Time for some Nostalgia [Spoiler Alert: We're Old.]

[klaus]

Howdy fellow oldschoolers,

you know how you know time flies?
Check out your mtgthesource join date underneath your nic.
Yep. Yep, right? We're old..

I started turning cardboard between 4th Edition and Ice Age, early 1995.
I was 14 back then and on a skiing vacation with some families. Two boys had brought along their collections. Ahhh! Those were the days of Shivan Dragons & Fireball VS. Willow the Wisps & Sengir Vampires VS. Mahamoti Jin & Powersink etc..
The images were chock full of an atmosphere I found enchanting. I loved the trash talk and casual competition. I was hooked! Hard to believe it's been friggin 20 years ^_^

Quite a few among us will live to rock this style some time in the future (what a heart-warming thought..):
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3484/4005601026_cc9f8eaf44.jpg
MtG has become an integral part of so many people's lives by now - what a lovely game!

When did you begin to play & what got you started?

[death]

My first Standard deck.

Spiral Blue
4 Dream Halls
4 Time Spiral
4 Stroke of Genius
3 Mind Over Matter
1 Attunement
4 Brainstorm
4 Meditate
4 Intuition
4 Counterspell
3 Power Sink
4 Mana Vault

3 Ancient Tomb
18 Island

SB: 4 Hydroblast
SB: 4 Chill
SB: 4 Turnabout
SB: 3 Capsize

My friends back then were like "How does your deck kill?" or "Blue is the slowest color" "your deck doesn't have any creatures." Lmao.

Fast forward 16 years, I have no more friends.

[H]

I started playing in about 1996, I can recall packs of Mirage being the first I actually bought. I recall opening a Asmira, the Holy Avenger and Phyrexian Dreadnaught (which, upon first reading, I literally couldn't understand what it did). The first cards I owned though was a big box of Revised cards that I traded some toys for.

I had seen the game before, probably in 94 or 95, but only passingly and I didn't actually pick it up.

I played casually, with people at school until I went to college in 2000. Playgroup went to separate schools, so it was rare we ever got back together. Indeed, with school, a job, and some personal issues, I really never even thought of the game. After I graduated and started working full time a while I met someone at work that happened to play. I mentioned that I should still have my cards somewhere and after some searching, found them. I found out they had a play group that met occasionally, so I started doing some research into new cards/decks/etc. Dissension was the latest set at the time.

I kind of knew I'd fall back in to the game, but the casual group just wasn't doing it for me (too much multiplayer non-sense and the like), but having never played in a real event, I didn't really consider it. THe group also played Warhammer and I got in to that.

My first event ever was a Planar Chaos prerelease. I tried a few Lorowyn drafts, but didn't like the scene. I started playing Standard when Shards came out. I felt more comfortable since I had gotten to know the Warhammer crowd, most who also played Magic.

I had always looked at Legacy decks, but never played (I made Team America, looked like such a cool deck at the time). I started coming here in about 2007, but never made an account until 2008. In 2008 I started to get in to Vintage, because that's what the local scene was in to. I played Standard and Vintage for years, until EDH was mixed in many years later.

In 2012 I moved out of New York and there isn't a Vintage scene down here, so I stumbled upon a post by someone on Salvation years earlier that talked about a Legacy group in the area. I figured it was worth a chance and messaged him. He responded a while later that they did still play, so when I moved down, that became my playgroup and actually almost all the people I know here, haha.

I'm still a Vintage player at heart and I am really glad I picked up power while I could, even if I am sad I didn't just buy Beta...

[Bed Decks Palyer]

When did you begin to "here I rule" :tongue: & what got you started?

A friend of mine leanred me the game on a summer afternoon of 1996. Two hours later we went to the city for my first cards, a starter of 4th Edition and a starter of Ice Age.
My first deck was just a pile of all crap from those two packs, including the mighty Mountain Goat. I then shaved it to G/R as it was (and maybe always will be) a perfect mix for the starters and low-budget: lots of burn and cheap green dudes.

Ok, lets pretend that I remember what I sported three months later:

4 Llanowar Elves
4 Fyndhorn Elves
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate
1 Channel
1 Fireball
1 Disintegrate
2 Dragon Whelp
2 Mountain Yeti
3 Craw Wurm
3 Scaled Wurm
3 Pillage
4 Stone Rain
3 Thermokarst
1 Essence Filter
20 appropriate basic lands

My most beloved moment was when I went turn1 Elf, turn2 Channel -> Scaled Wurm. It was hit by Terror the exact second it entered the game, but yeah, it was still funny.

I miss the old days.

[Kathal]

2003 with the Release of Mirrodin (man, that's a long time ago...). First pack was Mirrodin and I pulled a foil Arc Slogger, sold it for 20 bucks and I was happy (was more worth back in the day, but I got 20 bucks from my first booster :laugh: ). I don't know why I started back then, I think my brother and his friends got me to play magic, but I can't really remember.

My first deck was a Samurai Kamigawa deck, crappy as hell but extremely funny to play (Bushido ftw). I played Standard from Kamigawa/Ravnica block till Time Spiral (so a little bit more then 3 years). Ghost Dad, Heartbeat Combo, UR Tron and Wildfire.deck were my decks. I still love all of them, especially Ghost Dad.

I quit then, since I didn't had the money/time for magic any more and I nearly forgot about Magic (since our LGS closed) but I stumbled in my old cards in 2009. Some weeks later, ton of invested time and money I played Extended (good old 8 year one). 1 year later Wizard killed Extended for me, I quitted again because of frustration. At that point I knew, there was Vintage and Legacy but I didn't want to get burned again, when my whole investment is useless after 1 year (yeah, I know, it is stupid, but when you are kinda tight on budget and you spend nearly 1000 bucks for cards and you can basically dump then, you get a little bit of unreasonable).

After Modern was announced (I still kept track of Releases and stuff) I started to play Modern again, since I could use my cards again, which was pretty cool. I came to Legacy between 2011 and 2012, started with PSI followed by Doomsday (this deck is for me the reason, why I started playing Legacy). Now I own basically all different flavours of Storm (from Belcher/PSI/Oops all spells to Solidarity/Doomsday). Long term plan is to get a "fair" deck in Legacy, but I don't know which one.

