[Off-Topic] Community Chat Thread

[materpillar]

I like deckbuilding games and so does my girlfriend. But she primarily likes playing them cooperatively which limits our choices. We generally play Marvel Legendary which is good and Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle but I have been trying to find another game we could play. I actually like Harry Potter in general over Legendary as I like the idea of a) Character Cards with special abilities and b) Being able to take down enemies over the course of multiple turns.

I can't seem to find a good one that has those elements of Harry Potter along with a good theme. The Character Card aspect seems relatively rare without adding in a bunch of additional complexity in terms of D&D style leveling. I think the DC Deckbuilder has character cards but it is only cooperative via an Expansion and I see mixed reviews on it whenever I look it up.

Marvel Legendary: Encounters Aliens was a fantastic coop deck builder and is absolutely what you should keep an eye out for. That being said it's out of print and hella hard to find.

DC deck builder as a coop was pretty mediocre and I say that while I personally like base DC deck builder more than base Marvel deck builder.

If you're looking for random non-deckbuilding suggestions I found The Crew (either version) to be my favorite light coop game. I also really enjoyed playing through My City with my wife. It's a light legacy puzzle game.

I am honestly hoping the Brandon Sanderson Deckbuilding Game based on his Mistborn series will be cooperative but there isn't a ton of information about it yet.

I'm pretty hyped about this one too.

[Dunadain]

The company I work for just announced that they will be permanently closing their doors at the end of January.

I saw this coming about over a month ago, and have been diligently applying to positions with no luck =/

Hopefully with the new year the job market will pick up. I did get an invitation for an interview today, the second one I've gotten all month, so maybe I'm almost out.

[Toshi]

have been diligently applying to positions with no luck =/

Best of luck to you! Sorry to hear, the year hasn't started of too well for you.

[Guardman]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I often find myself wistful and nostalgic after the new years. This year especially. I'm not sure if it is because my mom is having a big milestone birthday tomorrow or for some other reason. But I've been thinking a lot about my younger years. And in particular Toonami. I remember rushing home afterschool to watch the newest episode of Dragon Ball Z or staying up late for the Midnight Run and getting my first taste of Gorillaz, which was an eye opening experience. Great hosts in C. Martin Croker's Moltar and Sonny Straight's and Steve Blum's versions TOM. It also put my down a rabbit hole of watching the old trailers, promos, and think pieces Toonami put out. With Peter Cullen's going straight Optimus Prime with the voiceovers. And the motivational speeches still deeply ingrained into my being to this day. Plus the care and joy that the people who put together Toonmai had for it. I want to say that they don't really make stuff like this anymore, but I don't really remember anyone else doing it back then either (though I've been told original MTV was close).

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[Lifeless]

Toonami

Big O is still one of my favorites to this day. I occasionally tell people the story about how they accidentally broadcast the incorrect episode the night they were supposed to show the final episode. Then the following week as a joke they played the intro for the wrong episode again as part of the bumper. Good times.

This hits me once in a while for the original Adult Swim run and then I end up watching a couple hours of Sealab, Brak Show, Aqua Teen, and Mission Hill.

[ISBPathfinder]

If I ever catch Cowboy Bebop I just get sucked right in for a few hours of time. Big surprise right

The company I work for just announced that they will be permanently closing their doors at the end of January.

I saw this coming about over a month ago, and have been diligently applying to positions with no luck =/

Hopefully with the new year the job market will pick up. I did get an invitation for an interview today, the second one I've gotten all month, so maybe I'm almost out.

My department is sort of in a death spiral currently so I feel you here. I am for a state agency though but what they have been doing is currently unsustainable so there is the big question of if we get a purge or if they have to shunt a bunch of us into some other random roles to avoid layoffs. The higherups haven't done anything yet but its apparent some big change is going to have to happen as half of our developers are stuck in perpetual training as we don't have something to do. Something will have to change we just don't know how long it will take and what exactly it will look like so I have shifted to stockpiling money until we figure out whats happening mode.

[Dunadain]

I had an interview this morning that I think went well, and a phone call set up for Monday, so maybe things are finally moving.

[Guardman]

Toonami

Big O is still one of my favorites to this day. I occasionally tell people the story about how they accidentally broadcast the incorrect episode the night they were supposed to show the final episode. Then the following week as a joke they played the intro for the wrong episode again as part of the bumper. Good times.

This hits me once in a while for the original Adult Swim run and then I end up watching a couple hours of Sealab, Brak Show, Aqua Teen, and Mission Hill.

During Giant Robot Week, where they played the first episode of a bunch of different Mecha Anime, actually introduced me to one of my favorite shows of all time in Dai-Guard. It's also funny because when I first watched it I just enjoyed it for the combination of action, comedy, and characters. At the beginning of the pandemic I rewatched it and found not only did it hold up, but became even better as despite being a Mecha Anime, its actually a workplace anime with a lot to say about how corporations see people only in dollar signs (a running theme is that Dai-Guard needs to wait from approval from the higher-ups to mobilize or that not enough people have "insurance" in the area to go fight [Though it isn't that grim as the pilots usually ignore those orders to save people]).

Also I have to give a shout out to Outlaw Star. Great anime. Cut an entire episode for being too lewd. Unfortunately it was the penultimate episode before the final arc and contained a couple important plot points including Gene getting some powerful, but risky shells for his caster gun, which he used several times in the final arc and confused the hell out of me when I first watched it since I knew I didn't miss an episode.

Original Adult Swim was amazing. Even before Adult Swim when they had Space Ghost Coast to Coast, it was mindblowing to a kid like me.

If I ever catch Cowboy Bebop I just get sucked right in for a few hours of time. Big surprise right

You and me both.

[Lifeless]

Even before Adult Swim when they had Space Ghost Coast to Coast, it was mindblowing to a kid like me.

I have to admit that as a kid Space Ghost was a bit too irreverent for me - I didn't really get the fundamental joke. As an adult I really enjoyed it.

[Hermes_]

Man, these mtg releases are getting out of hand

[duducrash]

I had an interview this morning that I think went well, and a phone call set up for Monday, so maybe things are finally moving.

Lets go!!! I left my previous job on dec 22nd to start a new one too! Had my first day yesterday, this is the year we get it all!

[Dunadain]

Small update on that first interview, they set up a second interview for tomorrow morning.

I don't want to get my hopes up, but if they're moving this quickly they've got to be eager, right?

[cheonice]

Small update on that first interview, they set up a second interview for tomorrow morning.

I don't want to get my hopes up, but if they're moving this quickly they've got to be eager, right?

Good luck!

[ISBPathfinder]

Man, these mtg releases are getting out of hand

It is amusing to see Lorcana in a Ixalon box.

If you aren't being sarcastic with that, that is Disney's new TCG not an actual magic product. Its a bit unknown as to how well Disney is doing with it just because there is a lot of pull back right now on TCGs and from what I heard they did a reprint it until demand is dead approach to their brand new game. I don't branch out into other TCGs but I watch some channels that do on youtube. Depending on how long this economic thing lasts I think some of these TCGs are going to get squeezed a bit so we might see some fall off.

[Hermes_]

Man, these mtg releases are getting out of hand

It is amusing to see Lorcana in a Ixalon box.

If you aren't being sarcastic with that, that is Disney's new TCG not an actual magic product. Its a bit unknown as to how well Disney is doing with it just because there is a lot of pull back right now on TCGs and from what I heard they did a reprint it until demand is dead approach to their brand new game. I don't branch out into other TCGs but I watch some channels that do on youtube. Depending on how long this economic thing lasts I think some of these TCGs are going to get squeezed a bit so we might see some fall off.

Yeah, I was being sarcastic I thought about going with "I guess I should have paid more attention to the spoilers for the set"

[RxPhantom]

I finally got COVID for the first time, and when I told my bosses, they asked me to come in and just mask up. I couldn't believe they had the nerve to ask me to come in. I'm glad I said no because the body aches and chills really kicked my ass a few hours later. And today I can't taste anything so that sucks.

[Dunadain]

Lol, it sounds like you were eager to get it XD

One of my clients got it a month ago and I somehow dodged it, even though I catch every bug that comes through =/

[Lifeless]

I finally got COVID for the first time, and when I told my bosses, they asked me to come in and just mask up. I couldn't believe they had the nerve to ask me to come in. I'm glad I said no because the body aches and chills really kicked my ass a few hours later. And today I can't taste anything so that sucks.

Sorry they were jerks about it, particularly when you might be enountering sick people yourself it seems super irresponsible to have to come in. Good for you sticking to your guns.

Losing the taste and smell is an extremely strange experience so I feel your pain. Most people it goes back to normal but mine did not. It took over 6 months to mostly return but even 2 years later mine it still only about 95% - the odd thing about it is that certain things don't smell the way they used to. Like coffee completely changed smell and taste. I don't expect that will ever change back.

