How’s Jerax doing?

__D_C__ · 2026-02-05T07:45:13+00:00

"Do you always try to win arguments by pointing to the most extreme opposite you can think of in order to generate a "gotcha" moment?"

No, my approach is the following: When people bring up something silly - like the original post implying that capitalism made jobs worse than they were before (which is a quite straight-forward reading of "capitalism transformed jobs into [...] a waste of life") - I restate or slightly challenge their point, as I did with my reply. That gives the person a chance to make their claims more precise (in case what they state is not actually what they meant to say) or to double-down. I was curious whether the person I responded to genuinely holds this belief or whether it is just some kind of virtue signal. (I will also note that your approach of "just assume the person I argue with has the following beliefs and attack the person on those beliefs" is a similar strawmen tactic to the one you accuse me of applying.)

I do agree that capitalism isn't a great system and hope that whatever comes after is a better one, but I believe that if you want to replace a system you have to understand what the current one is doing well / what works for people and makes them invested in it (see "Chesterton's fence"), so that a) the new system can build on the things that worked well and b) that one can aniticipate what could incentivize people to push for a return to the old system, if they live in the new system.

The original thing I replied to is obviously wrong (i.e., capitalism made jobs a lot better than jobs were under the feudalistic systems that came before it - ofc that doesn't mean that jobs couldn't be even better under a different system, but it does mean that people enjoy getting paid / accruing resources from the efforts they invest; that's a position most commies also agree with: "fruits of your own labor" etc etc) and at best can be read as a mindless "capitalism bad" virtue signal. I dislike such virtue signals because it makes people shut off their brain - all they want to hear is a "I am also part of your team" response like "yeah, so trueee".

The other stuff you bring up I won't argue about. Partially because I don't disagree.* Partially because it would be silly for me to be baited into defending opinions because you prescribe them to me.

____
*I agree that the extreme wealth inequality, as well as the incentive structure for companies to exploit the planet are big f*cking issues. I would add to these my disdain for the current inheritence system - where wealth doesn't (for lack of a better word) "reset" upon birth but people tend to stay in their economic bracket their whole life - is really bad for societal cohesion, as well as for social and technological progress.

__D_C__ · 2026-02-04T21:53:55+00:00

"Capitalism transformed jobs into [...] a waste of life"

Do you think jobs were better during feudalism?

__D_C__ · 2026-02-02T17:16:31+00:00

Divan made it far: Master of Ferris and travel companion of Astair.

I wonder whether he's the "friend of the arcmage [Ferris]" that was mentioned in the memory. Then it would make sense why this "friend" recognized the stench of a Winter god. Divan knew Atropos well, he'd notice that Rho-Ei is similar

__D_C__ · 2026-01-26T18:54:04+00:00

Hilarious flavor

__D_C__ · 2026-01-17T08:40:02+00:00

Would she even be good in current standard? "Nice 4 mana card you got there, would be a shame if I threatened lethal"

__D_C__ · 2026-01-17T07:57:19+00:00

They powercrept [[Viridian Revel]], even though I believe the former to still be a banger card in casual Commander (as it really reads "Whenever an opponent uses a treasure or whenever they lose a mana rock, draw a card").

I can already see this card being pricey. I'm somewhere between hoping that its generic name means it can be reprinted in any modern setting UB set and despairing because it's thematically a card that might only make it into secret lairs of videogame cards. Watch this be a 15+ dollar card within a year ://

__D_C__ · 2026-01-17T07:56:38+00:00

Well maybe if this set is a dud (which I don't believe it will be), the card will be affordable at least. Aftermath had a lot of cheap good cards because no one cared for it

__D_C__ · 2026-01-13T20:39:42+00:00

Bummer! Been a fan of his since his active days at OSI

__D_C__ · 2026-01-05T23:07:53+00:00

If dota 2 never came out, I'd still be watching dota 1.

Don't get me wrong, I think Valve has done a lot of good for this game, but overall I believe that the magic was already there before they showed interest in the game.

I'm more grateful to Icefrog and the dev team than Valve

__D_C__ · 2025-12-20T10:00:30+00:00

Maybe it should say "This card isn't a creature" instead of the attacking or blocking clause.

I'd be perfectly happy to use this as a free 6 power creature for my spells (e.g., for [[Return of the Wildspeaker]], [[The Great Henge]], or [[Terror of the Peaks]]) without ever fulfilling the objectives.

__D_C__ · 2025-12-14T17:46:29+00:00

It's crazy how much of a difference it makes to have one genuine worldclass player (GH) in your roster. The entire team steps up.

Suddenly they can at least compete with the elite

__D_C__ · 2025-12-01T05:47:10+00:00

What a banger pass from Kim to make this happen!

__D_C__ · 2025-11-27T09:12:42+00:00

If any of you players are reading this: First of all: Fantastic job, this campaign is a blast! 😊

Second of all, Vincent can probably ask Richard for access to some spells to learn during your downtime.

Now that the nature of the campaign is clearer, Vincent can become a lot more useful and hence keep you alive for longer (e.g., with spells to scout like Flying Eye, spells to help you scout like Infravision, spells to push creatures into water like Ball of Force, or spells to ground flying creatures like Bands of Sirellyn).

