GBS

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
Speaking only for myself, I think that having cube on a grand stage like the Player's Championship last year was a great idea in theory to expose the cube to a wider, mainstream audience. In practice, though, the large, 720-card MTGO list is somewhat.. unrefined, and the decks that were drafted from the list reflected that, despite amassing the best talent in the world around a table. It felt to me that their cube wasn't designed or developed to be ready for a big, prime time event, and I don't think it was the best representation of cube for the typical viewer who hadn't ever heard of the format until watching the stream.

In the year since, the various tweaks and changes to the MTGO cube list haven't really done much to address some of the inherent flaws of its design. So personally, I'm glad that the premiere draft format on offer this year is Modern Masters, a limited set with actual bona fides behind it.
 

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
You're famous! But if your head starts getting too big, I have this pin right here I'm going to use to pop it.
 
Well tonight was quite the eventful night. I go down to our shop towards the end of FNM. Theres a game going with a 10-12yr old kid and one of the players who everyone has been watching closely because they question if hes cheating. So during the game the dad of this boy is pointing out his triggers that aren't may abilities. For instance the damage on Zhur-Taa Druid when tapped for mana. At the end of the game the older player puts up this big stink about how players should mind their own game and shouldnt say anything about a game they arent involved in. We tried explaining to him that this was FNM where its more casual and friendly and plus the dad never said anything as far as game choices only reminded about triggers that must happen and keeping life total in check. This guy then starts threatening me with violence because I shouldnt get involved in the conversation. He actually got so close to me our noses were touching. I tried getting the owner to throw him out but he wouldnt. This is the very reason why I dont play any type of Constructed magic anymore. Not a single player has ever had any problem with this. We even explained if there was prizes on the line things would be a little difference but this was a more laid back learning environment. We would never tell another play what plays to make but we welcome people pointing out things that shouldve happened. I dont know how many times Ive reminded players about drawing because they get so distracted. We also tried explaining to him that its just as much his responsibility to watch for triggers as it is the opponent. We even asked how hed feel if we say a player putting shock lands into play untapped without taking damage. Uggghhhh...Im rambling now but I just had to get this experience off my chest. Does anyone else have problems with tools like this guy at their FNM? It actually makes me question if I should play at Gencon because I dont want to play against anyone like him. I want to play for fun!
 
People like that are the reason I really only cube and play with friends now. It's nice being pushed hard to play sharp but god damn would I rather play with nice people I like than spend any more hours forcing myself to interact with people who are either going to leave me feeling like I'm developing serious TMJ or like I'm covered in a patina that is more or less grief based.

It's really sad how easy it is to believe this guy was getting aggressive with you. Magic is a great game where you meet awful, awful people.
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Oh wait, it's standard. These games are abysmal to watch. About 1 relevant decision per game between both players.
 
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Is it really that dull? I thought games were super finicky with the aristocrats decks and the snapcaster // unsummon decks.
 
I also wanted to thank you guys for pointing me at ihop. My country fried steak meal (?!?!?!?) totally just fucking came with 2 pancakes.
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Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
If you thought that was bad, wait until Reid (probably) beats the tar out of the T4 with Hexproof in Modern this morning.

Yeah, I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes Magic a good game, what's bad about it, and why people play it. I think the deckbuilding / deck choice, but many many matchups between Deck A and Deck B just have no depth to them. I think this is a pretty big flaw in the game's design.
 

Dom Harvey

Contributor
That seems to be a big part of why a lot of the most skilled players prefer Limited. It's a lot harder to 'solve' a matchup where the decks are singleton (or close to it); and even if you come close, the matchup never really repeats itself.
 

CML

Contributor
I feel strongly Legacy and Modern games are quite good and Wizards is aware of this flaw, though Standard games are historically AWFUL right now. Like even a few years ago even aggro mirrors had some activated abilities. Now? "Derp, a Dragon"
 

CML

Contributor
so uh am i mistaken or http://www.dota2.com/international/home/overview/ is this game free to play
and awarding 10x the prizes at a single pro tour
and in the symphony hall and not a dingy showbox with 5 spectators total
yeah theres no doubt that most of mtg's cultural problem comes from a lack of money in the game (though i guess you could convince me otherwise), i guess my main question is: why has nobody pointed this out yet?
former wizards employees or what have you
since presumably if this is being held in this state, with its asinine gambling laws equating online poker with child pornography (a reason i refuse to play in the indian casinos), then hasbro can sack up ugh i dont understand anything anyway keep me from going crazy right here
 
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