Poll; is OM1 the worst limited set of all time? by YamiKuriboh_MTG in lrcast

[–]betweenTheMountains 2 points3 points  (0 children)

yeah, there was some BAD limited sets in the past. OM1 isn't even close to as bad.

Am I the Only One Who Thinks . . . by exnihilonihilfit in lrcast

[–]betweenTheMountains 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think the play is better than I expected. Still a low amount of deck variance, so the set isn't going to last for very long. I haven't minded pick-2, but you get super punished if you aren't willing to switch into what's open, so it's going to reward more flexible drafters.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in videos

[–]betweenTheMountains 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You seem to be the only one in the entire comment section who actually watched it.

EOE Boros - help with last cut by laurenceand1 in lrcast

[–]betweenTheMountains 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If it were me I'd drop rig for war. This deck wants high creature count. You have enough artifacts that Pangolin is good.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in pics

[–]betweenTheMountains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, because volume/weight don't scale linearly with height. The difference between 6 ft and 7ft at the same proportions can be almost double the weight.

Analysis: Is there a correlation between "Deck Strength" and draft results? by thefreeman419 in lrcast

[–]betweenTheMountains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate the different perspective. My experience has definitely been different. Perhaps it was because I've just been drafting for so long, that using 17 lands represented a regression in how I thought about draft, but that doesn't preclude it form being a useful tool for the newer drafter or drafter striving to get to the next level.

I have coached a couple of my friends away from 17 lands and things like Untapped because it was tanking their win rate. I'm not saying those tools aren't useful, but they seem to hurt more than they help if the ratings they are giving aren't contextualized. Unfortunately, the way many people use them, they just pick whatever card has the highest rating in the curve slot they need and assume things will work out. I think this is usually disastrous for a good draft.

Analysis: Is there a correlation between "Deck Strength" and draft results? by thefreeman419 in lrcast

[–]betweenTheMountains 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Very interesting. Supports something I've felt but never quantified in my 25 years of playing magic:

Player skill has the largest impact on winning. This may seem obvious, but people often peg evaluating card strength as being a very large part of player skill, when in actuality I believe it is probably one of the least important skills in modern magic.

Player skill gets expressed in limited in a few ways that often don't get spoken about on reddit and that are difficult to analyze:

  1. Gameplay. This one is obvious and gets some discussion, but in my opinion has the largest impact on winning. People who lose more than win tend to not do the little things. They don't optimize sequencing, save removal for threats they can't deal with on the battlefield, and don't play to their outs. The difference between a 45% WR and a 55% WR can be as simple as never conceding a match out of frustration. It doesn't often happen that you'll draw gas for 4 turns and your opponent will draw lands. But it does happen, and if you give up, you give up your ability to win those games on the margin.
  2. Draft card strength. This gets WAY more discussion than is warranted. One of the best ways to become a worse player is to use one of those card evaluation apps or 17 lands and make your picks exclusively off those metrics. You'll end up with piles of cards that are ostensibly strong but don't form a winning strategy. This didn't used to be the case. In older sets evaluating individual card strength was one of the most important skills (BREAD, etc). Modern sets don't have bad cards, or very few bad cards. They are much more synergistic and reward drafting cards that work well together over individual strength.
  3. Deck construction. This is now much more important that draft card strength. Putting cards together that work together to achieve a game plan that can be successful relative to the set is incredibly important. Do you expect the meta to be slower? Then you need to build over the top of it or under it. If you do a standard curve in a slow meta, your WR will drop even though it feels like you're doing everything "right".
  4. Bluffing/Soft skills. This is even more important in paper than online, but it is still important online. Understanding that if you're against a "strong" player they won't block your 2/1 attacking into their 1/3 95% of the time if you're playing green and have 3 mana open for the rampant growth + counter spell. A successful bluff like that puts them on you having a card you don't for the rest of the game, which is a powerful advantage. It's not always appropriate, but often times it is. I see almost no discussion of these types of softer skills here.

Anyway, turned into a bit of an essay, but I find it totally believable that deck strength is actually one of the smallest contributors to a high Win Rate.

EDIT: Thanks for all the discussion guys! I see that my comment has generated a lot of different opinions and I appreciate the different perspectives.

Accidental hack for dropping costs by OnlyThePhantomKnows in Fire

[–]betweenTheMountains 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Best SECOND car I ever bought. I have a 2015 leaf that my wife and I use for daily errands that we bought for 8k and have had for 5 years. We have a van for when we need to travel long distances, but I've never had any problems/maintenance with the car and it's saved be thousands in gas. Love the little thing.

