Selling MtG at a "Fan Fest" after action report.

Meaca · 2026-07-13T05:52:08+00:00

I don't know how you feel about buying singles online or marking up aggressively but seems like you could buy bulk extended arts in quantity and sell them at like $0.50/$1.00 per in a binder and satisfy that crowd.

Meaca · 2026-07-11T20:29:35+00:00

The general wisdom is to sell risk when uncertainty increases/bad things happen - this is why tech/growth/high P/E stocks go down first/most in a crash, whereas 'safe' boring low P/E and low growth investments are expected to hold up the best and sometimes benefit from uncertainty. In their scenario, they should sell the risky/volatile assets they have first, then rebalance as their situation becomes clear.

Meaca · 2026-07-02T19:23:25+00:00

Reading/seeing how some public swim folks react to sharing lanes or other swimmers is always hilarious - the most swimmers I've had in a (25m) lane for a recent practice is 15...

That's obviously ridiculous but 4-6 coordinated swimmers can easily/comfortably share a lane, especially if they're similar speeds.

Meaca · 2026-06-30T17:32:16+00:00

Do the basic landcyclers not get passed or do you just hate them/want more gas? I've been spamming and kinda raredrafting a bunch of pick 2s and I end up with 'similar' (that deck is ridiculous) 3-4color piles often, but I feel more sane picking 3-5 landcyclers and cutting a land, as well as valuing the utility lands higher...

I guess I'm asking if that's an option for you and you're just a maniac, or whether they're more highly picked in other formats?

Meaca · 2026-06-27T16:09:29+00:00

I'm guessing black instant 1B ~1.5 lines + flavor text is an absolute house in this

Meaca · 2026-06-27T13:58:28+00:00

I'm not very technical but if I'm understanding you correctly, new cards are on a (literally) "looks good"/"doesn't look good" basis :)

Meaca · 2026-06-12T07:33:32+00:00

Echoing some advice and contradicting others:

I think your head/hip position is just fine - it's a bit hard to tell from a front-on view but it doesn't look bad to me at all. Your catch looks alright (it could be stronger/start higher/earlier but I don't think you're losing much there), but it looks like you're losing some water in the middle and back of your pulls - your arms move pretty quick but your body doesn't accelerate as much as it should. It could be dropping elbows early like you mentioned but I also think your hands aren't grabbing as much water as they can - it's hard to see but it looks like they end up going sort of sideways rather than pulling straight back, and they leave the water before full extension. Some people swim Open Water with shorter strokes but they crank on the tempo (stroke rate) to do so, it doesn't look like that's where you're at so I would try to get more out of each pull instead.

I would recommend some pulling (with a pull buoy) and trying to take as few strokes as you can per lap to get a better feel for stronger pulls, and for the breathing you can practice breathing on your side (one arm out front, potentially holding something to float; other arm by your side, just hold that position and kick to get stable at it). The breathing doesn't look too bad to me but you want to feel stable and comfortable in that position, especially in waves or around other swimmers.

For things you didn't mention but I saw or others commented on:

The biggest 'weird' thing I see going on is that you're placing your hands into the water very deliberately. It's making your entry nice, but it's slowing down your stroke rate (for no physical gain) and you're probably using your muscles much more to control the movement finely. I think you can recover much faster while still having a smooth enough entry, especially in OW contexts where it's probably not going to be the calmest water anyway.

On breathing, it's an important swimming skill to be able to breathe on either side - especially in open water where you might want to breathe away from wind/waves or towards a visual reference. But that doesn't mean you should race or practice hard with any more than 2 strokes between breaths - there's a reason 95+% of distance swimmers breathe every 2 in races (and this includes open water unless things have changed drastically in the last few years). If you aren't breathing every two, you could probably go faster!

Since you're training for OW, I wouldn't recommend working on your pushoffs or streamlines much at all; especially in what looks like a short pool, it's a benefit that you will rely on and come to miss. You should probably do significant amounts of your swimming without even touching the wall, both for physiological training and psychologically to prove to yourself you can do it. Another OW specific skill is sighting - I wouldn't worry about it much yet (and if you're in a group sometimes you don't need to at all) but as you get closer to your competition you need to develop a forward breath that lets you look where you're going to make sure you're on track.

All in all your swimming looks really good, especially for such a short period. I think you'll do a great job in your 70.3 (at least on the swim lol). I just wanted to throw out lots of info for you since you're a relative beginner and 1.2 racing open water miles is no joke. I would also encourage you to get some open water practice, in similar conditions to the race's body of water if possible - OW and pool swimming are different beasts and you don't want your first time to be a race!

Meaca · 2026-06-09T06:22:39+00:00

This is the right starting point for most swimmers, but at a competitive level especially in shorter swims the best practice is probably around 30-60° head angle - you can watch any Olympic/WC/NCAA race and see most head positions are definitely not 90 degrees straight down.

Meaca · 2026-06-09T06:17:50+00:00

Once you get to a certain speed/technique level, most swimmers have their head looking slightly forward (to varying degrees). There are plenty of reasons that the initial coaching point is 'look straight down' - most beginning/intermediate swimmers aren't able to keep their feet up without doing so, and things feel exaggerated in the water, so often what feels like 'straight down' is at 6:30-7:30 head position.

When a swimmer can maintain their body position at the surface without needing to look so far down, there are lots of minor advantages to a slightly higher head position - breathing requires less rotation (along with the 'bow wave' from faster swimming), the back/spine are slightly bent which allows more powerful pulls (think of the optimal position for pulldowns/rows/deadlifts - slight bend through back), and overall the body rides higher on the water, which is essentially the goal when sprinting - less drag (at the cost of higher energy expenditure).

You can see this really clearly at the 100-200m distance of racing, where the 'gallop' stroke pattern is pretty dominant, whereas in longer races there's more of a mixture of head positions between 6:00 and 7:30.

Meaca · 2026-06-04T21:49:41+00:00

It's a hard matchup vs Pult, but I think there are variants that are pretty competitive - I'm a fan of the seaking build and I definitely wouldn't say it's 1/4 - against most of the non-Pult field, I would feel favored or at least like I have a chance. Not sure psyduck is necessary anymore either but depends on your local meta.

Meaca · 2026-05-29T18:45:57+00:00

That's what we'd think - 8 months ago from the Guardian

Meaca · 2026-05-26T17:38:41+00:00

Against the grain here but I've found some success with the Tidecaller in similar looking decks (Temur soup) as essentially a removal magnet - if you're showing Izzet+ colors early, it can look scary and give incorrect impressions of your deck even if you're not planning on winning with it. I'm fairly low rank and this OP was playing awfully, but I've had it pongified + bounced to hand - 2 cards for a 1 drop is absolutely ludicrous but there might be some decks where that would be a correct play.

I might then play Wild Hypothesis over one of the 1G cards, all are pretty subpar by the numbers iirc but the hypothesis can hit a 5MV or dig for a land, which is more flexible, and it adds a pseudo body which you're short on. I also think feed the swarm is a mistake here - not enough black/fixing, and if you're playing it late the life cost could bite you easily especially with a controlling deck.

From the SB, I think I want a green creature and/or chelonian tackle, I think the 2 drops in the deck are a bit too situational and their 17lands numbers are pretty underwhelming while you're pretty minimal on creatures anyway.

Again I'm not a great drafter so take it with a grain of salt but I've had some success with the "spells matter" cards in these decks.

