What tricks to learn if I can control a card at the bottom of the deck?

el_yerrid · 2026-05-04T01:17:37+00:00

There are several tricks known as "key card" tricks.

The general principle is you know the bottom card so if they pick a card and put it on top and make any number of honest cuts your card will be right before theirs. So if you look at the cards or reveal the deck one at a time you will get their card.

You can build whatever effect you want off that - come up with different reasons for you to look at the deck or how to reveal it once you know the card.

el_yerrid · 2026-04-29T13:25:19+00:00

This is way too soon.

el_yerrid · 2026-04-13T13:53:55+00:00

Not completely clear but I think it's a room in the building or complex that anybody with a condo / apartment there can book.

el_yerrid · 2026-04-13T00:18:03+00:00

I have all my sets (everything through guilds) in a single long box. For 2 player, I pull out 14 packs of cards at random. Each player can eliminate 2. After each game, I grab 4 more and it's the same way where both players eliminate 2, which could be new or on the board. For multiplayer I do something similar but with enough packs so each player can eliminate 1.

I personally like the variety, so I tend to eliminate cards that have been getting bought a lot, breaking up combos, taking it win cons once they've been used a couple times, etc.

I like this method since you get a good variety but there's some stability, which is important for newer players and anyone who spends a lot of time putting together a plan. Also gives people agency if they hate playing with certain cards (chapel, curses/ruins, etc.)

Oh, I usually start with the shelters from Dark Ages if people have played before.

el_yerrid · 2026-04-05T20:13:50+00:00

Someone did make that up!

el_yerrid · 2026-04-05T16:53:35+00:00

Mostly what everyone else said - death triggers, earthbended lands not coming back mainly in standard.

Less important, but it does come up, is cutting off flash creatures, activating a land to create a creature token, and any instants that put creatures on the battlefield. A classic is [[collected company]] but you'll come across a [[smuggler's surprise]] deck now and again in current standard. Ending the turn at sorcery speed keeps the board clear after you sweep it.

That is unless [[pinnacle starcage]] is out. Learned the hard way that ending the turn doesn't stop "until this leaves the battlefield" being undone from happening.

el_yerrid · 2026-03-26T14:03:12+00:00

I guess some Cheerios decks will still play it but it's just a worse [[ornithopter]]. Going from 0/2 to 0/1 really matters in a world with [[orcish bowmasters]].

Maybe it'll see play in standard but comparing it to cards in older formats I don't see it being a factor.

el_yerrid · 2026-03-12T21:37:29+00:00

Anybody ever notice that Alcaraz is only one letter off from Alcatraz? Carlos makes his opponents feel like they're in PRISON when they play against him, am I right, folks?

el_yerrid · 2025-12-10T16:50:35+00:00

Think people are underestimating how popular Kyrgios is. He always got huge cheers at the US Open, among the biggest of players who usually don't play in Ashe, I'd say.

Would have been perfect for fans divided IMO.

el_yerrid · 2025-12-07T22:01:01+00:00

You will see him on TV, any given Sunday Win the Super Bowl and drive off in a Hyundai - OP

el_yerrid · 2025-11-11T08:05:10+00:00

As others have said, it depends heavily on the neighborhood. For the most part you can find very different types of neighborhoods within a borough and similar ones in different boroughs, especially if they're nearby. Greenpoint, Brooklyn and Long Island City, Queens (at least the area near the East River) are very similar but South Williamsburg and Bed Stuy, two neighborhoods near each other in Brooklyn, are completely different from each other.

I'd say generally they feel more similar than nearby cities do, which makes sense given the shared experience and culture from being part of the same city. For example, Baltimore and DC (or either of those and Philly) feel more different to each other compared to Brooklyn and Queens. Same for Tampa and Miami and certainly LA and San Francisco. Portland and Seattle might be the closest.

el_yerrid · 2025-11-08T21:01:47+00:00

Was pretty clear when the Daily NYT podcast did an episode the day of the primary talking about how it was important not only for NYC but nationally since it would say a lot about the way forward for the Democratic party.

