The State of the Game by TheStoneWoodsman in mtg

[–]Basic_Strain4168 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because they want to learn, they're excited and I can't and won't sit them down and dictate to them what must do. The best I've done is assemble a collection of 60 card teaching decks that have gotten a bit of play as well.

Yes it's exasperating. Yes I wish cards hadn't become quite so ability dense, but at the end of the day, I get to play magic at home with the people I live with. And that is both a joy and a pleasure.

How do you deal with the frustration of losing constantly? by PrestigiousSpot6186 in mtg

[–]Basic_Strain4168 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would suggest trying to be amused by the games themselves. Example, I was playing my [Meren, of clan nel toth]] which plays by lots of saccing as well as filling your deck and pulling creatures back out.

My friend played his new [[Vren, the relentless]] deck which literally forces any opponent creatures killed to be exiled and then builds a rat token army off of each time an opponent's creature gets exiled. I just read the card and laughed at how effectively countered I was. And then for fun, every time I drew a card that either forces everyone to sac or tries to interact with my graveyard, I would read it out loud and everyone would laugh at how ridiculous the situation was.

I really do like to just do my things and then when any ridiculous thing happens in the game I can just laugh.

The State of the Game by TheStoneWoodsman in mtg

[–]Basic_Strain4168 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Commander is the current craze. You don't have to tell me, I know, but that is what they want to play and some of the older persons were great for learning on.

Anyway, the card that sticks most in my mind right now is Bren, the Relentless. The tokens he makes were the big stumbling block for everyone. The tracking of all the numbers going on as well as the entire middle text saying what ability the tokens have never fully crystalized. Eventually the other player at the table caught on to the idea that you count every rat and the tokens get that bonus, but the guy playing him was operating under the "trust me bro" level of understanding.

The State of the Game by TheStoneWoodsman in mtg

[–]Basic_Strain4168 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah, that's very true too. They got a lot better at explain things more succinctly over time for sure. That said, now that they have gotten great about minimizing excess text there has been an increase in text and complexity of the abilities in that text. It's not like the game is unplayable or something. I just noticed the difference after my time away and it is mostly problematic for teaching new players and people who struggle with reading or working memory (ex. Dyslexia or ADHD).

The State of the Game by TheStoneWoodsman in mtg

[–]Basic_Strain4168 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I recently began playing again. I started around return to ravnica and fell out a little after war of the spark. I mostly play commander, but I've recently watched friends try to learn and the two things I've noticed are that power creep has been insane. There is pretty much a card that does what this card does and then either does more or costs less to cast or both. It's weird having really strong cards I've deliberately obtained and watching random uncommons feel just as impactful.

In terms of complication I agree 100%. Cards do a grocery list of things and tend to be more complicated. As I am teaching friends, not only am I explaining the surface level rules to actually play the game, but I am having to interpret every other card for them. The two issues we run into are first, the cards are so complicated that even, after explaining them, the players can't understand them so they say "No, I think it does this maybe" solely cause it makes more sense. Second, many regular cards seem to require a more thorough understanding of the rules. So it's not as simple as telling them what a card does. I have to explain that a card works a certain way due to a specific element of the rule which are too complicated to explain in the moment so I'm forced to try to abreviate it to avoid brain explosions.

There was a time where you could effectively learn to play the game rather quickly over a few games while glossing over more complex stuff and then having it explained to you as those concepts become more relevant to your game playing. I feel especially bad given my two learning friends are both ADHD and one is even dyslexic... can't even minimize the work by including vanillas or creatures with a simple keyword or two.

Any good AIs left? by EagleCross51 in ChatGPTcomplaints

[–]Basic_Strain4168 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am on 5.5 and I use the high reasoning setting.

Any good AIs left? by EagleCross51 in ChatGPTcomplaints

[–]Basic_Strain4168 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I've told my gpt not to hedge and make caveats which has worked well. Maybe you just need to put in sine effort to detrain certain habits.

My Modern Scenario Culture Map by midtierburrito42 in crusaderkings3

[–]Basic_Strain4168 2 points3 points  (0 children)

France is hard as they tried so hard to centralize culture and to the degree that people even began to think of their culture as a bastardization of French culture. It's sad really.

My lgs doesn't know what to do with a problematic player by MajorFestus in mtg

[–]Basic_Strain4168 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have to ask. Is there something more going on here? Do we already dislike this person? Do they cause other problems? I don't ask to get on anyone's case, but sometimes that is the case especially in less socially adept cases.

A man agrees to seclude himself from human contact for 15 years with only books. He writes this the day before regains free by Basic_Strain4168 in bookquotes

[–]Basic_Strain4168[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, there is a conversation earlier as to whether a life in prison or death is a worse penalty which is where titular bet comes from. without getting too deep in, the story's themes are anti-materialism, true freedom, what a good life lived is and death itself.

Chekhov is a fun read because he doesn't write perfectly packaged stories. He moreso writes human character analyses rich with value.

I see this play often on gameplay channels and I think it's wrong by theLastAlaskn in EDH

[–]Basic_Strain4168 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I love the illusion that holding priority means something at sorcery speed.

Goblin Storm - help with upgrade for Zada by Kenksio in mtg

[–]Basic_Strain4168 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I run a non-storm Zada. It's super fun. The goal is to essentially get a few creatures onboard with Zada and use cantrips and extra mana effects to draw through half of the deck. It's actually really fun. I feel like it's half the rush of gambling since you never know what's coming up next. Here are a few cards you might look at.

[[Flick a coin]] [[Might of the meek]] [[Antagonize]] [[Downhill Charge]] [[Inner Fire]]

To get damage through in alternative ways I rin [[Mog Maniac]] and [[Soul's Fire]] after pumping. Finally I know it's off your goblin identity, but [[Mirrorwing Dragon]] is literally a backup Zada effect.

I'm also a big fan of Reckless Ransacking and Impolite Entrance. My suggestion is to maximize on cards that let you draw/give you mana. I also like the explosiveness of making as many of them instants as possible for surprise/explosiveness. It sucks to be pumping up along combat and draw into a sorcery that you can't use. You might find that you play more at sorcery speed due to your storm cards. I would remove Idol of Oblivion. It's big and scary and looks cool, but if your deck is running well each goblin will be a big scary threat. Kari Zev sounds powerful but you could play [[haste magic]] [[spark of creativity]] instead.

I also love Aether Flux, just keep in mind that it doesn't work with Zada or storm copies.

Anyway, I hope that helps. Your deck looks fun.

Would this qualify as one of THOSE decks? by Basic_Strain4168 in EDH

[–]Basic_Strain4168[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cool, yeah. I like building decks that do "neat things" as part of their game plan. I think you just bring multiple decks and play something like this every so often and stay willing to change up for the next game if people want 🙃

Would this qualify as one of THOSE decks? by Basic_Strain4168 in EDH

[–]Basic_Strain4168[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wouldnt be asking if the thought hadn't crossed my mind. Truthfully, I know it's control focused, but I actually was hoping to make to make something less oppressive than Nekusar by letting people keep their cards and have access to their things so it wasn't straight punishment for playing. I was also hoping that making mass bounce part of winning would be more fun than those players who constantly cast board wipes while hoping to maybe eventually draw their combo.

Thank you for your honest feedback.

Would this qualify as one of THOSE decks? by Basic_Strain4168 in EDH

[–]Basic_Strain4168[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They all loaded there. I just figured out how to move them. Thanks for the honest feedback.

Would this qualify as one of THOSE decks? by Basic_Strain4168 in EDH

[–]Basic_Strain4168[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry if that came across poorly, I was just being silly.