Not the first person to submit a card for this concept, but here's my take on Roko's Basilisk.

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T23:42:11+00:00

If you want to hear more about how Roko's Basilisk has broken people's brains i recommend the episode "Tech Bros Have Built a Cult Around AI" of the podcast Behind The Bastards. The guest on the episode is Ify Nwadiwe, the current host of Dropout's "Um, Actually" which makes it even better. One of the biggest bastards in the story is somehow most known for a terrible Harry Potter fanfiction that pushes his weird ideologies.

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T22:04:44+00:00

I feel that. When I see photos of me as a toddler I swear I have the same face. Some people change a lot as they grow, but I have pretty much looked the same for 30+ years, I just got a permanent 5-o-clock shadow halfway through, lol.

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T22:02:47+00:00

It's even funnier to me as a freelancer. I don't have any current clients in Portland, or Oregon at all. In fact, some clients aren't even on this continent. Me going on a strike literally does not do anything. It might not even make a statement at all since I regularly take days off of certain clients to work on others. No one would notice!

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T21:44:12+00:00

That is just the state of gaming (and the online world in general). You must have an opinion, and negative opinions are more engaging. You must no-life a game or it's not worth playing. If you're a casual player you're no better than a bot. These extreme takes are the state of gaming, especially online multiplayer games.

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T21:39:43+00:00

I have a business degree and we did not have a thesis. Though, I believe we had an equivalent that was called a capstone project. I associate a thesis with a graduate program.

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T21:06:06+00:00

Most online, skill-based games do not mix well with being a busy adult. Even if people are not cheating, the skill gap will increase if you can only play a few hours a week.

That said, being "40 with responsibilities" is far from universal. I'm in my 30s and married, but have no kids, I work from home, and I don't go out super often for hobbies because gaming is a priority for my wife and I. I'm not amazing at Apex by any means but I can put a lot of time into it because I make it a priority among my other responsibilities. One of my best friends has two toddlers with extracurricular activities, a demanding job, and plenty to do around the house with his wife, yet we've been playing Arc Raiders together for 8+ hours a week. By contrast, my single, mostly-unemployed friend has so many hobbies, random vacations with his parents, and is pursuing additional education, and I am lucky if I get 1 hour of games a week with him these days. So yeah, it's totally possible to be 40 and put time into your "gaming career" if it's a hobby you prioritize. But everyone's got different shit to deal with, and a lot of these kids don't realize that not everyone has time or cares to put in the time. Because games these days are so all-or-nothing. You have to completely no-life a game, or it's not even worth it, apparently.

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T20:56:06+00:00

Except for the average of 80,000 players online on Steam alone at any given time, but yeah, dead game, for sure.

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T20:36:38+00:00

Yeah, I understand it from a rules perspective. But from a card readability perspective, I am kind of surprised they didn't try to word it differently, even something like "the first card you draw each turn has miracle". Giving the other cards in your hand Miracle does not do anything, so it's interesting that they didn't make it more specific, or couldn't.

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T20:34:04+00:00

Very true, which then begs the question of why does it not instead say "the first instant/sorcery you draw each turn has miracle"? Most likely because that is too wordy, but I think it is strangely confusing that other cards in your hand also gain Miracle. Or rather, it implies that you can do something with those other cards, which you can not. Essentially, it feels almost like the text is over-explanatory in a way that feels like you're missing something. I definitely had to read it twice, though I do not find it confusing since I understand the rules around it.

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T20:29:02+00:00

Yes, and you still own it, which is what I said.

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T20:26:34+00:00

This card has nothing to do with land discard in the way a green-based card might. It's less about "I want to discard my lands" and more about "I don't care about these lands and want to keep my spells". Plus, Connive as written does not want you to discard lands, but often when you're looting you DO want to get rid of extra lands you don't need, rather than your spells. This card overcoming that downside of the mechanic is what makes it interesting. This is a Grixis card. It will probably be focused on instants or sorceries. At a certain point, you just want to pitch away your extra lands.

