Heh, it’s been more than a year since my last Magic: the Gathering related post. There’s a good reason for that - I’ve quit playing Magic. I actually quit a long time ago, way before that last post. If you wanted to trace it, it’ll probably easily go back two years or so.

So why did I quit this time around? There’s probably tons of reasons, but I suppose I’ll list a few reasons why I’ve quit Magic:

1. Video gaming - Magic cards were a relatively cheap way to get hundreds of hours of entertainment. There’s no telling how much just looking at card lists (not even the cards themselves) took out of my time. I spent hours visiting my favourite game store (now closed) looking through commons, discussing strategies, playing some games with other people there. I did scrounge for commons every once in a while in Australia at the Dungeon of Magic in Melbourne, but that was it. Now what takes up that time? Video games. Not to the same extent as Magic used to, but it most certainly is what I’m more inclined to now.

2. Lack of people to play with - I like playing with friends - and greatly dislike going to tournaments. I’ve built many tournament worthy decks, be it by proxy, in Magic Workstation or even with cards I owned. While I did teach a few friends to play Magic in 2006, they lost interest the following year. Interest in it just waned in general because they picked up another more addictive card game - poker. I still play a game or two with Chewxy over Magic Workstation, but essentially I’ve stopped playing. A lack of people to try new interesting decks against and a lack of people who are interested in playing interesting decks just plainly stopped me from trying out new decks of any kind.

3. Lack of money to play more seriously - Despite the fact that I do dislike going to tournaments, I do like playing at them. Being among peers who play better decks and make less mistakes is a great challenge, and while I’m not very good at playing Magic, at the very least, it’s better, more challenging and more exciting when you play a player better or equal to you. However, I can’t afford to upkeep with the release schedule of Magic expansions - while it is nice to see an expansion to the card set every three months, the cards cost way too much, and I don’t have the money to spend constantly. This is probably the main reason - I’d rather spend money on more material things besides pieces of printed cardboard, like computer hardware, game consoles, video games, controllers - and so on. In a sense, all I’ve done is switch from one addiction to another, but it’s hardly one I didn’t have before. I’ve just become more focused, that’s all.

4. It’s possibly part of a cycle. - I’ve given up Magic before. The last time I started was towards the end of Exodus and I stopped playing after Urza’s Destiny. This time, I started just before Darksteel and stopped just after Guildpact. I may return to Magic again in the future, but regardless, I’m still essentially a tech geek - Magic is losing my interest fast. Even Eye of Judgment isn’t holding my interest for very long, but it’s entirely possible expansions will change that.

I still love playing Magic immensely, but the time has come to move along to something else and possibly come back later. My renewed interest in anime and video games may come to an end one day - and you’d never know when Magic will return to becoming part of my life.

People always talk 60 cards this, and 60 cards that. Heck - even I say so. The truth? You don’t always have to follow this rule, even if you think it is like the greatest sin a Magic deckbuilder can commit. However, sadly - it is true for online tabletop games optimised for Magic. Often, you find that the shuffler doesn’t work so well when your deck is anywhere above 60 cards (even a single card is enough to find yourself having to mulligan like free), but when it comes to a 60 card deck, I’d say mulliganing becomes about a 10% affair (unless you really built a highly draw dependent deck, or are playing your worst matchup).

In real life, people tend to argue a better number for decks is 61. (of course, we have the conservative group talking about 60, but that’s irrelevant). I tend to agree - especially for non-combo decks. Strangely enough, 61 is a really good number. In real life, you do tend to randomize it better somehow. Many people attribute this to the fact that the deck can no longer be cut exactly in half - and such interleaving does reduce randomization within the deck.

However, that’s not why I like it. I like it because it creates the most peculiar land-to-spells ratio. Just as switching out lands with spells and vice versa can change your mana situation complete, so can that additional card. In times when you find that your land is not enough - and putting more gives you too many - the simple act of adding another land to make your deck bigger might give your deck that magic land ratio. The one where it never gets mana-screwed, color-screwed, or any kind of funny land term you can think of. So yes, there are times when that extra land - WILL - save your ass. (of course, this applies for spells too!)

Then, we have the 62 card deck. I can’t say I approve of this size, because it lacks the merit of uneven shuffling, but it is another number that works well with heavy mana acceleration. I use this number in my Mycosynth Golem deck - but no others so far. I do not believe that it is a very good, number - after all, what good can that extra 2 cards be? I won’t dismiss it as a really good way to get to those ideal land ratios - but to stuff in extra cards - I’d say that’s a real no-no.

After that, we have the greater numbers of 63 and 64. If you hit these numbers, chances are your deck’s consistency will be hit badly. If it happens to be a quick aggresive deck, no problem - but control decks (besides those full of counterspells) and combo decks (and even Zoo decks - decks with a curve of creature at certain mana points, usually 1,2,5 and 6) will feel the pinch at this point from the lower consistency. When your deck needs to pull that Pyroclasm, Wrath of God, infinite mana combo, or even Enduring Ideal - you will know that the pain here is great. You will find yourself taking more damage, taking longer to put together your combo pieces and taking longer to draw that finisher card.

