Was it the non-stop rotation of new releases and the expense of keeping up?

Did you enjoy the game itself?

I ask because I used to play until everyone I knew stopped because of the expense. Then a few years ago a friend died and left me his cards. Mostly they were trash (not worth money) but I wanted to use them to game in memory of the good times we had.

I started putting together decks following the "Peasant" format (all common cards except for 5 uncommon) and made enough so that I could loan my opponent their choice. This worked pretty well. I was able to get a few old friends to play and we had fun for quite some time. We considered "Pauper" which is nothing but commons but that ends up with a small handful of decks that just outright beat everything else. It was felt that a small number of decks gets stale too fast.

Unfortunately, life stepped in and the family with the bulk of the players moved to another state. That led me to trying to play at game stores.

Wizards of the Coast has done a good job of brainwashing players into thinking that "Standard" (only the latest cards) is the only version of the game to play. When playing the official "Standard" games at the stores there are prizes. The attitude that I get from a majority of players at the stores is that if there is no prizes (and winning points), it's not worth playing. Kind of like people's opinion of games with no leveling mechanic.

Within about the last year a new format has been introduced and supported (prizes given for official game winning) called "Modern". This is a format using a larger range of cards (cards since the 8th release on later).
This has gotten a few more people to not burn-out chasing the latest cards but since there are only a few deck builds that "win", the price of cards has spiked. So now instead of paying a lot to buy the new cards, you pay a lot to buy specific old cards. Great for Wizards and re-sellers.

The players that liked Magic but didn't want to chase "money cards" created their own format called "Elder Dragon Highlander". This is where you use a single card of anything but basic lands and 100 cards total. You can use every card ever printed, except for a few that would drain the fun from the game. This is great for people to use cards they collected over the years.
Wizards of the Coast has tried to co-op this player created format by giving it the name "Commander".

Another format that players created is called "Cube". This is a format where one person brings a group of 360+ cards pre-selected to work together and the players build decks to duel with from these cards.
Again a way to play that keeps the games fresh, uses the cards you already may have, and doesn't continue to drain vasts amounts of money.

So, to pick up from the title, have people that have quit yet liked the game, tried other forms of play? Has anyone returned to playing? If so, why?
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I used to play semi-seriously, went to Nationals a bunch of times, played in a Pro Tour, won money at a couple of Grand Prix and stuff like that. I quit playing sometime in 2004/5, partly because of changing priorities, partly because other people in my team were also starting to lose interest, and partly just because the nature of the game was changing (I used to like blue control sort of decks, but creature decks started becoming way more important). I never found the money to be an issue because I could trade for the things I wanted or just sell on the booster packs I was winning.

Myself and some of the old gang have played the odd pre-release since then but that's about it. Cube sounds like fun but I haven't tried it yet. Legacy is cool though, I've been playing some proxy legacy games with one of my old teammates recently but the price to get dual lands again is pretty off-putting, plus there aren't really any local legacy tournaments as far as I can see.

I used to play seriously, was even state champion...but the bottom line is it's just a game, and shelling out that kind of money for a game when there a jillion others to play eventually got to me.

That, and I just didn't have space for so many thousands of cards, another "just a game" issue.

I started playing in '96-'97 and stopped sometime in 2003ish.

I was really enamored with the idea of a fun quick casual game that you could break out and play whenever.

Of course after a while fun was sacrificed at the alter of serious business.

As is a common tale in geekdom.

1995-2004. Great game. Too time and money intensive.

My friends and I played Magic:tG back in the 90's when it was still hot. I forget when I quit, it was after Ice Age, soon after 5th edition came out I think. There were several reasons why we quit. Simple burnout was part of it. And yes, the expense issue, paying lots of money for just a few useful cards was annoying. Trying to remember all the new rules and what each card did was becoming overwhelming.

I went to a local convention and played in a small tourney. I can't prove it but I suspect the guy I played against was cheating somehow. Maybe he knew how to shuffle that controlled which cards came out on top despite any cut. I don't know, but the whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

For me, the big flaw in the game is the rarity of the cards (although I know this was WoTC's big money clincher.) Let's face it, the rare cards make fancy decks winners, particularly tournament worthy decks. The best cards are rare ones and the more one has the higher chance of winning. I know many deny this, I've heard the denials many times. But the truth is there. The game then becomes a money race: those willing to shell out the most money to buy packs or individual cards have the advantage. Not unlike a rich sports franchise. Sure, skill and experience are important too but acquiring the rare 5 Star cards is vital. (Not unlike WoW: the guy decked out head to toe in Epics will have the decisive advantage over the same level opponent in greens.) Making all the cards equal in distribution would have gone a long way in solving this problem. At a certain point I just refused to partake in the rat race.

