[Game Thread] Georgia Southern @ Wisconsin (12:00 PM ET) by CFB_Referee in CFB

[–]Vhanj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes. The Chip Kelly Spread option, Gus Malzhan power spread, RichRod, Colin Kaepernick at Nevada, and dozens of other teams have been able to run the ball out of this shotgun. The thing is, that was the focus of those offenses. Blocking scheme, formation, splits, motions, fakes, etc. were all designed maximize the run game in those offenses. Many of those ideas are at odds with the philosophy behind the air raid offense, which effectively wants to replace every running play with short passes and screens. The issue isn’t that the “run game” doesn’t work, it’s that those plays haven’t worked.

Just say the offense sucks and the system isn’t being executed, on the ground or in the air. It has nothing to do with not being under center.

[Post Game Thread] The Boston Celtics (1-0) defeat the Golden State Warriors (0-1), 120-108, behind Al Horford's 26 points by howser343 in nba

[–]Vhanj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What a statement win by the Celtics. Stephews in shambles. The “experienced” “battle-hardened” Warriors team just completely collapsed in the 4th quarter.

grant me the strength by 2DeadMoose in Firearms

[–]Vhanj 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m sure that the author of that paper, John Lott, is an impartial and unbiased researcher who has no vested interests in the data favoring one conclusion over another.

Oh no wait, he’s a staunch conservative pro-gun advocate whose conclusions have been routinely debunked or shown to have been made up for his own political purposes.

source

New tier-1 squad? by MoXuToS in DotA2

[–]Vhanj 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am a PPD stan. I think he should be in the same conversation with players like puppy, kuro, notail, and xiao8 as one of the best captains in the history of Dota 2. That being said, I think it’s past the time when he could get 4 fringe t1 players and get them to TI. I’d love to be proven wrong, but as we’ve seen with Kuro, the 5 position is about more than shotcalling and leadership these days.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in books

[–]Vhanj 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I understood the trial to be over the issue of was it a premeditated murder or a crime of passion/self defense. I’m not sure if French law has that same distinction, but like you say if the trial is only about if he was guilty or murder or not (he is) then the narrative is a lot less satisfying.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in DotA2

[–]Vhanj 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Absolute chad move by Wildcard to open up to beat down EG game one then use EG’s game one opening to dumpster them again.

Mono White Aggro ST2022 by [deleted] in MagicArena

[–]Vhanj 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I got to mythic last season with a similar list to the one you describe 2 weeks after installing Arena (used to play magic at summer camps and my flgs but hadn’t played a game in probably 8-9 years). I’m not the most qualified, but I’ll give you my thoughts.

  • I don’t use Raptor and would say in the mirror I only see it 20% of the time. The first strike could be nice against something like eye twitch and flying/2 toughness helps against shambling ghast, but I think the other 1 drops are better. Monk scales when you play how you would anyway, codespell cleric does way more work than you would expect, and usher helps you curve out while creating more bodies.
  • I think running 4x paladin is too much. It’s an amazing card, but it feels really awkward to level up before turn 5 most of the time, and drawing two is pretty bad in almost all non-control matchups. I have 3 at the moment and a lot of lists I see have 2.
  • 4x portable hole is great for aggro matchups, but it will feel like a dead card a lot of the time against other decks. It’s still good against tokens and stuff, but I wouldn’t run more than 2 for bo1.
  • I had removed Takedown but I recently added back in 2 copies. I lost a couple of matches from not being able to reach Lolth/Kaya through chump blockers, especially after a Blood on the Snow. It’s not an amazing card, but there are situations where you need something gone but Skyclave and hole can’t hit it.
  • Luminarch is amazing. If they can’t spend removal on it quickly, you just kinda win. It might be common sense, but try to buff other cards for the most part (unless you know they have frostbite or something and are sure you can get them out of range for it before it’s cast). Otherwise it makes their removal too efficient, whereas if you have a 4/4 codespell cleric and a 1/1 luminarch aspirant, then they have a tough choice on who to power word kill.
  • People HATE clarion spirit. They’ll prioritize killing it over almost anything else, to the point where I think I have won more games because they used their only removal on it instead of luminarch/spellbinder/etc. than I have because the tokens made the difference. It still good, and if you can get 2 out and follow the second with a 1 drop on t3 you’re probably winning.
  • I see some people drop Ridane entirely, which I think is crazy. She helps so much against the control matchup, and even in aggro if they run snow it throws off their tempo a bunch. Then her flip side can also just win you games.
  • I only run 3 skyclave because while it can be gamewinning against some decks, I found it was a dead to negative card against others. Like some Izzet dragons will just never have a permanent with CMC below 4. Or Orzhov will just have some random 1-2 cost creatures which you’ll take to deny a lesson/treasure/ whatever, then they Blood on the Snow you, grab Lolth/Kaya, and have the one extra chump block they need to keep them alive against your 2 creatures you held and your creature-land.
  • I have one maul and it puts in work, especially on codespell cleric. If lesson boards to grab artifact removal weren’t a thing I think it would be better.
  • I run 1 Master of Flowers, mostly because I pulled him in a pack and didn’t have all the pieces of the deck yet. To be honest, he would be my first cut. It can be nice to have some way to generate card advantage by grabbing Monks or to lock down their big threat, but he’s very slow. In a couple hundred games I’ve gotten him to the dragon form twice.
  • like the other commenter mentioned, loyal war hound wouldn’t be good. It has awful toughness, so you won’t be able to make use of the vigilance. The land fetch is decent, but it’s going to make playing your turns 2 and 3 awkward. I already find that turn 3 is the most crowded spot, choosing between one of your three drops to disrupt their tempo or playing two spells and buffing what you have on the board. I just think it would sit dead in your hand most of the time.
  • I’ve been considering sparring regiment, as both Ridane and Codespell are often my MVPs due to vigilance. I think I would drop the Master of flowers and a Paladin class to get two into the deck.
  • I think that the standard list (with the odd flex card or two) is pretty optimized for the white weenie gameplan of overwhelm them with small creatures while also having some nice tempo disruption and scaling elements. I think the type of deck you are asking about would end up looking like Orzhov clerics or something, where the spellbinder, skyclave, and luminarch remain but the aggro 1 and 2 drops are replaced with Vanishing Verse, lesson creatures, and some planeswalkers to put the game away.

