Playgroup Peculiarities
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Sept. 8, 2015, 12:15 a.m. by ComradeJim270
Every now and then I'll hear someone give advice for EDH that seems entirely off-base to me... and then realize they're playing with different people who do different things.
Someone will say that Selvala, Explorer Returned is a commander that will discourage people from attacking you, and I'll think about how every time I see someone play her they get hated right off the table.
Or they'll talk about EDH games being about creatures attacking in big huge battles and I'll think about how often I do games where there will be several cycles around the table without anyone dealing any combat damage. We're all too busy trying to combo off or prevent others from getting their combos.
I'm curious what ways other people find their playgroup differs from what they've heard other players talking about on here. Anything weird that sets you apart from what seems to be the norm?
One thing I see a lot of people say here is that their play group "frowns on infinite combos". For us, it's the opposite. Obviously we try to self regulate to an extent where people aren't playing stupidly overpowered decks against really casual ones, however other than that it's free game. Combos, Stax decks, it's all good. Hell, I personally encourage it.
Myself and a few other players have actually been working really hard over the last few years to cultivate this as well. I've always been of the opinion that (within bounds of course) if you find yourself getting beaten on a regular basis then the onus is on you to work on your deck, not complain that everybody else's decks are better and they should nerf them to play on your level. There are always exceptions to the rule, but we deal with that if and when it happens.
It's been really good though, because over the last two or so years there has been a noticable increase in the quality of magic played. And for me at least, that makes the game much more enjoyable.
September 8, 2015 1:43 a.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #4
@lightpulsar9: Surprised you don't get tired of that. There's nothing quite like a race to combo off, or trying to slip past the control players for the win. I'm not sure that most playgroups are more prepared for infinite combos though, I've certainly had the experience of being the only one at the table who even sees a person trying to pull one off (that person is sometimes me).
@enpc: An all combo player group? Sounds awesome. I find games more enjoyable though when a variety of archetypes are represented, which is one reason I like my playgroup. Pulling off a combo is much more satisfying when you do it even though an aggro player is punching you in the face and a control deck is trying to shut you down. Pull it off and you feel like a god.
Totally agreed that it's better to improve your deck than to whine about your opponent's. I had the experience of playing against vastly more powerful decks the other day and immediately started thinking about how to beat them. There are too many people playing at my LGS for there to be any other solution.
September 8, 2015 1:57 a.m.
ComradeJim270: It's not entirely combo, however its a good mix of decks like Purphoros, God of the Forge token value, Tasigur, the Golden Fang combo, Hanna, Ship's Navigator stax, a couple of beat down decks like Krenko (though it can combo off), a bit of a mix. It keeps the games fresh. Bit yeah, its not uncommon to have 2-3 combo decks in one game.
September 8, 2015 2:09 a.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #6
Well that's the good stuff, right there. Also less painful than having an EDH game full of control decks. Ever done that?
Make sure you have a plan to get food if you do. You'll need it.
September 8, 2015 2:25 a.m.
Oh yeah, been there. It's usually the second person to combo off that wins those :P
And yeah, our LGS is above a pizza store. Getting a bit sick of pizza but at least it's food.
September 8, 2015 2:35 a.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #8
That, or the game lasts as long as the counterspells and removal do. My LGS is attached to a cafe, so that's pretty cool... my wallet and my arteries might disagree though.
Do players in your group usually build multiple decks, or just work on perfecting a single one? I've seen both of those happen.
September 8, 2015 2:39 a.m.
Most players will have at least 2 decks. Both myself and my girlfriend have at least one competitive deck (we play in a Commander League as wel las casually) and a couple of "casual" ones. For my competitive decks (I run a Damia, Sage of Stone deck and a Saffi Eriksdotter deck) I am constantly making changes to get the best performance out of them. It's also where a lot of my "Magic Cards" money goes.