I also didn't like what the game did to the gamer community. Maybe it's just my perception but before M:tG came out gamers seemed more honest. At a convention I could leave my books at a table, go to the bathroom and return pretty secure that nothing had been touched. (One time at Gen Con a guy at a table I was at left his AD&D Players Hand Book behind after the game had ended. I picked it up and went through the convention hall looking for him. Took 15 minutes but I found him and handed it back.) After M:tG came out I heard plenty of stories of cards being stolen, sometimes box loads of them. Suspicion and anger increased. I saw guys become surly if anyone came within a yard of their precious, plastic wrapped cards. I didn't like it. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it was always that way and I was naive and never noticed.

I haven't played in years but still keep two large crates in my closet with all my cards in them. Who knows if or when I'll ever play again. Sometimes when I'm in Barnes & Nobel or a department store I'll see new sets of M:tG cards being sold and I'll feel a familiar itch. But no, I never do buy them.

An excellent game that breathed new life into a hobby I love. It will always have a place in my heart.

I think me and my group of friends and M:TG just grew apart. We started playing when we were in our mid-teens and some years later, we would rather spend our time and money on beer and parties than cards. RPGs were just the cheaper, and to us, more fulfilling game experience. Mind you, that the last couple of expansions we went through was Fallen Empires and Homelands didn't make leaving the game behind harder.

There are still a bunch of boxes filled with cards in closet at my parents house. There best one I picked out a couple of years and sold for the price of a pair of (semi)expensive sunglasses. We weren't hardcore collectors or players.

On one hand, I think it's a brilliantly designed game and I appreciate that it still brings so many people into the folds of tabletop gaming.  On the other hand, it's all my long-time nerd friends play anymore, and I don't, so, mreh.

Honestly, other than the occasional board-game or my co-worker's fortnightly (first time I've ever used that word...) Pathfinder game, most of my gaming is bite-size video-game sessions after work to unwind.  Usually casual League of Legends (ARAM) or "competitive" Counter-Strike with some old high-school buddies.  It's just become harder to justify the time and money commitment to keep up with Magic.  

Granted, having multiple chronic health issues that sap your constitution and energy don't help, either, when you're investing most of the remaining fuel in work-related pursuits.  It becomes even more important to pick-and-choose where to invest your leisure time (socializing, chores, studies, exercise, etc.).

Quote from: DKChannelBoredom;750098I think me and my group of friends and M:TG just grew apart. We started playing when we were in our mid-teens and some years later, we would rather spend our time and money on beer and parties than cards. RPGs were just the cheaper, and to us, more fulfilling game experience. Mind you, that the last couple of expansions we went through was Fallen Empires and Homelands didn't make leaving the game behind harder.

My friends took the opposite path.  They've shifted away from "playing pretend" type games and more towards abstract things like Euro-games and MtG.  Which I can understand, since they have clearer goals and things like "winners," but I just don't get much out of moving chits around to solve abstract problems -- I get enough of that discrete problem-solving stuff out of work and studies.  And video-games, I guess, especially now that there are so many weird abstract indie type games.

Quote from: Doughdee222;750097I also didn't like what the game did to the gamer community. Maybe it's just my perception but before M:tG came out gamers seemed more honest. At a convention I could leave my books at a table, go to the bathroom and return pretty secure that nothing had been touched. (One time at Gen Con a guy at a table I was at left his AD&D Players Hand Book behind after the game had ended. I picked it up and went through the convention hall looking for him. Took 15 minutes but I found him and handed it back.) After M:tG came out I heard plenty of stories of cards being stolen, sometimes box loads of them. Suspicion and anger increased. I saw guys become surly if anyone came within a yard of their precious, plastic wrapped cards. I didn't like it. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe it was always that way and I was naive and never noticed.

