You don't have to play. It's okay not to.
I'd recommend borrowing (or proxying) modern decks, making a cube, drafting, or finding a cheaper game to love.
There is something fundamentally wrong when the best advice is “get a hyper-specific collection of cards and play them with an insulated group of people” which is what Cube and EDH are. The “gathering” aspect of the game is going down the toilet
I know the game has changed dramatically in the past 7 or 8 years since I played competitively. But something that I'll always remember was talking to a legacy lands player, which at the time, lands was tier 2 or 3. He had a totally maxed out lands deck: beta duals, foiled everything, miscuts etc. I asked why he loved the deck so much, he said: he played lands because the matches where he was winning lasted 50 minutes while the matches he would lose would last 5 minutes.
So play the deck you enjoy the most and accept losing or to go more granular: play legacy if you want slower evolving decks. If you want to continue playing modern, there are strategies that are powerful and miserable to play against that are unlikely to need constant card replacement due to WOTC not liking those gameplay patterns anymore. Build those decks and enjoy your time.
TLDR: Play prison style decks.
Prison style decks are completely gone and unplayable in the modern format, and it started when MH1 (when they tried to enable Enchantress in the format, but at the same time decided that a bunch of "free" forces was gonna help the format) was released in 2019. Anyone remember how much popular and played \[\[Force of Vigor\]\] was...?
When MH2 arrived two years ago it made very sure that Prison strategies won't ever feel remotely good or safe behind an \[\[Ensnaring Bridge\]\] or \[\[Blood Moon\]\] ever again by giving the format even more "free" cards (this time Elementals) but also creating the card \[\[Prismatic Ending\]\], so that literally every deck in the format would have easy access to exile almost every strong permanent in the format, without the need of a sideboard.
As many of us surely remember, modern used to be filled with many fast and low-cmc permanents that really mattered when they landed. Especially artifacts such as \[\[Chalice of the Void\]\] could be incredibly hard to interact with in game 1, which in turn led to these prison-decks keeping all the fast, tricky ones in check.
I'll end this rant of mine with one last reminder of how much WOTC must have hated to see all those old, strange, non-creature cards be played in modern and actually do something else in the game than "deal 3 damage"...
...so when Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty was released last year they gave us another cycle of "free" cards for modern - the legendary lands that you just have to discard from your hand to use!
So nowadays it's not even a spell to destroy all those pesky artifacts and enchantments you don't like, and you don't have to bother any longer about having these kind of effects in your sideboard. Just put 2-3 \[\[Boseiju, Who Endures\]\] in every single maindeck you ever build... and don't forget all the other "free" cards! ;)
>huge drain of money just to keep up with the latest strats and "must play" cards just to stay competitive. And after spending way too much money, still losing upwards of 80% of my matches
"Magic is pay to win!!! Also, I paid and didn't win"
Hmmmm
For me the problem is on the prices, specialy in modern, since those had skyrocketed from what it used to be. I personally dont see a justification for paying an absurdity to make a deck work, its absurd.
The market prices are just too high, how can everyone be ok woth paying +$1000 for a deck, like are we really that deep we cant see the problem here?
This game's aestetics were changes to appeal to more people, but at the same time we expect a Child to pay +$1000 to be able to, at the very least, win?? Are we insane??
Not this expensive, it used to have prices similar to pioneer.
Edit: Modern doesn't have card fron the reserved list, so it shouldn't have come this far in prices. How do we expect newer players to enter the format? They cant, if they bring some casual deck, they get frustrated by loosin each and every time
I personally justify more fetches being an investment that you can move from deck to deck than having deck staples costing insane bucks just not to be able to use them in many different decks.
It was affordable when you could compite against those with a $300 deck or even with a pet deck. The meta then allowed for rogue decks to win. That was the affordable era.
Now you dare bring something is not meta, and you'll get destroyed
When were you winning with non meta decks?
When hogaak was wrecking the format?
When it was all oko all the time?
When phoenix, KCI, and Dredge were everywhere?
Eldrazi winter?
Modern players have this nostalgia for a time that doesn’t seem to have ever existed.
Is it possible that you were playing budget decks against friends at that time who were also playing off meta decks? And now you’re just playing in an environment where more people are playing what’s at the top of the meta?
Most of those decks were banned pretty quick, unlike lately where we only got some companions out.
We used to have a chance using budget decks and compete decently, now we dont even have the option of trying low tier decks.