As for my casual decks, I still tweak them to get good performance from them, however I don't lose sleep over not having the perfect cards for each of them. And I'm happy to drop a bit of cash on them (I bought a Necropotence, Nirkana Revenant, Cabal Coffers and a few other things specifically for my Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief deck which I consider to be a casual build) but I usually draw the line at about $15 mark for a particular card. Though if it's something that I really want (especially if it's a staple), I'm usually happy to drop a bit more. But I'm not going to go out and get a full set of fetches and ABURs for my casual decks (for now at least). On the other hand, if I pull them in booster I have no problem running them in the decks.
As for the pizza thing, I'm usually coming from Taekwondo training so that helps to mitigate it a bit, but it's still probably killing me slowly....
September 8, 2015 3:11 a.m.
In my playgroup I often see really expensive cards, because a lot of people I play with started magic 20 years ago. It is cool to see those cards in action Bazaar of Baghdad for example. Nonetheless a lot of them dislike combo decks... They already played mean and powerful combo decks in the past but tend to go back to more casual decks for pod matches to have fun and longer lasting games. Most of the players own at least 5 or more decks to have more variety. The best thing is that almost every viable commander is represented in our meta. Politics often do not work. Often it is like "you play xyz, no matter how your boardstate is..take this removal"..
September 8, 2015 4:27 a.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #11
@AlexoBn: Yeah, having something Force of Willed or seeing ABUR duals all over the place is always interesting. Cards like that can help keep combo in check, though. Countermagic in general will do that.
Interesting thing, politics. I have to relearn it a bit in every game because I play with so many different people; it's not uncommon for me to sit down at a table where I don't know some of the players at all. In my main playgroup though, they're just straight-up unpredictable. Someone will go with it at first and then suddenly stab you in the back (especially if someone is playing the aforementioned Selvala). I've had people suddenly do things that caused them and another player to lose the game just because they thought it was funny.
There's also the thing some people do where they roll dice to be diplomatic about who to attack. Always backfires with me; I will focus anyone who hits me after doing this, hard. They're slowly learning not to do it when I'm there.
Seems to be a bit of Johnny thing, in my experience. What do you think?
September 8, 2015 10:56 a.m.
Didgeridooda says... #12
Threat predicting is half of the game. Focus on the deck that will be the hardest to deal with.
September 8, 2015 11:53 a.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #13
Depends on whether you're playing to win, that's not always the case in EDH. But that is why we tend to hate on Selvala; someone getting a crapload of extra 
every turn is not worth the extra card draw.
September 8, 2015 12:06 p.m.
Didgeridooda says... #14
Exactly.
I would not play as her, but I would aim to take her out. That is because I don't like giving everyone resources. At the same time that commander is giving all my other opponents resources which is a card disadvantage to me.
September 8, 2015 12:18 p.m.
Didgeridooda says... #15
That is why everyone should always pay the troll toll on Rhystic Study
September 8, 2015 12:19 p.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #16
I am frequently shocked by how many people don't. I always do.
September 8, 2015 12:20 p.m.
Didgeridooda says... #17
It gets me when others don't pay the toll for another opponent. I will usually tutor for an answer to it. If it is not my study, it has to go.
September 8, 2015 12:24 p.m.
In my old playgroup I was at the bottom of the totem pole, rarely winning a game. I asked the other players for help, they gave me cards and optimized my decks for me. They were all very experienced players who have sunk quite a bit of money into the game. For the most part these guys were all spikes.
With my new playgroup the opposite is true. I'm pretty much the arch-enemy in every game we play. I've been giving them cards to help beef up their decks, and advice on what to cut and what to keep. This group is relatively new to magic, and hasn't sunk that much money into it. Most of their decks are made with whatever cards they have on hand. I'd say this group is mostly timmys, with a bit of johnny thrown in.
September 8, 2015 2:44 p.m.
Forgot this last bit. The first group loved the precons, and frequently made optimized versions of the decks. My current group is a little leery of the precons, but recently I got one of the the Sworn to Darkness deck as a birthday present. He was blown away by all of the rares in the deck. Not to mention how well it performed against the others.
