Yeah I guess watching big events =/= streaming and I was mostly thinking about the former anyhow. One of my proudest moments in RL was being asked to party up by a streamer because he liked my play style (admittedly probably only had a few viewers but at least we won a bunch of games together).
I don’t know what it is about card games that brings out people’s competitive side but the same thing happened to me with Eternal. I guess you could relate it back to poker but I took my beats in poker way better. For some reason I felt like I had to win as much as possible and would get obsessive trying to get daily wins or max out my daily rewards so that I could draft again and make masters as quickly as possible. I wasn’t really interested in the “competitive” scene but it was very important to me to make Masters every month.
A few people on 22 were into it at least for a little while, including @cassette I believe, not sure if any still play it (i used to see DrZangief in game from time to time). I don’t think I’ve played this year but sadly I’ll probably dip my toes back in at some point because I just love the draft mode so much. I also qualified for a qualifier for their $50,000 guaranteed championship so I should probably play that if I’m able.
I watch Ryu sometimes. HU races in Mario Maker are fun to watch and gambly and remind me of cards: two people see how many levels they can beat in X minutes but they’re drawing from a huge random pool.
I played a whole lot of Eternal (an unhealthy amount) in the first few months of release. I haven’t been back since. It was a cool game but I didn’t like the emphasis on short games and it didn’t feel especially deep. Magic will always be the love of my heart but I just can’t justify the expense.
If you play MTG Arena you can get a lot done as a F2P player.
This guy
plays pretty much every weekday with a focus on maxmising resources without paying anything. He has built up over 20,000 gems (the premium currency) which would otherwise have cost over $100 and usually 4Xs every set of cards just through “free” drafting.
Is $100 in gems a lot now? In MTGO I could burn through 100 tickets in a single manic day of drafting.
I’ve played a gross amount of Eternal but I don’t even know if I can say I like it. It’s a lot deeper now with markets (essentially sideboards you can draw from during the game) and a bunch of sets… but the money system is really harsh against drafters so I refuse to give them another cent.
The cheapest draft experience on MTGA is 750 gems and you still keep all cards drafted. So 20k gems is 25 drafts (plus you get gems for winning and can buy in for the non premium currency). If you win at like 55%+ draft 2-3 times a week and stay on top of your daily quests it’s not too difficult to go infinite. That level of play should be about enough to 4x your rares (if you pull out the various tricks that streamer talks about) but not your mythics.
Speaking of card games, Epic Card Game is releasing next month and it will be entirely free except for competitive play. It’s a TCG not a CCG so basically you will get every card and be able to play every mode for free out of the gate. They are just going to charge for competitive play and cosmetics. I’ve logged a ton of hours in the alpha and think it’s an excellent, skill-based card game with a unique resource system that avoids “mana screw”. I pretty much stick to the draft mode but there is constructed and also a random mode which is good for new players. Anyway if you’re interested may as well try it out when it releases on Steam and mobile platforms February 18.
It is indeed a monstrously good deal. I paid over a hundred bones for all that! And that was during summer sale!
The 22 boards had a very active thread devoted to the game but people stopped posting in it at some point.
I’m getting back into it now. Just downloaded an extended timeline mod I am eager to try that can let you play from ancient times all the way into the present day. It even has a US Civil War premade Union v Confederacy map and a current mode with Trump as President (I assume with 0/0/0 stats)