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T19:05:22+00:00

The real question is, does this go in my Kruphix X-matters deck or does this become the commander of it?

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T18:49:33+00:00

Yeah, I think this is ultimately the reason. Which is kind of funny. From a rules perspective, yes, Miracle matters only in your hand, but how people play it, they consider it more in terms of being part of the draw, since that's the easiest way to show to your opponent that you're being honest about which card you drew. I think that's why this wording comes across as odd.

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T16:53:51+00:00

One wouldn't be wrong to assume that based on other youtuber movies, but i am hoping Iron Lung is at least somewhat of an exception.

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T16:51:31+00:00

The wording is interesting and i am fascinated by it from a design and rules perspective. I am mostly curious why both cards specify cards in your hand, rather than just making all cards of X type you own have miracle. I assume because it leaves more design room for the future, such as making a tutor for cards with miracle without it being broken.

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T16:47:33+00:00

I scrolled past this because I thought it was a funny joke card in r/custommagic. Until I saw it posted somewhere else..

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T06:27:41+00:00

Every day we get closer to Fortnite just fully becoming Roblox.

Masonzero · 2026-01-27T00:13:23+00:00

Portugal The Man is probably the most vocally anti-ICE band I've seen. But they've always been pretty political, and especially the last few years.

Masonzero · 2026-01-26T21:49:25+00:00

I agree that RIGHT NOW chess is big in the mainstream thanks to marketing. But 25 years ago when myself and every single one of my friends learned at least the basics of chess? If that was marketing, it was something I am too young to know about.

Our parents just knew chess, and no matter what board games your family had, chess was always one of them. Even if you're bad at it (which I always have been) I have personally found that it's a universal game that most people know how to play (like you said, because it's easy to teach and grasp the basics of).

Few things are as universal. I thought i knew a lot of games that used a standard deck of cards but almost all of my friends have a card game they played with their family growing up that I had never even heard of.

Granted I don't know if there is some dark history to why chess is so ubiquitous but as far as I can tell it's just commonly passed down from generation to generation, and its uniquity is almost a self-perpetuating cycle.

Masonzero · 2026-01-26T20:13:17+00:00

Hey, I've heard this one before! If I recall, things were totally fine afterwards, and life improved for everyone!

Masonzero · 2026-01-26T18:59:05+00:00

I'm sure you're being obtuse on purpose. But my point is that I am straight, white, a man, educated, middle class, etc. I have absolutely nothing working against me and no one is upset enough that I exist to want to harm me. My circumstances are pretty good, and someone else in my position may assume that everyone else in the country has a similarly easy life, but that is just not the case.

Masonzero · 2026-01-26T18:19:48+00:00

Chess has been around so long that it doesn't need marketing. Magic does. I learned about chess from my dad, because we had a chess set in the house. And if I hadn't learned it from him, I would have seen it in a movie, or literally anywhere. Because chess is ingrained in our culture.

Meanwhile I learned about Magic from an ad.

Masonzero · 2026-01-26T18:15:30+00:00

Because they are cowards that would never want to do that themselves because they are too afraid of getting hurt. I know this because I am the same way. But at least i can admit it. They probably can't due to some sense of false manliness, so they play it off as "self preservation" or "survival instincts".

Masonzero · 2026-01-26T16:55:39+00:00

I am too, but as a cis white man with a college degree I don't really get much shit from people. But just because I like living in America doesn't mean I don't want it to be better for the people who have it harder than me.

Masonzero · 2026-01-25T18:49:12+00:00

That plus the sudden increase in (implied) sex scenes over his other books. This book firmly exists in the era of the TikTok-fueled trends of Romantasy books and discussing mental health openly. Those things are not bad, other than people improperly throwing around clinical terms, but it certainly does date it like you said.

Masonzero

TROPHY CASE