This weekend I will be attending two New Phyrexia Pre-Release, Sealed tournaments. These are a lot different than the normal FNM tournaments I go to. Today I am going to explain various types of MTG play formats, there are several main types, Vintage (Type 1), Legacy (Type 1.5), Extended (Type 1.x), and Standard (Type 2), there is a list of banned/restricted cards here. There are also some "fun" formats, like Peasant, where you're only allowed to have common (and sometimes uncommon) cards in your deck, Highlander (decks have to be exactly 100 cards, and all cards are restricted), as well as various combinations such as Peasant Highlander, and a special version of Highlander called Elder Dragon Legend (EDH), which has a lot of its own special playing rules.
Normal rulings for most all formats are you are allowed to have 4 of any card that is not a basic land (you can always have as many basic lands as you want/need) unless a card is banned or restricted. If a card is banned you obviously just aren't allowed to play with it, restricted means you can only have one copy of that card in your deck. In formats like Highlander and EDH where all cards except basic lands are restricted you can only ever have one of any card in your deck.
Standard and Extended are the two formats usually used for DCI sanctioned tournaments, this includes FNM and larger tournaments (such as Regionals and State). Usually Standard is used for FNM, and as of late Extended has been used in the bigger tournaments. Standard allows cards from the latest core set, the most recent block to be fully released, and the block that is currently being released (set blocks are usually made up of 3 sets, released in the Fall, Winter, and Spring). Each year when the new core set is printed the previous one becomes banned (except for cards that were reprinted in the new core set, which is very common), and when the first set of the next block is printed in the Fall the older of the two current blocks that are legal becomes banned. There is always one core set, one complete block, and between 1 and 3 sets from the currently printing block that are legal in Standard. Extended works the same way as Standard, except that it includes one extra core set, and an additional 5 blocks (backwards, chronologically, not just random sets/blocks).
Were the tourneys fun and what is your favorite format to play in?
ReplyDeleteThey were very fun! Friday night (normal, Standard Constructed) I technically could have done very well, but I made some fatal play-mistakes, one such mistake that cost me a game was simply the order in which I played two lands... I caught it about 5 seconds after I played the first one, but then it was too late.
ReplyDeleteThe pre-release on Saturday was pretty cool, over 20 people were there, I did alright, I had two bad rounds where I just got mana-starved... happens.
Sunday's pre-release was a lot of fun, it was only about 9 of us, all people that are there all the time so we had a lot of fun just jokin' around and stuff. I placed 4th (the last placement to get a prize, heh) I could've done better but I messed up one game on a chance calculation :(
I did however pull good cards both pre-releases, I felt that I got my money's worth in card value, plus I had a lot of fun. So it was cool.
I have not played MTG but I have played a few different card games on the Xbox which are in my opinion a lot of fun once you get into them. Though I don’t think that a good RPG will ever be over taken by a card game but that is also just my opinion. I also am aware that most think that card games are not as good on the Xbox but I think that it helps to keep people honest.
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