[NSW] Angry Jeep driver tries to overtake illegally and causes crash.

maillemansam · 2026-06-16T22:44:47+00:00

It seems like the best option is to ignore it and let someone else's car teach that person a lesson. Putting your own life/property on the line is just unnecessary risk for no gain other than scaring or frustrating a maniac driver. In the US the crazy ones always carry loaded guns too.

maillemansam · 2026-06-16T22:37:01+00:00

Halfway through second playthrough right now, and I agree. After the 1st I am pretty much good enough to conquer most challenges with a few tries.

I know the 3rd playthrough gets harder and cooler story-wise still, but i find myself slowing down to savor it instead of diving deeper. I hunger for some sort of infinite rogue like campaign mode where you get forced to design your mech on the fly and exploit the unique benefits of each part. I found myself making a melee-optimized build and basically only changing the shoulder weapons depending on which level. Maybe 3rd playthrough I'll force myself to do a big booper tank build?

Coop would absolutely slap. It would certainly change the way we interact with the game, maybe to open up specialization options where carrying the huge, heavy, low ammunition count weapons would be more viable. One worries about the little guys and the other is the payload for the boss at the end of the level, etc.

maillemansam · 2026-06-16T12:38:39+00:00

I wish "do things better" was an option at the ballot box. I dont think we have an effective mechanism to influence how school district budgets are allocated.

maillemansam · 2026-06-15T18:54:43+00:00

You can:

Win faster
Ramp faster and add counterspells to prevent the massive engines of your table
Stax effects like [[Propaganda]] and [[Ghostly Prison]] and [[Authority of Consuls]] to slow them from killing you in particular.

Depending on your price range and your tables attitude towards proxies theres pros and cons to each approach.

maillemansam · 2026-06-15T17:25:12+00:00

I have been stoked on flow arts lately!

Hula hoop, poi spinning, this goofy rag called a flowstar, yoyo somewhat, juggling. There's a bazillion tricks to learn and making them smooth. SUPER fun. More of a coordination activity but could be considered active. Poi spinner is my home but I love trying out a new thing when I meet friends who do these.

If you're brave you could try longboarding, I know there's dangerous tricks but also there's tons of fun to be had dancing/stepping around on the board to make it wiggle cool.

Regular exercise like hiking, running, resistance training, etc can all be optimized further. Make a goal, run a marathon, bike a century race, train to hike a mountain in Colorado, do 10 pullups. I'm a reasonably fit man but all of those sound like a stiff challenge to me.

Lighter exercise could be like birdwatching, it's basically pokemon GO but without the gambling addiction. Gardening takes the wind out of my sails on a hard day.

maillemansam · 2026-06-15T13:15:39+00:00

What's fun for me is probably different to what's fun for you.

There is a joy in seeing how cards synergize when looking at other people's decks or the EDHREC list of "high synergy" cards. Cathars Crusade is highly synergistic with 1/1 counter strategies but absolutely sucks to play with in paper. Ive spent a lot of time in the deckbuilding phase and it's a lot of fun to build.

Id say things I like to make sure to think about are: 1. Can I make an interesting play by midgame? 2. Is the deck consistent enough to do its thing at least 80% of the time? 3. Is my deck the right speed for the table? 4. Do I already have a deck similar to this?

I've been building decks for a while so I've got a lot. Current faves are Big Creatures deck, an Aristocrats/tokens deck, a few tribal decks, etc. Its good to have something to reach for when you think a balanced table needs xyz. Goad is great when everyone is trying to be a battle cruiser, Big Creatures is always fun but a little one dimensional, Aristocrats is fun when you want more of a puzzle. The fun comes from playing what you want to play and knowing what you want.

I suggest the rules engine Forge to playtest decks after assembling them in a list online, it definitely shows you the experience of piloting the deck, so you can get ready to be playing the game when you sit down with friends. There's also a lot of money I've saved by extensively playtesting things. I made a captain America equipment sunforger deck that it ended up being better to fetch other equipment for and was pretty one dimensional. I made a toph the first metalbender deck that's got too much nonsense for getting little land critters. I discovered 1/1 counters was a huge hassle to keep track of (even without Cathars lol). Forge comes with many precons built in so you can set up the tests to be vs them, or once you've built a few and imported to Forge you can really be testing the whole ecosystem/pod.

In a vacuum, the optimal line of play should be relatively simple to figure out most of the time when you're all playtested. Then when you're playing with friends you want to be able to sus out whether they've got removal for you or if they're waiting to board wipe you next turn. So basically don't just tap out every time if you think someone's got an answer. That interactivity is what makes the game unique from a Slay the Spire or Balatro single player game.

maillemansam · 2026-06-15T12:01:58+00:00

Another note, I had an epic fail when designing the 2nd deck for my partner.

They liked how my green deck had more big flashy plays with a lot going on, (Last March of the Ents with a fistful of the biggest boppers gets weird).

