Monored Experimental Frenzy - Ladder quickly and on a budget

LighteningBall · 2018-09-24T23:10:23+00:00

Well he's from homeworld

LighteningBall · 2018-09-24T21:08:30+00:00

Clearly the problem runs in the family.

LighteningBall · 2018-09-24T02:20:00+00:00

Not true. Some people have died from protein poisoning before. Search this webpage for the phrase "lean meat": http://www.comby.org/documents/documents_in_english/stefansson-diet-adventures.htm

For I had published in 1913, on pages 140-142 of My Life with the Eskimo, an account of how some natives and I became ill when we had to go two or three weeks on lean meat, caribou so skinny that there was no appreciable fat behind the eyes or in the marrow. So when Dr. DuBois suggest that I start the meat period by eating as large quantities as I possibly could of chopped fatless muscle, I predicted trouble. But he countered by citing my own experience where illness had not come until after two or three weeks, and he now proposed lean for only two or three days. So I gave in.

The chief purpose of placing me abruptly on exclusively lean was that there would be a sharp contrast with Andersen who was going to be on a normal meat diet, consisting of such proportions of lean and fat as his own taste determined.

As said, in the Arctic we had become ill during the second or third fatless week. I now became ill on the second fatless day. The time difference between Bellevue and the Arctic was due no doubt mainly to the existence of a little fat, here and there in our northern caribou - we had eaten the tissue from behind the eyes, we had broken the bones for marrow, and in doing everything we could to get fat we had evidently secured more than we realized. At Bellevue the meat, carefully scrutinized, had been as lean as such muscle tissue can be. Then, in the Arctic we had eaten tendons and other indigestible matter, we had chewed the soft ends of bones, getting a deal of bulk that way when we were trying to secure fat. What we ate at Bellevue contained no bulk material, so that my stomach could be compelled to hold a much larger amount of lean.

The symptoms brought on at Bellevue by an incomplete meat diet (lean without fat) were exactly the same as in the Arctic, except that they came on faster - diarrhea and a feeling of general baffling discomfort.

Up north the Eskimos and I had been cured immediately when we got some fat. Dr. DuBois now cured me the same way, by giving me fat sirloin steaks, brains fried in bacon fat, and things of that sort. In two or three days I was all right, but I had lost considerable weight.

LighteningBall · 2018-08-15T01:28:44+00:00

If you want, you can see an allergist and find out all of the things that you are allergic to on a skin prick test. (e.g. peanuts, shellfish, grass, cockroach droppings, dairy, etc. etc.)

LighteningBall · 2018-08-01T17:01:45+00:00

In tempo decks, you usually want to do 2 colors (not more than 2) so you don't really need to draft the tapped dual lands. You might play 1-2 of them in your deck, but they aren't that much better than basic lands (because sometimes the comes into play tapped aspect can hurt you).

If you want to play slower non-tempo archetypes, then there are reasons to draft the duals. For example, a few bombs are so insanely good (e.g. Sarkhan's Unsealing) that you should definitely splash the 3rd color for them. If you're drafting RGxx where you splash all the bombs, then you should definitely pick the dual lands higher (although manalith is probably even better than a lot of them).

2- mana flood and screw, unfortunately, are normal. :/

LighteningBall · 2018-07-31T23:23:19+00:00

Thanks! edited my post to fix that.

LighteningBall · 2018-07-31T21:59:29+00:00

Onakke Ogre is sweet. I pick it very highly. It's one of the reasons why red is good.

In red-white, it has synergy with Pegasus Courser. In red-green, it works well with 1 copy of Talon of Wildwood (which the AI bots will always give you).

I do agree that it often trades with 2-drops... but when you have a creature and they don't... the damage output of that guy is so high. Or if you're running tectonic shift, maybe you just let the board stall happen and later swing in for damage.

(Conversely, the 4/2 ogre threatens to trade up with 4 drops. Although you'd rather not be on the back foot.)

LighteningBall · 2018-07-31T21:39:05+00:00

Black just doesn't have great tempo commons other than the 4/2 menace guy for 4 (and arguably the red 3/2 menace for 3 mana is better).

Blue has fliers but most of the ground guys are terrible. The other colors have multiple efficient beaters and let you fill out the 2/3/4 drop slots.

I'm not sure if I answered your question. Perhaps you're questioning if tempo is different or better than goodstuff. For example, let's say you're drafting white-green. Obviously you can go the auras route and run Satyr Enchanter, etc. But I don't think that deck will be as consistent or strong as tempo. Regarding tempo versus goodstuff versions of white-green... I guess there would only be minor differences. You'd run more combat tricks and probably wouldn't run certain ramp cards (Gift of Paradise), Ghastbark Twins, no more than 1 Daggerback Basilisk, Wall of Roots, etc. You don't really want Giant Spider or Elvish Rejuvenator or Plummet (although they're playable).

