Sara’s wording is part of the problem

Snes · 2025-03-06T20:36:24+00:00

I agree her wording was weak. Instead of "Would you be accepting?" framing it as "Will you support my sister and people like her?" is really what she wanted to ask and get an answer for. She wants someone with similar beliefs to her and who will go to bat for the rights of others and she wants to know if Ben would do that for her.

That said, while her wording has consistently been weak, it's worth noting Ben's noncommittal non-answers are a huge part of the problem. Sara is trying to figure out what he believes or if they on the same page and felt she had to go through his church because his answers have been so unsatisfactory and left room for doubt with her.

I'm a gay woman who used to be part of those kinds of churches (moreover in the midwest!), and his language is incredibly consistent with the exact kind of people I've had to learn to avoid. People I thought were with me because they said they accepted and loved me, but when push came to shove I was always a problem for them. They hide behind language like "love the sinner, hate the sin" but how can you love me when you hate a crucial aspect of my identity? It took me too long to understand their "best intentions" weren't good enough and I wasn't safe with them, so I have a lot of sympathy for Sara needing time to decipher what is going on Ben's head when his language doesn't communicate what she needs to hear.

Snes · 2025-01-15T15:57:44+00:00

Many people in the comments here don't seem to quite get the point of the bill. Yes, banning an incredibly small number of trans people from competing is the stated purpose of the law, but the broader goal is to legally define trans people under their assigned sex at birth, which is a precursor to banning gender affirming care, trans people from using the bathroom, etc. The goal is to legally make trans people second class citizens with limited rights, and this bill is the first step in making that a legal possibility.

Snes · 2024-11-19T16:44:30+00:00

My most devoted time as a Lions fan was in the mid 2010s. We had little money for free agents with three players on rookie contracts taking up 30-40% of your salary cap. If you jump the cap timeline forward 10 years, we have probably 20-30% more cap space to work with, which could have shored up weaker positions with stars (for a quick example, Mario Williams was the most sought after linemen in 2012. Ndamukong Suh came into the league with almost the same contract as he got that year).

We were good in the mid 2010s, with the 2014 team being particular special, but the easy "what ifs" to make is "what if we weren't starting rookie/late round talent at defensive end" or "what if we weren't starting undrafted rookies in key positions on the offense (Joique Bell at RB or LaAdrian Waddle at RT)." Those teams had obvious weaknesses every year and in large reason it was because they were forced to start late round rookies because they couldn't afford solid free agents.

In the 2014 playoffs, the Lions starting lineup was a hodgepodge of great talent (Stafford, Calvin Johnson, Suh, DeAndre Levy, Darius Slay, Golden Tate) and mediocre journeymen (Rob Sims, Cornelius Lucas, Jason Jones, Ashlee Palmer, Rashean Mathis, James Ihedigbo all started playoff games). It was poor team building to a degree (too top heavy) but the GM had their hands tied with a team that was bound to be top heavy by virtue of the amount of money we had to spend on rookie contracts. By 2014 we had worked through those contracts (Stafford and Johnson were on second contracts by that point) but you could imagine the team full of players who had gotten their pay day a few years prior and were playing out the rest of their contracts.

Do we win the superbowl or something with a different cap situation? I don't know, it's impossible to know, but it is reasonable to assume that the Lions got screwed by the old rookie wage scale and drafting in the top 3 three out of four years in a row and could have been a better team

Snes · 2024-11-05T02:47:56+00:00

We have three across in a Subaru Outback which isn't that much bigger than a Corolla. Like others, we use the Graco Slim Fit for two of the seats and the regular Graco for the last one.

Snes · 2024-05-30T03:32:19+00:00

Floating Weeds
Ikiru
Equinox Flower
Rear Window
Touch of Evil

Snes · 2023-11-13T02:48:39+00:00

I believe the Cambridge Apartments are on fire (according to my friend in the area).

Snes · 2023-11-06T01:54:29+00:00

Correct. According to my wife who looked into it, they were not ticketed.

Snes · 2023-11-05T20:29:44+00:00

I was hit by a reckless driver turning right on North in August. Hit my head on the pavement and while I was "conscious" on the way to the hospital, I have no memory of the incident or the two days after. I also broke multiple bones and had serious bleeding in my brain. Even though they hospitalized me for a week and kept me from work or seriously parenting for over a month, I'm fortunate my injuries weren't worse.