I imagine this more a reflection of how parenting changed over this same time period.  Those of us who hit adulthood in the 90s were the last generation whose parents trusted them.  E.g. able to travel places alone, set your own schedule, etc.  I think the kids not trusting each other is a result of their never being trusted themselves. So as this mentality makes its way into the hobby, everything just gets tainted by it.

Generation has nothing to do with it.  Teenagers and kids have always engaged in petty theft.  MtG just gives you something that's easy to steal, and it just happens to be something kids like.

I was playing Magic around 1994. It was okay. I like the game, the idea of building decks and the variety of game play that comes out of that. I'm just not into the collecting and the hunting of particular cards and all that jazz - it's something I did for a while at that time, but wouldn't do again today. I don't like the way hardcores play either. It's something I'd play like any card game, sitting, playing a bit, and then moving on. The investment in time, energy and money to get a decent deck running is just too much for me.

I like the idea of having a basic deck, a bunch of boosters, and then building something remotely functional to play on the go, but that's something you'd have to rebuy over and over to keep fresh with your buds, so ... no. Not realistically sustaining.

Quote from: Greentongue;750061The players that liked Magic but didn't want to chase "money cards" created their own format called "Elder Dragon Highlander". This is where you use a single card of anything but basic lands and 100 cards total. You can use every card ever printed, except for a few that would drain the fun from the game. This is great for people to use cards they collected over the years.
Wizards of the Coast has tried to co-op this player created format by giving it the name "Commander".

This is the only format I play now, and only in multiplayer. Great crazy fun, lots of interactions, lots of decision points and tough calls that feel really rewarding when you win.

Quote from: Benoist;750112I like the idea of having a basic deck, a bunch of boosters, and then building something remotely functional to play on the go, but that's something you'd have to rebuy over and over to keep fresh with your buds, so ... no. Not realistically sustaining.

This is where "Cube" fits. One person collects a bunch of cards and everyone else pulls from that collection to build 40 cards decks "on the go".

A cheap but fun way to start a Cube is by using only commons.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/the-cube-forum/cube-lists
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Quote from: Doughdee222;750097I haven't played in years but still keep two large crates in my closet with all my cards in them. Who knows if or when I'll ever play again. Sometimes when I'm in Barnes & Nobel or a department store I'll see new sets of M:tG cards being sold and I'll feel a familiar itch. But no, I never do buy them.

An excellent game that breathed new life into a hobby I love. It will always have a place in my heart.

The cards my friend had left were the ones that were not stolen while he was at a convention. He was a smoker (which killed him) and trusting someone else to watch the cards while he took a smoke break didn't end well.

I've found that game stores have "regulars" and they are pretty trust worthy. Conventions and Tournaments have a lot of people that feed off of strangers. That is also true outside of just MtG players.

I've been happy that I got back into playing and have set a $10 per week budget. It goes far if you are not playing "Standard" and is no worse than other forms of entertainment.
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it came a bit later to the UK we played from Dark through to Weatherlight- ish.
My mates all grouped in to buy a full set of legends which cost them a pretty penny then we kind of all owned a colour and built to that pattern.

We played Jyhad as well and that was probably a btter game for us due to multi player.

We hit a couple of tournaments but all that did was turn us off tournaments because to us at least you got the worst of nerdom, the guys that lacked the social skills to get into a D&D game (that is a pretty low bar). It probably didn't help that we played for fun so our decks weren't very serious and we were really just interested in seeing cool cards, drinking beer and getting away from our wives and gilrfriends for a day. So Decks like "Things you find in a Field", "No Manna Deck", "There must be a way to make these genies work" probably lacked the focus that other players might expect which was fine except these fuckers took themselves pretty seriously

Now don't get me wrong we were not novices and we played the fuck out of Magic. To the point where on long car journeys we could play virtual magic (MtG, no cards in hand, any card can only be played once and you can "draw" any card you like from your "deck", all cards are imaginary but have to be published cards of course) where we all knew by memory the existing 2000 or so cards. However, we just didn't take it very seriously.

Now a few years back I noticed that Magic had churned out dozens of new sets. We were in a tricky state game wise and we couldn't get regular gaming due to Real life so I started buying a box of boosters then running sealled deck games with one of the guys when they could make it. so did that for a bout 2 years until I moved out to Singapore.

If I play again and no doubt I will, I will play EDH (I even picked up some of the Commander decks on my last US trip) or CUBE.