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Post by sdfkjgh on Jan 24, 2022 17:05:04 GMT
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foureyesisafish
7/7 Elemental
Posts: 388
Favorite Set: Ikoria: Lair of the Behemoths
Color Alignment: Blue, Red, Green
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Post by foureyesisafish on Jan 25, 2022 12:57:55 GMT
I'm gonna pass on this question cuz I really don't play Arena anyways. No comment
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Post by ZephyrPhantom on Jan 25, 2022 18:00:06 GMT
Guess we better throw away all those Arena questions, haha!
Bold of you to assume the overflow questions were about Arena... but saying any more would be spoilers, so stay tuned for next episode. =P
I'm actually curious about if there's anything good about Arena for an enfranchised player. It only really seems to be worth it for newer/more casual players.
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Post by sdfkjgh on Jan 25, 2022 21:07:47 GMT
I know absolutely nothing about Cockatrice or Xmage, and both my mobiles are hand-me-downs with no phone function, which I only use as mobile internet connections (and formerly, before the software was updated out of the oblivion of iphone 4*, Shazamming songs from my favorite shows), so I have no idea if I'd use either of them. I'd say a good marker for my behavior would be this: If I ever wanna play my old Modern decks, I'mma go on MTGO, but for the most part, I'm a rat at the crack lever of Arena's daily rewards. Yes, it's incredibly predatory, and highly unhealthy, for both them and me (typical end-stage unfettered capitalism, yo), but...I can't even think of a but, it's so inexcusable. The moment they code every single card in Modernon Arena, and include players' preferences for stacking triggers, and finally code in a proper, WORKING pass turn button...
Yeah, that sounds like FAR too much work for WotC. MTGO's safe from any and all harm.
Our next Question comes from me: Now that we've covered the negatives of Alchemy, let's explore the positives. Thanks to Alchemy's ability to nerf or tweak cards, R&D can correct some mistakes (whether or not they actually make the right corrections is another matter entirely). So, what are some cards that you'd nerf or tweak, and how would you do that?
*I believe. |
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Post by Daij_Djan on Jan 25, 2022 21:59:59 GMT
I think this is the question, I'll have to sit out. Suggesting Arena-only changes is out of the question for me (for I guess obvious reasons^^) except for the digital only cards I don't know enough about to make a suggestion  Likewise I'm currently not deep enough into the most recent sets to really make any oracle ruling change suggestions – so I guess I'd be left with older cards which I wouldn't want to make such changes to because of their age as well.. So unless I have a spontaneous idea over the next few days and write it down, don't expect much imput from me for this one |
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Post by sdfkjgh on Jan 25, 2022 22:11:36 GMT
Daij_Djan: Think of it like this: You're in charge, the card is still going through R&D's playtesting, it has yet to be released to the public, but it's in the form it was when it was released. Knowing everything you know now about the card (and it can be ANY card in Magic, or even any number of cards), what would you change to make it stronger/weaker/more balanced?
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ArkiThe7th
1/1 Squirrel
Any plant is edible if you’re not a coward.
Posts: 82
Favorite Card: Wee Dragonauts
Favorite Set: Pauper Masters (wait a second...)
Color Alignment: Blue, Red
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Post by ArkiThe7th on Jan 28, 2022 12:26:58 GMT
Honestly, there aren’t many cards I would like changed, either. The only one I can think of is Sojourner’s Companion. I hate how they just blatantly made a better Myr Enforcer and didn’t expect it to break pauper. I like the artifact land cycling, but the rest of it is just bad design. If they could make a change to it, I would like them to keep the land cycling, but change the power/toughness and cmc.
Additionally, going way back, if they could have made some sort of edit to Arcum’s Astrolabe instead of straight out banning, that would’ve been nice. I don’t know what sort of change I’d like, but it really pains me to see cards banned in Pauper.
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Post by ZephyrPhantom on Jan 28, 2022 15:26:52 GMT
Not sure if I've said this before but I prefer Magic's permanence and general need to own its mistakes rather than endlessly tweak cards because it lets me and others revisit old decks I like. Giving me that option wouldn't change that - I'd rather print a less powerful version instead (as WoTC has done regularly in the past).
If I wanted to deal with cards that could change on a regular basis, I'd be playing another game.
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Post by sdfkjgh on Jan 29, 2022 19:41:58 GMT
foureyesisafish: Should we continue to wait for your response, or just skip over you for the rest of the episode?
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foureyesisafish
7/7 Elemental
Posts: 388
Favorite Set: Ikoria: Lair of the Behemoths
Color Alignment: Blue, Red, Green
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Post by foureyesisafish on Jan 30, 2022 20:11:47 GMT
foureyesisafish: Should we continue to wait for your response, or just skip over you for the rest of the episode? Skip me because I have no comments about arena stuff really. Next episode though…  |
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Post by sdfkjgh on Jan 31, 2022 4:37:59 GMT
I feel like you all were a little too limited in your views with how to answer this Question. Y'all seemed to approach it from where you are now, when I expressly instructed you to imagine you're working at Wizards.
Ok, first up, we have t3f3ri & that bitch. Next, we have the entire category of "without paying its mana cost." I've said before1 that that phrase needs a moratorium, but mebbe instead of cold turkey, we look more towards an expert's touch.
Take Emergent Ultimatum, please!!! I'd add "and total combined mana value of 7 or less" to the first sentence. In fact, I'd fix EVERY USAGE OF "WITHOUT PAYING ITS MANA COST" to have an upper limit set by the amount of mana spent to allow you to subvert Rule #12. Yes, there are some cards/effects where this proposed hard upper limit wouldn't make any sense3, and for those, I'd review them on a case-by-case basis. The whole point is that you're never going up in mana. Spend 4 mana, you should only ever be able to get a maximum of 4 mana's worth of cards.
Which brings me to Collected Company. Oh, CoCo--on tv, you represent one of the funniest people ever4, but in Magic, you are several mistakes all bundled into a card that is just as banworthy as Golgari Grave-Troll, yet for some reason is the Yang to that card's Yin: staying off the banlist far longer than it was originally, rightfully on.
Six cards is way too much for its inputs and outputs. I'll give you five, under extreme, life-threatened protest, but four is much more comfortable. Also, this too is getting hit with that hard upper limit of "total combined mana value of 4 or less". Lukka and Winota are getting similar treatments, with the hard limits for each being tied to the creatures that cause the abilities to trigger.
Which brings me to that fucking lobster! The recent "rebalancing" didn't go far enough. The mana value of the spell or permanent to be bounced MUST be tied to the mana value of the triggering spell!!! In what fucking loony bin did they think that it's alright for an Opt to be able to bounce anything more than a 1-mana spell or permanent?! This makes no goddamn sense, and I'm sick of seeing R&D ignoring all semblance of balance just to satisfy the yawning void of Hasbro's end-stage capitalistic maw. I'm not saying we should be bringing back The Reserved List, but if we were, there'd be a whole HELL of a lot more fodder for categories 5 & 6.
And now, a card that I'd tweak: Wizard Class. The Alchemy rebalancing of Level 3 was nice, but whenever there's these cards that are damn near utter crap due to overbalancing, it always makes you wonder why these, and not the obviously broken shit that they let spew out like a broken sewer main, gushing effluvia and despoiling all with their "We don't give a single fuck about balance" stench? Again, the rebalancing didn't go far enough (this time in the opposite direction), and I'd switch Levels 2 & 3. Again, with all the BAH-roken ass out there now, getting literally EVERYTHING they need to win on each individual card, why is Wizard Class not optimized to fully take advantage of the +1/+1 counters from card draw? If we're gonna destroy errthing with unfettered powercreep, LET'S POWERCREEP EVERYTHING!!! Make Buddy's postulate a fucking reality!!! Yeah! Let's goooooooooooo!!
Ral: JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, THIS IS TRULY EXCELLENT COCAINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAARGGLARBLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Teferi: Hello, Betty Ford Center? I'd like to book two rooms for next week, when my friends finally come down from their baker's sugar high. Yes, that's right, I said baker's sugar. No, that's not a euphemism. No, I do not wanna be transferred to Weight Watchers! Hello? Hello?! Gịnị kpatara enweghị ọrụ ndị ahịa ọzọ?!
What the fuck happened?
Teferi: Well, the cops stopped caring after the fourth time you tried to ride the gharial, and apparently, Ral has been crowned King of the Feces-Throwing Monkeys after the three-day scat orgy--
Ral: You better be fucking joking, ibn-Zhalfir!
Teferi: OF COURSE I'm joking! What, you think I'd just let you two jokers loose on the world while you're both on a bender?! What do you take me for, Jund?!