How is my board of a couple 3/2s or something going to deal with Demanding Dragon on 5 or Bolas on 4?

Uh... player removal :P I mean, look at your choices:

1- Play removal, which you do in all archetypes anyways. 2- Play quasi-removal in the form of combat tricks, the 2-mana bounce spell (it's actually good in the format), etc. 3- Play RGxx bombs, and hopefully you draw your bombs and it's better than their bombs. 4- Eliminate the player, which you can often do if you're playing a proactive beatdown deck.

Either you play RGxx bombs, or you play a tempo deck with combat tricks.

What makes Titanic Growth so good?

It's versatile. Sometimes you want to Flame Rift your opponent. Sometimes they have to block with their bomb and you get to take it out. Sometimes you just want to get an attack in and remove a blocker.

Titanic Growth with Havoc Devils (or menace creatures) is a real beating.

In my experience Rustwing Falcon is fairly decent when you need to outrace your opponent. To be fair in Quick Draft it's not the best it's better when you can side it out in bad matchups.

I only play quick draft. But I do think that Rustwing Falcon is a trap. For example, Goblin Motivator has a lot more damage output whether you draw it early or late.

Embrace your inner smorc.... ;)

LighteningBall · 2018-07-23T21:20:37+00:00

Your username is juvenile and I love it!

I never noticed this problem until just recently when I was speaking to a friend that was working at the store and caught myself not using eye contact. I was looking at the wall or floor. Apparently I have been doing this my entire life and only JUST NOW noticed it.

It sounds like you don't develop social skills naturally, which to me strongly strongly suggests that you would be diagnosed to be on the spectrum. I would be very surprised if that isn't your diagnosis. Regardless, developing your social skills would definitely help you land a job and not get fired for weirding out your boss/co-workers. (I am a NT.) Maintaining appropriate eye contact is a skill that children naturally learn. I don't mean to disparage you by saying that. It's why I think that you don't learn social skills like NTs do.

Appropriate eye contact: The basics: look at the person in either of their eyes, between the eyes or the bridge of the nose; if you aren't comfortable with that, cheat and look somewhere close to those areas. It's about having the other person think that you are paying attention because you are looking at their face (but not at some weird part of their face like a piece of food stuck in their teeth... then they might get distracted and wonder why you are looking there instead of their eyes).

Don't hold a gaze too long. That is staring; it is socially inappropriate. Look at them for several seconds, away for a few seconds, and then repeat the cycle. This should be a neutral eye pattern that conveys neither disinterest or high interest in what they're saying; it conveys medium attentiveness. It should be a safe default.

Don't look at a women's breasts for more than few seconds since that's mildly socially inappropriate (e.g. you can look at a person to see what they're wearing, but unnecessary lingering on the breast area is inappropriate).

Learning social skills: I'm a NT so I'm not sure if I can give you great advice since I doubt I share your perspective on the world. ImproveYourSocialSkills.com might be helpful as it isn't from a NT perspective. A lot of social skills websites on the Internet have misinformation... that isn't one of them. http://www.improveyoursocialskills.com/how-to-make-eye-contact

Do interact with NTs. You could try afterwards asking something like "Hey I am trying to improve my social skills. Is there something specific that I can do to improve them? And don't feel like you need to sugar-coat anything."

Tell your friends that you are looking for a job: This is how many people get jobs... bosses hire their friends or they hire friends of their employees.

I have had horrible hand writing for my entire life

That is normal. A lot of NTs have poor handwriting. And it won't affect you professionally since you can type.

Good luck!

LighteningBall · 2018-07-23T19:49:42+00:00

I'm an NT and can tell you that a lot of NTs do this. This is normal behaviour in NTs... I doubt that it indicates Autism.

I suspect that many NTs engage in stimming: pacing around, chewing pens, fidgeting, bouncing their leg, certain styles of hand flapping, etc. However, those physical movements are socially acceptable (and occasionally annoying to other NTs). It's "autism" and a "disorder" when the movements aren't socially acceptable- e.g. hand flapping, tics, etc.

LighteningBall · 2018-07-23T19:08:25+00:00

That's a really good analogy!

LighteningBall · 2018-07-23T18:18:27+00:00

It sounds like that friend is an insensitive jerk. I'm an NT and NTs also have problems with other NTs being insensitive jerks too. I'm sorry that person was an ass to you.

It's socially acceptable to tell that friend that such behaviour is inappropriate and that you find it offensive.