September 8, 2015 2:47 p.m.
Wolfsbane706 says... #20
Something I saw done in my old playgroup (not that I have one now) was that the person playing Rhystic Study would announce the casting of it, but wouldn't announce the triggers because A: it wasn't required and B: announcing the triggers would draw attention to the card. I do the same thing with Mold Adder. I announce when it's cast, then keep my mouth shut as it gets bigger. I probably wouldn't be able to do this in a room full of spikes, though.
September 8, 2015 6:56 p.m.
Didgeridooda says... #21
Meh, you have to announce a trigger especially if it is a draw one. The adder I would not really care about.
September 8, 2015 7:40 p.m.
The thing that bugs me about Rhystic Study is that you can have your turn and the blue player may not be playing attention so you make your plays and then pass the turn and in the next player's upkeep or whatever the blue player looks at you and says "Wait, how many spells did you play and did you pay 1 for those?" in the expectation that they can draw some more cards. My usual response, "May trigger, not my job to keep on top of it." And especailly with things like Rhystic Study which are may triggers, the onus is on the player whose card it is to announce the trigger each time. If they don't, then they don't get to draw from it. To bad, so sad, learn to magic better.
And I have that attitude with both casual and competitive games, if you forget/fail to do something, that's your own fault, yo uneed to learn to wear that. I get a bit sick of oall of the coddleing thta takes place in a lot of casual games with players that should know better.
September 8, 2015 8:12 p.m.
Wolfsbane706 says... #23
While I don't agree with the tone, I do agree that players asking if they can draw after the fact is annoying.
September 8, 2015 8:55 p.m.
I'm usually a bit more polite when actually talking to them, but I make sure that I get the point across. At the end of the day though, I do want to keep playing magic with these people and I'd rather not have to deal with out of game politics. Been there, done that, pass thankyou very much.
September 8, 2015 9:01 p.m.
Wolfsbane706 says... #25
I meant the tone of your post, not the tone of how you talk to the players. Apologies for the confusion, if there was any.
September 8, 2015 9:02 p.m.
In all the games I play, I see alliances, hierarchies, and tendrils of manipulation.
Usually I find it best to start with a "fair deck" that allows me to focus more on social dynamics. When I figure out who any masterminds or conspirators are then I pick the best deck out of my 13 to fully f*** with their strategy.
I have won some multiplayer games, but I don't always win by any means. In 1v1, I tend to go in streaks of winning or losing.
I think the reason that I don't always aim to take first is that the players and social dynamics interest me more than the cards and glory (and as you can see, just the cards alone bold my interest quite well). Sometimes you can learn more from a partial loss than a win.
September 8, 2015 9:18 p.m.
Wolfsbane706: Yeah, that may have been a bit of a rant. Call me jaded. The thing is though, I've spend a lot of my own time (and in in some cases, money) helping people build better decks. Helping them become better players. And it's not like I've thrust this upon them, it's because they've asked me "how can I make my deck better?"
And I'm not asking people to know all of the rules, becuase hell, even I get stuff wrong. And I'm happy to admit that. But when people (who I know have been playing for quite a while) claim complete ignorace because they're being lazy, or worse, pretend to claim ignorance to try and gain some advantage my tolerance is very low.
September 8, 2015 9:47 p.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #28
It's interesting how politics work if a group leans heavily towards a particular psychographic... in my experience:
A group with a lot of Spikes tends to be short on politics, and if someone is the only Spike in the game they can get very frustrated by the amount of politicking going on.
Timmies? So much politics! It's a major part of the format and they'll go deep into it, making alliances and such.
Then there's the Johnnies. This is my main playgroup. We are not to be trusted. Johnnies in EDH are the most treacherous and unpredictable of all opponents. Every alliance, every deal, every agreement will end with someone suddenly stabbing you in the back or throwing you under the bus, even if there's a good chance you'll take them down with you. Why? Because doing absurd things with the game is hilarious!
September 9, 2015 12:17 a.m.
