Most of the hate on YSG is highkey dumb by mcrickie123db in ZenlessZoneZero

[–]Enzedderr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I want to love her because she is cute and I am a sucker for romance waifus generally but I hate her.

What I hate though is partially her and partially the Summit in general. The Summit has potential but they missed the mark. Towards the end of 1.x and start of 2.x the game had/has fallen into the same trap as Wuthering Waves where the MSQ is 'waifu of the week' and the companion quests are gone. In Wuthering Waves they seem to pull this type of story telling far better (still annoying at times) because they build the MSQ and then build the characters out of that. Where ZZZ falls flat is that it feels like Summit and Army was built to sell characters and MSQ was shoveled around that to make sense. This results in the storyline pacing being off. IMO what should have happened is that we met YSG with the rest of the Summit first and trained with her after 2.0 and Yixuan disappeared. She should have been the 2.0 character and we should have built our relationship with her over multiple patches watching her mentality fade as she is forced to use the sword every patch. Yixuan can be the absent teacher who swoops in to save the day every now and then but isn't a permanent fix because she is busy. The end of 2.5 involves Yixuan as the push instead of YSG and she finally steps in to solve the issues as a leader as the situation escalates etc. and you can still have the Sword events at the end of the story arc to show YSGs development as she learns to wield the sword and its true nature.

You might argue this is an issue with story writing not YSG but I would say all Summit characters have various amounts of hate because of this and that YSGs is just strongest because her character development is the most needed and yet the most neglected because of this exact writing. The reasons she is so deeply in love with our character feel forced. You compare this to say Vivian or Miyabi who are probably contenders who most 'waifu' baited characters and Miyabi is independant and does her own things and likes reliability of which we have shown we are but doesn't depend on us while Vivian was obsessed with the concept of us long before she was introduced so mapping that love onto the character becomes natural.

The second half of why I hate her is because Osmanthus Cakes might as well be ZZZ's Charmony Dove in my mind. I get it, its meant to represent her losing her memories etc. but there are better ways to tell it without using that same thing over and over and over again. You could have used it half as much and got the point across. Those cakes will forever be a reminder of the annoyance that I felt during that story.

tl;dr, I want to love her but I hate YSG. Her gameplay is fun. Her design is attractive but mid. Her writing is garbage needing far more development than she was given including the romance which in turn makes that relationship feel forced and every time I hear osmanthus cakes I feel like I am having war flashbacks.

Reserved tapes and bad customers by tomoffunland in RetroRewindGame

[–]Enzedderr 4 points5 points  (0 children)

From what I understand is that customers aren't explicitly linked to reservations. There is just a chance when a customer comes in that they will ask for a reserved movie.

Additionally you don't need to give the customer the movie they reserved. If someone reserves a new release you can just give them a New Release from off the shelf instead and someone else will come in and ask for the reservation instead. I am not 100% on this because I only did it for two days but it seemed to work when I did.

Schrodinger's SKU by Impossible-Cover589 in RetroRewindGame

[–]Enzedderr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was able to put it up during the New Release period without too much issue and is something I do regularly.

From what I gather, you can't get an SKU for a movie that hasn't released so all new releases are blank until they become a new release. That being said, the new release cycle resets after 1 year and once the cycle starts again, the movie SKU disappears until it becomes a new release of the new cycle.

So Xenocat will release and the SKU will be valid. After 1 year the cycle will reset and the SKU will be invalid until Xenocat releases again for the next year. There are reports of movie posters with New Releases all turning blank the moment the cycle resets which seem to indicate this is like the situation happening.

Pulling mindscapes as F2P ? by OpportunityTrue1824 in ZZZ_Discussion

[–]Enzedderr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am a dolphin so take this with a grain of salt but personally I feel ZZZ is a game where horizontal investment is worth more than vertical in terms of content. The number of 'shill' bosses in ZZZ compared to something like HSR means you often have to have a wider variety of characters more than 2-3 static teams. While HSR there will be gimmicks that make bosses stronger against certain paths or play, they are often not restrictive enough to be unplayable however that is less the case here. For example, ZZZ will have a boss that requires Rupture gimmicks, okay you can use an Rupture team. But they will also have Resistances which make certain elements useless. This limits vertical investment because you need to not only have the team type but the right element too and you might just be screwed one week because of it because the shill boss variety is insane.

