[Off-Topic] Community Chat Thread

[pokken]

I dunno how exactly to phrase this but I think it's probably worth trying to say anyway --

It's my natural inclination to form opinions about things (very intuitively), but I really resist forming any strong opinions about WOTC's representation, and in general the same of other companies. The idea of saying to myself "Oh, it's nice that they included a latin drawn person, what a good step" without knowing what people of the actual excluded group feel, well, it feels a little like it's not exactly my place to give WOTC props for stuff like that? Especially not in a way that implies we should be thankful for what we get.

Things I know are that there're like 2bn ppl in asia with a ton of different cultures and we get only a narrow lens here in America. There're a billion+ Africans and half a billion+ Spanish speakers/Portugeuse speakers in South America and around the world. I'm really interested in knowing what they think about WOTC's representation of their groups and subgroups and letting that guide my opinion more.

Bottom line, just nowhere near informed enough to give WOTC any kudos for anything they're doing on that front; are they ahead of the game now? Maybe? But if someone told me their perpetuating of stereotypes and glossing over of details of culture were doing more harm than good, I just wouldn't know enough to countermand them.

Sorry for the nebulosity there, I just struggle with all the strong opinions from people who are not really affected. I'm certainly not going to get upset of my demographic gets less representation in Magic

[Hermes_]

I just wanted to avoid hitting a cop car

[pokken]

50 points

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Hermes_ always knows how to break the tension

[Hermes_]

50 points

Despite the player's name being advanced gamer, I guess he wasn't that advanced.

Hermes_ always knows how to break the tension

I try my best

[Hermes_]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/daylight-s ... ction-act/

""Simply put, darkness kills. And darkness in the evening is far deadlier than darkness in the morning," University of Washington professor Steve Calandrillo said."

Someone has been killed by a grue before

[DirkGently]

I beat Elden Ring. Damn that got hard at the end.

[Hermes_]

I've finally got 100% on a game

[Jemolk]

I'm... actually kinda shocked anyone liked Fallout 76 enough to 100% it after everything I've heard about the game. Guess it's a good thing, though -- means the devs' work didn't go to waste as much as it initially seemed like it might have.

[Hermes_]

I'm... actually kinda shocked anyone liked Fallout 76 enough to 100% it after everything I've heard about the game. Guess it's a good thing, though -- means the devs' work didn't go to waste as much as it initially seemed like it might have.

when was the last time you paid attention to the game?

[pokken]

I picked up a carver surfskate to try to keep my snowboarding skills sharp in the offseason, but this feels almost impossible. I can barely get moving at all. I feel super old with how tired I am after like a half hour scooting around my floor wiggling my feet. Really good workout though

[Jemolk]

I'm... actually kinda shocked anyone liked Fallout 76 enough to 100% it after everything I've heard about the game. Guess it's a good thing, though -- means the devs' work didn't go to waste as much as it initially seemed like it might have.

when was the last time you paid attention to the game?

A fair while ago, admittedly. Around the time they were adding NPCs. Have they actually salvaged it from the constant chain of disasters following its launch to such a degree that it's actually good now, rather than merely tolerable? That's also pretty impressive, and kinda surprising. Pleasantly so, of course.

[Hermes_]

I'm... actually kinda shocked anyone liked Fallout 76 enough to 100% it after everything I've heard about the game. Guess it's a good thing, though -- means the devs' work didn't go to waste as much as it initially seemed like it might have.

when was the last time you paid attention to the game?

A fair while ago, admittedly. Around the time they were adding NPCs. Have they actually salvaged it from the constant chain of disasters following its launch to such a degree that it's actually good now, rather than merely tolerable? That's also pretty impressive, and kinda surprising. Pleasantly so, of course.

yeah,that was like 2 years ago or something like that.

[Hermes_]

Hello. I recently received a pack of two Commander starter decks as a gift from a friend, and I've returned down the rabbit hole of MTG. I've played Arena a few times and got the hang of things, but I'm still a noob when it comes to deck building.

I found this forum from someone's signature on MTGSalvation (I didn't join because I was required to have a Twitch account, which I'm oppose).

I didn't see an "Introduce Yourself" thread and figured I'd do an intro here.

Welcome to the Nexus, feel free to ask questions

[RxPhantom]

Hello. I recently received a pack of two Commander starter decks as a gift from a friend, and I've returned down the rabbit hole of MTG. I've played Arena a few times and got the hang of things, but I'm still a noob when it comes to deck building.

I found this forum from someone's signature on MTGSalvation (I didn't join because I was required to have a Twitch account, which I'm oppose).

I didn't see an "Introduce Yourself" thread and figured I'd do an intro here.

Welcome!

[Venedrex]

Hello. I recently received a pack of two Commander starter decks as a gift from a friend, and I've returned down the rabbit hole of MTG. I've played Arena a few times and got the hang of things, but I'm still a noob when it comes to deck building.

I found this forum from someone's signature on MTGSalvation (I didn't join because I was required to have a Twitch account, which I'm oppose).

I didn't see an "Introduce Yourself" thread and figured I'd do an intro here.

Welcome aboard! Like everyone else mentioned, feel free to ask if you need anything.

[pokken]

Thank you, all. One thing I'm interested in diving into is the mechanics of deck building. From what I've read around, a good combination is 25 lands, 15 powers, and 20 creatures. I know these aren't hard numbers, but I wonder if that's a good framework.

