[Off-Topic] Community Chat Thread

[kirkusjones]

After rereading the card, they just never had the density of spells in a single turn to bump Narset up to 10 power required to copy it. I misread both the situation and the card. D'oh.

[TheGildedGoose]

AITA time:

Third time playing with a newer, more casual group tonight. Built Slogurk, the Overslime with no tutors (other than Explore the Underdark and Reshape the Earth) and two win cons: Maze's End, which requires an animated gate and Sakashima the Impostor and @TheGildedGoose's Bee Sting combo.

Playing against Narset, Enlightened Exile, The Locust God and Kethis, the Hidden Hand.

We're an hour and a half in when I Reshape the Earth for the gates and Maze's End only to find the deck is one gate shy of the win, with or without Sakashina. So I durdled around, drew some cards, binned some lands. Watched Narset wipe the board. A few very long turn cycles later (The Locust God player was learning his deck), I draw Bee Sting. Some serious digging turns up Turnabout and Shigeki, Jukai Visionary then a little while later, Regrowth comes off the top.

Narset is sitting next to me with Omniscience in the yard and I decide to go for it. I demonstrate the combo. No one has disruption. Nobody is happy our 2+ hour game has come to an end. Whoops.

Next week I'll bring Raggadragga, Goreguts Boss and turn creatures sideways as @TheAmericanSpirit intended.

I am filled with unbridled joy.

[toctheyounger]

Nah this ain't you, games have to end. On a side note I am delighted to see Slogurk in action. Had that deck together for a hot minute and it was fun, which is not something I generally associate with Simic.

[TheAmericanSpirit]

@kirkusjones! Good to see you, it's been a while!

Greetings aside, problems like this are exactly why I leaned into hardcore combat aggression. Even when people are pissed at me for the short game, they still don't really have much ammunition with which to complain because what I am doing is indisputably fair. I'm tired of tiptoeing around people's idiosyncratic tolerances for strategies in the format(I hate combos, he hates counters, she hates MLD and on and on...) so why not be as a aggressive as possible with the one basic game mechanic that everyone must agree is inoffensive?

[materpillar]

@kirkusjones! Good to see you, it's been a while!

Greetings aside, problems like this are exactly why I leaned into hardcore combat aggression. Even when people are pissed at me for the short game, they still don't really have much ammunition with which to complain because what I am doing is indisputably fair. I'm tired of tiptoeing around people's idiosyncratic tolerances for strategies in the format(I hate combos, he hates counters, she hates MLD and on and on...) so why not be as a aggressive as possible with the one basic game mechanic that everyone must agree is inoffensive?

Amusingly enough my meta absolutely loathes my Gishath, Sun's Avatar deck. It's literally ramp/dinos/damage doublers/Planar Cleansings. You just ramp hard. Cast Gishath, Sun's Avatar or if that's not good enough, reset the board with Planar Cleansing. Then, cast Gishath, Sun's Avatar. It's the most simplistic deck I own by a lot. The deck basically says "wrath this turn or die next turn" every turn later in the game. My playgroup hates it because it puts so much combat pressure on the table they can't take a breath to set up their silly durdle things. I don't play it a whole lot unless I get extremely aggravated by someone and just want to maul their face for soft locking me out of the previous game. Sometimes people are just not going to be happy.

My favorite thing I've learned about my meta in one of our players is basically a stax player but he's "casual" so he doesn't play actual stax cards. He just soft locks you with "casual" cards, but his goal is always to soft lock in almost every one of his decks. Stuff like Merieke Ri Berit + a million untap effects to instantly murder every creature that hits the battlefield. It's casual but if he wins it's almost always by concession because everyone gets bored. A hard lock would be better because it'd be clear when we need to scoop instead of "this game isn't bothering trying to finish even though we technically aren't dead and have 1 or 2 outs". It's rather frustrating. In a fun turn of fate I built a group hug deck on a whim, and gods is it cathartic to cast a turn 2 Howling Mine and hear him groan. Slap down a Veteran Explorer hear him say "I hate that card" while he Swords to Plowshares it. Wishclaw Talisman, tutor for removal for his pillowfort and then ship it to one of his opponents who also finds removal for his cards. He receives a resolved Rites of Flourishing as a normal person would a Winter Orb. It just soothes my soul to do this after he soft locked the table a previous game.

[kirkusjones]

I've got two plans for next week: either clone tribal or The Beamtown Bullies with a "please don't hit me" theme. Basically some looting effects, goad stuff and big fat creatures to give to my opponents. No tutors, no combos, just brutality. We'll see how that plays.

From conversations with people in the group, they skew casual, but differ widely in what that means beyond a general disdain for tutors and fetches.

[Hermes_]

I've got two plans for next week: either clone tribal or The Beamtown Bullies with a "please don't hit me" theme. Basically some looting effects, goad stuff and big fat creatures to give to my opponents. No tutors, no combos, just brutality. We'll see how that plays.

We have a bullies deck in my group he plays things like Leveler

[TheAmericanSpirit]

@materpillar right on, man. Nothing like a metric ton of pressure to get people quit durdling for value and either present answers or die. It's sort of like lethal Jeopardy!: "

"I'll take Combat Step for $2000, Alex."
"It's the Daily Double! How much will you wager?"
"I'll bet it all, Alex."
"Alright, and now to the question: Do you have removal or will you take 54?"
"....... What is 'Declare no blocks'?"
"I'm sorry, but that's incorrect. Unfortunately you wagered your entire life total, which will drop you into the red behind the other contestants. The correct answer is "What is Cyclonic Rift?". We would have also accepted "What is Comeuppance?".

Additionally, I've never actually considered it before, but group hug is actually a pretty elegant counter to stax strategies. That is wild and I will have to try it someday!

[kirkusjones]

I've got two plans for next week: either clone tribal or The Beamtown Bullies with a "please don't hit me" theme. Basically some looting effects, goad stuff and big fat creatures to give to my opponents. No tutors, no combos, just brutality. We'll see how that plays.

We have a bullies deck in my group he plays things like Leveler

No Leveler in my build. Think Inferno Titan, Ancient Bronze Dragon, etc.

[materpillar]

@materpillar right on, man. Nothing like a metric ton of pressure to get people quit durdling for value and either present answers or die. It's sort of like lethal Jeopardy!: "

"I'll take Combat Step for $2000, Alex."
"It's the Daily Double! How much will you wager?"
"I'll bet it all, Alex."
"Alright, and now to the question: Do you have removal or will you take 54?"
"....... What is 'Declare no blocks'?"
"I'm sorry, but that's incorrect. Unfortunately you wagered your entire life total, which will drop you into the red behind the other contestants. The correct answer is "What is Cyclonic Rift?". We would have also accepted "What is Comeuppance?".

"I just cast this Finale of Devastation for 12, what am I searching for?"
"What is a dinosaur?"
"Ooooh, sorry. The correct answer is 'who is Gisela, Blade of Goldnight'."

You know what's better than 1-shooting someone with a Fiery Emancipation Gishath, Sun's Avatar? The look on the two remaining players' faces when you say "trigger" and start revealing the top 21 cards of your library.

Additionally, I've never actually considered it before, but group hug is actually a pretty elegant counter to stax strategies. That is wild and I will have to try it someday!

That's a nice Grand Arbiter Augustin IV you've got there. It'd be a shame if I cast this Mana Flare and watched the rest of the table kick your teeth in.

[duducrash]

From the past few replies I understand mtg players hate playing against : combo, stax, control and beatdown.

Is there something mtg players do like? Maybe they just dont like mtg much 🤣

[Hermes_]

From the past few replies I understand mtg players hate playing against : combo, stax, control and beatdown.

Is there something mtg players do like? Maybe they just dont like mtg much 🤣

you left out: Chaos and Dirk

[materpillar]

From the past few replies I understand mtg players hate playing against : combo, stax, control and beatdown.

Is there something mtg players do like? Maybe they just dont like mtg much 🤣

Winning and playing against things they beat. Alternatively, a close fought game where everyone had a chance to win and no pubstomping happened. Basically midrange value piles?

As for clarity, I don't hate playing against stax per say. I dislike playing against stax when it's just preying upon weaker/for fun battlecruiser decks. Easily solution of "Hey, I'm playing a more cutthroat deck so don't bring your Chromium voltron that will immediately fold because it's gameplan of cast Akroma, Angel of Wrath is not a powerful one. Let's play some magic not watch me solitaire for two hours of completely shutting down the board." I also despise stax that doesn't do the decency of putting you out of your misery even though it won the game almost an hour ago.

[Ulka]

I've got two plans for next week: either clone tribal or The Beamtown Bullies with a "please don't hit me" theme. Basically some looting effects, goad stuff and big fat creatures to give to my opponents. No tutors, no combos, just brutality. We'll see how that plays.

From conversations with people in the group, they skew casual, but differ widely in what that means beyond a general disdain for tutors and fetches.

I am a huge fan of clone tribal. I actually built a clone tribal deck for a Mod for MTG Salvation when we were still that site that they still have and love it. turns out Biovisionary + Riku of Two Reflections + Clone effects is fun.

[toctheyounger]

From the past few replies I understand mtg players hate playing against : combo, stax, control and beatdown.

Is there something mtg players do like? Maybe they just dont like mtg much 🤣

Winning and playing against things they beat. Alternatively, a close fought game where everyone had a chance to win and no pubstomping happened. Basically midrange value piles?

As for clarity, I don't hate playing against stax per say. I dislike playing against stax when it's just preying upon weaker/for fun battlecruiser decks. Easily solution of "Hey, I'm playing a more cutthroat deck so don't bring your Chromium voltron that will immediately fold because it's gameplan of cast Akroma, Angel of Wrath is not a powerful one. Let's play some magic not watch me solitaire for two hours of completely shutting down the board." I also despise stax that doesn't do the decency of putting you out of your misery even though it won the game almost an hour ago.

