Magic the Gathering Online

[brujon]

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.

Dang. They REALLY need to make that an option in upcoming versions. It makes it SO MUCH EASIER to build a deck... Overall, i'm not seeing much difference from MWS, and for the most part, i actually think Cockatrice is better.

[Sinfire Titan]

The player base on Cockatrice is a bit more rule-savvy than the jackasses on MWS too. Anyone who's played on MWS long enough will know what I'm referring to.

[brujon]

The player base on Cockatrice is a bit more rule-savvy than the jackasses on MWS too. Anyone who's played on MWS long enough will know what I'm referring to.

Yes, yes i do. Netdeckers who never played MTG before are a plague on MWS.  Titan, i'm taking a look at the competitive decks at MTGS, and i'm wondering, how's the current matchup between them? Any chance i can get you to give me a quick rundown of how they fare between them?

EDIT: Leaning strongly towards playing white, it seems to be the meta now.

[Sinfire Titan]

The player base on Cockatrice is a bit more rule-savvy than the jackasses on MWS too. Anyone who's played on MWS long enough will know what I'm referring to.

Yes, yes i do. Netdeckers who never played MTG before are a plague on MWS.  Titan, i'm taking a look at the competitive decks at MTGS, and i'm wondering, how's the current matchup between them? Any chance i can get you to give me a quick rundown of how they fare between them?

EDIT: Leaning strongly towards playing white, it seems to be the meta now.

For Standard? B/W Tokens, Kessig, Tempered Steel, and Mono-Blue Aggro (there's a phrase I never expected to say) are all solid. Kessig is consistently in the Top 8, while B/W Tokens is just taking off. If MUA gets Delver to flip and shows a Dissipate in the process, the game is going to be uphill for any deck that isn't Tempered Steel. If B/W Tokens resolves Timely Reinforcements and gets both effects, the game's effectively over because they will have Sorin on backup to make the tokens bigger.

Solar Flare is still going strong, but Kessig is able to overrun them. A late-game GSZ is usually game in that matchup. Tempered Steel needs to resolve the namesake as fast as possible or else it won't hold up to Kessig, but Steel kinda struggles against Solar Flare due to Day of Judgement and Timely Reinforcements. If any deck in Standard drops Gideon, be prepared for a losing battle. The only real answers to him are O-Ring and Bramblecrush. Tzeentch help the poor bastard who sees Gideon on an opponent's board in the same turn as a sweeper.


Then there's the somewhat rogue Birthing Pod (I say somewhat because current removal is making things tough), and the Zombie deck that occasionally floats around. Red Deck Wins is currently in a rut, but does far better in Modern than in Standard (losing Lightning Bolt cost the deck big time). Mythic Red is still out there, but I haven't seen a good list for it since M12.

[Nanshork]

Bleh, I think that playing MtG in a non-casual setting isn't for me.  I couldn't care less about what decks are good or what's not.  I don't know any of the terminology that you just used, and I have an innate distrust of people on the internet that I don't know when it comes to them being honest about their cards and the usage.

[Sinfire Titan]

Bleh, I think that playing MtG in a non-casual setting isn't for me.  I couldn't care less about what decks are good or what's not.  I don't know any of the terminology that you just used, and I have an innate distrust of people on the internet that I don't know when it comes to them being honest about their cards and the usage.

Commander is probably the best format for you then.

[Nanshork]

Honestly it makes MtGO more tempting to me than Cockatrice as it is less intimidating to me (minus putting money into it).  I'm still on the fence about the whole thing.

