That guy's an idiot. You never, EVER play blue against someone else on their first time out. Or you at least sit on your counterspells.

You'll get no argument from me. I've decried his idiocy for years now. But it's in the past and it's a thing that happened to me. Magic isn't really my thing anyway. I prefer more cooperative games.

While I agree that Blue Control can be a real pain in the butt. The first two can be mitigated against. Last night, I found the local scene is very proxy friendly. And in talking with one kid, he said the local players would help the winner of the local tourney put together the deck he wanted (i.e. loan him cards) to take to bigger tournaments. That said, in a real cut-throat environment (big tournaments or harsh local scenes), those can be a big deal-breaker on the game.

A couple points.

1. Going to the tourney scene with casual in mind is not always a bad idea. I would highly recommend anyone that enjoys playing casually to go to Pre-release and Release events. You get a shiny foil rare for showing up (can't play with it though), and it brings a lot of people that want a couple cards. You will run into the FNM grinders, but with holding a select few, most Magic players are nice people.

When a new set comes out people are excited. Players that are use to travel for PTQ's know that casual players come to Release events. A lot of them in turn are very polite, some even helping you to beat themselves.

To truly have fun playing Magic you need to find a group that is willing to play to your style. I would highly recommend if you get along with your current gaming group well, go down and get some pre-constructed decks from Target, Wal-Mart, or your friendly local game store. Build from there, switch decks, trade with each other. Hold a draft for a couple friends. Once a month buy three packs each and draft. After a couple months you'll figure out your play style and have a decent base of cards to build a deck or modify one you already have.

2. Financial burdens, bollocks. I could make anyone on these forums a competitive deck around 60 dollars in any format but Legacy( Even then mana-less dredge comes close). Take away some of the killer rares that cost a fortune and you can build anything for around 50 dollars. I know that's too much for some people, but you don't have to buy everything at once.

There are over currently 12,366 cards in Magic. If you cannot find a suitable replacement for a card that isn't within your budget you are being stubborn.

3. Control, the great hate of new players. It takes a bit of time to learn how to play around control. Although it is the reason there are sideboards. Some decks are extremely powerful and effective. If you're buddy keeps countering all your spells, play some creatures that cannot be countered. Play some of your own counterspells. Evolution of play is one of the best things about Magic. When I first started playing again Faeries was the top deck. It was everywhere. It was such an annoying control deck, and to make matters worse you were being beaten on by faeries.

Decks evolve to combat them, new decks are created, and then when a deck is all but forgotten someone comes back strong with a few new tricks. I love it.

If anyone ever needs help finding answers to beat a deck do not hesitate to ask me. I spend far too much time looking at strategies, deck building theorycraft, and professional player's blogs I should be able to give you a reasonable solution for most problems.

3. The meta, it only changes if you're trying to be competitive. Kitchen tables evolve at a much slower pace. This argument in my mind is like saying, "I want to play flag football, but when I go to play with Tebow he always wins." The arms race only exists if you play within the field. My casual table and my competitive table are two completely different places.


The best way I can describe what I'm trying to say is by example. I like board games as well. I've played Settlers of Twilight Imperium a handful of time with friends on our off-RPG days. So last Gen Con I signed up for T.I. tourney, thinking "This is a fun game, I'll play some new people." I had a horrible time. I got kicked out the first round. I was destroyed. I was clinging onto two planets at the end of the game. The only reason I was kept around was because I was the Lion guys with the sweet trade agreements.

I guess just to each their own. I'm done ranting.

Magic is a great game, but those three flaws are just BRUTAL. I haven't played since the early 2000s and have no plans to start again because of those three factors, which is a shame.

1 and 2 are only an issue if you're playing competitively.

I beg to differ. Having the biggest wallet and the newest stuff is a huge advantage even in casual play.

Must've been your group, then...I never encountered that problem.

Only if one (or more) of your casual group is gonna drop a disproportionately large amount of change AND your casual group frowns on proxies. Hasbro/WotC are not gonna show up to your house and bust you for playing a proxied new rare. Now, you can't show for a tourney with proxies in your deck (or rather, you can't for some formats, if I understand correctly) and your local FLGS may not like it.[1] But if your buddies are cool with, buy one starter and just slip text into card sleeves. Bingo! You can play any deck out there... for fun.

[1]Or they may be fine with it. Owner of my FLGS explained he finds people buy more cards when they play with proxies. Turns out once they see how well those cards work together, they WANT to get the real thing. And the more people playing - even those without deep pockets - means more people buying - at the pace that makes them comfortable. But a healthy scene requires more than just the Richie Riches playing.

these shouldn't be issues in casual play-sounds like no ground rules were established. Playing casual does not equate to spending big money. Crap rares only and/or no rares were a couple options we employed. Drafting too, kinda hard to complain if everyone is dropping the same amonut of money.
competitive play is a different story for sure.
blue control is only bad if you are its opponent, otherwise it is AWESOME! And I steer away from playing it against strangers
even the blue control in mtg 2012 Xbox is often a pain in the ass.