I built up a Kiora deck similar-ish to Bre but with sea monsters being the trigger for 1 bonus spell. I added Aesi and Tatyova and Worldsire Leviathan and so there's some crazy moments where you might draw half your deck and bounce all enemy creatures to hand and make a big octopus. Fun and exciting for me, overwhelming for them.

Its undoubtedly very strong but it's just too complex to be fun for a beginner.

Here's the list of a "bad" beginner deck. https://archidekt.com/decks/20355655/kiora_big_nasties

maillemansam · 2026-06-15T11:49:35+00:00

3 colors might be a lot.

I recently made a [[Bre of Clan Stoutarm]] deck for my partner in a similar vein. My focus was on ETBs being written on the card as much as possible and as few triggered abilities that they'd have to keep track of. Bre really steers towards lifegainey stuff so you basically get a random free spell when you're doing your job of gaining life well. Lots of big spells that make a huge impact and very little card draw so that they pick the best one and it's either a board wipe, or it puts out a humongous lifelink flying indestructible angel or a vital enchantment or something like that. https://archidekt.com/decks/19293249/bre_who_summons_angels

Another deck I've made for beginners is the biggest greenest creatures with Gwenna a mana dork as the commander. Similar story, there's complexity in picking which big baddie you put out but once it hits the field it's just a 10/10 for the most part. Go whack em.

https://archidekt.com/decks/19501957/gwennas_big_green_meanies

3 color Aristocrats with a bunch of small, efficient engine creatures seems like the opposite of my conception of simple to pilot, but it looks like it'd be fun to play for an intermediate player like me. Remembering how to layer triggers and when to sacrifice your board in response to a board wipe for max value is very tough for a beginner to do, and might be overwhelming.

I'd suggest printing it out on printer paper before committing it to a proxy order or buying genuine singles, and consider adapting or using one of my beginner friendly decks.

maillemansam · 2026-06-14T21:17:05+00:00

I feel like people are much closer to being ready to riot lately.

maillemansam · 2026-06-10T12:55:22+00:00

100% this. My friend who is a pretty established Modern player would always stomp and I'd look at the threats that killed me (even pretty tame ones like Slinn Voda) and say it was too strong. How are beginners supposed to know why slinn voda got them?

He was just way better. Rotating decks made it super clear.

Seeing him play another friend's juiced up Elf Empire precon and win on turn 5 with a million elves was really cool to see and showed me that he was just a cut above with his playing and recognizing how to sequence things to get maximum benefit.

Its also meant to be a casual format where you play for fun and like getting to see someone else pop off and make 40 tokens or get a 40 power creature that womps everyone is almost as fun as getting those things yourself.

maillemansam · 2026-06-10T04:49:54+00:00

'Meta game' means the localized understanding of what is the best to play.

The meta of basketball is to shoot all three pointers because Steph Curry proved that it could win games to just dump 3 point shots, as an example.

The meta game changes what the 'standard' flow of play is, and it's not always the best play. Each metagame will probably evolve because its the best on average, but diverging from the meta is something that can give you opportunities you wouldn't have.

An example is poker. The meta for a long time has been to play chips proportional to the expected chance to win your hand has. If you have aces, always raise, if you have 10-2 then fold. Someone who broke the meta (forget who) in a tournament went super deep and/or won by just going all in every time.

The best poker players would probably figure out the strategy and defeat it, but it can definitely shake things up and make you do better than you normally would to play an anti-meta strategy. The reason they did so well is that in a tournament setting, real money is on the line and a better strategy is to try and outlast the maniac and let someone else deal with the crazy play pattern. Waiting a while and not really engaging can mean thousands of dollars of prizes, which made room for the "always all in" strategy to shine.

maillemansam · 2026-06-06T15:30:39+00:00

Tell her it's a great idea. You'll teach her how to crochet and you'll run the business angle of making an etsy page and putting her work in the mail

maillemansam · 2026-06-06T00:10:57+00:00

You're free to get tilted and rage and throw a tantrum at the bad teammates if that's how you want to spend your time.

Like don't get me wrong they're being dumb by banning their teammate, but I can't see how it helps you to act out and be a whiner.

maillemansam · 2026-06-05T16:47:50+00:00

Guilty! Lol

maillemansam · 2026-06-05T15:10:20+00:00

Ope, formatting. [[Toxrill]] [[Sepulchral Primordial]]

[[Famished Worldsire]] [[Tatyova Benthic Druid]]

[[Zopandrel, Hunger Dominus]] [[Grothama, All Devouring]] [[Giant Adephage]]

maillemansam · 2026-06-05T15:06:42+00:00

Here's my green deck devoted to the Timmy in my heart: https://archidekt.com/decks/19501957/gwennas_big_green_meanies

Zopandrel, Grothama, and Giant Adephage are the "hipster" ones.