That and the Johnnies tend to keep their hand to themselves. Then everything gets played in one turn and bam - game. It makes it that much harder to predict when they're ready to combo off.
September 9, 2015 12:50 a.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #30
Other times we'll all have part of our combo on-board and be staring each other down trying to successfully get that last piece... while the control players drum their fingers next to some untapped islands.
September 9, 2015 1:08 a.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #32
Usually when I hear someone deride a deck type as uninteractive it's because they don't understand the axis on which you interact with it. Anyone who's been on either side of the control/combo matchup knows there's a lot going on that someone who only plays aggro won't see.
September 9, 2015 1:36 a.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #33
"My usual response, "May trigger, not my job to keep on top of it." And especailly with things like Rhystic Study which are may triggers, the onus is on the player whose card it is to announce the trigger each time. If they don't, then they don't get to draw from it. To bad, so sad, learn to magic better.
And I have that attitude with both casual and competitive games, if you forget/fail to do something, that's your own fault, yo uneed to learn to wear that. I get a bit sick of oall of the coddleing thta takes place in a lot of casual games with players that should know better."
I have to disagree with this completely, given that it's basically not how the game works at all.
When an opponent has Rhystic Study out and you cast a spell, Study triggers, each player gets priority, and the player controlling Study chooses to put it on the stack or not. At this point, the game does not move on until he intentionally declares putting Study's effect on the stack, or passing priority. By simply moving on and playing other spells or passing your turn, you're making an illegal move, which isn't even in your power as active player. Steps and Phases move on when all players have passed priority, not when the Active Player says so.
I do agree that he should be paying attention to the game, but I hardly find inattentiveness to be reason for a player to essentially cheat.
I don't mean anything personal by this, this is just something I see a lot of people doing which is essentially incorrect, bad form, and poor sportsmanship.
September 9, 2015 1:45 a.m.
I absolutely agree ComradeJim270. As someone who has gravitated heavily towards combo-control/mid-combo shells for a long while (Riku of Two Reflections, Derevi, Empyrial Tactician, Damia, Sage of Stone, Prime Speaker Zegana and now Tasigur, the Golden Fang) I have heard waaaaaaaaay too often that the decks I play are either "non-interactive", "unfun", or even that they go against "the spirit of the format". However, often times you just need that control player at the table who can deal with complicated board states or just combo kill the table when the game has gone on for simply far too long, but I digress.
Going back to the the point you made, there is often a ton of lines of play that I make entirely based upon the current board state and probable board state that could exist in the next 1-2 turns after my own. People get in a tizzy and cal that non-interactive purely because it often clears the board state rather than adding to it and I just don't think that's a justifiable reason to think of the deck as not interacting at all.
September 9, 2015 2:07 a.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #35
I think my own meta benefits from sheer size and variety. My LGS is sort of a local MtG mecca; there can be dozens of people to play with, running decks of varying types, power levels, etc. So for a deck to work there you need to be ready for a bit of everything.
September 9, 2015 2:20 a.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #36
I've always felt like control is the most interactive of archetypes. I'm not sure how someone would perceive it as being non-interactive. If any deck type feels non-interactive it's Burn. I mean seriously, what's more interactive than kill spells and board wipes? Another creature hitting the board isn't "interactive" it's just more stuff on the board.
September 9, 2015 2:24 a.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos: All good, I know where you're coming from. Yes, you're right in that every time a spell is cast the ability goes on the stack. And yes, then each player gets priority in turn order. And when we're playing properly we go through all the motions.
However in casual games a lot of it is shortcut as people get a little bit lore lax in calling triggers. And if people have other stuff happeneing or have to go pick up a pizza or whatever, we're all pretty good about either waiting for them or if they're doing something legitimate and they specifically say "play on without me for a minute" we will play on still treating the Rhystic Study as in play. if the play isn't an important one (like casting a ramp sepll then passing) we will often tally up the number of spells they get to draw from and tell them when they get back. Similarly, if the play is important we are all usually happy to wait.
