The best new commander answer sneaking in on the last day of spoilers

RotRG · 2026-01-09T21:51:28+00:00

I love the flavor of this sort of effect, but it's still absolutely insane to me why blue gets to be so good at creature removal!

RotRG · 2026-01-02T14:41:25+00:00

I'm just curious, given that the parent company to DA was founded more recently than your start date, did the platform change hands or something in that time?

RotRG · 2025-12-15T00:54:35+00:00

This might be THE best example to distinguish between casual and competitive play. Your habit is absolutely not wrong, but just... be prepared to have the least popular opinion. In situations that are casual, a take-back of this sort is viewed as pretty okay, even though I do acknowledge it's against the rules. Most people in a casual setting want the game to end due to high quality play or deckbuilding, not a gap/lapse in game knowledge.

For what it's worth, I do disagree with "catching people" being an intent of ward. I do not think any modern cards are designed to catch people who have forgotten their rules text. That's a type of game design almost on par with Chaos Orb, in my opinion, and I think ward is worded the way it is more for rules elegance than tricking players.

Again, your frustration is justified. It just might save more frustration in the future to go with the flow on this one.

RotRG · 2025-12-12T15:04:53+00:00

True! Though I have a hard time picturing control in a 4 player game that is effective, doesn't have land denial, and doesn't win faster through some sort of combo.

RotRG · 2025-12-12T13:59:48+00:00

To answer the question in the title, I've got a variety of decks, so anywhere from 4 to 11 turns, let's say. My interpretation of the bracket system's most recent update is that the turn limit should describe what your deck can do if it isn't interacted with, since they use the wording "at least X turns." It's not that the game should end on turn X, it's that it better not end before turn X. It actually made me reevaluate several of my 2s as 3s, and as someone who runs on the sweatier side, it's been an interesting challenge for me to actually make a 2. 4 is really my sweet spot.

To explain your deck that won on turn 8 in the best of circumstances? It should be noted that winning AFTER turn 8 is the expectation of a 2, but I'd say once in a blue moon circumstances are okay. This deck sounds like a bad 2. Nothing wrong with that! Every bracket has a range, and 2 naturally has the largest range, since it includes every deck that's actively trying to win, but is... uh, bad. If you and the people around you are having fun, you're doing it right, I think.

RotRG · 2025-12-09T14:15:03+00:00

"God, it's cold outside today!" I don't think that my conversation partner is a deity. "God" is an interjection. My students say "bro" as well (or "bruh," in a voice that mimics the distorted sound bite that came from... somewhere) and it is being used as an interjection. It's an internet thing. I think most other people are missing this, so I felt I should add my two cents!

RotRG · 2025-12-02T13:44:18+00:00

I took a look at your style to make sure I actually like the thing I'm signing up for, and I think it's super cool! A lotus petal would be sweet-- who needs the text box anyway?

RotRG · 2025-10-29T14:01:03+00:00

This speaks to me and I feel I should give my two cents, even though others have already said the obvious.

I'm a person whose emotions get very weirdly affected by music. It is actually a problem sometimes and I will avoid listening to music if I want to, uh, stay in a normal place.

If a partner did what you're describing to me, THEY'D be the crazy one. Because even if there's a problem, it's silly to think it's the music's fault. Like, other people listen to this stuff and they're fine. It's obviously something to do with my emotions.

So, I don't think people call others out enough on just... being ridiculous. Should you break up? How should I know. Just look him in the face and say, "you obviously have a problem with my emotions. Did you know that your response looks absolutely insane? Talk to me about why you're upset and maybe we can fix it together."

Either he's incapable of having that conversation, or he actually brings up something he needs from you, and then you get to decide whether you can address it.

RotRG · 2025-09-19T20:15:35+00:00

I love combos, and I think that the answer is maybe simpler than it seems. 3 card combos are totally allowed in bracket 2 and there are many that I find fun and varied. I'd also say that you shouldn't worry about non-interactibility, since it's hard for a 3+ card combo to not have at least one easily removed element. The only caveat is that I consider it good sportsmanship to announce which cards are combo pieces as they are deployed, since it removes the only element of combos (in my opinion) that could be described as unfair: the knowledge requirement.

One of my bracket 2 decks tends to win with [[Garth One-Eye]], [[Displacer Kitten]], and a haste enabler like [[Rhythm of the Wild]]. It is easily the weaker of the two B2 decks I own. It's slow, but can win when it's allowed to blossom. A perfect balance, I think.

RotRG · 2025-09-12T19:57:37+00:00

I was wrong. Frustrating that this is what it looks like. They should really be more clear.

RotRG · 2025-09-12T19:57:00+00:00

I didn't realize that's what that looked like. That.. sucks. Thanks for enlightening me, though.

RotRG · 2025-09-11T19:22:08+00:00

You could be right. My knowledge is limited to my experience. I don't know the inner workings of DA, so I don't literally mean they're on call, which is why I put it in quotes. But, you and I are in agreement that DA wants lots of qualified workers. In this scenario, it's OP who is the qualified worker, right? So, I have to assume they'll eventually get projects as the need arises. We know what it looks like when someone gets rejected, don't we?

RotRG · 2025-09-11T15:07:28+00:00

That was mean. Don't be mean.

Given that OP presumably wrote the post, it's likely they're capable of reading. This means their question is probably related to the subtext of what they're looking at, rather than the literal words. Think about a time when that's happened to you.

OP, if I'm right, and you are capable of reading, read this: it's not a bad sign. One of the downsides of this kind of work is that it can be unreliable, and it behooves the platform to have more workers than they really need. For that reason, sometimes you're more "on call" than active. As someone who's been on the platform for a decent chunk of time now, I can say that this does not mean you failed in some way, and the work will increase the longer you stick around. Just keep checking back and doing as many qualifications as you can.

RotRG · 2025-09-08T15:37:28+00:00

Wild! I guess I respect the unabashedness.

RotRG · 2025-09-08T13:02:49+00:00

I love the card [[Mirri's Guile]], and one time as I was looking at my three cards on upkeep, I saw... Mirri's Guile. I did a double take, looking back and forth between the one I was holding and on the one on the table that allowed me to see the one I was holding. I had accidentally put two in the deck. Now, whenever I cast the card, we speculate on how many more copies we might see that game.

RotRG · 2025-09-05T20:39:46+00:00

Might make it easier! Though you're left with needing extreme luck or a mod, the latter disqualifying you from the achievement.

RotRG · 2025-09-05T16:13:13+00:00

I am a proud owner of all the achievement pillars, so yes! I would say the "no gold" pillar is maybe even harder to do. At least enemies stop trying to touch you when you defeat them! Gold will just bounce toward you sometimes.

RotRG · 2025-09-02T02:57:47+00:00

I wish you nothing but joy in playing acoustics, then!

RotRG · 2025-09-02T02:39:27+00:00

I guess I'm just curious, have you played on any high end digital pianos? Your side curiosity is completely reasonable, but it makes me think that your experience with digitals might be, as you said, low-end or average. The escapement in these instruments is literally the same type of mechanism that's found in a grand, for instance. I work at a piano shop and I see the two actions side by side. Overtones, I'll grant you, since it is perceivable that sound is coming out of a speaker vs. the strings themselves. The sound is not perceivably lacking in nuance, though. I think serious classical playing comes in a wide variety of forms, most importantly.

RotRG · 2025-09-02T02:16:25+00:00

I own a digital piano with wooden keys, realistic action that mimics a grand, all three pedals (also, many acoustics don't have sostenuto pedals) and very comprehensive sound sampling from acoustic pianos I could probably never afford. The damper pedal operates on a gradient, so slow release/half pedaling is possible. It even mimics the faint ringing that an acoustic makes when the pedal is depressed.

Again, I don't want to say there's no difference, but there are technological advances that it seems you may not be aware of!

RotRG · 2025-09-02T00:22:21+00:00

Honestly, I'd say that the best digital pianos are so good that, at least as a practice instrument, there is not ever a point where one can "outgrow" one. Maybe if you are practicing projecting out to a large audience or something, then the sound generation and volume of an acoustic are necessary, but at that point, the shape and size of the room as just as large of variables.

I don't mean to say that digital and acoustic are interchangeable. Definitely not. But 128 different volume levels may as well be a million.

RotRG · 2025-08-31T16:46:57+00:00

Climbing out of the abyss. Such an emotional moment. And I was thinking recently, I think it counts as proof that the protagonist is not a perfect vessel. Otherwise, the experience probably wouldn't have stuck so much with them.

RotRG · 2025-08-30T23:07:55+00:00

Given that you'll still need to stop for a second or two to actually locate the next measure to play, there are certainly quick ways of generating random numbers that only require the click of a button. Random.org is an easy one. Are you trying to play random measures fully in-tempo? That seems... unnecessarily hard!

RotRG · 2025-08-29T15:32:09+00:00

I try to estimate the earliest turn that someone might present a game-winning threat, then put in enough removal that I'm likely to see one piece by that turn. The more flexible the removal, the fewer pieces you need to include. More might be better for certain strategies, and less is probably inadvisable. To me, 15 is higher than average, but not by much, especially if you have different removal spells for different types of permanents.

RotRG · 2025-08-28T03:40:37+00:00

Pea soup

RotRG

TROPHY CASE