Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
That's usually an acceptable shorthand if the creature can't ever really do anything.
Magic: the Gathering |OT4| Izzet Me; Izzet You? A Love Story
- Thread starter The Technomancer
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That's usually an acceptable shorthand if the creature can't ever really do anything.
blindrocket
Member
I play during FNM, sure. I even play MTGO.
But yes, most of my playing comes from non-sanctioned play... i.e. kitchen table gatherings or pick up games at the LGS.
However, I still like playing with actual powerful decks. Decks that are top tier that do win tournaments. I have thousands of dollars worth of cards.
And I don't play in big tournaments.
Isn't that crazy? I kind of think so.
At this point I'm all for bringing back gold border cards if that's what they need to do in order to not crash some stupid collectors market.
I just want to play the game without continuing to spend an insane amount of money.
I'd love for them to go the Living Card Game route even...
Sell boosters for the draft people. Better yet, I like that retail cube idea we had awhile back.
But yes, most of my playing comes from non-sanctioned play... i.e. kitchen table gatherings or pick up games at the LGS.
However, I still like playing with actual powerful decks. Decks that are top tier that do win tournaments. I have thousands of dollars worth of cards.
And I don't play in big tournaments.
Isn't that crazy? I kind of think so.
At this point I'm all for bringing back gold border cards if that's what they need to do in order to not crash some stupid collectors market.
I just want to play the game without continuing to spend an insane amount of money.
I'd love for them to go the Living Card Game route even...
Sell boosters for the draft people. Better yet, I like that retail cube idea we had awhile back.
"God's Beard!"
Member
Well you're welcome to give me your cards if you want to break free of your addiction, I'll take them to tournaments for you
I'll even wear a T-Shirt representing you as my sponsor ^_^
You could always just proxy the stuff you don't play in sanctioned events
charlequin
Banned
They're adding players hand over fist. They literally sell something like five times as many cards now as they did in 2009. Hasbro brags about them in every report.
Now, yes, it's true, they don't have the success in digital, partially because they suck at digital and partially because it's hard to match up against Blizzard in their home element even if you're pretty good at it, but even then Duels: Origins has a lot of potential.
I'll allow it.
Every group of people I've ever played casual Magic with had multiple women.
Joe Molotov
Member
I've seen a woman before.
I think thats their (on average) less competitive nature at work. Most of the female players I know will skip on the more serious events to go entertain themselves in a less stressful way
This... has been my experience. I've attended seven prereleases and this has been true every time relative to a normal FNM.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Magic is...utterly fascinating as a case study in game design, especially hobby game design. Like, for all that I disagree with Rosewater on specific things, I do think he's a bit of a genius, or at least very insightful. Everything from the player psychographics informed from a background in communications to the frankly amazing idea of lenticular design is why I feel Magic has a depth to its design process I don't see in other CGs. Magic has a holistic focus on the experiential that I feel other games lack
charlequin
Banned
Rosewater has a very specific design philosophy that is very effective at achieving a specific set of goals. There are other designers who would disagree with him on a lot of points, but the number of people with his experience and skill who've been able to refine and document their approach to that level is very, very low. He's not the be-all-end-all of Magic design (a number of particularly good ideas from the last decade originated elsewhere) but it's hard to see how it could've gotten this far without someone ably filling that role.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
I agree pretty much. I just think its interesting that his design philosiphy isnt...articulated elsewhere? Especially in the CG space. It's hard to look at games outside of maybe Netrunner and not see the comparative lack of a link between emotional resonance and design that Rosewaters best designs, like Innistrad, achieve
Game design as storytelling is something a lot of the great games tend to understand, but you're right, few of them have the chance to articulate it as much. But then...has any game had its design documented as thoroughly as Magic? Has any other game even close?
EDIT: Its worth explaining that I'm pretty drunk right now, which means...I think about Magic design for some reason. I dunno. I find Magic design and Rosewater especially absolutely fascinating. On the one hand, his recent trend towards defining the success of a game as a correlation of its popularity is something I disagree with, even if I understand. On the other hand, its hard to view something like the idea of lenticular design, which honestly blew my mind a bit when I first encountered it, as anything less than the output of a mind focused on game design to an extent that few others ever will.
