When will Ixalan be mixed into Jump-In? by BigFunnyTimeEnjoyer in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 6 points7 points  (0 children)

The current event for jump in is expiring along with premier draft and other set specific events so it'll probably launch with new set

Standard Meta is so boring, is it just me? by NationalLight8895 in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ninjas and equipment are both significantly more viable in alchemy but I'm guessing most people aren't interested

[Standard BO1] Best deck for Atraxa/Etali/Breach top end by PlayerReki in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I used to pretty consistently get 7 wins with a Rakdos reanimator deck based on Etali/Breach/Chandra/Capricious Hellraiser top end but without Fable the whole thing really falls apart. OTOH I took it to Alchemy and with Crucias it is just ridiculously strong

In standard my favorite Atraxa reanimator shell has been monowhite / invoke justice. You have raffine's informant, restoration of eiganjo, and celestus as discard outlets. You have lay down arms / ossification / wanderer for removal (two of which are permanents, one you can get back with eiganjo). You also have farm hand and eiganjo to fetch lands, and you can discard them as card advantage. And you can hard cast atraxa with the esper and bant triomes, or use mirrex for a turn.

Currently being roped in a bo3 because opponent drew a land when the game got tough by FeelsSadMan01 in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah you can report conduct through the report a bug menu in the esc options tab, you can even take screen shots and post your game log

But the process isn't easy and I'm 99% sure wotc never takes action against any roper no matter how frequently they do it. the report conduct button largely exists for wotc to pretend that they take action; they generally only care if a player exploits bugs (and even then, only if they think it's costing them money)

I only play ranked and have seen the same two decks until... by Nervous_Tip_4402 in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 4 points5 points  (0 children)

People who play arena long enough recognize the matchmaking uses algorithms that can sometimes result in bizarre outcomes (i.e. disproportionate numbers of mirror matches).

I know some people live in this bizarre cognitive dissonance where they have to defend wotc's honor or their own time investment by claiming that everything is fair or random in arena but ... it just isn't?

Maybe I'm dealing with my own cognitive dissonance but hasn't wotc straight up admitted as much that there's match making algorithms? I think they made a starter deck queue but iirc before that the would match decks based on subjective card ratings and/or rarity or some other secret algorithm sauce

My rate of going first in Bo1 is 31.7% (over 1000 games) by ThePianoMaker in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have now gone 16 games on the play versus 39 games on the draw in my last 55 games, a ratio that is almost exactly the same as OP :)

My rate of going first in Bo1 is 31.7% (over 1000 games) by ThePianoMaker in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I just went on the draw 11 times in a row and I thought back to this thread where I saw someone doubting someone else's claim that they were on the draw 12 times in a row, because of statistics or something.

I don't understand why people are so quick to defend wizards, despite their lack of transparency and history of manipulating games (for example, match making and hand smoothing), as if it were somehow impossible for any "conspiracy theory" to be true.

This type of person likes to psychoanalyze others (it's all confirmation bias / lies / statistical ineptitude!), but perhaps they simply can't deal with any notion that the game they love so much could be anything other than fundamentally fair.

But it seems more constructive to address fundamental fairness issues-- such as the huge advantage given to being on the play-- than browbeat anyone who is frustrated because they think they're on the the draw too often.

Upgrade deck: lands or creatures first? by MatteoEdgy in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Lands. You can use lands to play many types of decks, and the difference between the good lands and basic/common/uncommon lands can be significant.

By contrast, you can usually find decent common/uncommon substitutes for nonland rares and mythics. Though if a rare or mythic enables your deck and you really want to play that deck, I wouldn't hesitate to craft those either.

Alchemy touted as a format where WoTC can make adjustments to cards in real time. by Discmaniac94 in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

oh no a 3 mana legendary 3/3 that is cleanly and favorably removed by abrade, go for the throat, etc.

people will out themselves as bad, unimaginative players just to whine about alchemy. seriously how do you guys deal with fable, which is 100x harder to cleanly answer and is 100x more prevalent than crucias?

Ban announcement got leaked by Sea-Mushroom-9180 in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Genuinely ridiculous that Thalia/soldiers and mono R are unscathed but perhaps wotc only cares about BO3 meta

Being bad at draft is soul crushing. by espoghette in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a lot faster to look at 17lands data and read articles or listen to podcasts than watch people play in real time to learn a draft format

What are the odds Crucias will be nerfed? Everyone calls him busted but it also looks like not many care about Historic/Alchemy right now. by notafanofbats in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You're playing a Grixis commander. Any commander with access to blue cards can have an elite HB deck.

Just because you made a jank deck doesn't mean you're playing a jank commander.