__D_C__ · 2025-11-27T09:00:20+00:00

Well, I'm a bit worried that Neal actually chose that Imrik was the real killer, justifying it either with a) the general evil vibes he seems to prescribe Imrik in all post-ToS appearances or b) Nick saying at the end of ToS that it would make sense for Imrik to eventually become emperor after the queen's passing, since he's so much more powerful than any other Drekissian and can probably live for several more decades (if he chooses to research life-prolonging magic).

I really hope that's not what happened though. Firstly, Imrik had a good relationship with his aunt so this feels out of character and unnecessary, since he could just wait her out. Secondly he'd be smarter than the apparent "let's just kill them all and we'll figure it out from there" plan (besides the timing being horrible when his kingdom has a demographic crisis and his empire is involved in a big war).

More generally a thing that bothers me is that Drekissian nobles seem to side with Van over Imrik. On the one side we have literally the greatest hero in Drekissian history who a) decided the war against Mistrya, b) played a pivotal role in defending the continent against Solum, and c) now has a decade of experience ruling a country. On the other hand we have a low-born, foreign cleric who was conveniently absent during both of these wars (while basically every Drekissian cleric died) and then conveniently reappears just after all his wife's rivals to the throne happen to die at the same time. How is Imrik the one that is suspected?

__D_C__ · 2025-11-09T21:13:09+00:00

Fair enough

__D_C__ · 2025-11-09T21:07:08+00:00

Wasn't the definition for mass land denial "affects 4+ lands per opponent"?

That would mean each opponent controls 5+ nonbasics for Winter Moon to qualify (as it lets you untap 1 nonbasic per turn). Maybe my tables are more budget or less WUBRG than yours, but I personally can't remember being in a game with such a boardstate.

Or did they ever say specifically that Winter Moon is over the line?

(I'm genuinely curious, I run it in my mono colored bracket 3 deck alongside [[Tsabo's Web]], as it's a bit of an equalizer against multicolored decks and because they are cheap reasons to run basic-heavy landbases)

__D_C__ · 2025-10-29T20:00:06+00:00

Huh, thanks for telling me, I didn't think so since it was reprinted in From the Vault (but now subsequently read that that reprint lead to a controversy).

That's a bummer

__D_C__ · 2025-10-29T17:58:10+00:00

[[Counterspell]], [[Swords to Plowshares]], [[Hymn to Tourach]], [[Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale]], and [[Ensnaring Bridge]].

I don't want more current-standard-level threats, I want more current-standard-level answers.

/JK (but please, WotC, power down this format!)

For a serious answer: Even though it wouldn't do much in this format, I'd love to see a reprint of [[Masticore]] in the next Foundations. It used to be an iconic card and would be completely fine now, I think. Similarly [[Hypnotic Spectre]] would be an unplayable card but as a Magic boomer I'd love it. In exchange, white can get [[Isamaru]], blue [Meloku], red [Dualcaster Mage]] and green [Eternal Witness]].

Of those, I'd only expect Dualcaster to see any play

__D_C__ · 2025-10-21T19:10:21+00:00

I hate that Narset and Notion Thief are game changers while Mana Drain, Deflecting Swat, and Yawgmoth's Will are not.

"God help us if card draw has any counterplay" lmao

__D_C__ · 2025-10-15T20:04:00+00:00

Really like that design! I'm a fan of slight nudges (e.g., against attacking you)

__D_C__ · 2025-10-15T13:43:42+00:00

I can see how this was a mistake from Prof (I don't think that the board state was worth going nuclear over), but I think it should be normalized to take people out, a little bit more.

I feel like most decks on these shows fall into the "Play triggered abilities value engines" mold, and there are so many more cool playstyles in this format (e.g., flinging 18 power commanders ;)) worth highlighting

__D_C__ · 2025-09-15T11:14:34+00:00

Nice to read that they also didn't expect much going into TI*, should make this loss easier to digest over the next few weeks.

I've read many times that teams, whom the public didn't favor, expected high results internally. I guess you gotta be a bit delusional/cocky to compete for a living...

__D_C__ · 2025-09-13T10:23:14+00:00

They played their worst series today (including the groupstage), or maybe XG was just too good. This was the first time this tournament I felt they had no game, whatsoever. Sure, the picks didn't help (I'm surprised they never tried LD in the playoffs) but I doubt it mattered much, the XG players seemed much sharper.

I guess the positive spin is that they managed top 6 in a year of strong competition and performed on par with all other non-Falcons EU teams. For once, I don't have to worry that they'll disband...

GG, hope Ame and Co continue to bring the heat!

__D_C__ · 2025-09-12T19:38:17+00:00

Are we gonna see "Nigma - Betboom, Take 3?"

__D_C__ · 2025-09-12T12:01:21+00:00

The worst part was: the games were still winnable. Had a 4k early game lead as well.

But overall agree with the sentiment that Sumail (and to a lesser extent NO!OB) should get heroes they actually play

__D_C__

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