[Off-Topic] Community Chat Thread

[materpillar]

Just had a cube draft with my friends last night. The evening started out well when in game 1 I killed my opponent with Akroma, Angel of Wrath.

Next game my opponent went T3 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider. T4 attack me for 3. Play Voldaren Epicure into a 7/5 Indoraptor, the Perfect Hybrid . His next play was Pyrohemia. That was rough.

The next game he played Life // Death with Garruk Wildspeaker at 4 loyalty. -_-

Then I played my brother and he went Sneak Attack-Griselbrand-Ashen Rider-reanimate Ashen Rider. Sneak Emrakul, the Aeons Torn. Amusingly, I still almost beat that line.

[duducrash]

Congrats on the new job! Working the old job becomes arduous. I know that feeling. I hope it's a massive step up!

Thanks! It's a somewhat lateral move career wise, but better benefits and I hope a better culture. I've been working for an international company recently and the work/life balance for folks outside is a bit crazy, feel like US and Europe folks live to work and not work to live.

small detail : nobody believed me when I kept saying a reason to leave was that home office was getting me crazy. It is a lonely endeavor for sure. If I kept doing or go back to it, I'll explore more coworking spaces

[Lifeless]

Some people (myself included) do not do well with working from home. I'm inefficient and get depressed. My wife does it no problem. So it's absolutely not for everyone.

[RxPhantom]

I wish I could work at home sometimes. I like what I do. I contribute to the health of my community. But some people are so outrageously dumb that I can't fathom how they've made it so far in life.

[duducrash]

Have you guys considered brewing less cool decks?

No seriously, I need a break but decks here are super sweet and I cant stop making them too.


Looking at you all Braids players.

[materpillar]

I was just drafting Dominaria Remastered with my brother. I was 2-0 and in the finals. Game 2 I played Nightscape Familiar → Coal Stoker → Goblin ->Grapeshot for 4 damage → Empty the Warrens to make 10 goblins. It felt delicious.

Also, Shivan Dragon is terrifying in old limited. That card was just a 1-2 turn clock.

[DirkGently]

Last night.

Game 1 - play my only-LCI-with-a-half-finished-collection Abuelo, Ancestral Echo deck. Last week, the first and only time I played it, it went 1-4 and was lucky to get the 1 win. This time I manage to win primarily off the OP godlike power of Runaway Boulder.

Jon: "How are we even supposed to beat that? That deck is so strong. I've never seen you lose with it. Let's make him use a precon lol."
Me: "Uh, this deck is way worse than a precon and it loses all the time but I'll play whatever you want."
(Last week his dinosaur deck got Pantlaza, Sun-Favored T2 into Gishath, Sun's Avatar T3 btw.)

Game 2 - switch to Sauron LTR-only, win.

Game 3 - borrow Jon's Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal deck he just lost with, win.

Game 4 - borrow Mike's Nekusar, the Mindrazer deck that never wins, win.

Game 5 - borrow Mike's Ramos, Dragon Engine deck, win.

Shut up, Jon, try getting good instead of whining.

[Hermes_]

Game 2 - switch to Sauron LTR-only, win.

Game 3 - borrow Jon's Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal deck he just lost with, win.

Game 4 - borrow Mike's Nekusar, the Mindrazer deck that never wins, win.

Game 5 - borrow Mike's Ramos, Dragon Engine deck, win.

Shut up, Jon, try getting good instead of whining.

yup it's clearly the deck and not a skill issue

[Dunadain]

Has anybody here watched Steven Spielberg's Duel?

I watched it last night and thought it was great, the concept is novel and the truck was legitimately intimidating. Couple of scenes dragged on quite a bit (to be expected from a 50 year old movie), and the inner monologues could have probably been cut, but I was really impressed.

Wife didn't enjoy it at all though.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

Has anybody here watched Steven Spielberg's Duel?

I watched it last night and thought it was great, the concept is novel and the truck was legitimately intimidating. Couple of scenes dragged on quite a bit (to be expected from a 50 year old movie), and the inner monologues could have probably been cut, but I was really impressed.

Wife didn't enjoy it at all though.

