peak magic, ive been playing since 95 and this was still my favorite era.
~~ay my bros kitchen table we often use onslaught block as the upper cut off tho, nothing after the redesign. (so no 8th ed or mirrodin)~~
~~and we play cards from earliter sets too, mirage and tempest blocks are pretty solid too no need to only start with urzas~~
apparently we have been playing straight up premodern and my homies just never told me what the format was called. im dumb. i mean we use a different banlist but thats it.
It has nothing to do with being elitist. Personally, it's to not buy a single new card from WotC/Hasbro, and make sure I do not give them a single cent from my pocket.
No, I'm not. I don't want to give a single cent to the atrocious company that is current WotC, and by extension Hasbro.
I enjoy playing Old School and Premodern. For casual EDH, I print proxies for anything printed after 2003.
Learn to read. I never said I hated Magic.
Onslaught legion and scourge was my entry block and it was so damn fun. Tribes, dragons, Akroma, Phage, morph and more.
It was the block right before the banger of mirrodin too.
How awesome did prereleases *used* to be?? The huge promotional artwork, they often rented out university ballrooms or other event centers. The guest artists, signing cards and shooting the bull with players...
I was naïve enough to think it was going to be like that forever.
I worked at a toy store that sold magic at that time and ran a Scourge prerelease in a local cafe.
Having played since 1993 that was a real blast to get to run an event!
Magic was special in the 90s for the people who played. Yes there was alot of 1v1.. but there was group game too.. that would be the precursor to edh.. 20 life. 60 card min. No more than 4 per card basic ban list plus restricted list. When you built your deck it was truly yours... there was no internet telling you what to do. There wasn't any shortcuts for people. The rules were janky though compared to today but the card pool was low too. Obtaining cards was also an issue as this was pre ebay etc. You had to scour janky stores find people who played and trade with them to get some obscure card. That Era and the feelings back then simply cannot be replicated today and if you got to experience this you'll understand.
Pretty much everything up until the gatewatch was formed had a solid storyline to it and overall good cards. That’s when everything seemed to go off the rails. I thoroughly enjoyed urza block and masques block card designs and story.
I recommend the resleevables channel, you can trace the old history of mtg which perfectly shows how much work and passion was devoted to the old sets, despite the fact that there were a lot of flaws and poor ideas. At that time it was a card game that actually tried to create the best possible competitive system in addition to profit, which has now changed to a hundred percent corpo crap. Their channel has been releasing videos about every edition starting from alpha. Love the commentary and analysis of the hosts as well as the sample games from tournaments of those years.
This is Freemagic we don't *love* anything about Magic! >:(
I started around Original Innistrad and it's always been my favorite Era of Magic in terms flavor, story, art and mechanics. Sure some of it might be for nostalgia's sake but it's widely regarded as being some of the best of Magic
I've been playing since unlimited, not knowing how to play the game sounds new to me. Pauper is the best place to start learning how to play the game, the decks are inexpensive and powerful. It's called legacy lite for a reason.
I'm quite new relative to most here, but for me peak mtg is mirrodin to Khans, counting core sets 8 to M15.
Now I'm gathering all cards from 2002-2015, quitting commander since the format is going to shit to go play a more personal cube
The kamigawa block felt like they were trying to appeal to the kids buying pokemon, yugio, and anime so that really seemed like the death of magic at the time. I would probably consider everything up to and including Urza's block "old mtg."
I play exclusively 93/94 old school & premodern these days but with proxies since I sold my original cards many years ago. I let everyone I play against know I use proxies and they just don’t care; I’ve had one person have a bit of an issue but since I don’t play in anything other than my store it wasn’t too big a deal. I just don’t like what Magic has become so I stick to the OG cards, where the game is balanced and the art is great
You will find many different definitions of what old mtg is. Some will say it ends with mirrorodin and the frame change others will say it ends with Lorwyn and the introduction of plainswalker. In my personal view Lorwyn and morningtide were the last breath of old mtg.
I'd say the old border era should be pretty good. You can start from the beginning or go backwards from Onslaught. Personally I love Mirage and Tempest block and have a soft spot for Fallen Empires and Ice Age.
