Purchasing Magic the gathering

muxec · July 25, 2003, 03:49

Now i'm very close to purchase legal game at the first time in my life. Wizrds.com store says

Quote:

Purchase a starter game for US $14.99, which will include the online game CD, a coupon good for US $9.99 toward any Magic Online purchase, a Magic® rulebook and the Magic Online player manual. The starter game is available at retail locations throughout the world. You may then use the coupon to cover the cost of an account (US $9.99) or pay for an account and save the coupon to purchase cards with. Either way, after you purchase an account, you will be sent another coupon worth US $9.99.

The section that explains the features says

Quote:

The Game Box contains:

Two decks featuring illustrated cards of creatures and spells
A 15-card pack with more advanced cards for expanded game play
A collectable premium card featuring exclusive art
Two play guides to take you and your opponent through the game step by step
An easy-to-read rulebook for complete rules reference
Two playmats with scorekeeping counters
A CD-ROM featuring exciting games that cover the key aspects of Magic play

And now the question

Do i get both online and tangible version of the game by purchasing the single Starter pack? And next: do I get two decks for Magic Online? (built in and for next $10 coupon)

And where to buy it offline in Israel? (I want to pay cash, not CC)

Urban Ranger · July 25, 2003, 04:01

No. Looks like the first blur is about the online game and the second one is about the card game.

FrustratedPoet · July 25, 2003, 04:30

UR is right. Those quotes are about two different things. You get no paper cards from buying the computer game version of Magic.

When you play the online version the only cards you can get are the electronic ones. If you collect every single card of a set you can trade them in for the equivalent in paper cards, but then they delete your electronic ones.

It's a huge rip-off.

muxec · July 25, 2003, 04:49

SO i'll use warez version

They are too greedy to get my money

FrustratedPoet · July 25, 2003, 05:13

You still have to pay a monthly fee to play online .. and to buy extra cards (unless you can win some n00b tournaments with the starting deck). Or does the warez version have that covered too?

muxec · July 25, 2003, 05:28

Quote:

Originally posted by FrustratedPoet
You still have to pay a monthly fee to play online .. and to buy extra cards (unless you can win some n00b tournaments with the starting deck). Or does the warez version have that covered too?

First. No monthly payment (just read license agreement). You pay only for cards and registration.

2. I've downloaded warezous thing that claims to be able to use security holes of servers to add more cards. The warezist warns that this activity will be detected soon after use and you will be probably banned off from the MTG online. I'll probably avoid using it...

Finally, some firms here print MTG paper cards without paying to wizards.com and sell them for a cheap price.

muxec · July 25, 2003, 05:41

And here is alternate free server software. It's not warez so i'll give a link. http://www.sci.fi/~fuerte/mtgplay.htm . I did not try it.

FrustratedPoet · July 25, 2003, 05:48

That one is an alternative way of playing the online version from the Magic Interactive Encyclopedia, which is much older and much worse than MTG Online.

muxec · July 25, 2003, 06:04

Quote:

Originally posted by FrustratedPoet
That one is an alternative way of playing the online version from the Magic Interactive Encyclopedia, which is much older and much worse than MTG Online.

But it allows to play online with custom decks and the basic rules are the same.

Solver · July 25, 2003, 07:14

Oh and muxec, shut the hell up about your warez adventures and stop being proud of it, lest you want to be banned again.

muxec · July 25, 2003, 07:18

Solver, MTGPlay isn't warez.

Solver · July 25, 2003, 08:32

Yes, but you are advertising the fact that you use warez.

Quote:

Now i'm very close to purchase legal game at the first time in my life.

Do you have to say that?

Quote:

SO i'll use warez version They are too greedy to get my money

And that?

muxec · July 25, 2003, 08:52

Ne stroi iz sebja burzhuya.

Sovkom ty byl, sovkom ty i ostalsya.

Solver · July 25, 2003, 09:13

Ja v sovetskoje vrema ne golovu v zhopu soval, a mozhet intelligenciju predstavlal. Ja jevrejskij narod ne pozorju.

muxec · July 25, 2003, 09:21

Solver, your latest post looks like antisemitism propoganda

FrustratedPoet · July 25, 2003, 10:30

A translation of both those posts would be nice.

SnowFire · July 25, 2003, 10:42

Yeah, as far as I know, they're separate. It's possible that they give you Magic Online credits with the Starter Game, but that'd be news to me.

Note that warez, as far as I know, is not an issue with Magic Online. If people want cards for free, they can play with Apprentice. MO is supposed to be incredibly hard to hack, and it's easy to notice if people are hacking cards- prices would immediately plummet as people would dupe all the rares they ever need and sell them like crazy. That hasn't happened, which implies to me anyone selling you a hack is lying- they would have used it to make lots of real $$ online.

Also, you misunderstand the 10$ coupon. First off, don't buy the 15 dollar version in the stores, that's 5 bucks you're paying for useless packaging and a CD. Download it for free, and then spend merely 10 dollars and get the same thing. What they mean by two coupons is that it costs 10 dollars "minimal investment" to get a new account. The account is really free, but they require 10 dollars to be invested in cards first. They then give you a 10 dollar coupon for cards after buying your account.

So that's just a bit of financial hocus-pocus with the double coupon bit. Sure, you can save your 10 dollar coupon, and then spend 10 dollars for an account, and then get a new 10 dollar coupon right back. But since you spend 15 for the game, and 10 for the account, you're spending 25 bucks for 20 dollars worth of cards. Or, if you just download the game, you're spending 10 bucks for 10 dollars worth of cards. The coupons are illusory.

Urban Ranger: There is no monthly fee for Magic Online. If there was, I sure wouldn't use it. It works the same way as in real life- they don't charge you per game, but they charge you for expanding your collection.

Frustrated Poet: Not entirely a rip-off, although certainly even more of a money-mint for WotC (being that there are no middlemen stores, no transportation costs, and no printing costs...). After graduating, I have no other convenient way to play with my roommate- Apprentice is shaky and has no rules implementation or art. Plus MO makes it easy for us to set up team games against other random people, something impossible in Apprentice.

Ben Kenobi · July 25, 2003, 22:28

Quote:

After graduating, I have no other convenient way to play with my roommate.

I'm in the same boat, though with my old friends from High school.

I sure wish we could make one ourselves, better than Magic Online. We would have the card database from apprentice, but I'm not sure about the card art. The hardest part would have to be the programming, all the different card interactions.

Urban Ranger · July 26, 2003, 03:45

Quote:

Originally posted by SnowFire
Urban Ranger: There is no monthly fee for Magic Online. If there was, I sure wouldn't use it. It works the same way as in real life- they don't charge you per game, but they charge you for expanding your collection.

Wrong person

Chowlett also played with Magic Online, but he doesn't seem to be around these days.

muxec · July 26, 2003, 14:32

OK... I took the idea. It's adult game

I will not play it.

P.S: the huck mentioned above does not seem to work.

Grumbold · July 28, 2003, 08:37

I'm guessing from the 'get the set, swap for paper' offer that they only support recent card sets, so you can't get a set of Arabian Knights, Legends or other golden oldies.

I'd happily play MtGO but there's no way I'd pay $100's to amass a modern virtual copy of the card collection I already have. I know myself too well to believe I could create an account, buy a handful of extra cards and not be tempted into further purchases when it turned out certain rare cards would fit really well.

Immortal Wombat · July 28, 2003, 11:21

I'm limited myself to two of the constructed decks and a booster which I'm trading off at the moment. I figure if I never have anything but black and red, I can't be tempted to buy much more. So far it's working.

Urban Ranger · July 29, 2003, 03:30

Quote:

Originally posted by Grumbold
I'm guessing from the 'get the set, swap for paper' offer that they only support recent card sets, so you can't get a set of Arabian Knights, Legends or other golden oldies.

Like they are going to give you a real Beta Black Lotus

Grumbold · July 29, 2003, 07:59

Well I already have a beta mox jet and mox pearl. I used to be an addict

Just interested in exactly what sets they can or cannot support if they have the paper trade offer. Would I recognise any cards at all - only the ones that have survived from the 3rd to the 8th edition unlimited set?

SnowFire · July 29, 2003, 14:54

Well, you'd recognize ones that survived to 7th edition too.

Online, they have the Invasion block & forward. So 7th & 8th edition are the main places where you'll find "golden oldies" like Howling Mine, Birds of Paradise, Northern Paladin, and so on. And yet somehow, I suspect they won't be reprinting Black Lotus in 9th edition. I wonder why? ;-)

Grumbold · July 29, 2003, 17:57

Since I've never heard of invasion, it sounds like I'd have to learn practically a whole new game. I think Ice Age was the last set I bought.

Urban Ranger · July 30, 2003, 04:17

Not that new. They have removed "interrupt" cards by reworking the sequence of play, and made adjustments to card texts (the most updated version is called oracle text).

MrBaggins · August 1, 2003, 07:52

I second the "Find Magic:Interactive Encyclopedia instead, and play with the PD client." Much cheaper, and you can construct any deck you can dream of... or even sealed deck.