MTGNexus

I've played a couple random commander cubes online thanks to the magic of Trice, and watched that Game Knights episode. One complaint that I'm not sure any draft model will fix is how goodstuffy they are. I live for the weird jank which comes alive with specific commanders, and it feels you don't really have room for that in a cube regardless of draft model. How would you even pull that off in a limited setting without having the cards be dead trash most of the time anyway?

Once upon a time, we were talking with a guy in my group about trying to make a cutesy commander conspiracy cube. If the Commander Legends draft model proves particularly fun, maybe some crazy part of us will revisit the idea.

Dunharrow wrote: ↑

3 years ago

@cryogen @ISBPathfinder
So I drafted like this once too - draft the commanders first then regular boosters.

I felt really locked into specific colors after the commander pack.

That's why this way of drafting seemed so interesting to me - so much easier to change colors later on.
I guess we'll see more when the set comes out, but I am really curious to know if people will be adopting this method of drafting or if they will stick with the commander pack method.

So I have a sideboard of generals, as well as at least 3 more of each two color combination within the cube itself. We usually draft 5 packs so there is seldom any pressure and no one has had a difficult time drafting a deck (that I'm aware of). Depending on Commander Legends I may add a partner theme, and at the very least I'll probably add the generic common one with a house rule that it has "parter with anyone".

This all assumes that we will ever be able to draft in person again.

@bobthefunny I...... walked into your sally helpdesk and was going to be like hey whats up bud. Then I read the last few posts.

materpillar wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Do you have some more non-fantasy book recommendations? I could use some wider experience.

I've read and really enjoyed Glass Castle and The Last Lecture. I'd highly recommend both of those books. I'm currently also working through C.S. Lewis Signature Classics which I've found myself learning a lot from. He has a significant amount of similar religious beliefs to me but expresses them waaaaaaaay better.

For sure. It ended up being kind of a mess of a paragraph, so I broke it into bullets. A lot of these are pretty well known authors, but it's worth either reading them for the first time if you haven't or going deeper into their work if you haven't. Most of them are well known for a reason and there's so much fantastic writing out there that it's easy to pass over even well know quality work.

• One of my all time favorites is No Laughing Matter by Joseph Heller (author of Catch-22) and Speed Vogel, which is an autobiographical account of Heller's life in New York and experience getting and recovering from Guillain-Barre syndrome. It's a great mix of touching human moments and funny anecdotes.
• I really enjoy Haruki Murakami's work. Most of his short stories and novels still fall under the fantasy umbrella (I've seen it described as magical realism), but they're set in contemporary Japan and tend to be nearer to reality than high fantasy. His short stories are some of my favorites and I end up rereading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle every few years. I've also enjoyed his nonfiction, particularly What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, which is an almost philosophical take on his marathon running experience.
• In a similar vein to Murakami's fiction, I've enjoyed most of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's work. It's in the same general near reality area as Murakami, but early 20th century South American settings. His most well known works are 100 Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera, and Chronicles of a Death Foretold, all of which I would recommend. I've mostly read his fiction, though I know his nonfiction is well regarded.
• Mark Twain's essays and autobiographical works are excellent. I can respect the place Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn have in American literary canon, but it's always been a little sad to me that most US student's introduction to him is relatively dry fiction. He's got a great voice as long as you appreciate wry humor.
• Zeitoun by Dave Eggers was a great if heartbreaking read. It's a nonfiction work following a Syrian-American man in New Orleans who was accused of terrorism in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
• Throwing a fantasy work written by a pair of well known fantasy authors on here. If you haven't read Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, it's absolutely worth it. It got a lot of attention last year because of the Amazon series. The book is better than the adaptation (which was wonderful and did an excellent job capturing the spirit of the book, even when it deviated from the source material) and is one of my all time favorite books.
• Classics are frequently interesting reads. I went through a stretch where I was trying to read a bunch of those and appreciate that I've read them, even if they're occasionally dry and/or difficult reads in some cases. Again, there's usually a reason that they're considered classics, whether it's because they're well written, have contributed to culture in some way, or even just because they've influenced later work. As a bonus, if you're willing to go for an e-reader/tablet you can usually find them freely available online. One that I enjoyed a lot more than I was expecting to was Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray, which is a satire about early 19th century English society.

I'm a big fan of essays and short stories in general. The essays gets kind of a bad rap from the US education system because a lot of people have bad memories associated with the very formulaic 5 paragraph pieces they had to write for high school English classes. It's a much more flexible medium than that. Short stories, maybe I just have a short attention span and like when I get all of the elements of a story in a condensed form. I also have a tremendous amount of respect for authors who write short pieces well, because I'm terrible at editing myself. I also tend to find authors that I like and just work my way through their library, which is why most of my recommendations are authors instead of books. Reading the influences of authors you like can be interesting too. There's usually something in common with the author you like and it can give you a bunch of additional recommendations.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/pol ... 720828002/

I gotta say I was literally floored when I found out from the Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield as he told the U.S. Senate that face masks are more effective against COVID-19 than a vaccine. Is this incompetence or malevolence? Is he really expecting people to live the rest of their lives wearing face masks out in public even after an effective treatment or vaccine is found?

The people who wore face masks during the Spanish Flu which lasted from 1918 to 1920 were eventually able to take them off for good once an effective treatment or vaccine was found so I would assume it'd be the same case with this current pandemic. I feel as though this is just politicizing the problem even further rather than getting toward an effective solution. I apologize If this isn't the right place to talk about this since the main COVID-19 thread hasn't gotten much traction lately.

so, I read a post on mtg finance that someone sold out of modern due to "The List" and bought some Alpha p9 and my only response was "This is so sad Alexa play Despacito"

Card Slinger J wrote: ↑

3 years ago

I feel as though this is just politicizing the problem even further rather than getting toward an effective solution. I apologize If this isn't the right place to talk about this since the main COVID-19 thread hasn't gotten much traction lately.

I'd personally rather keep this thread politics and covid free. I personally have too many places where I can discuss that sort of thing if I have the desire (which I don't really).

On a slightly COVID related note, I got my first couple of games in on the PlayEDH discord server. I jammed my Ur-Dragon deck in the midpower level. It did reasonably well. The most amusing thing that happened was my Dragon Tempest got mostly nullified by Mystic Decree and my opponent cast Invocation of Saint Traft on Geist of Saint Traft. I'm still trying to figure out if that's a flavor win or flavor fail.

Hermes_ wrote: ↑

3 years ago

so, I read a post on mtg finance that someone sold out of modern due to "The List" and bought some Alpha p9 and my only response was "This is so sad Alexa play Despacito"

Just read it, love how it's wizards fault for reprinting playable cards. Either they don't reprint and ppl playing their game complain, or they reprint and finance dudes complain about their value. Personally, if they reprint everything to death and all my cards become worthless, I'd be fine with it.

materpillar wrote: ↑

3 years ago

The most amusing thing that happened was my Dragon Tempest got mostly nullified by Mystic Decree and my opponent cast Invocation of Saint Traft on Geist of Saint Traft. I'm still trying to figure out if that's a flavor win or flavor fail.

Win or fail, it's definitely flavourfull, I applaud the play.

Card Slinger J wrote: ↑

3 years ago

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/pol ... 720828002/

I gotta say I was literally floored when I found out from the Director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield as he told the U.S. Senate that face masks are more effective against COVID-19 than a vaccine. Is this incompetence or malevolence? Is he really expecting people to live the rest of their lives wearing face masks out in public even after an effective treatment or vaccine is found?

The people who wore face masks during the Spanish Flu which lasted from 1918 to 1920 were eventually able to take them off for good once an effective treatment or vaccine was found so I would assume it'd be the same case with this current pandemic. I feel as though this is just politicizing the problem even further rather than getting toward an effective solution. I apologize If this isn't the right place to talk about this since the main COVID-19 thread hasn't gotten much traction lately.

The problem with any vaccine is that it has to target a specific strand of Covid-19. With multiple of them out there and the likelihood of it to continue to mutate its similar to a Flu shot in that they take what they think is the most likely strand and try to hit that one.

That at least is what I assume is what he is eluding to. There is also the question of how many people are willing to get said shot. I would be surprised if we get even close to half of people getting a Flu shot annually but maybe it will be different with this.

oh good, i thought you were gonnaa tell me to knock with making fun of r/mtgfinance

materpillar wrote: ↑

3 years ago

The most amusing thing that happened was my Dragon Tempest got mostly nullified by Mystic Decree and my opponent cast Invocation of Saint Traft on Geist of Saint Traft. I'm still trying to figure out if that's a flavor win or flavor fail.

I think of this.

Hermes_ wrote: ↑

3 years ago

oh good, i thought you were gonnaa tell me to knock with making fun of r/mtgfinance

They deserve it. It's a game, not a stock market.

I got another handful of games in over the internet. Man, I've missed playing EDH.

Plays of note: opponent 1 casts Buried Alive for Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, It That Betrays and Flayer of the Hatebound.
Opponent 2 just has The Scarab God sitting on his battlefield.
Me: "That was probably incorrect"

I got some people good with my Venomous Changeling+Swarmyard+Contested Cliffs wombo combo.

ISBPathfinder wrote: ↑

3 years ago

@bobthefunny I...... walked into your sally helpdesk and was going to be like hey whats up bud. Then I read the last few posts.

yeah... it's been a ride. My biggest task is trying to find someone to be a local mod for the Rumor Mill so I don't have to do it anymore. Surprisingly, no one wants to do it. Who'd have thunk it?

bobthefunny wrote: ↑

3 years ago

ISBPathfinder wrote: ↑

3 years ago

@bobthefunny I...... walked into your sally helpdesk and was going to be like hey whats up bud. Then I read the last few posts.

yeah... it's been a ride. My biggest task is trying to find someone to be a local mod for the Rumor Mill so I don't have to do it anymore. Surprisingly, no one wants to do it. Who'd have thunk it?

If there wasn't digital paper work involved with every mod action i'd gladly help out.

https://www.pcgamer.com/cyberpunk-2077- ... uirements/

Minimum:

OS: Windows 7 or 10, 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i5-3570K or AMD FX-8310
Memory: 8GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB or AMD Radeon RX 470
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 70 GB HDD, SSD recommended

Recommended:
OS: Windows 10, 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i7-4790 or AMD Ryzen 3 3200G
Memory: 12GB RAM
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 6GB or AMD Radeon R9 Fury
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 70 GB SSD

Lets start this out with "not starting a political debate or heated topic"

@cryogen I saw your aesthetic hang-up and suddenly had the urge to take a bunch of white boardered cards and alter them to be political candidates for a maximum tilting experience. Too bad there is no white boardered Grand Arbiter Augustin IV as he would make the perfect commander for such a deck.

I posted here because I felt such a comment might be a little derailing that thread.

ISBPathfinder wrote: ↑

3 years ago

Lets start this out with "not starting a political debate or heated topic"

@cryogen I saw your aesthetic hang-up and suddenly had the urge to take a bunch of white boardered cards and alter them to be political candidates for a maximum tilting experience. Too bad there is no white boardered Grand Arbiter Augustin IV as he would make the perfect commander for such a deck.

I posted here because I felt such a comment might be a little derailing that thread.

I've actually got a bunch of hangups. Necessity of the card trumps everything, but if I can avoid it I shy away from white border, foils, and foreign language cards.

Speaking to your other thing, I very briefly made a political commentary deck but it's too depressing to even think about it now so that was scrapped.

cryogen wrote: ↑

3 years ago

I've actually got a bunch of hangups. Necessity of the card trumps everything, but if I can avoid it I shy away from white border, foils, and foreign language cards.

Meanwhile, I've been agonizing for weeks because Anowon, the Ruin Thief is a better general, but Zareth San, the Trickster has waaaaaay more appealing art but is a lot worse in the command zone. At this point, I'm probably just going to scrap both and go with Oona as an oldie but a goodie.

There's been a few things in that thread that are sort of aesthetic but also not. I share the 'no foreign language' thing, but it's also a logistical thing - if I can avoid having to explain my deck to someone I'll take that opportunity, it's just laborious. My Vial Smasher the Fierce/Kraum, Ludevic's Opus has a German Saheeli Rai and a Japanese Liliana Vess, and I hate it. Like, explaining a Sol Ring in another language is one thing, but walkers? Ugh.

The whole 'no off-colour fetches' thing seems like something that could be caught in format rulings too. It doesn't really apply to me because I own zero, but if I did I would only use on-colours. Partly because neuroses, partly because budget. Equal parts, let's say. As it is as a non-fetch-owner I'd prefer only on-colour to be the ruling. I played a game against Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, Kaalia of the Vast and Omnath, Locus of Creation yesterday with my Tayam, Luminous Enigma. I cast a t1 Deathrite Shaman and literally exiled off-colours from every deck. One guy got tilted and came for me pretty quick so I was never going to win, but....like....I don't mind so long as there's a fair number of fetches I'm up against with my zero, but literally all of them is a level of efficiency my wallet cannot hope to rival.

I am working on a full-on landfall deck starring new Omnath, but the only fetch I have any spare copies of right now is Flooded Strand. At the same time, other than lands that fetch other lands, Command Tower, the two on-color Triomes and Alchemist's Refuge, I am planning to run all basics, to make sure I don't run out of targets for all of my ramp spells, so maybe most of my fetches being stuff like Panaramas and Evolving Wilds won't suck too much??

toctheyounger wrote: ↑

3 years ago

The whole 'no off-colour fetches' thing seems like something that could be caught in format rulings too. It doesn't really apply to me because I own zero, but if I did I would only use on-colours. Partly because neuroses, partly because budget. Equal parts, let's say. As it is as a non-fetch-owner I'd prefer only on-colour to be the ruling. I played a game against Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, Kaalia of the Vast and Omnath, Locus of Creation yesterday with my Tayam, Luminous Enigma. I cast a t1 Deathrite Shaman and literally exiled off-colours from every deck. One guy got tilted and came for me pretty quick so I was never going to win, but....like....I don't mind so long as there's a fair number of fetches I'm up against with my zero, but literally all of them is a level of efficiency my wallet cannot hope to rival.

I personally hate fetches because they take so long to resolve.

I played a game against Omnath, Locus of Creation yesterday. To set the stage he's rocking a "Why so Salty!" playmat and he starts the game by saying "I have mass land destruction but I only use it in extreme circumstances like stopping someone from assembling a Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron combo." Turn 5 he casts Jokulhaups which would do nothing but mana screw everyone and he'd have an advantage because he slow rolled two lands. I countered it, and then he starts getting salty when the table aggressively focused him down even though he had Omnath, Locus of Creation, Omnath, Locus of Rage, Oracle of Mul Daya and Tatyova, Benthic Druid on the battlefield. By "aggressively focus him down" I mean as much as our Kess, Dissident Mage Act of Treason tribal, Lazav, the Multifarious bad card tribal and Dakkon Blackblade non-green landfall voltron are capable of.

The best part of the game was killing him with my Lazav, the Multifarious turning into Cephalid Inkshrouder + Phage the Untouchable wombo combo after the three of us had slowly bled him out and watching him immediately rage quit. We had a nailbiter of a finish I died to a top decked Loxodon Warhammer for a 40+/40+ Dakkon Blackblade wielding Blackblade Reforged the turn before I can lethal both of them (which if I'm going to die, is a very satisfying way to go out). Kess, Dissident Mage managed to stabilize at 1 after Dakkon missed a lethal attack on an incredibly complicated board state and pulled out the win on the back of Thassa, Deep-Dwelling keeping a stolen Dakkon Blackblade and just having generally better card advantage engines.

In other news Ghirapur Orrery feels really uncomfortable to cast against two landfall decks. A new favorite combo in my Lazav deck is Treacherous Pit-Dweller and Homeward Path.


