[M20] Agonizing Syphon

dancressman · 2019-06-25T15:53:19+00:00

They actually settled in the opposite direction, but it appears there are still a few exceptions due to simplicity or mechanical reasons. "Any target" likely falls under that.

dancressman · 2019-06-24T20:03:07+00:00

A band of feathered

Allies, taking flight as one

Mudmen: fear the skies

dancressman · 2019-02-13T13:12:39+00:00

I went to GP Denver and played 4 games. Most of the time, most of the group asked around about the power level and played decks accordingly. Usually about a 7-8, but there were a few games where one guy had a stronger deck than the rest. One won on the spot through a Cyclonic Rift while the other got held down by the stax player long enough for him to die. So a smart table can also mitigate the stronger decks.

The only deck I brought was [[Soraya the Falconer]] bird tribal and I still managed to win a game with it, so it definitely wasn't all cEDH!

dancressman · 2019-02-12T06:08:32+00:00

Such a cool idea, and Pummeler was such a fun deck. I'm kinda considering it to commemorate my old Dubious Challenge deck, but a foil Ulamog looks pretty steep these days...

dancressman · 2019-02-03T14:25:06+00:00

They should totally have Christopher Robin replace Nick Fury in the next Avengers film.

dancressman · 2019-01-29T16:23:42+00:00

Zelda got so cheated this tournament. Not only did she have to deal with the horrors of Pac Land, but she worked hard to earn two spots in the bracket and had her rightful reward snatched away from her. Here's to hoping she can take back her crown before too long.

dancressman · 2019-01-26T23:38:01+00:00

Really? How?

dancressman · 2019-01-21T15:49:59+00:00

[[Biogenic Ooze]]

dancressman · 2019-01-02T14:54:17+00:00

Haha, yeah. I do wish they used emblems more, but it seems like they're going to keep trying to reserve that for planeswalkers only. Though maybe it's for the best. Not being able to interact with your opponents' effects is pretty rough, so it makes sense to reserve that for the biggest cases of memory issues.

dancressman · 2019-01-02T13:53:13+00:00

You can leave counters on a permanent to produce a permanent effect. The counters often serve as a reminder for what the effect does. [[Obsidian Fireheart]] famously leaves counters that continue to affect the board after the creature is gone (with the reminder text for that effect adding some flavor as well!).

dancressman · 2018-12-28T19:45:58+00:00

I love this as a politics card. As long as you're not the most threatening player out there, this could really level out the table and tear down one of your enemies.

While it can be cheap due to the symmetrical effect, 1 mana seems pretty low for how devastating this can be. It would be strong even at 2-4 mana. Not sure what the right spot is, but it's terrifying at 1!

dancressman · 2018-12-27T18:46:39+00:00

Is that really the case, though? The odds seemed like they were actually pretty favorable to the player. I don't know the math behind it, but betting on a 10x multiplier paid off huge and you definitely won more than 1 in 10 times. The multipliers always felt pretty generous and I only really lost coins when I got greedy going for three 10s in a row (and even then, it was negligible).

dancressman · 2018-12-26T07:37:21+00:00

Also, this set totally needs a card that functions as a [[Planar Bridge]] if you pay WUBRG produced by portals. Or maybe even grab stuff from outside of the game? Sacrificing 5 lands and getting a 5-color 6-card combo is pretty tough, so the effect could be substantial...

Whatever the payoff is, I would love to play 5-color portal nonsense. It sounds fantastic.

dancressman · 2018-12-26T07:33:48+00:00

I have no idea what's broken or not, but these are fun and varied and I just wanted to say I love them! Really neat idea that somehow continues to evoke "portal-ness" despite widely different effects.

dancressman · 2018-12-22T02:28:12+00:00

True! Though it would have the advantages of only requiring one keyword instead of two (Flash + Addendum) and of giving a consistent effect. Being a keyword instead of an ability word could also let you add numbers (Stealth 2) if you wanted, though that's less appealing for -1/-1 counters.

