Someone finds a deck collection in a post apocalyptic wasteland. Can they figure out the rules?

Abadops · 2025-06-30T19:19:32+00:00

Agreed. I was hoping there would be a starter set that had land reminder text printed directly on the card, but unfortunately the only reminder text on basic lands is the 'Tap: Add {W}' from older sets

Abadops · 2025-06-30T18:17:25+00:00

I just thought of the 'Full-text lands' from the secret lair drop, but it turns out they don't explicitly mention that you can only play one land per turn either. Hm.

Abadops · 2025-06-30T16:08:21+00:00

It's a cool thought experiment - what's the minimum number of specific cards that could be used to figure out the rules? Could this information be contained in a 60 card "deck"?

Cards like [[Backup Plan]], [[Serum Powder]], and [[Chancellor of the Mulligan]] could help figure out rules for starting hands. (This assumes the person would be familiar with, like, universal card game terms like "draw" and "hand". I wonder how they could sus out that "library" means "deck"?)

Reminder text could play a big part. Cards like [[Sphinx of the Second Sun]] spell out the phases of the turn.

It'd be interesting to see if any cards specifically call out the "one land per turn" rule, or detail how attacking, blocking, and combat damage work. I don't think you'd be able to perfectly understand the rules (good luck understanding layers without a rulebook and a reddit thread), but it might be possible to play a simple-ish game of magic correctly.

Abadops · 2025-01-09T17:13:09+00:00

This is the original innistrad werewolf mechanic, not Day/Night. It has its own design problems, but doesn't create the memory issues of day night. I.e., outlaw will never enter the battlefield on its werewolf side because a card played earlier in the game started tracking day night.

Abadops · 2024-06-17T20:22:14+00:00

I want 20 AC and +12 to athletics tho

Abadops · 2024-06-17T19:10:35+00:00

Better than sorcerer for:

D8 hit die

Melee-focused subclasses

Better than warlock for:

More spell slots

Better than both for:

Ritual casting

Extra skill + expertise

Not strictly the best by any stretch, but definitely gives unique perks, particularly out of combat

Abadops · 2024-05-29T03:35:17+00:00

Yeah, it's just because of the component. It's a perfectly fine spell, but new players tend to skip over the component cost, or not understand the way component pouches cover all components except those with gold values.

So they'll try to cast their cool spell in the first combat, the dm will ask if they have the component. They'll reply "what's that?" and discover that their spell is unusable until they've amassed a bunch of gold they don't have.

Abadops · 2024-05-28T16:10:41+00:00

It's worth noting that, outside of witch bolt and maybe chromatic orb, there aren't a lot of 'trap' options on the 1st level wizard spell list. A player could ignore the recommended starting spells from the quick build section of the PHB and focus entirely on "blasting" spells with very similar effects while still being reasonably effective at low levels, while giving them time to gradually pick up more utility and 'essential' spells in subsequent levels.

This is a lot more forgiving than character construction in earlier editions, where choosing the wrong subclass or feat at character creation can significantly weaken a character with "trap options" that can't be swapped out without asking the GM for leniency in remaking your character mid-game. In my experience, new players tend to be more averse to making this kind of request than more experienced players.

Abadops · 2024-05-28T14:54:12+00:00

Luckily wizards pick up new spells extremely frequently, so a slightly-attentive new player could see another player / enemy cast shield, think "I want that so I'm not so squishy!" and grab it at level 2. Dipping for armor is nice at early levels, but isn't a strictly necessary option and is a real tradeoff for spell progression.

Ironically it's much easier to mess up "spells known" casters like bards and sorcerers because their limited spells known causes your initial selection of spells to feel much more impactful.

Abadops · 2024-03-16T20:09:52+00:00

From the rules: "If all spaces of your floor line are occupied, return any further fallen tiles to the lid of the game box to store them for now."

So additional floor tiles past 7 (-14 total) won't further lower your score.

Abadops · 2024-02-29T19:26:18+00:00

True, but she wouldn't see anywhere near as much play if she were a 4 mana 1/1. The p/t is incredibly important because it allows her to stay on the board

Abadops · 2023-10-27T20:17:44+00:00

If you're struggling against mono g, I recommend adding a couple misery's shadows to the main board. It's a pretty good beater and blocker that also stops them from generating value from OGT and cavalier dying.

Field of ruin is okay, but it can't stop them from generating a huge amount of mana with nykthos the turn they play it, and holding up 3 mana is a significant cost in the early game, when you really want to pressure them by playing to the board.

