I was wondering what you all use for free online play. I'm currently using Cockatrice, but it seems that the quality and quantity of Legacy players has declined from a couple of years (I'm on the Woogerworks server for reference). I'd like to do more testing online, but when I play against bad players I don't feel like I'm getting very valuable experience. To be clear, I'm asking which program to use to find more/higher quality Legacy player, not which program to use at all. I understand this might also be an issue with the server that I use.
So what do you use (Xmage/Cockatrice)? Is a particular server better for finding Legacy players? Do I need to buy into MTGO if I want to play decent Legacy players online?
I like xmage due to it actually enforcing the rules, it's just a much much better program to play on imo. However, there aren't that many people playing legacy on there and the skill level is laughable most of the time. If I want to do serious testing on there, I have to play with friends.
I find XMage to be the best platform, technically, for testing Magic online.
My time is too dear to argue with people online about rules, so rules enforcement is a must. I used to play on Cockatrice but arguing about whether or not an opponent should do something because they don't fully understand the rules is a waste of time.
XMage is slow and clunky due to being implemented in Java (Java sucks), but if you get past the slowness of the software it's actually pretty well programmed in terms of the Magic rules engine. It's actually more functional, imho, than Magic Online.
Right now I play primarily on Magic Online just because I need to get the highest level of testing possible and the best players play in the Leagues and Challenges on MTGO... but as a piece of software, I think XMage is actually SUPERIOR to Magic Online in a technical sense. If the MTGO players would play on XMage, I wouldn't even need a Magic Online account.
But as it stands, for SERIOUS testing, you have to just bite the bullet and buy into Magic Online and join the Legacy Leagues and Legacy Challenges.
I started practicing using Cockatrice for a long time as once you become quick with the software it feels very fluid and is probably the best way to play a lot of games. Unfortunately as soon as I moved over entirely to Legacy I found that playing without automatic rules enforcement and a proper priority system is impossible.
Without live voice or in-room communication, Cockatrice is simply unusable for Legacy. The moment you argue with someone over the stack while something is being fetched and they decided to short-cut without giving you priority you will realize that you should be using xMage.
Cockatrice is paper magic without any financial stake. The financial barrier to paper legacy ensures that by the time people get there they have a very good understanding of the rules, and without it you can face some very uninformed opponents. I've had good luck testing on cockatrice though, just like in paper testing some times people get excited and don't wait for a response, etc. but you deal with it.
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