How do you all play Magic: The Gathering these days?

Do you play tabletop Magic at your local game store (LGS)? Perhaps you prefer the convenience of Magic: The Gathering Online (MTGO) or Magic: The Gathering Arena on your computer. Or maybe you like playing on your phone or tablet with the Android version. Let me know how you play and what your preferred platform is!

I used to play MTGO on Linux through Wine, but it stopped working. Trying it in a VM was too laggy. So I finally bought a cheap Windows machine primarily to run MTGA and MTGO smoothly. Personally, the convenience of digital clients has won me over, but I have fond memories of Friday Night Magic at my LGS, specially a $1 entry format we played with crappy decks and store credit prizes because I liked the nostalgia of it being similar to when I started playing instead of the competitiveness of the typical standard format, where it seems like all the decks are similar netdeck copies.

Godric,

Usually I play commander in person either a couple friends, but I did recently have a bunch of fun at a board game bar playing with randos, we all agreed on a general power level each game.

i_simp_4_tedcruz,

Angrily. The game is full of ropers, trolls, toxic players playing the toxic mechanic. I’d like to love this game, but it’s a bunch of sweat lords playing bitch mechanics all trying to prove who’s the biggest scumbag.

HumanBehaviorByBjork,
@HumanBehaviorByBjork@hexbear.net avatar

I’ll attend the occasional prerelease, but I mostly play paper commander with friends.

Evu,

I’m playing Arena most days. Haven’t spent any actual money on it and don’t plan to. I’m using Lutris on Linux; I can’t say that setup or maintenance have been painless, but it’s working for me for now. I used to play MTGO years ago and would eventually like to get back to that because it’s the best platform for Pauper.

Pre-pandemic I used to do both FNM drafts and kitchen table Magic with friends, and I would love to resume both of those, but I really don’t think it’s prudent yet, from a public health perspective.

CrayCray,

Magic Arena is nowadays on Steam and it works quite painless via Proton

Evu,

Thanks for the tip, I installed it that way yesterday and it’s working well so far.

Dressedlikeapenguin,

I play Arena every day, and in-person with two friends on the weekend. I’m getting back in after leaving the game a long time ago. Life got in the way, mostly drinking and cavorting, but now I’m back. Arena has really helped to learn all the different aspects of MTG today. It’s improved my in person play considerably. The idea of drafting is intimidating. There is a lot of pressure to make a decision, and I don’t have enough experience or knowledge to get a deck with a chance to won at least once. Someday though, I’ll be at the LGS to draft.

pancakesyrupyum,

I’m about 50/50 in person with ancient decks and Cockatrice.

Realistically I’d go all in on Cockatrice if I really wanted to play frequently. MTG is cost prohibitive.

Dexx1s,

I play Arena and Arena only because MTG isn’t really a popular thing here. Btw, Arena works perfectly in Steam and

mike,
@mike@mtgzone.com avatar

I only play Arena right now, and pretty much just draft and Historic. I would love to get back into real world paper drafting at my LGS but we have two young kids which makes it difficult. Once they’re older I will be looking to get back into FNM and drafting in person again.

I really do like Arena but I worry the effect it has on the paper game. I also think Historic is the most fun format right now, and has the most diverse sets of decks so I’m thankful wotc makes it free for us to play it.

isthingoneventhis,

I’ve given up on paper because my commander deck would cost a silly amount to update to the current year of “gotta go fast” play, so I stick to arena and play brawl. I absolutely detest the weird secret deck rating system they use to find matches, it is baffling. Part of me wants to give cockatrice a proper effort to learn but my last experience was everyone secretly just wants to play modern 3 turn win combos or whatever under the guise of commander which… is not fun.

I do miss FnM but where I live there is just zero scene for it sadly.

AngrilyEatingMuffins,
AngrilyEatingMuffins avatar

I play on Arena and draft every Friday at an LGS that my friends started up. Trying to make sure it consistently fires. Me and the other potential claimant to best drafter in the city play there every week so we get a bunch of people who want to play with/against us but also a fair number of people want to dodge us go to another store.

meant2live218,

The group of friends I played Commander with have stopped playing together, since people have moved farther away or have gotten more occupied with their families.

I have 2-3 local game shops I enjoy playing at, and so I’ll go every week or two for something. 90% of the time it’s Commander, but occasionally I can find a draft or pre-release firing off. I also have a few Pioneer decks that I would like to grind in paper, but it’s hard to find anyone actually playing Pioneer.

On my own time, I play Arena maybe 2-3 days a week, primarily just playing Standard or whatever is going on with Midweek Magic.

I honestly consume more Magic content than actually play myself.

PloKoon,

Unfortunately I too consume more magic content than I get to play. 😓

RudeOnTuesdays,

On the odd times I can play, I break out the jumpstart decks with my friends.

I recently made up a draft cube with my old cars from 1999. If can get a few more people together I’ll try drafting again.

msage,

I played MTGA on Linux, with my friend, also on Linux, without issues.

Buttholeconnoisseur,

Mainly MTGA. But I play on paper with friends as much as time will allow. So every few weeks or so we’ll get together and play some EDH.

EvilCartyen,

For many years I didnt play at all, my cards were just in a box. Few years back I got them out, got everything registered using Delver Lens and started collecting a bit again. Recently two people in my boardgame group hit their heads and can’t do really long thinky boardgames at the moment, so we’ve settled on mtg as a social and still challenging compromise.

We play some of my budget legacy decks, we play a bit of jumpstart, and we’re just starting to get into commander.

shapesandstuff,

Recently two people in my boardgame group hit their heads and can’t do really long thinky boardgames

Whats the story there lol

EvilCartyen,

One had two minor strokes, didn’t do terrible damage but it does mean he gets tired more easily. The other has a concussion after a mountain bike fall, wasn’t a bad fall either, but it had much the same effect as the stroke had.

Were late 30s so it feels a little early for these things, but luckily I really like playing mtg so I don’t mind that part…

shapesandstuff,

Wow, didn’t know a concussion could actually cause such long term issues.

Hope they recover and sorry if my initial comment was tactless.

EvilCartyen,

No worries. It’s actually quite common for concussions to have long term effects, doesn’t have to be a hard knock either. Colleague of my wife had a shelf drop on his head, empty and while he was putting it up. Took him about six months to get back to almost full time employment, and he still has to take naps and manage his head during the day. My friend is also only working 30 hours for now.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • mtg@mtgzone.com
  • kavyap
  • ngwrru68w68
  • osvaldo12
  • DreamBathrooms
  • mdbf
  • magazineikmin
  • thenastyranch
  • Youngstown
  • khanakhh
  • everett
  • slotface
  • tacticalgear
  • rosin
  • cisconetworking
  • JUstTest
  • Leos
  • GTA5RPClips
  • ethstaker
  • InstantRegret
  • cubers
  • modclub
  • Durango
  • anitta
  • tester
  • normalnudes
  • megavids
  • provamag3
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •