The Russian spam bots seem to be ramping up their efforts recently. What are they hoping to achieve (who would actually ever click on their spammy drivel)?
Random Gatherer Card of the Week was one of the best in the history of this podcast in my opinion (Try it for yourself without cheating - it is a really fine one!).
Interesting that Patrick Sullivan chose 4 x Treasure Map and no Chemister's Insights.
It seems counterintuitive especially since he has some early countermagic which the Map could interfere with, however if you weigh up all the pros and cons of the two cards, I can see why he concluded that Treasure Map was overall better due to the extra ramp, scryes and curve-lowering, and in a long game the Map is also more mana efficient and provides one extra card over Insight when you take into account that the map converts to a land.
The way they constantly change "pro"-level play (club, platinum/silver/gold degrees and whatnot) is proof that they actively want to confuse players so to not be able to use/plan their benefits properly, and thus make the pro level play more easily achievable for newer players (more rotation on the pt). This lowers the level of play skill somewhat on the pro tours.
It is not about unforeseen factors.
They use every trick in the book to make it harder for a certain percent of the best players to stay in the game, and thus the focus on the dumbing down of the game over the years receive less attention because some of the critical voices disappear.
In MtG's first 10 Pro Tour years there were way fewer changes.
And when are they gonna make GPs fair with not having "pros" receive byes ? Byes should never have been a part of the GPs.
We used to play with tower decks in LGSs to pass the time in between rounds and it was usually with very old sets since that is when this became popular, with time many players started playing other stuff in between rounds, mostly regular formats (even though we still play with those big piles), later it became more of a cube.
These games reminded me of the times we used to play like this, it's fun and each player can find something interesting in that game play. Games can be swingy sometimes but it's about the unexpected. At least with the older sets it was like that. Shards of Alara is already 'new' but for many players it may feel the same way the old sets felt for us. On Magic Online you don't get to watch other people pick a deck like that and stare at the cards in total confusion but you can still have lots of fun playing.
I recommend people to try this. Just don't search for five basic lands if you don't have too while your timer is running out^_~.
(IRL we get to play with nonland cards and basics apart and I wasn't sure how playing with everything would go. The looting Vanguard makes it a fine experience).
Really? I've been calling the Reckless Wurm downgrade for years and the year I decide not to do it they finally do it? At least it seems like the Madness archetype may be RG instead of the RB one I always call. Not a horrible set of Day 1 previews for my predictions otherwise, though I clearly underestimated the quality of reprints here (but note that Phyrexian Tower and Phyrexian Altar are low supply cards that will tank like the Imperial Recruiters and Temporal Manipulations). Also, split cards (and what appears to be a cycle of gold commons) are a strange way to fill that big gap I assumed would have a bunch of artifacts.
In that light, I plan to continue to avoid Hearthstone like the plague, and I will just avoid Eternal, period (without any superlative added, in a non-plussed "thanks-but-no-thanks" sort of way).
Like everyone, I have limited time for gaming and I could not accept being nickel-and-dimed by those end bosses in the gauntlet.
Well I wouldn't call it the plague. It is still very playable as a free to play game and largely there is always going to be some adjustment to how they do things in any game like this or mtga or hs. I'd say it is a far better experience than HS which I'd rate currently as near the bottom of the barrel.
About Eternal, well I guess I got salty about how they introduced events and then missed a few cards, then sets and then it became less enjoyable. It had a great start, but they changed things up and the changes were not something I liked for the most part. The gauntlet (one of my favorite things to do when bored) became much much harder (because of random end bosses) and also measly. Drafting, the other allstar in the game lost a lot of luster when they started with "curated" packs.
It is still a good game imho. But it no longer calls to me. Those things plus the fact that the company never responds directly to feedback (and I gave lots) makes it just another game I don't play anymore.
Obviously Pete might have his own answer, but I’d just point out that not all prices have dropped to “a fraction” from what I assume is June 17 (not sure if that’s US or European format, but June makes more sense).
Legacy prices are on par to what they were last year at the same date. They are about half of what they were in June 17, but that’s a bit misleading. We’ll have to see if they follow the same pattern and simply recover by next June.
Modern prices are actually way higher than they were in June 17, about 30% higher if I’m reading my graphs correctly! Of course, that’s a bit misleading as well, as the prices have been falling pretty much steadily since Masters 25. Which is not an indication of trouble, the format is incredibly popular, but treasure chests are doing their work in making cards accessible (which by the way would be my own request to Pete: a good look at treasure chests, I know we’ve had articles before, but they seem to warp the economy more and more).
The joke about the tilting was the MVP of this podcast :)
Paul, can I ask what is your current feedback about Eternal Game? I remember you used to like it but I haven't heard you mention it again. Did it get stale? (I only played the tutorial but it looked decent).
I sold my account on 6/08/17 and have been curious on things since I quite and have checked things out. I've noticed that now the prices appear to be a fraction of what they were and figured if there was someone who could explain why they've dropped so much it would be you.
You're welcome--I'm just glad there's a comment that isn't spam these days :)
I would like to thank you for the efforts you had made for writing this awesome article
No fan of Singleton. Vintage or 'classic' could be interesting. Kaleidoscope, yeah, we've had lots of multicolor cards since we last played, I dig it.
I always liked Singleton, but Kaleidoscope or Vintage could be fun too!
one of the bot families is apparently a well known forum spam bot from Belarus.
The Russian spam bots seem to be ramping up their efforts recently. What are they hoping to achieve (who would actually ever click on their spammy drivel)?
I've been doing very well with infect recently. Seems well positioned in modern right now with sideboard focus being elsewhere.
