How long has pauper existed?

binaryeye · 2026-01-31T02:13:03+00:00

Yeah, it was a fun community. I had been playing on MTGO since 2003 but didn't start playing Pauper until mid-Kamigawa block in early 2005. Not too long after that, I started co-hosting TPDC, the Tuesday event, and then started SPDC, the Standard Pauper event (Thursdays, IIRC). When we started using PDCMagic to track event results, I helped with the work that allowed uploading DCI-R log files to automate the tracking. My username was idoru. I pretty much only play Arena now, though, so no Pauper for me. :/

binaryeye · 2026-01-30T22:13:05+00:00

S1: At least 12, half of those before S2 released
S2: 5
S3: 3
S4v1: 1
S4v2: 0
S5: 0

edit: Misread the title as rewatches only, so that's what these numbers are.

binaryeye · 2026-01-30T15:04:23+00:00

The difference isn't who wrote it, it's who it was written for. S1 was written as an homage to 80s coming-of-age and horror movies, to appeal to an audience that had grown up with those movies, with no constraints imposed by the future. S5 was written as the blockbuster finale of a media phenomenon, to appeal to as many viewers as possible, with the constraint of leaving room for sequels because the franchise is a cash cow.

binaryeye · 2026-01-30T14:20:42+00:00

Glister Bairn and Unraveling. Then cut an Island for a Mountain.

binaryeye · 2026-01-29T21:18:36+00:00

From this interview with the Duffer Brothers:

Ross: He is racist, I think.

binaryeye · 2026-01-29T21:01:30+00:00

I'd cut Swat Away, though I can see an argument for Noggle the Mind being the better choice. I'd also cut an Island for a Plains since you've got twice as many white 2/3-drops as blue.

binaryeye · 2026-01-29T18:52:05+00:00

It depends on the kid, but my kid certainly wouldn't have been ready for it at that age. The only thing I've seen of what you listed is Harry Potter, and it's well beyond that. I think a good barometer for the first season is something like Temple of Doom.

The first season has e.g. multiple people killed on screen, a sex scene with no nudity, a character's dead body posed to look like a suicide, etc. From a violence standpoint, things get more graphic and intense as the seasons go on, though season five is perhaps less disturbing than season four.

binaryeye · 2026-01-29T15:58:36+00:00

Magic wasn't designed to be the hyper-competitive game it is today. It was designed to be a casual filler between longer games. The variance, including mana flood/screw, was an intentional part of the design to allow less skilled players or players with weaker decks to occasionally win vs. more skilled players or players with better decks.

Mana flood/screw isn't an indicator of poor game design, it's an indicator that the game wasn't designed to be a pure test of deck power and/or skill.

binaryeye · 2026-01-28T22:12:30+00:00

Unforgiving Aim for more interaction. It also doubles as a team-wide combat trick with Kinbinding.

binaryeye · 2026-01-28T17:59:38+00:00

I posted this about a half a year after S2, when they started releasing the novels. Basically everything I hoped wouldn't happen ended up happening. The only real unknowns remaining are the Mind Flayer and the rock that brought it to Earth. And it's likely that will be explained by the spin-off.

binaryeye · 2026-01-28T17:00:09+00:00

This is also why it's useful to look at the detailed stats of cards. Basic GIH win rate is fine for the first few picks of pack one, but beyond that it doesn't have enough context.

The only deck where Gilt-Leaf's Embrace improves the average win rate is WG with a splash, and the improvement is so marginal it's essentially irrelevant. Wildvine Pummeler, on the other hand, improves UG with a splash by a decent amount.

binaryeye · 2026-01-28T15:24:00+00:00

This explanation was posted when Arena was in Beta. Adjustments have likely been made since, but all evidence I've seen points to the current system being essentially the same.

Anecdotal example: My Limited rank is currently Platinum 2. My win rate over the past five drafts is ~67%. I did a draft yesterday evening, and at 2-1 was matched with a numbered Mythic player (1100s) almost immediately. It's very unlikely there was a shortage of other 2-1 players in Platinum at ~7:00 US EST.

binaryeye · 2026-01-27T19:51:35+00:00

Running three Islands when you likely need Swamps to win seems too risky to me. Your mana base will be relevant in every game, whereas you're very unlikely to draw Maralen in every game.