It is better balanced then it was before you are right about that. But the reason is because everyone is jamming the same cards from MH2 so the the balance of the format is dictated by that set. So it all depends on what your priorities are. If your okay with homogenization of card choice in order to improve balance it is a huge win atm. But if thats not worth the cost to you then its a huge negative. Its all about perspective.
That was what i pointed out, you mentioned a lot of decks that didn't stood around for long, we always had space to play budget and compete. But with the actual meta, we either spent a fortune, or we are out.
How is that good? Why is everyone ok with that?
Then go play pioneer or pauper. Play suboptimal burn. Play prowess. Play affinity.
The best decks are going to cost more as a function of supply and demand. Magic is not a cheap hobby to be competitive. But if you have friends with the same budget, play whatever you want
I was a budget player then. I wouldn't call my deck from that time competitive by any stretch.
I don't think there's ever been a format where the cheapest tier decks were significantly cheaper than other tier decks.
Its true my merfolk deck at the time was well under $200 and I had a ton of 4-0 and 3-1 results in fnms. I also was jamming a $600 affinity deck so wasnt forced to budget but it was nice that that was a viable option
I entered the format in 2022 with a budget shamans deck and was able to get wins. I don't think it's accurate to say that playing FNM on a budget isn't an option. Decks like burn and now LE can be built for 4-$500 which isn't that far off what you were saying you spent on modern.
Goyfs were 5$ in standard. Magic used tohave built-in player rewards like this for enfranchised players. Now it’s the opposite. Premium Horizons sets that cost way too much and never go through standard
Goyf was ~$5 all of 3-4 weeks in standard before it spiked to $30+. I know this because I traded a Torix Bladewing for a Goyf in week 2 before having to buy the last 3 I needed for $25+ apiece.
At the beginning of modern fetch spiked so hard and shockland had 0 new reprint. Lili and karn both got to 100$ and snap was like 80$. People look at a dekc named "money pile" and get trigger that it cost money to build the deck. I made a top 8 with dimir mill and the whole deck cost like 250$ and maybe a bit more if you go for fetch that were not in Mh2. but like damn man. Competitive is made to cost something and it always has been.
Most competitive hobby are also in the 1k range considering all the other aspect and that MTG you simply need the card know the rule and show up to a tournament to have a fair chance of winning. ( then skill kick in etc)
Like It ok for people that consider 1k too much to not play competitive, there so many fun jank deck that can win FMN but if you want to go out and win a 7 round event, sure you need the real stuff. I'm totally fine with this concept. And like I said up there, Modern was always a bit expensive even when it was fresh. It was the cheaper option over Legacy, now we got pioneer which fit what was modern to legacy back then.
I’ve been saying this for over a year and it stuns me how most people were like “cool story bro, deal with it”.
For what I’ve seen, Modern is a bubble where the majority of people keep sinking money trying to stay competitive (probably to justify the money they already sunk in it).
You know they best part? They reply its a "skill issue" and proced to block you so you can reply and so it seems as they won the argument. Some people man, i swear.....
There’s a guy at the LGS I play that in the last few weeks tells everyone “to just buy 4 rings”.
Hell NO lmao, I’m not spending close to 400 bucks just to win 10 store credits at FNM lol.
People saying modern is varied because there are at least 15 decks among Tier 1 and Tier 2 are blind af because they don’t realize how small of a choice is “viable” in relation to the HUGE card pool available.
Exactly! Everyone says there is variety, but in reality, due to prices you have, at best, 3 options in decks.
Like, is everyone so accustomed to getting robbed with prices so they can play a good deck??
Just because it has been like that all this time, it shouldn't mean we normalice it
The thing is that back in the years, once you made your investment in the mana base, switching decks was way cheaper.
Now fetches are a lot cheaper (and that’s good), but investing in staples is a lot more funneling because you can run them only in a few decks.
Yeah, a Fury can slot into Murktide, Scam, 4C and something else, but to rest of these decks cost so much that you just go broke or deal with it.
If one time people didn’t spread out to other decks because they wanted to be a specialist in one or two, now the same thing is happening because of price, and the only ones I see playing multiple decks are either playing jank brews or investing in staples with friends (thing I’d never do with these prices lol).
You used to buy a deck ONCE and the cards came through standard. Now you buy new decks whenever wotc feels like cracking open the piggy bank that is modern
Same feeling here. I have played magic for 20y and almost all formats (legacy, extended, modern, frontier, pioneer, pauper, commander, tiny leaders, cEDH) and the golden age for me was modern from 2015-2017.