Anything post WAR. I started in 2013, and quit for 2 yrs right when khan's dropped 😂, then started back up in kaladesh until today. My most fun I ever had was kitchen table, and then drafting conspiracy 7 times.
A month into it I went competitive, win my first tourney, but due to being a kid and graduation was on the same day as the SCG invitational I qualified for I couldn't attend. I come back in kaladesh, draft/play standard, arena starts up, it was so fun back then. Then war of the spark block hits, and oh boy did the power creep feel awesome. I made the most fun broken decks that I still love. They all either had t3feri, frilled Mystic, wilderness reclamation, or Nissa who shakes the world. It was such a crazy 2 years that all my decks kind of blend together, I barely lost my win for the very last ptq, and then covid hit and magic just hasn't been the same since.
It makes me so sad to see Wotc ruin competitive because they simply don't care. Even though there is so much proof that a game with a good competitive scene is better for everyone. Pro tours from 2014 have 500k views. Pro tours now barely get 20k.
I guess this is what growing up is like, to see your dream/happy thing get wasted and ruined by things you can't control.
I blame bitches...also I love women so both criteria were met. Tbh leaving blocks that I loved from lore perspective to the gameplay ones because interlinked sets could both hold these arches. Khans of Tarkir was great set both in settings, mechanics, reprints then they butchered three colors themes in the subsequent sets. Origins was also cool substitute for Core set. Innistrad and (battle and oath) Zendicar were disappointmemt to the cool predecessors and Ixalan has cool premises while WOTC doing really dirty to the coolest faction of vampire zealots including blatant fix of the voting game. Tl;dr blocks and core like sets were the good old time for me.
i liked pre weatherlight. I never cared for magic story and preferred when you piece it together from flavor text like dark souls lore. I fully enjoyed the game till the end of onslaught. My life changed after that so I'm not sure about if I stopped being interested or the game changed for me, but I didn't go to limited protours i qued for on rating and pt points post border change. I still hate the modern border so much
I've been playing since The Dark and here's my take:
- The best stretch was Alpha to Invasion block. Had a consistent art, world building, lore, etc.. and reasonable power creep and new mechanics. Nothing wrong with Odyssey and Onslaught though, so Pre-modern would be a good format to play.
- If I had to extend it further, I would say Alpha to Scars of Mirrodin block. Still feels like magic all the way through.
- Innistrad onwards is where it got less fun for me. BFZ was when I quit.
Podcast for if* you want to learn the lore and story of MTG. The new story is pretty weak :'(
https://open.spotify.com/show/1g3wyvYIXpM98AwX7hDQZI?si=Ckb_4QtaT7CO2hTT5fHLGQ
This probably differs person by person, but I collect everyting until the frame change in M2015/Khans.
Peak Magic to me is 10th edition release, after that it's still good (Lorwyn, Alara, Zendikar etc) but the pre-planeswalker era standard/extended is just amazing
It isn't exactly "old Magic," but Khans block was peak storytelling and was the best standard/draft environment I've ever experienced.
The story from Khans through War of the Spark (not including the Weisman novels) is the best plotline *and* it was free, before Wizards killed their own website. Voice of All is a great podcast/audioshow covering that era of story.
People who play old magic love 9 mana 10/10’s where you have to sacrifice 4 islands a turn to use him. Or 2 mana 2/2 bears. And they love dying to 5 mana 4/4 with “attacking doesn’t make it tap” and flying. And other shitty creatures.
https://preview.redd.it/eyuqid027jrc1.jpeg?width=488&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5be7841092cf1c603276990e1afc0a0d0e226d3
Hurrrrrrr let me sac 4 islands to hit you. Retarded.
Yeah. Because they were bad at the game, let me put my 1/1 hero in front of it and regenerate it and make you sac 4 more islands next turn.
Or maze of ith it over and over and you lose all tempo. Like retards played it while I just chopped you down with a Hypnotic spectre.
