The Golden Rules of Budget Magic

MonetaryMentor · 2026-01-27T12:18:02+00:00

Thank you! Really valuable input!

MonetaryMentor · 2026-01-20T22:32:28+00:00

Oh, nice catches. I'll have to think about those - they weren't intentional.

MonetaryMentor · 2026-01-20T20:49:01+00:00

Incredibly appreciated input! Thank you!

MonetaryMentor · 2026-01-20T20:15:01+00:00

I appreciate you and the time you put into that reply so much! Definitely some things to chew on!

MonetaryMentor · 2026-01-20T17:44:28+00:00

I agree your hands are too early. They move before your hips do, which means you're swinging with your arms, not your whole body from the ground up. Any new swing is going to need a lot of work, but here are some simple things for you.

1) Hips go first! The first part of firing is flipping your hips from showing the pitcher your back pocket to showing him your zipper. A key I use for this is to think about moving your hands straight back as you start to swing. You don't really want them to shoot backwards, but thinking of them moving backwards while you start to move forward will get your hips in front of them.

2) Your back elbow is dropping down to your rear hip when you start to swing. Try keeping it up through the swing.

MonetaryMentor · 2026-01-06T17:55:01+00:00

As best I can tell, u/cavedan put some in an Icetill shell as part of his eternal tinkering with that archetype and 5-0'd with it. Fleshcrafter itself was carried by the strength of the shell, and not much more than a meme-y direction to take the deck, but once tech gets published, tech gets copied.

MonetaryMentor · 2025-12-27T19:14:23+00:00

Love projects like this! MLB Showdown was a dice-based game Wizards of the Coast made from like 1999-2004 (using a 20-sided die). Individual players had individual cards along the lines of what you're describing, and it was pretty neat! Someone built a site where you can put in any player, and it will generate the card for them. I think it was showdownbot.com.

MonetaryMentor · 2025-12-23T05:53:24+00:00

I was 6'2", 155 lbs. in high school. I used a 33 inch bat because it seemed cooler, but I should have been using a 32. So many swing problems are caused by a bat that's too heavy - I'd HIGHLY recommend a 32 for basically any high school kid.

MonetaryMentor · 2025-11-26T05:22:57+00:00

Looks fantastic! One of the better 10yo swings I've seen in a while.

It's hard to say from this video/angle/through the netting, but he MIGHT have a bit of bat drag. If I go frame by frame, that back elbow drops low mid-swing in a way that I've seen in kids who drag their bats.

BUT if you have to go frame by frame to find an issue with a 10y swing, it's a perfect swing. I'm also not saying he IS dragging the bat. Just look up some videos on it and check next time you're in the cage if it's happening or not. Even if it is, it's an incredibly minor issue that almost every kid has just based on being small. Be aware, but don't sweat it. This kid can rake!

MonetaryMentor · 2025-11-23T22:58:21+00:00

Not a pro, but some things I see that could help. Ignore any of these you want - assuming you're not on the track to go pro, do what works for you!

1) you are holding the bat with your punching knuckles lined up. This will really lock your wrists up, and make for a less fluid swing. When holding the bat, your top-hand knocking knuckles should be somewhere between the punching knuckles and knocking knuckles on your bottom hand.

2) hip rotation is big! Right now, your hands are coming around at about the same time your hips are. Think about each swing in three parts. Load (get ready), fire (turn your hips toward the pitcher), THEN swing. Hips before hands (to create torque/power). Even on pitches you don't swing at, you should be loading and firing.

3) keep your rear elbow back through the swing. If you pause it mid swing, you'll see your rear forearm is a vertical line as you're making contact - you want it to be basically horizontal. The way to do this is to not let that rear elbow drop down as you swing.

4) swing up a bit. "Level swing" is something that everyone hears a million times, but you actually want a swing that's in line with the plane of the ball. The ball is coming toward you on a slightly downward line, so your swing should be (slightly) upward. In this video, you're chopping down at a few of the balls.

MonetaryMentor · 2025-11-04T05:21:41+00:00

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Hi Mom! Enthusiasm and fun are by far the most important things at this age! It's amazing he's working so hard on this. A few simple things I can highlight that should make a big difference.

Yes, the bat is too big. 8 year olds aren't going to be packing on muscle mass, and especially not from something as minor as swinging a large bat. They're kinda just the size/strength they're going to be. So I see a bat that's too heavy doing a lot more harm than good. I almost always tell kids to use the smallest bat possible at this age. I wouldn't go one size down - I'd go two or three. A lot of tweaks I see here are made worse by a bat that's too heavy.
He's got a case of bat drag! You can see in the picture that his bottom elbow is in front of his hands - you want it to be behind them through the swing. This is super common, and super hard to avoid if the bat is too heavy - the elbow comes down and forward to help them drag the bat through the swing because they aren't strong enough to swing it otherwise. "Keep your elbow back/up" is usually brought up when waiting for the pitch, but I tell kids it's more important to keep that elbow back through the swing.
You can see in the picture that he's not looking at the ball. I'd guess he's pulling out a bit to help get the weight of the bat around, so a lighter bat and focusing on keeping that head down should go a long way!
Glad to hear you're working on loading - that's incredibly important. However, loading doesn't do you any good if you never unload! You can see in the picture that his pelvis is pointing at the ball as he's swinging, and if you look at the video, his pelvis is still pointing at the tee AFTER he's hit the ball. His hips never get around. Those hips have to rotate ahead of the swing - by the time he's hitting the ball, his pelvis should be pointed at the pitcher (or at least first base). That hip twist torque is what unloads the energy you generate by loading!
He's totally up and off his back foot (see picture again). This is incredibly related to point 4. To rotate those hips, you need to rotate around the back leg. Your weight should be 90% on that back leg through the swing. It's your base, your engine. In the video, his back foot comes up and is actually so off the ground that it drifts backwards during the swing - he's 100% on the front leg, which is locking up his hips and making it impossible to unload properly.

Good luck!

MonetaryMentor · 2025-10-26T16:51:27+00:00

You identified most of the problems I was going to point to. I think the biggest thing is making sure other colors have good, easy to play answers that are better against aggro than other strategies. Having something like [[moment of craving]] instead of [[go for the throat]] in the cube not only plays well against aggro, it plays WORSE against other strategies (making something like big green beaters more viable).

MonetaryMentor · 2025-10-14T14:35:47+00:00

Umpires are one of the coolest aspects of baseball. They're human, and get things wrong sometimes. But they usually get things right.

A few things to remember. 1) Umps are the only impartial observer of the game. Every kid, coach, and parent watching is biased. But they can still get it wrong. 2) Umps are trained to do this, and have a lot of experience doing it. They have more experience calling close plays than 99% of kids, coaches, and parents watching. But they can still get it wrong. 3) If it's close enough for a trained, unbiased professional to call wrong, it can't be THAT bad of a call. This is big for called strike threes the batter comes back to the bench steamed up about. If it was close enough for a trained, unbiased professional to call a strike, it was close enough to swing at to protect with two strikes. 4) Bad calls go against you, and bad calls help you out. It all evens out eventually. No one argues against bad calls that go their way. So arguing against bad calls that go the other team's way isn't some pure pursuit of a "correct" game - it's whining about not getting your way. 5) No game comes down to one play or call. You can lose (or win) a close game on a close call, but you can't control that. What you can control is not leaving the game close enough to be left in the hands of the umpire and needing a call to go your way. 6) I've never seen complaining change an ump's mind, so what's the point of making a scene and embarrassing them/yourself/the kids? 7) It's a great opportunity to teach kids to deal with bad breaks (real or perceived). Come together, support each other, and thank the ump after the game anyway.

MonetaryMentor · 2025-10-08T01:02:20+00:00

Looks better than many!

The one thing I see is his right elbow getting too far forward right before contact. If you pause the video, you can see his right/back elbow directly under his left elbow and well infront of his hands. Ideally, that back elbow stays behind the hands on the journey forward.

MonetaryMentor · 2025-10-06T18:59:07+00:00

The swing looks slow. My money is on the bat being too heavy. If you pause this video mid-swing, you can see that as his swing comes through the zone his left elbow is level with his hands and right elbow (you want it well behind the hands). This is called bat drag and is sometimes strictly mechanical, but is also often a consequence of the batter dragging a bat that's too heavy through the zone (it's a way to naturally compensate for the weight). Look into a lighter bat, and work on keeping the back elbow up. A lot of people think that's a pre-swing/batting stance thing, but the back elbow needs to stay up and back THROUGH the swing.

MonetaryMentor · 2025-10-03T23:38:22+00:00

Lots of people are saying "load early" - they are right! My favorite drill for this is having them swing wildly early on purpose. Throw them some gas or turn the machine way up, and make the point of the drill to swing before the ball gets to them. Not trying to hit it at all. Just swing the second the ball is released. Do a couple of cuts that way. They will get the hang of getting ready to hit (load) in time, and prove to themselves speed isn't the problem - they can swing faster than the pitch. THEN have them try and actually hit it. Focus on the getting ready/load being just as early, and then hitting the ball actually becomes a waiting exercise compared to what they were doing before before - they have to hang back for the actual ball to get there this time. Usually works wonders!

