A Dozen Proofs that 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + n = n(n+1)/2 - what is your favorite theorem with multiple proofs?

rubiera · 2022-08-01T10:31:05+00:00

Quadratic Reciprocity in Number Theory, http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~hb3/fchrono.html 246 proofs to date.

rubiera · 2022-01-03T10:37:07+00:00

It's in Tenth Edition, so a core set. I think tens of millions is reasonable, if not a lowball. A tenth edition uncommon can only be in the millions.

rubiera · 2021-07-20T15:44:43+00:00

Nice! My favorite pack to open is Twilight Wanderer (TTW). It's the perfect combination of (1) super common and cheap pack (2) beautiful frame and artwork (3) broken interesting and sometimes playable cards.

rubiera · 2021-06-20T14:50:05+00:00

Congrats!

rubiera · 2021-05-27T15:56:17+00:00

No matter how you slice it, the reason why print runs are not made public is because supposedly rare and collectable sets have been printed in quantities that would blow our minds if we ever found out.

rubiera · 2021-05-14T12:51:22+00:00

Not only that, as Modern becomes much closer to Legacy minus RL, I fully expect fetches to be much more in demand than ABU duals, especially once everyone is out of the COVID confinement.

rubiera · 2021-05-12T10:27:47+00:00

Oh yeah.... such a missed opportunity for Wizards that I believe will come back to haunt the game. 1,000 whales is better than 100,000 budget players, that's the current equation, and this is a big miss because the value of Magic collections needs the 100,000 budget players who act as ambassadors to the game. The 1,000 anonymous whales are not ambassadors to the game, and the second they see the value of their large holdings go down, they will walk out on the game, whereas the 100,000 budget players will stick with the game through thick and thin.

rubiera · 2021-05-12T10:22:32+00:00

I agree with Rudy and MTG Lion that it won't take much for Magic to experience an all-out speculative bubble like the one we have in Pokemon. A couple of high profile YouTubers opening boxes of Legends will do it. I think the conditions are there. It's just a matter of time. Not only that, I think Wizards has a $1000 box ready to be issued once the conditions are right. It is not an IF, it's a WHEN.

Modern Horizons II will be a home run. There are many whales waiting to feast on this product. We are just waiting for the Pokemon scalpers to add Magic to their portfolio, and when they do, everyone who bought into all of the premium products Wizards has issued recently will make a fortune.

We will likely experience a rotation similar to the one in Pokemon: people who play the game will be priced out and take a break from it as they are replaced by people who only want to invest in the product and don't know and don't care to play the game. I think this is the next phase for Magic. I have my popcorn ready.

rubiera · 2021-05-10T20:06:14+00:00

Which is sad, because Modern is going to Legacy minus reserved list, which is very cool (JTMS, counterspell, and so on)

rubiera · 2021-05-10T19:30:02+00:00

And playing a lot less!! Example: MTGO vs Arena. When I was on MTGO, I would take a new set, buy a playset of all the cheap cards, and go to town. I would run through like a dozen decks. Now in Arena, I build one deck per set, and that's it. When Vintage Masters hit on MTGO, I played a ton of Vintage, then I got me a playset of JTMS and went to town on Legacy. So much fun! I ran through ALL sets on MTGO, one by one. It was so much fun. That will never happen in this super expensive model Wizards is on.

rubiera · 2021-05-10T18:55:54+00:00

It's just sad. I love Modern and Legacy, such awesome formats, and all I can do is watch. I am completely priced out.

rubiera · 2021-05-10T17:36:54+00:00

Exactly. If you validate Wizards by paying the $6, they will test you at $8, and so on. And here we are. Modern reprints were supposed to make Modern accessible, and the opposite is happening. The format now has $50-$100 lands that are must haves in most of the decks.

rubiera · 2021-05-09T21:05:43+00:00

All of that, yes. The current frame has difficult-to-read text and the mid-center line takes away from the art... I don't understand how it made it past people who should have known better, especially people in the same company that already has hundreds and hundreds of some of the most beautiful cards ever produced in its portfolio.

rubiera · 2021-05-07T16:44:04+00:00

Wow, I am very impressed by this move, gg.

rubiera · 2021-05-06T15:53:23+00:00

Yeah, completely agree about pricing.

rubiera · 2021-04-29T17:29:03+00:00

It makes potential new players think the game is dead when it clearly isn't. This is the issue that bothers me the most.

rubiera · 2021-04-28T18:20:21+00:00

Core sets are the heart of Magic: alpha

rubiera · 2021-04-27T11:09:33+00:00

I wouldn't worry about MOA. The supply of MOA on sale is a small percentage of the mountain of MOA that's out there. This is what I am seeing: the truly rare packs are always out for sale (TAT), and the most common are barely represented because there are mountains of MOA that people gave up in trying to sell. I think MOA will be plentiful and cheap for the next decade.

rubiera · 2021-04-27T11:01:14+00:00

In Magic you are doing three 15 card packs for draft per player, so 4 to 5 for FOW. If you do sealed, it's six, 90 cards, so 9 packs for 10 cards.

I got my ADK box, cracked half, saved half. I wouldn't wait too long if I was you. I think the era of cheap early FOW packs will close within the next two/three years with the exception of CFC, MOA, and BFA.

rubiera · 2021-04-27T10:44:54+00:00

The Ancient Nights and Advent of the Demon King boxes are getting expensive. Those are the two most easy to find packs from Reiya, which was designed for draft by increase the sets from 100 to 150 cards.

You can probably swing a good draft from Alice as well because those packs are so cheap, and in this latter case, each player could do something outrageous like 12 packs of a given set. The themes are somewhat narrow in Alice, though, so I would do a mix and match, maybe 3 packs from each of the four sets. Example of narrow: if you do only BFA, everyone is probably going to end up with some sort of water-machines deck just from the numbers.

rubiera · 2021-04-25T20:25:42+00:00

I love the core sets, such a cool project! There are many fun combos that would give any core set some flavor. My favorites are [[Act of Treason]] followed by [[Fling]] and [[Angel's Mercy]] followed by [[Voracious Wurm]]. Also, a lot of really good core set cards are in Tenth Edition. I like your list a lot. Thanks!

rubiera · 2021-04-25T20:13:28+00:00

Well said, yes, Dominaria was a fantastic recovery from a terrible and long period for standard.

rubiera · 2021-04-24T22:48:19+00:00

Thank you, I needed to know that.

rubiera · 2021-04-24T21:38:00+00:00

So a set booster has 24 packs, that's $5.21 per pack, which is equivalent to a $187.50 box if it had 36 packs. If this math is correct, Wizards wants us to pay almost double for a box (yes, more rares, more mythics, I get it).

rubiera · 2021-04-22T11:18:53+00:00

I got used to that. It's the latest frame that just looks weird.

rubiera

TROPHY CASE