A great exception to the 60 card decks are decks built with a special purpose. Battle of Wits decks usually run 250 cards - and cry hard when Traumatized, especially if the deck isn’t full of killer spells - which it often is. A deck running plenty of card drawing out of neccesity (such as for card advantage), especially in counterspell decks, might benefit greatly from a larger deck. The best advice, however, is simple: do not succumb to the temptation to put every card you thought might be good.

My next Magic post will probably about choosing which cards to cut!

A lot of new players have this tendency to go all gung-ho and put everything they think is good into their decks.This often results in highly inflated decks of about 80 cards and up. (I’ve seen crazy 150 card decks - I have no clue how the hell they plan to win besides decking you out.) Often, there actually aren’t enough good cards to be seeing that many cards in one deck. The tendency is actually to become overprotective of your deck - meaning cards that should go into the sideboard, end up being maindecked. This results quite often in drawing a Disenchant against a creature-heavy deck, drawing your many 1/1, 1/2, 2/2 Elves when you need that big 6/6 Wurm (or Elf Mutant) to survive your opponents’ army of Flanking or Bushido enabled creatures or even Pestilence/Pyrohemia.

Does that mean it doesn’t happen in a 60 card deck? No. However, in a 60 card deck - it is a lot easier to manage your deck. Tuning your deck is a lot easier than if it were in a 120 card deck. It’s a lot easier to decide whether or not those 1/1 Llanowar Elves are helping your mana situation. Are those Wood Elves pulling Forests when you need them, or are they pulling Forests when you DON’T need them?

Tuning your mana is a lot easier if you conform to the 60 card deck. It is not only easier to predict what happens when, say, you remove one land from your deck - than removing one land from… a 120 card deck. If you are going to say it is just half the effect than in a 60 card deck, that is most certainly incorrect - since there is no way to determine half. It is immediately clear that the difference is not linear if you were to compare 22 lands to 24 lands in a Magic deck. Is 23 a halfway point? Most certainly not. The difference that happens in your shuffling and drawing makes 24 yield a very different mana experience than a 22 land deck.

Of course, this also means the effect of removing one card is far more predictable. That being said, in a 120 card deck, chances are you got there by not willing to cut anything - so let’s assume your 120 card deck is quite full of 4-ofs. The truth is, while you might need those 4 Dark Banishings in a 60 card decks, you probably never need 4 Disenchants/Naturalizes in your main deck. You might need them in your sideboard, but not in your main deck. And those Legendary stuff, you don’t need too many of them - drawing into a 2nd one when your 1st one is still kicking ass feels lousy - unless it so happens - that you think your opponenet will probably off your 1st one soon.

Putting cards in funny numbers may seem odd. You may even think it’s stupid. What’s the point of having 1 Indrik Stomphowler? What’s the point of having 1 Maga, Traitor to Mortals? What’s the point in having 3 Umezawa’s Jitte? What’s the point in having 1 Seed Spark? 2 Yosei, the Morning Star? 3 Kodama of the North Tree? What’s with deckbuilders and this strange numbers? Yet when you happen to put the deck together - it happens to WORK. What looks like random combinations of numbers of powerful cards actually happens to work really well together - and in those strange numbers. Modifying those numbers can have dire consequences on the deck!

60 cards is the minimum limit. There’s a reason why you should always use the minimum cards allowed. The most important is, of course, consistency. If Magic involved less than 60 cards - you’d be seeing plenty of 7 or 8 card decks in Vintage, I believe. It is an extreme example - but the less cards you have - the greater your chances of pulling that best hand you have in your deck. If you have a deck of 120 cards, you might find yourself saying - I didn’t get a good hand - a lot more often than if you optimized it to a 60 card version.

Of course, there are always times when you need to break the variable card numbers rule. A highly simplified example would be that you rarely see less than 4 Llanowar Elves, 4 Sakura-Tribe Elders, 4 Gifts Ungiven, 4 Lightning Helix and so on. So - that means that there will actually be times when exceeding the 60 card minimum limit will actually be better - because sometimes there are cards you can’t cut in number - and sometimes there are cards that you can’t cut completely. However, that doesn’t mean you should go and add all the way to 80 cards.

I’m still talking about a rather low limit. 61, 62, and maybe even 63. Why might you choose to you these stranger numbers? There are merits in choosing these stranger numbers - but that’s a story for another day.

I don’t know. Just dug this up from my old folder.

Yes, it is lame. Yes, it has no purpose whatsoever. It’s just among the not-so-cool cards which I just don’t feel like talking about. Simple.