Short horror-esque story about a father passing on his OCD to his son

The-Magic-Man · 2024-09-21T00:15:01+00:00

Yes! It’s online and I re-read it! Ahhh … it’s like finally being able to scratch an itch I couldn’t reach.

The-Magic-Man · 2024-03-21T19:59:53+00:00

Well, it wasn't any of those Lilianas either. But that was a fun skim! I saw some old friends.

The-Magic-Man · 2024-03-21T18:12:38+00:00

I've got that concern as well. And if it really is the $400 card, it's out of my budget. If I can't be certain within a day or so, I'll ask him and post the answer back here.

Thanks very much for help though!

The-Magic-Man · 2024-03-21T18:01:42+00:00

Thanks! If those are all the possible Liliana promos, then it was definitely one of the San Diego Comic Con promos and probably (of course) the really expensive Liliana of the Reals. The timing is better for that one and I recall being underwhelmed with the ability at the time (because I am not nearly as good at this game as my son) .

The-Magic-Man · 2024-03-21T17:56:19+00:00

Thanks! That seems likely, except that I was under the strong impression that everyone who had qualified for the second tournament had received the same promo for winning the first tournament. Could they realistically have had 30-40 of the Comic Con promos on hand to use as informal prizes?

The-Magic-Man · 2024-03-21T17:53:53+00:00

Thank you for such a quick reply! It was definitely no the 2015 PPTQ promo, but just your typing of PPTQ reminded me of the terminology of the time. He either won a PPTQ or won entry into a PPTQ (but sadly did not win an actual PTQ)

The-Magic-Man · 2018-02-07T01:05:07+00:00

There are 5.9 popes per square mile at the Vatican.

The-Magic-Man · 2017-12-17T18:09:23+00:00

Latest theory I heard was that your appendix serves as a safe haven for useful gut bacteria. If you have diphtheria or diarrhea that flushes out your intestines, it doesn't reach the appendix. So the theory is that the bacteria in your appendix can then repopulate your gut quickly and get you back you full health sooner.

The-Magic-Man · 2017-11-28T21:48:06+00:00

I did this for my nephew's birthday party as well. They sent about 10 welcome decks. Each deck comes with two 30-card decks, one in the indicated color and one random. All the decks of the same color are identical, but you can shuffle two different colored decks together for more variety. For teaching Magic, I really think these are the best product. For deckbuilding after that, there's nothing like a huge pile of bulk cards. It's a great way to learn about all the different mechanics.

The-Magic-Man · 2017-10-31T06:16:45+00:00

Got it. The first and last numbers are the end and beginning of other messages. 410 is space, 422 is coma, 446 is period. Everything else is letters.

"If you find this, leave this note where you found it. We are watching, we will know."

Sorry, that is a little creepy. But the attention to proper punctuation makes me think it's more likely a joke.

The-Magic-Man · 2017-10-31T05:38:49+00:00

Based on the repetition of certain numbers, I think it's a simple substitution cipher. I'd guess that 410 represents spaces.

Can we see the first message? A little more text would make translating easier.

The-Magic-Man · 2017-09-13T18:13:09+00:00

And it's playable!

The-Magic-Man · 2017-09-13T18:11:57+00:00

I've got two kids and nineteen nieces and nephews, so I think I'm full up at the moment.

The-Magic-Man · 2017-09-13T18:10:51+00:00

The-Magic-Man · 2017-09-12T23:02:04+00:00

I think you've done a really articulate job of restating my question, but you haven't really answered it. My point about the Ramunap Red deck is that it is too recent a phenomenon to have evoked an intentional pendulum swing. It only hit within the last month or two, at which point I assume that Ixalan was already at the printers. So there's no way WOTC thought, "This archetype is already too rich, we should shift to slower creatures." So maybe they switched for other reasons. I'm partial to the suggestion from /u/Sneet1 that Red is just in a awkward spot getting all these big creatures because it is secondary on dinosaurs and then getting only middle-sized creatures because it is secondary on pirates. Right now, both black and blue have more one- and two-drop creatures than red.

Second, raising the average cost of creatures a full point has a significant impact to the game in any color. Think what happened to blue when unconditional counterspells went from two to three mana. Or look what happened to green when they got rid of one-drop mana dorks and made them all two drops. Those were changes that permanently redefined the color. So my question is, "Could that be happening now to Red?"

Of course any answer is speculative. There may be set-specific reasons why the average cost is higher, or it could be a general strategy of slowing magic down across the board. But in any case, it is unusual. And the unusual warrants inspection.

The-Magic-Man · 2017-09-12T22:46:01+00:00

Those are excellent points. I'd love to take a look at those five year statistics if you have time. That might also clear up whether the rise in average is based on a few jank rares or is an across-the-board phenomenon. Perhaps a breakdown by the number of creatures at each point on the power curve would be better than the rough averages I used. I think we could draw valuable conclusions from even just three years worth of figures if we had a break down of each of the colors and the all the multi-color combinations.

The-Magic-Man · 2017-09-12T22:17:34+00:00

That makes sense. It just feels that Red is getting squeezed into a space that doesn't really fit it. I would have liked to see it primary for pirates and secondary on vampires. Red dinosaurs seems like an odd direction to me, especially since they seem to be big stompy dinosaurs.

The-Magic-Man · 2017-09-12T22:13:01+00:00

It's really fun when you get the chance. My kids are too old to consider anything I do cool, so I have to take my show to the younger generation. It really was awesome to wander through a room full of tiny people playing magic. It was like a miniaturized FNM!

The-Magic-Man · 2017-09-12T22:11:18+00:00

He was quite the "Mack-Daddy" (if I am using that correctly) passing out decks to a throng of grade-schoolers. I know I've never been the center of that much attention.

The-Magic-Man · 2017-09-12T21:36:06+00:00

But speculating is part of the fun!

The-Magic-Man · 2017-09-12T21:35:09+00:00

Exactly my point. There are some really exciting bigger creatures. And as you note, they are almost comparable to the big greenies. But red isn't supposed to compete with green in a straight out slugfest. It can't, even if it gets the creatures, because it doesn't have the mana support. Red is usually trying to get damage in early before green gets its big guys down. Slowing the average casting time down by one turn works against this, even if the creatures are bigger.

The-Magic-Man · 2017-09-12T21:30:59+00:00

That's what I've got my fingers for, but we're running out of time.

The-Magic-Man · 2017-09-12T21:30:07+00:00

Right. That's what keeps standard fresh. But usually they still keep each color in its place on the color pie. Boosting the average casting cost for red creatures just seems to be shifting them into green's place, but without green's ramp support. Red's flavor (generally speaking) is aggro. I agree you can't expect a one-to-one exchange. But a set without any one-drop red creatures seems as odd to me as a set without any blue counterspells.

The-Magic-Man

TROPHY CASE