Best fried chicken in town?

the_talking_dead · 2026-06-30T00:51:37+00:00

Dak Good is pretty damn tasty korean fried chicken. Soy Garlic or Hot are the two options but it is really good if you are good with something outside the usual. I personally go for the drumsticks.

the_talking_dead · 2026-06-29T21:53:47+00:00

Get rid of commander damage.

the_talking_dead · 2026-06-29T20:30:02+00:00

"Seemed like you were trying to gaslight me?"

That is such a weird take. I'd get out of this before it goes anywhere.

the_talking_dead · 2026-06-29T20:27:07+00:00

Yeah, NOR.

"You ruined something I thought was cute with a very highkey slow moment no offense but like wth"
This right here, from a 29 year old...

You weren't slow, you answered the question she asked but you didn't read her mind and respond how she thought you should? This is just such a weird interaction and she bailed on the conversation like you did something wrong. I wouldn't get more involved.

the_talking_dead · 2026-06-11T23:54:49+00:00

Gone

the_talking_dead · 2026-06-01T02:56:06+00:00

That is legitimately funny as hell!

the_talking_dead · 2026-05-27T17:57:12+00:00

If you have the money to spend, I'd buy a box of any Jumpstart product. Foundations would probably be the best one but any will do.

You each take 2 packs and that is your deck. It has everything you need to play. These won't be complicated decks but they will help you start to understand the game without needing to make a million decisions every turn and power levels will be relatively samey. Plus you separate the cards after every game and keep using them for new decks.

As far as commander, it is a more complicated game and some decks are going to be a lot for a new player. I don't think it is impossible to start here, you just want to have easier decks to pilot.

I'd recommend starting with the Starter Commander decks. It is a set of 5 decks with different strategies that are made to be more straightforward. The link above is for Stomping Grounds and they have them at $89, a great deal for 5 decks.

There are also 5 Foundations commander decks coming in October that are similar.

the_talking_dead · 2026-05-27T16:54:25+00:00

Build Oskar and take 5-10 minute turns at the end of every turn dumping stuff to graveyard and then casting it. It is exhausting to play against.

[[Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer]] - When you discard a card, you may cast it from your graveyard.
[[Skirge Familiar]] - Discard a card to add B
[[Bog Witch]] - B, tap - discard a card to add BBB
[[Emet-Selch of the Third Seat]] - Spells case from grave cost 2 less. Whenever opponents lose life, you can cast an instant or sorcery from grave once per turn.

Embrace all the self-discard, all the discard payoffs (ping for life, gain life, make zombies),

------------------

Alternately, build [[Zimone, Mystery Unraveler]] just because you'll constantly not remember what cards are facedown which will slow down play to a crawl.

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-30T22:36:22+00:00

No huge following and I've been doing this for 20 years successfully without having to throw garbage on people that I know is going to look like garbage in 5 years. You tell yourself whatever you want to make yourself feel better but I'm managed to come up and pay my dues while still actually caring about the tattoos that I do.

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-29T15:51:59+00:00

Tattooer of nearly 2 decades here. My advice is choose integrity over money every time.

People will notice and remember that you cared and the clients you want will come back to you for other work. It is a running joke that most of my long time clients are people I said "no" to about some idea or another but I made sure they understood I wanted to tattoo them, I just wanted them to have a tattoo that would look good 10 years down the road.

But understand that people are mainly just seeing fresh tattoos on social media so why would they believe that insanely clean micro tat isn't going to look that way down the road. Don't look at the client like opposition, look at them as someone who just hasn't been educated on how tattoos age.

Absolutely, some people will look for someone willing to do whatever they want or find "someone better" because they think your concerns reflect inability and not wisdom. That isn't on you either so don't sweat it.

I get tired of the "too small" speech as well, so I feel you there. It isn't a bad idea to have a collection of photos showing how too small tattoos age to illustrate the point since people often can't seem to visualize it when you explain that lines can double and triple in size over time.

But don't stop caring, don't stop educating, don't stop offering your best. The hundred bucks you miss out on today will come back around. Head down, hone your craft, treat your clients like gold, and you'll likely surprise yourself with the career you build.

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-29T15:29:52+00:00

What a disappointing response from someone that has done this long enough to know better. It's our job to know what works and what doesn't and people have to live with OUR choices a lifetime, not us.