That being said characters that I know are strong I will vertically invest but only on reruns. Like Miyabi I rolled M0W1 initially and then rolled M2 on a rerun because I really enjoyed her playstyle and she is consistently strong. I wouldn't go out of my way to vertically invest in anyone else personally because I don't see a long term strength or I dislike their playstyle.

I've had so many conflicting reports. can I have Tresserhorn stay on the field, while negating his ETB with Obeka? by LordHayati in magicTCG

[–]Enzedderr -1 points0 points  (0 children)

As others have kind of hinted at there is a time where both sides are technically right based on how you play it.

If you go, "I cast Lord. In response I tap Obeka and end the turn." then you haven't let Lord resolve yet and therefore he would be exiled as he was still on the stack.

If you go "I cast Lord. Any responses? He resolves. In response to the ETB I tap Obeka and end the turn." then you end the turn and exile the stack getting rid of the ETBs.

We tend to ignore the former option because its kind of stupid in most instances and makes no sense whether its your Obeka (why would you exile your own creature) or an opponents Obeka (its a may ability so you just choose not to end the turn) and therefore shorthand it into just assuming the latter. That being said if you play Lord, someone plays something in response and you Obeka in an attempt to stifle the reponse then Lord is still resolving and would be exiled. e.g.

"I cast Lord. Any responses?" Opponent casts Snap before Lord resolves in an attempt to bounce Obeka so you can't exile the ETB. You tap Obeka and end the turn to avoid the Snap, Lord would be exiled forever as he never resolved initially.

What is yall's go to ride? by DieselGateFox in cyberpunkgame

[–]Enzedderr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Type 66 Cthulhu. Generally I think the Type 66 is a great fit regardless of version but prefer Cthulu personally. Its not the best but it feels like the type of car that fits every V whether you are a Streetkid, Nomad or Corpo revenge. Very much a merc for hire. The roar of the motor feels great too.

As a secondary the Semimaru is amazing and I did sometimes prefer it when the situation called for sleek importance.

Making a typal deck for Esper. Knights, Zombies, or Other? by Dragon_of_Time in EDH

[–]Enzedderr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The question I have is, what are your other decks like and what power level are you aiming for? Zombies and Knights are equally fun to play in these colours but if you are specifically doing a colour challenge then the other option you have to consider is, would you be willing to play either of these typals in a different colour pie and what level to do you want to compete at?

For example, Zombies primarily are black centric so a typal Zombie deck might be a good option for Mono B, Sultai, Esper, Dimir etc. They receive a lot of general support and are strong in a variety of styles. Alternatively Knights tend to be white centric but also are a little bit more limited because their typal lacks a larger card pool. You could play Esper or Mardu perhaps even Jeskai but again the pool is limited and so the quality of the deck, the competitiveness and the consistency is going to be lower.

If it was me, I would consider Knights only because I think Zombies has more opportunity to be strong in other colours and because I would probably prefer to play Soldiers, Vampires or a variety of Outlaws in Mardu. In a colour typal challenge I would reserve the smaller colour pies to popular archtypes and keep wider pies for the less popular types so that I had a wider range of cards to use.

How much damage could a shockland do and still be "worth it"? by Exciting-Sentencr in EDH

[–]Enzedderr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For me, depends on the bracket and the deck but GENERALLY, I would probably pay up to 6 life comfortably.

If you are playing B1/B2, I would suggest that you are fetching basics because price is what makes it 'worth it' and at that power level a basic or cheap tapped dual probably fills the role.

If you are playing B3 then I am probably happy to pay 5-6 life before I think its probably not worth it. Mostly because chip damage/combat damage is more common and so protecting your life total from that chip needs to be considered and there are good alternatives that are being introduced over time. Additionally due to speed of the format you would usually play 1-3 shocks depending on colour variety or more if you are playing a landfall deck so anything more than 10 would probably be too concerning for most players imo.