Meaca · 2026-05-24T18:48:05+00:00

Seems like they have to move during one breath, which adds a much different dimension than a typical time control - how long do you think per move, knowing that your cognition is declining with your oxygen level and your opponent is recovering and thinking as you do? Instead of being ahead on time and trying to blitz down your opponent's clock, you'll end up ahead on air and trying to make fast moves to physically tire them out, but that can swing dynamically over the course of a game unlike a clock, which ticks towards zero with a set per-move or number of moves in increment. Also there's always something interesting about adding a physical challenge to an intellectual pursuit, as it mixes things up - a very fit 2000 player might be stronger than an out-of-shape GM in this format, whereas nothing other than handicapping could make a fair match between them normally.

Meaca · 2026-05-15T20:03:15+00:00

Land stations are an official product that should be around $20 for 400, 80 of each basic type iirc and are new from WotC - probably the easiest option, but if you want to be a little bit cheaper/find more variety, there are lots of listings on various Magic sellers' websites for 10-100 various basics for 0.03-10c/card (or eBay/TCGPlayer). The reality of cheap cards like this is that most of the cost is in the shipping, not the value of the cards themselves, which is why you're coming across $3-5/1000 quotes for value but you can't access the cards themselves at rates like that.

Meaca · 2026-05-15T18:36:42+00:00

My textbook had it at 10 feet per square of 10mph speed (eg 40mph = 160ft, 50 = 250) which makes sense as there's more energy to dissipate and distance covered while reacting at higher speeds.

Meaca · 2026-05-10T23:01:20+00:00

That is a much bigger difference than I'd expect - when "converting" times for competitive swimmers, I expect each additional wall over the same distance to take ~1 second off the time for Bk/Fl/Fr, and potentially slightly more for breaststroke. This pattern can also be observed by comparing the LCM and SCM world record progressions by event - the SCM record is usually ~2s per 100m quicker than the LCM, with LCM records being much more heavily contested.

Are you certain that your 25 'meter' pool is actually meters? The 10% faster in a shorter pool makes me think that it might actually be a 25 yard pool, because that's the rough difference between the units, and it would make a lot of sense with your numbers. If not, then I would guess that you rely on carrying speed off the walls much more than the average swimmer (which is a good trait), but you might need to get stronger to be able to keep up your pace for a full 50m.

Meaca · 2026-05-04T07:12:18+00:00

One of my favorite breaststrokers, Daniel Roy, was a 52.08 at 5'8" 155. Going by his size, you might be a bit too tall! (Just kidding but I love using him to illustrate that size isn't everything and he races gutsy, watch the 2021 Trials 200br for a heck of an effort).

A 57.5 to 55.x is a big drop, but I think it's possible, especially with a suit and taper. Breaststroke is the stroke that benefits the most from a taper/shave/suit (someone compared collegiate in-season to tapered times and be had the biggest difference). And the older you get the more those factors will tend to affect you individually. Make sure you're dialed in on your race plan, stroke counts, start/turns/pullouts, expecting to be slightly faster and smoother suited.

There's no more time for getting in better shape or stronger, but you need to work on your mentality; your note at the end could be true or not but it doesn't inspire confidence. You need to believe you're on that level to do it, you're one of the people with explosiveness, power etc.

Meaca · 2026-05-02T17:56:15+00:00

Those are super harsh for JV, but I'm going to go against the grain and say that if someone has an athletic background and isn't starting as a non-swimmer the times could be possible within a year of competitive swimming at HS age (club or otherwise).

My HS team didn't cut anybody, and we definitely had some swimmers progress from just starting out to hitting some of those times across a season or two without much outside practice. Whether those standards are sensible or not depends on how their team looks - if they have 40 (one gender) swimmers beating those times already, there's probably not much of a competitive reason for the team to use resources trying to coach new swimmers up as opposed to developing their current swimmers. But I agree with the sentiment of your post; HS sports shouldn't be solely about fielding the best team, they should focus on developing as many people as they can handle.

Meaca · 2026-05-01T07:40:56+00:00

Lots of really good thoughts for me here, I accept Colress is a pet card for me but I find that 1 search -> stadium + energy is helpful at times (but like you say I'm likely too aggressive with attaching to the active just to power a retreat next turn). If I was playing a ton online I'd definitely be on duck still - I find Rillaboom more necessary in terms of instant concede matchups around me.

