Wednesday, May 27, 2015

This Week in Magic #2

I had a rest from playing last week. It's the summer and there is a lot going on in real life. Lately it had felt like a bit of a duty to attend to make sure the regular English Draft stayed alive. We have lost a couple of really good people who I will miss and they haven't been replaced, meanwhile the number of Korean players in Suwon has really dropped off.
I still enjoyed playing but with a new set that most people were really excited about while I was lukewarm about it felt like an opportune time to take a step back.

This week is Innistrad cube and I am looking forward to it. Last time was a blast and Andrew Carle goes all out in the preparation with a mini coffin used to store the cube.

Kindle which is quickly becoming the premier Magic Shop in Korea has started it's own Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/mtgkindleshop)

In Puca news I am regretting my previous slothenly ways in sending out cards as I sweat the arrival of outgoing Points so I can afford to grab a bunch of Modern Masters cards.

At first I was only going to go after some Remands to replace the ones I sold a few months ago but now I am planning to put together Splinter Twin so need 4 copies of the aforementioned card as well as copies of Vendilion Clique and Cryptic Command.
One copy of Splinter Twin is already on it's way.

I also got to unveil my Cube a couple of weeks ago and had a great time with it. It's a proxied power cube that still has a few gaps in it (Recurring Nightmare and Sylvan Library are the stand outs) but it's more than playable.

Here is a link to the current list (http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/27879).

The colour coding on cube tutor is the purple cards "Maybe" are either new to my cube, cards I am not 100% sure on or cards that I plan to cut for something on my Wants List "Puca Wants" once I have the spare points.

The "Puca Mail" coded cards are already on their way.

Final number should be close to 360 but I don't mind having a little over while I am still in the developing stage. I haven't sully locked in my archetypes and I want to see if some of them work or how popular they are.

For example I have Red Blue as the "Combo" combination with Splinter Twin/Kikki Jikki and Pestermite/Deceiver. Possible rotation to Time Vault/Ral Zarek if people get sick of that. It's something that isn't common in cubes so I can't be sure it will work out. 

Monday, May 18, 2015

Welcome

When I first arrived in Korea I found information about where to play in Korea really hard to find. Hence the creation of this blog, pretty much.

Since then things have got a lot better. If you are new to Korea there are a bunch of resources you can check out.



The first one is the Wizards Locator located on Wizards own site (magic.wizards.com). When I first arrived this just returned a garbled mess of inaccurate results. These days it works and if you have location services turned on, it can be very helpful.

If you are in Seoul, Suwon or Daegu there are healthy Facebook groups to join. This might have been the case back in 2011 but I was not a huge Facebook user at the time. Unfortunately the Busan facebook group looks pretty small and possibly dead.



If you speak Korean then the go to site to visit is the Daum cafe site (http://cafe.daum.net/magin). That's where I got a lot of the information for this blog.

The official site is (http://www.mtg-kr.com/) which is cleaner but has much less information than the Daum Cafe in my experience.

On this blog I have tried to compile a list of shops in Korea that sell Magic the Gathering but most of them I haven't visited and was relying on online information only. 

I have also tried to compile a list of online retailers in Korea but again I haven't personally used most of them so can't vouch for their service.

My experience: 
Once you have found a place to play or shop I thought I would share my experience of what you can expect. Most of the Korean players are quite solid with a very tight technical routine. Before drawing their starting hand it is very common to fan out the 7 cards on the table so the opponent can see they only have 7.
When it comes to trading, Card Kingdom prices (www.cardkingdom.com) seems to be what everyone uses for standard legal values. If something is harder to find or out of stock then Starcity or TCG player may be used. If it's a legacy playable Korean foil then people just tend to guess, and it often goes to committee (bunch of guys standing in the shop sipping on soda suggest a value). 

Casual play doesn't seem to be very popular in my experience and it seems mainly draft and standard are the formats played. There is some Modern in Seoul, not a huge amount but it seems to be doing ok. There is near zero Legacy.
I have heard that there is more casual places in some of the major centres outside of Seoul such as Daegu and Daejeon.
The big exception to all the above are the US Military bases. Due to a lot of personnel movement the experience is likely to change but there is usually a decent amount of Magic going on.
Osan air base has it's own facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/240677409285730/) as does Yongson in Seoul (https://www.facebook.com/MagictheGatheringYongsanKorea). 