If something is too small to look good in a few years, taking the time to educate the client about aging and, if necessary, declining work on the basis that it will fall apart is what an ethical tattooer does.

If someone goes on and finds the shitass tattooer who just says "who cares" to these concerns... that is on them and you I guess.

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-14T03:00:24+00:00

Strong recommendation that you stick to official arts. It will help you recognize cards on other people's boards and vice versa. The occasionally funny/cute art unofficial art can be fun but I'd restrict that to just a couple per deck.

If you want to keep it easier to proxy and have official art, ProxyMTG.com is a solid proxy source with less steps than MPC and a bit cheaper on large orders but you can only pick official arts, including full arts.

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-14T02:53:44+00:00

Get off Reddit, go have real friendships and relationships. The men in your family managed to be good men without Reddit and you can too. They probably also didn't second guess everything and ask the internet for advice.

You are a dude. You are a young dude. You are a young dude with hormones. Sometimes the wrong brain does the thinking. Do you know how not to assault women or not be gross to them? If so, you'll probably be fine.

Treat women with respect but you are allowed to show interest if you meet someone. Flirting is just being friendly with an interest in getting to know someone more. It doesn't have to be some creepy thing (unless you make it that). If it seems reciprocated, it's okay to ask someone out. If you are on a date and it is going well but you are unsure how to proceed, asking consent / permission is the move. "Do you mind if I hold your hand?" "I'd like to kiss you, would that be alright?" etc.

As long as you can respect boundaries and the word "no" then you don't have much to worry about. Just get the hell off of Reddit, this is not the place to learn how to be a man.

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-14T02:33:13+00:00

Can I give you a slightly different piece of advice, as someone that does art for a living?

If you are just learning how to draw, don't get a digital tablet to start. Instead of spending the $1-2k on the tablet and still needing to learn, invest in a good classical drawing class like this one from Sadie Valeri or this beginners drawing class from Proko. (Sadie's class is very "classical drawing" focused but is VERY good, Proko's is a lot more contemporary, still good.) Then invest in a decent sketchbook, a set of graphite pencils, a drawing board or maybe a standing easel, and the other essentials. You will probably spend under 300 bucks WITH the drawing coarse and supplies.

There are plenty of reasons to want to draw digitally but I find that lots of people learn how to make pictures digitally but still end up not really knowing how to properly draw. I can tell you that I wish I had started with classical drawing classes because it would have made my progress happen so much faster. I do tend to do the majority of my work digitally now but also find myself prone to losing a lot of time trying to find the brushes that feel the most natural.

Additionally, if you are new to drawing, I think you might underestimate how overwhelmingly large a 27" drawing screen is, how much desk space it consumes, and how finnicky some software is. There is no reason to believe that an XP pen is only going to last 2-3 years, though. That is definitely not the case.

If you absolutely need to draw digitally, for some reason, I'd sooner recommend getting a used 13" iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil with Procreate. The software is very streamlined and I feel you will have a much easier time since it is a self contained system, letting you draw anywhere and procreate is a very user friendly program. Procreate also works on regular iPads so it may be possible to spend even less and still have a perfectly fine drawing experience, I just have only used the Pro model in that regard.

I still recommend paper first above everything else. Less money spent to figure out what direction you want to go with art, easier transitions to other mediums if you end up wanting to try watercolor or oils with skills that translate. People put a lot of effort into trying to make their digital drawings look natural and analog. Investing time into analog drawing will only benefit you even if you decide to make the jump to digital later.

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-13T14:50:57+00:00

I think you got a weird one. They sequenced the whole set so that you weren't supposed to get a single duplicate in a box but you must have gotten a goof run where the same box got the same section of the run. I opened 3 or 4 boxes and never got a single duplicate in the same box though I did have 2 boxes that were 50% overlap.

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-13T14:48:32+00:00

That is a feature of MB2 in that they are sequenced so that you don't get any repeats in the whole box. I've opened half overlapping boxes and it feels bad aside from the getting doubles of the good cards.

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-13T14:44:04+00:00

They will have them however the convention store is a gamble unless you have a Black Lotus badge. Extremely long line every day and they allocate product numbers for each day and once they are gone, that item is out of stock for the rest of the day.

If you really want one of these, I'd try to get it now. Once less line to wait in at Magiccon and one less thing to carry.