For now, my main Format is Modern, followed by Legacy.

Greetings,
Kathal

[Zilla]

I started playing in '93, about a week after Alpha was released. Back in those days, there were no limits on number of cards per deck. By '96, my deck had 2 Black Lotii, 5 Mox Rubies, 5 Mox Emeralds, 6 Mox Sapphires, and a Tropical Island (better than a Mox when it's the only land!) for its manabase. I used them to play powerhouse cards like Wall of Air and Granite Gargoyle. Back then, card sleeves were unheard of, so by '97 these cards were all beat to hell, and I sold the whole deck for (what at the time seemed like) a massive 700 bucks.

Easy come easy go motherfuckers!

[Bobmans]

Man, people that started round the time of alpha/beta release are oollldddd.

I started round the time of Tempest. I played crap and i didn't understand the game to much. Played a deck i found in Inquest called: Wall Street. The deck basicly tried to resolve a Rolling Stones and stall/win with Sunweb kinda crap.
Then at a time i was introduced to competative play and standard around the time of urza block and had lots of fun playing Wildfire and Rector Bargain. Then MM block came and i switched to a mono red land destruction deck. At that time i started to lose interest in standard. I discovered Survival of the Fittest in extended (back then type 1 was out of reach already). Along with Oath of Druids i enjoyed that for a while. Also played some UB Donate/Illusions of Grandeur. In the end i stuck with Full English Breakfast until SotF got banned and as of then i started to explore and play other archetypes. A small time ago i owned around 80% of the decks in Legacy, but the problem was i played another deck every week. It was so hard to choose what to play on tournaments. So i sold off most of it and bought a car. The decks i still play hold nostalgic value of back then, but are still competative. See signature.

[death]

I played B/R Necro-Will in Extended before I quit. Then I heard they banned both pieces because of Donate > Illusions of Grandeur. I would gladly have Necro and Y. Will back over Tendrils of Agony/Empty the Warrens.

[Mr.C]

'05 Club checking in.

Been playing since 2002, trying to quit since March 18, 2010.

[Ace/Homebrew]

So i sold off most of it and bought a car.
What happened with the car? Did it skyrocket in value like the stuff you sold? :tongue:

I had a bunch of Revised stuff when I started, but I remember setting the goal of completing a set of The Dark (never happened). This was back when I collected X-Men cards, so getting a full set was more important than getting good playable cards.

The cards I remember from my mono-:u: deck were:

Counterspell
Phantom Monster
Air Elemental
Control Magic
Amnesia
Psychic Allergy
Dance of Many
Mahamoti Djinn
Mana Short

I'm sure it was a pile, but it was decent in my 3 player meta. My friends each had a :r:/:g: and :u:/:b: (with Nebuchadnezzar!) deck.
How times have changed... I don't think you could pay me to touch a blue card nowadays.

[Bobmans]

What happened with the car? Did it skyrocket in value like the stuff you sold? :tongue:


It was more like finishing your favorite magazine and trowing it in the pile of papers...

[phonics]

Started around ice age and there was nothing better than unwrapping the plastic off a crisp new starter deck with the silver foil strip around it.

[cdr]

I bought my first packs in... 94? Legends was still available. Too expensive though, so I bought The Dark instead. It was actually a girl who brought her cards to school that got me interested - that beta Island. First deck was 800 cards, every one I owned. First 60 card deck contained every Prodigal Sorcerer variant available.

First PTQ deck was 1.x Team Blazing Phoenix mono blue with maindeck Blue Elemental Blast (Denver had an insane amount of sligh), Rainbow Efreet for the kill. I might have the Apprentice .dec file somewhere still. Got knocked out of T8 contention by Lauren Passmore playing Stupid Green Deck.

I think I first played T1.5 in 2001, so almost 15 years of legacy. Couldn't judge at the 2005 GP Philly because the TO didn't know how email worked, so played with my lynx deck and lost to Antonio De Rosa in the last round of day 1 to miss day 2.

[Fry]

I started the game because the other scouts were playing it and it seemed like more fun than the Pokemon I used to play. That was back, probably about a month before Invasion came out, so Prophecy. I didn't get really into the game until Onslaught was released. It was my first prerelease too. Got to the venue for it about half an hour after the main event started, I was so new that I thought I missed it! I didn't know that there were 32 player flights whenever they filled, or drafts as side events throughout the day. It's a good thing my dad asked about it for me, or else I may have never taken part in the prerelease. It was a blast, had a great time of it then, and miss the regional prereleases like mad.

I've never stopped playing this great game, and I am sure I never will, no matter busy life may become. I have taken breaks from Standard for a few months at a time, but play in every Legacy event I can reasonably can.

[(nameless one)]

I think I started late.

I started around Onslaught block during my highschool year. I remember my first deck was Elves (Timberwatch Elf was bomb). I remember Priest of Titania was $3 each and it was too much for me.

Not too long after that, I started playing competitively since I also used to play competitive Yugioh (Yata Garasu with Jinzo back up for the lock). My first competitive deck was Elfclamp until Skullclamp got banned. Then I moved on on playing Goblins while the rest of the cool kids were playing Affinity.

I had a short stint playing Extended. I played Goblins but my favorite deck was Tinker.dec (I was just unable to afford it). I stopped playing when my family moved to a place where I didn't know anyone who played Magic. I had that Magic hiatus until one day at work, I saw two of my coworkers playing Magic. Around that time, I discovered a Magic community where I was. This was back in Future Sight. I remember on prerelease, I traded my foil Tarmogoyf for I think 3 or 4 Lord of Atlanti because I wanted to build a Fish deck. Shortly after, I discovered Legacy where I played Goblins and a Stompy Elf deck (instead of the combo version, because that version sucked before). I ended up building a Dredge deck, Merfolk deck (remember Lord of Atlantis) and a White Control deck (Quinn the Eskimo deck). Then when Metalworker got banned, I built a MUD deck because of how much I loved Tinker.dec back in its extended days.

