Purchasing Magic the gathering

[FrustratedPoet]

A translation of both those posts would be nice.

[SnowFire]

Yeah, as far as I know, they're separate. It's possible that they give you Magic Online credits with the Starter Game, but that'd be news to me.

Note that warez, as far as I know, is not an issue with Magic Online. If people want cards for free, they can play with Apprentice. MO is supposed to be incredibly hard to hack, and it's easy to notice if people are hacking cards- prices would immediately plummet as people would dupe all the rares they ever need and sell them like crazy. That hasn't happened, which implies to me anyone selling you a hack is lying- they would have used it to make lots of real $$ online.

Also, you misunderstand the 10$ coupon. First off, don't buy the 15 dollar version in the stores, that's 5 bucks you're paying for useless packaging and a CD. Download it for free, and then spend merely 10 dollars and get the same thing. What they mean by two coupons is that it costs 10 dollars "minimal investment" to get a new account. The account is really free, but they require 10 dollars to be invested in cards first. They then give you a 10 dollar coupon for cards after buying your account.

So that's just a bit of financial hocus-pocus with the double coupon bit. Sure, you can save your 10 dollar coupon, and then spend 10 dollars for an account, and then get a new 10 dollar coupon right back. But since you spend 15 for the game, and 10 for the account, you're spending 25 bucks for 20 dollars worth of cards. Or, if you just download the game, you're spending 10 bucks for 10 dollars worth of cards. The coupons are illusory.

Urban Ranger: There is no monthly fee for Magic Online. If there was, I sure wouldn't use it. It works the same way as in real life- they don't charge you per game, but they charge you for expanding your collection.

Frustrated Poet: Not entirely a rip-off, although certainly even more of a money-mint for WotC (being that there are no middlemen stores, no transportation costs, and no printing costs...). After graduating, I have no other convenient way to play with my roommate- Apprentice is shaky and has no rules implementation or art. Plus MO makes it easy for us to set up team games against other random people, something impossible in Apprentice.

[Ben Kenobi]

After graduating, I have no other convenient way to play with my roommate.

I'm in the same boat, though with my old friends from High school.

I sure wish we could make one ourselves, better than Magic Online. We would have the card database from apprentice, but I'm not sure about the card art. The hardest part would have to be the programming, all the different card interactions.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by SnowFire
Urban Ranger: There is no monthly fee for Magic Online. If there was, I sure wouldn't use it. It works the same way as in real life- they don't charge you per game, but they charge you for expanding your collection.

Wrong person

Chowlett also played with Magic Online, but he doesn't seem to be around these days.

[muxec]

OK... I took the idea. It's adult game I will not play it.

P.S: the huck mentioned above does not seem to work.

[Grumbold]

I'm guessing from the 'get the set, swap for paper' offer that they only support recent card sets, so you can't get a set of Arabian Knights, Legends or other golden oldies.

I'd happily play MtGO but there's no way I'd pay $100's to amass a modern virtual copy of the card collection I already have. I know myself too well to believe I could create an account, buy a handful of extra cards and not be tempted into further purchases when it turned out certain rare cards would fit really well.

[Immortal Wombat]

I'm limited myself to two of the constructed decks and a booster which I'm trading off at the moment. I figure if I never have anything but black and red, I can't be tempted to buy much more. So far it's working.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Grumbold
I'm guessing from the 'get the set, swap for paper' offer that they only support recent card sets, so you can't get a set of Arabian Knights, Legends or other golden oldies.

Like they are going to give you a real Beta Black Lotus

[Grumbold]

Well I already have a beta mox jet and mox pearl. I used to be an addict

Just interested in exactly what sets they can or cannot support if they have the paper trade offer. Would I recognise any cards at all - only the ones that have survived from the 3rd to the 8th edition unlimited set?

[SnowFire]

Well, you'd recognize ones that survived to 7th edition too.

Online, they have the Invasion block & forward. So 7th & 8th edition are the main places where you'll find "golden oldies" like Howling Mine, Birds of Paradise, Northern Paladin, and so on. And yet somehow, I suspect they won't be reprinting Black Lotus in 9th edition. I wonder why? ;-)

[Grumbold]

Since I've never heard of invasion, it sounds like I'd have to learn practically a whole new game. I think Ice Age was the last set I bought.

[Urban Ranger]

Not that new. They have removed "interrupt" cards by reworking the sequence of play, and made adjustments to card texts (the most updated version is called oracle text).

[MrBaggins]

I second the "Find Magic:Interactive Encyclopedia instead, and play with the PD client." Much cheaper, and you can construct any deck you can dream of... or even sealed deck.