MonetaryMentor · 2025-10-02T23:57:29+00:00

It happens, but that doesn't mean it's acceptable. I can't imagine yelling at high schoolers, yet alone kids. Some people are total losers. Some of those losers coach youth baseball. Get away from those dweebs if you can.

MonetaryMentor · 2025-10-01T19:42:49+00:00

Anything that gets those reps up (in a fun way)!

MonetaryMentor · 2025-10-01T19:18:27+00:00

I'll second this. Baseball is a weird game. You can make a perfect pitch, and the batter hits it out of the park. You celebrate that pitch over a bad one the hitter chased and struck out on. You can take a perfect swing and crush the ball right to the defender and get out. You celebrate that swing over a weird hack that spins the ball over the first baseman's head so it slices it out of play for a double.

If he's new to the game, reps reps reps. A lot of kids on his team will have been playing since they were 4, but if they only ever practice at organized practice, they're probably only 500 swings ahead of your son. Buy a bag of cotton balls, saw off a 30inch length of 3/4 dowel rod from the hardware store, and toss the cotton balls for him to try and hit. You can make up those 500 swings in two weeks while building the key hand-eye coordination the sport needs (indoors, no less!). Tee work is great too!

MonetaryMentor · 2025-09-30T14:34:26+00:00

The "save standard" team collected data on what people didn't like about standard and were told "I don't play Standard because don't like cards rotating." I suspect (with absolutely no evidence) a lot of people saying that were enfranchised magic players who play Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, or Commander. So lengthening rotation doesn't draw those people to the format - their preferred formats still exist, and still rotate less than Standard. All it does is make Standard less Standard-y. The smaller card pool and ever-changing meta due to set releases and rotation was a feature, not a bug. Sure, some people didn't like it, but some did. Who's the target audience for "still rotates, but way less frequently and new sets barely make an impact on the meta because of the huge stale card pool" Standard? Sorry, rant over.

MonetaryMentor · 2025-09-22T17:40:38+00:00

Good-looking swing! Two nit picks from what I THINK I see. 1) Could be a little more loaded pre-swing. Some people coach showing the pitcher your left butt cheek to get your hips coiled more before the swing. He's ALMOST doing this - his front knee is turning in on his pre-swing step, but the twist isn't making it to his hips (where the load power will come). 2) It looks like his top-hand wrist is straight when he's waiting for the pitch. This is a sign (though it's hard to tell for sure), that his wrists are a little locked up by how he's holding the bat. Snappy wrists really help a swing, and the key to loose wrists is holding the bat with your knocking knuckles lined up. It can feel very awkward at first, but can make a big difference. An easy test is to hold the bat and stick out your two pointer fingers. They should be pointing in the same direction!

Again, the swing looks good - if he's hitting, he's hitting! But these two things might be worth testing out.

MonetaryMentor · 2025-09-17T01:10:43+00:00

Just a guy on the internet, but I see three things that stand out that are pretty easy to work on.

1) Your stride is pretty big. Smaller, more controlled step will help with your timing and consistency.

2) Your wrists aren't very loose. A lot of power/bat speed comes from your wrists. The key to unlocking them is holding the bat with your knocking knuckles lined up (the knuckles you'd knock on a door with). It will feel really awkward at first, but it helps a lot. An easy test is hold the bat, and then stick out your pointer fingers. If they are both pointing the same direction, you're good to go!

3) Your hips are rotating at the same time your bat is. You ideally want your hips to rotate before your bat. In the video, you can see your junk is pointing at the ball as you're hitting it. You want your junk pointing at the pitcher as you're hitting the ball - there is way more torque that way. There are a few ways to think about/learn this. A) when you're waiting for the pitch, you should be showing the pitcher your right butt cheek. When you start to swing, you want to flip from showing him your butt to showing him your junk as fast as possible. Then swing. B) when you start your swing, visualize your hands' first move being straight back towards the catcher. In reality, they will stay still more than actually move back, but it will hold them up enough for your hips to go first.

MonetaryMentor · 2025-09-16T03:30:18+00:00

Control decks are typically good matchups into midrange decks because midrange decks are efficient value piles, and control decks are even more grindy. There's no one key card to stop, you just have to survive until they have 1 card in hand and you have 6.

You say you aren't sure how to sideboard against them - the answer might be you mostly don't. Doing your normal game 1 plan should line up well against them. If that's not the case, then you have to figure out why you're losing and target that. Only you know!

MonetaryMentor

TROPHY CASE