I had a second hiatus from competitive Magic due to work and family stuff. But I still play, mostly casual with my coworkers (with my teacher decks) and teaching my long time girlfriend. Right now she's mastering how to play a budget Zoo and a midrange rendition of an Astral Slide deck.

My elf deck ended up getting stolen but I still have my Goblins (to this day, even my Recruiters), my Dredge, an outdated version of Merfolk (I still don't have Master of the Pearl Trident and TNN) , a lot of White Control cards (though I ended up trading my Wraths for something I don't remember) and my MUD deck. I kinda wanted to build another new deck but I have no reason to since I don't play as much competitive magic as I used to.

[Aggro_zombies]

I picked up the Portal two-player Learn to Play box sometime after Tempest had come out, when I was in elementary school. The art was what really got me into the game; I had some friends who played and the cards just looked so cool. I remember being particularly fond of a friend's mono-black deck that primarily used the moody Tempest Swamps. That era - Mirage through Tempest blocks, plus 4th and 5th Editions - had some really great, evocative fantasy art and a lot of artists with unique styles, and it's kind of a pity so much of that has been lost in favor of Generic Digital Paintings and hyper-realism.

I played for a little while but my friends kept wrecking me because they had actual cards while I had Portal ones, so I stopped playing around Exodus. I picked up again in Nemesis and have been playing more or less continuously since then. I suspect I'm more fond of Masques block than most people who played through that era simply because I hadn't been around for the brokenness of Saga and I really liked both Mercenaries and Rebels, though it took me a while to figure out just which of those tribes was better.

[Seraphix]

I can't pinpoint exactly when I got into Magic but I'm pretty sure it was 2000 or 2001, when I was still a barely functioning elementary schooler. I would watch my friends play at recess with random Masques block, Invasion block, and 7th Edition cards. None of us really knew how the game worked, but hey, cool monsters and stuff. I believe the first pack I opened was Prophecy. I was a particularly big fan of the Kavu tribe. Eight year old me thought those "dim-witted, thick-skulled genetic mutants" were the coolest thing ever, and a friend even gave me a few for free (value!). I proceeded to trade all of them for a Spined Wurm in my first trade at summer camp (that thing is a 5/4! its huge!). Afterwards I realized that might have not been a great idea.

I played very casually on and off from 2003 until 2011 when I found friends in college to play regularly with. I was still playing with 10 year old cards and needless to say I was astonished by how much better average cards had become. Their terrible ZEN/SOM and then SOM/ISD Standard decks were more than a match for my GR Kavu deck. Eventually they got more into Standard and I stood no chance against their better decks anymore. I guess that is how a casual player dies. In spring of 2012 I built my first Standard deck (Bant Pod) and started going to FNM with them. Haven't looked back since then, although my wallet hates me for it.

[Finn]

I started in summer of '94 in the height of Revised. Legends was officially the expansion of the time, but it was entirely unavailable because the packs sold out minutes to hours after they hit the shelves.


4 Badlands
4 Taiga
4 Bayou
4 Stripmine
1 Sol Ring
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Ruby
1 Black Lotus
1 Maze of Ith
4 Sinkhole
4 Ice Storm
4 Stone Rain
1 Desert Twister
1 Fireball
1 Demonic Tutor
1 Force of Nature
2 Llanowar Elves

That is not exactly the list, but it is close. Incredibly, the Ice Storms were actually the hardest of the cards to come by. This was my first tournament deck. Land destruction was amazingly powerful back then because the only spells of consequence were at least four mana. I took second place out of probably 30 competitors, losing in the finals to Stasis. It hardly mattered what my opponent was playing though. What I really lost to was Black Lotus. Land, Mox, Lotus -> Serra Angel in game three did me in. He did it game two also, but I had weaseled my way out of it by getting him to block my elf and having just enough mana out to Fireball it for 3. (Ironically, I had the brand new Maze of Ith on the field both times, but the ruling at the time was that it could not prevent Serra Angel's attack because the angel did not tap when attacking.) The only answer for Lotus was Artifact Blast, which was too narrow to be any good. So I retired the deck after that.

[Tourach]

I may have initially bought a Portal-starter-set, I don't remember now. But I really started playing Magic during Urzas Saga block. My first ever 75-card-pack contained a Morphling, a card representative of the old Magic-style. At that time I really delved into the sets, first and foremost Saga but also Urzas Destiny and Tempest. I loved much of the artwork and - although I really wasn't aware in 1999 - the brokenness of the cards. Maybe it was me being younger but I found the cards to look cooler and be overall more interesting at that time.

My first serious games were me playing monoblack suicide with 3 Yawgmoth's Will and Phyrexian Negator and Hymn to Tourach playing against my friend playing monogreen stompy with River Boa, Rancor, Priest of Titania and Gaea's Cradle. Random cards that have always intrigued me from my first days of playing the game:
Lightning Dragon
Lake of the Dead
Yawgmoth's Will
Palinchron
Mox Diamond
Pillage

I don't like where Magic is going in recent years. I wish they switched back to the old card frame (pre-Mirrodin).

[Bed Decks Palyer]

I don't like where Magic is going in recent years. I wish they switched back to the old card frame (pre-Mirrodin).
This.

[mishima_kazuya]

I got into kitchen table magic with some friends from high school back when Kamigawa was released.
Then I got into FNMs in the summer of 2006, right as Coldsnap was released.
I took it up a notch by hitting up PTQs and the like during Shards of Alara block (2008-2009).
I picked up Zoo in Legacy the year afterwards (2009-2010).
Five years later, Wild Nacatl has been power creeped out of both Modern and Legacy :frown:, I have played in one Pro Tour, won a few SCG opens and have a sweet collection from my various winnings.

[Tylert]

Started in 1994 some 3rd edition FBB french starters while at was in my last year of High school. 2 friend of mine started playing this game and i was instantly addicted.
The very first games were Full of mistakes, playing a 4/5 color decks. But it was a blast. I remember casting cards like sea serpent / thicket basilick / sengir vampire / demonic tutor.
I kept playing for a while casually with two deck: Thallids and counter / burn with all prodigal sorcerers available (4 from Core sets, 4 from Ice age and Reveeka wizard savant).
I stopped playing when i Bought a box of Homelands and found litterraly no playable card in it (Except for the 2 annhava inn that i played in my thallid deck to gain tons of life and it was still a bad card).