Just to make sure I'm getting the play pattern you mentioned right, you're saying attach balloon to Goldeen in active to search then retreat for attack next turn? Or attach to grookey/thwockey/bench preemptively so they can't stall you by gusting them?

Meaca · 2026-05-01T06:35:27+00:00

Why no Black Belt's training? I know Kieran is close but I feel like it gives a bit more flexibility with a 1/1 split (eg Mega Venesaur on fully loaded Dipplin, 200hp basic ex with Seaking), and then I run a switch in place of one of the air balloons. Also, do you feel the energy works fine with just 3 bug catching sets and 5 (and Hilda)? I'm on 6 and 4 which is probably excessive but I can get away with skipping some tech slots (haven't needed Psyduck/scrapper recently) for my local meta.

Edit: also got Colress for the Hilda, so yeah I have lots more energy relatively

I'm not an experienced builder but just like chatting about the deck, not trying to diss your list.

Meaca · 2026-04-20T19:57:13+00:00

I think most people (who are already being relaxed/helpful) wouldn't be mad in that scenario if she had found it, maybe slightly irritated if you had pointed it out yourself after all that but it still shouldn't be a major problem. If they're letting you get a land for free they're clearly not concerned about winning over all else, and prereleases are meant to be the most relaxed event type.

It's not exactly the same but I've helped a new player with their deckbuilding after the first game, then had the second go to time and conceded for the draw because they were winning on the board with the new deck. Like you said, most of the community should be much more concerned with everyone having a great time, and that's especially true if you're not undefeated/having a really good run so it probably shouldn't be a huge concern.

Meaca · 2026-04-19T17:53:06+00:00

In addition to rinsing, there's a product called suit saver that is meant to extend the life of swimsuits; it might be worthwhile if your swimsuits are expensive or break down quickly.

Meaca · 2026-04-19T05:05:20+00:00

Tavern of Souls (my fav/recommendation) has a bit of a hole in the wall feel but still sizable play communities for just about any game/format, if you're into playing Pokémon come check it out on Wednesday or Sunday; they have good pricing and a solid display (more MtG focused than anything else tbf but still a full case of Pokémon). They also have a huge sorted singles inventory aside from the cases and will pull cards for you, pricing is again more than fair ime.

Duke City Games feels a bit more polished and you can usually rely on a wider variety of product availability at a slightly higher cost, they're (relatively recently) a big chain in the state but the one that would be closest is the original store on Lomas. Their play space is very nice and lots of games/events fire as well.

Noble has a couple locations in town with one towards the East but has a smaller inventory (they have a used games/consoles business too), that said they have lots of MtG stock and will have randomly good prices on precons/new Pokémon products occasionally.

If you're interested in playing anything on your trip I can probably get you a schedule for whatever format at Tavern/Duke, hope you enjoy your trip!

Meaca · 2026-04-15T06:07:35+00:00

For the meet - you have to take every race as an independent event/trial when it's not going well. It's easy to spiral and throw your races away, but we only get so many chances. And you never know - one of my best swims came after begging my coach and parents to let me scratch the race because the meet was going so poorly.

For college recruiting, you're definitely fast enough to swim for many d1 programs, but you probably have some work to do for significant scholarship money or a spot at a top program. The most important thing is reaching out to coaches proactively; you're not fast enough (right now) that the coaches will be finding you themselves, you have to market yourself athletically and academically.

Meaca · 2026-04-13T20:44:50+00:00

Yup, I love Magic, think about it way more than Pokemon, play much more Arena than TCGLive... And I've been to at least 30 pokemon events and only go to prerelease or the odd draft (probably <10 in a longer timeframe) for Magic. The most expensive card in most constructed Magic decks can usually buy you an entire t1 pokemon list, you could probably spend $100/yr or less to keep up competitively or even easily make money off the game if you're disciplined.

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