[brujon]

As much as i loved to play magic casually like i used to play back in the day, the game took a whole new dimension for me once i got to play online and finally had access to all those really cool cards that i really couldn't afford. The economic dimension of magic never really appealed to me, the whole process of trading cards and ripping newbies off their good cards for shiny 7/7's that really were just sh*t...  The trading in itself was nice, i got to meet a lot of new people. But there were a *lot* of people that just plain tricked newbies, and i even had one deck stolen once when i took my eyes off of it for 30 seconds (i was really young and naive at the time).  The fact that some cards fetch a VERY high price didn't help either, as i was young and didn't have any money to play competitively. But then, i learned about Apprentice, then MWS, and then i really got to play the game at the higher level of play, finding out new strategies, playing those classic decks in Vintage and Legacy, etc... And i REALLY think magic is ALL about strategy, it's ALL about building up the better deck, finding out a strategy that works and testing your mettle against various opponents. I really cannot stress enough how much fun it is to play magic whilst having access to every card...  How much fun it is to build up a decklist from scratch and see how it fares against the top decks of the moment, and the feeling when you actually win over them, or even when you lose but give them a tough battle, and the meta-game discussion that sometimes you have with your opponent about what worked and what didn't for either deck. Once you've played it that way for a while you'll see!

[Kajhera]

I'm downloading this Cockatrice thing too. Can't guarantee I'll be any good but hey ... maybe I can play with Nanshork.  I'll try to be Kajhera when I get to that step.

[sirpercival]

What about me??

[Kajhera]

You too! I'm just worried I'll get my ass kicked bad in Legacy, despite it being the only place I know the cards from. 

[sirpercival]

Lol me too.  I was good enough among family & friends that I always got ganged up on in multiplayer... but I never won any tournaments or anything.

[Kajhera]

I've done well enough to get enough store money in Draft to pay my entrance, but that's a pretty relaxed meta, and since the bus doesn't run on Sundays I haven't really been able to do that ... much at all.

[Sinfire Titan]

Lol me too.  I was good enough among family & friends that I always got ganged up on in multiplayer... but I never won any tournaments or anything.

I've got an FNM and a handful of Drafts, one of which was during the Shadowmoor prerelease, under my belt, but not much to brag about.

Now, if I could get to a Modern tournament, I'd fare far better thanks to Restore Balance. The deck is currently 85/15 against almost every deck in the format (the exceptions being Mono-Red Affinity, which is 50/50, and Through the Breach, which is 30/70 pre-sideboard, and 50/50 post-sideboard).



My Toshiro deck, however, has a marvelous streak of 10/90. I'm actually proud that most of the 90 are games where the deck served it's purpose of screwing over my opponents and ensuring one other player won the game.

[Nanshork]

Now, if I could get to a Modern tournament, I'd fare far better thanks to Restore Balance. The deck is currently 85/15 against almost every deck in the format (the exceptions being Mono-Red Affinity, which is 50/50, and Through the Breach, which is 30/70 pre-sideboard, and 50/50 post-sideboard).

Things like this are exactly why I'm wary of playing.  I'm never going to be the kind of player who pays attention to what decks are big right now and I just don't care about that part of the gaming community.

[Kajhera]

Now, if I could get to a Modern tournament, I'd fare far better thanks to Restore Balance. The deck is currently 85/15 against almost every deck in the format (the exceptions being Mono-Red Affinity, which is 50/50, and Through the Breach, which is 30/70 pre-sideboard, and 50/50 post-sideboard).

Things like this are exactly why I'm wary of playing.  I'm never going to be the kind of player who pays attention to what decks are big right now and I just don't care about that part of the gaming community.

Heh, don't worry, there'll always be folk like me who just throw some stuff that seems good together and call it fun.

[sirpercival]

I don't care about "big" decks either.  That's partly why I only really play legacy (with a little bit of modern).  I like playing the decks I like.

[Sinfire Titan]

Now, if I could get to a Modern tournament, I'd fare far better thanks to Restore Balance. The deck is currently 85/15 against almost every deck in the format (the exceptions being Mono-Red Affinity, which is 50/50, and Through the Breach, which is 30/70 pre-sideboard, and 50/50 post-sideboard).

Things like this are exactly why I'm wary of playing.  I'm never going to be the kind of player who pays attention to what decks are big right now and I just don't care about that part of the gaming community.

Yeah, I only use that deck against people who play competitively.