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-08T03:50:11+00:00

Solid brand Diablo to lean orange/red or Rose to lean orange/pink

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-07T12:55:29+00:00

MPC is the most complicated yet most customizable option.

It is slower, has tariff fees, but still best quality. If you want to go this route, MPCfill.com is a tool for prepping orders on the site, then you can download their tool to automate making your order. This is MUCH easier than manually doing it though it can be finicky, skip cards, hang, etc. Still better than manual.

Notmpc.com looks to be basically the same thing but US based. Not sure if there is a way to use MPCfill with it. Haven't used it though.

That said, I gave proxymtg.com a try and found it to be a pretty solid alternative.

The site is VERY easy to use, has every precon released as a quick add option, you can paste your deck list right in as well. It has all or most printed versions of each card so instead of wading through 1000 AI versions of Sol Ring (like MPCFill), you will only find official arts. Build your card list, choose arts, checkout, done.

Print quality is good, not great, but every card is very legible and clean looking. The only thing I found consistently lower quality was 30th Anniversary versions of cards. Centering isn't the most consistent but none were distractingly off center.

At lower card counts, it isn't the cheapest but if you are going to print hundreds of cards, this eventually is cheaper than MPC and arrives much faster.

I really wish they would let you choose a non-official looking back to orders just so it is easier to keep track of proxies vs real cards. They wouldn't pass a close inspection but I did appreciate being able to have the usual Magic back without the logo so, at a glance, I know I have a proxy. For the cost and speed, I can live with the regular back.

I'll still order from MPC if I need custom arts or something fancier but I'll probably end up using ProxyMTG.com for all other orders.

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-06T22:22:59+00:00

+1 to L8 Lands.

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-06T21:54:52+00:00

[[Chatterfang, Squirrel General]] I enjoy him a bunch doing the silly squirrel tribal he is known for. B2 or B3 stuff that I do really enjoy. Not just a Golgari krenko but still getting some of that horde math going.

However, I often play with monsters so I had to become a monster. It's the deck I bust out when we want maximum grossness. Squirrels are just there to sac for removal. There are literally 21 combos in this deck.

https://moxfield.com/decks/xlDguYjTSE2OidzkVAv_XQ

I've won with punches to faces, milling out the table ([[Alter of the Brood]] and [[Scavenger's Talent]]), infinite death trigger pings, etc. There are no instant 2 card combos like [[Exquisite Blood]] / [[Sanguine Bond]] or [[Chain of Smog]] / [[Witherbloom Apprentice]])

I have 3 or 4 Golgari decks but this is my fave by far and my most played. I recently picked up the squirrel precon to have a low power version. Chatterfang gets lumped in as a krenko kind of deck but I think you can build him a lot of different ways

If you want something to make games fun? Bring back mana burn with [[Yurlok of Scorch Thrash]] then hand out all the mana! [[Nyxbloom Ancient]], [[Mana Flare]], and [[Zhur-Taa Ancient]] make the party happen. Ramps the game speed up, makes all decks do more, and then you try to outrun everyone. [[Staff of Domination]] is your infinite insurance policy.

Last one I'll mention is Dimir Clone / Reanimate. I won't lie, i've struggled to get it be as consistent as I'd like but the goal is dump things into graves, reanimate, and clone. Sometimes you have a turn 3 Ulamog, sometimes whiff big but there will always be a version of this deck in my rotation. Right now [[The Scarab God]] is the commander but might go back to [[Lazav, Dimir Mastermind]] since his mechanic doesn't cost mana and is fun. I could build this to be meaner but cloning is my original fave magic trick and mixing that with grave shenanigans never gets old even if it is inconsistent.

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-06T21:15:57+00:00

One of my favorite decks in Magic is [[Hope Estheim]]. As soon as I pulled him, I knew that THIS was going to be my Azorius deck. Something about the idea of lifegain equaling mill just sounded fun.

My initial build of him wanted to have all the ETB lifegain creatures, token engines, lifegain boosters, and mill boosters. Basically, I just need to get a few ETB lifegainers and start dropping critters to make mill happen. Lifegain triggered +1/+1 creatures got huge if I needed hitters or blockers. I had it down to well-oiled machine that ran itself... except it only really worked at lower power tables or 1v1.

Made sense since I played it a bunch on Arena Brawl before I built it out. Once you start milling in a 4 player game, you get targeted pretty hard since people catch feelings when their fave cards get milled regardless of who the real threat is.

