatar.

I'm just intimidated by searching through every card ever made to build a deck.   

Well, generally, you'd want to start with "What should my deck do and in what format?", then narrow down cards from there. The number of actually usable cards shrinks pretty quickly, and you can always ask here or ont he MtG general thread too.

[Nanshork]

I know how to use the avatars and whatnot, I just can't find any good looking ones with those exact pixel specifications. 

Alright, time to fiddle with this program.

I generally just make my own avatars by cropping and resizing. Anything specific you want?

As for listing cards, Gatherer can search for pretty much anything.

Cropping and resizing the few that I have didn't look good so I'm at a loss for what to do for an avatar.

I'm just intimidated by searching through every card ever made to build a deck.   

Well, generally, you'd want to start with "What should my deck do and in what format?", then narrow down cards from there. The number of actually usable cards shrinks pretty quickly, and you can always ask here or ont he MtG general thread too.

So your answer is basically "pretend that you own all the cards and take forever like you normally do".  I can do that.

[Sinfire Titan]

Or ask the guys at MTGS (like me). We tend to be very good at deckbuilding.


It really all depends on the format you want to play in.

[Nanshork]

Until yesterday I was only vaguely aware of formats, I've only ever played with friends using whatever cards we wanted.  I'm still getting a handle on this.

Can Cockatrice actually do some of the more complicated card actions automatically or do you have to do them manually and make sure that you're not accidentally cheating?

[brujon]

Deck Checking is your friend. No, really. Go to MTGS or deckcheck.de and take a look at the decklist for some of the tournament winners. See what works and what doesn't work togheter, and try to tweak it to your specifications, and once you're familiar enough with the card list, you build your own from scratch and see how it fares. That's how i do it, most of the time.

[sirpercival]

I just downloaded cockatrice as well since I haven't played magic in ages.  Built an idealized version of my old pyromancy deck, and have a few others in the works.

I'd be happy to play (and probably get my ass kicked), but Legacy format only since I haven't bought new cards in forever so the stuff I know is older.  Sirpercival, of course

[brujon]

I opened cockatrice here, and i downloaded all sets informations, how do i filter the database such that it only shows the editions currently on rotation from standard? I can't seem to find a way to do it like i could in MWS.

[Sinfire Titan]

Until yesterday I was only vaguely aware of formats, I've only ever played with friends using whatever cards we wanted.  I'm still getting a handle on this.

Can Cockatrice actually do some of the more complicated card actions automatically or do you have to do them manually and make sure that you're not accidentally cheating?

Almost everything is manual. Someone with a good grasp of coding might be able to replicate some of MTGO's automated programming, but that's well beyond my understanding.

I opened cockatrice here, and i downloaded all sets informations, how do i filter the database such that it only shows the editions currently on rotation from standard? I can't seem to find a way to do it like i could in MWS.

Not an option in Cockatrice, but you can organize the list of cards in the Deck Editor by set to make things a little easier. That's one of the things that separates the two programs.