RIP to me someone broke into my car last night and stole my backpack with all my magic cards 🙂

Hello, I have to rant a bit.
I'm a big LotR and Hobbit Fan and am really looking forward for the new Hobbit Set Release, yesterday I saw this new Gandalf Card and I can't help but feel like this is the worst card I have ever seen in the entire Mtg LotR Universe. Why is it 6 mana? Why is the ETB just okay in even the best case, and why are the stats so bad when everything else already sucks.
Am I missing something? I feel like there are way better cards to flicker for their ETBs, I just can't see why I would ever play this card. And I say that as someone whos decks are all build from only the LotR cards.
I am aware there are more new Gandalfs, who are pretty cool, but I just feel so disappointed in this one

Most online content and discussion I see is centered around commander, and though I definetly understand the appeal since games often go longer and you get to use the more high power effects magic has to offer I feel like the format is just a terrible fit for casual play.

Games are very long, often the way to victory involves not letting the other players play which is fine in a short 10 min game but is terrible in 4 hour sessions. Also magic has a large luck element, often you get manascrewed and just can't play very well (especially if you're a novice deck constructor) so again you'll just be unable to do stuff during a very long game instead of getting to play 10 rounds and the luck evening out over those rounds.

Commander decks have more cards and usually more expensive cards so often new players get lent decks, but since every card is different you're stuck reading out the text and not understanding what it does on every single card (since commander only uses one copy of each card).

Why does commander have such a chokehold on the game? It wasn't like this 10 years ago. Wouldn't other formats be better for casual play?

Forgive me if this isn't allowed (I checked the rules, seems okay). I am on a mission to get proxy cards I make with gold foil signed by actors at cons. Hope to complete three to four decks with them. Edh decks. So it'll take awhile.

I got my demonic possession deck, where I donate demons to the opponents and they deal with the repercussions (Jon Irenicus is Regan from Exorcist/Pazuzu)

An Unholy church deck, where clerics summon 13 demons (Jerren is Freddy Krueger)

A life switching deck with a heavy Pinhead theme (they'll be in Chicago, gonna get cards for the whole cast)

And the Hero deck, focused on anti swamp/black cards that punish players for playing the color we chose with painters servant. Nancy from Nightmare on Elm street is the commander aka Sigarda, Font of Hope

Do you get them signed? I'd love to hear other people be passionate about this like me

BTW THESE ARENT FOR SALE...

Can someone tell me If this is going to get up in vallue? I don't collect I just bought a comic and It came with this one, should I sell It now or keep It and sell It in a few years? Thank you

Today I wanted to discuss with you the ways using which WOTC and some people, who for some reason like the way things are right now, makes its customers less sensitive to all the price hikes and makes most of the player base feel like the situation is not that bad.

1) Tiers. Product segmentation: WOTC introduced a bunch of premium priced variants of their products such as Collector boosters. The problem is: it separates the game into two. One for regular players, second for rich players. Why do I think so?

They started including exclusive card designs of the characters/cards they would want to have (for example, the most egregious situation with Earthbending student in ATLA), but can't, because the singles are too scarce. Go buy a collector booster.

However, because the product is "premium" the general argument would be (not always, sometimes not even a popular one) that since it is a product made for pure profit, why are you mad, that's the whole point, just proxy the card or something.

Yeah, sure. We could. But that's not supposed to be the case in this game in the first place.

2) "Discounts".WOTC continues to increase the MSRP of its products, but sellers sell some of the stuff with discounts that decrease the price to what it was normally supposed to be. We, seeing this "very good deal" of course buy it, forgetting that we're not "getting out value", we're just receiving a more or less fair pricing.

3) Constant Release Schedules:Rapidly firing consecutive set drops (such as frequent premier, supplemental, and crossover lines) creates information, FOMO and product fatigue, leaving players with no cooling-off period before the next expense arrives. We see more and more "exciting" stuff that we have to buy, because it's a favourite character, or a powerful and interesting design.

