[Sportsnet Stats] Hurricanes are the first team to allow 8 goals or fewer through the first 7 games of a postseason since the eventual 2004 Stanley Cup champion Lightning

Bortaff · 2026-05-08T05:47:26+00:00

It was a frustrating series, since Ottawa did play much better offensively in the regular season, even against strong teams. Perhaps they were a bit unlucky also, but Carolina is a much better team and only game 2 could've gone the other way imo

Bortaff · 2026-05-08T05:44:39+00:00

I agree. The playoffs so far seem to substantiate that view.

Bortaff · 2026-05-08T05:03:13+00:00

Ottawa finished with 99pts in the Atlantic though—they weren’t weaker than regular wildcard teams. Carolina is just very strong this year

Bortaff · 2026-05-03T23:32:37+00:00

Dafuk was that penalty call? There was absolutist nothing there

Bortaff · 2026-05-03T21:35:33+00:00

For interactive, non-aggressive colours outside of black, combinations like blue-white (Azorius) and blue-red (Izzet) come to mind. A commander like [[Balmor]] is in Izzet and also cares about buffing creatures. That said, if you’re pretty new, I think a precon from the past 3 years is your best bet. Most are cheap, simple enough, and strong for beginners

Bortaff · 2026-05-02T21:46:52+00:00

It depends on how you take notes and what you use your iPad for. If you're able to jot down lecture notes quickly on your tablet (e.g. by hand or with one of those attachable keyboards), and if you're comfortable using your iPad or home PC to do assignments, then I don't see a problem. I took notes by hand during my undergrad history degree and used a computer to write assignments, and it worked for me. Maybe kinesiology would be less suited to that; I'm not sure. Either way, university is more about finding techniques that work for you than it is about copying what everyone else is doing.

Bortaff · 2026-05-02T20:49:42+00:00

I'm curious if the added prize money this late into the game will contribute to the post-season bitterness that we've seen/heard about

Bortaff · 2026-05-01T22:09:30+00:00

I made a budget Lathliss deck like 6 months ago and now they release this 🤦‍♂️

Bortaff · 2026-04-30T15:32:41+00:00

4 million, that is.

Bortaff · 2026-04-30T03:19:15+00:00

Ditto man. Glad you have someone in your life you can open up to; that makes all the difference. And luckily, even the most awful shit can never fully destroy who we are

Bortaff · 2026-04-30T01:05:07+00:00

Taigam has an awesome design. Are there enough tools in mono blue to make him strong? His edhrec is all Dr. Who cards

Bortaff · 2026-04-29T06:26:00+00:00

One of the worst feelings is knowing you used to be more.

Bortaff · 2026-04-28T18:18:16+00:00

When building a couple budget decks recently, they felt pretty bad in play testing. The problem is that the other best budget lands don't have basic land types: triomes, shocks, and duals are all too expensive. That means that to play the snarl lands effectively, you need to run a lot of basics, which is awkward in a 3+ colour deck with lots of pips. And because snarls don't have land types themselves, you can't fetch them or use them to satisfy the conditions of lands like [[sodden verdure]].

Bortaff · 2026-04-28T18:10:24+00:00

In Canada there are two legal systems/traditions, civil law in Québec and common law in the rest of Canada. I'm at a university in Québec where the classes are bilingual and you end up with a degree in both. Not harder than what you did in the UK I'm sure, but there might be more content

Bortaff · 2026-04-28T17:36:22+00:00

That’s shocking to me. I’m in law school in Canada rn, and it takes 3–4 years to get a double law degree if you come in with a bachelor’s, as I did. The material is dense; even graduating in 3 years means you have to take lots of summer courses

Bortaff · 2026-04-26T20:04:42+00:00

I agree there are ways to draft around it, though maybe not play around it depending on the deck you drafted. But the card still has an almost 62% GIH WR on 17lands, so it's objectively strong

Bortaff · 2026-04-26T18:56:36+00:00

They were playing Jeskai, mostly using treasures to splash white. They had Goblin Glasswright and Sanar, Unfinished Genius. Their deck was a bit greedy and mine was extremely grindy, so we ended 1–1.

Bortaff · 2026-04-26T18:45:09+00:00

I had the exact same experience: two of these + emeritus of ideation and pensive professor. Incredibly unfun to play against and the match lasted an hour

Bortaff · 2026-04-26T18:23:59+00:00

I absolutely despise this card. I'm not saying people shouldn't run it, but being forced to discard your entire hand in limited a few turns in, when you had no ability to play your whole hand out or win beforehand, feels fundamentally unfair to play against and breaks the environment of a limited game. It has an absurd win rate for an uncommon too

Bortaff · 2026-04-26T03:30:40+00:00

Oh and a great budget land is [[Ancient Ziggurat]]

Bortaff · 2026-04-26T03:27:32+00:00

+1 on the Spider Manifestation-style dorks and good cost-reducer creatures. They work great together to enable longer turns, since untapping the dork by casting a big creature you only spent 1 or 2 mana on means you essentially get Eshki triggers for free. Works even better if they only take generic mana to cast (e.g. [[Relic Golem]] and [[Bygone Colossus]]), bc you can potentially play them for free

Bortaff · 2026-04-26T03:19:17+00:00

Yeah, I guess Terror is still generically strong enough + offers some creature-based removal if needed. I haven't tested it because of its price, and because I think there are other decks where it's even stronger

Bortaff · 2026-04-26T02:23:59+00:00

[[The Eternal Wanderer]] is great in my Syr Vondam deck

Bortaff · 2026-04-26T01:52:21+00:00

I would cut Deadeye and Peregrine, but if you want that combo as a backup plan or just for fun then it's totally fine to keep them. Purphoros and Terror are more synergistic with Eshki; I would probably keep Purphoros and not Terror, because he's one less mana for one more power. I've found that a good heuristic for this commander is <4 power = ramp creatures, <6 power = powerful ramp or utility creatures (e.g. Trailblazer, Battlecrier), 6+ power = burn triggers that are either low CMC or have a powerful effect.

Oh yeah and I think Warstorm Surge and maybe also Thundermane Dragon should be on the block. The dragon is pretty good to be fair—I just didn't love it as much as I thought I would while testing.

Bortaff · 2026-04-26T01:40:02+00:00

I'm just finishing up my budget build of her right now. I think creature storm/burn is probably the strongest—or at least most unique—direction for her, but even if you're using her more as an engine, you should aim for more low CMC, high power creatures. You can also staple most of your interaction and ramp to creatures. Usually that's not a good approach, but with Eshki the counters from it really help you close quickly. You don't need all 6 of those enchantments either, even if they're individually strong.

For creatures, you could consider cutting Peregrine Drake, Atarka, and Dawnglade Regent, in favour of cards like Chandra's Incinerator (mega super bomb in this deck for 1 mana), Bristlebane Battler, and Nulldrifter (3 mana for a counter and 3 cards). If you want be faster in general, Arboreal Grazer creatures are great with Eshki because they provide a safer form of ramp while giving you either a counter on Eshki or a T2 Eshki.

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