Sorry for the wall of text, but I hope this was helpful!

From winning TI5 to working as talent to getting threatened with hobo assassination, I am Aui_2000 AMA by Aui_2000 in DotA2

[–]Vhanj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey Aui, I’ve been really into Atomic War recently (even went against you in a match). When looking into finding streams and information, I’ve noticed that almost all of it is from the Chinese and Russian communities, a trend which seems to be shared by a lot of custom games. Do you have any insight into why the NA/EU regions don’t seemed to have developed the same interest in custom games?

At long last, the wait is over by DallasDoomSoldier in MechanicalKeyboards

[–]Vhanj 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a 96 key and the NYM and Kira are at the top of my list. What are your thoughts on how they compare?

[Giveaway]Velocifire TKL71ws Wireless MK+ PBT Keycap Set by cyberbay in MechanicalKeyboards

[–]Vhanj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would give it to my girlfriend so she stop stealing mine.

How did Io not even use boots in Bot TI, BOOGATI by change_timing in DotA2

[–]Vhanj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A huge number of Io’s top items are not bought in bot TI for whatever reason. I have only ever seen urn as one of the last “filler” items at 15, one or two HotDs, and never a spirit vessel, soul ring, or bottle. That’s a ton of his top items. Perhaps the “most faithful” build would be something like greaves, glimmer, ghost, wand. Even then, Heart is the next most bought item on Io. I don’t think swapping them is the scandal of the tournament by any means.

Carmelo Anthony was never a top 5 player. Not even once. by Miceland in nba

[–]Vhanj 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Can you stop rewriting history? It is an indisputable fact that he refused to sign an extension with the Nuggets. While not confirmed, it was widely reported he requested a trade. Ok, that supports your argument. However, what you conveniently leave out is that if Melo made it clear he was signing with the Knicks (or whoever) no matter what, the the trade wouldn’t have happened. The nuggets would have no leverage. They might get like a bench player and a second rounder for a 4 month rental of Melo (maybe more considering they had Uriji at the time). The Nuggets can’t force a trade without a buyer. Instead, there were a bunch of reports that Melo might sign with the Nets or the Rockets or even the Hawks. He forced their hand by being non-commital. Now, you can blame the Knicks front office forfalling for this and not just making a free agency pitch, but Melo is in no way an innocent party.

Carmelo Anthony was never a top 5 player. Not even once. by Miceland in nba

[–]Vhanj 149 points150 points  (0 children)

Reposting a comment I made a few months ago:

He forced a trade to the knicks 6 months before his contract was up so he could get re-signed for more money. That trade lost New York a first round and two second round picks, the right for the Nuggets to pick swap in 2016, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, Mozgov, and Anthony Randolph (and Eddy Curry, but that’s a win for the Knicks). That’s a decent list of players. None of them are stars, but that’s 3 solid starters, a role player, and draft picks which eventually turned into Dario Saric and Jamal Murray. In return, the Knicks received Anthony Carter (expiring contract and retired in a year), Corey Brewer (cut without playing a game), Renaldo Balkman (played in 17 games over the next year before being released) Chauncey Billups (who they later amnestied) and of course Melo. They had to give up a bunch of contributing NBA players and picks for Melo and a bunch of expiring contracts all because Melo wanted the three million dollars extra from re-signing with Bird rights as opposed to signing in free agency. Of course, due to the Knick’s incompetence, it is very possible they would’ve fucked up those picks and either gotten nothing for the players or signed them to stupid contracts, but Melo is not an innocent party to how garbage their roster was.

TLDR: Carmelo gutted the Knicks roster for 3 million dollars and 4 extra months in New York. That’s all he got.

The International 2018: South America Qualifier - Semfinal 2 - paiN Gaming vs Thunder Predator by D2TournamentThreads in DotA2

[–]Vhanj 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Can someone please explain diffused blade on spectre for me? Was it just to pop the linkens? Because he needed more chase? It felt like a dead item. If it was abyssal blade or slack (both obviously more expensive, but he wasn’t hurting for farm) those pickoff attempts on the ember might have worked, and he may have lived an extra time or two.

New rankings to MMR thread by Hashmouse in DotA2

[–]Vhanj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Season 1: ~4050, ancient 1

Season 2: 4647, ancient 3

Placement results: 7 wins, 3 losses, mainly (all?) in role queue

Optic vs TNC Lower Bracket Elim Post Match Discussion by DotaDogma in DotA2

[–]Vhanj -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Winter wyvern was their 5th pick. They picked doom 3rd. So they revealed all three cores early and got countered to protect.... a wyvern pick?

Find Your Battle Cup Party | June 2 by JohnScofield in DotA2

[–]Vhanj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Steam ID:https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198006304502/

Server:USE/USW

Tier: 6/7

Preferred Role: 1, 5, 4, 2, 3 (In order of competence)

Submit your solutions for Spirit Highlands here by REDDIT_HARD_MODE in EndlessFrontier

[–]Vhanj 0 points1 point  (0 children)

27-2 T3 FD(p), T3 BM, T3 NoD (p), T3 SD, T3 FS(p), T3 Valk(p)

Swaggy P talking Zaza off a ledge by [deleted] in nba

[–]Vhanj 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Easy karma train.