I played several CCG like legend of the five rings / rage / etc... But finally came back to magic when i found that one of my friends was playing it also around 2003.
It took me something like 3 more years to be invited to a homedraft and be caught again...
First competitive event in 2006 (Lorwyn draft), then I started to play standard a little bit with shards of alara (Rocking Esper artifact aggro to a top 8 at the gameday) and then some variants of RDW to win my first FNM's.

Then my daughter grew up and needed more attention. I play rarely now in real cometitve tournaments (only a draft every week and sometimes a legacy tournament or French EDH when i can).

D&T since 2010 in legacy.

[useL]

My first booster was a revised booster. I opened a Tundra which I promptly traded for a Royal Assassin. I played from 93/94 to 98 and then quit when I had part of my collection stolen. I went to the local store and 40 duals, full power and alot more sold for $1500. Wish I had kept the cards, as we all that sold do.

Picked up the game five years ago again and must say that the competitive side of it is more important now than when I was 14/15 years old.

[JohnGalt]

I don't like where Magic is going in recent years. I wish they switched back to the old card frame (pre-Mirrodin).

+1

[The_Dingo]

I started playing magic at the venerable age of 10. My parents bought me all 4 of the urza's saga preconstructed decks. I played casual table top magic until 2007 when I joined the navy because I didn't have much money for magic cards. In some ways these were better, simpler times. One of my very first decks was something like

4 endless wurm
4 yavimaya enchantress
4 verduran enchantress
4 femeref enchantress
4 auratog
4 angelic halo
4 rancor
4 wild growth
4 overgrowth

As cedric philips says "that's just good deck building"

[MinosSnt]

Started in 1995 (more or less) and was playing TarmoSlight old school :D

Something like

4 Ernham
4 Elvish Archer
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Incinerate
4 Kird Ape
and then some random stuff like

Llanovar Elf
Bird of Paradise
Fireball
Desintegrate
SHatter

And so on

With Strip Mine, Taiga and Basic Land

Than I switched to a Urgw Zoo :D

4 Kird Ape
4 Savannah Lion
4 Serendib
4 Ernham
4 Birds of Paradise
4 River Boa
4 Bolt
4 Stp
2 Psionic
1 Timetwister
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Wheel of Fortune
1 Regrowth
1 Balance

and some random cards that I don't remember with a mana base with duals and city of brass

:D

[Wanderlust]

I picked up the Portal two-player Learn to Play box sometime after Tempest had come out, when I was in elementary school. The art was what really got me into the game; I had some friends who played and the cards just looked so cool. I remember being particularly fond of a friend's mono-black deck that primarily used the moody Tempest Swamps. That era - Mirage through Tempest blocks, plus 4th and 5th Editions - had some really great, evocative fantasy art and a lot of artists with unique styles, and it's kind of a pity so much of that has been lost in favor of Generic Digital Paintings and hyper-realism.

YES ME TOO, I learned the game from that same Portal two-player deck. Totally agree that the Mirage-Tempest era was the best era for art and feel. It wasn't so "corporate" yet - there was some really weird art that didn't necessarily make sense, and I loved it. The notion that there was magic so strange and powerful that it didn't make sense to mere mortals like myself really worked for me.

My first pack was Visions back in 1997 (I was 8 years old) - I pulled a Chronatog as the rare and thought it was the coolest thing ever.

https://sumulael.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/chronatog_art_by_christopher_rush.jpg?w=500

Welcome to Magic, little me.

[iamajellydonut]

I pulled a Chronatog as the rare and thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Are you trying to say you don't still think it's the coolest thing ever? Because that opinion would be wrong.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

While I do understand why Mirage-Tempest is the most beloved era for many people, I still believe that Fallen Empires - 4thEd - Alliances was the second best time, with Ice Age - Weatherlight being clearly the best. :smile:

[cdr]

Homelands had the best flavor of any set ever. Maybe because they didn't care if what the cards did was actually any good - completely top down. I still have the Homelands comic.

[Dice_Box]

I started in 7th, dying years of high school. Someone had a starter pack of some kind. I think a fat pack with the rule booklet. He had no wish to play any more and gave it too me. So I guess you could say my first rare was a Thorn Elemental. Still got it.

What kept me in the game was Onslaught. Goblins just got me and would not let me go. When someone showed me Goblin Lackey I instantly started playing 1.5. Was not going to play without that. Many years on, still addictied despite trying to quit twice...

http://8e8460c4912582c4e519-11fcbfd88ed5b90cfb46edba899033c9.r65.cf1.rackcdn.com/sales/cardscans/MTG/7ED/en/foil/ThornElemental.jpg

[Quasim0ff]

My first booster was a Revised booster in, I think, '95. I opened a Shivan Dragon, and was pretty sold at that point.

I didn't understand the rules at that time (I was 6, and not speaking english, it was pretty hard to really understand it), other than a 5/5 flying could only be insane.

Played casually with a bunch from my school, and still draft whenever we have the chance.

Eventaully learned the rules, but most of my stuff in '02 (full power etc.). Got back into magic during Caw Blade era, in standard, where I traded 4x Force of Will for a full vampires deck and 20 fetchlands. Began playing legacy when Jace got banned, playing basically Legacy Caw Blade (Esper Stoneblade, but with Hymn's and stuff like that).

Best I ever did was top8 a few PTQ's for some boosters and sanctioned Vintage at BoM 3 years in a row.

The 7year old me only played the best decks, aka 4x Dark Ritual, Sengir Vampires, Hypnotic Specters (that's still my favorite creature of all time) with badlands, lightning bolts, shivan dragons and firebolts. No, I didn't read anything about magic, and I still remember getting my ass handled to me at my "local" game store, with some dude playing Sacred Mesa, full moxen and lotus. That was fun, and basically when I decided to get power, because that wasn't fair at all. I saved my moneys for a long time, buying moxen when I could (they were 80$ ea at my LGS then). Good times....