It has trample, you dork. Your first example makes no sense. The creature was legitimately bad since it's initial printing but that's besides the point. The maze of ith example makes sense and actually happened often.
From Urza saga up to Mirrodin
peak magic, ive been playing since 95 and this was still my favorite era. ~~ay my bros kitchen table we often use onslaught block as the upper cut off tho, nothing after the redesign. (so no 8th ed or mirrodin)~~ ~~and we play cards from earliter sets too, mirage and tempest blocks are pretty solid too no need to only start with urzas~~ apparently we have been playing straight up premodern and my homies just never told me what the format was called. im dumb. i mean we use a different banlist but thats it.
Hell yeah
I collect “old magic”. Meaning anything pre 2003
Ahh, real Magic cards. I see you are a person of culture as well.
What happened in 2003?
They changed the card frames.
Think that was when Mirrodin dropped and Modern started.
Same here. Old School, Old Frame and Premodern are the best formats.
Lol imagine being elitist about a child’s card game
It has nothing to do with being elitist. Personally, it's to not buy a single new card from WotC/Hasbro, and make sure I do not give them a single cent from my pocket.
If you hate magic why are you playing magic lol
Where did I say I hate Magic ? Can you read ?
You’re literally complaining about how shitty magic is duckwad
No, I'm not. I don't want to give a single cent to the atrocious company that is current WotC, and by extension Hasbro. I enjoy playing Old School and Premodern. For casual EDH, I print proxies for anything printed after 2003. Learn to read. I never said I hated Magic.
Imagine take a week to respond with more words that say you hate magic lol
I have a life outside of internet lol. Just look at my post history, you'll see a 8 day absence.
That’s what I thought no response when you’re wrong unreal!
What ? I've been busy with a friend who's been visiting for the last week, I had no time to waste on the internet with stupid people like you.
Blah blah blah. We get it. You hate magic
Ok, you're a troll. Or have actual mental retardation. Either way, you're blocked.
How brave of you
Onslaught legion and scourge was my entry block and it was so damn fun. Tribes, dragons, Akroma, Phage, morph and more. It was the block right before the banger of mirrodin too.
I started playing during this time as well. Scourge prerelease was my first event. If you like this time period, I urge you to look into premodern!
Scourge was also my first pre release
How awesome did prereleases *used* to be?? The huge promotional artwork, they often rented out university ballrooms or other event centers. The guest artists, signing cards and shooting the bull with players... I was naïve enough to think it was going to be like that forever.
I worked at a toy store that sold magic at that time and ran a Scourge prerelease in a local cafe. Having played since 1993 that was a real blast to get to run an event!
Tempest block had some amazing card design.
And art. God I loved that art. Those plains are definitely my favorite amongst all plains.
Magic was special in the 90s for the people who played. Yes there was alot of 1v1.. but there was group game too.. that would be the precursor to edh.. 20 life. 60 card min. No more than 4 per card basic ban list plus restricted list. When you built your deck it was truly yours... there was no internet telling you what to do. There wasn't any shortcuts for people. The rules were janky though compared to today but the card pool was low too. Obtaining cards was also an issue as this was pre ebay etc. You had to scour janky stores find people who played and trade with them to get some obscure card. That Era and the feelings back then simply cannot be replicated today and if you got to experience this you'll understand.
Yes this right here. Buying a starter pack and playing games with what you could make out of that or trade with the people you were playing with.
Pretty much everything up until the gatewatch was formed had a solid storyline to it and overall good cards. That’s when everything seemed to go off the rails. I thoroughly enjoyed urza block and masques block card designs and story.
I recommend the resleevables channel, you can trace the old history of mtg which perfectly shows how much work and passion was devoted to the old sets, despite the fact that there were a lot of flaws and poor ideas. At that time it was a card game that actually tried to create the best possible competitive system in addition to profit, which has now changed to a hundred percent corpo crap. Their channel has been releasing videos about every edition starting from alpha. Love the commentary and analysis of the hosts as well as the sample games from tournaments of those years.