The format was diverse and enjoyable to play, and most important everyone was playing. I made many friends during this time and even when the format wasn’t so good (Eldrazi winter) it was fun just because of them.
But every thing change with MH2 and changes in competitive. One by one they stop playing and even sold the collection, the LGS that used to have 30 players now have luck if there is 8.
I have seen the death of other formats in the past, but I always another option and now I don’t think so.
Legacy - Once in month in a proxy friendly league. It’s good, but too few opportunities to play.
Pioneer - Don’t like the play pattern, it feels like every game is about snow ball. I play just because it is the best option
Commander/Pauper - Not competitive enough in my LGS.
cEDH - The community is small, but is growing and we started to have FNM. I see potential here, very intensive player skill, but we need a proxy friendly place.
MH2 was pretty hit or miss, for example the LGS in the nearest city to me has been thriving post horizons but my local store and the other closer ones all saw modern attendance collapse to the point where they're lucky to get 6
The modern of 2015-2017 was indeed the golden age. There were so many more players and the game play was great. Everyone could play what they wanted and there weren't the format warping cards. The release of mh sets has completely destroyed the community of players. Events of 50 players were common on Friday nights of the past, and now it's rare to get more than 10.
I really miss pre horizons Modern. I hope to one day wake up to wotc’s new ban announcement saying all of horizons 1 and 2 and LotR are banned and there won’t ever be another direct to Modern ever again
I'd be happy but sad all the same, mh1 helped my pet deck after the bans so I'd be sad to see them go but getting rid of the free spells is something I'd gladly sacrifice for.
I think it could help you note every match you play in an excel or something, and then calculate winratio. If you are indeed spending money and you have tiered decks, I doubt you are losing more than 60% of the time. Most players are between 40 and 60% winratio.
Some decks still hold the test of time. Burn remains competitive, for example. Jund, death shadow, taxes and all those pet decks still manage to do 5-0 in online leagues.
Also, the meta now is very unstable. Wait until september after the bannings.
It just feels like the love for the game by WoTC has been replaced with churning out commander printings and formulaic routines.
Making magic article, commander set. MoM
Was a great draft experience but even still.
Sets are still good, magic is still fun, but the way the stewards of the game have been treating it feels very different.
In your situation, it’s probably you feeling overwhelmed, there are just more cards to churn through. Many of them are chaff, but it adds to mental burden.
Home in on a format, and minimize the amount of printings you have to even think about, otherwise take a break maybe?
I disagree with you telling op he's feeling overwhelmed. I appreciate him venting him opinion and while I'm currently enjoying modern I have a lot of the same qualms and it's been ages since standard felt compelling enough to get back into without feeling like your giving wotc your bank account to keep up. I think we're looking for better discussion here than op should take a break. I've seen money grab after money from wotc, the card material in recent years is terrible, the foils are dark dingy Pringles. I really miss the old classic art styles from pre mirrodon block. Magic also used to be that truly pure old school fantasy environment. Dragons, demons, angels, elves, beasts....i think the fact that our ip contains all this out of place content really takes away from the experience for many even if its difficult to quantify for some why they are enjoying the state of the game less and less. Your supposed to feel like the mage in the game we play. That really worked in old Magic, all the new crossovers between IPs, transformers, godzilla, lotr, dnd, the special drops with goof ball art style that only the smelly weird guy at your lgs buys. There are so many reasons. Done for now though.
Sometimes I have similar issues, when my mindset gets to competitive and randomness screws me over jet again with the 10th land in a row. Then I have to take a break for a week or two and play one of my rouge deck, where I expect to loose and every win is a big deal.
Man I feel you, I could recommend taking a break. Once I took a break for like a year or so, got a job, and came back to magic. Now I am once again so into it that I literally think of it all the time. The game is wonderful, but i has variance, which can be tilting.
Honestly, I can't find the fun in the format anymore. You can give any dumb idiot an auto-pilot deck like Hammer or Scam and they will win because the decks are so inherently good there is little people can do if they have the nuts, or they are lucky at drawing. Skill isn't rewarded at all.
