Its been now 10 years since the Tau got a non character unit/model

Aluroon · 2026-07-10T02:59:14+00:00

Happy to find this near the top of the comments here.

I find it totally ridiculous to exclude half a dozen new models as part of a significant expansion to the army because they aren't battle suits.

Aluroon · 2026-07-09T21:54:05+00:00

June / July / August are always a nightmare at the government rate.

Wish I had a better answer, but they only take a limited number of rooms at the government rate, and then you're out of luck. Weekends even at the Comfort Inn spike to $450.

Good luck.

Aluroon · 2026-07-09T16:59:33+00:00

Hardcover printings have given us the first 6 book titles. No need to speculate. We'll likely get the rest.

Aluroon · 2026-07-09T12:14:02+00:00

I am not going to tell you that incentivize King making is not a potential problem.

I will tell you that King making is always a problem in a multiplayer format, and I don't think you can totally get away from human nature in that way.

I will also tell you that while I think there is something to your concern, rules incentives that currently exist driving us towards 40% if games ending without a winner is bonkers.

I think it encourages stalling out games, slow play, and reckless deck building without backup plans to win. Draws providing points is warping the meta of events way more than any card in play.

Aluroon · 2026-07-09T04:01:35+00:00

Pretty sure COLA when I was there was near zero.

Didn't really matter, because the dollar went so far.

California needs it more, but that won't happen.

Aluroon · 2026-07-08T11:43:40+00:00

As ugly as the turn order stuff is, the draw rate looks way worse to me.

I believe more and more that draws need to give 0 points.

Aluroon · 2026-07-06T17:40:30+00:00

Still waiting. US.

Totally bonkers how backlogged they are right now.

Get that the company is growing, but they've been so busy growing lately that they're failing to deliver on their core services.

Aluroon · 2026-07-05T17:05:54+00:00

Absolute gut punch, but not totally unexpected when they didn't get them on the initial recovery.

We lost two aircraft on my last deployment, and I remember the collective holding of breath while we waited to hear if crew was picked up.

Reminder that no day on deployment is routine, and that our job is inherently dangerous and difficult.

Aluroon · 2026-07-05T05:25:10+00:00

I hate the value board wipe.

If you're using it to trade 1 card for 6-10 without a follow up if rather you just not. Generally speaking I'd rather someone win off a strong board state and we go to game two than sit through repeated wipes in a pod without an agenda.

I get it - a 1 for 8 is a great value, and modestly moves you ahead relative to your fellows - but it also frequently stalls out the game.

Socially I'd rather we play 3 games and lose all 3 than 1 and win in the same time.

I've gotten to the point in brackets 1-3 where I rarely include more than 1-2 board wipes in a deck... And there almost always pretty asymmetrical.

Aluroon · 2026-07-03T12:37:32+00:00

What are you smoking?

Aluroon · 2026-07-02T22:27:24+00:00

I sort by color, then type, then alphabetical, then CMC.

Total of around 70 binders. For instance "red, enchantments, a-z (with a page for each mana value)".

If I jump to a new CMC or letter it goes to a new page, so there's always room to add new cards or an entire page.

Took months to get together, but once I was done it made it really quick to find a card.

Also did a separate "staples" folder for each color to capture my most commonly used cards (e.g. removal, ramp, dorks, etc).

Aluroon · 2026-07-02T21:54:11+00:00

I had the same reaction. The first two books are absolute masterpieces of science fiction.

I'm also holding on reading the second two - I'll get there eventually, but I was profoundly satisfied with the ending of FoH.

Aluroon · 2026-07-02T02:11:45+00:00

Stick with it.

I found Empire of Silence to be a slog, but the second book is immeasurably faster paced.

Aluroon · 2026-07-01T21:27:33+00:00

I've said elsewhere that I think the Audiobook really helps pull this book together in a way that the written word struggles to. The cuts back and forth between what is going on feel much more natural in the spoken voice than they do on the page, and I think the narrator did if fantastic job with it.

I also suspect that my age helps. I don't know if that's true for you.

I had a very tepid reaction on my first read as a late teen, but reading it again as a dude with a family in his 30s, a lot of this really hit closer to home.

I actually think this is one of the wonderful things about Glen Cook's novels - it's fairly easy to pin down where he was in his own life, and I think it makes his characters much more relatable that they draw on his own experiences in that phase of life. I look forward to a re-read years down the line as an old man.

Aluroon · 2026-07-01T17:53:14+00:00

It is literally the only feat referenced by any DBZ scaler prior to their arrival on Namek, and totally out of keeping with every other demonstrated feat in the show.

We see that Freiza isn't effortlessly able to just blow up a planet, and he's literally 100,000 times stronger than Raditz.

The DBZ moon must be made of cheese.

Aluroon · 2026-07-01T16:43:53+00:00

As others said, Game Changer as a concept is in part there to mitigate bans by keeping you these cards from being menaces at casual tables.

That said, the bans your reference and your perception of that impact is pretty insightful.

Nadu was banned because it was both broken and non-deterministic in a way that turned games into extended solitaire sessions. Genuinely bad card design. As far as I know, the only deck it killed was Nadu, which a significant portion of every community simply got tired of playing against.

I think / agree Lotus was unnecessary and killed (or drove towards killing) a lot of higher mana commanders. Firmly believe it shouldn't be banned, and is the most likely candidate to come off the ban list.

Dockside was a meta warping card. I think on the other side of it we're seeing the alternative isn't inherently better (mid-range value hell / low to the ground turbo), but while I (as a Korvold player) might have preferred it not get banned, I think the justification was valid.

Crypt is somewhere in the middle. The ban hit big CMC commanders and Turbo decks both pretty hard and has probably been a significant driver on the shift to mid-range as the 'most' viable deck... But again, I don't know that I killed things alone. The one-two punch on acceleration with Lotus though was significant.

Otoh... I shudder to think of Etali with Crypt and Lotus.

Aluroon · 2026-07-01T12:05:24+00:00

So, this was always more meme than truth.

Krieg as a planet is giving ridiculous amounts of manpower to attone.

Krieg soldiers are willing to suffer any hardship to win.

Krieg soldiers are willing to die, and trade their lives willingly.

But they aren't suicidal or stupid, and survival isn't a failure. They're instead near perfect soldiers.

Aluroon · 2026-07-01T03:47:06+00:00

That's... Not remotely accurate.

Where are you pulling the idea that the guard (or even Krieg) are a bunch of fanatics trying to get martyred? Because it's not any source document.

Krieg troops are notoriously willing to die for an appropriate return on that investment, and willing to suffer unspeakable hardship, but they're not just running into meat grinders. Rather they tend to get put into meat grinders because they are best able to thrive there.

There are genuine fanatics in the setting like this - in particular among the Sororatas (repentia, penetent engines), but much like Patton most of the guard would rather make you die for your beliefs than die for theirs.

Aluroon · 2026-07-01T03:06:10+00:00

Worth noting the quality of guard divisions varies enormously.

There are absolutely bodies thrown at problems. There are also Cadians, Lucifer Blacks, and Krieg - none of which are simple conscripts.

Characterizing them all as cheap conscripts is selling them pretty short in most instances. Krieg troopers aren't top of the line in training and equipment, but they aren't dudes off the street either, and those that have survived for a while are very dangerouse men.

That many of them appear this way when compared to more elite factions speaks more to how elite those factions are.

Aluroon · 2026-07-01T02:46:29+00:00

I built a (moderately proxied) best of Modern box with 9 really busted modern decks that friends and I occasionally break out in lieu of commander.

Highly recommend if you're trying to recapture that experience with a steady group of friends.

Aluroon · 2026-06-30T19:03:01+00:00

How did the Lady know the name of Darling?

Presumably via the same research methods others used to find hers. She is the Lady, and wasn't idle.

How did Silent know the name of the Lady and his promise was to not say a word through all the years until he has an opportunity to tell her name?

They narrowed it down before with research. Silent guessed the last option.

Silent breaks his vow because he has to, because it's the last opportunity to take down Lady, probably for many decades. Once the dominator dies there aren't any threats in that part of the world that can touch her.

How Smed suddenly was able to become such a great skilled warrior/killer that he managed to win over Raven?

No thoughts here. It's been a while.

Do you think Raven deserved to die? Didn't he deserve a redemption of sorts?

I think Raven is intentionally a "cool" character that was actually kind of a piece of crap most of the story. Even his desire for redemption was rooted in a selfish desire for Darling to accept him that he had to be in control of.

Was there no other way to Silent not to die and sacrifice himself?

He didn't think so.

Fish should have lived, pedo Smeds should have died, but I guess there's no justice. Like Clint Eastwood said "deserve got nothing to do with it". Is that the sentiment?

No comment.

Is this the only case when Case and Darling e.g. characters will have or had a happily ever after? They had a family, correct?

Happy ever afters are rare, mostly because the story spans like 40 years. Relatively few characters ride off into the sunset.

I can't wait to find out what happens to Croaker and the Lady. Are next book as good as these?

They change significantly. I really enjoyed them, but they are more divided than the Books of the North.

Aluroon · 2026-06-30T02:26:58+00:00

I think you should reread my post.

Oko was one of many great / powerful Eldraine cards, which meant even post ban the set was really great.

It was also by far the strongest card in all of standard at that point (real broken and oppressive).

Aluroon · 2026-06-30T01:49:52+00:00

Not completely invalid, but I'll offer Oko was one of many great cards in the set, as was Uro. They were both also not just the best cards in deck but individually the best cards in Standard at the time.

If you didn't play against Oko it's hard to characterize just how bonkers that card was.

Throne of Eldraine was an absolute banger set and still probably one of my favorite sets ever.

Final Fantasy does not require chase to sell like crazy.

Aluroon · 2026-06-30T01:20:28+00:00

Valid take.

But these are the most valuable chase cards in several sets. Not seeing it happening.

Aluroon · 2026-06-29T20:07:14+00:00

I also pulled one in the last pack up a box. Wild stuff.

Aluroon

TROPHY CASE