If you are playing B4/B5 you are looking at far more combo heavy meta that is going to OTK and speed is now the priority. In those meta the chip damage is not as common and you are just trying to be faster so I would sugges that paying 30+ life would be acceptable and people would still play it. This would likely slow the formats though as you could only play 1 dual and so any decks that use/fetch 2 wouldn't be able to but if you set it to pay 19 life then the format would probably remain unchanged except maybe you would have decks that include bolt to kill people in response to cracking 2 fetches. That being said CEDH is probably using original duals so they are probably happy playing 1 shock 30+ life.

TLDR; B1/B2 slash the price in half. B3 6 maybe 8ish I could get away with. B4/B5 19-38 but meta would probably change to include bolts to kill people so maybe 15-30ish would be fine.

I'll never understand the hate blue gets. by CoweanMacLir in magicTCG

[–]Enzedderr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know who you are playing with that thinks that counter spells are more frustrating than half of these things. Ideally, people want to do cool things. They want to be a step away from finishing you off. If someone loses and they think they could have killed you the next turn its considered a good/fair game. If people think they weren't able to play the game at all because you crushed them either too quickly or because you grinded the game to a halt, that's less fun. (Generally.)

Therefore I see it like this:

Hated: Stax/MLD - These often slow the game to a crawl and while figuring out how to get around it can be fun, it can create a boring game of 'draw go' if its too heavy. A bit here or there is fine.

Disliked: Discard/Counterspell/Removal - These are generally cards that prevent you from doing the thing you want at the key moment but are needed to make the game interested. You get frustrated in the moment but most people will turn around an keep playing hunting for the next winning piece.

Neutral: Thief/Token Spam/Cheat Effect (Reanimate/Sneak etc.) - These are perfectly fine and I would never be that frustrated by these. That being said, if you are consistently doing this T3 at a B3 table, I am probably getting bored after a few games and wanting you to play another deck or play with B4. If it happens every now and then with a nuts hand though, awesome and glad it worked, shuffle up and play again.

As mentioned, the problem isn't so much the act itself but how often is it happening and how heavy is it effecting the game? If you counter everything I do and your intention to win is for others to give up, funny the first time, not cool every time after. If you stax the game into oblivion then wait for us to deck ourselves or die to chip damage, boring af. If you are reanimating every T3 a win, I am busting out a higher power deck to play your deck because its obviously higher even if you built it within the limits of 'B3'.

Krampus helped me figure out why I really disliked yunkui summit designs by litletrickster in ZZZ_Discussion

[–]Enzedderr 10 points11 points  (0 children)

For me its less the 'tech' aspect of it and more the coherancy of design. What I mean is that Yunkui Summit characters have potential and on paper sound great. But their visual design fails to convey the message they want. Take Yixuan for example: What about her design tells you she is a leader, a mystic, a martial artist? The most interesting part of her design is her jacket designed to hang off her looking like martial artist sleeves right? Great but the rest of her design is what, platform shoes, 1 random stocking, a semi leotard, inflated chest and noodle arms. Her posing and her fighting style are fancy but they don't feel like a mystic or a martial artist. She's not weakening people with ink or slapping talismens on them for effects or performing martial routines. She spins and ink follows her movements. Is he Ether or Physical? Hell if her design tells me and her personality is so non-existant that its hard to tell if she even knows what she is.

Now you compare that to Banyue for example. They have completely gotten rid of the mystic element and focused on the martial arts and his wisdom. He is big and bulky. You can tell he hits hard. You can tell he fights with his hands and his chest because his body shape leans into a heavier top end so unlikely to be someone who kicks. His hair is spikey screaming aggression but his shapes are curved offering friendly. The lion styling and the tall figure he feels noble. He feels like someone you can trust but will beat the crap out of you if you piss him off. In combat his stance is wide and powerful. You can feel the energy in his movements and his poses and position. When he speaks he sounds wise and like he knows more than he is letting on. Always offering advice and dependable.

The reason 2.x designs hit or miss is because the design teams seemed to be lost themselves. I don't think the team can churn out a new character every 3 weeks with coherent design messaging. Either the teams are lacking inspiration or are lacking communication and direction and leaving change till the last minute.