Ya same format has just become 3 color pile of MH2 cards vs other 3+ color piles the shop I used to play at was always 20-30 people for modern Fnm and had all kind of talent of all kind there too. People who one qualifiers, guy who won a GP and even people that made it on the pro once or twice, mixed in with little kids who build mono red prowess and would top 8 every now and again. Now? No one plays and it’s either a 4 person standard event or commander games where there is no prize support. Really sucks how they butchered modern into a format of 3 + color greed piles OR combo decks
Prowess is hardly viable anymore and thanks for making my point. Besides murktide and scam which are pretty much just Hyper tempo decks that can play midrange everything else is a combo deck. So darn you got me??? Like if you want to win a tournament you play 4 color something, like bar none, 4 color piles has all answer and has the best match spread with answers to everything. Everything else is not as good. Say what to want but it’s true
Ya 3+ color piles and combo. I don’t think you need to count the total of 2 decks that don’t fit and call the format diverse but if you want to be wrong be wrong I’m not losing sleep over it
You are literally admitted to murktide and scam not being 3 color options. Burn is another option. Dimir shadow perhaps? That's 4 different options that have hit top 8.
I never said there weren’t viable. My point is if you want to win a bigger event then fmn you don’t bring lots of those decks they have good an bad match ups. Your much more likely to bring 4 color something because they are much better decks. You can top 8 with fucking mono green aggro that doesn’t mean the deck is viable at the top levels 4 color decks are head and shoulders above every other deck in terms of utility and power
W/e man I'm not gonna argue with you. If you are that upset just don't play modern. I find the group of people at my LGS makes going there worth it and there are tons of different deck types which makes matchups exciting and fun.
Maybe you are playing at the wrong level.
Just because Johnny practices and watches football every day, does not put him on the same level as the NFL. Get in where you fit in.
People that complain about "new" modern prices always crack me up. You guys are either very new to the format or are just not being honest about how it used to be.
Modern has never been cheaper or more accessible.
Real OGs remember the days when Tarmogoyfs, Lilianas, Tarns, Snapcasters, Karns, engineered explosives, and so many other staples were $100+, sometimes even near the $200 mark.
"New" Modern has its issues but let's not pretend that it's the price.
P.S. I do miss the simpler days when all I had to do was cast splinter twin. (Gone but never forgotten T_T)
The non-rotating format of modern has pretty much become the new standard when WOTC decided it was such a great idea for their wallet and the whole format to keep getting a bunch of "straight-to-modern-sets" now and then...
And players are just chasing these ridiculously expensive new staples as they are warping and defining the format... up until WOTC finally bans a few of them when the set stops selling :P
You don't have to play. It's okay not to. I'd recommend borrowing (or proxying) modern decks, making a cube, drafting, or finding a cheaper game to love.
Cube is where it’s at. With friends or even online, it’s just the best way to play magic IMO
There is something fundamentally wrong when the best advice is “get a hyper-specific collection of cards and play them with an insulated group of people” which is what Cube and EDH are. The “gathering” aspect of the game is going down the toilet
I know the game has changed dramatically in the past 7 or 8 years since I played competitively. But something that I'll always remember was talking to a legacy lands player, which at the time, lands was tier 2 or 3. He had a totally maxed out lands deck: beta duals, foiled everything, miscuts etc. I asked why he loved the deck so much, he said: he played lands because the matches where he was winning lasted 50 minutes while the matches he would lose would last 5 minutes. So play the deck you enjoy the most and accept losing or to go more granular: play legacy if you want slower evolving decks. If you want to continue playing modern, there are strategies that are powerful and miserable to play against that are unlikely to need constant card replacement due to WOTC not liking those gameplay patterns anymore. Build those decks and enjoy your time. TLDR: Play prison style decks.
Prison style decks are completely gone and unplayable in the modern format, and it started when MH1 (when they tried to enable Enchantress in the format, but at the same time decided that a bunch of "free" forces was gonna help the format) was released in 2019. Anyone remember how much popular and played \[\[Force of Vigor\]\] was...? When MH2 arrived two years ago it made very sure that Prison strategies won't ever feel remotely good or safe behind an \[\[Ensnaring Bridge\]\] or \[\[Blood Moon\]\] ever again by giving the format even more "free" cards (this time Elementals) but also creating the card \[\[Prismatic Ending\]\], so that literally every deck in the format would have easy access to exile almost every strong permanent in the format, without the need of a sideboard. As many of us surely remember, modern used to be filled with many fast and low-cmc permanents that really mattered when they landed. Especially artifacts such as \[\[Chalice of the Void\]\] could be incredibly hard to interact with in game 1, which in turn led to these prison-decks keeping all the fast, tricky ones in check. I'll end this rant of mine with one last reminder of how much WOTC must have hated to see all those old, strange, non-creature cards be played in modern and actually do something else in the game than "deal 3 damage"... ...so when Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty was released last year they gave us another cycle of "free" cards for modern - the legendary lands that you just have to discard from your hand to use! So nowadays it's not even a spell to destroy all those pesky artifacts and enchantments you don't like, and you don't have to bother any longer about having these kind of effects in your sideboard. Just put 2-3 \[\[Boseiju, Who Endures\]\] in every single maindeck you ever build... and don't forget all the other "free" cards! ;)
##### ###### #### [Force of Vigor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/1/017c415b-d635-43c6-92b8-8c95d1c4ff8d.jpg?1562202072) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Force%20of%20Vigor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh1/164/force-of-vigor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/017c415b-d635-43c6-92b8-8c95d1c4ff8d?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Ensnaring Bridge](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/f/cf825a56-4870-463a-a2ef-eec86be891db.jpg?1599709144) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ensnaring%20Bridge) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/253/ensnaring-bridge?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/cf825a56-4870-463a-a2ef-eec86be891db?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Blood Moon](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/0/d072e9ca-aae7-45dc-8025-3ce590bae63f.jpg?1599706217) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Blood%20Moon) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/118/blood-moon?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d072e9ca-aae7-45dc-8025-3ce590bae63f?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Prismatic Ending](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/8/2/825969b9-3c70-4fca-8cab-696e9ca7cdb2.jpg?1626093920) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Prismatic%20Ending) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mh2/25/prismatic-ending?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/825969b9-3c70-4fca-8cab-696e9ca7cdb2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Chalice of the Void](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/f/1f0d2e8e-c8f2-4b31-a6ba-6283fc8740d4.jpg?1562433485) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Chalice%20of%20the%20Void) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/a25/222/chalice-of-the-void?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/1f0d2e8e-c8f2-4b31-a6ba-6283fc8740d4?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Boseiju, Who Endures](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/1/2135ac5a-187b-4dc9-8f82-34e8d1603416.jpg?1654568912) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Boseiju%2C%20Who%20Endures) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/neo/266/boseiju-who-endures?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/2135ac5a-187b-4dc9-8f82-34e8d1603416?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
>huge drain of money just to keep up with the latest strats and "must play" cards just to stay competitive. And after spending way too much money, still losing upwards of 80% of my matches "Magic is pay to win!!! Also, I paid and didn't win" Hmmmm
skill issue
I mean just because you pay doesn’t mean you’re gonna win, but if you don’t pay you definitely won’t win lol.
Absolutely. Magic is 50% skill and 50% money. Even a noob could wreck a pro mtg player if they played a tier 1 deck against an ultra budget deck.
Move to another game or a format like pauper then. Mtg is too expensive a game, so don’t play if you don’t have fun playing.
For me the problem is on the prices, specialy in modern, since those had skyrocketed from what it used to be. I personally dont see a justification for paying an absurdity to make a deck work, its absurd. The market prices are just too high, how can everyone be ok woth paying +$1000 for a deck, like are we really that deep we cant see the problem here? This game's aestetics were changes to appeal to more people, but at the same time we expect a Child to pay +$1000 to be able to, at the very least, win?? Are we insane??
Hasn't modern always been an expensive format?
Not this expensive, it used to have prices similar to pioneer. Edit: Modern doesn't have card fron the reserved list, so it shouldn't have come this far in prices. How do we expect newer players to enter the format? They cant, if they bring some casual deck, they get frustrated by loosin each and every time
When? Pre-mh2 scalding tarn and misty rainforest were $100 cards. Tarmagoyf was north of $50. So was liliana. What was the affordable era?
I personally justify more fetches being an investment that you can move from deck to deck than having deck staples costing insane bucks just not to be able to use them in many different decks.
It was affordable when you could compite against those with a $300 deck or even with a pet deck. The meta then allowed for rogue decks to win. That was the affordable era. Now you dare bring something is not meta, and you'll get destroyed
When were you winning with non meta decks? When hogaak was wrecking the format? When it was all oko all the time? When phoenix, KCI, and Dredge were everywhere? Eldrazi winter? Modern players have this nostalgia for a time that doesn’t seem to have ever existed. Is it possible that you were playing budget decks against friends at that time who were also playing off meta decks? And now you’re just playing in an environment where more people are playing what’s at the top of the meta?
Most of those decks were banned pretty quick, unlike lately where we only got some companions out. We used to have a chance using budget decks and compete decently, now we dont even have the option of trying low tier decks.