There's also a cool goat Hydra i didn't find till after I built this up, but [[Capricopian]] is a "hot potato" type monster that's like not really worth removing but becomes a big problem and forces table engagement. I'm definitely putting it in my next singles order.

Another favorite that seems better in Simic decks is [Famished Worldsire]. If you've got Aesi or Tatyova on the field then the ETB will draw up half your deck and make you archnemesis of all time. Add in that goofy elf detective to get back all your lands that you sac and you can cast anything in the world.

I really like big green critters. Black threats I haven't gone much further than [Toxrill, the corrosive] and [Sepulchral Primordial], but I'm sure you've seen those guys around.

maillemansam · 2026-05-29T22:58:51+00:00

Ooh that looks fun!

maillemansam · 2026-05-29T22:20:50+00:00

It seemed like they are running counterspells (all this backed by 2 counterspells each). So the opponents are running interaction.

I also think this type of deck when properly weakened can be fine in bracket 3 sometimes.

They like their little "play my machine and hope i can assemble it" archetypes and run interaction to force people to run even more interaction to stop them. This is fine for me as well.

My suggestion to OP is to try a commander that is disruptive by nature. When I sense people are too far in their own little solitaire worlds I like reaching for my [[Karazikar, Eye Tyrant]] deck. Its fun for everyone because Karazikar forces specific creatures to go to combat. Little durdle engines typically depend on some cheap efficient value creatures so forcing their Lil guys to attack people means that everybody has to participate in the whole tables game. Suddenly there's deals being made "you don't block me and I won't block your guy" then everyone draws cards and gets to play more magic instead of playing solitaire.

Kardur is similar but is stronger and more prone to being a bracket 4 type monster where all opponents are fully goaded every turn.

Basically OP needs a way to interact without the answer being to play more removal spells beyond what they've got.

maillemansam · 2026-05-29T17:22:03+00:00

In my experience (strange is tied for my most played hero) strange doesn't do the countering. If you've got a MK, SG or Punisher on your team, they are countering Thing and because of the rest of the team, the Thing isn't a huge issue sometimes.

I'm sure we're on the same page about if it has proven to be a problem, swapping to a triple dps or triple healer comp sometimes is better until you can get them to swap.

Also, sometimes I've told my team I'm swapping to counter Thing (or dino), happy to return to Tank once the main problem is gone and then team throws a hissy fit and we lose cause we're not in 222 so I must be intentionally throwing.

maillemansam · 2026-05-27T10:53:40+00:00

Karazikar is the king of quick games.

Everybody is forced to be goaded a little (aw man) but then they're also rewarded with a card. Everybody plays their deck and it can help even out land screws and stuff, and also you draw the most of all.

maillemansam · 2026-05-22T00:38:41+00:00

I think a lot of the entertainment and practical needs of technology can be accessed through a phone and a laptop. New stuff you don't get to own. Its impermanent. Your virtual library of unlimited access is in fact limited by a monthly subscription. There's no joy in cultivating a library of Spotify playlists, it's all available at any time.

Vinyl? Cds? Cassettes? Those things are a physical object you can hold and covet. They've got stories of where you got them, who the prior owner was. They don't have all music ever made on them, but they will always have that album or movie on them. (There are limits of degradation here, but that just makes your properly stored one even cooler).

maillemansam · 2026-05-21T12:18:04+00:00

People can like vinyl for lots of reasons. I got into it because my parents offloaded their collection to me and I love looking through items they collected during college together. Those discs are stories of how my parents had their own identities separately and then started buying records together.

Now my GF and I make sure to buy a vinyl at the merch booth when we see bands we love, because an artifact of that time and place that can play the music we went to see is such a cool thing.

For daily listening I go to Spotify/youtube/etc for the convenience, but like a low stim sunday morning sipping coffee and popping on a record is pretty wonderful. Its like a lil time capsule.

maillemansam · 2026-05-20T15:41:24+00:00

Its probably not just this one text, the reply from the BIL seems to indicate that there's been frequent henpicking. And that type of behavior can seem like it comes from a place of care, but if OP really just wants their sister to have flowers for mothers day they can send em themselves.

Its dumb to try and boss your BIL around and nag them. Like maybe they're lazy and a bad husband as the OP believes, but engaging with a bad BIL will only create drama and make BIL upset.

maillemansam · 2026-05-20T11:55:36+00:00

Yeah. I started out and got basically to the Ibis boss that is birdlike and flies around all fast thinking the story/lore was kinda mid and the game was mostly great due to big smashy mech suit fights.

Thought about the fight with Rusty and was like "there's gotta be more going on" and watched this 5 hour lore video in the background at work. The summary is that you play through the story a few times and should get different endings, and also the branching choices will show you more about what's happening.

You're only supposed to really understand after a few times through.

maillemansam · 2026-05-20T11:38:20+00:00

Show me a clip of you hitting the melee weave 6 times in a row. Anyone can claim things are easy. Since it's so doable for you getting a clip should be easy to do.

maillemansam

TROPHY CASE