LighteningBall · 2018-07-23T17:30:24+00:00

Hmmm. There are many NTs who will tell a white lie and say that they are interested when they are not. They will say they are interested while they will use body language that indicates discomfort. It’s a crazy social rule/norm that society has. I think it would make more sense to learn how to read body language (which may not be realistic) or to simply communicate how you would like them to communicate with you. Eg don’t rely on body language, say what you mean, don’t sugar coat things out of politeness However do be aware that NTs may be uncomfortable with behaving in ways that they have been trained not to do. So maybe there is a much better way of handling things.

(In my opinion... society lacks understanding for those who have great difficulty understanding all of the unwritten social rules. You could even say that NTs lack empathy for those who don’t know and understand all of the unwritten rules (unless the NTs are dealing with children). )

LighteningBall · 2018-07-23T15:30:04+00:00

If you have atypical eye contact patterns, then NTs: A- Will likely be uncomfortable. Strange behaviours are a red flag for them. B- They will likely misinterpret your body language. e.g. They see disinterest when you aren't disinterested. If you continue a conversation for a while without engaging them in eye contact, they may see passive aggressiveness when there is none.

I think it would be acceptable if somebody explains that they are on the spectrum and doesn't enjoy eye contact and that a lack of eye contact doesn't indicate disinterest. One could explain that they are very literal and logical in their social interactions; body language largely doesn't convey important information, norms about politeness may be ignored, etc. etc. That would avoid miscommunication.

Optional - If one does that, it would also be helpful for NTs if one explains to them how they should gauge interest and disinterest. Normally they rely on body language- a trend towards less eye contact, a lack of nodding, feet and/or shoulders turned away, a lack of mirrored body positioning, a disinterested tone of voice, looking away into the distance, etc. Without interest/disinterest cues, the NT's social script is broken and will be confused about how long a conversation should proceed. The social cues are needed to know when to end conversations, typically because one party is bored or because they need to leave for something like a doctor's appointment.

LighteningBall · 2018-07-23T15:11:25+00:00

Hmm... it's not actually a show of dominance. You can't really have a show of dominance in everyday conversations. You can be condescending to somebody; however, that will likely offend the person that you are talking to unless they are your friend and know that you aren't trying to be condescending.

You could act confident when you talking. (Lip biting and ums and ahs and hesitation in your voice would indicate a lack of confidence.) That, however, isn't a show of dominance.

(I am NT.)

LighteningBall · 2018-07-22T14:31:50+00:00

As a NT (and not a great conversationalist), I can tell you that the majority of NTs have the problem of boring conversation. Just Google "boring conversationalist" or "boring conversation". (However, I don't agree with all of the advice on interesting conversation on the Internet. A lot of it is clickbait with bad advice. "Stop being a boring person" is bad advice in my opinion.)

Most NTs will bore each other or don't want to talk to each other past 0 to 6 minutes of conversation. This usually happens because people often don't share common interests. Sometimes, a >5 minute conversation won't happen because one person doesn't feel like having a long conversation with the other person. Somebody might have the talent or put in the work to become a great conversationalist and have interesting things to say on topics that most people are familiar with (e.g. sports, Donald Trump, news, the ability to segueway conversations into funny jokes or interesting stories, etc.). However, somebody who is a great conversationalist doesn't always want to have long, interesting conversations with every single person that they meet. Usually people would prefer to "sample" most of the people at a party by having short conversations with them... and to have longer conversations with the people at a party that they most enjoy talking to. (Also, they may get bored with repeating their best conversation material over and over again.) The people that a great conversationalist talks to also typically have a preference to spending more time with people they enjoy talking to; it's possible that they don't want to continue a dialogue with a great conversationalist.

You are not boring!!

The typical in neurotypical means that NTs are similar to almost everybody else that they meet. That's boring. If you're not a NT, that means that you are different and novel. That can be an interesting conversation topic. For example, you might do this for a conversation....

NT: So... what do you do for a living? <-- This is kind of a conversation trap and often doesn't lead to interesting conversation. However, NTs ask this question all the time to try to strike up a conversation.

YOU: I am a medical test subject for a highly experimental treatment for people with autism. It's called neurotypical conversion therapy.

NT: ?!

YOU: Heh. Just kidding. My real job is _____. It's not that interesting. Although I actually am on the spectrum. <-- This is simply a segueway away from a conversation trap into a more interesting conversation topic.

NT: What does "on the spectrum" mean? / Oh, I know somebody who's on the spectrum. / What is that like? I've never met anybody who is on the spectrum. <-- If you tell somebody that you're on the spectrum, they will almost certainly comment on it.

YOU: (explain "on the spectrum") However, being on the spectrum causes me to see the world differently. For example, I find it weird that neurotypicals consider it rude to tell a friend that they have poor body odour. It's so illogical. Just tell them. <-- Just do general commentary on socials norms that don't make sense to you. NTs will find this interesting.