Thursday, May 14, 2015

My thoughts on Modern Masters 2

It's a shame that it's not really for me this time around. I absolutely loved Modern Masters 1 and travelled to Suwon to a shop I had never been to before to play in their Midnight release.
It was great to draft and there were lots of cards I wanted, if just for nostalgic reasons as it pulled from sets where I played a lot of Magic. The limited environment felt really powerful and innovative to me.
Since that time I have played a lot of cube and have even built my own. I am not really chasing any of the cards in Modern Masters apart from a couple remands and maybe some bounce lands. So about 7 uncommons in total and I am not that fussed either way about the bounce lands.
So the set doesn't do it for me, but it will be successful. Other players at my LGS are really excited because they don't have a big modern collection. Those without a family aren't put off by the price to draft a set that looks more fun than a regular draft.
I have been invited to draft a few different friends boxes for free (they keep the cards) and that's probably all I will do. It should be fun and works for everyone.
The big question will be the next Modern Masters (3). I think a few people are going to feel burnt this time around from expensive drafts (they are $50 in Korea!) and just getting junk. On average only every third draft will a player get a mythic, that is the potential for some real feel bads and it might be hard to get 8 players after the first couple of weeks of release. If this wasn't a limited product that could be a big problem but it feels like most of the product will be consumed in the first few weeks anyway.
Wizards will probably have to market a lot harder and do a better job on the third one. I think this set will still work out ok but they will lose a lot of the hype, myth and brand equity around the name "Modern Masters". It will no longer sell itself on name alone. The quality control issues with packaging have further damaged the brand.

Bye Bye Tarkir

Depending on the supply of Modern masters 2 then this Sunday might be the last Tarkir block draft at Dalmutis. Triple Khans is one of my favourite formats of all time and it's time for the coveted Angry Hermit Awards for the good, bad and the ugly cards from Tarkir.

Best Open; For the card I actually got to take home and keep from the set.

The Winner - I never opened an Ugin, which would be the automatic winner. It even has it's own chant. I was pretty excited to open a Sarkhan, the Dragonspeaker pack one pick one and force red. That was my worst draft and I went 0-3 with Sarkhan doing nothing. It was still cool to open him.

Worst Open; The card that elicits the greatest groan when you open it.

The Winner - Dragon Style twins was at least playable and fairly descent in limited even though I got sick of opening it. I think the winner has to go to Ghastly Conscription as a horrible Mythic in a set famous for busted and powerful rares. You know your neighbour opened something better.

Most Coveted Reprint; For the card you were super hyped to come back.

The Winner - Ultimate Price or Arc Lightning, how can I choose between them. Oh I don't have to because the winner was far and away the Onslaught fetch lands which caused fetch mania when they were announced.

Prettiest Card; for the prettiest card, duh.

The Winner - I am going with the morph overlay token. The actual art could be done by a three year old but I certainly thought a battlefield with 3 or more morph overlays on my side with a bunch of untapped lands was one of the prettiest sites in the history of Magic.

Ugliest Card; For the prettiest minus 268 card in the set.

The Winner - I will nominate Flatten which unless you look close appears to be just a pile of brown ****. A card that is such a high draft pick and usually a nice blow out deserves better.

Favourite Card to Draft; A smile every time this non rare goes into your pile.
The Winner - There were a lot of cards that this award could have gone too. My final choice was Icefeather Aven as it was one of the best cards in five colour morph and a great representation of everything I loved about the format. It was consistent, tricky and I was always finding something new to do with it.

I can't Believe You Played That; For that card other people loved for reasons I will never know.

The Winner: Banners are in the running for another award, I did see Lens of Clarity played in an actual deck but thankfully not often.

Middle Child Syndrome; For when it just doesn't fit.

The Winner - The entire Fate Reforged set. It was much better as the third set in a Dragons, Dragons and Fate draft, but it was definitely worse than a third pack of Khans.

Most Improved; For the card that didn't look like much, but got there in the end.
Summit Prowler, a difficult mana cost in Khans turned into a high pick in the best colour come Dragons of Tarkir. Plus it got Dragons in the background, DRAGONS!


Don't forget to; The card that is easiest to misplay.

The Winner - If you had such a bad draft you had to play banners, at least remember to cash them in and get a real card.

Most fun thing you could legally do; A fun card that makes it impossible not to smile

The Winner - Quite a lot more options for this award than in Theros block which only had two nominees (Chromanticore and Minotaurs). I am going to have to give the points to Villainous Wealth. Random, powerful and skill testing. 




Wednesday, May 13, 2015

This Week In Magic #1

This coming weekend we will be saying goodbye to Khans block with a special draft 1:00pm at Dalmuti's Suwon.

We will be drafting Khans, Fate Reforged and Dragons of Tarkir in a single Rochester draft with a Khans Holiday gift box as the man prize.


Afterwards we will be playing Mystery box at 6:00 pm. I would love to go into more details but it's Mystery box and photos are forbidden.


I really enjoyed the recent episode of Limited Resources. The main topic is about Sealed Deck but there is a very thoughtful conversation about the Prince/Pauper nature of limited now and the flattening of the power level of commons and how that affects limited now.

It's certainly something that hit me recently when seeing Lightning Bolt and Mulldrifter moved to uncommon in Modern Masters 2.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Puca's Mischief #7

All those points I spent the other week have started to come to fruition. I received the first envelope last Friday, a couple on Monday and came home to 4 yesterday (Tuesday).
For an old Magic player with a family this was more exciting than Christmas.

