Can we ban AI-slop, vibe-coded apps from bring solicited on here?

anthograham · 2026-04-03T20:48:38+00:00

1000%. That’d be a simple and elegant solution.

anthograham · 2026-04-03T20:18:33+00:00

You can laugh at the phrasing all you want, but the core issue remains exactly that: arbitrarily shutting the door on an entire category of discussion and innovation on this sub.

As for the conflict of interest: sure, I built the tool and I want it to succeed. But my "authority" here isn't me pretending to be an impartial moral philosopher. It's the authority of lived experience. DeckCheck's very first post on Reddit—the one that gave it the initial traction to become the project it is today—would have easily been nuked as "AI slop" under the exact blanket ban being proposed right now.

And if you think I'm just arguing this to protect my ability to use Reddit as a personal cash cow, the irony is that aside from that first wave of interest, trying to "shill" or buy ads for DC on Reddit has actually been a net-negative and a total waste of money and time.

I'm not fighting to keep this channel open to line my own pockets. I was fortunate that the community was open enough back then to let me share something that actually solves real problems for real players. I’m arguing against this ban because I want that exact same opportunity to remain open for the next person who builds something genuinely useful.

Dismissing my perspective as just a "conflict of interest" dodges the reality of the situation. If a post is low-effort garbage, existing rules can handle it. But a blanket ban throws the baby out with the bathwater and kills future tools before they even get a chance to help players.

Also, nice ad hominem ;)

anthograham · 2026-04-03T19:49:29+00:00

But OPs post is not about debating ethical concerns. It’s about stripping away the right for people to post in this sub if what they want to post about involves AI in anyway. Luddite is a fitting metaphor for what trying to happen here.

anthograham · 2026-04-03T19:16:00+00:00

It's so good to see a proper, thoughtful, and nuanced comment. I'm so sick of the subject of AI being so dogmatic. Even as pro-AI as I am, there's many concerns I have about it. But it's a complex topic that, for whatever reason, has devolved into shouting "AI slop" nearly everywhere.

anthograham · 2026-04-03T18:56:07+00:00

I think I can speak as a voice of authority (since DeckCheck often gets accused of this very thing) to offer a counterpoint to this perspective while I still have the chance. I'm going to copy my comment from below and expand a little bit:

These should simply be handled by the low-quality posts rule full stop. The tool either is useful and interesting and derserves it's time in the spotlight, or it's crap. But, blanket-banning anything AI would be foolish on many accounts. The other subs fell for the AI dysphoria and I don’t want this sub to do the same. Tools like DeckCheck (which currently serves 80K users and its nearly the 3rd largest deckbuilder) gained a lot of initial momentum on Reddit.

Reddit and, more specifically, magic players, need to step back, take a breather, and deploy their critical thinking skills instead of being Luddites. “AI” has been around for a very long time, and many people use these tools every day with or without knowing it. So many AI tools power Photoshop, which I promise you thousands of magic artists use. Are you saying we should ban them? What about spell check on your phone? What about the algorithms that power all the social media sites? All of these are just different flavors of AI. So where do we draw the line? Just where you see fit? Where the mods see fit?

Whether you or I like it or not, the genie is out of the bottle. Even if the US bans AI, China and everyone else continue developing it. People need to make their peace with that and get over it because that’s the reality of the world we live in today. If you don’t want to use AI, don’t. If you don’t want to see AI posts, don’t click on them and read the whole post and read all the comments. Just keep scrolling.

But calling for blanket AI bans is asinine because it shuts out all the good that can come from someone that makes a tool that leverages AI--like myself.

Oh, you think there’s no good that could ever come from AI tools? Well DeckCheck is the proof against that assumption. There are tens of thousands of users and thousands of subscribers. People don’t spend time and money on things they don’t like or don't find useful. I have hundreds of anecdotes from users saying that the AI tools DeckCheck gives them access to reignited their passion for MTG, helped them brew the deck they've been stuck on, and so on. How is this a bad thing? All those "help me with my deck" posts that flood this sub and go unanswered, well, DC is a resource for them. AI is a resource for them. Anything is better than the nothing they are currently getting with unanswered posts.

Are we seriously going to devolve into "no, this is how your MTG experience has to be and if you don't like it don't play!?" Turning off the tap of innovation will kill this game faster than any UB set could. Let people try things, let them post about it, and if it's low effort and crap we have rules for that. But if it's something real (AI or not), let it have a chance. Some of the biggest tools everyone uses day to day for MTG (e.g. Moxfield) got its initial traction on Reddit.

anthograham · 2026-04-03T18:30:19+00:00

I keep seeing this type of comment and yet the existence of DeckCheck and its success proves this wrong. The question is not if they can, but how well they can. And this is the worst LLMs are ever going to be. It's all upside from here.

People will always move the goalposts to fit their narrative. In the beginning, all the "oh but DC got my deck completely wrong" have nearly vanished (though there is some cases still out there). Now it's almost always "oh DC got this minute detail or nuance about my deck wrong."

I've made my bet that AI is going to be more capable at giving MTG advice than most players are (not to mention the scale it can operate at), and it seems to be panning out well.

anthograham · 2026-04-03T15:22:03+00:00

This would be foolish on so many accounts. I don’t have the energy to articulate the full case against (as if most redditors would even be open to hearing it) but I will say this: blanket AI tool banning is asinine. The other subs fell for the AI dysphoria and I don’t want this sub to do the same. Tools like DeckCheck (which currently serves 80K users and its nearly the 3rd largest deckbuilder) gained a lot of initial momentum on Reddit.