[MinosSnt]

I don't remember if my first booster was a Alliance or a Chronicles but I remember both. I wasn't lucky because I didn't open any FOW but I had "the new Juzam Djinn" for me, Balduvian Horde (5/5 for 4 as the black monster) but I thought that it was better to discard a card than to loose 1 life... Mistake !!!

And when I opened my chronicle's booster, there was a Ernham Djinn, I was so happy to have one that I directly built the RG Ernham Bolt. I think that it is more or less my favorite creatures ever...

Ice Age / Alliance / Mirage / Weatherlight... It was so much better before :D :D

[Polishguy00]

I started in 1994, I think it was probably in July. I bought a Revised starter at a Waldenbooks. I was 14. After all this time, I am not sure if I got a Force of Nature in my first starter or not, but it is the first creature I fell in love with. I started with RG once I got a couple Dragon Whelps and Bolts, but I quickly moved to Black and Blue. Dark Ritual, Vesuvan, Counter, Sengir, Clone, Control Magic was a deck I played for a bit, but I buddy of mine got some power (I never did) and I moved to other weird brews. I even tried the Breeding Pit/Lord of the Pit thing for a bit.

I still remember the first control type deck that I was most proud of. It was something like:
Swamps and Plains
4 Scrubland
4 Sinkhole
4 Drudge Skeletons
4 Wil o' The Wisp
4 Drain Life
4 Pestilence
4 Wrath of God
4 Dark Ritual
4 Mind Twist
4 The Rack

My collection never got power, but it had tons of Legends, Antiquities, Duals, Arabian Nights. I only purchased cards through Ice Age and got some Homelands and Visions over time, but mostly played when I was home from college. During one of these nights, the best parts of my collection was stolen. It was 2000 or 2001.

I came back with Theros when a buddy suggested a return while watching football. We got hooked again....quickly and in full force. I am thankful that I was able to buy into Legacy before the March 2014 spike. I think the game play changes have been positive and like planeswalkers. I am mostly angry that it is difficult to do random nostalgic Revised Drafts just because duals are so much even though there is no money in the rest of the set. Still, it's been fun to be back. My love for big, dumb creatures has never waned as my main deck in Legacy is Sneak and Show with Lands, Storm and Shardless BUG in tow. In my time back, I have played most of the formats and think Legacy is the best I can play (still no power in paper, just got into Vintage online), so I'll be going down with the ship for as long as I can play it.

Great thread.

[JohnGalt]

I started when the last core set was 6th Edition and the last expansion was Invasion. I still see cards from that era with nostalgia. I hate white bordered cards in general, but for some reason I like 6th Edition ones. My first MTG product was a 6th Starter Deck.

I remember playing in the playground with classmates, we had no idea about rules (a Counterspell could be used like a Vindicate for example). Scaled Wurm was seen as a bomb.

I played a lot between Onslaught and Ravnica, and then I just played some prerreleases. I came back about a year ago, but as a collector.

[cdr]

I don't remember if my first booster was a Alliance or a Chronicles but I remember both. I wasn't lucky because I didn't open any FOW but I had "the new Juzam Djinn" for me, Balduvian Horde (5/5 for 4 as the black monster) but I thought that it was better to discard a card than to loose 1 life... Mistake !!!

And when I opened my chronicle's booster, there was a Ernham Djinn, I was so happy to have one that I directly built the RG Ernham Bolt. I think that it is more or less my favorite creatures ever...

Ice Age / Alliance / Mirage / Weatherlight... It was so much better before :D :D

I saved up allowance and bought a box of Alliances when it came out. First box I ever bought. I cracked it and with some trading, put together a complete set - but for Balduvian Horde, the most expensive card in the set ($20!, more than dual lands). Except I had saved one pack from the box, and after a couple of weeks I couldn't stand it. Bam, Balduvian Horde.

[Richard Cheese]

Started at the kitchen table in '94-'95 I guess. We were just buying a pack of Revised here and there, and I remember seeing The Dark still on sale but didn't buy any because I thought it was a separate game. By the time I realized it wasn't, it was mostly sold out or the packs were getting expensive. Managed to pick up plenty of Fallen Empires though!

Eventually split a box of Ice Age with a friend and got some other friends into it. Tournaments weren't really a thing for a long time, but eventually this place called Star City Comics started running them every weekend. I think they still do. Nice people.

I fell in love with land destruction and insisted on playing Type 1 so that I could keep running those Bayous and Sinkholes, but the only other guy that would show up was running Mirror Universe (the original Lands.dec) and crushed me every time.

Quit when I went to college just because I didn't want to drag all that stuff with me, picked it up years later when I kept seeing ads for M10 online and found out about Legacy. Now I've just realized that my Magic career is old enough to develop it's own drinking habit, and it makes me a little sad. Not because I feel old, but because I think I'm as bored of the game as I've ever been. I don't even know what happened, and I wish I could get the interest going again because I've made more, better friends in my adult life through Legacy than any other hobby or channel.

[H]

Thinking back, it was really the flavor in Fallen Empires that got me more in to the game than just playing the game.

Frankly, FE had absolutely the best flavor of any Magic set to me, past or present. You can read some of it here (http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/arcana/1178).

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Now I've just realized that my Magic career is old enough to develop it's own drinking habit, and it makes me a little sad. Not because I feel old, but because I think I'm as bored of the game as I've ever been. I don't even know what happened, and I wish I could get the interest going again because I've made more, better friends in my adult life through Legacy than any other hobby or channel.

Yeah... :cry:

[hobart]

It was around '93 and I was in middle school (6th grade maybe?). I first got curious about it when I saw some friends playing at Hebrew School. I got my uncle to buy me a starter deck (revised) from a bookstore in the mall or something when I was visiting on vacation and I was totally friggin hooked. I was pissed since I only had like one Craw Wurm but hey at least Hill Giant was decently big. I started hanging out at the local comic-book store and getting really competitive and spending all the money I had on cards.

