Is it worth it?

[xTrainx]

I mean, I like playing Magic. Its fun getting to figure out new shit to do, new cards to use. But is all that really worth it?
I have this competitive drive, which helps a lot in sports, but also puts a huge strain on my wallet with respect to Magic.
It would take me years to get together enough cards/money to get most of the staple Legacy cards - so I've been looking into playing Limited and playing Legacy on the side for fun.
But Limited, you could argue, puts an even bigger wallet necessity on the game - I have to buy packs to enter the damn tournament/FNM/whatever.
So my question to you is: Is this game worth it?

[DragoFireheart]

After the initial investment on the cards, you won't have to worry about spending anymore.

Sure, a chase rare here and there might pop up (Thoughtseize, LOLgoyf), but otherwise it's cheaper in the long run.

[Captain_Morgan]

I do the opposite, found it cheaper. After the Goyfs and a few of the blue duals, rest isn't bad. Random stuff you can trade for like Spell Snares or Tormod's Crypts.

Best to just focus on universally good cards during low cycles, like Alara where most of the power cards for this format are common/uncommon and then waiting for the rares to get cheap on the cycle.

Seriously, at 4 sets per year versus most of your old cards are still good through every edition its better. Although the rules changes nerfing Morphling hit at its value, which is irritating. Just time the market, dual lands are always good period.

[Jak]

If you have fun but hate spending money, play Legacy. Buy a deck that you enjoy playing and play at weeklies. It is hardly as costly as other formats and you still get to play. If you like playing, you shouldn't have to stop, just limit yourself.

[coraz86]

The thing about Legacy is not so much the money as the creativity. There's something like six thousand cards available to you, and not all of them are expensive. You can build a decent suicide black deck, for instance, only having to lay out for Tombstalkers and Thoughtseizes. You may even be able to get away without the seizes (although, in that case, I'd spring for Bobs). Ditto for burn; there are a million ways to build burn, and they're almost all heavy on commons. Hell, Merfolk is a DTB and the deck probably only costs twenty or thirty bucks outside of Force of Will.

I concur with the other opinions that cards that are good now (duals, Stifle, etc.) are going to be good forever, and so are worth the investment, but there are some modest decks you can slam together while you're hunting for bigger game.

[[SLAYER]chaos]

I'm in the same situatation OP. I'm just on ebay a lot trying to find the best prices for stuff. Fetches, duals, Fow, and goyfs are probably going to be expensive for as long as the game's alive so we'll just have to suck it up or build a deck without them.

Having said that, I wonder if buying fetches right now is a good idea. Because they're about to rotate out of extended do you think it'll better to wait until that happens to buy them and see if their price drops?

[frogboy]

I would imagine fetchland rotation is mostly priced in, but Magic players are so damn lazy that if I were buying a few things at a time I would have fetchlands at the bottom of the list.

Drafting is probably the most expensive Magic format unless you are money drafting and have an edge. You can buy boxes and sell sets for a small profit if you're drafting with friends, but in stores you are probably going to take a beating. It is, however, a lot of fun.

I started playing Legacy when I was fourteen, getting back into Magic with no cards. I borrowed a lot of decks when I was just starting and won most of my early collection, buying the rest in small lots. I'm now twenty-one. My collection is worth a lot more than my cost, but even if it weren't, the enjoyment from it would have been totally worth it; I have met a ton of totally awesome people and had a ton of great experiences playing Magic. Virtually all of my non-dancer friends are Magicians. They are smart and decent people and I am extremely glad to know them.

[JeroenC]

Buy a deck that you enjoy playing and play at weeklies.

If only that was an option for all of us. Sigh. :(

[paK0]

Being patient also helps a lot.

Singles get alot cheaper after they drop out of T2 and drop even further after rotating out of Extended, only a few cards (old ones or new stables) keep their value.

[TheCramp]

Fetches just rotated out of extended. Keep an eye on ebay, their should be a raft of people flipping come the new season.