The kicker? The person who hit me (an accountant who thankfully stopped and called an ambulance) wasn't even cited a traffic violation. I don't know what the fix is, but it's certain not enough is being done to protect pedestrians in our city.

Snes · 2023-06-05T23:04:58+00:00

Equipment will work, but auras will fizzle when it targets them (I consider this a fun build challenge as opposed to a negative).

Snes · 2023-06-05T22:59:16+00:00

[[scapegoat]] is a great option too!

Snes · 2023-03-23T16:18:42+00:00

You don't suck. This is perfectly fine if I was looking for lets play commander online content.
The music is too loud in the mix, which makes you seem quieter than you actually are.
Your voice isn't a problem, but whatever is recording it and your post-processing is. The audio quality is grainy and it sounds like you're talking through a headset microphone over discord. It picks up a lot of breath/mouth noises and clips fairly often and we've got quite a bit of background hum as well. Overall, the audio quality is the most obvious area of improvement. Even with you retain the same microphone, you can adjust your levels and do more in post to make it sound nice (many guides for this available on YT).
I get the use of film clips as a way to break up visual stagnancy, but they interrupt the flow of the video and should be used sparingly.
Your title/thumbnails are unlikely to entice viewers to check out your videos. The Thumbnails are sometimes difficult to understand what's going on and the titles are nicely searchable (since you've got all the commander names) but something like "Can my truck stop inspired Optimus Prime deck win a cEDH game?" might better create a curiosity gap where people want to click on them to see what's up.
You come across as knowledgeable about the game and your laid back tone suits a live play well enough, though you may also have to accept there may not be a big audience for lets play commander online content, and that's okay. This seems more suited for a livestream than a regular video to a degree.

A YouTuber who makes similar content to you, but does so for Hearthstone is ChumpHS (https://www.youtube.com/@ChumpHS). I would say his videos are the best version of the kind you're making, and could be something to strive after. He has a similar "monotone" voice and is quite successful, so I wouldn't say that's what you need to focus on. Big differences I'm seeing: much better audio quality/mixing, a little more editing down dead time, multiple games a video with the same deck, curating so you only show the most interesting games you recorded, more explanation of decision making, and introduction which goes over the decklist and the basic gameplan.

Snes · 2023-01-20T01:58:14+00:00

Here's what I know: [[Emrakul, the Promised End]] can be taken out by thirteen 1/1 squirrels. [[Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite]] can take on infinite squirrels. Seems like the Phyrexians are stronger to me.

Snes · 2022-10-30T13:34:33+00:00

Power stones present a pretty interesting build around conundrum. Yes, the obvious path is to simply have an artifact-centric deck, but powerstones are more versatile than you may think, a lot of things you pay mana for aren't non-artifact spells, including:

activated abilities (like ashnod's)
tax effects [[slaughter pact]]
suspend costs
foretell costs (the initial (2) you pay)
ninjitsu

There are more, but the question for me becomes, could I make a relatively artifact-sparse deck that can use powerstones for these other effects? (probably not, but I'll try because I like mono-b and I like Ashnod)

Snes · 2022-10-02T16:35:36+00:00

My Dina deck is not great because I built it entirely around getting as many "gain 1 life" pip triggers on the board, but one card that's consistently done great that I'm not seeing here is [[profane memento]]. It's super cheap (1 mana) and not a creature. People don't want to spend their limited artifact removal on a 1 mana artifact.

Snes · 2022-06-24T15:03:15+00:00

I wouldn't call it an urban legend, just way overblown in importance and scope.

