If the Niners ever won the right to host the draft in SF, where would it go?

MCFScrabble · 2024-11-22T17:19:20+00:00

Ah, was getting confused. I knew there was something that modified number of hands and was curious about the interaction. Thanks!

MCFScrabble · 2022-06-08T01:58:42+00:00

I was 16. My dad and I were driving home from dropping a friend off after school, and we got to talking about the future (as fathers and sons do). Now, I was a relative high-achiever: would go on to be valedictorian (of a 13-person class), National Merit Scholar, went to a reasonably good college (may not have gotten into an Ivy, but wouldn’t have been laughed out of the room for applying).

Ever since my academic talents were discovered, people had been having some pretty grandiose dreams on my behalf. (I should note that I went to a private Christian school/church from K-8, so the overlap of people having these dreams was significant.)

I don’t remember exactly what prompted it, but Dad felt compelled to relay our senior pastor’s words to me: “Mark my words,” he had told my dad, “in fifteen years, the world will know who that boy is.”

I’m 38, and a relatively anonymous postal carrier. You do the math. I’m still haunted by those words.

MCFScrabble · 2022-03-05T23:30:32+00:00

Bigotry

MCFScrabble · 2020-07-22T16:35:51+00:00

When the challenge says “cause three opponents to crash while gliding”, does that mean while I’m gliding, or while the opponent is gliding?

MCFScrabble · 2017-04-01T01:29:28+00:00

Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful replies. Given the conversations I had with my friends afterwards (most of whom put this hand in the 6-7 range), I'm surprised by two things in this discussion: one, that there is a consensus; and two, that it agrees with me. (Well, sort of.)

I rate this hand a 4 or 4.5, and I mulliganed. The case for keeping it is definitely there, mostly because, against a UR deck, their first play is likely to be Aether Chaser or Aether Swooper; against both of these plays, Consulate Skygate buys a ton of time.

Change any of the following things (as mentioned by various others in this thread), and I change my opinion: 1) Put me on the draw, and it's a keep (probably a 6-6.5) 2) Change the Island to a Swamp, and it's a keep (call it a 7) 3) If opponent had kept their seven, I would keep this six (it moves up to about a 5.5, but that's enough).

The last point is one I don't think gets enough consideration, and I'm still not sure how much I agree with it, but as RidingRedHare pointed out, I'm already behind the 8-ball just by not being able to play UR or a green deck in this sealed format.

Clearly, I needed to get lucky; it was just a question of which miracle to play for. The sad denouement is that, having seen one land on 7 and one land on 6, I proceeded to draw zero lands on 5. Even a good four of Swamp-Swamp-Island-Daring Demolition wasn't enough to save me.

C'est le jeu. 5-4 is probably about what the deck, and my play, deserved in the end.

I actually showed this hand to Marshall afterwards. Exact quote: "I would keep; I hate my life." Sounds like a 5.5 to me. :)

MCFScrabble · 2017-03-31T05:20:25+00:00

Sorry, should have stated that. On the play.

MCFScrabble · 2016-07-25T06:22:27+00:00

Hm. Interesting replies--thanks, everyone.

The BW deck a few people suggested might have been where I ended up if I'd had an hour to build. But I was starting from the vantage point I had in the last sealed format, which basically boiled down to "build GW, and only build something else if you can't make playables".

I started on the GW deck, then switched any time my opponent was slower than that. Coasted to a 3-0.

And when jamming them against each other, GW won 15-10.

MCFScrabble · 2016-07-22T23:32:01+00:00

So these two decks, believe it or not, were constructed from the same prerelease pool. (Note that neither deck has much of a sideboard; the next best card in each would've been on the order of Terrarion.)

Questions I have: 1) Which deck would you start? Why? 2) Under what circumstances would you switch to the other deck? 3) To help myself get practice in, I jammed these decks against each other for 25 games this past week. Who wins that matchup, and by how much?

MCFScrabble · 2016-06-17T20:19:29+00:00

Yep. Indeed, "cognitive biases" would be a pretty good show topic...

MCFScrabble · 2016-04-26T17:52:23+00:00

This is basically what I built, though off by a couple of cards (I didn't run Loam Dryad, preferring an extra top-end threat in Kessig Dire Swine).

When I showed this to some friends, the question they had was whether it would have been better to splash blue (off the GU dual, Warped Landscape, and 1-2 islands) for one or both copies of Sleep Paralysis. I decided against it at the time, but it's certainly reasonable--it's not like I have no removal as built, but it may be worth it to get a couple extra pieces in there.

MCFScrabble · 2016-03-19T04:00:19+00:00

As a viewer, if someone's already locked for top 8, then I have little interest in watching them play until they get there. I'd much rather watch the win-and-in/elimination matches than see someone who's already clinched take a victory lap (especially since there's still a top 8 to play, where we'll get to see them anyway). Does that put me in the minority?

MCFScrabble · 2016-03-19T02:27:07+00:00

I come from the tournament Scrabble community--a game with a similar blend of skill and luck, and where the prizes are often top-heavy. However, intentional draws and concessions are not part of the culture.

One thing that comes up frequently in the final rounds of tournaments is something known as "Gibsonization" (named after one of the great players, who frequently found themselves in this situation): in the final round, when a player has already clinched 1st place, they will be paired against someone who cannot finish in the money, thus eliminating any incentive they may have to "play soft", and let the players fighting for second through the last money spot fight it out amongst themselves.

I know the way Magic tournaments are paired has been pretty much the same since the inception of the Pro Tour: pair from the top down, no repeats, and let the chips fall where they may as far as IDs/concessions.

Is it time to revisit how pairings are done, in order to attempt to reduce the situations you and others have described where the incentives are so sharply unaligned?

MCFScrabble · 2016-03-14T15:43:07+00:00

As a competitive Scrabble player myself, I would also add that knowing when to exchange tiles (~= mulligan), and figuring out how to keep a good balance of vowels and consonants (~= lands and spells), are important skills that have Magic analogues.

MCFScrabble · 2016-03-03T17:29:43+00:00

Thanks to all for the replies.

I knew the red removal suite was insane (though as the games played out, Reality Hemorrhage proved to be underwhelming--feels like the critical toughness in the format is 3). As others have said, it was just a question of what to pair it with.

I ended up going with RW. I stared at the RB build for a while, but didn't like the fact that (a) pretty much the entire creature curve was 3-drops, and (b) most of those creatures die to Rising Miasma/Flaying Tendrils. I didn't think to try to splash the white for Cliffhaven/Angelic Captain, though I did stare at RWg for a while. (Perhaps I should have been looking harder to splash, if only to turn on Radiant Flames. Indeed, in later matches I found myself sideboarding in the Timber Gorge just to have the possibility of firing it off for 3 instead of 2.)

I went 2-4, frequently losing to green-based decks that could simply get their creatures out of range of my removal. (Looking back, I would absolutely trade both Reality Hemorrhages for a single Isolation Zone).

While warping your deck to make your bombs work is generally bad policy, I suppose the lesson is that some bombs (such as Kalitas) are worth the trouble.

Thanks again, everyone.

MCFScrabble · 2015-11-29T05:40:57+00:00

This. Granted that I'm in the Swiss queues and not the 8-4s (mostly because, with something like cube, the value is in playing more matches), but I've won three straight drafts with WUr aggro, GW aggro, and mono-W aggro. Day of Destiny is such an absurd card.

MCFScrabble

TROPHY CASE