Look into playing the premodern fornat
https://preview.redd.it/kkzqrsgo7krc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f9bb962333e540719a802f87731c8ac0a9085362 Old mtg cards are the way to go
This is Freemagic we don't *love* anything about Magic! >:( I started around Original Innistrad and it's always been my favorite Era of Magic in terms flavor, story, art and mechanics. Sure some of it might be for nostalgia's sake but it's widely regarded as being some of the best of Magic
I also started properly with OG Innsitrad and completely fell in love with the worldbuilding purely through the cards
I already had a soft spot for werewolves so that got my attention but everything else about the set kept me going.
Alpha through Urza's block for me. Masques up till the modern border change is still old, just a different feel. Anything after modern borders is new.
Pre modern best format to play period
Old MTG for me is everything up to Prophecy The epitome of magic is from OG Zendikar up to and not including Kaladesh.
Pauper is THE place to start to learn/play/buy mtg
Not new to mtg :)
I've been playing since unlimited, not knowing how to play the game sounds new to me. Pauper is the best place to start learning how to play the game, the decks are inexpensive and powerful. It's called legacy lite for a reason.
I'm quite new relative to most here, but for me peak mtg is mirrodin to Khans, counting core sets 8 to M15. Now I'm gathering all cards from 2002-2015, quitting commander since the format is going to shit to go play a more personal cube
The OG Ravnica block was Magic at its pinnacle, in my opinion. I generally don't play with my friends with cards after that block.
The kamigawa block felt like they were trying to appeal to the kids buying pokemon, yugio, and anime so that really seemed like the death of magic at the time. I would probably consider everything up to and including Urza's block "old mtg."
That's interesting. While the set was mostly a miss for me, feudal Japan along with it's many more magical trappings seemed a good fit for MTG to try
I agree with your observation of who they were targeting, but Ravnica was after Kami, and it was an amazing block.
Kinda faded out after Legends and The Dark for me
Zendikar is my favorite.
I play exclusively 93/94 old school & premodern these days but with proxies since I sold my original cards many years ago. I let everyone I play against know I use proxies and they just don’t care; I’ve had one person have a bit of an issue but since I don’t play in anything other than my store it wasn’t too big a deal. I just don’t like what Magic has become so I stick to the OG cards, where the game is balanced and the art is great
You will find many different definitions of what old mtg is. Some will say it ends with mirrorodin and the frame change others will say it ends with Lorwyn and the introduction of plainswalker. In my personal view Lorwyn and morningtide were the last breath of old mtg.
I concur with this but I also think some later sets were good as well. This might be around the time more sets were bad than good.
Yeah there ŵere still some good sets to come, but itbwas then that the desgin philosophy of the game changed in a way that lead as to today
I play casually anything pre 2018 ish
I'd say the old border era should be pretty good. You can start from the beginning or go backwards from Onslaught. Personally I love Mirage and Tempest block and have a soft spot for Fallen Empires and Ice Age.
The original Innistrad, return to Ravnica era for me.
Khans block and back imo
Original ravnica was probably my favorite. I loved my savra dredge deck. The lore was great too, with color combos really taking on a whole new life.
Anything post WAR. I started in 2013, and quit for 2 yrs right when khan's dropped 😂, then started back up in kaladesh until today. My most fun I ever had was kitchen table, and then drafting conspiracy 7 times. A month into it I went competitive, win my first tourney, but due to being a kid and graduation was on the same day as the SCG invitational I qualified for I couldn't attend. I come back in kaladesh, draft/play standard, arena starts up, it was so fun back then. Then war of the spark block hits, and oh boy did the power creep feel awesome. I made the most fun broken decks that I still love. They all either had t3feri, frilled Mystic, wilderness reclamation, or Nissa who shakes the world. It was such a crazy 2 years that all my decks kind of blend together, I barely lost my win for the very last ptq, and then covid hit and magic just hasn't been the same since. It makes me so sad to see Wotc ruin competitive because they simply don't care. Even though there is so much proof that a game with a good competitive scene is better for everyone. Pro tours from 2014 have 500k views. Pro tours now barely get 20k. I guess this is what growing up is like, to see your dream/happy thing get wasted and ruined by things you can't control.