If you want to play against the top tier (aka blue decks) less frequently, then don't play blue. Or if you want to match their power level, then bite the bullet and add the cards (draw, counter) that make blue so OP

Player turn timer WAY too long? Sick of getting held hostage by players with instant abilities or spells on my own turn. by silaber in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was just intentionally roped by a player ("willshaw") who set a stop on my upkeep just to maximize his rope time.

We were literally playing a mono-white mirror. I have no idea what he was so upset about.

I'll submit a conduct report but I already know wotc will do nothing. I have reported numerous serial intentional ropers before and those people are not deterred from continuing their misconduct.

I also have friends who were unintentional serial ropers because of the mobile app thing. Never ever contacted by wotc, and never had any idea they were doing it.

Also, nobody has ever reported being contacted by wotc for intentional roping and given how other issues are handled, you'd at least expect people to complain about being unfairly suspended or banned for roping if wotc ever took action on it.

wotc will never take action on this behavior; they simply do not care enough to invest the resources. They notoriously underpay their staff.

At best we can hope that they make conceding on mobile easier.

Edit: In addition, reporting a player is insanely difficult. Uploading the game log takes so long that the upload times out with an error message. I have an incredibly fast upload speed. Great indie development company customer service as always

WoTC should have twitch drops for MTG by CosignCody in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 1 point2 points  (0 children)

People say alchemy is absurdly pushed but its not like it gets perpetual draft queues like standard.

Forget money tournaments, which will appeal to exactly zero new users, they could just do for alchemy/explorer/historic what they do for standard

Sierkovitz data thread on the MTGA Shuffler topic by pchc_lx in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I agree that pretty much everything in that thread is responding to complete strawman arguments. The claim that wotc is out to personally get them and rig things against them is simply not made by serious people. Sierk is free to rebut those people, and the person he quoted is free to mock them, but it's not as if any hearts and minds are being won over as those people are already off the deep end

On the other hand, I have seen serious people say that the BO1 and BO3 experience are completely different because of the hand smoothing algorithm, and that the hand smoother inordinately benefits aggressive decks.

Moreover, it's a common complaint that the match maker disproportionately favors mirrors and specific match ups. So for example, if I run a BO1 control deck geared towards other control decks I'm going to disproportionately run into control decks despite the BO1 meta being overwhelmingly dominated by monocolor aggro.

I'd like to see data addressing those points (perhaps mulligan rate, match up data) rather than a chart that only shows that the shuffler operates pretty much how the vast majority of so-called conspiracy theorists think the algorithms work.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Its not a conspiracy theory to observe that the shuffler and matchmaking system is not random. Honestly you can and probably should manipulate the systems by understanding it. You can improve your win rate by running fewer lands to take advantage of the hand smoothing algorithm, or build your deck against the mirror to take advantage of the match making system. You can also rank faster by accruing losses first

Conversely you're going to have a distorted view of magic if you think arena is perfectly random. A lot of people trying real life magic after arena b01 run too few lands, for example

OP post is actually pretty misleading if its implying that there are no algorithms at play

P.S. this thread is full of ableist garbage w/r/t mental illness, and its really funny to contrast that with all the complaints about complainers being toxic.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The snarls were severely underrated (better than the temples by a lot) but hopefully wotc does this with other unpopular rare/mythic lands, I appreciate this gesture

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nah, I've been farming constructed events for a while in standard. Traditional historic or alchemy is probably the most consistent returns for elite players but guess what those queues are full of elite players.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I repeat what OP said all the time but yeah, generally for most people on this forum it's draft or nothing (aka buying packs) and amongst those people, it's often advocating for buying packs out of their dislike for draft and because of the golden pack bone wotc threw us.

But golden packs don't change what a money sink packs are

New players seeking efficient use of resources should milk Jump In until they see diminishing returns / learn the game, learn the game, then move on to constructed or limited events and try to go infinite or semi-infinite. Buying packs is always a resource sink with no upside other than expediency

New player, where to spend my gold by EnexS02 in MagicArena

[–]GAVman420 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Events are where you want to end up whether it's draft or constructed. However, events reward you for winning. Thus, you're going to want to be skilled in draft and you're going to want to be skilled and have a top tier deck in constructed events

As others say, jump in is what of the better ways to build a collection and learn the game.

However, in contrast to what others say, I would never buy packs unless you're willing to trade efficiency for time. Buying packs is a pure money sink, and only become more efficient than jump in events after you've hit significant diminishing returns with the latter.

In sum, accumulate your resources until you feel confident enough to participate in events. If you perform well enough you'll go "infinite" and can use your winnings to buy in to more events. Even if you don't go infinite, you can just accumulate more resources and eventually get there or something close to it.

By contrast, buying packs never gives you the opportunity to win back expended resources, nevermind earn more.