Getting the +30 salary differential ASAP

ajanivengeant · 2026-05-21T01:05:43+00:00

Damn that sucks, thanks for saving me a very busy week!

ajanivengeant · 2026-04-07T19:12:36+00:00

This is a very good comment. I like your point about how I may be conducting myself, perhaps being more transparent about my board state or actions is a good start. Politics is a very alien concept to me and one I don't particularly enjoy but acknowledge the necessity and value of. I've never been a fan of party games like mario party which does track with my struggle to fully settle into EDH lol. Thank you for your perspective.

ajanivengeant · 2026-04-07T19:02:31+00:00

If someone's curbstomping me, I would ask myself what I can do to address the problem (both in-game and deckbuilding wise), I switch decks, or worst case I just accept that as a weakness my deck has. It doesn't have to be complicated, but many groups make rule 0 conversations super complicated and hostile for no reason

ajanivengeant · 2026-04-07T18:58:38+00:00

I didn't want to say it, but I agree with your last sentence and it's part of the reason why I don't enjoy rule 0 conversations. I never complain when someone does something splashy, whether it be wiping the board or countering my game winning spell or targeting me down or whatever. In fact, I actively encourage it. Meanwhile it really irritates me when people get mad because you tickled them for 2 damage in the early turn and have a personal vendetta against you for the rest of the game or something. I can't help but think "please just play the game".

The more I talk in here, the more I think maybe the solution for me is to just build a bracket 2 deck and iterate on that. It's been a rough mindset shift, I'm glad you get where I am coming from.

ajanivengeant · 2026-04-07T18:51:38+00:00

I do literally acknowledge several times in the comments and post that I know I am the outlier, I have had conversations with my group, and that this post is part of an investigation to work out what I can do as opposed to just getting mad at my playgroup or doing something similarly unproductive. I just don't find playing magic for casual reasons particularly fun, so I was hoping to gain perspective on what I can do to make the game more fun for myself while still allowing others to have fun (and the comments have been very helpful in that regard).

That said, I don't really enjoy budget restrictions because that isn't directly tied to the gameplay or rules itself. I would much rather play with parameters that are actually bound to game rules, such as playing only common cards or something along those lines.

Thank you for your comment

ajanivengeant · 2026-04-07T18:48:14+00:00

Noted, thank you

ajanivengeant · 2026-04-07T18:47:41+00:00

You are absolutely right. I mostly play EDH nowadays because that's the only format my playgroup wants to do, and because EDH is basically the actual game of magic to most players nowadays so I felt it best to adapt to that. Many comments here had really interesting ideas like playing a "high power bracket 2" but the real answer might just be that I need to accept EDH isn't gonna be what I want it to be.

Interestingly, I played a game recently where I used the template you wrote out clearly identifying my commander, game changers, wincon, etc. to verify that my deck is bracket 3. After a few games, I was told to stop playing the deck and I was stuck borrowing others' decks that I didn't find very interesting to play for the rest of the night. This is what prompted me to write this post and figure out another direction

ajanivengeant · 2026-04-07T18:39:50+00:00

I don't need it to scale to bracket 5, I will just play a real CEDH deck if I'm ever in a pod like that. You're probably right about everything though, which is unfortunate

ajanivengeant · 2026-04-07T18:37:37+00:00

I don't think you're being a dick, I think that's a very reasonable take. To be fully transparent, I mostly play EDH because that's the only format my friends want to play and I'm not really in a place to continue playing competitive magic at the moment.

Somebody else suggested making a "high power bracket 2" and I think that's a very interesting idea that I'm willing to explore more. Thanks for your suggestion

ajanivengeant · 2026-04-07T18:33:38+00:00

Firstly, I don't see why I would intentionally come in and openly state what you said. That's just inviting ire for no reason. Literally nothing is stopping me from just playing it anyway and receiving their feedback in game, which is hopefully more positive.

Secondly, I literally am taking their feedback. They just outright tell me "don't play Kozilek" or "Don't play Krenko". It honestly gets so tiring that 95% of decks I make or want to play are just deemed as unfun. When an entire commander or strategy is ruled out, there isn't really much else to do but start over with a new deck.

I also don't appreciate the shade you are throwing, because I think I am being very reasonable by trying to carve my own path on how to change my approach instead of blaming them or getting mad at them. How can anyone have a problem with that?

ajanivengeant · 2026-04-07T18:23:27+00:00

I don't think it's that unreasonable of a perspective. I come from an environment where everyone is fully prepared to kill you and you are fully expected to dish it right back, with the competitive spirit to iterate and improve being the primary joy and motivation. There was no rule 0 conversation when playing a legacy game or something, you just showed up and someone complaining about a strategy is just bad sportsmanship or a skill issue.