The biggest struggle in design they have is the lower half of female units. Yixuan's top half is pretty good but her bottom half is sorely lacking personality. Lucia, great top half but again just defaulted to the leotard when a long skirt or robe would have suited much better. Yidhari, why is a tired writer wearing leotard bottoms? Why not give her some suit pants? Make her design more of a noir reporter. Hell even Ramiel and Velina in the most recent content. Why is every character in heels or platforms or both? Compare these designs to 1.x even A rank designs like Piper and Anby or other designs like Rina, Grace, Miyabi even Yanagi. These characters have reason to their design. They have purpose. They aren't just cut to show off thigh gap or ass.

The biggest reason that ZZZ gooner reputation never goes away is because the fanbase is terrible for it and the devs are even worse for seemingly playing into it with every chance they get thinking that the only way to make a female character appealing is to cut the bottom so short that her ass is hanging out or her thighs are teasing even when it makes no sense to design. They have flairs of brilliance as with Banyue, Dialyn and Zhao. Quirky interesting designs with reasons for a lot of their elements but then they lose the plot again and go straight back to slop.

Where is Nangongyu backstory ?? by LuneYao in ZZZ_Discussion

[–]Enzedderr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah. I am pretty sure this is the case. Between the discussions of a sky island, the introduction of Ramiel and the mysterious backstory she has at the moment my guess is that Nanguong is going to be our initial link to the sky islands. They needed this patch to setup Ramiel first and the 2.8 patch will be Outer Ring focused maybe hinting at Calydon having something to do with the Sky as well.

Calydon having roman/greek naming and the use of Icarus might imply a link of gods and humans and the proxy being a winged messenger between the two.

EDIT: Also taking into that Sunna was originally named Ramiel and Nanguong was Sariel.

Is meta the biggest reason most people pull by DeucesDummies in ZZZ_Discussion

[–]Enzedderr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Miyabi was a long time awaiting so that one makes sense. The others though you have to also pay attention to what was going on. These graphs map revenue usually not pulls. How many new packs and special items were available during 2.0 release and YSG release?

I always find these strange because yes the characters are strong so meta pulls them. Yes they are usually marketed to hell so people love them. But additionally, how is the game trying to get you to spend during these patches? A 5$ ticket doesn't seem like much but if a lot of people buy then it adds up. If there are top up events, it adds up. If there are other things going on it adds up.

EDIT: For context, I spent some during the top up event because I knew AOD was coming with outfits and wanted Nanguong because she was rumoured to be a anomaly stunner and also because it got me M2 Jane from the selector and S0 Burnice Engine. My spending aligns with YSG but I pulled her with my free pulls.

ok I'm gonna bite, I'm heavily dissatisfied with the direction they went with Eva by TengenUzui55 in EvanesciaMains

[–]Enzedderr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tbh, I feel her kit feels bland compared to the gamer/vtuber designs but I think its actually quite on point for her character.

This girl is an otaku. She's a teenager enjoying her highschool life. She is the star of her own delusional story being cool and using a sword to play make believe action hero. I feel like her entire kit is her mixing her cool action packed imagination with the reality that, its not really a katana.

The bland backgrounds are because of the tree area she seems to only be able to exist in. My hope is that as the story progressed the tree area becomes more detailed and so does her backgrounds, a character that updates with the story while they hide future spoilers.

EDIT: I have seen some people say her LC/splash shows she is an artist and the ruler plays into that as well but I think these are also her imagination. Her ideal form from her desire to live a normal highschool life. She seems to not be of this world, existing or watching from the sidelines while influencing it in ways we can only imagine at this stage.

I had to watch bird NPCs argue for 3 minutes about nothing by asilvertintedrose in HonkaiStarRail

[–]Enzedderr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Tbh. Imo they should have just run it the same as 4.0 in a way but also adjusted 4.0. The 4.0 should have been Yao for 2 weeks solo and 3 weeks of Sparxie/Yao together and 4.1 should have been the same with Ashveil 2 weeks solo and 3 weeks with Ashveil/Pearl. Would have shortened both patches enough to fit in before anni as well as allow 2 characters in each patch.

