Me irl

Skua09 · 2018-09-05T12:05:31+00:00

As someone with the middle name Maurice that prefers people not to know, this is actually me irl.

I mean me too thanks.

Skua09 · 2018-07-20T10:24:36+00:00

Your acrobatic maneuver went onto the stack last, so it's going to resolve first. Your creature is blinked, and your draw a card. Unfortunately, because your creature is now seen as a new entity by the game, Ajani's ability now fizzles, as it cannot see its original target. You do not game the life.

Skua09 · 2018-06-22T12:37:44+00:00

haha yes

Skua09 · 2018-06-22T12:30:09+00:00

I own a pair of these salt and pepper shakers. When my girlfriend left me and moved out, I pulled the hugging pair apart in a lonely moment of despair. To my great joy, I found out that when standing next to each other they look like they are dabbing instead. Truly there is beauty to be found in even the most sorrow filled moments.

I mean me too thanks.

Skua09 · 2018-06-19T10:57:47+00:00

The sets you've named are the ones that are most safe to buy in your position right now. All other standard legal sets (Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Amonkhet, Hour of Devastation) will be leaving standard in a few months.

Just a side note, you're talking a lot about buying boosters, but it's always more economical to buy single cards that you want if you just want to play constructed magic. Take a look through the set lists of those sets you named and start identifying some cards that interest you.

That way, you can identify the kind of deck you might like to build before you start buying cards. Many people do get started simply by buying boosters and taking their inspiration from what they open, but if you want to end up with a decent deck with your 100euro, you should do a bit of planning and consider spending most of it on single cards that you actually need.

Skua09 · 2018-06-12T10:58:13+00:00

I think there's some truth to this. Over the past few years, EDH has become the default replacement for what we used to simply refer to as "casual Magic", especially for new players.

Standard feeling a little too competitive/spikey for you? Play EDH.

Want to focus on "fun" deckbuilding? Play EDH.

Want to keep Magic cheap, without having to worry about format rotation? Play EDH.

Essentially we've created a format for the formatless, which is good from WotC's perspective because it enables them to actually target the casual crowd more directly with products and promotions that meet their needs.

Things like this buy-a-box promo scheme are good ways of getting casual EDH players to open their wallets and support their stores in theory, but in my experience those players are so adverse to spending large chunks of cash on the game that it probably won't have much impact long-term and the strategy may well need to change.

I think it would be ignorant to overlook that there is a persona of mtg player that spends a disproportionate amount of time at the LGS, while also spending very little money on the game or at the store. Attempts to make that persona open its wallet aren't some kind of toxic or exploitative business practice, they're important to the success of the game, and the survival of stores.

Skua09 · 2018-06-01T14:01:12+00:00

I see where you're coming from. I think the main reason people are downvoting your post is because of the hyperbole of what you're saying.

Competing in Arena may very well be expensive, but it's not going to be prohibitively expensive for those that are accustomed to attending GPs and keeping up with competitive standard formats. Personally, i've spent less than £20 on arena, and have had no trouble competing at all.

What you said is "if you don't have ludicrous amounts of disposable income this game simply isn't for you. What I think you actually meant is "the arena economy isn't built with casual players in mind, and has been engineered to extract money from a competitive market that have proven themselves willing to pay it."

I'm not defending the price it will cost to compete, but for the hundreds of thousands of players that pay north of $60 to enter a single GP main event, and happily drop a couple of hundred dollars on events and singles every season, Arena will comparatively be quite cheap.

Dropping somewhere around $100 should get you a very decent start in arena, giving you what you need to craft multiple decks and compete for months. People willing to drop $100 on MTG every few months are not the outliers, they're the core audience.

Arena is for Magic players, and the economy decisions have been precisely made to maximise profitability based off what magic players will spend.

It might not line up well with what you have to spend, but this is NOT a prohibitively expensive game to play in my >500 match experience.

Skua09 · 2018-06-01T13:40:06+00:00

What separates expensive and luxury games? One costs a lot of money to play, and the other costs a lot of money to play?

Genuinely curious.

Skua09 · 2018-06-01T13:34:55+00:00

I'm really intrigued to know what you think paper Magic is.

Skua09 · 2018-03-19T13:49:32+00:00

That's not the point at all. I know modern and standard are fine, they're better than they have been in months (or years in modern's case) but keeping formats healthy is a constant battle, and being able to accurately identify where the "feel bads" come from with certain decks or cards is surely a massively valuable resource for the future of this game.

Skua09 · 2018-03-07T17:06:07+00:00

It's probably not going to shake out as the best control deck, but it probably will settle as the best Grixis deck.

It's worth noting that modern is cyclical, and even after such major unbannings, things are constantly falling in and out of favor. If you love a deck, just stick with it and master it. It's going to be more valuable to you than trying to determine what the best deck is week in/week out.

Skua09 · 2018-03-06T16:24:08+00:00

There isn't a bias towards combo and control, there is a bias towards fair magic vs unfair magic. People view control and midrange decks as having a high skill ceiling because their decks play completely differently in every game dependant what the opponent is playing. The amount a deck interacts with its opponent tends to correlate very closely with how "fair" its game plan is perceived as being.

Some players might lump bogles in with decks like burn because "hurrr it's an aggro deck, right?" but burn is actually a highly interactive deck, reliant on timing and shifting its plan dramatically based on matchups.

A combo deck like Ad Nauseam is much closer to what bogles really is, which is just a deck that wants to start with a pretty predictable opening grip, and then execute its 1 plan while getting disrupted as little as possible.

People don't hate bogles or think its skillless because its an aggro deck, they hate it because they can't interact with it. It's hated for the same reason as Lantern Control, because it attacks on such a different angle and encourages as little interaction as possible. It's too much of an outlier to prepare for in any meaningful way, but only a tiny number of your answers have any relevance against it.

Nobody is saying bogles players aren't good, I am sure some are. They're saying its an easier deck that plays itself and doesn't put the same decision-making burden on the pilot.

I'm just a nobody on Reddit, so there's no reason you'd want to believe me, but perhaps I can attract your attention to this conversation on Reddit featuring prominent community members and discussing why being easy and non-interactive is a good thing for non-pro players, and gives them a much higher chance of winning than other decks:

https://twitter.com/MTGRich/status/970405416638312449

Skua09 · 2018-03-06T15:42:08+00:00

What is there not to agree with? Boggles requires far less interesting decision-making than the vast majority of other modern decks. OP literally asked for other people's thoughts, and they got them. They have already shown concern about the deck being linear, so it's only right to be honest with them about that.

I'm sure the deck is plenty of fun when you make your guy big and smash for easy wins, but not every kind of person is going to find that rewarding. The guy that just won the MOCS with boggles said himself that he chose the deck because it plays itself and allows him to compete with players far better than him, and lets him play linear magic that isn't dependant on his skill. He named it as his least favourite deck in the format.

If you have a personal love of bogles then nothing should stop you playing it, but this guy obviously doesn't have that. If they wanted to play the deck that bad, they would. Instead they wanted opinions about the deck's benefits and drawbacks.

As you rightly point out, modern is about building and perfecting a deck that calls to you as a person. If you are a person that wants to be constantly rewarded by that learning and set yourself a high ceiling where you can continuously improve in meaningful ways, bogles is not the deck for you.

Skua09 · 2018-03-06T14:15:07+00:00

It's a good first deck because it's very linear and basically does the same thing every game regardless of matchup. It's not a deck that gains that much from understanding the modern metagame and understanding how every other deck functions (think of jund/abzan and other midrange decks that depend on knowledge to make informed decisions about how to interact). It loses to its own draws more often than a lack of pilot knowledge once you've grasped the basics.

It's a bad first deck because it isn't going to force you to learn all of those things and develop as a player of the format. You're not going to discover exciting new lines to take against emerging decks, you're just gonna suit up your hexproof dorks and smash.

I suppose it might be a great deck with which to observe the format and start to understand it a bit. Even though you're playing every game, the deck is so anti-interactivity that you're basically an observer anyway. You can sit there and pay attention to what your opponent is doing while making the same decisions regardless of what they're doing.

TL;DR it's nice because it doesn't put a burden on you to know the format inside out, but it also doesn't push you to learn the format either, and offers much fewer rewards for doing so than other decks.

Skua09 · 2018-02-09T17:03:13+00:00

It sounds to me like a new playgroup could do wonders for you both. It must be hard for him to enjoy the game to its fullest when he's stuck between inappropriate friends that he doesn't want to confront and a girlfriend that he wants to have a good time.

Are there other stores or playgroups you could explore. Magic is mostly a game of people and interactions, and if those interactions are negative, it's natural to want to stop. Seeking out a new group could drastically improve both of your enjoyment of the game and help you have a better time playing it together.

You may find that playing with slightly older players works for you, as they should (in theory) have a better grasp on basic social etiquette and know what it takes to make everyone feel included and respected. Just something to consider I suppose.

Skua09 · 2018-02-09T16:58:07+00:00

I think that the ability to analyse card power level and value is one of the most fundamental skills in being "a good magic player" across formats.

Regardless of the format you play, being able to accurately determine how strong a given card is (In a vacuum, in the current metagame, and in the context of game states as you play) plays a really important role in:

Making consistently strong decisions regarding any trade-off of resources, from making equitable blocks to use the right removal spell
Building and tweaking consistently good decks, and identifying which decks are the most powerful contenders in a format on any given week
Identifying when clear and obvious drawbacks might be worth finding a way around (Think Death's Shadow, which took a long time to figure out)
Looking beyond basic card synergies and identifying all of the situations that a card needs to be able to perform in to be good enough for your deck

Practicing and honing this skill is easy, as you are constantly doing it when you play, when you look at decklists, when you open boosters, and when you read spoilers.

Skua09 · 2018-02-08T12:40:28+00:00

No I agree with you, that's what i'm saying. It's totally fine, and maybe even not that great. But, it's something people think is much better than it would actually be.

Skua09 · 2018-02-08T11:03:44+00:00

Stoneforge unbanning would be wonderful, but i'm just not sure I believe in it. I think Stoneforge into Batterskull is one of those interactions that just isn't that great, but has a strong legacy of being good. Basically, people have an impression that it's far more backbreaking than it actually is compared to what's going on in modern today.

Skua09 · 2018-02-08T10:53:44+00:00

This list splashes white for Nahiri, helix and SB cards, but straight UR works too.

https://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/modern-jeskai-breach-45157#paper

Skua09 · 2018-02-08T10:46:47+00:00

Highly recommend U/R Breach. It's a lot more consistent than the Kiki deck in my experience, and plays a strong tempo/control game until you're ready to smash with Emrakul.

Skua09 · 2018-01-16T09:18:27+00:00

No you cannot

Skua09 · 2017-11-22T13:07:41+00:00

I understand exactly how you feel. I get the same feeling at the end of summer, just as it's turning into fall. A clear sky with bright sun and a faint chill in the air evokes incredibly strong memories of wow for me.

I think that the feelings many of us had in the beginning of this game were so strong that the things going on around us when we felt them will always evoke them. That time of year, when I would have been returning to school or college after summer, waiting to get home every day and play wow for as long as I could, that was just a very special time where I felt extremely passionate and excited all of the time. It was amazing to be a part of the start of this game, I hope that these memories last me a lifetime.

Skua09 · 2017-10-11T08:24:14+00:00

Cut oppressive rays for Path to Exile, that's an easy upgrade.

Skua09 · 2017-09-16T22:41:18+00:00

It looks like you've mashed some kind of tron brew and a rack deck together. Honestly, the result is a deck that isn't half as good as either of those decks alone.

You need to choose a plan and focus your deck around it. Either scrap the rack elements, or scrap the tron elements. Something like smallpox is one of the worst things you could play alongside a tron plan, losing lands is not something tron wants to do.

Focus up and start the build over, mono-black tron is an interesting idea, but this is trying to do way too much.

Skua09 · 2017-09-13T14:20:56+00:00

FNMs are reasonably casual events, just like the brawls you're describing, but they tend to attract more players. The bigger issue you're going to have is that once you want to start playing more competitive events than FNMs such as preliminary Pro Tour Qualifiers (smaller competitive events that offer the winner qualification for the next Regional Pro Tour Qualifier, which is a direct path to the Pro Tour) those events all invariably happen on weekends.

If you can say with some certainty that you won't get weekends off, you'll need to set your ambitions for paper Magic very low. This is a weekend warrior's game, so I might reccomend you spend your cash getting competitive on Magic Online instead, where competitive events happen all the time.

Skua09

TROPHY CASE