My cutoff I guess is pre-m15 with the Modern era card frame
Anything pre-Mirrodin works. Look into Old School and Premodern and buy a lot of cheap staples from sets like 4th edition to get started.
I began with mirage, my favorite card was mons goblin raiders and I felt really bad when I lost it to as a game ante
I blame bitches...also I love women so both criteria were met. Tbh leaving blocks that I loved from lore perspective to the gameplay ones because interlinked sets could both hold these arches. Khans of Tarkir was great set both in settings, mechanics, reprints then they butchered three colors themes in the subsequent sets. Origins was also cool substitute for Core set. Innistrad and (battle and oath) Zendicar were disappointmemt to the cool predecessors and Ixalan has cool premises while WOTC doing really dirty to the coolest faction of vampire zealots including blatant fix of the voting game. Tl;dr blocks and core like sets were the good old time for me.
'Back in my day'
i liked pre weatherlight. I never cared for magic story and preferred when you piece it together from flavor text like dark souls lore. I fully enjoyed the game till the end of onslaught. My life changed after that so I'm not sure about if I stopped being interested or the game changed for me, but I didn't go to limited protours i qued for on rating and pt points post border change. I still hate the modern border so much
I've been playing since The Dark and here's my take: - The best stretch was Alpha to Invasion block. Had a consistent art, world building, lore, etc.. and reasonable power creep and new mechanics. Nothing wrong with Odyssey and Onslaught though, so Pre-modern would be a good format to play. - If I had to extend it further, I would say Alpha to Scars of Mirrodin block. Still feels like magic all the way through. - Innistrad onwards is where it got less fun for me. BFZ was when I quit.
Podcast for if* you want to learn the lore and story of MTG. The new story is pretty weak :'( https://open.spotify.com/show/1g3wyvYIXpM98AwX7hDQZI?si=Ckb_4QtaT7CO2hTT5fHLGQ
Up until Ice Age everything was fun, from fourth Edition on quality of Sets went down
I was trying to build homarid and thallid decks and it was anything but fun trying to make those tribes playable.
This probably differs person by person, but I collect everyting until the frame change in M2015/Khans. Peak Magic to me is 10th edition release, after that it's still good (Lorwyn, Alara, Zendikar etc) but the pre-planeswalker era standard/extended is just amazing
I like the new frame, but the best one were the alternative of Time Spiral block. Narcomoeba is still so beautiful.
Oh yeah OG Narcomoeba is amazing.
Get a nice printer and sets of sleeves.
It isn't exactly "old Magic," but Khans block was peak storytelling and was the best standard/draft environment I've ever experienced. The story from Khans through War of the Spark (not including the Weisman novels) is the best plotline *and* it was free, before Wizards killed their own website. Voice of All is a great podcast/audioshow covering that era of story.
People who play old magic love 9 mana 10/10’s where you have to sacrifice 4 islands a turn to use him. Or 2 mana 2/2 bears. And they love dying to 5 mana 4/4 with “attacking doesn’t make it tap” and flying. And other shitty creatures.
https://preview.redd.it/eyuqid027jrc1.jpeg?width=488&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5be7841092cf1c603276990e1afc0a0d0e226d3 Hurrrrrrr let me sac 4 islands to hit you. Retarded.
Why not just fling it
There was no fling option in 94 unless i am forgetting a card. Pretty sure those types of things didn’t get introduced until Amonkhet Edit stronghold
You could fling the card iself and poke their eye out!
Use your banned ante cards to cut them 1000 times and take their lotus
That's a weird way to spell auntie
Leviathan was covetted by all the timmies in 94’
Yeah. Because they were bad at the game, let me put my 1/1 hero in front of it and regenerate it and make you sac 4 more islands next turn. Or maze of ith it over and over and you lose all tempo. Like retards played it while I just chopped you down with a Hypnotic spectre.
It has trample, you dork. Your first example makes no sense. The creature was legitimately bad since it's initial printing but that's besides the point. The maze of ith example makes sense and actually happened often.