For the first time, I have received hate mail! Though most of it was perhaps not the most flattering writing I’ve had the pleasure to read, it was all informative (when you got past all the shouting). In case you missed it, I wrote an earlier article on this site about how Type II was "better" than Extended. I’m here to amend to that statement. (Don’t start throwing things yet; you should like this.)
First of all, let me state for the whole world to hear that my name is DANIEL Crane. I don’t know where my aggressors got the idea that I’m "David Crane," but I’m setting that straight right now.
Where do I begin? How about amending to my statement, "Type II is better than Extended." It should now read, "Type II is better than Extended for me." I’ve realized that my bias towards Standard hazed my view of Extended, and I thought that my circumstances were universal.
If you have been playing Magic for six years, I’m sure you’re an Extended player. However, if you’ve been playing for a year or two or less, then you’re most likely a Type II player. Why? Money. To make Extended decks work well, you need several old cards. If you’ve been playing for only a year, you may not have Necropotence, Demonic Consultation, Winter Orb, Enduring Renewal, Nevinyrral’s Disk, etc. To get these cards would be difficult. I’ve been playing since just before Tempest rotated into Standard, so this is the case for me. However, if you HAVE been playing for a long time, using these old cards is very advantageous. If you were to play only in Type II tournaments, the old cards you’d own would simply sit on a shelf. Also, to keep up (competitively) with the Standard environment, you would need to commit a lot of money to buy up the new sets. The unchanging environment of Extended would be right up your alley.
But, when I say unchanging, I think I should amend that, as well. Recently, Extended has undergone a change in the environment. But, unlike a change that Standard goes through regularly, this change was massive. The banning of so many old cards has made Extended a much more balanced environment. Standard has also had recent bannings and the rotating out of the Rath Cycle (okay, it’s not that recent, but bear with me), so it’s undergoing a balancing time as well. Both environments are getting much more balanced, and this IS a good thing (but that’s for another article). Thus, we find that Extended isn’t quite as stagnant and antiquated that I had envisioned it as.
Now, I believe that Type II is more fun. However, here’s a quote from some of my hate-mail:
"I think it all comes down to what someone finds "fun.” Some people would agree with the line attributed to Shawn "The Hammer" Reigner, when he stated "winning is fun.” Others enjoy certain deck archetypes. With the number of archetypes out there right now, one of the most common lines is "Play what you know.” Do you like beating someone down and burning them out? Play red. Do you enjoy trying to win with multiple cards? Play Trix. I personally enjoy playing the Potato Prison deck right now (creating lots of squirrels and tapping someone out every turn is fun for me I guess). When did "not a current archetype" become synonymous with "fun?” If you are not having fun playing Magic, no matter what type of Magic you are playing, then I would have to ask why you are playing Magic in the first place.
This player has hit the nail on the head. Fun is what YOU envision it as. Some people think "winning is fun." Perhaps one of my (lesser) philosophies is "losing is not fun." I’ve had some great games that I lost, but losing time and time again isn’t any fun. Playing my Type II decks against my friend’s Extended decks usually comes to the same outcome: my loss. Perhaps this has also fueled my bias against Extended. But, if you have the cards to build fun Extended decks, then go for it. I have the cards to build fun Type II decks, and in my opinion, Type II decks are more fun in general, thus making Type II more fun for me. But, that’s my opinion.
One person said this about my comment that making Standard decks is easier than making Extended decks:
"I’m sorry that the possibilities overwhelm your fragile little mind, but those of us who are actually good at Magic don’t have a problem with it."
I never said that I was good at Magic. However, I’m not completely inept. Also, I’m sure that there are lots of good Limited and Standard players out there who are quite intelligent. I’m not great at Magic, but I’m no dunce, and my mind is far from fragile. However, this doesn’t mean that I’m going to be good or bad at building Extended decks. I’m probably not good at building Extended decks because I’m not familiar enough with the cards. In three years, I’ll be able to talk about the Urza’s Block and Rath Cycle cards with ease. However, to the new players, those will be ancient sets. I could probably build a deck from those cards without too much trouble, and I’m sure that Extended players are similar. If I studied enough and read enough about Extended, I might become more familiar with the cards. However, I spend a lot more time with Type II, so I don’t have a great ability for Extended decks. You might think that what decks you build determine what type you play, but what type you most often play affects what kind of decks you build a lot, too. Gotta love paradoxes. 🙂
Now, after all of this, I’m sure that a lot of Type II players are thinking that I’ve given up on them. Well, I haven’t. Since I’ve gotten the responses to my article, I’ve done read more articles about Extended and thought about it more than I usually do. However, I still prefer Type II simply because I believe that it’s more fun, affordable, and rewarding than Extended. I’ve realized that it’s simply a matter of opinion whether you prefer Type I, Type II, Type 1.x, or Limited. I like Type II, and I always will, but people are entitled to their opinions as I am entitled to mine. I hope that this smoothes over the previous displeasures with me.
–Daniel Crane, the Newbies’ Lawyer
–[email protected]