And I agree that for players to try and make sneaky plays is underhanded. For the record, I have issues with people doing this too.
However the scenario I am refering to is everybody is sitting down and people are all watching the game go on. Somebody casts a spell, everybody is happy. Then they play another spell. again, everybody is happy. then two turns later the blue player who owns the Rhystic Study pipes up with a "hey, you didn't pay for those trigger, I get to draw two cards." And that's where I have a problem. Sure, if we called every trigger there wouldn't be a problem, but after 8+ hours of work and 1.5-2 hours of taekwondo training (which is utterly exhausting), I just want to sit down a relax and play some cards, as do most of the people there. And I know that most of the people of the people in my playgroup are good enough that if they forgot a trigger they would just leave it. But there's always that one person. That one person who is sitting there nodding as you play a Blasting Station, only to then have a sulk once you combo off despite the fact that they had a counterspell and open mana (yes, that happened once). It's that kind of bad attitude I can't stand.
September 9, 2015 2:33 a.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #38
enpc: Yeah I can understand that. I've just dealt with a lot of people who seem to think they can play some stuff, and then declare ending their turn before somebody with a trigger can say anything, and then claim it's too late because they ended their turn, which is of course, complete bull****.
There just seems to be a lot of misinformation that goes around about missing triggers, passing steps, etc. which really gets on my nerves. When I sit down to play Magic: the Gathering, I expect to play Magic: the Gathering, not some hacked up BS version some guy thinks is the game. Just like if I were to go out to play baseball, I would expect there to be 3 bases, not 12.
Technically it is within the rules to reverse the game to a point before an "illegal" move was made in order to correct the gamestate, so that sort of thing really rides on my nerves, especially after having put up with it since 8th edition lol. The idea that there are still so many misinformed players in this day boggles the mind.
September 9, 2015 2:47 a.m.
Which is exactly why not too long after changing the competitive REL rules on may triggers they went back and edited it to allow the trigger to still go off assuming not too much time has lapsed between when the trigger would have gone off and that particular moment in which the player remembers it which is exactly how I think it should be.
The issue really just lies, in my opinion, in just how many rules interactions there are that people neglect or don't know to teach to newer players. IE a new player learning to play the game is already overwhelmed by trying to under even the order of phases in a turn, you're not going to try to teach him about what triggers are and how they work. Obviously after they've come to some level of competency we sort of just take the training wheels off them a lot of the time and these are the cases where they forget how the breaks on the bike work and then they crash. I definitely follow and understand all of your frustrations Tyrant-Thanatos, and as players who understand these are a legitimate part of the rules I think it falls on us the help the kids back up and just show them how the brakes work and after a few times they'll either figure it out or they'll just continue to crash and you ignore them. I recently moved to a new LGS with a mostly brand new MTG group full of new players where I've been asked to sort of mentor the group and foster it, and you'll be damn sure I'll be drilling good play habits and adherence to rules with them lol.
September 9, 2015 2:58 a.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos: I can relate to that. Well, everything except the baseball, don't really play it much over here :P though I appreciate the analogy.
My girlfriend and I have been playing with this playgroup for the last few years (though its dramatically expanded in the last 12 months) and have put a lot of time and effort working on raising the bar when it comes to both magic rules knowledge, deck building and all around playing of the game. Again, we try to do this as constructively as possible as we both are interested in keeping the playgroup going and promoting a friendly atmosphere.
There have been some tough calls that have had to be made, (the toughest actually I wasn't there for) like one of the regulars had to ask another player to leave the group. But making tough calls, or not tolerating people's bad attitude has kept the group going well. And I would expect others in the group to call me out (and have before) if for some reason I am the offending party.
September 9, 2015 3:06 a.m. Edited.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #41
It really warms the heart to see knowledgable players that are helpful and encouraging. Maybe I've just had bad luck, but I run into a lot of toxic players, or people who were "taught" the game incorrectly by toxic players.