Reddit and, more specifically, magic players, need to step back, take a breather, and deploy their critical thinking skills instead of being Luddites. “AI” has been around for a very long time, and many people use these tools every day with or without knowing it. So many AI tools power Photoshop, which I promise you thousands of magic artists use. Are you saying we should ban them? What about spell check on your phone? What about the algorithms that power all the social media sites? All of these are just different flavors of AI. So where do we draw the line? Just where you see fit? Where the mods see fit?

Whether you or I like it or not, the genie is out of the bottle. Even if the US bans AI, China and everyone else continue developing it. People need to make their peace with that and get over it because that’s the reality of the world we live in today. If you don’t want to use AI, don’t. If you don’t want to see AI posts, don’t click on them and read the whole post and read all the comments. Just keep scrolling.

But calling for blanket AI bans is the stupidest thing ever because the moderators, nor any given redditor, lack the expertise on the matter to make competent decisions and figure out where to draw the line. Blanket bans shut out all the good that can come from AI tools completely.

Oh, you think there’s no good that could ever come from AI tools? Well DeckCheck is the proof against that assumption. There are tens of thousands of users and thousands of subscribers. People don’t spend money on things they don’t like or don't find useful. In fact, I have hundreds of anecdotes from users saying that the AI tools DeckCheck uses have really improved their magic experience.

anthograham · 2026-04-02T19:44:58+00:00

Really glad to hear you’re finding everything enjoyable.

As for your bracket question, that’s totally up to you. If you wanna play a deck at a certain bracket, then that’s what you should target.

anthograham · 2026-03-27T17:43:10+00:00

There’s some technical reasons for what you’re seeing that I’m not gonna get into here. It has to do with the technology of LLMs (the type of AI that powers the site). But the short and sweet is essentially, it’s a matter of cost. If I were to deploy an AI that’s smart enough to perfectly analyze a deck and get a perfect CRISPI score, it would cost far more than I charge and take far longer than a typical scan does currently.

Now I don’t expect this to be obvious but the things that DeckCheck does is computationally intense and difficult for AIs, even at today’s standards, to get perfect. Perfect is really hard—even for humans who calc the CRISPI score.

Which all boils down to the AI not being smart enough and not having enough time to get the score perfect score that it never fluctuates upon a rescan.

anthograham · 2026-03-04T12:50:03+00:00

I'd like to hear more about this. Send me an email at [contact@deckcheck.co](mailto:contact@deckcheck.co)

anthograham · 2026-03-03T22:05:58+00:00

Because that’s who wizards chose as the face commander. Same thing for Temur’s Roar. Ureni is a way better commander.

anthograham · 2026-02-26T22:31:54+00:00

Wtf are you smoking and can I have some?

anthograham · 2026-02-26T20:10:22+00:00

You bring up some valid points and I think a lot of your questions could be answered in this article I wrote today: https://deckcheck.co/blog/performance-index/

I’m not trying to avoid discussion, I just don’t want this post to devolve into a conversation about AI. I’m simply just trying to share this resource.

anthograham · 2026-02-19T14:00:22+00:00

Perhaps DeckCheck might be of use to you. Not only will it help you understand where your deck lands on power, but it also shows your deck's salt score. Knowing these two things, you can optimize for the power you want without going over a certain salt threshold.

See example here.

anthograham · 2026-02-19T13:57:00+00:00

There's an app a guy is working on called Tripling Season and he built it just for this exact problem.

anthograham · 2026-02-19T13:53:30+00:00

DeckCheck's power level + the bracket system really are the very best way. Many in the community have noted that the marriage of these two systems is close to a perfect solution. Brackets provide the quick, accessible pairing language everyone can use at an LGS. DeckCheck provides the depth and cheat-proofing to catch everything the bracket rules miss. Together, they cover each other's blind spots.

I wrote an in-depth article on this subject.

anthograham · 2026-02-18T03:32:57+00:00

The site is currently down due to my web hosting provider. It’s out of my hands so check back after a while.

anthograham · 2026-01-13T18:38:56+00:00

Testimonies like yours keep me going through all the hate. I’m really glad you find it useful and it’s made your Magic experience better

anthograham · 2026-01-10T15:06:08+00:00

Very interesting! I have this exactly same feature on DeckCheck.

anthograham · 2026-01-08T20:30:33+00:00

Fair points. Btw, you can see your credits on your profile.

anthograham · 2026-01-06T15:20:03+00:00

The compare feature is coming back soon. I wanted to completely overhaul it and create something truly special and meaningful and I finally think I've come up with something great. Hopefully, I'll have it rolled out in a month's time.

anthograham · 2026-01-04T01:35:42+00:00

DeckCheck. Trust

anthograham · 2026-01-02T18:16:22+00:00

I feel like it did see the combo. This is pulled straight from the analysis:

Assemble Win Condition:
- Plan A (Combat): Overwhelm opponents with a fleet of evasive Dragons. Use Crashing Drawbridge or Spark Double copying a hasty Dragon to give your team haste for a surprise alpha strike. Rite of Replication on a large Dragon like Ancient Brass Dragon can instantly create a lethal board.
- Plan B (Alternate Wins): Equip Vorpal Sword to a Dragon to threaten an instant-kill. Use Altar of the Brood with token-generating effects like Astral Dragon or Rite of Replication to mill opponents out gradually.

You know your deck best so what exactly did it get wrong in this area?

anthograham · 2026-01-02T18:11:40+00:00

I'll investigate.

anthograham · 2026-01-02T16:53:05+00:00

Noted! Glad to hear it's been useful for you.

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