[Poll]: When did you start playing Magic seriosuly?

[jcb193]

I often wrestle with whether Vintage is a format for old schoolers to try and relive their Magic youth, or whether it is a true format that appeals to new players and can stand on its own.  Would it be a preferable format if all card were price equal?

So, to the readers of the site (mostly active T1 players I would guess), when did you start playing?

Note 1.)
I'm guessing more of us started during the beginning, so I broke out those sets a little more, and I think the phases of starting were much more distinct back then. 

Note 2.)
"Seriously" is when you graduated from starter decks and started reading columns, playing competitively, buying singles, and/or following the B/R list and noticing specific formats. 

[Jacob Orlove]

I made it so people can only vote once.

Edit: wow, that's a different version of "seriously" than I was thinking of. I changed my vote to waaaaaay earlier.

[Bardo]

The poll is confusing with the base sets being intermingled with expansions. I wasn't sure if I should say "Dark/Fallen Empires" or "Revised," both of which are true for me.

An interesting sub-poll might be: "How many times have you quit MtG?"

[Illissius]

Er, what do you mean by "seriously"? I know when I started playing (around Destiny), but when I got "serious" -- if this has even happened yet -- is really rather hazy.

[jcb193]

In Magic's early years there were large influxes of people during Revised, Fallen Empires, and Ice Age (Magic really started marketing at this time).  That is why I broke those out. 

Techinically I started during Legends, but since nobody had packs available, Revised is what I associate my first magic playing with.  Plus, Revised wasn't looked at as a "base set" then.  It was crucial to playing the game, not an entry point for beginners. 

This isn't meant to be be overly-confusing or highly scientific.  I'm simply wondering if most T1 players are old schoolers. 

[Almighty]

I've played since Urza's Saga, although I have never brought a deck geared to win a tournament until Oddysey/Onslaught Type 2 when I played Tog. I don't know if I would call myself a "serious" player, though.

[UR]

By your definition: Mirage Block.
By my definition: I've never made a pro-tour so I'm not a serious player.

[zeus-online]

By my own definition i'm not a serios player, but by yours i'd say about mirrodin block, maybe onslaught, not quite sure.

/Zeus

[Matt]

Mirage by your definition, Judgement by mine.

[wethepeople]

I only really started playing in Masques-block, but I was too young to follow the game competatively. I began building real decks, following forums, and entering tournaments around Odyssey.

[ashiXIII]

Why isn't Ravnica an option?

[jcb193]

Why isn't Ravnica an option?

Oops!  NO offense to Wizards for forgetting that block....

[Prometheon]

Ice Age, baby!

Though I'll always remember my grizzly bear/hypnotic spectre deck...

[Mr. Nightmare]

If I could get serious around a kitchen table, it's Mirage, but I didn't get into tournament play until I picked the game back up during Mirrodin block.

[LotusHead]

I accidentally clicked "Arabian Nights/Antiquities/Legends" because that's when I started playing.

It was during Mirroden Block that I got introduced to booster drafts and realized that "a few" rules changed since Tempest/Mirage era.

I had to re-learn all the rules.

It was 5th Dawn that brought Salvagers and Trinket Mages into my world, and I then entered "The Local Vintage Meta".

[Godder]

I started playing in tournaments during Masques Block (Rebels!). Extended and Standard back then was so awesome, and I didn't play Vintage or 1.5, yet.

Also, I edited the poll to allow people to change their votes, since it sounds like some of you are unsure of what the question is asking you.

[Yare]

"serious" was around Odyssey block.  The actual start was with Ice Age when I was about 11 years old...so obviously I wasn't as competitive then.

[forests failed you]

I played Magic from Unlimited until Alliances.  But just casually at my middle school.  I got back in during M.M. block and started playing in real tournaments.

[policehq]

I always followed the 4-of rule and the banned/restricted list, but I think it was around the time Fallen Empires was released I realized trading a Mox Ruby for a Craw Wurm was a bad move.

-hq

[Tash]

Mirrodin brought me Big Red in standard, and 2 land Belcher in vintage. Before that I was just playing bad Sligh all the time.

*sigh* I miss those days. They were some good ones.

[natron77]

I started playing tournies in Odyssey block, starting with the Odyssey prerelease.
By your definition, I started playing seriously at the start of Onslaught block, but I focused mostly on limited until Mirrodin.
My love of rogue decks kept me from doing particularly well in any constructed format for those first couple years, but I've always been pretty competitive in limited.

[T00L]

I started playing during ice age when i was like 11 or 12 and i started playing in tourneys like 2 years ago

[Dante]

My first tournaments were in Chicago during the Unlimited release period.

Dante

[Mr. Anderson]

Wow, only two of us from the early sets?

I've always followed the rules, bans, and restricted lists when they were put into effect.

It was difficult to convince myself to pay $5 for a mox though.  I was in high school, and that was just under my daily allowence, which also was suppose to pay for my food and bus fair.  It paid off though, I sold almost all of my collection a year and a half ago, and got $20K for it.  Still had complete sets of power, 4 of each.

[LotusHead]

Wow, only two of us from the early sets?

I've always followed the rules, bans, and restricted lists when they were put into effect.

In the early days (pre-Antiquities, post Unlimited, pre-Revised) there was no information about "Restrictions" beyond 40 card decks and not playing Ante cards if it wasn't cool with your group.

As Antiquities was the first expansion I could buy packs from (other than the Starter +1 booster pack of Unlimited that I already had), it was awesome to have an 80 card deck with like 7 sets of Urza Lands in them! MWAHAHAH!!!

This was also pre-internet for many of us.  Only The Duelist would tell us what was up.