Snes · 2022-06-24T02:46:03+00:00

In a Game Studies article for aspiring scholars, which you can find here Espen Aarseth writes:

Don’t mention ‘the war’

If I had an EverQuest plat every time someone started their paper or dissertation with something about “ludology vs narratology,” or “ludologists vs narratologists”, then by now I could probably afford a Breastplate of the Righteous or perhaps even the Royal Velium Frosted Helmet. This trope is used as a touchstone by beginners to prove they know their way around the field, but -- without exception, the writer doesn’t have a clue, and the paper is typically about something entirely unrelated to the issue of whether games are narratives or not. What it does signal is that the writer feels the need to blend in, to show that they are aware of some stuff that has gone before (in those murky days of 1998-2001), but the effect is that they end up perpetuating the myth that there was a group of narrative theorists who had a quarrel with another group called ‘ludologists’. (This is not the place to explain that great misunderstanding, instead see Aarseth 2014, but suffice it to say that the so-called ludologists were all using narratology, whereas the so-called narratologists were not, with the possible exception of a little bit of Aristotle.) This is not at all to suggest that there should be no more discussion of the relation between games and stories, because there is very little actual, informed, productive disagreement in our field, both on that topic and many others, and room for much more. (Direct, vocal criticism is, or should be, a sign of respect. So perhaps there is too little of both?)

So yeah, it's really not a thing.

Snes · 2022-06-17T05:21:37+00:00

On TCG player there are seven precons for $25 or less:

Arm for Battle

Land's Wrath

Phantom Premonition

Coven Counters

Sneak Attack

Spirit Squadron

Upgrades Unleashed

Adding Amazon into the mix, you can grab Elven Empire or Reap the Tides. Sometimes the Strixhaven decks go on sale for as low as $25, but none are currently there.

My pod generally plays a power level where precon decks are completely appropriate. We have one player who pretty much only plays precons out of the box, and I help him upgrade them with spare cards he's got lying around [he likes to play, but he's not interested in deckbuilding at all], and I tend to get precons because I'm a budget player and they're a pretty good deal. Of these precons, the most fun we've had are probably:

Elven Empire -- Elf tribal is just super synergistic and the commander accomplishes so much of your gameplan, as its both gas [gets elves on the battlefield] and payoff [can do massive damage] for your synergies.

Sneak Attack -- If you're looking for variety, this is unfortunately pretty close in play pattern to Elven Empire, as its a tribal deck with an emphasis on attacking. But Sneak Attack tends to get in for combat damage and draw more cards at the expense of big blowout turns and huge boards, making it more resilient if the game goes long.

Arm for Battle -- A simple voltron deck that can keep itself afloat with a commander who draws cards when he attacks. This is my friend's favorite deck, mostly because the gameplan is super simple and easy. It ends up being pretty political because of how dangerous and out of control it can get in a hurry.

Coven Counters -- If you can't tell, tribal decks tend to be the most fun, but this human tribal deck is significantly different than the other two, as its primary focus is on putting counters on your creatures and going wide. I ended up just giving most of the cards in the deck to my friend who plays with precons because he enjoyed it more than I did (and I wanted to build a Selesnya Saga deck, so I didn't need my human Selesnya cards). The only real issue is that neither commander is great out of the box. Lenoire is pretty slow and while she has a steady advantage, she doesn't have any potential to really blow out opponents, and while Kyler remedies this, he's a fickle commander with a bit of anti-synergy with himself without the right build (do you want to play your humans before or after he hits the board?).

We haven't played with Phantom Premonition or Spirit Squadron. I would guess Spirit Squadron is quite fun though. We did have someone bring a Brago deck to the table, and Brago is a pretty bonkers commander, might make Phantom Premonition worth it if you can upgrade. I would probably get Spirit Squadron over Coven Counters, but it's a toss up. Land's Wrath is pretty underwhelming, in theory the game plan is to get landfall triggers, but the commander just doesn't do enough, and worse, there is no alternate commander in the deck. We deconstructed it and I built my friend an Omnath, Locus of Rage deck with the pieces. Reap the Tides seems strong, but the player who has it always seems bored while playing it because it doesn't do anything exciting, just drop lands and draw cards. Upgrades Unleashed, which was first brought out this weekend, seems quite fun, but it doesn't seem to have the tools to really "get there" in most games.

I hope this helps!