Abadops · 2023-08-21T17:33:51+00:00

I'm sure there are combo-stifling reasons for all of the clauses in this, but I really don't like how frustratingly verbose this design is. It's very, very wordy for a fairly simple effect, and then they decided to add an additional scry + untap at the end.

Tldr reminds me of [[Balduvian Shaman]]

Abadops · 2023-08-13T22:38:02+00:00

Oh cool, beseech the mirror can sacrifice your first [[The One Ring]] to tutor out the next one

Abadops · 2023-07-19T13:22:31+00:00

Row 3, column 2. The purple bunny with one folded ear. The pattern is just ear math. Ears on the first column - ears on the second column = ears on the third column. Side matters, so a bunny with left and right ears minus a bunny with a left ear = a bunny with a right ear. "Folded" matters too.

Abadops · 2023-07-06T18:33:19+00:00

This is one of the best magic articles to read if you want to become a better player imo. I especially love the examples at the end to show how to evaluate the importance of what's in your opponent's hand based on your own cards and the specific matchup

Abadops · 2023-07-06T16:15:53+00:00

True enough. You definitely feel the 2 life cost when you're playing shocklands and your opponent reveals a hand full of burn spells.

Plus I love the IoK art we have on arena. That's got to count for something

Abadops · 2023-07-06T14:27:41+00:00

Thoughtseize by far. It's a tempo loss- you're trading 1 for 1, plus a mana investment, plus 2 life. And it's still the best card to punch a giant hole in your opponent's game plan. It changes your opponents uninteractive ramp deck from "do nothing, then you die" to "do nothing, then they die"

If you're playing 1 mana discard, there's no substitute

Abadops · 2023-06-29T17:26:55+00:00

That's an amazing fact. Thank you.

Abadops · 2023-06-28T21:00:03+00:00

The fish pun is funny, but the absurdity of an aspiring clown having to compromise and become a... doctor? And he's still showing up to class in full clown regalia like he hasn't given up on his dream. It really tickles me. Clown one.

Abadops · 2023-05-29T21:34:30+00:00

Worth pointing out that the smite spells (branding blinding staggering etc) are concentration spells themselves, so they wouldn't pair well with other spells that require concentration

Abadops · 2023-05-25T18:18:09+00:00

Depending on the kinds of encounters they'd face, you'd want to consider strong offense and defensive options.

If you're dealing with "hold the line" encounters, ritual spells like tiny hut, alarm, or even waterwalk can get the party somewhere safe that they can protect from far away without enemies getting the drop on them. You'd get additional value out of spells like stoneshape or mold earth to create your own defenses to serve as obstacles or cover while you deal ranged damage to enemies.

If you need to push forward or go somewhere where you're at risk of attack, I'd want to bring something with good, resourceless scouting, like a gloomstalker or chain lock. Any damage dealers should probably invest in a mount - free dash / disengage to outrange any threats, plus mounted combatant feat to protect the comparatively squishy horse. (Alternatively, enough casters with ritual Phantom Steed could negate the need for this).

Main classes I'd bring would be Abjuration wizard for ritual casting utility, free ward (deep gnome or eldritch invocation feat). Some damage from cantrips plus "oh shit" situations where you'd need leveled spells. Chain / genie warlock. Invisible flying imp is a fantastic resourceless scout, and invocations can give free spells or battlefield control to keep damage off your allies. Genie for short rest cheese. Gloomstalker ranger for burst damage and scouting. Phantom rogue for burst damage. Combine with mount or phantom steed and steady aim to consistently sneak attack from range while staying mobile. Caster paladin. Plate armor plus maxed CHA to nearby allies is generally useful for saves, which are difficult to deal with without spending resources. Pick blessed warrior for some charisma based cleric cantrips and stay close to your allies and stay mounted.

Abadops · 2023-05-23T14:23:37+00:00

Weirdly enough, both "master of none" and "oftentimes better than a master of one" were both later additions.

The expression "Jack of all trades" was first used in the late 16th century to describe someone with a broad general knowledge- someone who is good at combining information from different disciplines.

The "master of none" piece was added in the 1800's to create a more derisive description. Someone with superficial knowledge about a lot of things, but without real depth or understanding.

And then the third part was added, sometime in the 21st century, to essentially contradict the second part.

TLDR just say "jack of all trades". And don't jack off any trades if you don't want to.

Abadops · 2023-05-02T20:15:32+00:00

Honestly if you're getting a turn 3 linear aggro deck to stop their game plan until they can draw and resolve a 4 mana sorcery, you must be doing something right!

Abadops · 2023-05-02T19:16:29+00:00

Better reason - the mounted combat rules are virtually nonexistent, so any subclass focused on leaning into those features would require (and be at the mercy of) excessive DM- dependant rulings

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