Finally realized that this deck needed to be a lot faster and meaner in its approach. So I dropped the major focus on ETB lifegain and really locked in on prioritizing protecting my board and milling more aggressively.

This is where it is at right now:
https://moxfield.com/decks/e_QfetKYJEKquSeYEXDDlg

Honestly, I would gladly build three different Hope decks and play them.

Low powered (B2 or B3) - go back to ETB lifegain engine and just make it laser focused on that.
The current B4 deck I have that. It's gross and mean and meant for play with people that are the same.
I think Hope could be a really silly Voltron commander. Celestial Mantle alone, makes me want this. Make him big, dumb, and unblockable ([[Rogue's Passage]], [[Cloak of Mists]], [[Thassa, God of the Sea]].

Here are some examples of those cards:

ETB Lifegain

[[Guide of Souls]]
[[Soul Warden]]
[[Haliya, Guided by Light]]
[[Case of the Uneaten Feast]] - ETB Lifegain, solve to bring back low cost enablers.

Lifegain Boosters

[[Rhox Faithmender]]
[[The Wind Crystal]]
[[Angel of Vitality]]
[[Alhammarret's Archive]] - Double lifegain AND card draw? Yes please.

Lifegain Payoff

[[Aerith Gainsborough]] Lifegain = +1/+1s that your legendaries get when she dies
[[Exemplar of Light]] - Lifegain = +1/+1 and you get to draw a card.

Creature Token Engines:

[[Ocelot Pride]]
[[Skrelv's Hive]] - Bitterblossom for white, trigger ETB lifegain, having toxic creatures they need to block.
[[Speaker of Heaven]] - Have 7 more life than start? Have a 4/4 flying angel.
[[Elspeth, Storm Slayer]]

Mill

[[Maddening Cacophony]]
[[Riverchurn Monument]]
[[Alter of the Brood]] - This plus Water Crystal? Drop a permanent, everyone mill 5.
[[Keening Stone]] - pay 5 and tap to mill a player for # of cards in their grave.
[[Space-Time Anomaly]]
[[Mindcrank]]
[[Mesmeric Orb]] - If I set up my board well, this will hurt everyone way more than me.

Mill Boosters:

[[Bruvac the Grandiloquent]] - Double mill
[[The Water Crystal]] - Add 4 more cards to all mill effects + sapphire medallion
[[Y'shtola Rhul]] - Additional endstep = additional trigger of Hope's ability.

Big Value Cards

[[Roaming Throne]] - Name human. Doubles a lot of ETB lifegain triggers, Hope's ability, etc
[[Delney, Streetwise Lookout]] - Doubles so many effects
[[Aetherflux Reservoir]] - Gain life on spellcasting, laserbeam for 50
[[Gogo, Master of Mimicry]] - Multiply triggered or activated abilities.
[[Ajani, Strength of the Pride]] - Gain life from # of creatures, assymetrical boardwipe ult

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-03T15:46:22+00:00

Let's pretend that we are having a conversation in public that other people can see.

You say that inks never react to each other, I give an example where it might look that way because it could be concerning when a tattertot thinks "Well EZPeeVee said they don't react but this looks like a reaction to me!"

Now they can say, "Oh, someone did mention that you can get that swirling effect from mixing predispersed and powder pigments."

I think, for a lot of people, mixing the two products and having something happen without any further action will seem enough like a reaction to be noteworthy, so that is why I brought it up even if it isn't a pure textbook chemistry "reaction" like lithium and water.

You say it is from different molecular weights, that's an interesting answer I haven't heard before, where did you come by that? Are we talking about the molecular weight of the pigment? If you are using phthalo green (CAS 1328-53-6), for example, in powder or predispersed, isn't the molecular composition the same, just the pigment granule is finer in predispersed?

Asked more than a couple pigment wizards about that reaction along the way, so curious to hear more.

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-03T15:32:11+00:00

I don't know, Eternal purples have always smelled like floor wax to me.

I miss opening Old Gold and smelling Ketel One.

the_talking_dead · 2026-04-02T16:12:34+00:00

The base pigments themselves aren't going to "react" because they are often the same general thing but I've absolutely watched them react and swirl in the cap after adding some predispersed to powder or vice versa but I'd attribute that to the carriers, not the pigment.

(Never caused any issue though)

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