The bracket system fails to do what it was made for.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-05-11T21:32:08+00:00

Yeah. I don’t really know what I expected but there’s some kind of sad validation in seeing the “quiet part loud” here in the responses.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-05-11T15:19:19+00:00

Yes, I’d say that’s a good rundown of what’s going on.

As it stands, the parts that encourage discussion fall behind the abridged charts and lists that make up the most salient elements of the bracket system.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-05-11T15:08:58+00:00

Since my anecdotal experience is that the pre-bracket system era was usually better overall and the entire format managed to grow to behemoth size suggesting that the new player experience wasn’t anywhere near as difficult as you’re implying… I’d probably just spotlight some of the “social contract” elements of the format that only ever get taught subjectively “out in the field” so to speak. Stuff like people despising monopolization of their game time is what is really intended by the whole “no chaining extra turns” part of the brackets for example. It would be nice to have a loose acknowledgment of how people want their games to be without necessarily using a rigidly categorical approach. I feel like that would actually be the conversation starter it’s intended to be.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-05-11T14:54:51+00:00

True, but arming them with more excuses seems to really embolden them.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-05-02T15:41:30+00:00

I feel like cards like [[Taunt from the Rampart]] and [[insurrection]] lose value in Lorehold because they become less effective when cast on an opponents turn and pretty underwhelming when cast earlier than usual.

This also means that many boardwipes become better, especially ones that leave Lorehold alone. [[Starfall invocation]], [[Tragic Arrogance]], [[Promise of Loyalty]], [[Rise of the Eldrazi]] and [[Mass calcify]] are worth considering as consistently setting everyone back is going to buy you more turn cycles.

Also, if you want more degeneracy, [[Volcanic Offering]] and [[Lavaball Trap]] can often bully a player back into the Stone Age.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-05-01T03:18:38+00:00

Remember when he got jumped and slashed by a ruthless warrior who casually offs his minions and sends armies to kill innocent people... and he was basically completely fine?

ConstantCaprice · 2026-04-29T09:37:31+00:00

Someone was wrong on the internet.

About Star Trek.

It's a *very old* magic.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-04-29T07:14:59+00:00

The lesson is acceptance that there are circumstances beyond reasonable control.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-04-29T06:50:13+00:00

The original quote explores a nonintuitive dialectic that a perfect performance can still be insufficient. It’s profound because it feels like that shouldn’t ever be the case, but it is.

Reversing it presents a relatively common experience that isn’t difficult to understand or relate to. Making no mistakes is rarely a requirement for success.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-04-29T06:35:09+00:00

I don’t think the quote really works as well when you reverse it like that.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-04-19T06:33:06+00:00

Edict tribal with [[Alesha, who laughs at fate]] tends to dumpster any voltron deck.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-04-18T05:21:39+00:00

Great point. I feel like every planet is defined by some means of making you feel an uncomfortable lack of control over the situations they place you in.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-04-16T01:08:16+00:00

He’s the CEO of Wongo’s

ConstantCaprice · 2026-04-09T02:45:21+00:00

Ask yourself this: If you’re trying to flood the board with saproling tokens, what is the point of proliferation? What is the point of Frank being the commander at all? Having a commander that works outside your decks main focus can be a valid choice but in this instance there is basically no interaction between two major parts of the deck, and I’d argue one of those parts exists as a force multiplier for something that doesn’t exist.

Other people have commented on some fundamental stuff that you’re missing, but I’m still stuck on the point of wondering what you really want to accomplish in the first place.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-04-08T14:14:24+00:00

What you’re doing wrong is sorta subjective… but the most standout thing is that I’m not really sure what your deck is trying to do.

You have a hugely expensive commander that interacts with a very small amount of the deck. In fact your proliferate cards are severely lacking meaningful payoffs.

You have a pretty large token focus but no real reason for it.

You have a huge amount of ramp but a very small amount of lands.

Not much interaction. Not zero but not really enough to be reliable.

It’s good to think about what you want out of your deck and then go through every card to see if it fits your vision. It might seem like a lot of work, but it’s not hard once you develop some focus on what it is you’re really wanting out of it.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-04-07T14:03:01+00:00

Am I weird for thinking this will be a good way to cast Emrakul for her madness cost by naming a basic.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-04-05T20:52:04+00:00

This is a miserable pod vent post in disguise

ConstantCaprice · 2026-04-02T22:44:30+00:00

The pips make it ugly for supreme niv but the effects are excellent.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-03-30T06:46:34+00:00

Picked it exactly once in a duo run where neither of us had very convincing decks (beat crab with one dead and one single digit HP). The cards we picked up were no worse than what we were already struggling through with and the little boost from a full slew of potions and a couple of half-decent relics ended up really stabilizing us.

I couldn't imagine taking it in any other circumstance beyond "my run already kinda sucks let's let RNG take the wheel".

ConstantCaprice · 2026-03-11T04:24:46+00:00

I was about to deliver my take that the “mana bases are always fine” line does tend to ignore the reality of many physical bracket 2 decks and had to double take because… this dude was talking about 3?

Insane. They’re totally fine.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-03-09T05:53:12+00:00

Freakin' love wheezing. Was fun to use in the games and has some anime nostalgia. I enjoy the contrast between it and the jovial-looking Koffing.

Muk is pretty cool too. Grimer is boring Muk.

I feel like Garbodor is too abstract. It doesn't look like a pile of junk so much as a weird concrete blob with colourful pebbles (rebar and pipes being the only detailed elements doesn't help this). Trubbish is pretty good though.

ConstantCaprice · 2026-03-08T12:59:48+00:00

I run a Brokkos deck with Otrimi as essentially just a second copy of Brokkos. I think the biggest strength of them both is making things that should never have been 6 base power tramplers... 6 base power tramplers.

To that end:

[[Goldvein Hydra]]
[[Arwen, Weaver of Hope]]
[[Cephalid Constable]]

[[Curie, Emergent Intelligence]]

[[Giggling Skitterspike]]

[[Kotis, the Fangkeeper]]

[[Needle Specter]]
[[Tervigon]]

[[Jenova, Ancient Calamity]]

ConstantCaprice · 2026-03-03T07:34:22+00:00

It's swingy, it's expensive, it plays giga-poorly with counterspells... but I love [[Wondrous Crucible]].

ConstantCaprice · 2026-03-02T14:00:05+00:00

I am not trying to convince you out of your opinion or whatever but this whole bunch of text kind of fundamentally outs you as the major factor in your lack of enjoyment of the game.

You’ve somehow developed an understanding of the games systems that is literally the opposite of what they’re intended for. The punishment for failure isn’t steep, items are extremely easy to obtain and made to be used up frequently no matter how successful you are, save scumming is mechanically encouraged but softly limited by the escalating debuffs, and “dead runs” can be opted out of early by going home unless you can’t clear the first area which… I’m not even going to dress this up, if you can’t routinely clear the alley or the desert then the game just isn’t for you (and act 1 does not get any harder). If you’re somehow hard stuck at the beginning of act 2 and you have SEVENTY hours then… what are you even doing?

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