I believe that the increasing trend of negative EV is because Magic as a game is getting better and better. I have been playing this game for 17 years, and I am of the opinion that the quality of the game is continually on the rise (no longer in leaps and bounds like what we saw happen in the years post-Homelands, but still the quality of the game is still getting better and better in subtle ways).
As a result, Wizards (quite legitimately in my opinion) feel that they can rake more and more from us players, knowing that we will probably prefer to lessen the weight of our wallets to enjoy the formats we like. The sheer volume of people who are joining the new leagues is testament to that, as well as the fact that the Dailies are still firing with solid numbers.
However, human psychology remains what it is - we can feel cheated / disrespected / aggrieved when the EV keeps getting worse and worse. A lecturer once taught me that humans are generally happier to receive nothing, than to receive something and have it taken away. I think he is right. For me, the recent changes to Dailies have pushed me over the edge, and I am sad that Drafts are no longer cheap. I wish that Lee Sharpe never got involved in the new payout structures. Ironically, I was at first happy to hear of Lee Sharpe's appointment to his new role, only to realise later what a mess he has created.
I don't think that what Wizards are doing is unfair. I just think that it is overpriced for the entertainment value. I am sticking to casual games and Player Run Events.
What the F is a MTG-Knower?? Are you not one? Do you not bleed magic? What IS too kind? Everyone sees the circumstances of our game differently. It is one thing for you to be salty because you don't like the direction its been heading in, quite another to attack people because they don't share your exact degree of saltiness.
-- Tango Lands -- I hate this name, it is very unintuitive imho and corny to boot. (I'd probably call them Twain lands) But c'est la vie. My first impression was that it was some stupid play on "Tango & Cash" since the full art lands have been nick named "cash lands".
-- Community Cup -- The prizes seem great but I am not holding my breath with this one. The community had absolutely 0 input on who plays and will have no effect on the outcome. Since WOTC stacked the deck they will determine who wins. Faith = 0.
-- Phantom Drafts -- This failed medium is failed but as per usual the honchos are in denial. Lee's response is not surprising or shocking in anyway.
-- Leagues -- If you play Standard then this is particularly good if you have a busy schedule. An hour here, an hour there and you can keep buying in again which is cool. If you were hoping for limited Leagues stop holding your breath. I doubt they will be here any time soon (within the next year+).
--BFZ -- I am not entirely sure what to make of the set yet but it seems to be vastly improved over Zendikar itself. I am hoping the 2nd set will compliment it better than ROE did Zen.
-- Adam, Koira #1's +1 is awesome. It allows you to shut down your opponent's most troublesome creature every turn. There is no WAY Koira #2's +1 comes close to that in terms of power. The tap/untap ability is useful if tricky but it is not awesome. Just ask Ral.
-- RE: Sylvan Scrying: I am so excited that this is in. I have been hoping to get some of these for commander but they have been a little pricy so I held off.
-- RE: Akoum Hellkite: I am going to want at least one of these for my Scion of the Ur Dragon Deck.
I find myself 100% in agreement with what you just said and feel like most of my own angst over the tournament comes from shoehorns that imho dominate a weak tribe state. But I wonder if stronger tribes prevent that or if people just don't bother as much when the tribe does a lot of the heavy lifting anyway.
Not a huge fan of a proposed Underdog format that is even weaker than in its current form. The weaker the tribes, the less decks (at least the most successful ones) will rely on the tribe, and more on some combos/powerful off-tribe cards that have nothing to do with it. There will always be couple of tribes that will be the strongest no matter how much you reduce the options, so the change would not automatically make for more diverse field, just less powerful. This is also Legacy after all, and are say Berserkers/Soltari really too strong for a format where you can play all the degenerate non-creature spells? If those decks tend to dominate I propose that we make the field more powerful by including other tribes that
are less played in regular tribal, rather than turn the Underdog completely into some strange legacy format where we will be casting Giant Spiders along Swords to Plowshares.
I also like the current system with 2x Regular, Pure and Underdog. If there is any format of the three that should be set aside for an occassional specialty format, its underdog IMO, Pure is much more exciting and fun.