Thanks. first one I almost got (AJ gave me credit but I couldn't remember the name).
Random Gatherer Card of the Week was one of the best in the history of this podcast in my opinion (Try it for yourself without cheating - it is a really fine one!).
Interesting that Patrick Sullivan chose 4 x Treasure Map and no Chemister's Insights.
It seems counterintuitive especially since he has some early countermagic which the Map could interfere with, however if you weigh up all the pros and cons of the two cards, I can see why he concluded that Treasure Map was overall better due to the extra ramp, scryes and curve-lowering, and in a long game the Map is also more mana efficient and provides one extra card over Insight when you take into account that the map converts to a land.
The way they constantly change "pro"-level play (club, platinum/silver/gold degrees and whatnot) is proof that they actively want to confuse players so to not be able to use/plan their benefits properly, and thus make the pro level play more easily achievable for newer players (more rotation on the pt). This lowers the level of play skill somewhat on the pro tours.
It is not about unforeseen factors.
They use every trick in the book to make it harder for a certain percent of the best players to stay in the game, and thus the focus on the dumbing down of the game over the years receive less attention because some of the critical voices disappear.
In MtG's first 10 Pro Tour years there were way fewer changes.
And when are they gonna make GPs fair with not having "pros" receive byes ? Byes should never have been a part of the GPs.
We used to play with tower decks in LGSs to pass the time in between rounds and it was usually with very old sets since that is when this became popular, with time many players started playing other stuff in between rounds, mostly regular formats (even though we still play with those big piles), later it became more of a cube.
These games reminded me of the times we used to play like this, it's fun and each player can find something interesting in that game play. Games can be swingy sometimes but it's about the unexpected. At least with the older sets it was like that. Shards of Alara is already 'new' but for many players it may feel the same way the old sets felt for us. On Magic Online you don't get to watch other people pick a deck like that and stare at the cards in total confusion but you can still have lots of fun playing.
I recommend people to try this. Just don't search for five basic lands if you don't have too while your timer is running out^_~.
(IRL we get to play with nonland cards and basics apart and I wasn't sure how playing with everything would go. The looting Vanguard makes it a fine experience).
Really? I've been calling the Reckless Wurm downgrade for years and the year I decide not to do it they finally do it? At least it seems like the Madness archetype may be RG instead of the RB one I always call. Not a horrible set of Day 1 previews for my predictions otherwise, though I clearly underestimated the quality of reprints here (but note that Phyrexian Tower and Phyrexian Altar are low supply cards that will tank like the Imperial Recruiters and Temporal Manipulations). Also, split cards (and what appears to be a cycle of gold commons) are a strange way to fill that big gap I assumed would have a bunch of artifacts.
I hit master rank in eternal last month and have basically stopped playing this month. :/
All good Paul, thanks.
In that light, I plan to continue to avoid Hearthstone like the plague, and I will just avoid Eternal, period (without any superlative added, in a non-plussed "thanks-but-no-thanks" sort of way).
Like everyone, I have limited time for gaming and I could not accept being nickel-and-dimed by those end bosses in the gauntlet.
Well I wouldn't call it the plague. It is still very playable as a free to play game and largely there is always going to be some adjustment to how they do things in any game like this or mtga or hs. I'd say it is a far better experience than HS which I'd rate currently as near the bottom of the barrel.
Kindly noted Paul, thanks for the helpful feedback. I will avoid that game like the plague!
About Eternal, well I guess I got salty about how they introduced events and then missed a few cards, then sets and then it became less enjoyable. It had a great start, but they changed things up and the changes were not something I liked for the most part. The gauntlet (one of my favorite things to do when bored) became much much harder (because of random end bosses) and also measly. Drafting, the other allstar in the game lost a lot of luster when they started with "curated" packs.
It is still a good game imho. But it no longer calls to me. Those things plus the fact that the company never responds directly to feedback (and I gave lots) makes it just another game I don't play anymore.
Obviously Pete might have his own answer, but I’d just point out that not all prices have dropped to “a fraction” from what I assume is June 17 (not sure if that’s US or European format, but June makes more sense).
Legacy prices are on par to what they were last year at the same date. They are about half of what they were in June 17, but that’s a bit misleading. We’ll have to see if they follow the same pattern and simply recover by next June.
Modern prices are actually way higher than they were in June 17, about 30% higher if I’m reading my graphs correctly! Of course, that’s a bit misleading as well, as the prices have been falling pretty much steadily since Masters 25. Which is not an indication of trouble, the format is incredibly popular, but treasure chests are doing their work in making cards accessible (which by the way would be my own request to Pete: a good look at treasure chests, I know we’ve had articles before, but they seem to warp the economy more and more).
The joke about the tilting was the MVP of this podcast :)
Paul, can I ask what is your current feedback about Eternal Game? I remember you used to like it but I haven't heard you mention it again. Did it get stale? (I only played the tutorial but it looked decent).
Hey Pete,
I sold my account on 6/08/17 and have been curious on things since I quite and have checked things out. I've noticed that now the prices appear to be a fraction of what they were and figured if there was someone who could explain why they've dropped so much it would be you.
Thanks in advance,
Scion Of Justice
Whoops. Got this done so late last night I forgot to put the total time in: 1hour 34 minutes 36 seconds.
This year old article made me pick up ravager shops today, and Stsung does such a wonderful job
Heh well I have only anecdotal evidence that they are but it seems like there is some corollary.
Nice podcast, thank you both.
Interesting to hear about your win rates on Arena being tied to the time of the day :)