• State of the Program for June 3 2016   9 years 2 weeks ago

    Wizards not having a booth at GenCon is nothing new right?

  • State of the Program for June 3 2016   9 years 2 weeks ago

    I looked at prices for paper decks and SSG being as high as it is now made me sad

  • State of the Program for June 3 2016   9 years 2 weeks ago
    EM

    SSG is worth peanuts online. It's worth a lot in paper, though.

  • The Standard Issue: Attacking the Format   9 years 2 weeks ago

    Yea since I wrote this I added him to the deck in Paper and Bishop has been great. Just it being a 2/3 and flying is also something the deck can really need sometimes.

  • The Standard Issue: Attacking the Format   9 years 2 weeks ago

    Bishop really is the real deal in grindier matchups - I've been on its receiving end a couple of times now.

    The deck's insane amount of one-drops plus pump effects is what makes it so tough to play against, as you'll probably be dead by the time you can cast your wrath. Adding Bishop means that, even when that plan doesn't go all the way, chances are the white weenie player will have a bunch of clues lying around to recoup.

  • Diaries of the Apocalypse: Tribal Week 281   9 years 2 weeks ago

    I think the idea should be that when a winning deck is defined by a derivative tribe like Wizards, Clerics, Soldiers, etc. that has 50%+ humans in its tribal base, Humans are prohibited from being 50%+ of any other tribe for that player during the lockout period. I hope that makes sense. If not, I can try to parse it out a bit more.

  • Diaries of the Apocalypse: Tribal Week 281   9 years 2 weeks ago

    No comment about the idea, but catchy name.

  • Rick's Picks #65: Standard Fare   9 years 2 weeks ago

    Great to see you play Standard for a change!
    Minor issue: your videos (all except the round 4 one) repeat the first 30-60 seconds, and the audio goes out of sync for a little while after that. You might want to look into it.

  • Diaries of the Apocalypse: Tribal Week 281   9 years 2 weeks ago

    Maybe have 'Inhumanity' as a fifth-week format? No humans allowed.

  • Diaries of the Apocalypse: Tribal Week 281   9 years 2 weeks ago

    In fact, we probably are already there, because if you take out the Un-sets and other fake results, Human drops to 1789, but the Creature total probably drops under 8,000.

  • Diaries of the Apocalypse: Tribal Week 281   9 years 2 weeks ago

    If it were for me, Human wouldn't even be considered a tribe anymore. As already discussed (and sort of alluded to each time I do a tribal evaluation), their number is greater not merely than all other subtypes, but than most card types too.
    We have (counting Un-sets and double-sided cards too):

    Creature: 8379
    Enchantment: 2089
    Instant: 2022
    Human: 1820
    Sorcery: 1739
    Artifact: 1618

    We're almost at the point where one creature out of four is a Human.

  • Diaries of the Apocalypse: Tribal Week 281   9 years 2 weeks ago

    Can do. But just for X-0. We don't want to alienate top players further.
    We can just add Human as lockout whenever the tribe is Human-relevant.

  • Diaries of the Apocalypse: Tribal Week 281   9 years 3 weeks ago

    We have the top 8 lockout, we could expand on its use. If, say, a top 8 player moneys with humans or human derivatives, they could get a 2-week lock in humans and that tribe. (Which would cover the next regular event). A smaller penalty for only going x-1, but it could really shake things up.

  • Diaries of the Apocalypse: Tribal Week 281   9 years 3 weeks ago

    I won't be able to provide a justification, but my preference is that the regular stays as it is (ie. not mess with tribes as a whole, just with individual cards if some are too broken).

  • Diaries of the Apocalypse: Tribal Week 281   9 years 3 weeks ago

    I'm not recommending this, but to put an idea out there for diversity's sake (other than an outright ban), we could have a rule where Red, White, or Blue humans cannot constitute more than half one's tribe (even if officially playing Wizards, Clerics, Soldiers, etc.) in Regular events. As MaRo says, restraints breed creativity. If helpful, Kuma need not police the rule with new entrants or those who haven't won an event in a while.

    Don't get me wrong, I think it's "fine" as is, just wondering if it might be even better to change to this or some other restriction.

  • Diaries of the Apocalypse: Tribal Week 281   9 years 3 weeks ago

    Imho and it really is just a lowly opinion of a non-participant at this point, there isn't anything to be done that isn't already being done. There was a long stretch of time where other types dominated but Humans collectively tend to be good because there are so many of them. (The bad ones don't stand out but the good ones do.)

    I expect, Mom to eventually be hated out by the lockout rule. At least temporarily. The rest? meh.

  • Diaries of the Apocalypse: Tribal Week 281   9 years 3 weeks ago

    I was curious about Human dominance recently. Here is a list of the number of humans for each of the winning Regular events in 2016:

    0 – {Goblins}
    21 – Mono-White Aggro
    20 – Mono-White Combo Control {Clerics}
    13 – Green-red-black Control {Shamans}
    20 – Blue-white Combo Control
    20 – Mono-Red Aggro
    20 – Mono-White Aggro Control
    15 – Blue-white Combo Control {Wizards}
    27 – Mono-White Aggro
    20 – Blue Green red Combo Ramp Control

    Brackets indicate the non-human tribes involved, if any. Colors are listed with main colors capitalized. There are several different styles there. I'm not sure if that is a call to arms, but I will at least ask if there is something we should be doing...

    Here is the creature breakdown:

    12 Mother of Runes
    8 Laboratory Maniac
    8 Architects of Will
    8 Champion of the Parish
    7 Student of Warfare
    7 Meddling Mage
    5 Containment Priest
    5 Deftblade Elite
    5 Auriok Champion
    4 Boros Elite
    4 Weathered Wayfarer
    4 Cunning Sparkmage
    4 Fauna Shaman
    4 Alchemist’s Apprentice
    4 Burning-Tree Emissary
    4 Lightning Berserker
    4 Lightning Mauler
    4 Monastery Swiftspear
    4 Martyr of Sands
    4 Serra Ascendant
    4 Soulfire Grand Master
    4 Stormscape Apprentice
    4 Precinct Captain
    4 Riders of Gavony
    4 Thalia’s Lieutenant
    4 Dragon’s Eye Savants
    4 Imperial Recruiter
    4 Noble Hierarch
    4 Sage of Epityr
    3 Mardu Woe-Reaper
    3 Soldier of the Pantheon
    3 Benevolent Bodyguard
    3 Venser, Shaper Savant
    2 Rattleclaw Mystic
    2 Grim Lavamancer
    2 Keldon Marauders
    2 Eternal Witness
    1 Ethersworn Canonist
    1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang
    1 Ulvenwald Tracker
    1 Crimson Acolyte
    1 Hanweir Militia Captain
    1 Mikaeus, the Lunarch
    1 Hero of Bladehold
    1 Kytheon, Hero of Akros
    1 Dosan the Falling Leaf
    1 Omenspeaker
    1 Voidmage Prodigy

    Tasigur is the only Black-hearted human of note it seems. :)

  • Diaries of the Apocalypse: Tribal Week 281   9 years 3 weeks ago

    Don't miss the S100 birthday event tomorrow! We have triple the usual prizes and distribute until place 8. + doorprize
    Checkout http://tinyurl.com/Chainsaw-S100 for all the details.

  • Eternal Masters: Some Much Needed Therapy.   9 years 3 weeks ago

    I am so partial to the judgment art.

  • Eternal Masters: Some Much Needed Therapy.   9 years 3 weeks ago

    I have been playing Cabal Therapy in tournament decks since it was printed. It is a card that really rewards knowing a format and its archetypes. And uncommon seems fine - it I a staple card that should be widely available for Eternal formats, but I would hate to see multiples appearing in EM limited.

  • Infectious Aggro   9 years 3 weeks ago

    Good stuff!

  • State of the Program for May 20th 2016   9 years 3 weeks ago
    re

    I have been assured by an orc online that bots are not illegal per terms/agreement/conduct stuff we tag "agree" to on mtgonline.

    I asked about previous versions of those agreements, and got the reply that they are not public/available. Wotc can change rules overnight (and say they have never been different).

    I am sure the "agreements" once were worded so that it was clear that the bots in fact were illegal.

    I think the bots also today is illegal per terms and agreement, but I havent studied them. (Illegal to use other software in mtgo.)

  • State of the Program for May 20th 2016   9 years 3 weeks ago

    I thought the premise of the discussion was that mtgotraders did not want these cards. If they are paying for your crap commons then problem solved. Just sell to them.

    Cardhoarder will give you an automated quote for your collection on their website. You should check out how much your crap commons could be sold for? The automated quote does not fit well with your assumption that cherry picking is difficult.

  • State of the Program for May 20th 2016   9 years 3 weeks ago

    Have you used a buyingbot lately? They are able to cherry pick within a couple of seconds. Not rocket science and not a manual task. Transferring cards between accounts is also not a manual task.

    You take everything because the bulk commons are for free. Then you use the free cards to set up a Free card bot full of crap commons. New players will be looking for free cards and will be happy with your free bot. Hopefully, they will remember your name once they buy their constructed competitive deck.

    Another reason for taking the crap commons for free is because you hope that WotC will convert them into tix or PP down the road ;)

  • State of the Program for May 20th 2016   9 years 3 weeks ago

    Some people pointed out a portion of what I was going toward. The other thing is, they are paying for those cards. I doubt a collection buyer looks and pays the buy price for every card worth more than 0.01 and then gives that number. You may only be getting a few dollars or cents for thousands of bulk, but they are paying something for it. It is cheaper to buy that than tangle up accounts and have the cherry picking going on.