Great work on the article, I’m always keen to read more classic related material and anything that is encouraging new players to come and join the format is definitely a good thing.

As a fellow relative newcomer to this format i would wholeheartedly support the idea of finding an archetype you enjoy and working on it as the best entry point to any format, as while some of the expensive cards are essential to their respective decks, knowing how your deck works inside out and in the face of the opponents disruption is more important than even the most expensive cards.

On the cost issue, this is an Eternal format, meaning that the cards you invest in should be playable for a long time to come allowing you to get a greater amount of value (enjoyment) out of them. Also you can acquire them over time allowing you to start slowly and improve your deck as budgets permit. I admit that some cards are vital to some decks so concessions may have to be made, however some creative deckbuilding can often overcome this. Also many of the key cards in classic overlap with other formats so you can “upgrade” decks you already have to become classic compatible, especially since most of the classic only cards are pretty cheap.

As for interaction, classic is possibly the most interactive format on MTGO, just it is a different sort of interaction. Maybe we don’t get too many massive board states with huge creature stalls, but the mental interaction is totally off the scale compared to anything else. Knowing which spell to counter, what to tutor for, or what to name with cabal therapy is always an incredibly tough choice and will win or lose you the game every time.

Anyways, love the new series,I cant wait to read more so keep them coming

That said, I thought I did address the cost of Classic in the article. I up front said that Classic is expensive, but added that Magic as a whole, is an expensive hobby. I also highlighted the cost of FoW and LED and added that they are not required to have a competitive deck. I hope to address this point in future articles, so please bear with me while I get to those ideas. It will likely take some time due to the number of ideas that I have and also the frequency that these articles will appear, which is 2x per month.

As far as interactions go, yes Counterspells and Wasteland are important in Classic. Unlike formats with limited card pools, Classic has the most powerful spells ever printed. If you are to have a chance against playing people with those spells (and not all are uber expensive mind you) you need to disrupt your opponent. But that doesn’t mean that interaction ends there. While creature based attrition wars are not common in Classic, that means there are other ways to interact with your opponent. Discard and spot removal are very valuable in Classic. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to revise my strategy due to a timely Cabal Therapy or Thoughtseize, or Swords to Plowshares for that matter. Another innocuous interaction is all the decisions that need to be made in a game. What card do I tutor up? What card do I keep with my Brainstorm vs what do I put back on top of my library? When do I play this spell vs holding off or try to bluff my opponent out of a counterspell? These are all important subtle interactions that are a part of each game of Classic. Building your deck is also a means of interacting with your opponent in that you can completely invalidate some strategies. I don’t consider myself a game theorist, but as far as interacting with your opponent, I think I’ve covered everything.

Above all, not everyone will see Classic as their format of choice. My goal is not to convince people to play Classic that otherwise would not have any interest in the format. If I can show people that might be interested in Classic how fun and accessible it can be (and I stress “can be”), then I will consider this series a success. I hope you will keep reading my series, if for nothing else than to see what is going on in Classic, even if you have no interest in playing the format competitively.

“are you kidding me??

hey guys, check out this sweet new deck i built to win the tournament, you see its cool because i designed it to not win! why would i tune it to maximum profency when i can just durdle around and give my opponent a chance to win.

some people forget that articles like these are made in an attempt to help people into the TOURNAMENT scene. you wanna play fair decks where every one can do what ever they want? the only format that does that is commander and casual.

gee I cut jace from my landstill deck cause its unfair to resolve vs my opponent.

or

who needs koth? ill play the much worse 6cc chandra ablaze in my std red deck, that way the game goes longer and i have a better cahnce at losing.

or

pfffft crypt rats in mbc in pauper? why would i want a wrath of god when i can have a sweeeeeeeeeet plague rats deck!”

I am not sure what that whole diatribe is supposed to mean. I never said people should play casual decks. I pointed out the types of decks you will see in classic- namely lockdown and combo.

“its true classic isnt for everyone, there is just no need to come into a classic article and blast it cause you enjoy another format more.”

I didnt blast it, i pointed out some major issues that an article designed to bring people in to classic should have talked about. And I do like the classic format, as i said before, or I wouldnt bother trying to help.