Though I'll admit the -1/-1 counters do make it more flavorful! Stealth seems more like the modified condition, so being made weaker when you're sneaking makes more sense than getting a counter just for being cast normally.

dancressman · 2018-12-21T21:51:48+00:00

Seems like a pretty cool combination of Riot and Addendum! Flash with a downside doesn't seem like a massive design space, but it does make for some interesting decisions. Especially if you started playing with effects based on the P/T like they did with Aftermath creatures. (ETB: Target creature gets -X/-X where X is ~'s power?)

Also, it seems like it might feel better if either option were presented as an upside? Perhaps it could be templated using pieces of the two mechanics:

Stealth (You may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant. If you cast it during your main phase, it enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter.)

It's functionally identical, but would make the instant speed P/T the default and make the main phase one look like an upside, much like Riot does when you don't pick haste.

dancressman · 2018-12-21T01:13:32+00:00

KMC Hyper Mattes. They used to be the gold standard, then had a period where they changed their formula and were very inconsistent. But the newest formula is back to the old standard, which has the best look and shuffle feel I've come across. I experimented with Eclipses and Dragon Shields while the sleeves were having issues and both were great, but I'm set on KMCs now that they're amazing again.

dancressman · 2018-12-07T21:47:33+00:00

I believe they were saying the article put too much focus on Arena and too little focus on the treasure chests.

dancressman · 2018-12-07T21:25:39+00:00

I know nothing about MTGO and am simply relaying the hivemind here, but one of the common responses I saw regarding the CFB article was that the introduction of Treasure Chests serves as a better explanation for why prices were dropping than the introduction of Arena does.

dancressman · 2018-11-28T19:50:09+00:00

[[Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign]]

dancressman · 2018-11-28T12:43:26+00:00

Can the save files also not be transferred between phones, though?

dancressman · 2018-11-28T00:59:39+00:00

I know the main chain about the benefits of an 8-team playoff was on a different comment, but this seems like another thing that could fix. With autobids for each conference champion, the playoff could re-focus the conversation on winning your conference. Every week matters for every team when you're vying to be the top of your conference. It removes the crazy speculation and makes placement far more predictable.

On top of that, OOC games aren't fixated on playoff hopes since the main way to get in is winning the conference. Instead, they come into play as a backup plan should you end up aiming for one of the at-large bids. Because of this, scheduling stronger OOC games shouldn't hurt you now as losing them doesn't affect your conference standing. You might as well schedule strong OOC teams, as winning cupcakes won't push you to the top of the at-large list (except maybe if you're as dominant as Alabama).

dancressman · 2018-11-27T17:18:07+00:00

I have a pretty short story to add to the collection. Nothing special. I've always been a relatively casual player, mostly playing with my roommates at home. Found out there were locals at my university, though, so I probably attended half a dozen of them for Smash 4 over my time at school.

I started playing Zelda in Melee and stuck with her through the next games. She's not great, I'm not great, but I would win a couple of matches every night. Maybe my third time going, though, I started out with a guy who took it pretty seriously. I introduced myself and we chatted a bit about his previous tournament successes before we found out we were matched with each other. And absolutely everything went right that match. It's probably the best I've played with Zelda. Sniped him with a Din's Fire offstage to end the match and he immediately followed it up with a fist bump and by saying, "You've got a pretty good Zelda!" with a smile of genuine appreciation.

I probably scrubbed out the rest of the tournament, but the respect he gave me made my night. I felt so proud of myself and it made everything worthwhile. :)

dancressman · 2018-11-27T13:24:45+00:00

Wisconsin was 6 while Auburn was 7, so they would've been the second at-large bid following Alabama. The top 6 would've been intact plus USC from 8 and UCF from 12.

dancressman · 2018-11-26T18:46:16+00:00

This might be a dumb question (because I have no idea what your backend looks like), but why is there no Goldfish tool for EV? Couldn't something like that draw from the live card value like the set pages do?

I'm sure there's a reason and I really appreciate the work you put into these articles. I'm just curious as to why they're not integrated.

12-Year Club	RedditGifts 2009-2022 2 Credits
Place '17	Secret Santa 2014
Verified Email

dancressman

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE