Magic Online Power Nine Owners

[The Atog Lord]

It's fair to say that every digital medium has it's fair share of immature fools. I'm sure that in 99% of the cases those people wouldn't have the courage to act like that in person. Sadly, there isn't anything you can do except report them and hope that WotC cares enough to start handing out some short-term vacations from MTGO.

You can avoid that by closing the chat and never opening it.  That's what I do.

I like that approach. Unfortunately, the shortcomings of the program sometimes require opening the chat. For example, there's no other way to learn what your opponent named with Cabal Therapy, or what he did with his Ponder.

[GalacticHitchHiker]

It's fair to say that every digital medium has it's fair share of immature fools. I'm sure that in 99% of the cases those people wouldn't have the courage to act like that in person. Sadly, there isn't anything you can do except report them and hope that WotC cares enough to start handing out some short-term vacations from MTGO.

You can avoid that by closing the chat and never opening it.  That's what I do.

I like that approach. Unfortunately, the shortcomings of the program sometimes require opening the chat. For example, there's no other way to learn what your opponent named with Cabal Therapy, or what he did with his Ponder.

Good point. If only there was a way to separate the Game Actions log from the chat.

[JACO]

My interactions with other players on MTGO have been mostly good, especially when playing Vintage. I dock the chat/game window on the far right side and am cordial in greeting my guests, as well as attempting to discuss anything else in the match I find interesting. I recently played against 2 different opponents playing variants of decks I have recently written about, and chatted with them about card choices, things they didn't like, etc. I wish there would be more interaction, but most people don't have the window open it seems. I would rather have MTGO operate closer to a live tournament, rather than playing against a robotic chess CPU that I don't interact with at all. Magic is not Solitaire, so why treat it as such?

[jcb193]

That's weird. I've played quite a bit online (vintage) and haven't really encountered anyone that was bad. At worst I might get a "nice topdeck."  Maybe the other formats are worse.

[Lysandros]

I just powered up on MODO (finally!), looking forward to playing you all soon. 

[keys]

Can you buy MTGO cards without actually being able to play the game?

[sirgog]

That's weird. I've played quite a bit online (vintage) and haven't really encountered anyone that was bad. At worst I might get a "nice topdeck."  Maybe the other formats are worse.

This is my experience, as long as you don't ignore the general ettiquette of each play room.

Expect hostility, however, if you play Power in the less competitive rooms (Just For Fun, etc), even if your deck is goofy. I took a terrible joke deck (a Nivmagus Elemental storm combo) into that room that was fully powered and it drew rage.

[Smmenen]

Has anyone experienced a high amount of angry people on MTGO? Seems like the good sportsmanship of the paper vintage community has not transferred to MTGO whatsoever.

Yes, on both sides. I recognize that I tend to get more tilted/salty playing on MODO than in paper. I chalk that up to the fact that the human element is diminished and the program itself tends to get me frustrated at time.

What kinds of things do you say?

I don't really understand the idea that MTGO would make someone more tilted. The environment - being at home - should be more relaxing.

[Chubby Rain]

Has anyone experienced a high amount of angry people on MTGO? Seems like the good sportsmanship of the paper vintage community has not transferred to MTGO whatsoever.

Yes, on both sides. I recognize that I tend to get more tilted/salty playing on MODO than in paper. I chalk that up to the fact that the human element is diminished and the program itself tends to get me frustrated at time.

What kinds of things do you say?

I don't really understand the idea that MTGO would make someone more tilted. The environment - being at home - should be more relaxing.

Normally a generic "Nice topdeck/how lucky..." In any case, I find I enjoy the social aspect of paper Magic much more so than the rather aggravating client where I still am not entirely sure what deck I've submitted until I've drawn my opening hand...

[The Atog Lord]

I don't really understand the idea that MTGO would make someone more tilted. The environment - being at home - should be more relaxing.

I find that real-life Magic is often social and relaxing. I find myself getting tilted much more frequently when trying to use MODO to play games of Magic.

[thecrav]

I don't really understand the idea that MTGO would make someone more tilted. The environment - being at home - should be more relaxing.

I can definitely understand it.

First, when you're playing against an anonymous player using a system that we all know is quite flawed, it's easy to move blame around. My draws weren't bad because my deck was misbuilt; it's because the MTGO shuffler is broken. All my spells were countered because the other player is a troll playing 40 counterspells.dec; not because I knowingly jammed 1 drops into a hand full of Missteps. (Check out the @saltylosers twitter account and you'll see that such blame shifting makes up for most of the angry players he's featuring)

Additionally, those flaws themselves can get you tilted to start with. I'm on a quite powerful machine and my clicking to chose to go first frequently lags enough that I click again, just in time to click the option to keep my 7, which I didn't want to do. Things that you'd do purely in your hand IRL such as choosing the order for cards off Ponder must be done 100% mentally before making a single click. If you forget that or change your mind after already putting back one card, it's too late. And then there's things that simply work a bit differently in MTGO where the rules are applied exactly as written. For example, almost every time I've seen someone Gifts for four cards IRL, their opponent chooses two cards and says "here you can keep these" or something similar. Having done that for so long, I mess up being the opponent against Gifts pretty frequently.