Whiffy, you are seen as one of the leaders of the classic community. You insulting people about the versions of cards they play is a major problem. It shows an elitist attitude that drives people away from the format. It isnt just you that does that, but you have videos up on major websites doing that. If you want more people to join classic, insulting them about aesthetics is not a good start.

The best thing you can do to help this format survive is to be upfront about everything. Explain the costs, the metagame. If my view (which is widespread) that classic is an uninteractive format is wrong, then show how.

Top classic decks-
workshop-designed to stop the opp from playing
haterade- designed to stop the opp from playing
dredge- combos off while ignoring opp
oath- more combo, surprise surprise
Real interactive stuff there.

are you kidding me??

hey guys, check out this sweet new deck i built to win the tournament, you see its cool because i designed it to not win! why would i tune it to maximum profency when i can just durdle around and give my opponent a chance to win.

some people forget that articles like these are made in an attempt to help people into the TOURNAMENT scene. you wanna play fair decks where every one can do what ever they want? the only format that does that is commander and casual.

gee I cut jace from my landstill deck cause its unfair to resolve vs my opponent.

or

who needs koth? ill play the much worse 6cc chandra ablaze in my std red deck, that way the game goes longer and i have a better cahnce at losing.

or

pfffft crypt rats in mbc in pauper? why would i want a wrath of god when i can have a sweeeeeeeeeet plague rats deck!

from another site and a different article from last week.

Standard
Kuldotha Red costs $32. That’s not a typo, and I did not slip a decimal point. $32 – under thirty with the MTGOTraders PayPal discount.
Soul Sisters, the cost was $199 on May 30th
Shrine of Burning Rage, (Winner, PTQ Madison) was $141 on May 25th.
Valakut, (3rd place, here). The cost was $ 140 on May 18th.
Caw-Blade, Standard. The cost was $ 518 on May 11th.

Legacy
Cephalid Breakfast costs $ 859. Of that total, $600 is the Force of Will playset.
Paulo’s Blue Control costs $1,608 on May 30th
Landstill BUG, Legacy, (Winner, Bazaar of Moxen), was $ 1,559 on May 25th.
Painted Stone, (3rd place, here) Legacy. The cost was $ 1,200 on May 18th
Team America, Legacy. The cost was $ 1,586 on May 11th.

Classic
Whiffy’s Null Shops, costs $676. Nice to see an affordable deck. The expensive cards are Wasteland, Null Rod and City of Traitors.
Noble Fish cost $1,344 on May 30th
Hermit Druid Combo, Classic (4-0, here.) cost: was $ 949 on May 25th.
Metalworker, (3rd place, here), Classic. The cost was $ 621 on May 18th
GG Oath, Classic. The cost was $ 1,126 on May 11th.

So we see the top end of std at 500+ and legacy is more expensive as a whole to play then classic. does that make it cheap? no. But the falicy of classic being too expensive is just rediculos. for 150 tix more then a std, STANDARD deck, you get a top teir classic deck that never rotates and will invlove minor minor adjusments in cost to tweak, for as long as modo is around!
also because of the difference in the banned and restricted list, it is far far far far cheaper to build every relavent classic deck and singlkes (about 10) then it is to build every legacy deck about 60. yes i know there is one 6th the amount of decks but also the format has a small player base and no paper counterpart to innovate. its in the hands of dozens of people instead of thousands, so yes slower meta adjustments.

and as far as mocking, you should put away your elitist attitude. It was an opinion based on aestitcs! Im not allowed to like something else and joke? did i hurt your feelings cause i said pay 50 cents? really?

the think i dont understand is that you say no interaction, yet enjoy legacy. is it because there are few creatures in classic? because other then that small fact they are equally interactive. classic just unrolls faster then legacy because of superior mana production and deck manilpulation.

its true classic isnt for everyone, there is just no need to come into a classic article and blast it cause you enjoy another format more.

As far as interaction goes…show me any interaction that isnt someone playing land destruction or counterspells. Ive watched a ton of tourney matches, played a few competitive matches, and i havnt seen anything other than that. Maybe I just havnt seen the right matches?