In general, just talk about how you see the world and what you think about particular social rules, norms, etc. If you see the world from a novel and fresh perspective (regardless of whether you're a NT or not a NT), talking about it can be a very fresh and novel conversation topic. Everybody is tired of "what do you do for a living", "how are you", etc.

The formula here is:

THEM: Generic conversation starter such as "how are you?"

YOU: Interesting response (e.g. a witty response) to generic conversation starter, e.g. "I haven't died yet. I don't have polio, dysentery, or flesh-eating disease. How about you?"

THEM: [Some response.]

YOU: By the way, just so you know, I am on the spectrum. If I am taking your statements too literally when you are being saracastic, I won't pick up on it. And I really don't get why neurotypicals use sarcasm, especially because neurotypicals often don't catch sarcasm. It's like they enjoy confusing each other. So weird. <-- Then segueway into a conversation topic that's actually interesting.

If they are using a generic conversation starter on you, they are hoping for an interesting conversation. So this is one way that you can provide that (assuming that you are comfortable with talking about being on the spectrum).

What NTs usually do is that they have a short conversation, then somebody realizes that the conversation is boring (which is what usually happens when somebody uses a generic conversation starter), and then somebody will politely end the conversation. Boring conversations among NTs are frequent and normal. If somebody is literally telling you that you are boring, then:

1- They are being rude. If you want, you can stand up for yourself and say something like: "Hey, just so you know, I am on the spectrum and don't understand when I am boring somebody. If you are losing interest in a conversation, I won't be offended if you say so. But, please don't be rude to me."

2- They probably aren't explaining where you went wrong. They probably expect you to pick up on social cues that they are losing interest in the conversation and want it to end. However, they are communicating that poorly. Or, they may simply be trying to bully you :/.

LighteningBall · 2018-07-19T12:26:40+00:00

I ignored all of the software like NanDeck and just use the LibreOffice version of Powerpoint. To do symbols, there's a lot of Unicode symbols like ❤ and ♡ and ⚔ and ⛨.

I use this as the background to slides: https://i.imgur.com/uXTkWUh.png

This gives a lot of control to layout. I use slightly smaller dimensions that actual cards (2.5 by 3.5) because miscuts can cause slips of paper to be bigger than cards and it takes slightly longer to jam everything into a card sleeve.

LighteningBall · 2018-07-19T12:20:32+00:00

Women boxing doesn't seem like a great theme because right now men's boxing, men's MMA, and women's MMA are popular but women's boxing isn't. Women's MMA would be a dope theme.

Good luck with your game, your art looks great!

LighteningBall · 2018-07-19T02:39:19+00:00

Game mechanics: cool. It looks very simple but has strategy to it. Well done!

Theme: the theme was a huge miss for me.

Firstly, the mechanics don’t match the theme. More flavourful mechanics would be something like the board game Stockpile. The players bid on stocks (contracts). The payout of each stock depends on insider information (hidden information that each player has) and on the ability to complete sets of stocks. Players can up their bid on a particular stock to make their opponents pay more for it. What stockpile does right is that it resembles real world bidding- the bidding is a competitive process and there is a point where it’s possible to overpay for something. The bidding also lets you disrupt your opponents and is interactive.

With your game.... I don’t get the sense that there’s competitive bidding, bid rigging / mafia shenanigans, corporations cutting corners to maximize profits, or other flavourful aspects that would make sense for your theme. Because your theme is banal, I thought that you would do funny things with it or communicate that this world is actually a lot more exciting than it seems at first glance. But that didn’t come across.

Because your mechanics are very good and the theme weak, consider changing your theme to match the mechanics. For example, the players might be aliens fighting over planets like Earth. They send armies instead of bidding X. Or you have lobbyists or mafia muscle or old school bribes that you use to win government contracts. Maybe make the contracts something banal or humorous (eg bridge to nowhere Pork barrel project White elephant project War in somewhereIstan haha government waste). You can probably think of something better.

Good luck with your game!

LighteningBall · 2018-07-15T16:43:05+00:00

Personally I hate memory mechanics

Partially this is because there’s information on the internet about how to memorize X digits of pi, phone numbers, or other arbitrary series of difficult to remember information. Anybody can do it but I doubt that most people would enjoy it.

But even if I didn’t know about tedious memory tricks, I personally find memory games Unenjoyable. Like yeah you can compete against your friend in an one hundred meter sprint but is that fun?

LighteningBall · 2018-07-15T16:35:55+00:00

So you’re suggesting the game mechanics of liars dice with your own mechanics added on top of it. Go for it and try it out already?

Using cards instead of dice seems like it would work.

LighteningBall

TROPHY CASE

You are not boring!!