People get too hung up the minutiae with this game. Every strategy has an answer, by design. Being a casual format people want to think their feelings are enough that certain areas should be taboo or forbidden, but they also don't want to communicate well. Or, they're quite happy to get a game, find something they don't like, get all up in their feelings and let it ruin the experience for themselves and others.

I get a game like once a month tops now, with a 3yo kid and another on the way. I've learned that most of the time it's gotta be like a real deal breaker for me to actively not enjoy the game. There's very little I don't want to play against now, because I'd rather play than not. I will straight up tell people if they're not doing right by the table though.

Predominantly, the only thing I'm not into is stax locks. Not stax, the lock is the issue. If you can't get a W, you haven't won, and concession is not a victory. I don't have the time to force someone to get their deck over the line but if I did I would. Locking the board is giving stax players a bad name by doing it wrong. Stax is a valid way of playing that answers many of the other gripes people have, like counter heavy draw go, fast combo, all that, but it does have to be played right to win, to not piss anyone off, to actually end the game. It requires delicacy that isn't apparent in locks.

I like stax because it's very good at levelling the playing field against some of the most expensive stuff in the format. The fast rocks, the free counters, it all gets brought down to equal if you're doing stax well. It also makes combat an actual viable win con. And that's pretty cool.

[materpillar]

I like stax because it's very good at levelling the playing field against some of the most expensive stuff in the format. The fast rocks, the free counters, it all gets brought down to equal if you're doing stax well. It also makes combat an actual viable win con. And that's pretty cool.

Yeah, this is where I'm at. I just mostly play at lower power tables where the things stax isn't countering these things because these things don't exist. As such you're more locking people out to be a jerk.

Side note: I'm reading the Malazan books. I'm only on the 3rd book but they're pretty solid.

[Hermes_]

nvm

[toctheyounger]

I like stax because it's very good at levelling the playing field against some of the most expensive stuff in the format. The fast rocks, the free counters, it all gets brought down to equal if you're doing stax well. It also makes combat an actual viable win con. And that's pretty cool.

Yeah, this is where I'm at. I just mostly play at lower power tables where the things stax isn't countering these things because these things don't exist. As such you're more locking people out to be a jerk.

Side note: I'm reading the Malazan books. I'm only on the 3rd book but they're pretty solid.

Yeah that's fair, anything but light stax at a casual table is overboard for sure.

Oooo, memories of ice! Things really get moving from that one forward. The children of the dead seed are for sure a mood. My favorite is probably deadhouse gates. The chain of dogs gets me every time. Glad you're enjoying it!

[pokken]

Is there something mtg players do like?

I'll t take Magic Players for 500

The answer is: Something MTG players don't like.

What is "Whining?"

[toctheyounger]

Is there something mtg players do like?

I'll t take Magic Players for 500

The answer is: Something MTG players don't like.

What is "Whining?"

I actually do think casual commander content has some responsibility to take for all the gripes. People expect their games to play out like an episode of game knights without any of the thought or production that goes into it, or communication prior.

Plus a lot of the podcast stuff where they reference competitive aspects it quite often comes off as derogatory. I'm not sure if that's still the case with Rachel Weeks in the mix, I know she does some cedh games here and there, but prior there was some real condescension there whether it was intended or not. To the point where Ken Baumann, bless his heart, literally posted a mathematically proven retort to one of their vids.

It's definitely not a full responsibility thing, people do need to take account of the way they talk to each other, too.

[Hermes_]

So, i used store credit and ordered the curses off of this list https://edhrec.com/deckpreview/iCi-teMjgOwJsCysbVXNvQ

[DirkGently]

Went to do a draft today and found out it was the store championship and that the reward was a promo Thalia and The Gitrog Monster. Excellent, it's one of the few cards I still need from MOM. Fought well, fought hard, got first...and it's a textless promo.

JFC wizards, did we not learn anything from Cryptic Command? Why are we still making textless promos of cards with a thousand lines of text?

[Guardman]

Went to do a draft today and found out it was the store championship and that the reward was a promo Thalia and The Gitrog Monster. Excellent, it's one of the few cards I still need from MOM. Fought well, fought hard, got first...and it's a textless promo.

JFC wizards, did we not learn anything from Cryptic Command? Why are we still making textless promos of cards with a thousand lines of text?

I'm personally waiting for them to make a textless version of Very Cryptic Command so I can have my opponents solves puzzles to figure out which version it is.

I do miss the textless version though. The textless Wrath of God, Damnation, and Mana Tithe are my favorite versions of those cards. But then again they are all pretty straight forward cards.

[Lifeless]

All of the sudden I really want a textless Ice Cauldron for maximum mental damage.

[duducrash]

Is there a textless Thalia and frog friend? I cant find this version

I dig the textless cards, specially of the cards with a lot of text. I think its a funny joke, like the 4c omnath