Dude, I love that movie! The truck makes for such a scary villain, and anyone who's been on a long drive through nowhere can relate to the primal fear of being hunted down by a renegade trucker.

[Dunadain]

Dude, I love that movie! The truck makes for such a scary villain, and anyone who's been on a long drive through nowhere can relate to the primal fear of being hunted down by a renegade trucker.

The scene where the truck is under the bridge and the truck driver turns the headlights on was chilling. XD

A YouTuber I watched made a ranking of all of Steven Spielberg's films and rated Duel around the middle, but the concept sounded so unique that I had to check it out.

I also want to watch Minority Report now, cause I love action films.

[RxPhantom]

Minority Report is an utterly incredible movie.

[TheGildedGoose]

I found a rather small EDH YouTube channel (6.5k subscribers) recently with extremely high quality content but extremely low quality production and it got me thinking. I've long wanted to make MTG videos myself but I've never had the confidence or follow through to commit to it. However, seeing this kind of content get modest success makes me think that similarly high quality content but with better production value actually has an audience.

For those of you who watch EDH content on YouTube, what do you typically watch? What do you think is missing from the landscape? My novel approach is combining mid to high level EDH theory while borrowing anecdotal and analogous storytelling common in video essays. For example, a video I've been turning over like a gas station hot dog in my brain is about reconceptualizing Magic as "Moneyball," that is, thinking about the game in terms of end results and goals. To do that I would have to do a mini dive into baseball and sabermetrics, as well as construct a framework that includes the Oakland A's and that story, all leading to the point of using critical, statistical, and theoretical analysis to build decks with an endgame in mind.

mite b cool?

[Rumpy5897]

I would totally watch that. Video essays are my jam, my current favourite YouTube channel is Quake Speedruns Explained after the algorithm decided to feed me this video:



I don't do speedruns, or even played Quake beyond the shareware with the first world, but there's something extremely satisfying about well communicated content the creator is passionate about. I'm not aware of a lot of MTG, let alone EDH, creators exploring this sort of space. The flagship one is Rhystic Studies, but other than that I know of few. Pleasant Kenobi occasionally makes a well researched video in an inspired style, there are those Command Zone episodes where they broke down gameplay stats, there was a channel called Melvin MTG which put out a handful of videos a couple of years ago and has gone radio silent since.

As for gameplay, ironically I don't really tend to care much for it these days. I used to hold Game Knights in high esteem, then considered Extra Turns the gold standard for snappiness with some elements of banter, but something just wore out and I don't even watch the big dogs anymore. The last EDH gameplay I genuinely enjoyed came from Commander's Quarters, of all places - an oddly perfectly balanced group, with both great chemistry and a great roster of player types. Maybe that ended up setting the bar too high for anybody else to clear? My most recent MTG YouTube subscription is MagicCardMarket, the channel has been under new management for the past couple of years and has a freewheeling attitude where they do what they want. But even then I tend to skip their EDH videos or enjoy them less somehow.

Anybody got recommendations for good MTG/EDH content on there, be it video essay style or particularly awesome gameplay or what have you? I toy with the idea of popping open a dedicated thread whenever this sort of general topic rolls around, but never end up acting on it (as evidenced by my post here).

[Dunadain]

I found a rather small EDH YouTube channel (6.5k subscribers) recently with extremely high quality content but extremely low quality production and it got me thinking. I've long wanted to make MTG videos myself but I've never had the confidence or follow through to commit to it. However, seeing this kind of content get modest success makes me think that similarly high quality content but with better production value actually has an audience.

For those of you who watch EDH content on YouTube, what do you typically watch? What do you think is missing from the landscape? My novel approach is combining mid to high level EDH theory while borrowing anecdotal and analogous storytelling common in video essays. For example, a video I've been turning over like a gas station hot dog in my brain is about reconceptualizing Magic as "Moneyball," that is, thinking about the game in terms of end results and goals. To do that I would have to do a mini dive into baseball and sabermetrics, as well as construct a framework that includes the Oakland A's and that story, all leading to the point of using critical, statistical, and theoretical analysis to build decks with an endgame in mind.

mite b cool?

