Poll: What Is Your Favorite Color in Magic?

Favorite Magic Color
What is your favorite color in Magic?	White Red Blue Black Green
	Current Results

Comments

[Thomas Scott Painter]

I've never liked the Land/Color aspect of Magic, needing locations or colors to fuel magic just never made much sense to me. Why should Forests have bigger creatures than Islands? Why should Mountains deal more direct damage than necromancy? What •land• would best fuel space creatures who have never set foot on land? What do colors really have to do with anything? It's like Bloods and Crips, they're exactly the same except for their colors. Give me colorless cards powered by Life spent, Cards Discarded, Creatures Tapped. I'm sick of color restrictions preventing me from playing the cards I like. I want a manaless Block with cards fueled only by alternate casting costs. :)

[Thomas Scott Painter]

Since I'm off on a tangent and imagining a new set of my own... how about some realism too? I mean, seriously, there are alot of really amazing people in the world who can do alot of really amazing things and there are plenty of photographers and photoshoppers who could make them look even more amazing, so why are we resorting to magical flying fish as big as grizzly bears who mysteriously give you more options in life as soon as you see them play? This is mulldrift, total mulldrift. That's what Pokimon is for. I say it's about time Wizards recognized photoshop as art and gave us some pictures of things that are REALLY amazing.

[sabbatica]

About being ripped off by people buying and selling cards, I very much agree with you. People in the business of trading cards are business people, which means they try to make a profit, which means they try to make sure somebody somewhere is not getting their money's worth. Who is not getting their money's worth? YOU. Beckett Magazine says a card is worth X, but *I* have NEVER gotten X from a business person, not for Magic cards, not for baseball cards, not for comic books, NOTHING (probably because I've never been on ebay). I once went to a local "FNM" thinking I could sell my $20 Graven Cairns and be able to enter a $15 draft, I think I got five for it, I got $3 for my Figure of Destiny, and the guy had the nerve to say he was paying top dollar. I knew he was ripping me off and I tried to look at the bright side, I'd get to play in the draft and my rares were going to someone who might be able to afford to play with them in a PTQ, but it made me really sad to see someone was ok with being that wrong and then bragging about the deal he got. Guess what, he was the FNM judge, but I like to hope it wasn't an officially sanctioned FNM. The merchant who ran the store we played in didn't seem much better, selling booster boxes for $100 when they were only eighty online. Obviously, I haven't been back to my local shop since.

Star City Games retaliating against you for telling people how to get their money's worth only shows us what profiteering jerks they are at Star City Games. I'm glad I can't afford to buy from them. I'd rather go to that nice white-haired lady at the flea market who even gives me a ride home at the end of the day. :)

[Will]

sabbatica, it would be unfair to expect to get competitive internet prices from a local store. How is the store owner supposed to pay the rent and compete with people selling cards out of their parents' basements? Also, the local store is providing you with a service: you get the cards for your money or the money for your cards right away instead of having to deal with paying for shipping, waiting for the order, dealing with delinquent users on eBay, etc. How much you think that kind of stuff is worth is up to you to decide. Usually I end up using the internet (partly because the nearest store is twenty minutes away in a direction I otherwise never drive), but still it's not fair to compare things directly.

That said, you still pick an argument with starcitygames.com since they have much higher prices than other online dealers. They set these prices because people are willing to pay them. Why? I guess because of their articles they have a high enough profile to attract business. They also provide fast, efficient, and reliable service. Here's one example of something they are doing right now that I find interesting. The new Magic novel Agents of Artifice came out with a promo version of Jace Beleren. My local store sold book+card for $25. It offered this price both in the store and on the store's website. On starcitygames.com, the promo card is for sale for $25 by itself and the book is for sale for $10. On the one hand, that seems so dirty because you'd have to pay $35 for something that should be $25 (retailers are supposed to give card away with the book -- at least, when Wizards first showed off the card on their website, they described as a gift you got for buying the book), but on the other hand, this is by far the cheapest I have seen the book for sale so if you don't care about the card this is a good deal for you.

[Will]

Oops, it should say "you still CAN pick an argument"

[Ron Vitale]

I'm all in favor of supporting your local store, but, at the same time, I believe in buying cards at the cheapest prices. If that's on the internet, then that's where I go. I've been buying cards on eBay for years now and thankfully I've never had a problem. Even with shipping, prices are usually cheaper.

So how can you support your local store? Buy there, bring your friends there, but still it's important to find a balance as best you can.

[Will]

I agree, Ron. You have to find the balance that works for you. That was what I was trying to get at by saying it isn't fair to compare things directly. The store might be a little more expensive but you don't have to factor in shipping plus you can get the card right away. It's kind of a case by case thing as to when it's better to use the store vs online.

For something completely different, I wanted to comment on the poll results. First Chandra wins the planeswalker vote. Now red is winning the color vote. Who would have thought red was so popular with the Magic Sock audience? For some reason, I picture them as more of a blue/green crowd.

[Ron Vitale]

Yeah, that's pretty wild that red is the favorite color. Well, what can you do!

My poor blue! :)

As for buying at a store, I agree with you that a case by case situation is the best course of action.