My most competitive deck was RG, and it has all the classic beats:
Kird Ape
LLanowar elves
Elvish Archers
Birds of Paradise
Giant Growth
Bolt
Incinerate
berserk
fireball
channel
and for some reason a couple copies of Millstone!
Looking back It doesn't make sense at all but I distinctly remember milling people out of games just sometimes and killing them with damage other times.

Then I remember Fallen Empires and Homelands and them sucking so bad, and I was pissed I had come into Magic so late since my friends with the all the good Beta and Arabian Nights and Legends would usually beat me. I recall Wizard's trying to push this new thing "Type 2" where you only get to play with the shitty new cards that they are printing, and there was no way in hell that I was going to ignore all the awesome Type 1 stuff I had bought. It also confirmed for me that WOTC was done printing good cards (I was later proven very wrong). So I'm about to start High School and I'm really into smoking weed and I need money so I sell my entire collection for some really low amount like $150. By then the I had acquired about 24 dual lands, a Mox Ruby, and a Library of Alexandria among many other gems.

I get back in about a year into college, acquire a bunch of shit (including a playset of duals), play type 2, play limited, play 5-color, spend a bunch of money. quit again after college a couple times for several years at a time, but promise to never get rid of anything I consider even remotely playable, and now I'm back in and sooo glad I never got rid of those damn duals! Unfortunately though, when I returned from my last 6 year hiatus (about a year ago) I discovered they printed so much Legacy playable shit that I was forced to drop about $1000 to get caught up and play competitively again. It's pretty amusing to thing about how if I somehow had a job at 12 years old or whatever I could've bought like 2 sets of Power 9 for that kind of money!

[Richard Cheese]

Thinking back, it was really the flavor in Fallen Empires that got me more in to the game than just playing the game.

Frankly, FE had absolutely the best flavor of any Magic set to me, past or present. You can read some of it here (http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/arcana/1178).

For as much shit as that set gets, this was absolutely true. Even the art was on point flavor-wise. Except for the Kaja Foglio stuff it was mostly dark and gritty with a real sense of desolation. Amazing flavor text too.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

Fallen Empires is tits.
Shame the crappiness of Homelands. That was some nice set, but that's about it. Playables? Autumn Willow, Serrated Arrows, Spectral Bears and (if you're inot that kind of things) Baron Sengir. Well done,WotC, well done... :-I

edit: There are nine cards by the whole Foglio pair, so it's not like they altered the dark mood of FE that much, namely considering that some of the nine cards are far from their usual funny stuff. (Well, maybe nt exactly Basal Thrull...)
Shit, I miss those times...

[Aggro_zombies]

Not because I feel old, but because I think I'm as bored of the game as I've ever been. I don't even know what happened, and I wish I could get the interest going again because I've made more, better friends in my adult life through Legacy than any other hobby or channel.
I think at least some of this is because the game itself is boring now. There hasn't been a set for which I've been particularly hyped since Return to Ravnica, though Khans came close. Gatecrash through Journey was one of the longest runs of bad/weak sets they've put out in recent memory, and while I've since warmed up to GTC I can't say if that's because I was too hard on it initially after the hype of RtR or if it's just Stockholm Syndrome induced by Theros block.

I think a lot of it is that they're trying to keep Magic popular for as long as possible, and milk it for as much money as possible. Magic won't be this popular forever basically no matter what WotC does, but I feel like they're trying to extend the longevity of the fad by dumbing down recent sets. There's the keywording/ability wording of absolutely everything, the paint-by-numbers draft setups, the "new" keywords that feel like box-checking exercises (Inspired, Exploit, Ferocious/Formidable), the removal of cool effects to prevent feel-bad moments (where are all the Tims? The Samite Healers?). The art is all highly digital, highly realistic, highly homogenized. Even the card borders don't have flavor anymore. The sets and blocks feel the same after a while, the same effects showing up over and over again, the same types of cards at the same rarities for Limited purposes, with only the names and the art to tell blocks apart. Yawn.

Commander has largely become for me what Legacy once was: a cool brewer's format where you can play really whatever you want (within reason), win some games, and have fun. Unfortunately for WotC, I don't spend much on Commander and basically don't buy sealed product at all anymore, mostly because all of my decks are fairly tuned to be where I want them to be and mostly because I have pretty specific interests that the game doesn't support as much anymore. Because of that, I've begun moving on to other games - Hearthstone, L5R, Warmachine - that scratch that same itch without feeling phoned in.

(Aside: I really miss the Legacy of the pre-SCG days because all kinds of crazy shit could happen in that format. SCG and the big tournament circuits really ironed out a lot of the diversity in favor of results chasing and metagame evolution. The format is too stale now.)

[Vicar in a tutu]

I think at least some of this is because the game itself is boring now. There hasn't been a set for which I've been particularly hyped since Return to Ravnica, though Khans came close. Gatecrash through Journey was one of the longest runs of bad/weak sets they've put out in recent memory, and while I've since warmed up to GTC I can't say if that's because I was too hard on it initially after the hype of RtR or if it's just Stockholm Syndrome induced by Theros block.
In terms of eternal-playables, I think it's worth mentioning that Wizards keeps printing more supplemental products: Commander sets, Conspiracy, Planechase. So even if the regular sets might be weak, we always get at least 1-2 playables in every Commander-release.

[Seraphix]

I think a lot of it is that they're trying to keep Magic popular for as long as possible, and milk it for as much money as possible. Magic won't be this popular forever basically no matter what WotC does, but I feel like they're trying to extend the longevity of the fad by dumbing down recent sets. There's the keywording/ability wording of absolutely everything, the paint-by-numbers draft setups, the "new" keywords that feel like box-checking exercises (Inspired, Exploit, Ferocious/Formidable), the removal of cool effects to prevent feel-bad moments (where are all the Tims? The Samite Healers?). The art is all highly digital, highly realistic, highly homogenized. Even the card borders don't have flavor anymore.


Magic has exploded in popularity, so what they are doing seems to be working on some level. Totally agree with the dumbing down part though. From what I've seen of the current Standard, stack interaction is possibly at a all time low and every deck is a pile of creatures, planeswalkers, and removal spells.



The sets and blocks feel the same after a while, the same effects showing up over and over again, the same types of cards at the same rarities for Limited purposes, with only the names and the art to tell blocks apart. Yawn.


This really hit me when Stormbreath Dragon was released right after Thundermaw Hellkite rotated from Standard. I guess Wizards decided every Standard needs to have a Mythic 5 mana haste dragon.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

I think at least some of this is because the game itself is boring now. There hasn't been a set for which I've been particularly hyped since Return to Ravnica, though Khans came close. Gatecrash through Journey was one of the longest runs of bad/weak sets they've put out in recent memory, and while I've since warmed up to GTC I can't say if that's because I was too hard on it initially after the hype of RtR or if it's just Stockholm Syndrome induced by Theros block.

I think a lot of it is that they're trying to keep Magic popular for as long as possible, and milk it for as much money as possible. Magic won't be this popular forever basically no matter what WotC does, but I feel like they're trying to extend the longevity of the fad by dumbing down recent sets. There's the keywording/ability wording of absolutely everything, the paint-by-numbers draft setups, the "new" keywords that feel like box-checking exercises (Inspired, Exploit, Ferocious/Formidable), the removal of cool effects to prevent feel-bad moments (where are all the Tims? The Samite Healers?). The art is all highly digital, highly realistic, highly homogenized. Even the card borders don't have flavor anymore. The sets and blocks feel the same after a while, the same effects showing up over and over again, the same types of cards at the same rarities for Limited purposes, with only the names and the art to tell blocks apart. Yawn.

Commander has largely become for me what Legacy once was: a cool brewer's format where you can play really whatever you want (within reason), win some games, and have fun. Unfortunately for WotC, I don't spend much on Commander and basically don't buy sealed product at all anymore, mostly because all of my decks are fairly tuned to be where I want them to be and mostly because I have pretty specific interests that the game doesn't support as much anymore. Because of that, I've begun moving on to other games - Hearthstone, L5R, Warmachine - that scratch that same itch without feeling phoned in.

(Aside: I really miss the Legacy of the pre-SCG days because all kinds of crazy shit could happen in that format. SCG and the big tournament circuits really ironed out a lot of the diversity in favor of results chasing and metagame evolution. The format is too stale now.)

Aggro_zombies, is there any way how to exalt your post? Because I really wish to avoid a generic "yeah, that's it" post, as such one-liners are
not
really
welcome.

[shrubs]

Magic has exploded in popularity, so what they are doing seems to be working on some level. Totally agree with the dumbing down part though. From what I've seen of the current Standard, stack interaction is possibly at a all time low and every deck is a pile of creatures, planeswalkers, and removal spells.

Wizards is pandering to their lowest common denominator market, so it's no surprise that they are doing well for now. The real question is how long can they keep it up? The average player plays for a standard rotation IIRC.

As for the lack of stack interaction. That's how I felt the last time I played standard two years ago, and that as with sets that people regard as 'good' in hindsight. It's why I've invested in legacy, and even then legacy is losing its pizazz as Aggro_Zombies so eloquently put it.

[MGB]

Thinking back, it was really the flavor in Fallen Empires that got me more in to the game than just playing the game.

Frankly, FE had absolutely the best flavor of any Magic set to me, past or present. You can read some of it here (http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/arcana/1178).

This is exactly how it was for me as well. Fallen Empires / Ice Age / Homelands / Alliances flavor just sucked me in and I did nothing but collect cards as a kid. I don't think I even knew how to actually play a game of Magic until I was in my mid 20s and picked the game up on MTGO after spending ages 14-22ish not being involved in Magic at all.

[Sisyphos]

Howdy fellow oldschoolers,...

You know what would make me feel nostalgic? If you would drag your ass out of your chair and come to tournaments again. :tongue:

[Dark Ritual]

I think at least some of this is because the game itself is boring now. There hasn't been a set for which I've been particularly hyped since Return to Ravnica, though Khans came close. Gatecrash through Journey was one of the longest runs of bad/weak sets they've put out in recent memory, and while I've since warmed up to GTC I can't say if that's because I was too hard on it initially after the hype of RtR or if it's just Stockholm Syndrome induced by Theros block.

I think a lot of it is that they're trying to keep Magic popular for as long as possible, and milk it for as much money as possible. Magic won't be this popular forever basically no matter what WotC does, but I feel like they're trying to extend the longevity of the fad by dumbing down recent sets. There's the keywording/ability wording of absolutely everything, the paint-by-numbers draft setups, the "new" keywords that feel like box-checking exercises (Inspired, Exploit, Ferocious/Formidable), the removal of cool effects to prevent feel-bad moments (where are all the Tims? The Samite Healers?). The art is all highly digital, highly realistic, highly homogenized. Even the card borders don't have flavor anymore. The sets and blocks feel the same after a while, the same effects showing up over and over again, the same types of cards at the same rarities for Limited purposes, with only the names and the art to tell blocks apart. Yawn.

Commander has largely become for me what Legacy once was: a cool brewer's format where you can play really whatever you want (within reason), win some games, and have fun. Unfortunately for WotC, I don't spend much on Commander and basically don't buy sealed product at all anymore, mostly because all of my decks are fairly tuned to be where I want them to be and mostly because I have pretty specific interests that the game doesn't support as much anymore. Because of that, I've begun moving on to other games - Hearthstone, L5R, Warmachine - that scratch that same itch without feeling phoned in.

(Aside: I really miss the Legacy of the pre-SCG days because all kinds of crazy shit could happen in that format. SCG and the big tournament circuits really ironed out a lot of the diversity in favor of results chasing and metagame evolution. The format is too stale now.)

A thousand times this. Magic as a game has been continually dumbed down for the past 5ish years or so and it's pretty depressing where the art direction has gone. The game seems to be losing its fantasy baseline at least to me. The original frames evoked very real feelings with me in terms of making me think of the game as fantasy based. 8th and M15 frames? Not even remotely. Art direction is quite poor too with all this digital crap. When I compare the art of onslaught, odyssey, exodus, etc. etc. with the art in sets like fate reforged and M15 it makes me very nostalgic and realize just how bad the art is now in comparison to what it was. Standard used to be a great format 10 years ago. Now? Please just shoot me I'd rather die than play standard.