I broke 4xBalance in my meta (couldn't get my hands on Wrath of God.).

[Zherbus]

This was also pre-internet for many of us.

The game (or really, ANY other game) is never going back to figuring stuff out on your own. I just wanted to take a moment and reflect on a time when Magic theory was just "kill your opponent before he kills you and run really good cards".

[jcb193]

Well,

I have to admit that I was very surprised by these results.  I expected about 40% of the players to have been Ice Age or earlier and most being Urza's Saga or earlier.  I was amazed to find that more T1 players have been playing for 2-3 years or less than that have been playing for 10 years or more. 

I always thought T1, while innovative, was still mainly run by old school players.  I am happy to see so much "fresh blood."

Those of you that have been playing relatively recently, what brings you to T1?

Anyone else have comments on this poll?

[Webster]

Anyone else have comments on this poll?

The results of the poll seem to mirror the increase in prices of type-1 staples over the time that specific blocks were the most current.

Personally, my time in magic can be divided into three categories:

1. Look, it's a newb. GET HIM!!!!!!:

I started playing near the end of September of 1995. Homelands was new I believe and Alliiances wasn't out yet. I started reading Scrye magazines a year later while trying and failing to trade for cards to make some of their constructed decks that weren't very good. I was pretty terrible like most people should be at that stage. During the summer that Weatherlight came out I joined a summer sealed league. When I came back for classes in the fall I noticed that the people I played with regularly at lunch had gotten a lot worse; or at least that is what I perceived at the time. Truthfully, it had been I that had changed. I had gotten significantly better, although still pretty bad in the grand scheme of quality, and was able to construct decent decks on my own. I got offered a mox ruby for ninety dollars from one of my friends in the sealed league. I declined. Mountains didn't cost ninety dollars. I had plenty of mountains anyways. I started attending weekly booster drafts using a random random random format (using 3 boosters in a non-linear, non-block restrictive order such as 5th edition, mirage, stronghold) which was quite rewarding. At this point I took a big step forward and went to the Urza's Saga prerelease. I didn't win anything of course but the new environment let me know exactly how bad I was. Shops opened and closed and I migrated here and there around my area from shop to shop until I settled down in one and started going to their weekly drafts and type-2 tournaments (think Mercadian Masques).


2. Yea, he's one of those PTQ filler people. You know, the people who go and won't make top 8 but think they might and have fun regardless:

Mercadian Masques block constructed was my first PTQ. Lin Sivvi and Rishadan Port had been banned (thank God) which opened up the format to two-color decks. Oh my, the luxury. I was playing some medium R/G deck (think fires without the fires. Blastoderm, Saproling Burst, Ancient Hydra, Seal of Fire, etc). I didn't make top 8. I don't think I knew what top 8 meant, but I had a lot of fun and wanted to play in more of these things. The player quality was so much higher than I was used to playing with. I was hooked, again. The shop I was at closed down and I found a new one. Hey look, the people here play this wierd format called type-1. Let's play some of this. This was probably when I started to play "type-1" (Odyssey block, roughly). There was keeper, ankh sligh, mono black (void/suicide). There were weekly sanctioned type-1 tournaments on Thursdays which I attended weekly for exactly two rounds. I went bowling on Thursdays with another group of friends so I didn't stay past round two. The good decks changed as well as what I played/had access to. And then 2002 hit. Type-1 exploded in popularity. A summer went by as some of my friends went on a adventure trading for cards to trade to a shop for power. The prices on trading in were good and so was the power. This was during Onslaught block. In the course of two weeks, I traded in for my lotus, sapphire, and jet which were $460, $260, and $240 respectively. I was running PTQs regularly by now. Onslaught Block Constructed was the first real season where I was doing well. I never made top 8, but I was on the bubble. As it turns out, the bubble is a place where a person can be for a long time.


3. Hey, it's THAT guy. Oh him. You're playing against him you say? HMMM, well, better luck next time I guess.

Mirrodin comes around. Man, there are a lot of good cards in that set. I go play in my first Grand Prix (Anaheim). It's extended; you know, the extended where you had tinker stax, mono blue tinker, tinker twiddle desire, oath, angry hermit. I played RDW2K2 or as it's better known, Sligh. Yes, I played Sligh. Why you ask? I don't know why. I just liked it. I did alright I suppose. I didn't make top 8. It was a Grand Prix for crying out loud. I got 9th.... on breakers. I went 11-3 with 1 bye. I won a bunch of cash and bought a set of workshops for $600. I played against some good people and I got pretty lucky if someone should ask. A lot was learned that year about magic, about friends, about life. Lots of stuff. Some years pass and I'm doing better and better in PTQs. I start making top-8. I start winning them. Shops close down and new ones start up. Power tournaments start being held (10-proxy) and my friends and I go to them and win most of them. I start going to pro tours. Those are pretty fun. I want more of this drug. It's my addiction. My friends and I are winning everything. We are indeed at the top.



To me, being "serious" about magic is when someone goes to a PTQ with the expressed desire to win and go to the pro tour; top 4 isn't enough. You're in it to win it. Someone who is willing to fly to play in a tournament mainly for the opportunity to play in another is someone that is "serious". To translate that to type-1 would be saying that someone is willing to travel a distance to play in a tournament for a prize whose value is less than the total cost of the trip. That isn't saying what happens every time, because geographically a tournament could be within walking distance. However, the mental drive is still the same. Example: there's a $2,000 sealed deck tournament five hours away driving. The cost of the trip may exceed the payout to first place ($750) but you're going regardless because you've probably got odds and you know it. Once this mindset is attained, then you're a serious player in my book.