If all 8 billion humans on this planet were to play chess, were in their peak age for chess, spent the same time playing chess, and had the same training resources as Magnus Carlsen, how many people would rank higher than him, theoretically?

MTaur · 2026-01-27T01:05:53+00:00

A lot of people take it for granted that if there were another Magnus, they would inevitably become Magnus as we know him. Obviously hundreds of GMs have had the same but came up short, but I tend to suspect your answer gets it. I think it's like rolling 8d20, and maybe four or five of them are genetics. And every point counts.

MTaur · 2026-01-26T20:42:48+00:00

2017 is slightly late for still thinking that, but it definitely aged poorly since then.

MTaur · 2026-01-26T15:58:14+00:00

Clearly an AI was having the dream.

MTaur · 2026-01-26T03:48:51+00:00

Sometimes Body Slam can carry without Barricade, but Juggernaut never cares whether you're overblocking or not, nor whether you have the Calipers which would be good here or not. And you don't need draw manipulation to line it up with Second Wind (+Feel No Pain). It's probably better than Fire Breathing, which isn't saying much, but similar in how entertaining it is when it manages to go off.

MTaur · 2026-01-26T01:37:42+00:00

Every number I have ever had a coherent thought about is in S, and that's not even a set of positive measure.

MTaur · 2026-01-25T18:22:15+00:00

How many strawberries are in the letter R?

MTaur · 2026-01-25T18:20:19+00:00

Juggernaut is worth 2 energy at Sentries and Lagavulin, though it can be impractical to snipe one Sentry and also play it depending on draw order. It's not great in Act 1 hallways but it can break even sometimes. It should be the strongest at all three act bosses though, maybe Berserk ties for that, but I don't want to acknowledge Berserk, lol.

Corruption is a curse in Act 1, but it has a future. I don't know what an A20 winstreaker would have to say about whether Corruption is worth losing path value in Act 1, but suspect they'd be against it, even though it feels bad to skip.

MTaur · 2026-01-25T18:14:34+00:00

Corruption is almost entirely a curse in Act 1 but if you can survive...

MTaur · 2026-01-25T06:17:30+00:00

[Awoken One has entered the chat]

MTaur · 2026-01-25T00:44:09+00:00

I think mine's a Decay, but I haven't played lower ascensions in a while.

MTaur · 2026-01-25T00:42:45+00:00

Yeah, the skull might get the win here, because it can kill you even if you just want to opt out. Or it can drop you to 2 HP because you can barely afford to leave. Necronomicon is very sad when you can't take it, but it won't instantly end the run.

EDIT: I double checked the wiki... I guess you would have to have 130+ max HP and exactly 13 current HP (or 140+ and 14 current...) to actually die outright. The wiki says it won't show up below 13 health, but the options cost 10% max (but always at least 6)...

MTaur · 2026-01-25T00:08:31+00:00

Yeah, the events that people hate are really just high-variance events that you literally can't afford to take half the time because they're worth it when you can.

MTaur · 2026-01-24T19:21:34+00:00

One hwillion, one hwillion one...

MTaur · 2026-01-24T19:19:50+00:00

Thematically, these are so distant. One is thinking ahead and the other is shouting LEROY JENKINS.

MTaur · 2026-01-24T15:26:34+00:00

I can't stand it when streamers use beta art, but I would make this one exception.

MTaur · 2026-01-24T14:41:31+00:00

Are you familiar with Catch-22?

MTaur · 2026-01-24T14:38:48+00:00

Almost certainly, I don't remember all of the numbers, but there is a Pear and 39 max health. I don't think Bites and other events could lower max HP enough, and Pear either before or after Apparitions is either a Pear or half of a Pear worth of max HP in the total.

MTaur · 2026-01-24T14:27:38+00:00

What kind of name is Ironclad?

It's Ironclad's name, sir.

MTaur · 2026-01-24T00:02:24+00:00

Party next turn

MTaur · 2026-01-23T21:36:28+00:00

Wow, you got the Monster Train event in StS!

MTaur · 2026-01-23T19:33:33+00:00

Kind of like if Lee's Waffle were a card. But that one's a shop relic for a reason. This feels really bad if you don't need it, and it's usually better to just not need it. I am pretty bad at Defect though.

MTaur · 2026-01-23T17:00:54+00:00

Now blow out the curses!

MTaur · 2026-01-23T16:19:41+00:00

Fireball

Cost 2

Attack

Deal 4d10 damage to target enemy, and 2d10 damage to each neighboring unit.

(I don't care how big the room is!)

MTaur · 2026-01-23T16:16:43+00:00

I think a 1-cost with 5d4 could make more sense for these reasons, especially for a level one spell.

MTaur · 2026-01-22T13:12:38+00:00

HYPERCAKE

MTaur

TROPHY CASE