[Higgs]

A thousand times this. Magic as a game has been continually dumbed down for the past 5ish years or so and it's pretty depressing where the art direction has gone. The game seems to be losing its fantasy baseline at least to me. The original frames evoked very real feelings with me in terms of making me think of the game as fantasy based. 8th and M15 frames? Not even remotely. Art direction is quite poor too with all this digital crap. When I compare the art of onslaught, odyssey, exodus, etc. etc. with the art in sets like fate reforged and M15 it makes me very nostalgic and realize just how bad the art is now in comparison to what it was. Standard used to be a great format 10 years ago. Now? Please just shoot me I'd rather die than play standard.

I agree with every word of this post.

I am not going to talk about the game dynamics and dumbing down etc. The actual loss is in the soul and flavor of the game. The original frames had so much flavor. The old art had so much flavor. When I was a kitchen table kiddie I would just go through my cards and binder over and over again just looking at the cards imagining myself as the wizard casting those spells, going to those strange lands pictured in the cards. A friend of mine who briefly played Magic with us in my early Magic years once told me "how many more fucking times are you going to go through those same cards?!?". Sure it was stupid but I was just enjoying the cards themselves. Gaming aspect was just on top of that.

Bring back the old school feel and flavor if you can do nothing else positive for this game. K thx bye.

[JohnGalt]

A thousand times this. Magic as a game has been continually dumbed down for the past 5ish years or so and it's pretty depressing where the art direction has gone. The game seems to be losing its fantasy baseline at least to me. The original frames evoked very real feelings with me in terms of making me think of the game as fantasy based. 8th and M15 frames? Not even remotely. Art direction is quite poor too with all this digital crap. When I compare the art of onslaught, odyssey, exodus, etc. etc. with the art in sets like fate reforged and M15 it makes me very nostalgic and realize just how bad the art is now in comparison to what it was. Standard used to be a great format 10 years ago. Now? Please just shoot me I'd rather die than play standard.

+1, I really miss the old borders.

[Bed Decks Palyer]

...going to those strange lands pictured in the cards...
This. I really love the art of MtG lands, maybe it's becasue they are (mostly) calm and the art is nicer, it's not that full of what I dislike about MtG art. I really love Thawing Glaciers art, it's amazing. All the lands from Fallen Empires, the Ice Age painlands were beautiful. Lands' illustrations are one of the last things I really like about MtG art.
Those voyages into strange worlds, I think I'll miss them.

[Bosque]

Started playing during Revised, summer between 5th and 6th grade. Didn't buy Legends boosters because they cost a little bit more, ended up buying WAY too much Dark and Fallen Empires, some Ice Age, and traded for everything after that mostly. Sold most of my cards around the end of high school for $900, including most power, and a full set of dual lands and more. Cards sold easily would be worth way over $10,000 now.

The first deck I had any real success with looked something like this, beating the pants off my friends who insisted on playing Shivan Dragons and and Sengir Vampires. It is in fact obviously a terrible deck in reality.

4 Serra Angel
1 Sol Ring
4 Meekstone
4 Icy Manipulator
4 Counterspell
4 Prodigal Sorcerer
4 Swords to Plowshares
3 Disenchant
1 Maze of Ith
1 Strip Mine
3 Zephyr Falcon
3 Power Sink
1 Spell Blast
1 Boomerang
4 Tundra
4 Mishra's Factory
8 Island
6 Plains


I eventually graduated to something that ended up looking a lot more like 4 Wraths, 4 Nev Disks, 4 Mana Drain, 4 Force of Will, 4 Counterspell, 4 Mishra's Factory a Feldon's Cane, etc and 2 Rainbow Efreets, and from there to Gush Stasis. My friends hated me for this of course, insisting that I play decks with creatures. No one liked it when my answer to that was Ernamgeddon or a deck full of weenies, bolts and Mana Barbs.

I really miss Quinton Hoover art, deck building before netdecking, actually being surprised at the cards opened in packs (instead of knowing the whole set in advance), and being able to trade a pile of Armageddons and Crusades for a Mox (I forget if Pearl, Jet or Ruby was the first). While I'm happy that power creep allows me to now play a mean control deck that uses creatures (Death and Taxes) as well as one that doesn't (Miracles), I'd love to be able to go back in time and rock some of the terrible decks we used to play back then. What I really don't miss is shifty adults ripping off kids for expensive cards, cause not everyone had a smartphone with current prices on it.

[mlschuma]

I started playing in Jr. High when a friend brought over a box of his older brothers' junk cards to an overnight party. We kind of learned the rules, made up multiplayer rules, built decks out of the box, and ended up playing until 2 AM. The kid who brought all the cards ended up crushing everyone all night with a jank elf deck that had Coat of Arms. Within the week we all had our own decks cobbled together from the local sports-card store that actually sold product. Everyone from our play-group essentially assumed colors so we could trade amongst ourselves and since everyone but me thought blue looked shitty, I got to be the blue mage.

Amongst the early decks I remember putting together:

Blue-black control with Dominating Licid, Hypnotic Specter, Dark Banishing, and Counterspell. My friends stopped playing this deck when I added my first Masticore. Amongst that first group, my win percentage was pretty absurd with this deck.

Winter Orb, Zuran Orb, Portcullis, Propaganda, Millstone

Black-White Shadows with Empyrial Armor

Stone Rain, Sinkhole, Armaggedon

Replenish, Attunement, Opalesence, Necropotence.

Lin Sivvi.dec

A deck that used Citadel of Pain and Chimeric Idol for fun and profit.
------------------

Basically the stuff of Wizard's nightmares from today's perspective. I thought the game was cool because you could do all kinds of goofy shit and mess with other people in a lot of different ways. I loved alternate win conditions and trying to win the game through methods that didn't involve turning creatures sideways.

I just don't see that type of creativity or flavor in the current world of Magic. Everything has been homogenized and every "theme" they seem to execute is just different versions of the same thing.