The good(?) news is that I've had it 3 times and it gets easier every time.

[RxPhantom]

I finally got COVID for the first time, and when I told my bosses, they asked me to come in and just mask up. I couldn't believe they had the nerve to ask me to come in. I'm glad I said no because the body aches and chills really kicked my ass a few hours later. And today I can't taste anything so that sucks.

Sorry they were jerks about it, particularly when you might be enountering sick people yourself it seems super irresponsible to have to come in. Good for you sticking to your guns.

Losing the taste and smell is an extremely strange experience so I feel your pain. Most people it goes back to normal but mine did not. It took over 6 months to mostly return but even 2 years later mine it still only about 95% - the odd thing about it is that certain things don't smell the way they used to. Like coffee completely changed smell and taste. I don't expect that will ever change back.

The good(?) news is that I've had it 3 times and it gets easier every time.

Three times?! Yuck. I'm glad I got my shots or else I'm sure I'd be laid out for a week or so.

[Lifeless]

Yeah unfortunately the first time was prior to the vaccine coming out so it was full force. Subsequently it was a lot easier between the vaccines and some residual immunity.

[TheGildedGoose]

Any science or math heads in the house? Or smart people in general?

@Dunadain got me thinking about the early game in their Liesa thread. My own experience has been that simply ramping isn't always the best option. Sometimes you can just sculpt your hand/tutor/self-mill or generally expand your options, particularly if you're a control deck, and other decks are better off developing their board. Sometimes doing nothing has worked. I'm trying to come up with a way to determine the efficacy of early game plays in the format, and, well, it's hard. So far, my idea is as follows:

1) Assign a value of 1 to 5 for early game (turns 0-3) plays (5 for Sol Ring, 1 for Manalith, for example)
2) Note the type of early game action it is (broadly, ramp, sculpt, or board)
3) Assign a value of 1 to 5 for mid game (turns 4-6) progression (5 for highly effective or 1 for highly ineffective, but this is harder to judge than the early game)
4) Watch lots of Commander live play videos (20? 50?)
5) Track the early game plays to assign a total point value to each player's opening moves
6) Observe the mid game plays to assign a point value to the overall effectiveness of the deck's performance in this phase
7) Compare those numbers with who actually wins the game
8) Draw some kind of conclusion

There are obvious flaws in the method here but I needed a starting place.

[Dunadain]

I'd be interested to see the results of this "study" just don't present your findings as objective fact.

[TheGildedGoose]

I'd be interested to see the results of this "study" just don't present your findings as objective fact.

Really not sure what my "hypothesis" is. I suspect ramping will be very good, board presence will be very bad, and doing nothing will be pretty good. Not enough data for sculpting.

EDIT: Another source for my curiosity was this quote from Frank Karsten from this article.

Games are usually won by whoever spends the most mana over the course of a game.

Sounds true for 1v1, but the political and chaotic nature of multiplayer might mean this isn't true for Commander.

[duducrash]

I feel like you want to be focused, spending mana just to spend mana will get you nowhere. We all have seen folks vomit 4 rocks and have no CA going on. they spent a ton of mana, and arent in a good position. I mostly play Karador, Ghost Chieftain and many games I win are games I lay low and dominate the late game. In contrast, I used to play some Raffine, Scheming Seer and many games I'd win were games I'd be swinging for letal before someone else has cast their commander. You gotta know what is your gameplan and execute it.

[TheGildedGoose]

I feel like you want to be focused, spending mana just to spend mana will get you nowhere. We all have seen folks vomit 4 rocks and have no CA going on. they spent a ton of mana, and arent in a good position. I mostly play Karador, Ghost Chieftain and many games I win are games I lay low and dominate the late game. In contrast, I used to play some Raffine, Scheming Seer and many games I'd win were games I'd be swinging for letal before someone else has cast their commander. You gotta know what is your gameplan and execute it.

I think the "study" would bear this out, actually. Too much action in the early game means you likely run out of gas quickly unless you swing some massive card draw in there, which would give the deck both a high early and mid game score. Basically I think the study will basically just reenforce the importance of curve.

EDIT: Which, to be clear, is the point. I can talk about theory and anecdotal experience until I'm blue in the face but this will give some observational data to dissect. Instead of points I should probably just write down every deck's first three turns. Ugh. Looking for volunteers...