mtg palers new and old?

The way Magic is evolving (if we can call it that) is good and bad. I will try to make this short.

When Magic first started in 1993, no one knew it was going to be so successful. Therefore many good cards were printed, thinking that players would only get one or two of these cards. Then the game became a hit, and the 4 limit rule of any card was made. Then the more powerful cards were discontinued to balance the game, and things were good.

The thing is with the internet and ebay today is, any good decks out there players that can't build decks just copy them and then Wizards thinks that those cards are so good and just quits making those cards or builds cards to go against those decks, which is bad.

Wizards must not make so many sets per year (oh no! how will they make money if they can't sell new cards???) Well how about go back to the old ways of 3 sets per year, with the Core set every two years thrown in. Adding that additional set every two years seems to hurt the game.

But I will give them that they are balancing out the game pretty good. Now its not like the top deck always wins. Like before, if you weren't playing Affinity, or MUC, or against them, then you didn't stand a chance.

Lack of ideas and a flood of new abilities is also hurting the game. They need to focus on LESS new abilites each year, and more on interactions on cards. Each year we seem to get about 10 more abilites that are new, how about we stick will 3 or 4 MAX, and expand those abilites with the expansions of the big block. Therefore you would be teaching a (kinda) old dog new tricks, while not making players learn new abilites when a new set comes out.

I really think they need to state a new rule that a certain kind of dual land must be printed in the core sets, and not try to make new duals every new big block that comes out. They get real boring real fast.

But focusing on creatures like they are keeps the game healthy. I think they are doing pretty good but could be doing better.

I am the opposite of the first answer, I love the new sets. Ive been playing for about 10 years now and it seems that the cards are getting more and more powerful each time. The thing I worry about sometimes is Wizards getting crushed by the choices they make.

None the less you have to remember that this is breeding a whole new generation of players, more powerful, more devious, and more ruthless. The fact that Wizards has started making allied colors is a brilliant idea. Something that I would like to see in the near future would be combining enemy colors. I am familier with Godless Shrine, but thats not good enough. I want them to bring back Angel of Dispair or something of the like.

Ive always been a fan of their books, ever since Invasion. Altho honestly the worst book that I have ever read from Wizards would have to be the book of Lorwyn. It was an absolute travesty! For some reason the author thought it best to remind the reader in every chapter that "the elves only liked perfection".

Something that I didnt like however was the Kawagama block, Yes you had Ink-eyes, yes you had Jitte and the Ninjitsu ability but it just seemed too intermediate.

I think I have officially quit

The ppl at wizards seem to have ADD now, ever since Apocylapse, they have been on 1 diversion after another. "OOh samuri are cool lets do a set about them, I like artifacts!!" The "color shift" is just more of this. Mostly it seems like an excuse to print more cards that do stuff other cards did but in a diffrent color. Just while the weatherlight story was going I enjoyed seeing charecters in the cards and getting a hint of story now and thenI just wish MTG would pick 1 story relm a few charecters and develop them.

The art makes little to no sense on many of the cards (woodfall primus) and the new boarders look like they were designed to save $$ on ink and attract 10 y/os.

It seems that MTG no longer has iconic spells. When counterspell got deemed too good for reprinting, I died a little inside.

I also think that the internet has harmed the game, people go on the internet to see what the Pro's use, and then they use the same decks. If some one wants somthing, they go to Ebay. No need to trade cards, or to think of your own deck ideas.

New players do not bother me, aslong as they know how to play and dont just go out and buy $200 decks off Ebay.

The influence of other games I have not really noticed besides the boarder design which I have heard came from Yogi Oh, and I vraimently dislike.

My Fav card to play with is High tides.

My Fav card for the sake of art is Lightning Dragon

But have u noticed that 85% of players at competitive tourniments just "net deck" I mean there is no original thought any more. And it seems around here the ppl just buy what they want online, which totally destroyed trading.

The evolution of MTG has gotten out of hand. There's nothing wrong with trying to improve the game, but they should've done it at a slower, more controlled pace. Seems like they want to push out the new sets as fast as possible and the older sets just seem to be abandoned. Too much too soon, I say. All the new abilities and key words have complicated the game by creating numerous new rules. Too much going on now. We don't need +1/+1 counters, or the rules that go along with them. Hybrid cards are interesting, but the creators should've just stuck with gold cards instead. I'm all for bringing new players to the game, but they should be able to make their own unique decks. Used to be players put some thought into deck building. Now, everyone just wants to copy the latest, greatest deck. I got into Magic over 10 years ago. I still play with the friends that got me into it, but we rarely indulge in the overhyped new sets. I miss the days when all we had were Type 1, 1.5 and 2 decks. Some of my favorite cards are Thorn Elemental, Elvish Piper, Fork, Regrowth, Wrath of God

Magic has a bunch of formats, the most popular of which is Standard. which consists of the latest block, the last block and the most recent core set. Standard currently is: Return to Ravnica (the latest Block) Magic 2013 (latest core set) Innistrad, Dark Ascension and Avacyn Restored (the last block) Standard is what is played most friday nights. But dont be discouraged, every shop i have gone to has a lot of players still willing to sit down and play a few games against older cards. Also if you want to play at a standard tournament like FNM then they might have a deck for you to borrow until you can get enough cards to start your own Standard Legal deck. Also the Event Decks are a full, ready to play out of the package, deck you can buy. I think they're about 30$. Speaking of the other formats: Modern is any cards printed in Mirrodin and 8th Edition forward. Pretty much anything in the new card frame (Except Time Spiral's Subset, those are still legal even though theyre in the old frame) Legacy uses any set ever released in Magic's History that isnt Unglued and Unhinged. Talk to people at the shop, a lot of them have cards they would be willing to donate to you to help you out and get you started.

I got a 6th edition core set, but didn't start playing until Legions (2003 or 2004) and I like how Wizards has made more themed sets and contributed fun decks. Unlike older times, Wizards has also been balancing things out so that more decks and cards are playable. This is excellent, as it makes it easier to purchase cards and build decks that you want. I think that MtG has a huge effect on all other TCGs, as it was the first and remains the greatest.

My favorite card, for its awesome art and great abilities, is

Ashenmoor Liege