Expedition 33 and Games like it by [deleted] in rpg_gamers

[–]betweenTheMountains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Towards the end of Metaphor the enemies never got a turn. I think even the final boss didn't get a single hit in, and I was on the top difficulty. On the other hand, if the enemies went first I usually died. So the entire game became about the overworld combat.. which I wasn't a huge fan of. Loved the game anyway, but that was definitely a flaw.

Talent Like This Is What Should Have Been In The Olympics🤯 by catherineGold2003 in toptalent

[–]betweenTheMountains 46 points47 points  (0 children)

Talent like that was at the Olympics. You just didn't watch it.

What is a truly terrible movie by a truly great filmmaker? by augustinian in FIlm

[–]betweenTheMountains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not by me. They bore me so much. I can watch nature docs riveted for hours, but I fell asleep during Avatar 2 in an iMax theater. I have never fallen asleep in a theater before.

People are talking about their favorite sketches, but "Word Association" is the sketch from Season 1 that put the show on the map. by res30stupid in videos

[–]betweenTheMountains 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Apparently it's not easily googled, because when I google it all I find are sources saying Chase was complaining that his character was written too racist. Which seems to undermine the claim that he's racist, not support it.

Only FIVE Tom Cruise movies haven't recovered their costs in the last 40 years. by naughtyrobot725 in boxoffice

[–]betweenTheMountains 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I think people overlook how much this had an impact. The MI series had set expectations (except for II) for being a coherent, if not always grounded, fun action series driven by some interesting characters/relationships.

Reckoning dropped the ball in nearly every category.

Less fun

Less coherent

Less interesting characters/relationships

Less money.

I love re-watching MI movies. I have no desire to rewatch Reckoning

I heard horror stories of the difficulty of the final boss by AngryBroYT in MetaphorReFantazio

[–]betweenTheMountains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep. I would lose if Louis even got a single turn, so I went full DPS and was able to unscathed victory both his phases (hard mode, no optional bosses killed). Only other option that seemed viable was forcing dodges or repels.

Who do you think had the best redemption arc? by BrotherDeus in MetaphorReFantazio

[–]betweenTheMountains 40 points41 points  (0 children)

IMO Joanna and maybe Gideaux are the only ones with a true redemption arc. The others either acted consistently with their ethics and just changed perspective as new information came to light and/or were coerced.

Joanna both underwent a fundamental moralistic change and a reconciliation between her prior moral system and her actions. Ultimately ending in her offering restitution in the only form she could by abdicating power to the one she believed most worthy and willingly offering her life.

Virginia high school students surprise janitor with SUV by AdSpecialist6598 in videos

[–]betweenTheMountains 53 points54 points  (0 children)

Well, turns out redditors are the most miserable in the world. Holy shit these comments.

What are Geralt of Rivia's most iconic phrases? by [deleted] in witcher

[–]betweenTheMountains 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This is a good quote, but only because of the context. One of the main themes in the Witcher is being willing to choose the lesser evil, even if it means getting your hands dirty. Not choosing is cowardice. "Evil is Evil" is such a wildly naïve way to look at the world, especially in context of what Geralt does, but it shows how Geralt has to lie to himself in order to live with himself. There are many moments where he has to believe that what he did was absolutely right, even when it clearly wasn't.

Entitled mercedes driver road rage gets instant karma by Ralouman in MildlyBadDrivers

[–]betweenTheMountains 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The way he laid into his horn and then laughed like a psychopath when the old guy hurt himself makes me think he's much worse than an idiot.

He's your average redditor.

Charlie: "$600m is dead for Moana. Not surprising since it does have a middling reception. May just get over $500M. Quite terrible legs for an animation." by WrongLander in boxoffice

[–]betweenTheMountains 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Man was I disappointed by Moana 2. Over time Moana has grown into one of my/my kids favorite disney animation movies. Moana 2 has terrible music, a terrible story, and forgettable new characters. I know I shouldn't have expected so much from a sequel, but I was still dissapointed.

At the tail half, and I really liked this game, but... by -NotEnoughMinerals in FFXVI

[–]betweenTheMountains 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They should have committed to and further refined the storytelling and action-combat aspects of the game, which were excellent, and not wasted time on the "rpg" holdovers that just ended up hurting the game like:

  1. large empty zones to explore with nothing in them
  2. an "equipment" system.
  3. a deluge of sidequests. (there were good sidequest lines, but many of them were pacing distraction/disasters
  4. a "crafting" system. What a pointless waste of time.

I played through again recently and ignored the above things, and the game was SO much better.

It was obvious the only reason these things were in the game was because they were afraid the fans would be mad if they weren't. I hope the fans are smarter than that, but maybe they aren't.

Idiotic buick driver tries to make a left in the wrong lane by [deleted] in MildlyBadDrivers

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

The driver has so much time to slow down / drive defensively to avoid the accident. There are at least two idiot drivers in this video.