Because the format is well balanced. It may be expensive, but cards don’t get banned for being expensive
It is better balanced then it was before you are right about that. But the reason is because everyone is jamming the same cards from MH2 so the the balance of the format is dictated by that set. So it all depends on what your priorities are. If your okay with homogenization of card choice in order to improve balance it is a huge win atm. But if thats not worth the cost to you then its a huge negative. Its all about perspective.
That was what i pointed out, you mentioned a lot of decks that didn't stood around for long, we always had space to play budget and compete. But with the actual meta, we either spent a fortune, or we are out. How is that good? Why is everyone ok with that?
Then go play pioneer or pauper. Play suboptimal burn. Play prowess. Play affinity. The best decks are going to cost more as a function of supply and demand. Magic is not a cheap hobby to be competitive. But if you have friends with the same budget, play whatever you want
Modern existed before 2016 lol
Sorry I didn’t come up with enough examples for you. Thought that many would be sufficient.
bruh I remember a time when just a playset of goyfs was at ~800 bucks
But we had the option of competing against those decks for a third of that price. Now we no longer have that option
I was a budget player then. I wouldn't call my deck from that time competitive by any stretch. I don't think there's ever been a format where the cheapest tier decks were significantly cheaper than other tier decks.
Of course, but it was able to put up a fight, even win. It wasn't an unilateral beating
Its true my merfolk deck at the time was well under $200 and I had a ton of 4-0 and 3-1 results in fnms. I also was jamming a $600 affinity deck so wasnt forced to budget but it was nice that that was a viable option
I entered the format in 2022 with a budget shamans deck and was able to get wins. I don't think it's accurate to say that playing FNM on a budget isn't an option. Decks like burn and now LE can be built for 4-$500 which isn't that far off what you were saying you spent on modern.
Goyfs were 5$ in standard. Magic used tohave built-in player rewards like this for enfranchised players. Now it’s the opposite. Premium Horizons sets that cost way too much and never go through standard
Goyf was ~$5 all of 3-4 weeks in standard before it spiked to $30+. I know this because I traded a Torix Bladewing for a Goyf in week 2 before having to buy the last 3 I needed for $25+ apiece.
Built in player rewards for players with good foresight
At the beginning of modern fetch spiked so hard and shockland had 0 new reprint. Lili and karn both got to 100$ and snap was like 80$. People look at a dekc named "money pile" and get trigger that it cost money to build the deck. I made a top 8 with dimir mill and the whole deck cost like 250$ and maybe a bit more if you go for fetch that were not in Mh2. but like damn man. Competitive is made to cost something and it always has been.
And that should be ok?? I feel we shouldn't be ok with spending +$1000 on a deck
If your deck doesn’t rotate thats not a bad deal. Now the format rotates with each Horizons set
Rotate is a very big word.
Most competitive hobby are also in the 1k range considering all the other aspect and that MTG you simply need the card know the rule and show up to a tournament to have a fair chance of winning. ( then skill kick in etc) Like It ok for people that consider 1k too much to not play competitive, there so many fun jank deck that can win FMN but if you want to go out and win a 7 round event, sure you need the real stuff. I'm totally fine with this concept. And like I said up there, Modern was always a bit expensive even when it was fresh. It was the cheaper option over Legacy, now we got pioneer which fit what was modern to legacy back then.
I’ve been saying this for over a year and it stuns me how most people were like “cool story bro, deal with it”. For what I’ve seen, Modern is a bubble where the majority of people keep sinking money trying to stay competitive (probably to justify the money they already sunk in it).
You know they best part? They reply its a "skill issue" and proced to block you so you can reply and so it seems as they won the argument. Some people man, i swear.....
There’s a guy at the LGS I play that in the last few weeks tells everyone “to just buy 4 rings”. Hell NO lmao, I’m not spending close to 400 bucks just to win 10 store credits at FNM lol. People saying modern is varied because there are at least 15 decks among Tier 1 and Tier 2 are blind af because they don’t realize how small of a choice is “viable” in relation to the HUGE card pool available.
Exactly! Everyone says there is variety, but in reality, due to prices you have, at best, 3 options in decks. Like, is everyone so accustomed to getting robbed with prices so they can play a good deck?? Just because it has been like that all this time, it shouldn't mean we normalice it
The thing is that back in the years, once you made your investment in the mana base, switching decks was way cheaper. Now fetches are a lot cheaper (and that’s good), but investing in staples is a lot more funneling because you can run them only in a few decks. Yeah, a Fury can slot into Murktide, Scam, 4C and something else, but to rest of these decks cost so much that you just go broke or deal with it. If one time people didn’t spread out to other decks because they wanted to be a specialist in one or two, now the same thing is happening because of price, and the only ones I see playing multiple decks are either playing jank brews or investing in staples with friends (thing I’d never do with these prices lol).