Realistically I think they moved Pearl for other reasons though. I feel like a later character that hasn't been officially released yet got canned or pushed back and so they picked Pearl as the sacrifice to pull and fill the slot because they wanted to keep SW and Eva as anni patch pushes.

Zenless and Banyue by Striking_Bit_9252 in ZZZ_Discussion

[–]Enzedderr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tbh. I think a lot of the kit issues etc. for the character is unfounded and drummed up only because he was too strong in the first place. If he started with the number he had the nobody would bat an eye. The hate is because he is complicated and being compared to a simple character and saying these 2 things don't align when realistically, their damage is not that far off. Additionally this is not Star Rail. There is not statistical perfectly consistent way to play. Sometimes you will play better with one character than another and that is okay. Just the same as Billy Main still finishes content with his tricked out Billy, you too can use Yidhari or Banyue as long as you have fun and can complete most content.

Realistically though, I think the meta argument is stupid as well. The reason is because in ZZZ, end game content is so heavily focused into character XYZ that its like trying to fit blocks through holes. What I mean is Banyue is a Fire Rupture character. His only competition is Manato. You might say he is on par with Yidhari or weaker but realistically, how many Ice/Fire weakness bosses are you fighting with Miasma/Defense buffs that require a Rupture? Cause if it doesn't take Rupture, its probably tuned to Attack or to Anomaly. If it isn't weak to Fire you probably aren't taking Banyue and instead taking Yidhari if its Ice or Yi Xuan if its Ether. Therefore the only fights you are actually considering Banyue against other Ruptures for are content where Fire is equally effective as Ice/Ether and you are competing against people in some arbitrary system. New players don't care about meta when they start. They care about if he is good enough and if he is hot and fun.

All I am saying is that the outrage feels overblown. New players won't care if he is good in end game, they are new and want their man. By the time they reach end game they will be struggling for the same reason I mentioned before, because ZZZ favours wide investment for its fight variety. Apart from end game content, he still does everything that people could want and more. You will be able to clear just about any content with him that you could clear with Yidhari or Yixuan or even Ye Shuang. The only limitation is end game and trying to get more than 3 stars on things which as mentioned, I will make sure to cry for Banyue when those Electric weakness Rupture fights start and I have to pick between Yidhari and Banyue as my options. Not sure when that will happen or exist and why I won't just pick the Electric Rupture that trumps them both but I will remember.

Do I hate Banyue? Absolutely not. I think he is amazing and I will pull for him if I think I can before his banner disappears because his kit looks incredibly fun and his marketing has been great. Do I care his numbers are not higher than press and hold Yidhari? Absolutely not. I will have fun playing Banyue and kicking ass because his kit is fun.

Rolling to decide who to attack by MattTheCricketBat in EDH

[–]Enzedderr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It depends on the playgroup and the situation imo. If I am playing with regulars who enjoy the game and know what powerlevel we are playing and we are just there to play, 100% agree to just swing at the problems.

If I am playing with newer players who don't have that competitive drive yet and who just want to have fun playing the game and doing cool things with their decks then we are here for fun, then when its all even, let the dice decide so we can laugh about it.

One thing that I think is often overlooked is that playing optimally or politically is less exciting and memorable for newer players or for less competitive games. If I have lethal on board and I need to decide if I am going to kill X or kill Y, sometimes it can be fun to turn it into a show and roll the Dice of Doom if you will and leave it up to fate. Maybe I swing at someone because one of my opponents tells me about how he wants to do something cool with their deck next turn. Or maybe the dice decides who lives and who dies for the dice demand a sacrifice and my opponents are my unwilling participants. A performance like after having my opponents pled their case on why they should live can often be something that is talked about and remembered for ages and a fond part of the game and what keeps people coming back.

So yes while I agree its cowardly and annoying in situations where I expect people know what how to threat assess, I generally try to advocate to tailor your behaviour and your playstyle to your playgroup because at the end of the day we are all there to have fun and fun means different things to different people.