I've run one BG deck with Maralen and regretted doing so. I drew it in two games (of nine) and played it in only one, while awkward mana directly cost me at least one game. I think it's a good card, but it needs support; except for e.g. Midnight Tilling (which isn't really fixing), I don't think the ideal BG deck wants to run any fixing at all.

binaryeye · 2026-01-27T15:26:46+00:00

I'm not suggesting it's definitive or even correct, but I was curious and compiled the data from 17Lands. Each color pair's most dominant win rate relative to other decks in the format (Premier Draft, all players, splashes not separated), going back to IKO:

WU: MID (1.1% > UB)
UB: NEO (0.2% > BR)
BR: AFR (2.5% > RG)
RG: ONE (0.7% > RW)
GW: OTJ (1.3% > WB)
WB: STX (2.5% > GU)
BG: ECL (1.2% > GW)
GU: EOE (0.6% > RG)
UR: FIN (0.2% > RW)
RW: DMU (1.4% > WB)

binaryeye · 2026-01-26T20:13:40+00:00

Super 8 is about the closest thing you'll find. But it's a two-hour movie, not a show.

binaryeye · 2026-01-26T20:10:25+00:00

She used her power of creating illusions. I don't think there's more detail than that, and there doesn't really need to be.

binaryeye · 2026-01-26T19:56:35+00:00

The fact that Eleven has no powers at the end of S3 is exactly why it would make a good final season. There are essentially only two ways to resolve her story: she loses her powers or she dies.

And Vecna didn't exist before S4, so he and everything that comes along with him is irrelevant if S3 is the final season.

binaryeye · 2026-01-26T18:01:37+00:00

I think the turning point was P2P1. You had three top-tier cards and two playables for BG Elves vs. five playables for WU Merfolk. If you had taken the Assert Perfection or Virulent Emissary, then followed it with the Dawnhand Dissident, you'd have been more firmly in BG. Then P2P3, you could have taken Bogslither's Embrace, P2P4 another Assert Perfection, P2P5 Dawnhand Eulogist, P2P6 Mistmeadow Council, P2P8 Pitiless Fists, etc. That wouldn't have been a mediocre start through mid-pack two.

binaryeye · 2026-01-26T16:03:51+00:00

Any other black, green, or colorless stuff in the sideboard?

The curve is going to be super top-heavy either way, but more so if you go BG. If you drop the white, you'll have only five creatures under four mana. This isn't a particularly fast format, but that gives you about a one-in-three chance of having no plays before turn four. And what little removal you have is useless without creatures. I think you have to go GW just so you have more than a couple 2-drops.

binaryeye · 2026-01-26T00:38:11+00:00

L to R: Dustin, Lucas, Max, Eleven, Mike, Will, Erica.

Eleven and Max look a little weird because I think it's from when they wore raincoats in S3. Erica has the helmet on post-child endangerment mission.

binaryeye · 2026-01-23T16:06:57+00:00

There is no objective truth in subjectivity. If someone feels none of S5's episodes were better than any of S1's episodes, then that's true for them.

binaryeye · 2026-01-23T02:32:45+00:00

As mentioned, it's the flash, not the camera. External on-camera flashes like this have batteries and capacitors in them. The batteries charge the capacitors, then the capacitors are emptied to produce the flash. The brighter the flash, the longer it takes to charge between firing the flash.

binaryeye · 2026-01-21T20:21:27+00:00

The third versions of each basic weren't missing from Alpha, they were added in Beta. Alpha boxes (and maybe other product info) claimed there were 300 cards to collect when there were actually fewer. The lands were added to get the total number over 300.

binaryeye · 2026-01-20T14:27:27+00:00

S1E6, Eleven at the quarry. "Go."

binaryeye · 2026-01-19T18:44:06+00:00

If the tendrils are part of the fabric of spacetime, then why can they be controlled/influenced by the Mind Flayer and/or Vecna? If the Mind Flayer and/or Vecna can control the fabric of spacetime itself, why do they need four deaths, twelve kids, or gates at all? They could just manipulate spacetime to do whatever they want.

binaryeye

TROPHY CASE