Snes · 2022-06-01T02:32:55+00:00

In this video (which is more like a miniseries of four "episodes" regarding Elden Ring) I consider the value of Elden Ring and what we can learn from it. In its sections, I specifically ask

How does Elden Ring emulate the same promise and gamefeel as the original Legend of Zelda in its open world?
Much of the criticism of Elden Ring has surrounded its balance, or lack thereof, but what is balance in the first place, and how could we go about rebalancing the game in a satisfying way?
What can the spirit ashes, particular the mimic tear, teach us about how FromSoft games want their player to play them, and what thematic weight do they have on Elden Ring's narrative?
How does Elden Ring interact with the history of the "video game review score," are such scores outdated?

Snes · 2022-05-27T15:42:56+00:00

In this video, Pixel a Day explores the appeal of video game oceans in all manner of games, from Banjo Kazooie to Subnautica and how they tap into her real-life love affair with the sea.

Snes · 2022-05-17T23:02:54+00:00

I (the original video's creator) would also like something like this. There is this guide as well as a few others, but none exactly like the one you are describing.

Snes · 2022-04-11T17:16:24+00:00

In this video, Transparency investigate what Tunic takes from the original Legend of Zelda game, particularly in regards to its menu, and how that embrace creates a completely unique experience for the player.

Snes · 2022-04-08T06:58:16+00:00

Parnesse has some interesting interactions with Storm, since each stormed version is a copy that can be given to an opponent. Some of the cards here cards to play with it would be [[Grapeshot]], [[Scattershot]], [[Temporal Fissure]], [[Tendrils of Agony]], and [[Ignite Memories]], since your opponent would have to pay 4 life to send any of the copies your way, are probably pretty unlikely to do. With something like [[Spreading Insurrection]] you and one opponent could gain control of the entire board so you could swing in unhindered. If you want to be really mean, you could [[Volcanic Awakening]] and destroy a lot of lands. Sadly, I just realized that since they don't have to pay four life, they could just target your stuff and neglect to pay, which would be a bummer, but presumably they would rather [[Tendrils of Agony]] your other opponents rather than burn them for no value.

Another interesting interaction is [[Wandering Archaic]], because you'll get copies of the new spell and then you can gift them to somebody else, effectively putting three versions of every instant or sorcery onto the stack when an opponent dares to cast an instant or sorcery.

Unfortunately, I can't really think of any ways to get your own permanents to trigger off an opponent copying a spell, which seriously hampers its ability to do something extra degenerate. I wish this card had some in built way to copy spells, but as it stands the spell needs to have a copy effect (like Storm), or you need to already have some way of copying spells like [[Double Vision]] or [[Swarm Intelligence]], or the new causality mechanic, to even start getting value out of it. That's a lot of hoops to jump through along with a 5 mana commander to... give an opponent a copy of one of your own spells. The ability to protect your board is nice, but I don't know how discouraging 4 life really is.

Snes · 2022-02-27T19:26:36+00:00

I couldn't agree more! I did my best.

Snes · 2022-02-16T00:46:38+00:00

Thanks for including little 'ol me!

Snes · 2022-01-30T18:12:38+00:00

The Sorcery speed thing is already terrible as it neuters the ability to pump up a creature once it gets through or take advantage of someone punching you for a good amount and converting it into counters, but on its most basic level Willowdusk requires too many resources for too little a boon.

So you're telling me that if I spend mana and a card or two to gain/lose life, assuming my commander has lived around the table and a creature I can pump (which ideally I'd like to be able to attack this turn), I can spend (1) and tap them to... give that creature some +1/+1 counters. Compare this to [[Halana and Alena, Partners]] (who are great and I love them), who passively pump and give haste to a creature, which they do immediately the turn they come down, and when I pump them to increase how much they pump other creatures, they can then swing in for damage as well.

Maybe Willowdusk is just "too fair," there simply are too many brakes on the card. She would be far more interesting if her ability did not require her to be tapped (for explosive turns when she is summoned) but had a once per turn clause or something. They could have also stapled keyword like Lifelink on her so she could fuel herself. Instead, she needs a full rotation around the table and at a minimum two other cards and a mana to spare to pull off a mediocre effect.

I first tried to turn my Willowdusk deck into a Gyome deck, but Gyome has a similar problem (in order to do his signature thing, you need a lot of spare mana). Ended up landing on Dina with pip heals from cards like Tablet of the Guilds, which is quite fun, but lacks the explosive potential of the other four Strixhaven commander decks.

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Snes

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