I Made a MODO!

Hello everybody!

So yesterday I was very frustrated when I was playing on Magic Workstation and was facing no serious competition. Everyone was playing really terrible brews, and I had to explain to half of them that their dissipate doesn't stop them from taking 4 damage from Burning Vengeance. That, and the lack of a stack really made control mirrors confusing. The only advantage it had over MTGO is that is was free. So I simply had to ask myself - am I willing to spend a little more to get significantly better? I decided yes, because it's very possible to go infinite on MTGO, you just have to be good, and that's a challenge I am up for.

So yesterday I downloaded Magic Online and made my account: ThingsILack. I haven't been able to do much with it yet, but I have jammed 2 swiss drafts. I unfortunately went 1-2 in both of them drafting UB and mono Blue. I feel I learned a couple nuggets about drafting already from just those 2 drafts, like how Undead Alchemist really isn't that good unless you completely warp your deck round him. Also, in my second draft, the mono-blue one, I took P1P2, P1P3 Invisible Stalker, but didn't value equipment high enough, most notably passing a Demonmail Hauberk and i even got a 3rd stalker by the end of the draft! Naturally my stalkers didn't so much of anything and my deck durdled too much.

If you don't have it, MTGO is great for if you want to be very serious in your testing because there is a much higher caliber of players there. However, the fact that it is another place that can cost you money needs to be addressed very seriously. Right now I'm just drafting, but I will try to borrow and trade for as much as I can to start jamming games with White Vengeance quickly. Most prices on MTGO are very low (<$9 for a Snapcaster), so that shouldn't be a problem. On the contrary, some other cards are VERY expensive ($25 Elesh Norn, $100 Force of Will), so its essential to pick and choose your battles carefully.

Right now, my plan is to use MTGO to supplement and sharpen my skills for paper magic, especially with drafting. At Toys, we can only ever fire off 4-man drafts, and by now they're too easy. Everyone has a color completely open to them, and there's always 1 color far under drafted, so it's just a game of which color opens better. Memorizing packs becomes too easy as well because there is only half the information to process. Drafting online is great because you get the full 8-man experience, and you can pick your challenge as the best players tend to migrate towards the 8-4s.

That's all I have today! If you're on MTGO, feel free to say hello, my username once again is ThingsILack. Until next time, stay classy!

Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
mtgo: ThingsILack