Other thing: how viable are mono-colored decks? I tried multicolor (red and black in a recent game) but building the deck was a struggle because I couldn't figure out a good balance between lands, creatures, and powers.

This forum is mostly focused on the commander ruleset which is 100 card singleton and quite different from other formats, but usually 40 lands / 60 spells is a starting framework and going down as your ramp spell increases/curve decreases

[pokken]

Oh, duh. I have paper for Commander but have been playing standard on MTGA.

The closest thing on there is Brawl, which has a 60-card limit centered around a Commander card. One would assume the same thinking you mentioned can be applied to this?

Sorta. There're a few different approaches people take like the 8x8 method etc.

I usually start with 59 non-lands + commander and then fill out the manabase/flex from there. I don't tend to think about things like playing X amount of creatures, since every deck is quite different. Start with a pile of stuff I want to play with the commander, then fill out the stuff like ramp and card adv and so on.

[Jemolk]

This forum is mostly focused on the commander ruleset which is 100 card singleton and quite different from other formats, but usually 40 lands / 60 spells is a starting framework and going down as your ramp spell increases/curve decreases

Oh, duh. I have paper for Commander but have been playing standard on MTGA.

The closest thing on there is Brawl, which has a 60-card limit centered around a Commander card. One would assume the same thinking you mentioned can be applied to this?

Personally, I usually like to begin from the assumption of 38 lands, fill out the other 62 cards, then adjust based on mana costs. I like to have at least half a dozen ramp spells, preferably a little more, and as much draw as I realistically can get while sticking to my self-imposed deckbuilding restrictions like theme. (Which I religiously adhere to, especially when it pushes me toward sub-optimal card selection. I find that keeps arms races in check, which can be a real concern when everyone's upgrading decks with the latest tech over a long enough time, and keeps things at a power level I personally am quite happy with.)

My LGS meta is fairly laid-back, though, and battlecruiser-style. (I mean by this that the win conditions are grindy and the critical turn, the turn that you have to worry about people trying to actually win the game by, is no less than 7 and often over 10, though games can end sooner due to random flukes. We play significantly more removal and answers than I'm given to believe is typical of battlecruiser metas, though.) All of which is to say, my advice may not suit your group or your style, so take it with a grain, or a barrel, of salt.

[ISBPathfinder]

Stumbled across a really fun youtuber who makes magic parodies. Thought I would share.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Mtgremy is the tits. Been following him for some time now, the subscription to his channel is highly recommended.

[Janky_as_heck]

Quick note for everyone, loved seeing the discussion about representation. If you go back to last spring, the podcast did an interview with Michelle and Taya of the Loregoyfs about representation, especially the Killian lu fiasco.

[RxPhantom]

I've actually been thinking a lot about that discussion. My point of view on Neon Dynasty may be slightly unique, as I generally don't care for anime, but I really, really loved NEO's style and aesthetic. I still think it's one of the best sets ever, but @duducrash's point about portrayal of Japanese culture, specifically the word 'fetishization,' really sticks in my head. It's tough to reconcile.

It's tough to argue that WotC isn't targeting this audience pretty hard. War of the Spark, Strixhaven, and Neon Dynasty all had some kind of Japanese language and or anime-inspired extras. It's definitely something I've been thinking about lately.

[Janky_as_heck]

I've actually been thinking a lot about that discussion. My point of view on Neon Dynasty may be slightly unique, as I generally don't care for anime, but I really, really loved NEO's style and aesthetic. I still think it's one of the best sets ever, but @duducrash's point about portrayal of Japanese culture, specifically the word 'fetishization,' really sticks in my head. It's tough to reconcile.

It's tough to argue that WotC isn't targeting this audience pretty hard. War of the Spark, Strixhaven, and Neon Dynasty all had some kind of Japanese language and or anime-inspired extras. It's definitely something I've been thinking about lately.

You're not wrong, and it's notable for sure. I agree it'd be nice to see emphasis elsewhere as well

[RxPhantom]

*sigh*

I went to my LGS today to play some Commander. I only make it out every four weeks at most. I go in and start to make my way to one of the two open tables, and one of the staff asks "are you here for Commander?"

"Yep," I say as a barely break stride.
"Well, we're actually selling tickets now."
*quizzical look* "Ok."
"We've been doing it for three or four weeks now."
"It's been about a month since I've been here. What do I do?"
"Actually, we're sold out, but you can buy a ticket for next week or the week after."

I just turned around and left. I looked into it further, and they have been capping it at 16 spots. This is a pretty big LGS too, and there were two open tables when I walked in. I'm not the kind of person who yells at the help, so I said nothing. I had been looking forward to this for weeks. This has been a long week, and to top it all off, I had to fire someone today. I don't know if any of you have ever had to do that, but it's awful. But hey, at least I get to play some Magic tonight! Oh wait, no. No I don't. I don't mind paying a venue fee, especially since Commander play doesn't exactly help the store rake in the cash. I don't understand the 16-player cap. This store has massive amounts of room. The numbers don't add up either. At $5 per head, they're only making $80 in ticket sales/venue fees. I was also planning on spending at least $30 in singles.

I'm really disappointed and angry. I was just starting to feel good about Magic again. I started coming to this store because mine closed, and now the next closest is ~30 miles away. My daughter was really happy see me though.