Finally, there's the actual interactions with players. All you experience is what happens in the client. What might come across as me thinking really hard about a play could just be me going to the kitchen to grab a drink. When I "lol" at you winning a counter fight, you might not notice it until I play a board wipe, and now I'm the dick laughing at your misfortune.

~~~~~~~~~~

For what it's worth, I've had mostly positive experiences with Vintage online; more positive than I've had with other formats and certainly more positive than some of the experiences I've seen others have (such as on that @saltylosers account). Just a rough estimate, I'd say around half my vintage matches start with some kind of greeting (GLHF, etc), a quarter end with a GG from the other player, and around 10% I have an actual conversation with my opponent.

I've only had a few experiences that I'd call negative. The first was a player who in chat mentioned that he hated playing against my deck. Fair enough, I can understand not wanting to play against the deck that it seems like everyone else is playing. The others were all the same thing: players in the vintage tournament practice room playing what could best be described as kitchen table decks. I don't mind if a player wants to build that kind of deck, but when you're playing a pile of random green cards and I'm playing a fully powered tier 1 vintage deck, neither of us is going to have much fun.

[JACO]

I don't really understand the idea that MTGO would make someone more tilted. The environment - being at home - should be more relaxing.

I find that real-life Magic is often social and relaxing. I find myself getting tilted much more frequently when trying to use MODO to play games of Magic.

Oh I totally get pissed at trying to use MTGO as a functional program, when it lags and hiccups so often. It kind of puts me in a good mood though, because I view it as a high-comedy type of challenge and am amused by it.

[Smmenen]

I can understand how either bugs or idiosyncrasies to the program (such as Flusterstorming a Flusterstorm) may generate frustration, but I thought folks were saying that there is something inherent to online play that engenders anti-social remarks.  There is evidence that people may act worse in depersonalized social contexts, but I don't buy the notion that playing in a card shop is inherently more relaxing than playing at home.  I often find card shops and convention halls less than appealing places to visit, with more limited quality food options, poor air quality, cleanliness, etc. In fact, I often find myself getting into coughing fits in card halls because of dust/air conditioning.  

[The Atog Lord]

I don't buy the notion that playing in a card shop is inherently more relaxing than playing at home.

I agree with this, Steve. If MODO were a better program, then I think could be enjoyable and relaxing. Granted, I'll be the first to admit that I'm easily bothered by poor computer interfaces.

[Smmenen]

I'm hopeful that the program can and will be improved. It may be fruitful for someone to start a thread or write a thoughtful article on how Magic Online could be improved with vintage play and tournament growth in mind. 

[enderfall]

I thought folks were saying that there is something inherent to online play that engenders anti-social remarks.

Yes, it's called anonymity.

[tito del monte]

Just wanted to drop by this thread, having finally bought into Magic Online about a week ago. All I can I say is, it's probably one of the best Magic-related decisions I've ever made!

Yes, the client can be a major pain in the nuts sometimes and, personally, I hate even using Windows and a damn PC. As a product, Magic Online feels archaic as hell. But forget that - because Magic is a great game. And being able to play it - being able to play Vintage! - whenever I want has been beyond amazing. Honestly, I haven't felt this excited about Magic, since picking it up at school. The main reason for that, is just the ability to churn game after game after game - something I never, ever thought I would be able to do again. It really is life-changingly awesome and I would highly recommend getting involved.

Yes, it feels really frustrating paying for virtual cards - but you know, I would rather play than not play. I bought a spare Lotus a little while ago as an investment. And sold it off to buy in online. It feels so much better to have the ability to play Vintage any time of day or night, than it does to have an extra piece of power sitting in a binder. If you have some extra cards you can turn into cash to buy into Vintage on MTGO, I really wouldn't think twice about doing it at this point. It will remind you of everything you love about playing the game - whilst also letting you fit it in around a busy adult life. Just do it!

Look forward to battling some of you online, learning from you and then hopefully making more personal connections with you at paper events!

[Islandswamp]

I only bought into Vintage maybe two months ago, or a little bit more. I would absolutely do it again, because it is the only way I ever get to play Magic at all, and it's the only way I could ever have afforded to play Vintage. I've since become so enamored with Vintage, that I've sold off all of my other decks in other formats, and I just play Vintage every time I play.