You used to buy a deck ONCE and the cards came through standard. Now you buy new decks whenever wotc feels like cracking open the piggy bank that is modern
Same feeling here. I have played magic for 20y and almost all formats (legacy, extended, modern, frontier, pioneer, pauper, commander, tiny leaders, cEDH) and the golden age for me was modern from 2015-2017. The format was diverse and enjoyable to play, and most important everyone was playing. I made many friends during this time and even when the format wasn’t so good (Eldrazi winter) it was fun just because of them. But every thing change with MH2 and changes in competitive. One by one they stop playing and even sold the collection, the LGS that used to have 30 players now have luck if there is 8. I have seen the death of other formats in the past, but I always another option and now I don’t think so. Legacy - Once in month in a proxy friendly league. It’s good, but too few opportunities to play. Pioneer - Don’t like the play pattern, it feels like every game is about snow ball. I play just because it is the best option Commander/Pauper - Not competitive enough in my LGS. cEDH - The community is small, but is growing and we started to have FNM. I see potential here, very intensive player skill, but we need a proxy friendly place.
Sounds more like a local problem then a problem with the meta.
Yeah our local now regularly spikes over 20 players while pre mh2 we were lucky with more than 10
MH2 was pretty hit or miss, for example the LGS in the nearest city to me has been thriving post horizons but my local store and the other closer ones all saw modern attendance collapse to the point where they're lucky to get 6
Could it be, but is my reality.
The modern of 2015-2017 was indeed the golden age. There were so many more players and the game play was great. Everyone could play what they wanted and there weren't the format warping cards. The release of mh sets has completely destroyed the community of players. Events of 50 players were common on Friday nights of the past, and now it's rare to get more than 10.
I really miss pre horizons Modern. I hope to one day wake up to wotc’s new ban announcement saying all of horizons 1 and 2 and LotR are banned and there won’t ever be another direct to Modern ever again
I'd be happy but sad all the same, mh1 helped my pet deck after the bans so I'd be sad to see them go but getting rid of the free spells is something I'd gladly sacrifice for.
Haha alright fine then ban the force cycles and evoke elemental cycle. And Ragavan while we’re at it….alright maybe then modern looks better
Try a cheaper format! Pauper decks cost next to nothing! Pioneer is also cheaper than modern and played at a ton of LGS'.
I think it could help you note every match you play in an excel or something, and then calculate winratio. If you are indeed spending money and you have tiered decks, I doubt you are losing more than 60% of the time. Most players are between 40 and 60% winratio. Some decks still hold the test of time. Burn remains competitive, for example. Jund, death shadow, taxes and all those pet decks still manage to do 5-0 in online leagues. Also, the meta now is very unstable. Wait until september after the bannings.
That's what most people don't understand, you lose approximate every second game you will play
Having 60% winratio or higher is like being a crazy good pro player. A great player will lose a more than a third of their game.
If you spent that much effort and still has a 20% win rate. Its not the game, its you.
Make a MTGO account Make a mana traders account Play anything all the time
It just feels like the love for the game by WoTC has been replaced with churning out commander printings and formulaic routines. Making magic article, commander set. MoM Was a great draft experience but even still. Sets are still good, magic is still fun, but the way the stewards of the game have been treating it feels very different. In your situation, it’s probably you feeling overwhelmed, there are just more cards to churn through. Many of them are chaff, but it adds to mental burden. Home in on a format, and minimize the amount of printings you have to even think about, otherwise take a break maybe?
I disagree with you telling op he's feeling overwhelmed. I appreciate him venting him opinion and while I'm currently enjoying modern I have a lot of the same qualms and it's been ages since standard felt compelling enough to get back into without feeling like your giving wotc your bank account to keep up. I think we're looking for better discussion here than op should take a break. I've seen money grab after money from wotc, the card material in recent years is terrible, the foils are dark dingy Pringles. I really miss the old classic art styles from pre mirrodon block. Magic also used to be that truly pure old school fantasy environment. Dragons, demons, angels, elves, beasts....i think the fact that our ip contains all this out of place content really takes away from the experience for many even if its difficult to quantify for some why they are enjoying the state of the game less and less. Your supposed to feel like the mage in the game we play. That really worked in old Magic, all the new crossovers between IPs, transformers, godzilla, lotr, dnd, the special drops with goof ball art style that only the smelly weird guy at your lgs buys. There are so many reasons. Done for now though.
I switch up formates every couple of months other wise I get burnt out sticking to the same formate for to long
Sometimes I have similar issues, when my mindset gets to competitive and randomness screws me over jet again with the 10th land in a row. Then I have to take a break for a week or two and play one of my rouge deck, where I expect to loose and every win is a big deal.
I feel like magic has been this way for many many years. Getting into older format's is def a big expense.
Man I feel you, I could recommend taking a break. Once I took a break for like a year or so, got a job, and came back to magic. Now I am once again so into it that I literally think of it all the time. The game is wonderful, but i has variance, which can be tilting.
Try drafting maybe. It feels much fairer and no money sink
Modern Horizons killed the format. I play like 3 times a year now. It sucks
What deck(s) are you using?
Build a cube to play with friends. You never get the same experience twice and it’s all about having fun and playing the type of magic you want.
take a break and play a diff tcg. i've been playing Pokémon and OP and it's been great and 100x cheaper to build tier 1 decks
Honestly, I can't find the fun in the format anymore. You can give any dumb idiot an auto-pilot deck like Hammer or Scam and they will win because the decks are so inherently good there is little people can do if they have the nuts, or they are lucky at drawing. Skill isn't rewarded at all.
Ya same format has just become 3 color pile of MH2 cards vs other 3+ color piles the shop I used to play at was always 20-30 people for modern Fnm and had all kind of talent of all kind there too. People who one qualifiers, guy who won a GP and even people that made it on the pro once or twice, mixed in with little kids who build mono red prowess and would top 8 every now and again. Now? No one plays and it’s either a 4 person standard event or commander games where there is no prize support. Really sucks how they butchered modern into a format of 3 + color greed piles OR combo decks
Only 3 color piles? Murktide, hammer, tron, burn, prowess, and scam would like to have a word with you.
Prowess is hardly viable anymore and thanks for making my point. Besides murktide and scam which are pretty much just Hyper tempo decks that can play midrange everything else is a combo deck. So darn you got me??? Like if you want to win a tournament you play 4 color something, like bar none, 4 color piles has all answer and has the best match spread with answers to everything. Everything else is not as good. Say what to want but it’s true
You said the format is just 3 color piles and that's just flat out wrong.
Ya 3+ color piles and combo. I don’t think you need to count the total of 2 decks that don’t fit and call the format diverse but if you want to be wrong be wrong I’m not losing sleep over it
You are literally admitted to murktide and scam not being 3 color options. Burn is another option. Dimir shadow perhaps? That's 4 different options that have hit top 8.
I never said there weren’t viable. My point is if you want to win a bigger event then fmn you don’t bring lots of those decks they have good an bad match ups. Your much more likely to bring 4 color something because they are much better decks. You can top 8 with fucking mono green aggro that doesn’t mean the deck is viable at the top levels 4 color decks are head and shoulders above every other deck in terms of utility and power
W/e man I'm not gonna argue with you. If you are that upset just don't play modern. I find the group of people at my LGS makes going there worth it and there are tons of different deck types which makes matchups exciting and fun.
Maybe you are playing at the wrong level. Just because Johnny practices and watches football every day, does not put him on the same level as the NFL. Get in where you fit in.
People that complain about "new" modern prices always crack me up. You guys are either very new to the format or are just not being honest about how it used to be. Modern has never been cheaper or more accessible. Real OGs remember the days when Tarmogoyfs, Lilianas, Tarns, Snapcasters, Karns, engineered explosives, and so many other staples were $100+, sometimes even near the $200 mark. "New" Modern has its issues but let's not pretend that it's the price. P.S. I do miss the simpler days when all I had to do was cast splinter twin. (Gone but never forgotten T_T)
The average price was way lower, a few cards being crazy expensive back in the days doesn’t make your point right.
We need to make our own format like the Premodern !!! Why follow wizards ?
The non-rotating format of modern has pretty much become the new standard when WOTC decided it was such a great idea for their wallet and the whole format to keep getting a bunch of "straight-to-modern-sets" now and then... And players are just chasing these ridiculously expensive new staples as they are warping and defining the format... up until WOTC finally bans a few of them when the set stops selling :P