(Shouldn't we at least tell them about their upcoming court dates?) (Teferi: That, my friend, is what bailiffs and sheriffs are for.) (You devious little shit. I never knew you had it in you. Bravo.) (Teferi: I so very rarely get to have one over on either of them, I might as well savor those precious few moments when they come.) (Quite so. Care to join me for a chateaubriand of slaughtered Dragon as we watch the fallout?) (Teferi: I thought you'd never ask.)
Ral: If someone doesn't get me a coffee and a connection to my AO3 account right fucking NOW, there's gonna be electric-lightning-death-hell to pay!! I may be a homosexual, but that is some of the HoYayest shit I've ever seen!
I'm sorry this falls on me but let's move on. Our Final Question comes from Daij_Djan: I assume making guesses (or betting virtual cookies ) about how many Secret Lairs well get in 2022 would be dark humor at best?
1In a fit of extreme raeg, so perhaps my words were a little too hasty.
2RULE #1: DON'T SUBVERT THE MANA SYSTEM!
3See suspend.
4And a fellow product of ancestral incest. |
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Post by ZephyrPhantom on Jan 31, 2022 7:04:03 GMT
I feel like you all were a little too limited in your views with how to answer this Question. Y'all seemed to approach it from where you are now, when I expressly instructed you to imagine you're working at Wizards. What's wrong with holding a conservative design view at Wizards in the context of card effect design? There's a reason not every mechanic MaRo comes up with sees print. |
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Post by sdfkjgh on Jan 31, 2022 20:17:39 GMT
I feel like you all were a little too limited in your views with how to answer this Question. Y'all seemed to approach it from where you are now, when I expressly instructed you to imagine you're working at Wizards. What's wrong with holding a conservative design view at Wizards in the context of card effect design? There's a reason not every mechanic MaRo comes up with sees print. That's fair. As you can see, I kinda got a little off the rails there. It just bugs me that WotC seems to be struggling with end-stage capitalism, and Magic is struggling because of it. |
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Post by Daij_Djan on Jan 31, 2022 20:54:23 GMT
Always wanted to respond to your response anyway, but didn't really have the time 
Here's the thing: There obviously are / have been some designs that are pretty much beyond saving in the eyes of most payers - old designs like Boil come to mind or flat out unfun commanders like Tergrid, God of Fright. Or there's stuff like the original companion mechanic which was obviously complete nonsence. But I still think there's room for these designs in MtG given its size.
Yes Skullclamp's last minute changes completely broke the card, but I'd never suggest fixing it - exactly because it turned out being so utterly broken it became iconic. And it's totally fun to use if you have an opponent with a simlar power level.. Or looking at the individual cards you're critisizing: Some of them I cannot judge since (as mentioned) I've never seen them in play (like Wizard Class), and others where your rant actually made me smile a bit. Sure Hullbreaker Horror is powerful and using Opt to bounce a ten-drop is quite the spectacle - but I've played against Capsize + Tidespout Tyrant obliterating entire mana bases in the past, so the Crab not being able to hit lands anyway makes me care/worry much less about it
Since the new and final question is my own, I'll wait a bit to answer that one  |
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Post by sdfkjgh on Feb 1, 2022 20:19:33 GMT
I almost forgot one from the previous Question: Goldspan Dragon. Instead of losing the Treasure generation on targeting, I'd axe the ability that doubles mana generation of Treasures, because it, once again, spits in the face of Rule #1. Actually, everything about this card's Treasure generation spits in the face of Rule #1, but that last ability is the most egregious about it. |
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Post by sdfkjgh on Feb 3, 2022 18:55:05 GMT
Daij_Djan: It looks like no one else is answering, so why don't you start us off.
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Post by ZephyrPhantom on Feb 3, 2022 20:49:56 GMT
My bad, I missed it due to having to read so fast.
Not-serious answer: 42.
Half serious unrelated answer: When you think about it quite a few crossovers are in the pipeline already. LOTR, Street Fighter, Warhammer 40k....
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ArkiThe7th
1/1 Squirrel
Any plant is edible if you’re not a coward.
Posts: 82
Favorite Card: Wee Dragonauts
Favorite Set: Pauper Masters (wait a second...)
Color Alignment: Blue, Red
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Post by ArkiThe7th on Feb 7, 2022 2:30:06 GMT
At least 12 (one or each month), but probably more. I’m not feeling too optimistic at the moment. I’d love to be pleasantly surprised, though.