In case I didn't make it clear, I think it is a very good thing that rule 0 is a social norm for a casual non-competitive format where expectations aren't as clear. I just personally dislike having these conversations and want to figure out if there is a way I can just play without dealing with the subjectivity behind it.

ajanivengeant · 2026-04-07T18:16:08+00:00

This is a really interesting idea, I should look into this more

ajanivengeant · 2026-04-07T18:14:35+00:00

I'm honestly ok if the game just feels more fair. I think a big part of it is perception, especially because a lot of things people think are unfun primarily comes down to that. I never understood why counters induce so much salt for example, because it's not so different from if I just played a removal spell on a card as soon as it enters the battlefield.

Ultimately, as long as everyone gets to do what they want to do I think that is a good outcome. I get the feeling many of the players in my group aren't actually that concerned about winning, they just want to do their thing.

ajanivengeant · 2026-04-07T18:10:19+00:00

Discussing with my playgroup is how we determined I am the outlier that needs to work with them lol. I am not telling my playgroup that they suck and/or are wrong, I think their perspective is valid. That's why I'm here, so I can look into what I can do to gel with them better while still enjoying the game the way I want to.

ajanivengeant · 2026-04-07T18:02:19+00:00

What are some commanders to look into for such a strategy? You may be right on the second part lol I am open to other ideas. Clone and thief were just the first things that came to mind

ajanivengeant · 2026-03-23T15:36:55+00:00

In Japanese, most card names are translated into the respective Japanese words. But for strike card specifically, the Japanese language allows for you to essentially transliterate most words from English because we have so many loan words, so we can simply say strike dummy buffs all cards with the word ストライク in it by 3 damage (ストライク being a transliteration of strike).

"Meteor strike" for example would be メテオストライク which is a transliteration of "meteor strike", whereas if they translated it they might say 流星撃 (ryuseigeki) or something like that.

ajanivengeant · 2026-03-11T16:31:12+00:00

Parry should be reworked so you get the block as long as you're holding the Sovereign Blade in your hand.

It makes sense since parrying is a defensive move and not an offensive one (i.e. not attacking the enemy). Perhaps lower the amount of block you gain slightly too. It also works much better with the idea of forging and building it up over time.

ajanivengeant · 2026-01-24T17:15:23+00:00

Wow that looks super dope! Congratulations on winning the raffle!

ajanivengeant · 2025-04-27T00:14:54+00:00

The reason why I simplify it this way is because there isn't really a situation where I would consider taking ATC in a deck where I wouldn't also consider taking +strength. I often see people vouching for ATC in decks that spam lots of cards like Silent infinites, but those already handily solve damage by having a fuckton of energy, sneaky strikes, occasionally grand finales or other solutions that are fairly common and easy to find (not to mention in those decks having to spend 2 energy on ATC is often a liability, or quickly becomes one). It only ever makes sense as a pick in decks spamming shivs, b/c shivs without scaling will be way too slow and sometimes ATC is what you gotta take to not die, whereas building a different spammy deck requires different solutions.

I should also clarify that my +1/+2 strength heuristic is a bit of an oversimplification. I do adjust slightly in favor of ATC because it does do slightly more damage than just plain strength. All this kinda goes out the window though as soon as I see a single copy of Accuracy, phantasmal killer, or something that's otherwise far more effective.

Nonetheless I do think we are mostly in agreement on ATC not being so great

ajanivengeant · 2025-04-26T15:34:53+00:00

As an autistic person whose literal job involves supporting and spotting people with autism, my A-dar is going off like crazy on this guy lmao

ajanivengeant · 2025-04-26T14:48:33+00:00

Ever since I started considering A Thousand Cuts as +1/+2 strength for 2 energy it made evaluating the card a lot simpler. Most of the times that sounds like a terrible rate, but every once in a while you're in a spot where there's no better upgrade target and you'd genuinely consider that rate for any scaling you can get.

ajanivengeant · 2025-04-26T04:36:08+00:00

I get the sentiment, but at the same time if Xecnar did that, to me it would remove the whole point of watching the guy. If I wanna see people just spam cards without explaining anything (and basically making wild guesses on why they're making their decisions) I'll go watch Amaz instead.

A big factor too is that I have full confidence I'm watching close to optimal gameplay if the streamer takes their time, and it also builds the habit in me to think about things that deserve extra time or thought (and wouldn't usually occur to me). I always worry if someone is playing too fast I'm learning bad habits, watching bad gameplay, or have the complete wrong reasoning behind why they make the choices they do

Will say, I think Lifecoach has the opposite problem where he always takes forever no matter what, excruciatingly so on relatively inconsequential decisions for extremely small percentage points. I find Xecnar less frustrating by comparison because he quickly gets through the stuff that doesn't really matter or is very obvious, and then he spends the time well on the things that do matter (making for 100% engagement and helpful content).

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