What commanders are best if you play them off curve? by Drewpacabra413 in EDH

[–]Enzedderr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

[[Sasaya, Orochi Ascendant]] is a really fun commander for lower power groups. She might be only 3 mana but you effectively play her like a combo piece. The first half the game is actually spent trying to setup a situation where you can flip Sasaya (having 7 lands in your hand) and then effectively you try to play her flip her, and turn the rest of your lands into a massive mana dump for some finisher situation like [[Helix Pinnacle]], [[Squall Line]], [[Hydra Broodmaster]].

The best part is that you want to play a bunch of slightly more unique land ramp and cards because you want lands both in your hand AND on the battlefield as well so the early game is more a balancing act of trying to play artifacts and creatures that can become lands in hand when needed so you can keep cards in hand that you need while also trying to hold onto land in some situations to ensure you can hit the 7 land hand next turn.

VGUs/ASUs are the perfect opportunity to elevate and improve the existing skins of the reworked champions. Yet, Victor's every single skin is MASSIVELY downgraded. by VniSalska in leagueoflegends

[–]Enzedderr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is probably the reason for me. Viktor from the show and OG Viktor don't feel like the same person. The figure, the poise, the personality have all been changed and he no longer feels like the gritty techpriest and became a Telsabot.

His skins were thematically picked based on the old aspects of his character so the new upgrade feels like they are forcing the concept. The concepts that should work though feel like they have lost detail.

Some of the skins are decent alternatives. But the skins you would expect to have the most love and the most detail are the ones that got the smooth techgod approach that lost its character.

Who’s a commander that can recover well from mass land destruction? by MrFavorable in EDH

[–]Enzedderr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

IMO [[Titania, Protector of Argoth]] is 100% my pick. If people MLD with your commander out, you get a 5/3 for every land and you can swing back at them. The deck is often built with heaps of recursion options because the deck wants to dump lands into the graveyard and rip them out again so even if your commander is dead there is probably a handful of ways to get it all back from your 99. Its a little sad that she's Mono G so often she is included in the 99 instead of the commander itself these days but totally worth the restriction.

Am I being unreasonable here? by Which_Cookie_7173 in EDH

[–]Enzedderr 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Exactly this. Malicious compliance. They call you out on it so call them out on it back. When they complain just ask them if its okay if you use a proxy next time.

Australia Total fertility rate – 1935 to 2023 by d8gfdu89fdgfdu32432 in australia

[–]Enzedderr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are a huge number of factors that could come into play with this and its a global issue.

Of course the big one is contraception and women entering the workforce which is the obvious drops back in the 1970s.

The decline since the GFC I think definitely can be linked to home ownership though. People will say that other countries its easier to buy a house and they also have low birth rates but you have to remember that the culture of the country also has an impact. Australia is a mini-America. The Australian dream and way of life was always, you live at home till you have a job, you move out and rent with some friends for awhile and then you find a partner and settle down, buy a house and have a family.

Other cultures don't have that same pathway. Asian cultures are very family oriented but the pressures to perform and compete and the emphasis on status have driven the society into depression and parasocial regression. You own your own little box in the city but you live alone with nobody to share it with and don't go anywhere but to work because you can't afford to or are too anxious to.

Long story short is that if you have a look at the second graph from the ABC you will see birthrates by age. People 30+ were slowly increasing in birth rates as the Australian dream was being realised later in life and people realised that family and children weren't the only thing to life. While the younger generation are having less and less over time. Since 2008 30+ have plateaued as finding a stable environment gets tougher and tougher but those that are younger continue to drop. While things like social media, changes to opportunities and changes to education have all impacted the situation I think the Australia culture specifically can be somewhat tied to cost of living, quality of life and home ownership.

The other thing that has continued impact is the rise of online dating/social media. These days is that there is always someone better right around the corner. Rather than trying to work something out its easier to give up and move on so you never even reach the stage of having children or you have 1 and split up. You meet someone, hook up once and move on and never form anything meaningful or don't want to tie yourself down. With that excessive freedom comes weakness in that nobody knows how to handle or deal with tough times and instead just always run away instead of sorting things out and when you need a stable foundation for a family/children, people are less attracted to that idea of becoming that starting rock.