[Forbiddian]

If you'll consistently play Magic (or can expect to) for at least 1-2 years, it's cheaper to play competitive Legacy than Standard.

That's doubly true if you're an active trader. After you have a Legacy deck, if you trade regularly, you can simply trade the parts for other deck parts (and maybe fill in some commons).

One disadvantage, admittedly, is that if you can't trade, you're virtually locked into one archetype for a while. If you invest in U-fetches, U-duals, Forces, etc. you'll be playing Aggro Control for a while.



On the whole, I think of Legacy like owning your own car, and Standard as leasing one. With Legacy, the deck will be expensive at the start, but it'll always be there and in the long run it's cheaper. With Standard, you can get a brand-spanking new car every two months, but you pay a much higher rate over time.

Except in terms of fun-to-drive factor, Legacy is like having your own Ferrari and Standard is a Ford Pinto

[xTrainx]

So...eBay + noob traders are my friends. Thanks guys.

[Dan Turner]

I played standard for 4 years before switching to vintage/ legacy 2 years ago. I have to say other then having cards stolen and having to rebuild in like 30 days for a big tournament. It has cost me less money per average tournament to play legacy then standard I believe my average major tournament ( by major I mean 75 plus persons) cost are about as follows:

Standard: $75-150 per Major Event- Decks change so fast and having to buy staple cards every 3 months at about a cost of $250 or so for a complete play set of the current set.

Legacy: @~$33 Right now I am at about 60 events with 3 decks that I have spent a total of about $2k building but the more events I play the less this becomes. I think my Solidarity deck cost a total of about $250 to build and goblins a little less Goyf Sleigh was the big investment here plus I got other legacy staples for other decks I may play later.

Vintage: I have only played in about 10 Vintage tournaments that were non-proxy so my cost per tournament is still over $100 since its not big in this area ( but most of the power and stuff I owned since I was 14 back in 93) I just had to go out and replace most of my power because of a dick wad I let stay with me during last holiday season.

[LostButSeeking]

Merfolk is a DTB and the deck probably only costs twenty or thirty bucks outside of Force of Will.

Don't know about the fish decks you see, but the fish decks in my area run mutavaults, wastelands, and stifles, which can all run fairly pricey.

Really, though, legacy is so random and weird because of the dozens of decent decks there are to play that playing budget decks isn't really much of a handicap. Guy in my area has a tricked out Ugr dreadstill list which probably costs 1000$ plus, and he sucks it to my blue aggro deck because he can't keep his dreadnoughts on the board through mistblade shinobis, waterfront bouncers and guilded drakes. In a no-power vintage tourney, I once beat an oath deck with Ben Bleiwess' Muse Vessel Deck by stealing the guy's akroma (this was before progenitus, obv.).

You probably have some sort of collection already. Pick a deck that you have most of the pieces of already and substitute the rest.

LED-less Dredge is fairly cheap, and in my experience, people don't run enough hate for it. Burn is good. Several kinds of tribal are worth running too. Merfolk and goblins are the obvious ones, and Elves are just as good, although it does roll to hate (read: pyroclasm) more easily than its brothers, but it makes up for it by the mind blowing speed. My personal favorite piece of rogue tech is Wildfire.dec, which completely ruins many of the most popular decks in the format. Playing an Obliterate, when an opponent's reveals his three FoWs and three blue cards is just a good feeling, and there isn't anything in the deck that runs more than 5$.

Hope you stay to play, anyway.

[The_Red_Panda]

You've gotten dreadnought off the table with shinobi ONCE, we haven't played the fish v Dreadstill matchup in like a year, and my deck does NOT cost a grand. Its under a thousand, and if you bargain hunt, like I did, the deck cost me no more than 500 flat. w00t stifles for 10$ each.

Right, on topic. Get into legacy. The format is really fun, and the tournament scene is always a good time.

[rockout]

You are on a forum about magic frequented by magic players and you are asking the people that help breath life and innovation into the format. I think they should say hell yeah it's worth it.