I'd watch it

[duducrash]

For those of you who watch EDH content on YouTube, what do you typically watch?

hmm, I don't know. I feel like i'm craving for some content I don't know if exists. I like podcasts as an way to keep my ear trained to the languages I speak, so I usually consume english podcats, I like the vorthos cast, I used to listen to the late CMDR Central, sometimes the EDHRec and Fast Finance, but to be honest they aren't the content I want. Most content is that, content. People need to pump out weekly videos, comentaries and stuff like that, it's not a subject they have a firm grasp, a deep interest and a formed opinion. It's like a weekly topic, some brief research and content.

Not hating on them, it's their jobs. But it's not "deep" it's surface level, good if you aren't super into the game I feel, but we are super enfranchised, there is nothing much new being said in those shows. If you look for "commander name" in search to ideas to decks, you'll see several deck techs of decks that have never been built. It's just a video, those cards were never shuffled together, it doesnt exist. its so weird. I would love to consume constant content from someone who dedicates their time to craft an video/audio thing about something they really care. I really like the posts here because we are several years in and talking about the same decks. I know some stuff and opinions (and boy do you all have opinions and are passionate about them.) so I know what some people I've never seen think and how they feel about some subject in a deeper level than I would seeing 50 surface level discussions about GY Hate, Decks that feel the same, overplayed cards in edh, etc. its the same debate over and over with no new nutritional value

[RxPhantom]

It's hard to find good content for the same reason it's hard to come up with a topic to post here on Nexus: I feel like everything has already been discussed and all that's left is to pour over the avalanche of new cards. And that sucks. I like Rhystic Studies, TCC, and Command Zone's gameplay episodes, but it's hard to find anything else that's even mildly interesting.

[TheGildedGoose]

The YouTube channel I was talking about was Salubrious Snail. I like the actual content, but I do admit the production value is pretty low. I love Brian Weissman's 1v1 gameplay videos because they're just him on MTGO walking you through tons of analysis. Spice8Rack is fantastic but maybe not what anyone is looking for at all, ever.

I watch a few gameplay videos if anyone I like is on, but that's pretty much it. I'd say my content would be a hybrid between Rhystic Studies and the noisy chatter of EDH analysis. I like to think I'm skilled at explaining concepts, and with a bit of dramatic flair and production value I believe there's an audience for it. I've got lots of ideas for videos, but it's easier to do that than come up with a narrative framework, let alone actually writing and producing the damn things.

Unfortunately, everyone is going to find out that I am not, in fact, a migratory water fowl.

[tstorm823]

Unfortunately, everyone is going to find out that I am not, in fact, a migratory water fowl.

Just throw in a few Honks, nobody will question it.

[Hermes_]

Just found out a crazy combo

Rain of Riches and Glittering Stockpile

[TheGildedGoose]

Unfortunately, everyone is going to find out that I am not, in fact, a migratory water fowl.

Just throw in a few Honks, nobody will question it.

It hasn't worked yet.

[Guardman]

Please reprint Snapcaster mage and scion of oona with female artwork. Thank you so much.

There's a foreign language issue we have to deal with. Certain languages have gendered elements which differ depending on whether the art portrays a male or female creature. This keeps us (mostly) having new art match the same gender as the original art.

https://tmblr.co/ZrlFaxextlzc0i01

So this is something that I never even thought about until now, but makes so much sense.

[Dragonlover]

Just found out a crazy combo

Rain of Riches and Glittering Stockpile

That's... actually genius. Huh. If the cascade wrath I put in Lathliss doesn't work out I might give that a punt.

Dragonlover

[Dunadain]

Unfortunately, everyone is going to find out that I am not, in fact, a migratory water fowl.

Just throw in a few Honks, nobody will question it.

Just become a V-tuber, except a goose instead of weab.

[Hermes_]

Just found out a crazy combo

Rain of Riches and Glittering Stockpile

That's... actually genius. Huh. If the cascade wrath I put in Lathliss doesn't work out I might give that a punt.

Dragonlover

Cast
Lightning Bolt with Laelia, the Blade Reforged flip your deck over, and make your Laelia as big as your library!