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Post by sdfkjgh on Feb 7, 2022 23:11:33 GMT
Daij_Djan, foureyesisafish: Well, if neither of you are gonna go, I guess I'll throw my 2¢ in:
This April 1st, WotC surprises errbody by giving up the game and admitting the doomsayers were all correct by, instead of any Secret Lairs for the entire year, releasing, with absolutely zero buildup, the ignominious return of a supposedly discontinued product: Duel Decks: Fleece vs. Whales.
The Whales deck is a mono- Tempo/Skies deck, featuring such "classics" as Aethertide Whale, Long-Finned Skywhale, and Whalebone Glider, with an all-new, foil-stamped, special framed, Godzilla treatment, black and white illustration collaboration by rk post, Rebecca Guay, Fay Jones, Susan Van Camp, Alton Lawson, and Kitt "Scarypet" Lapeña! (Note that all that is just for the one card, Whalebone Glider.)
The Fleece deck is a   /Artifact Midrange deck, featuring such "beloved" cards as Fleecemane Lion, Nyxfleece Ram, Skywhaler's Shot (concessions had to be made towards deck pairing balance), Gatebreaker Ram (only - and -producing Gates will be included in the deck; again, for balance), Rustspore Ram, and Flock of Rabid Sheep (with all new art by harold mcneill).
MSRP $200.69$300.69 (nice).
#ShitpostingOnTheSevens |
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Post by sdfkjgh on Feb 10, 2022 15:52:41 GMT
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Post by Daij_Djan on Feb 14, 2022 22:01:26 GMT
So that one's already been taken. Great.. xD So which funny number should I suggest otherwise..? Maybe say 69 to make my inner teen giggle? Or say this to be „lol-random“? (really wanted to make that one's presentation better, but I couldn't think about a proper way to do)Yeah, sadly my creativity for a joke answer is rather lacking today, sorry To answer in earnest: Last year we had 45 Secret Lairs – I doubt there will be less this time. Especially since we already know there will be 12 for the zodiacs alone.. My prediction: This time we will break the one set per week average. |
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Post by sdfkjgh on Feb 14, 2022 22:45:16 GMT
I don't want to assume anything, so foureyesisafish, should we just skip you and head straight on to our outro? |
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Post by sdfkjgh on Feb 15, 2022 20:35:05 GMT
I'll just take that like as a yes.
Well, that does it for another episode. I'd like to thank our Panel, Daij_Djan, ZephyrPhantom, ArkiThe7th, & foureyesisafish, and I hope dangerousdice is still among those of us who can pass as a semblance of life. As always, I'll open the floor to them for any final thoughts. |
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Post by ZephyrPhantom on Feb 15, 2022 21:36:37 GMT
Hm? Oh, yeah. Sorry, too busy trying to figure out what part of Neon Dynasty I want to brew the most. Speaking of which, that'll be the topic of next episode - look forward to it then.  In the meantime, can I interest you all in a Giant Robot Deckbuilder's Challenge? |
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Post by Daij_Djan on Feb 15, 2022 22:05:43 GMT
Yeah, there's no way Kamigawa won't be a topic next time..
Oh, Yawgmoth's children whisper, now she is their sister.. All her knowledge, all her wisdom - serving them..
Damn, can't get those lines out of my head anymore..
See you all soon!
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ArkiThe7th
1/1 Squirrel
Any plant is edible if you’re not a coward.
Posts: 82
Favorite Card: Wee Dragonauts
Favorite Set: Pauper Masters (wait a second...)
Color Alignment: Blue, Red
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Post by ArkiThe7th on Feb 16, 2022 22:42:18 GMT
Still shaking over what they did to Tamiyo…
Let’s see if I can collect myself in time for next episode.
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Post by sdfkjgh on Feb 19, 2022 0:45:36 GMT
So, from Magic Mics, to twitter, to Imgur, I think I've found the Trapped on Tattooine Canonical looks for Ral & Teferi:
 
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Post by sdfkjgh on Feb 19, 2022 20:56:53 GMT
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Post by ZephyrPhantom on Feb 19, 2022 23:15:35 GMT
Farewell to the already given farewells, I suppose.
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ArkiThe7th
1/1 Squirrel
Any plant is edible if you’re not a coward.
Posts: 82
Favorite Card: Wee Dragonauts
Favorite Set: Pauper Masters (wait a second...)
Color Alignment: Blue, Red
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Post by ArkiThe7th on Feb 21, 2022 12:22:29 GMT
Till next time, everyone!
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"When in doubt, do a common." 
In the meantime, can I interest you all in a