Sending wise I made an effort to properly categorize my Fate Reforged cards so that they were all listed on Puca and stored in the same box. Coupled with the script add on "Puca Power" it reaped immediate though small rewards in helping me find bundle trades despite spending much less time looking for trades.

Adding on an uncommon for an extra 50 or 70 cents makes a big difference if you are anal about margins like I am.

My credit is back up to over a $100 worth without costing me any cards I cared about. I did have sellers regret over a few Dragons of Tarkir cards but was able to replace them fairly easily and finally after being in my binder for what seemed like forever I was able to get rid of my Marit Large token for $18 worth of points.


Now I just have to stay disciplined with my points, I already cracked a little and have a foil Spanish Ire Shaman on the way. Hey it was only $2.50 I tell myself.


The site works, it's a lot of fun and I highly recommend it. I don't know what more I have to add on the topic. I'm not really interested in making a guide. That's something I feel that would be done better with video rather than a blog. The professors Utube channel is probably a great place to start if you are interested.


If you do want to sign up, I have a referral link (https://pucatrade.com/invite/gift/7184) which earns me 200 points for each sign up. If you use it I would be happy to split it with you and send you 100 points. 

Monday, May 11, 2015

Fun Board Game in Changwon/Masan

I could not find an English name for this store so the translation to "Fun" board game is pretty loose and random.

They are located in Masan which is a little west of Changwon which is a little west of Busan.

They are a board game cafe which is serious enough about Magic to host PPTQ's. They are closed on Mondays apparently.

Their contact phone numbers are
Land line: 055-223-1980
Mobile: 
010-6551-1110

Apparently while they don't speak any English but are better at writing/texting. 

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Puca's Mischief #6

This week has been a slow week sending wise as I have slacked off on adding and updating my online inventory in favour of updating my cube. Only one trip to the post office for a single envelope. There have been some nice trades that I have left on the table because I don't have any idea how much tracking or registered mail is and the amounts in question are past the point where I am comfortable just sending them by regular mail. Once that is investigated then I can really kick on.

That will have an affect later on but this week I have received and spent a bundle of points. It started last week where I put some wants on my list to round out my cube and $120 worth of credit was gone within 12 hours. Today the first envelope from that spending spree arrived with a pretty Braids and Silverblade Paladin inside. That came all the way from Portugal and only took 8 days despite being opened and searched by Korean customs.

My credit is back up to $60 already and there is another $110 worth in the post. I'm holding of from spending it because a friend is interested in that credit and any purchases made now are unlikely to arrive before the Mystery Box (the name of my cube) is unveiled Sunday week.

I did actively trade for cards that I know are popular with Puca members. I acquired 7 Korean fetch lands which is something I have received requests for. I think I will hold on to them for now to see if their price increases. I also think I can get more on the open market (once Puca adds foreign card support) than just only sending them to the couple of people who messaged me.


Saturday, May 2, 2015

An introduction to Legacy ...

This really gets good from the second game but if you have the time it's worth watching the entire match for context.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybOKEUhCvDo

Friday, May 1, 2015

Places to Play - Master list

This is my attempt at a master list of Magic Shops in Korea. Those that aren't hyper linked are unconfirmed so I (or you) will have to check out if they actually host magic tournaments.

Seoul/Gyeonggido

Dice Latte - Dongdaemun
Cookie - Gunja
Battle City - Yatap
M&A - Imun Dong
Total TCG - Gwangmyeong
Saboten - Sadang
Dalmuti - Suwon
Kindle - Seongsu

The Rak - Naksungdae
Michaels - Gangbyeon 
Rolling Dice - Hongkik University
Red Dice - Hyehwa
About TCG - Sinpung
Duel Shop - Maebong
Duel Zone - Nowon
Battle City - Mokdong
Playfirst - Goyang City
Dalmuti - Gyeodae 

Duel Zone - Gangdong
Michaels - Sincheon
Duel Stage- Ilsan
HalliGalli - Ilsan
Isu Duel Park Cafe - Sadang
Cafe de BonBon - Bucheon
Battle City - Geumjeong
Board Game Cafe Pann - Bundang
Cafe Able - Jeongwang

RIP- OZ - Gangnam
RIP- Tic Toc
RIP- Dive Dice - Hyehwa
RIP- Kindle - Konguk

Incheon
Dual Land - Nam Gu
Taken Board Game Cafe - Nam Gu
Witches Brew - Gyeongin
TPZ Shop

Cheongju
Monopoly - Cheongju

Jeonju
Jeonju Board Game Box

Ulsan

Dual Champ

RIP- Elder Dragon

Gwangju

Alice

Daegu
Michaels

Busan

The Rak
The DARAC
Dual Zone
TCG Korea
Fortune Factory

Daejeon

Board Game Cafe Meca

Changwon/Gyeongnam
Card Castle
PAPA Board 
Fun Board Game


Places to Shop

Nonno21 - Nambu / Seoul
Hobby First - Nambu / Seoul

If you are looking for an English Language draft then Dalmuti - Suwon hosts one every Sunday at 1:00 pm.