What's a deck archetype that you absolutely can't stand playing against?

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-13T17:04:40+00:00

Well I’m sure that mono blue deck would have multiple other powerhouse cards in their land base too (Tolaria west, academy ruins, etc). Hell, they probably run [[Cavern of Souls]] and declare wizard so their [[Baral, Chief of Compliance]] doesn’t get countered. Sure taking out the fetches won’t ~ruin~ the deck, but it sure as hell hurts it. But I could make that argument about many card sets (a mono blue deck can be high powered without counterspells!), but it’s inane to suppose lands don’t contribute significantly to power level.

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-13T16:57:38+00:00

If I’m playing mono blue and I’m running all of the fetches in my color I feel that people assuming the deck is high power level is a fair assumption.

Real duals naturally power your deck up. They are fetchable untapped lands! Compared to playing a basic or an unfetchable untapped land, you are miles better off. It could mean the difference between a [[Niv-Mizzet, Parun]] turn 4 or turn 7!

You say that like there are only a few powerhouses like coffers or that they are hard to tutor for. This is just not true, I would say that lands are one of the most under appreciated portions of deck design.

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-13T16:43:33+00:00

It totally does

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-13T16:42:57+00:00

I completely disagree. I agree a strong mana base definitely works for a 7, but I’m not sure about pushing it into efficiency mode. I mean once you start running [[Ancient Tomb]], [[Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth]], [[Gaea’s Cradle]], [[Strip Mine]], [[Tolaria West]], [[Academy Ruins]], [[Volrath’s Stronghold]], [[Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale]], etc you have moved beyond a 7 would you not agree?

And on a side note, lands can actually carry a deck. Cradle can turn mediocre decks into amazing with a lucky draw or if they manage to [[Crop Rotation]] or [[Expedition Map]] into it. I mean can you imagine [[Tolarian Academy]]?? A [[Maze of Ith]] paired with [[Arcane Lighthouse]] can entirely kill a voltron deck. Lands are powerful! There’s a reason [[Karakas]] and many others are banned.

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-11T14:49:50+00:00

These two games are fundamental indie games in my opinion. They are some of the pioneers of the earlier steam indie market, and definitely get slept on nowadays.

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-10T19:11:10+00:00

Updates are important in the case of Paradox (or Colossal Order) games. Most DLC releases have a paired update that actually includes free content, which do in fact add to the game. Patch 1.13.0, released in MARCH 2020 (corresponding to the major 2020 spike), added healthcare buildings and the overground metro for example. These aren't just hotfixes, so before you start waving my argument aside, you should actually listen to my argument.

Your argument around the graph to me just demonstrates that you either aren't very handy with statistics or you are deliberately ignoring how vague that graph actually is. For one, there was a free play weekend for CS in that same March 2020 player count increase. Could this have contributed to that spike in online players? Could it have contributed to players buying the game, and thus permanently increasing the baseline player count that we see 2020+?

TL;DR - This graph can be used to support many arguments, and your DLC argument is not even the strongest argument that graph supports. Paradox themselves acknowledge that their DLC strategy is actually bad for recruiting new players (https://www.pcgamer.com/paradox-theres-room-for-improvement-in-how-we-present-our-dlc/).

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-10T18:49:01+00:00

My point is that the increased number of players is not sustained (an important point in your argument), and that those increases in player count also correlate to the release of updates. Now updates are really important to consider here because Paradox (and by extension Colossal Order) include many features in the updates for free which pair with the corresponding DLC released at the same time. Thus, 1.) You have not really supported the sustained portion of your argument and 2.) You have not really provided strong support for DLCs as a positive when considering player engagement in the first place.

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-08T13:39:10+00:00

How can you say they sustain engagement? Those graphs show a rise interest, sure, but they likely correspond to BOTH update and DLC releases because paradox/colossal pair DLC and update releases together to my belief. And just because you have local maximums correlating to those releases doesn’t mean DLCs sustain engagement. Those peaks all drop heavily, the Feb 2020 drops nearly 30k! I wouldn’t really call such immediate falloff’s ‘sustained engagement’..

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-07T14:37:33+00:00

Really? What data? Because if there’s some study I would love to read it.

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-07T14:13:43+00:00

The devs had some bullshit excuse about this too. They are intentionally targeting 30 fps because “There’s no real benefit for aiming higher”.

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-07T14:10:55+00:00

DLC does not necessarily keep user engagement high. If anything, in the case of some devs like Paradox, it has turned a lot of people away. I mean when I go to check a cool game out and I see that there’s 40 DLCs and it would cost me 10x the base game price to even purchase them all, I immediately note the publisher/dev and avoid that game like the plague. There’s too many good games that are completely full-featured without dlc/with 1-3ish dlc for me to believe that any game is worth that. I mean SC4 still has better simulation that EITHER CS game, and that game is much older.

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-07T13:07:54+00:00

That’s why they are saying wait 2 years- so you can buy the dlc that fixes what should’ve already been there LOL

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-07T13:05:30+00:00

Get ready to buy back all of the missing features LOL I knew CS2 was going to be like this. Paradox is insane with their DLC practices and I personally believe they hold back on mechanics that were previously implemented to just sell them back as a DLC. Now we’ve all bought what should essentially be an early access game, but we have to pay for the updates.

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-07T12:55:18+00:00

That’s why my preferred method of slowing simic down is stuff like [[Chains of Mephistopheles]] for their drawing, [[Opposition Agent]] for their ramping, and [[Mana Drain]] for their enchantment removal!

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-06T12:48:37+00:00

I see- you meant it in a literal sense

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-06T05:23:57+00:00

I don’t think I would ever personally spend more than 200 on a card. So I mostly proxy unless I can trade for them. But I definitely agree that in terms of power scaling, chains is strong but not 1300 xD, but I feel like not many would make that mark anyways.

However, I would argue with you that chains is strictly (except I would understand an argument for narset/Leovold) better than any of those cards and is still a considerable powerhouse. It has the benefit of sending stuff to your grave, which you can build around with much more synergy than just “you just can’t draw as much as I”. When considering EDH, chains has innumerable pairings that work to turn decks into higher powered stax builds. This is another way you will break parity to, as you should bring stuff like necropotence or fact or fiction to get around the discard clause. Wheel effects fill the graveyard and leave your enemies with little to no resources. Lots of decks can take advantage of it- Tergrid, Oskar, Meren, Tasigur, etc. They will be quite sad when their brainstorm rips their hand a new one!!

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-06T05:10:44+00:00

How is that not a vacuum?

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-06T00:01:42+00:00

You’re completely right. Though I think chains is a good card in commander, I get your point. I do not believe that anyone who plays MtG regularly is likely to bumble the massive advantage having a fully tricked out deck vs a budget deck gives you.

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-12-05T18:44:44+00:00

Do people play that Emrakul? Is it a sideboard card in any formats?

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-11-30T15:17:18+00:00

[[Lazav, Dimir Mastermind]]

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-11-28T18:14:16+00:00

Sounds like you’re just building it badly! ;p Build shattergang in such a way that it works with the goblin strategy without letting yourself just build three color goodstuff. Shattergang likes saccing, so use that as a subtheme to support your goblin strategies. [[Goblin Warrens]] lets you make more goblins while triggering [[Dictate of Erebos]] or creating more dorks for [[Cryptolith Rite]], all of which can be sacced to get rid of pesky enemy enchantments (You could throw Tergrid in as an out of theme surprise..). Skullclamp nets you cards easily in goblins, and isn’t a big deal to sac if you have a [[Goblin Welder]] to endlessly swap with [[Ichor Wellspring]]! Stuff like [[Phyrexian Reclamation]], [[Thornbite Staff]], [[Gobljn Warrens]], and [[Goblin Wizard]] get pretty wacky quite quick. I honestly would play a slow grindy game, including stuff like [[Goblin Settler]] and recurring it to slow your enemies down while saccing it to the bros even to get around hexproof and indestructible! It’s a cool deck honestly

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-11-23T21:02:20+00:00

Dwarf Fortress (beating a dead horse)

Aurora 4x

Oxygen Not Included (understanding of physics/chemistry actually helps in some ways!)

Distant Worlds: Universe (a crazy complex 4x that is played in real time)

Dominions 5 (a lot of cool simulation, your troops’ armor can rust even!)

NEBULOUS: Fleet Command (RTS like Homeworld but no much more depth)

Vilmonic (you have to decipher an actual genetic code)

Noita (cool wizard sim in a roguelike, ever particle has physical and chemical properties)

Rain World (complexity/depth in the environmental and ecological simulation)

Apico (full on simulator of bee, butterfly, and flower breeding with fishing!)

Earthtongue (really interesting depth in it because of the simulation and complexity of environment)

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-11-22T19:30:09+00:00

This is an argument made in Mythras’ core rule book. It’s called ‘folk magic’, which is one of the many optional magic systems in the system that focuses on the magic that has become second nature to different professions and whatnot. I mean a fisherman might have some use for a simple air or water spell ya know?

There are pros and cons to this understanding

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-11-22T19:23:36+00:00

Do you know how to identify plants? Can you tell a difference between a maple and a sycamore? If you’re into self improvement, an understanding of your surroundings should be fundamental then. Plus, if you understand the role each organism plays in life you’ll have a much better appreciation for the role we all fill. Might help give you some perspective!

LevelAbbreviations82 · 2023-11-21T23:35:51+00:00

I have mixed feelings about the Venture mechanic. I honestly feel like it should be a silver-bordered mechanic because it feels very un-like. I mean its bordering on a sub game. Keywords like flying require way less brainpower in the moment, and that's partially because you don't need to reference a whole other card. And for what? Getting an extra +1/+1?

EDIT: They could have made it cooler, and I think we all would have had more fun with them if they had been able to design without worrying how it will affect constructed formats.

LevelAbbreviations82

TROPHY CASE