But Magic absolutely would not be the game it is now without him. Over the last few years he's become more of a PR mouthpiece than ever before, sadly, and I think he's gotten conservative with age, but reading his articles about resonance in design revolutionized how I thought about games when I first encountered them when I was younger.
I had to play against my buddy in the finals of draft the other day and I casted Narcolepsy on his creature and asked him straight out if he's gonna make me keep calling the trigger or just keep it tapped. He agreed to just let it stay tapped lol. Would've been crazy annoying otherwise.
This quote is why MM15 is most frustrating.
That's all I want.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
i, too, wish Modern Masters was just all cards that I want that are worth money
charlequin
Banned
There are certainly self-contained, finished games that have been interrogated in as much or more detail in books and such, though I'm not sure if there's any that have been explored that extensively by the actual people who created them.
Natural consequence of operating in an environment where market performance directly dictates the level of resources available on the game going forward. People bitch about Rosewater hating on Time Spiral, but you've gotta remember that it was a labor of love that he wound up spending years having to justify having made to his own bosses.
Curious which specific areas you think he's gotten particularly conservative.
I don't really agree with that critique at all, it reads like someone who just hates limited complaining about drafting. VMA didn't play anything like a typical draft set; it was much closer to cube, and it drew heavily on, if not Vintage strategies, then at least Legacy.
(And I haven't given MM15 a shot yet, but MMA was an awesome format.)
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
MMA was great, MM15 was less great and VMA was less great than either. But they were all better than your average set. I don't care what anyone says, I thought KTK was a very bizarre set when it came to limited.
As for the stuff Charly is quoting, I think Maro is a good designer who is limited by more stuff than he is able to say. That's not to say he's incompetent, its that he's pulled in more directions than he's allowed to admit.
As for the stuff Charly is quoting, I think Maro is a good designer who is limited by more stuff than he is able to say. That's not to say he's incompetent, its that he's pulled in more directions than he's allowed to admit.
divisionbyzorro
Member
Except for the part where I actually think VMA is a steaming pile of garbage, I agree with the rest of this statement.
"God's Beard!"
Member
Triple KTK was sweet, definitely one of my favorite draft formats. Lots of wild and wacky stuff going on.
divisionbyzorro
Member
[QUOTE="God's Beard!";166528995]Triple KTK was sweet, definitely one of my favorite draft formats. Lots of wild and wacky stuff going on.[/QUOTE]
You really like playing morphs on turn 3 and flipping them on turn 5, huh?
You really like playing morphs on turn 3 and flipping them on turn 5, huh?
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
I mean, there's no way we'd get something like Shadowmoor or Time Spiral these days, and while I'm not necessarily sure that that's a bad thing (they both were flawed in numerous ways) I think they've over-corrected. This isn't some new world order thing (I like NWO quite a bit), but I think design feels more conservative since, say, Scars of Mirrodin or so (okay Innistrad stands apart among several blocks of relatively safe design). Its been a while since we've had a block or set that was so distinct and experimental that it was clear they were learning major lessons from it. I doubt that any lessons they learn from Khans block are going to be anything more than just iteration on existing philosophy.
Put it another way: current designs (and I'm really talking about RtR through Khans here) feel like they think they've "solved" set design and can just remix previous approaches to making sets, as opposed to really playing around. For all that Khans block was a great block (and I do think it was a pretty great block) there was very little pushing of boundaries in it. You got exactly what it said on the box. And Theros and RTR were the same
Its entirely possible, of course, that Rosewater is covering up some larger corporate push in that direction by pretending that he's happy with it, while secretly he's chafing. But that's not the feel that I get. I really do think he's happy with the way things are right now
"God's Beard!"
Member
You really like playing morphs on turn 3 and flipping them on turn 5, huh?
I like playing prowess dudes on turn two then bouncing morphs for the rest of the game.
That's not what I'm even saying. We weren't given near enough commons or uncommons to even start a foundation of a modern deck.
No:
Serum Vision
Gitaxian Probe
Ancient String
Summer Bloom
Deceiver Exarch
Thought Scour
Terminate
Inquisition
Qasali Pridemage
Wild Nacatl
Etc
And that's just the commons and uncommons. I know you can't jam all of them in and have a balanced draft environment, but damn give us more playable pieces.
Play Bitterblossom, Spectral Procession and Lingering Souls and rule the skies.
Also that instant that +1/+1 your whole team and -1/-1 opponent's team whose name escapes me.
WanderingWind
Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
Zealous Persecution. It was my favorite card when I was tinkering with tokens
Sequence Six
Member
Is this how free spells get justified and released to the wild?
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
2 points:
1) Thoughtseize and Duress are very good for removing CoCo before they get the mana to cast it and keep them waiting to topdeck it.
2) You have to understand the deck (it is a combo deck) and know which one of their guys is a target for Dismember/Cut/etc. Usually Anafenza or Melira. Once they get Anafenza or Melira/Viscera Seer/Finks out you just scoop.
SigmasonicX
Member
Tips:
1. Bring a lot of water, and maybe snacks.
2. The direction you pass cards changes with each pack opening.
3. If the person next to you already has a pack of cards queued, don't pass to him or her yet and don't pick up your next queued pack.
4. Try to be aware of what colors of cards are being taken by other players from the cards you are given, and what colors specifically aren't being taken highly. This is probably the most advanced aspect of drafting, so don't fret too much over this.
5. Try to keep in mind the mana cost of cards. If you just pick every awesome card, you'll find yourself low on 2-mana cards and thus have a slow start, for example.
Fuck that make a line and let everyone know who's being slow
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/uncharted-realms/magic-origins-new-era-2015-06-03
Not sure how I feel on this.
Not sure how I feel on this.
Everything is now serialized because they can do two big stories per year (+ the intro set that's coming.) It's an upgrade.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
So they all start as the same character? I mean jeez, I get it, "misunderstood outcast" is a compelling character type, but they were really all rebellious spirits before becoming Planeswalkers?
"God's Beard!"
Member
Misunderstood outcast is their target audience.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
All you need to know about the lore is that one of the developers gets to occasionally write it.
No, I get that. But at the same time I'm sitting here like "when are you guys going to offer eBook verisons of your older stuff?" I've been wanting to finish the Magic: Legends Cycle but goddamn if it isn't hard to find copies of the second and third book in good condition. Besides which, I'd rather have them digital.
"God's Beard!"
Member
So you're saying if I win GDS3 I can make the thread title canon?
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
The mono-colored planeswalkers have always felt less interesting as characters anyway (with the exception of Elspeth, and that's because mono-white probably makes the most sense as a philosophy that stands alone. Well, and mono-green but that works standalone best on non-sapient creatures)
Sequence Six
Member
Only Lili and Chandra should be mining the outcast well. The rest is lazy.
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Most Planeswalkers are outcast in this story.
Ajani: An outcast because his fur was the wrong color (e.g. fantastic racism)
Sarkhan: An outcast because he decided to go study dargons and because he had a dumb name.
Narset: an outcast because she was like "I wanna study the khans"
Jace: CRAWLING IN MY SKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN
Liliana: Outcast because used her necro powers inappropriately on a goat
Domri Rade: Little orphan Domri was an outcast until he found da gruul
etc. etc.
Liliana would be more interesting if she were accepted in society but was doing shady or unaccepted things or under the table, then she was caught, tried and sparked upon execution.
Gideon, iirc is a poor street kid? Makes sense though it's pretty boring. Just watch Alaadin.
Nissa and Jace being an outcast and pariah respectively is just stupid and lazy.
Chandra is whatever, who cares. Same way they develop her cards.
It's kinda disappointing.
Gideon, iirc is a poor street kid? Makes sense though it's pretty boring. Just watch Alaadin.
Nissa and Jace being an outcast and pariah respectively is just stupid and lazy.
Chandra is whatever, who cares. Same way they develop her cards.
It's kinda disappointing.
SigmasonicX
Member
I do find it funny how Chandra's before and after is exactly the same.
The Technomancer
card-carrying scientician
Meanwhile I'm over here all like, my favorite planeswalkers are Elspeth, Kiora, Tamiyo, and Sorin and I could barely care about those other guys
Right, like its Nissa and Jace that I'm the most disappointed in. I have no idea why Nissa needs to be an outcast and Jace's mysterious past being a "mysterious pariah" is literally the most generic way they could play that angle
"Red doesn't have a depth problem!"
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