If I owned power in real life, then perhaps my answer might be different. Also, I didn't have to spend any money on any of the cards really, save maybe twenty dollars. I've built up enough of a collection through winning and writing articles that I was able to trade into most of my Vintage collection.

Would I recommend MTGO to new players? Yes, but I would explain everything in a realistic fashion, just so people would know what to expect.

At the end of the day, the program works, it lets me play Vintage Magic, and that is awesome as far as I'm concerned. I've never been interested in cockatrice or Untap.In, I like the idea that I'm playing an official product.

[thecrav]

Would I recommend MTGO to new players? Yes, but I would explain everything in a realistic fashion, just so people would know what to expect.

Interesting question. I guess it would depend on the definition of "new" but if someone had recently learned to play and wanted to get serious about playing competitively, playing on MTGO is probably one of the easiest ways to learn about stack interaction since it's all neatly displayed for you (unless you have storm triggers)

[Smmenen]

At the end of the day, players who use MTGO are probably multiply advantaged over players who don't, but it is certainly no substitute for live tournament experience either.

[jcb193]

This might be slightly off-topic, but is there a reason that Oath of Druids is almost never played on MTGO?   I think I've only played against it once or twice.  In fact, I've played against bomberman more often than Oath/Show decks.  Are the mechanics of the cards bugged in the software, or is it just that the cards needed are too expensive and narrow for people to get/want them??

[Smmenen]

You are off.  Look at daily results over time.  Tons of Oath in the past 6 months.

[jcb193]

I'm off topic, or I'm off with my assessment?  I've played hundreds of games- only a handful against Oath.  And it sure doesn't seem common in the practice rooms.  You might be right with your claims, but lately it appears scarce....

Anyway, I got curious, so I just looked it up on MTGTOP8 if anyone is interested in the current landscape of MTGO:

Last 12 months:
Mud 21%
UR Delver 14%
Oath 9%
Fish 8%
Planeswalker Control 7%
Dredge 6%

Last 2 months:
MUD- 23%
UR Delver 15%
Monastery 13%
Fish 8%
Planeswalker Control 5%
Dredge 5%
Oath of Druids 4%
Bomberman 3%

And according to MTGGOLDFISH, the current meta is something like this:
MUD- 21%
Mentor 18%
Delver 11%
Grixis 9%
Dredge 5%
BUG Fish 5%
WUBR Delver 4%
Metalworker Shops- 3%
Storm- ~2%
Standstill- ~2%
Oath- ~2%

Griselbrand is in 2.34% of all decks, according to their tables.

But now that I think about it, I think this is valuable information for someone about to make a $500-$1000 investment into MTGO.  At least they can see what to expect.  

[rickster]

I think it's the price of griselbrand, show and tell, and now omniscience. Forbidden orchard isn't cheap either. These cards don't go into many archetypes unless you also play legacy.

[Loukayza]

Hello! First post here so thank you for having me. I haven't played magic in over 7 years but I recently heard the Power 9 was on MTGO so in the past couple of weeks, I registered and purchased a P9 set and the other rares needed for MUD. Years ago I had 4 or 5 of the power 9 and almost all of the other staples but I sold out to move on to another hobby. I had an interest again and perused eBay and was amazed at the price increases in the past couple of years. When I stopped playing you could get an Emerald or a Pearl for around $300 and a beat lotus for $700-800.

I've played 6 or 7 matches so far and this is very exciting to be able to play vintage while slowly getting my collection back. I've done some misplays and mis-clicked a few times (i.e triggering with smokestack, tangle wire, etc, in the proper order),  so I understand how it isn't for everyone since doing those things is a lot easier with cardboard.

I'm going to stick with it as it's nice to be able to log in for 20 minutes and get a quick match in anytime you'd like!

P.S: This is my username on there as well, so hopefully we'll play a match at some point!

[jcb193]

Can't wait to see all the people trying to play the Championship Vintage Deck on MTGO this week   They are in for a rude surprise.

[Space_Stormy]

Can't wait to see all the people trying to play the Championship Vintage Deck on MTGO this week   They are in for a rude surprise.

I hope more people playing his deck cause more courtesy scoops respecting the fact if it was paper they would have lost.

[yugular]

I almost forgot to update, but I have been fully powered on modo for about a month now. Also have Bazaars, shops and most of the staples to build almost anything in the format

[The Atog Lord]

That was a great match, and it is unfortunate that the ruling was incorrect. When asked, I honestly said I did not know. I knew that in Magic: the Gathering Online, I had to pay 2RR (just as the judges ruled). But I also know that there are many bugs there, so that means little. It turns out that Magic: the Gathering Online had the same error as the judges.

[Aaron Patten]

How much should I expect to pay for a full set of power and where should I go to purchase it for the best value?