I've had those problems on both Firefox and Chrome. I use mostly Chrome but I actually started using Firefox as well because of this! But it's true that what has worked better for me is creating in Chrome and switching to Firefox right after.
Also don't let what Pete said about our match sway anything.
He beat me pretty good, like he had every answer, and is something like x-0 against me lifetime.
Pete is also one of the people I enjoy playing on Magic, because we always seem to have a nice conversation on the client, even if the client wants to work against you in the social aspects of the game.
I have passed this bug on to jamuraa a lot, but the programmer is kinda in a limbo right now. They started a new job with Google and free time is at a low, and we are in the middle of a site redesign that hopefully will be live by the end of the year.
I am sorry that you're having issues, I have them all the time in Firefox, and normally I switch to chrome, get my article to save some sort of text and then switch back, where there is no issue.
In the future if you need anything please feel free to email puremtgoeditor@gmail.com or find me on the facebook!
Yeah, the events are small for Vintage. They've only gotten worse, and the management doesn't seem to understand why people would be unhappy with the events.
The crazy thing is that I can ALWAYS get a match in five minutes or less in the TP room, and it's 90% tournament caliber players. Heck, I faced AustinDZ the other morning, we got to talking, and he joined our Vintage FB group. The point is that there are a lot more Vintage players than it looks like, but for some reason (PP) nobody wants to play in the events. I've seen them fail to fire, with an eight-player minimum.
Why should I pay to play with bad to marginal prizes, when I can play for free and with good players? I mean, yeah, the TP room is lacking at times, that is true, but it's mostly people learning the format who aren't the best players. Many of them will chat and learn about the format, and be a better opponent the next time. '
Would I play in a league? Again, that all depends on the prizes. I will not pay to play in any event where I deem the prizes are not worth risking an entry fee. We all paid to play already, we bought cards. I'll just spend my money on tix from MTGOTraders, or just buy singles from them. You're totally right about the automated delivery bot being awesome. I love that thing! I think it's really cool how fast it is.
Thanks for keeping us all updated about the client, this series was my first introduction to this website, and puremtgo has become my home on the internet. :D
I like Chrome. I never would have tried it, but I had the same problems you did. It is partly responsible for a multi-month gap in my articles.
All of the writers here are usually very helpful, Paul told me how to link properly. I suggest experimenting with the editor using an article or body of writing you don't mind messing with, just to see what can be done.
Don't forget you can edit and save just fine in FF and IE after you get the initial body saved. This bug has been in the books for so long now I've stopped being angry about it.
Though it has kept me from wanting to write as much since much of the spontaneity is taken away by the added steps.
It's probably what you mention - that it won't save the body when using Firefox.
I'm a Firefox purist and don't have anything else installed and haven't used another browser in years. But I hear Chrome isn't too bad, I guess I'll try that. Thanks!
It is possible BUT the chat room will not persist on your machine (it wont stay open once you exit MTGO. You will have to join it again the same way you did before.) To do it click chat and click start a new session then type in the room you want to use.
Clans get their own chat rooms. Sadly they are very rarely used.
"No Downtime this Week: After two weeks in a row of problems and issues coming out of downtime, Wizards cancelled the downtime this week while they investigated."
Actually, it was 3 weeks in a row with problems after downtime.
Caliban, what exactly is breaking for you? There is a known issue with Firefox/IE not saving the initial text. The workaround is to use a different browser to do that part, ala Chrome, Opera, Aviator, etc.
Can someone put me in touch with a site administrator? I've looked all over the site and can't find any way to directly contact them.
I have a few articles ready to go, but the "write articles" is completely broken for me and refuses to save anything (though I'm definitely logged in). It's been broken for several years, now.
Thanks for this article.
I believe that the increasing trend of negative EV is because Magic as a game is getting better and better. I have been playing this game for 17 years, and I am of the opinion that the quality of the game is continually on the rise (no longer in leaps and bounds like what we saw happen in the years post-Homelands, but still the quality of the game is still getting better and better in subtle ways).
As a result, Wizards (quite legitimately in my opinion) feel that they can rake more and more from us players, knowing that we will probably prefer to lessen the weight of our wallets to enjoy the formats we like. The sheer volume of people who are joining the new leagues is testament to that, as well as the fact that the Dailies are still firing with solid numbers.
However, human psychology remains what it is - we can feel cheated / disrespected / aggrieved when the EV keeps getting worse and worse. A lecturer once taught me that humans are generally happier to receive nothing, than to receive something and have it taken away. I think he is right. For me, the recent changes to Dailies have pushed me over the edge, and I am sad that Drafts are no longer cheap. I wish that Lee Sharpe never got involved in the new payout structures. Ironically, I was at first happy to hear of Lee Sharpe's appointment to his new role, only to realise later what a mess he has created.
I don't think that what Wizards are doing is unfair. I just think that it is overpriced for the entertainment value. I am sticking to casual games and Player Run Events.
Michelle
What the F is a MTG-Knower?? Are you not one? Do you not bleed magic? What IS too kind? Everyone sees the circumstances of our game differently. It is one thing for you to be salty because you don't like the direction its been heading in, quite another to attack people because they don't share your exact degree of saltiness.
-- Tango Lands -- I hate this name, it is very unintuitive imho and corny to boot. (I'd probably call them Twain lands) But c'est la vie. My first impression was that it was some stupid play on "Tango & Cash" since the full art lands have been nick named "cash lands".
-- Community Cup -- The prizes seem great but I am not holding my breath with this one. The community had absolutely 0 input on who plays and will have no effect on the outcome. Since WOTC stacked the deck they will determine who wins. Faith = 0.
-- Phantom Drafts -- This failed medium is failed but as per usual the honchos are in denial. Lee's response is not surprising or shocking in anyway.
-- Leagues -- If you play Standard then this is particularly good if you have a busy schedule. An hour here, an hour there and you can keep buying in again which is cool. If you were hoping for limited Leagues stop holding your breath. I doubt they will be here any time soon (within the next year+).
--BFZ -- I am not entirely sure what to make of the set yet but it seems to be vastly improved over Zendikar itself. I am hoping the 2nd set will compliment it better than ROE did Zen.
-- Adam, Koira #1's +1 is awesome. It allows you to shut down your opponent's most troublesome creature every turn. There is no WAY Koira #2's +1 comes close to that in terms of power. The tap/untap ability is useful if tricky but it is not awesome. Just ask Ral.
-- RE: Sylvan Scrying: I am so excited that this is in. I have been hoping to get some of these for commander but they have been a little pricy so I held off.
-- RE: Akoum Hellkite: I am going to want at least one of these for my Scion of the Ur Dragon Deck.
But you have to understand that when you feel a mtg-knower is way too kind in their choice of words about wotc then...
I find myself 100% in agreement with what you just said and feel like most of my own angst over the tournament comes from shoehorns that imho dominate a weak tribe state. But I wonder if stronger tribes prevent that or if people just don't bother as much when the tribe does a lot of the heavy lifting anyway.
Not a huge fan of a proposed Underdog format that is even weaker than in its current form. The weaker the tribes, the less decks (at least the most successful ones) will rely on the tribe, and more on some combos/powerful off-tribe cards that have nothing to do with it. There will always be couple of tribes that will be the strongest no matter how much you reduce the options, so the change would not automatically make for more diverse field, just less powerful. This is also Legacy after all, and are say Berserkers/Soltari really too strong for a format where you can play all the degenerate non-creature spells? If those decks tend to dominate I propose that we make the field more powerful by including other tribes that
are less played in regular tribal, rather than turn the Underdog completely into some strange legacy format where we will be casting Giant Spiders along Swords to Plowshares.
I also like the current system with 2x Regular, Pure and Underdog. If there is any format of the three that should be set aside for an occassional specialty format, its underdog IMO, Pure is much more exciting and fun.
Of all the damnable things, my car broke down :( Will be late if at all. Been waiting weeks for this, looks like I wait longer.
Lie is pretty strong.
It's ok to be disappointed with what we have, it's not okay to attack.
Agree, Leagues arent back. Jahn and WotC lie.
It's Saturday... time to announce the winner...
The winner is... nobody! Nobody submitted a deck. I will roll this prize in with next week's.
I've had those problems on both Firefox and Chrome. I use mostly Chrome but I actually started using Firefox as well because of this! But it's true that what has worked better for me is creating in Chrome and switching to Firefox right after.
Also don't let what Pete said about our match sway anything.
He beat me pretty good, like he had every answer, and is something like x-0 against me lifetime.
Pete is also one of the people I enjoy playing on Magic, because we always seem to have a nice conversation on the client, even if the client wants to work against you in the social aspects of the game.
I agree with you. These are things called leagues, but are not what we all remember and I think remember quite fondly.
Sealed leagues when they happen will be a game changer for the client, and I do believe that we will get them.
Hiya Caliban.
I have passed this bug on to jamuraa a lot, but the programmer is kinda in a limbo right now. They started a new job with Google and free time is at a low, and we are in the middle of a site redesign that hopefully will be live by the end of the year.
I am sorry that you're having issues, I have them all the time in Firefox, and normally I switch to chrome, get my article to save some sort of text and then switch back, where there is no issue.
In the future if you need anything please feel free to email puremtgoeditor@gmail.com or find me on the facebook!
I don't think leagues are back. We have continuous constructed dailies and not a word about sealed leagues - which is what I consider the real leagues
Yeah, the events are small for Vintage. They've only gotten worse, and the management doesn't seem to understand why people would be unhappy with the events.
The crazy thing is that I can ALWAYS get a match in five minutes or less in the TP room, and it's 90% tournament caliber players. Heck, I faced AustinDZ the other morning, we got to talking, and he joined our Vintage FB group. The point is that there are a lot more Vintage players than it looks like, but for some reason (PP) nobody wants to play in the events. I've seen them fail to fire, with an eight-player minimum.
Why should I pay to play with bad to marginal prizes, when I can play for free and with good players? I mean, yeah, the TP room is lacking at times, that is true, but it's mostly people learning the format who aren't the best players. Many of them will chat and learn about the format, and be a better opponent the next time. '
Would I play in a league? Again, that all depends on the prizes. I will not pay to play in any event where I deem the prizes are not worth risking an entry fee. We all paid to play already, we bought cards. I'll just spend my money on tix from MTGOTraders, or just buy singles from them. You're totally right about the automated delivery bot being awesome. I love that thing! I think it's really cool how fast it is.
Thanks for keeping us all updated about the client, this series was my first introduction to this website, and puremtgo has become my home on the internet. :D
I like Chrome. I never would have tried it, but I had the same problems you did. It is partly responsible for a multi-month gap in my articles.
All of the writers here are usually very helpful, Paul told me how to link properly. I suggest experimenting with the editor using an article or body of writing you don't mind messing with, just to see what can be done.
Best of luck!
Don't forget you can edit and save just fine in FF and IE after you get the initial body saved. This bug has been in the books for so long now I've stopped being angry about it.
Though it has kept me from wanting to write as much since much of the spontaneity is taken away by the added steps.
It's probably what you mention - that it won't save the body when using Firefox.
I'm a Firefox purist and don't have anything else installed and haven't used another browser in years. But I hear Chrome isn't too bad, I guess I'll try that. Thanks!
It is possible BUT the chat room will not persist on your machine (it wont stay open once you exit MTGO. You will have to join it again the same way you did before.) To do it click chat and click start a new session then type in the room you want to use.
Clans get their own chat rooms. Sadly they are very rarely used.
I'm still new to MTGO but is it possible to setup a chatroom? Or perhaps a clan for those interested?
I had that problem with Firefox, but it worked in Chrome--have you tried a different browser?
"No Downtime this Week: After two weeks in a row of problems and issues coming out of downtime, Wizards cancelled the downtime this week while they investigated."
Actually, it was 3 weeks in a row with problems after downtime.
Caliban, what exactly is breaking for you? There is a known issue with Firefox/IE not saving the initial text. The workaround is to use a different browser to do that part, ala Chrome, Opera, Aviator, etc.
If the link itself is breaking that's peculiar.
Can someone put me in touch with a site administrator? I've looked all over the site and can't find any way to directly contact them.
I have a few articles ready to go, but the "write articles" is completely broken for me and refuses to save anything (though I'm definitely logged in). It's been broken for several years, now.
Sorry to hijack. Great article as always, Pete.
-caliban