I think my biggest frustration is my own stubbornness to get people to understand that they're doing something incorrectly. A lot of people seem to refuse to educate themselves and are adamant that the way they learned the game is correct. I just have a really hard time walking away, because I don't want these people spreading their misinformation to others. Life would be a lot easier if I could just learn to walk away, and not play with people who refuse to learn.
September 9, 2015 3:42 a.m.
Yeah, unfortunately MtG does have a tendacy to attract a certain personality type. On top of the fact the "nerd culture" promotes the whole "I was right and you were wrong, therefore I am better than you" attitude which really discourages people from admitting fault and adds to the whole pride and defending ones pride thing. Not to mention people are lazy.
But that is much bigger than MtG....
September 9, 2015 3:53 a.m. Edited.
Yeah it isn't just you Tyrant-Thanatos, you can see it in a community pretty quickly, and more often than I would like to think, when it's been fostered by people with either misunderstanding of the rules, or even deliberately bending rules to suit their needs/wants. There's a particular chain here in Utah that comes to mind (won't start pointing names in the oddball case someone goes there, no need to start fights) that has an owner who has just soured his community by being underhanded or purposefully telling them that the rules work differently than how they should and do.
I digress though, I feel those are cases that don't happen quite as often as I see first hand or so I would like to believe. It's definitely hard to try and teach someone that obviously does not want to be taught. At that point I feel like there is a group psych phenomena that kind of kicks in within the more veteran/regular group in the community.
Either:
a.) The regular group sees the person's inability or refusal to play the game as it is intended and simply consciously or unconsciously begins to exclude him or her from games until he/she understands that the group has an expectation of the level of play from the people they play with.
OR
b.) The group is more or less like the individual who does not want to play the game as the rules intended and you may just be better off searching for a new community or man the work that is ahead for you trying to correct that community is going to be a major haul. I've done it once before, and granted the store is still not in a great spot and still has a negative reputation within the community for being a haven for casuals with limited to no understanding of rules, they're still better off than they were before and a few of us came out of that community with a fair grasp on rules interactions and the way Competitive REL and Casual REL works. Still took the better part of a year though and I even had some resistance from the owner of the store because he thought I was trying to scare away his players >.>
It just rubs me the wrong way when players aren't taught and either no one is there to teach them or someone deliberately teaches them bad habits/understanding of the rules.
Also would like to just echo enpc's thoughts. That reaction is a pretty common one for people in general but especially in more nerd populated communities. A lot of the time people will have their identity and self-worth tied up in the game due to their personality type, which MTG draws in some of those people, and it just often leads to sour interactions.
September 9, 2015 4:20 a.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #44
Yup, I see a lot of cases where people bend the rules to facilitate their wins. It's pretty disgusting tbqh and I truly do hope that's not as common as I perceive.
Glad you were able to at least partially turn around a poor communuty iLikeDirt, I've made a few stabs at that in the past and been met with limited to no success.
With as commonly as I see this kind of stuff I feel blessed I know the few people I do with relatively solid grasps on the rules and willingness to learn.
It is unfortunate MtG has a tendency to draw these type of folk, but it is what it is. All we can do is educate those willing to learn, and accept that there are people out there that are just not worth playing with.
September 9, 2015 4:37 a.m.
It was nice to see people starting to figure stuff out, but man let me tell you it isn't worth the trouble if there is another LGS you can go to haha.
But moving away from the topic since we seem to have derailed the thread a bit, what would people's ideal playgroup really look like? I know for me I would like to see one that is kind of on the border of cutthroat personally. I get really tired of watching people incorrectly summing up threat assessment to "He won last game so he's the scariest." while someone else has just gone and Mystical Tutored into a Tooth and Nail at end step
September 9, 2015 4:57 a.m.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #46
Hah, yeah I catch a lot of flak in multiplayer games because the circle I play with does a lot of 1v1, and they all see me as threat right out of the gate because I do so well in 1v1. Frankly I rarely am the threat in multiplayer, a lot of my decks just aren't built for it. I haven't gotten these guys into EDH yet but we play a lot of modern and my Loam Titan catches a lot of attention as soon as I drop Lotleth Troll. Even when the guy to my left is sitting on a pair of Slumbering Dragons and a Gyre Sage with over 6 counters on it.
I don't hold anything against my playgroup for that though, a lot of them are newer and don't sport enough spot removal to deal with the dragons. I just wish sometimes people would concern themselves more with the current board state than what the deck can do. While it's important to know who future threats are/could be, leaving yourself open to a Bioshifted dragon just to swing at me seems illogical at best lol.
Ideally I'd want my playgroup to have a good mix of player types, a solid understanding of rules interactions, and good sportsmanship. I've had to instate a "Mercy rule" in my current playgroup because there are people who will hold off attacking just because they want to "see what they can get" while their opponent is sitting in misery topdecking garbage with no board presence. Nothing is worse than sitting there helpless, feeling like you're just feeding your opponent's ego. I think the biggest reason this happened is because we're all too "honorable" to scoop, which is something I appreciate, but when it goes that far something needs to change.
September 9, 2015 5:14 a.m.
Didgeridooda says... #47
One thing about the study though, I don't mind someone missing the trigger the first time, and drawing. Just remind them that they need to remember, and that is their freebie. I feel staying quiet about triggers is kinda shady. I also try to teach everyone that the tax should always be payed. If it is a friend that I know should do the right thing, might be a little different. I would never be a stickler to a newer player.
Edit, first words did not say what I wanted
September 9, 2015 8:27 a.m. Edited.
Tyrant-Thanatos says... #48
@Didgeridooda Agreed about the shadiness of silence. I make it a point to openly declare every step I make about anything. If I have a Hardened Scales out, and one of my creatures gets a counter, I don't just throw two on it, I openly point out the Scales effect, every time. It gets tedious, yes, but it's the honorable and, imo, sensible way to play the game. It seems like every time I don't declare things like this somebody questions it, so I may as well just say it. Similarly, when facing Rhystic Study, I'll declare I'm paying the tax, every time I cast a spell. Repetitive, yes. But clear.
I'm not trying to say everybody should conform to my style of play, I know a lot of things get overlooked in casual play because following the rules to the tee would make games drag on for eternity, especially games like large FFA EDH games, but declaring actions is part of how the game works, so I choose to declare every trigger, every replacement effect, and basically everything I do. I declare untapping on my untap step for crying out loud.
September 9, 2015 9:14 a.m.
But the "untap, upkeep, draw" song is a crucial part of playing magic, so that one's a no brainer :P
September 9, 2015 10:07 a.m.
ComradeJim270 says... #50
@iLikeDirt: I think you'd either love or hate my main playgroup. Most of us get threat assessment and we're a bit cutthroat without being competitive, but we'll choose to toss it out the window when it's amusing or satisfying to do so.
It's the Johnny thing. Doing absurd and clever things with the game trumps winning. Winning is just your reward for doing absurd and clever things better than anyone else did.
Anyway, I think the way I'd like my primary playgroup even more is if all of its players had multiple decks, just to keep things fresh and also to accommodate differing power levels. It's no fun when someone at the table just can't keep up. I enjoy close games far more than blowouts. Also, toning down the frequent betrayals and suicidal hilarity a bit would be nice.
Lightpulsar9 says... #2
Everyone in my playgroup focuses on a large board presence, or large creatures. Their decks typically have very little if any ways to stop combo other than just attacking and killing the combo player. I'm the only combo player in my playgroup and i generally win most if not all of my games just because of how good I am at politics. So yeah. My playgroup is kinda weird. My decks generally don't have a board presence so they feel no need to attack me, but instead choose to attack the guy that's overextending and/or playing lots of creatures. Then I come out of nowhere and combo for the win. Every game is sorta similar to that, even when i change decks lol. I'd assume other playgroups are smarter about their politics and threat assessment and/or are more used to combo decks and how to deal with them.
September 8, 2015 1:35 a.m.