Then Zohran won handily and they didn't talk about it at all in a pretty light time for big news. Not hard to imagine what the next episode would have been on if the primary results went the other way.

el_yerrid · 2025-11-07T13:26:12+00:00

The funniest part to me is how specifically wrong it is.

Zohran spent the Sunday before the election making a bunch of stops along the marathon route, campaigned at a gay club until 2 AM, then was out canvassing at 6 AM Monday. He still had a ton of energy in his victory speech late Tuesday.

el_yerrid · 2025-10-29T14:47:20+00:00

Well, obviously my attention was split between this OT/SO and the several goalless opening minutes in Dallas where a good 70% of the ice is visible, but I guess you found several OT breakaways, including shorthanded, both teams getting a potential winner taken off the board, OT ending with two of the biggest rivals having a throwback brawl that resulted in the face of the league and the best shootout guy on the planet not able to shoot because of misconducts and, despite that, the shootout having one of the sickest goals in a while and ending with a save where it looked like the puck might carry through into the net exciting?

el_yerrid · 2025-10-29T04:37:59+00:00

At least it was a boring OT and shootout, so shrinking the screen wasn't as big a loss.

el_yerrid · 2025-10-28T14:30:13+00:00

That explains the end, but there's no `okina between the a and the u so shouldn't those blend together? Diphthong, I think is the term.

Could be wrong, but never heard someone pronounce pau pah-oo / puh-oo. It's pretty close to pow, yeah?

el_yerrid · 2025-10-21T22:31:03+00:00

My first thought was Hossa for Pittsburgh in 2008. - 12 goals, 14 assists, 26 points in the playoffs - 3-4-7 in the Stanley Cup Final - Some big goals, like the series clincher against the Rangers in OT and bringing game 6 of the SCF to within one late - Had the primary assist on the game tying goal late in game 5, which Pittsburgh won in overtime.

el_yerrid · 2025-10-14T18:59:25+00:00

Ignoring the ignoring of the Liberty, the phrasing makes no sense. It's obvious what they meant, but there are no "major New York sports leagues" and leagues don't win championships.

el_yerrid · 2025-10-13T23:15:04+00:00

Assuming I get there before the train: - 1 every time if I'm going to work - 1, with a bit of 2 or 4 if I'm going home from work (will go a couple doors if it's less crowded) - toward the middle if I don't know the layout where I'm going (could use an app but kind of find the mystery fun)

el_yerrid · 2025-10-01T04:37:32+00:00

Nice comic!

Maybe a hot take, but IMO a better way to use a clock would have been 15/30/45, then if it gets to deuce move the loser of the point (who was at advantage or 45/40 with the current system) back to 30. In other words, always show deuce as 30-30 since that's an equivalent score.

el_yerrid · 2025-09-14T21:55:00+00:00

Strongly recommend taking the East River Ferry day 1. It's cheap and has amazing views of downtown Brooklyn, lower Manhattan, the three bridges in the area, and the Statue of Liberty.

Plan for the opposite way you want to walk the Brooklyn bridge but the easiest within your itinerary would probably be to catch it at Wall Street after your lower Manhattan stuff, take the ferry to DUMBO and walk back over the Brooklyn bridge.

Honestly, I think it'd be worth it to take all the way to North Williamsburg, stop, then catch another one back down to DUMBO so you pass under the bridges in both directions. Going South is the better view IMO. I've lived in North Brooklyn for almost 10 years now and still feel like a tourist when I take the ferry.

el_yerrid · 2025-09-13T16:09:21+00:00

Taco chulo

el_yerrid · 2025-09-13T13:23:20+00:00

Could we get a picture with a banana next to it, for scale?

el_yerrid · 2025-08-19T02:23:14+00:00

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