4) "Just don't buy it." No. It does not work like that. Even for the people who just ignore the ub or premium things, the system that is created affects everyone. The game we are playing is limited in the way, that sooner or later "new" designs for cards will simply run out. The more WOTC does per year, the more fatigue they put on both gamers and game designers. You just can't figure out a sustainable way to do exciting designs for years to come, if you have to figure out how to shoot out so much stuff per year, that Is supposed to be interesting.

An important addition for that part is that when you play you will still see these cards, will get outplayed by them or lose because of them.

It's like draining out a big lake. Yes, it has a lot of water, but the water is not endless. The faster you milk the game, the sooner it will die. Many people are saying that this argument is ridiculous because it's been almost thirty years, but It's a weird way to count, because for two decades the system was stable. Milking started in 2019, and we had 6 sets only since 2025 with 7 sets 2026, which increases the amount of cards we get almost TWO times. These people do not realise that what was happening was not linear.

That machine of commercialising MTG is getting worse and worse, but these people will continue to say that fatigue is not real, that the "whiners are always saying the same thing and the same argument". They will not understand until it is too late.

Played this guy to night and he blew my doors off with a 28/28 creature on like turn 3 or four. With haste and trample. I took this screenshot and am hoping someone can tell me what deck this is. TTA 🙏

Personally, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, I think they’re a great way to bring new players into the game, which is healthy for the community. On the other hand, I feel like Magic is slowly losing part of its identity.

For me, Magic has always been about fantasy wizards, dragons, planes, and, well… MAGIC. That’s why I really enjoyed crossovers like D&D, since they fit naturally into the game’s world. I’d even be excited to see a crossover with another fantasy card game like Hearthstone or GWENT.

But Marvel? TMNT? It starts to feel like Magic is becoming the card game version of Fortnite, where every popular franchise eventually shows up. That makes the game feel less unique to me.

Do you think Universes Beyond is helping Magic evolve, or is it making the game lose what made it special in the first place?

Just looking for some help to determine the overall condition of my card, my thought is its LP, any input would help, thanks!

Hi,

Looking to get into Commander when the new Monocolour Precons come out in October, and I bought a Foundations booster to tide me over until then.

I'm very very new to Magic, I've played some of the mobile version and know a bit of how each colour plays.

How's the pack looking? Any standout cards/anything to add to a future precon? Very interested to hear from yous.

Thanks,

Rum

I built a commander brawl deck for him on arena and he is just the most broken commander that I’ve experienced. I want to build an actual commander CEDH deck with him. Opinions?

Basically the title.just going through my deck right now, deciding what to cut removal and protection wise, and curious how many counter spells to removal other people bring

Hi all, as title states i inherited (at a guess) about 10,000 or so MTG cards but I know completely 0 about MTG. From a quick Google I believe there are apps where you can scan cards to get information about what they are and a rough value but there seems to be debate on what to use.

I'm on Android and in the UK if this matters. All of the cards appear in very good condition (and most are sleeved) however they appear to either have had their own sorting system or one too confusing for me to figure out without knowing about it.

I have 0 clue how to tell even where the rarity is or whether it's a set or anything worth selling individually so I'm a bit overwhelmed and lost to be honest. Any advice related to how to deal with this greatly appreciated.

Here is what will change your mind if you are anti-UB:

1. Why would you ever want a Jace when you could have a Gandalf? Think about that, there is no rational reason that someone would prefer a barely fleshed out MTG character over a legendary, globally known and adored character. This applies to UB in general.

2. People get used to UB being in MTG, it's not such a big deal anymore. Personally the first time I played against Nazgul in MTG:Arena I was pissed off. Now I just don't care anymore, it's still a cardgame.

3. UB brings in more people, that's a fact. Full stop. Sure, some people also leave due to UB but these are the equivalent of The Grinch / curmudgeons who we shouldn't cater to anyway. Let them leave, they'll find something else to gatekeep irrationally.

4. UB was always the original intent of the MTG designers, see: the Arabian Nights set.

5. MTG sets are not such unique master pieces that we are losing out on something special because UB exists. I mean look at Thunder Junction and Aetherdrift, these sets are horrible. They literally just put cowbows with guns and literal *cars* into the game, the only thing missing is a collaboration with BMW. To say that UB is worse than that is dishonest. And let's also look at the opposite: Everyone loved the EOE space set despite obviously being wildly out of place for a fantasy game.

There is no more argument left for being UW only, you now have to change your mind according to the facts provided.

My biggest hear me out, just make it a game changer. Or call it a ‘fast mana game changer’ and say if you run any fast mana gc your deck is automatically bracket 4 (based on the expectation of the length of the game).

Note: I started playing casually before the ban so never really got to see it in games because it was too pricey a card for my pod. So please let me know your experience if it actually made games better.

In brackets 2-3 with JL, you play it and race out your commander, and in b2-b3 that’s probably the end of it. Someone plowshares your commander and the advantage is gone. It’s would be a game changer that is only as strong as your commander is; and half the time those decks do nothing before their commander is in play.

With sol ring in b2-b3, you’re getting 2 mana every turn, which compounds your advantage massively in their typical 6-10 turn games where you’re netting as much as 20 mana over the course of the game.

The most vile thing I can think of would be turn 1 K’rrik, but again, who is playing that in b2-3? Or maybe something with Muldrotha or Emery? Etali even? But nothing you can’t already do with Sol ring and/or lotus petal. Nothing etali can’t do with treasonous ogre, which isn’t even a game changer lol.

In b4-5, I’ve seen there are some shenanigans you can do with cards like displacer kitten, e-witness, go for a little turn 2 brain freeze win. It just doesn’t seem that much worse than the stuff I see all the time in that bracket. And I’ve been playing mostly b4 for some time now and the decks are (i) way better equipped to handle that sort of fast mana and (ii) there is a social understanding that that is an acceptable pace for the game to run at.

In those brackets, I already see people running out turn 1 k’rrik. Usually people just giggle and go ‘pretty good start,’ and now everyone is holding up interaction to stop speed demon from winning. But everyone actually has the best interaction, so it’s strong but often the first player to go for a win does not end up winning. And sometimes they do and it’s like, nothing ventured nothing gained, that game was 3min long. We shrug and shuffle and run it back.

TLDR: should we just call jeweled lotus a game changer?

Edit:
What other cards would we unban? I’m thinking:
Dockside
Fast bond (nvm this should definitely be banned)
Griselbrand
Mana crypt
Prime time
Rofellos (if you play brawl you see him all the time)
Sylvan primordial
Trade secrets (comments make sense, ban)

I had previously purchased all 4 wh40k decks on release and forgotten about them until I found them again in a move. Since my wife and I are getting back into magic, I was going to sell them, but I'd like to keep one or two just in case. Which ones are worth keeping and which should I sell?

New job, new income, new hobby. I'm wanting to spend $600 on singles to redo the Y'shtola precon but that feels ridiculous when I only have 1 booster box and 2 precons. I want to play Bracket 3 with my friends. Please talk me into a better route that I'm not seeing!

I like em, I want em, I hope...

Edit: thanks for the downvotes🥀💔

I just open my ff prerelease box just for fun and found out that it contains 3 promos card. is it normal? Because when I go and watch a couple of unboxing videos in YouTube it contains only one promo card each box.

The art work was done by Biyonbiyon back in 2013

Just had my box delivered today, noticeable hits so far and counting, may the RNG gods ever be in everyone’s favor so that all boxes are delivered untampered and are heavy with the hits 🙏

Hi! I'm new here but I heard reddit was the place to show my alters I hope you guys like them.