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It's 3 am.
3am...
3am....
Eternaaaalllllll.
I used to really love that song. You've probably never heard of it but it was a great song to dance to when I was in college. It may have been the first song to use a cell phone as a musical instrument. It was by the rap group KLF if you want to look it up.
Why I am writing about a song by an obscure rap group? Because I'm currently living it. As I write this, it is now 3:12 am. Believe it or not I intentionally woke up at this early hour. Why? It wasn't to write this article I can assure you. Sure, Trick has deadlines, but they're not 3 am. For the reason why I am up right now you'll have to keep reading.
Magic Online
This summer I've set off on a quest. Since it was summer and I have more time to play around I decided to join the ranks of players that play our game online. It's been an interesting journey thus far and I would like to share with you my ups and downs as I went through the baby steps of starting to play Magic in this format. Hopefully as I share my early experiences with you I will also help you to avoid my early mistakes.
The Download
First and foremost you need to download the program. The system requirements weren't that much of a hassle and I don't think it took very long. I honestly don't know how long it took since I was mowing my lawn while my computer did its thing. I checked on it after I had finished with the trimming and it was already done. I did try to move the file to a different locale so I didn't have to click a thousand things to get to it but that was a failure. Since I don't know enough about computers to make it right I just created a shortcut instead.
Then I thought I had really screwed up. When I clicked on the game I got an error message. It said something about running a “kicker” and repairing the program. Repairing sounds bad and I panicked thinking I had fouled something up. How could I break a program I hadn't even opened yet? Turns out these are normal occurrence. Not me breaking something but the “kicker” message. If you look under the Wizards of the Coast file that was downloaded you'll see more than one .exe program. The one you should shortcut (MTGO_NET.exe) and another one called Kicker.exe. When you run the "kicker" is will ask you to repair the program. It really isn't "repairing" anything, it's just installing updates since the program doesn't do it automatically. It will happen frequently so be prepared. I think I've done it like three or four times just in the month of June.
In game terms I think they should have called the program "Upkeep" or "Echo" instead of "Kicker." The flavor seems better.
Playing for Free
At this point I began playing for free. Is it because I've already "gone infinite"? Not at all. Is it because Wizards thought I was so cool? Well I did get to preview an M11 card, but, no. Is it because I was the millionth download? No.
Turns out that you can play for free for just downloading the program. When you open the program you get a sign in box and at the bottom right corner it says "Play free trial." If you click there it will let you play one of ten different decks against other players who are also restrained to those same ten choices. While it is not even close to being able to build and play your own decks, the basic flavor of Magic is still there.
I spent a lot of time playing with these decks more to learn about the way the program worked than for enjoyment of the game. I really wanted to be sure of the way things worked before I opened my wallet. I did figure out a very important aspect of the game. I was playing with one of the blue decks versus the big green Timmy deck. I had knocked down his life with my flyers but now I was looking at lethal damage if I don't hold back blockers. I drew a Deluge and it was perfect. I could now swing with my flyers. On his turn tap all his dudes and then swing flyers again for the win. So I begin my plan. Only he doesn't play anything in his main and is able to attack without me having a chance to respond. I was upset. I really thought the game was bonkers until I realized that I could set stops for my and my opponent's turn.
Stops are times when the computer will make sure you are asked if you want to do something. Obviously you don't want to have to hit okay 10 times during your opponent's turn. Talk about your carpal tunnel syndrome. But if I would have had a 'stop' set at the beginning of combat I would have been able to execute my plan. If you are new to the game, you set your stops by going to the "Menu" button at the bottom left of your screen. From there select "Settings" and "Game Play." You can also change the way your cards are laid out as well.
The Commitment
Now that I've played enough to be familiar with the construct of the game I decided to jump in a get an account going. Spending a small amount of cash I gain a ton of M10 commons and uncommons along with an Event ticket, a Pack of M10, and some really powerful cards that are gold bordered. At first I am a little confused by the borders until I discover the "Planeswalker" decks.
Now that I've established an account I have access to more decks that are already preconstructed. These decks are definitely a step above those in the Free Play trial. Also, when you pit these decks against each other you are facing opponents that have invested in the game as well. This means the level of play is just better and therefore the games felt more enjoyable. I don't want to offend anyone but the level of play in the Free Trial was low. I won multiple games just because my opponent made errors. I made some myself such as clicking a Prodigal Pyromancer too many times so it dealt its damage to itself.
So I started trying out different Planeswalker decks and was having a blast when I ran into some that I couldn't play with because I didn't "own" the cards. That's when I found out that there is a Planeswalker expansion box. So for $3.99 more I bought some Gold cards and was able to play every Walker deck. This was fun but I wouldn't suggest the 4 bucks to anyone else. In the long run you're going to want to play for real with real cards and decks you built.
Still there were more effects and nuances of play when I played with these decks so I decided to hang there for awhile. I missed deck construction though. That was until I noticed that some of the Walker decks I faced weren't exactly on list. Turns out you can build your own Walker deck. The only difficulty is the mana. In the deck builder if you add a card it assumes you want a black bordered one. If you mix Black and Gold you end up with a deck that can't be saved. So if you build with an already existing mana base you can make your own deck. It's pretty fun for less than $20.
Getting Cards
Still I wanted to make stuff from scratch and play games where it was MY deck not some premix with adjustments. Maybe that's why I almost never play a net deck. It just doesn't feel like my creation and ultimately my favorite part of the game is creating. So I needed to get more cards than what I had.
First stop was the Marketplace. Here I found tons of listings for stuff people wanted to trade. Most of it was by "Bots." Bots are programs that will do the trading for you while you're gone. I don't even get how to talk to Bots. I haven't actually tried that hard but I really missed the boat on the language needed to trade with these guys.
So I started clicking on names that are shown to be logged in. Just right click and choose Private chat. I would then ask “wanna trade” and for the most part people responded positively. I didn't have much that people wanted. Everyone wanted my Tickets but I felt I should hold on to those. In my booster pack I hit an Ajani Goldmane and was able to parlay that into 3 Awakening Zones with some commons thrown in. But it became apparent that I needed to buy singles from somewhere.
In steps the Internet. I've been a singles buyer online for years but now I needed to buy digital cards. CoolStuffInc unfortunately doesn't carry digital cards or I would have been set. Turns out that most people who are "dealers" of digital cards just depend on their Bots to do the work. So there aren't many actual sites where you can get cards and assistance. In my mind I need to know that someone is there for me when I'm the consumer. I even hate those automated check out machines.
In steps Cardhoarder.com. I highly recommend these guys. They are on top of orders and give quick responses in all questions you may have. In Magic Online you can mark people as Buddies and currently Cardhoarder is my only “buddy”. They not only sold me cards in a quick and professional manner but also assisted me with ways to make trades and binder management.
After purchasing some cards from Cardhoarder.com I received an extra event ticket as a thank you from them. Now I was able to build two decks. One Standard and one Extended. I was lucky that the Extended deck I chose happened to be legal in the new Extended as well.
The Decks
"I'm Hungry – Standard"
The Overrun was an addon after I had ordered already. It came with the account and plays really well. I plan on getting more but no one wants to trade them to me yet.
"Unequal Balance – Extended"
- (60)
- 4 Ardent Plea
- 4 Demonic Dread
- 4 Violent Outburst
- 4 Restore Balance
- 4 Wildfield Borderpost
- 4 Veinfire Borderpost
- 4 Fieldmist Borderpost
- 4 Firewild Borderpost
- 4 Mistvein Borderpost
- 4 Phyrexian Totem
- 4 Tezzeret the Seeker
- 4 Terramorphic Expanse
- 4 Evolving Wilds
- 1 Swamp
- 1 Plains
- 2 Mountain
- 3 Island
- 1 Forest[/cardlist]
I really am searching for another win condition and a way to handle enchantments that my opponents may play but that’s the list for now.
I plan on recapping my adventures with these decks in a future class.
Why 3 am?
I had really hoped to cap the article off with my first adventure into tournament play. I been having a hard time blocking off four hours (at least) to compete in any of the tournaments that are formats I feel I can play right now. The above decks are fun but they’re not ready for tournament style play so I figure I need to start with some Limited play. I had seen a Rise of Eldrazi Sealed that would go off at 3 am. My kids don’t wake up till 7 or 7:30 so I figured I could wake up early and play without disrupting my day.
So why I am writing and not playing? 3 am is Pacific Time. The tourney won’t go off for 2 more hours and then it will last too long for me to take my kids to Science Camp and Vacation Bible School. So for the final lesson of the day make sure you account for Time Zones when you plan to play online.
There’s the alarm so I gotta go be a Dad now. Hopefully you liked hearing about my first steps into MTGO. If you’re interested I can bring you more later.