In non-magic the gathering news, how's everyone doing?

materpillar wrote: ↑

3 years ago

toctheyounger wrote: ↑

3 years ago

The whole 'no off-colour fetches' thing seems like something that could be caught in format rulings too. It doesn't really apply to me because I own zero, but if I did I would only use on-colours. Partly because neuroses, partly because budget. Equal parts, let's say. As it is as a non-fetch-owner I'd prefer only on-colour to be the ruling. I played a game against Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, Kaalia of the Vast and Omnath, Locus of Creation yesterday with my Tayam, Luminous Enigma. I cast a t1 Deathrite Shaman and literally exiled off-colours from every deck. One guy got tilted and came for me pretty quick so I was never going to win, but....like....I don't mind so long as there's a fair number of fetches I'm up against with my zero, but literally all of them is a level of efficiency my wallet cannot hope to rival.

I personally hate fetches because they take so long to resolve.

I played a game against Omnath, Locus of Creation yesterday. To set the stage he's rocking a "Why so Salty!" playmat and he starts the game by saying "I have mass land destruction but I only use it in extreme circumstances like stopping someone from assembling a Deadeye Navigator + Palinchron combo." Turn 5 he casts Jokulhaups which would do nothing but mana screw everyone and he'd have an advantage because he slow rolled two lands. I countered it, and then he starts getting salty when the table aggressively focused him down even though he had Omnath, Locus of Creation, Omnath, Locus of Rage, Oracle of Mul Daya and Tatyova, Benthic Druid on the battlefield. By "aggressively focus him down" I mean as much as our Kess, Dissident Mage Act of Treason tribal, Lazav, the Multifarious bad card tribal and Dakkon Blackblade non-green landfall voltron are capable of.

The best part of the game was killing him with my Lazav, the Multifarious turning into Cephalid Inkshrouder + Phage the Untouchable wombo combo after the three of us had slowly bled him out and watching him immediately rage quit. We had a nailbiter of a finish I died to a top decked Loxodon Warhammer for a 40+/40+ Dakkon Blackblade wielding Blackblade Reforged the turn before I can lethal both of them (which if I'm going to die, is a very satisfying way to go out). Kess, Dissident Mage managed to stabilize at 1 after Dakkon missed a lethal attack on an incredibly complicated board state and pulled out the win on the back of Thassa, Deep-Dwelling keeping a stolen Dakkon Blackblade and just having generally better card advantage engines.

In other news Ghirapur Orrery feels really uncomfortable to cast against two landfall decks. A new favorite combo in my Lazav deck is Treacherous Pit-Dweller and Homeward Path.


In non-magic the gathering news, how's everyone doing?

Oh, I expect to be sick of seeing new Omnath decks well before Legends drops. It's fine I guess, they're just all the same. Stacked to the brim with fetches and landfall triggers, value for days. Reminds me of Yarok, the Desecrated in terms of value you just can't keep up with and thats really frustrating to play against. I also feel sorry for Niv - a plane defining, multi print legend but Omnath sees far more play and hype. At least Niv's final form was interesting and unique (and for anyone that doesn't believe me check out darrenhabib's primer, its really quite brilliant).

In other gaming news from me, simic is the worst guild to play against. Played an Uro deck in a casual game with my shonky Glissa build, Bolas 2.0 bolas tribal abd a Ghired precon. Uro ended up archenemying with full control of the stack at all times, had Seedborn Muse, Leyline of Anticipation and enough control to take all of the boards stuff and stop anything from resolving. It was a casual game so we ask the dude why he thought his deck was appropriate and the guy says 'oh my commander is less powerful than most of the tables and this isn't a cedh build so if you can't keep up your decks must suck'. Needless to say no one left the table happy. Theres just something about the sheer resource of green and the value of blue that combined screams to the spikiest of players and its just gross to compete with. Rant over, but damn. That color combination is just so often well overpowered. I'm sure there are nice Simic decks around, i just don't ever see them.