Which Format Should I Play?
General forum
Posted on Feb. 16, 2016, 12:05 p.m. by ninjaclevs13
I have been playing Magic competitively for a few months now in standard. However, my friend recently convinced me that modern is the way to go. I was ready to jump headfirst into modern, but then I read multiple articles about what is wrong with modern and how WotC has messed it up. Is this really true? Is modern really the way to go? Is standard best? How about commander? Legacy? Pauper? Which format is best and why?
Depends really. Standard rotates every 18 months, modern is expensive and now to the point were things tend to get banned on a yearly basis, legacy is more expensive than modern and doesn't have much sanctioned support. Pauper is probably the best route, but i don't believe there is any support for it. So pick your poison
February 16, 2016 12:10 p.m.
ninjaclevs13 says... #4
I would like to play fairly competitively and fairly often, I just don't really know anyone that I can play with very much. I do go to fnm every week. However, I don't want to play a format where if you don't spend $1,000 on a deck then you will lose.
February 16, 2016 12:15 p.m.
grumbledore says... #5
standard is financial attrition over a long enough period of time. theres a huge inflation bubble with standard prices. as to the 1000$ deck thing... well. yea but once you have all of that, you don't need to buy it again. some things get banned but the core expensive pieces (i.e.: lands) don't, so they're a good investment. also, there are many competitive decks under that price point in modern. hell my 2300$ modern deck got curb stomped by a 400$ home brew last night. it was awesome (no sarcasm lol... i love playing against solid brews).
February 16, 2016 12:26 p.m.
Well that's modern and legacy for you. With modern it is best to build something over time and make sure it can fall into multiple different decks. U/R is always a good starting point or burn.
February 16, 2016 12:27 p.m.
DERPLINGSUPREME says... #7
@ninjaclevs13 if you're looking for casual games with friends and fun interactions, go for commander.
if you're looking for quicker games with some scooping happening and lots of decks you won't really like to play against but you'll have fun anyways, go modern.
If you want to have games that feel ever changing yet always the same in crucial aspects, go for standard
If you want to keep using a powerful deck that you love and care for and buy better things for overtime, go legacy.
If you want to have a legion of easy to build theme decks and think more about your homebrews, go for pauper.
February 16, 2016 12:33 p.m. Edited.
kipahlord13 says... #8
I will strongly recommend Commander. EDH is a great format, because you can build a reasonable deck so long as you have a good commander and maybe a couple bulk rares that fit. Fill the rest in with commons in your colors, and make a list of cards you want to get. From there, play, trade, repeat. The games of EDH are so much fun, especially with three or four players with somewhat even decks. I would only caution that games can get REALLY LONG (3+ hours), and if you get really into it, you can spend a lot of money on it. I would say the biggest thing Commander has to go for it though, is that you can build a deck off of any commander or concept, and when you start, it can be dirt cheap and still playable.
February 16, 2016 12:36 p.m.
Commander is not a format to play if you're into heavy competition. It's not very well supported.
Modern is fine. It has huge problems right now and we're definitely seeing rotations occur but at the same time there away a wide variety of t2 decks and it's very well supported. If you stay aware from t1 and go for t1.5 or 2 then it's great.
February 16, 2016 12:45 p.m.
Standard right now is great it has a lot of fun decks a lot of brewing space and is very challenging. If you want to play semi competitive I think standard is the way to go. Modern events tend to be pretty competitive outside FNM and pauper and legacy arent supported much so I would not worry about them. Commander is almost purely casual as far as actual competitions are concerned but is still fun to play with friends. For your tastes, at least what I got from your post, I think standard would be best for you.
February 16, 2016 12:59 p.m.
Fun fact: you can get into Legacy for roughly the same price it takes to get into tier 1 modern right now.
So there's that to consider (for this time of the season at least).
My friend traded a Scalding Tarn for a Plateau and a Taiga yesterday, if that's any testament to the colossal price Modern is at right now for the tier 1 and 2 stuff.
February 16, 2016 2:25 p.m.
I'd suggest staying away from legacy/ vintage unless you have tons of money to throw into a deckIn modern decks can be expensive too but a large part of that is the lands which are not 100% required. If you want to play modern I'd keep playing standard for a bit until you can build up enough of a collection. I don't see a point in pauper unless you have a group to play ywith you can say the same thing about edh
February 16, 2016 3:13 p.m.
ninjaclevs13 says... #13
What do you guys think of draft? Would it be viable to just get into drafting?
February 16, 2016 3:39 p.m.
Limited is the easiest format to get into, since the only upfront costs you have are buying the packs/registering for the draft. But it's a very different experience than Standard/Constructed.
February 16, 2016 3:41 p.m.
Draft is really fun, but it's a very different format from your typical games of Magic. But if you want to have fun and do well at FNM without spending a stupid amount of money, it's the way to go. Plus, who doesn't like cracking packs?
February 16, 2016 6:15 p.m.
Troy242621 says... #17
Modern isn't dying, anyone who says otherwise is catastrophizing. Yes, Eldrazi is over the top, and it's not going to stay there forever. I honestly don't believe WotC did this purely to push Eldrazi sales. If they really wanted to just cash grab, we'd of experienced mad levels of power creep already. I think it was largely an oversight.
As for Modern's cost, yeah a tier 1 Modern deck is pretty nuts right now. If I wanted to spend a grand, I would just buy a Legacy deck, to be fully honest. Having said that, you don't need to spend that much on a Modern deck to reasonably compete in my opinion. However, to be perfectly clear, T1 decks are T1 for a reason.
February 21, 2016 8:58 p.m.
Troy242621 I sort of agree with you but there is one thing that you are missing and that is that Wizards specifically said they just didnt even care to try to balance the eldrazi set up for other formats and that is not an oversight that is negligence and shows that they dont want to try to care about modern as much as standard which means that it will probably start to die and get less and less popular as it is less and less supported.
Jamesfurrow says... #2
No one format is the best. It comes down to how you want to play. I love commander and modern. Modern is at the moment in a financially weird spot with some recent bannings that no one now knows how to deal with. Yes eldrazi are a powerhouse and will probally get a banning of Eye of Ugin but that shouldn't stop you playing modern if you want to. If you want lower to the ground powerful decks then maybe it's legacy for you over modern. Commander canalso be more spikey than legacy if you build the decks to that power. It's all on what you want to do with the format
February 16, 2016 12:09 p.m.