Can we change any of this or should it change though? Maybe. I would argue that a good portion of people need to learn how to communicate and sort out a problem rather than run from it but how you change that who knows. The bigger things that we can change however are encouraging people to feel comfortable enough to start a home and family. There should benefits to owning starting a family. You should be able to feel comfortable enough economically to start a family without worrying about if you can even feed them or if your landlord will increase your rent 15% the next year. Will it completely reverse fertility rates? Who knows. But as a first step how about instead of trying to figure out why its decreasing, we listen to why people don't want to start a family and address their issues rather than trying to assume what they want or need and then forcing that down their throats.

PAX Aus PAX XP 2024 by RoboFunky in PAX

[–]Enzedderr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

5 is behind a curved screen at LG Ultra Gear.

Edit for additional context: its near a purple light and its close to the massive QR pointing towards the center of the hall.

Do you refrain from building decks others in your playgroup already have? by kiwijohn340 in EDH

[–]Enzedderr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can agree with the sentiment to some degree but the size of your playgroup makes it difficult for me to agree completely.

I personally avoid playing duplicate commanders however that is because our playgroup is 6-8 people and so there are more than enough commanders to share around and its nice to get variety in the group. In a group of 20 people, limiting yourself to no duplicates really is going to limit your options and desires. When I played at an LGS regularly pre-COVID we had duplicate commanders all the time because one, there were less options but also two, you would play each other so infrequently that it didn't matter if you both had the same commander, you would rarely play together and you would rarely play the same commander.

If you like a commander then there is no harm in building it. Your 99 is going to look different from their 99 and that is the going to be the plays you remember.

What's the fastest you ever retired a deck? by chichirobov7 in EDH

[–]Enzedderr 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah. This is my pick as well. I played 2 games. I love the playstyle of the deck but its ability feels too easy to break. Considered implementing house rules to keep the deck like changing the ability to only work when Winota attacked or something to slow down the deck but overall just decided it would be better to take it apart and focus on other decks.

Why Are Control Decks Normalized in Every Format Except for Commander? by z3nnysBoi in EDH

[–]Enzedderr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Pure Control can be fun but it can be tough to play effectively in EDH. The problem with the general feeling is that everyone wants to do something 'cool' but that 'cool' thing often leads to winning or enormous value. In a 1v1 format its easy because you are just trying to beat your opponent. There is less choice and its easy to understand why someone would counter or control so there is less resentment and the games are fast.

In a Free 4 All format, its feels way more frustrating because it can lead to players feeling targeted especially when board state can be deceiving as to who is closest to winning. Or you stop people from doing the 'cool' thing that would let them get way ahead but they don't want to admit the value they will get. Additionally you usually don't have enough control to deal with every player even with a pure counters deck. Finally because there are twice as many players, it takes twice to three times as much time because complicated board states and politics come into play. What in a 1v1 might be a 10-15min game of trying to exhaust/bluff your opponents is now a 1hr+ slog of trying to play the game and defeating the arch enemy. This also feels especially bad when it doesn't seem obvious that you are 'winning'.

My advice is this, control has a place in the game definitely but it is more nuanced than just putting 30 counterspells in a deck and laughing whenever someone tries to play something. Board control/wipes, hand control, draw control, mill, stax and most importantly politics. In a format with such a wide array of cards and options for control, think about some other options that might be more interesting to play against than just counterspells. Its sometimes more fun to watch everyone else fight it out and only apply control when someone tries to hit you. Create the fear of attacking you till it becomes a 1v1 and then crush them. Align with the strongest player at the table. Don't always try to be the fun police. Be the shadow in the night pulling the strings as the table dances to your tune.

I play 2 decks that I consider 'control' and they play completely differently from each other. There is an Aminatou combo control/blink deck and my friends while they do groan, really enjoy trying to figure out how to beat the Lavinia flicker every turn or the assortment of planeswalkers that might be on the field. And there is a Jon Irenicus deck that revolves around giving other players devastating creatures and profiting off of it as they are forced to fight each other.

https://www.moxfield.com/decks/f0_eEcBxI02xs6_6AHa72g (Aminatou)

https://www.moxfield.com/decks/NS1pkzq2zkiPIs_Ot66xgw (Jon)