This was a hard lesson for me to learn. I am a perfectionist. They say "practice makes perfect". BS. Nobody is perfect, so we should all stop practicing (j/k).
I am sorry to hear about all of the tumult in your life right now.
Mistakes are only mistakes if you don't learn from them. Otherwise, I call them "learning opportunities". Never stop learning. It helps to acknowledge your shortcomings in a given situation.
If you need to vent or someone to talk to, feel free to email me so we don't have to air out all our dirty laundry on a MTGO thread...
This article isn't really up my alley, since I don't bother with much speculation, but I did read it. I found the explanations of cards lacking. Yes, I agree Liliana and Snapcaster Mage are gong to be extremely powerful, but you don't explain WHY they are powerful. If I were a potential speculator that was going to buy these cards based on your advice, I would want to know the reasons behind it.
They have also never banned an invitational card, and reprinted at least one of them (Meddling Mage) so I find it virtually impossible that Snapcaster would get banned.
Well you are right, but I was hearing two different things from Josh and Heath and don't know which one is telling me the truth.
This article wasn't supposed to be published.
Josh, I am sorry about your kid, there is nothing to be said there.
All I wanted was the editor to show me how to make the article more "polished" or "professional". But after hearing what is going on with you, I could understand why you would be so busy. I am currently dealing with my mom needing eye surgery because she is going blind and my dad almost died twice in the past year.
I also received recent fusion surgery on my deck. I couldn't imagine having a kid.
But I didn't mean to submit this article. I wanted to put this article on the site for the editor to look at and critique. I said that in the notes, but I pressed submit thinking that the editor doesn't look at an article if it is in it's draft phase.
I wanted my articles to be critiqued because I want them to be more for this site because this site is completely different than others since people want less text and more pictures/video. But I don't know how to do much, like how to get a decklist on here, or how to get videos online. The input here is very, um.. Microsoft based, and I work only on Mac's.
I know the article is terrible. That's the point. I wanted to just get the whole text-to-media ratio correct, and I wanted to know where to put a decklist. If it should be in the front, middle, or end.
Being seen as foolish is one thing. Being seen as unpleasant and mean is another. It is worse than being defensive. Alternate you go out of your way to alienate people. Stop that.
So you got the constructive criticism about the article. I'll leave that alone.
I actually just want to address the way you respond to feedback. In my opinion, it is not a healthy way to engage anyone, let alone the editor and your readership. Your tone is constantly defensive and should not be. People (myself included) are genuinely trying to help you with the goal of making the content of this site readable and relevant.
So, my constructive feedback for you this week is to be conscious of your tone. You are doing speculation articles. This takes balls because predictions are hard to make and there are many variables that can come to pass that make any speculation completely off base. With this in mind, you have to be willing to be wrong and to hear it from people. Otherwise you are going to respond to every single comment like a cat that is feverishly trying to scratch its way out of being cornered by dogs.
I have never tried to be anything but constructive with everyone here. The only time I was flamed on this site for anything I said, it was from you. Reflect on this a little and consider toning down your defensiveness. That is all.
I am trying to help. Not that you asked for it, but I think you have potential once you lose the defensiveness and hubris.
I do wish you well, sir. Consider this quote from Mark Twain (since you like quotes): "It is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt"
Thank you very much for the comment :)
You know, in high school I was referred to as "synthesis" and rarely my written pieces were longer than two pages XD
I was also referred to as "dictionary" because I knew english while 90% of my classmates didn't, but that's another matter...
(P.s.: Mi fa strano scrivere tra di noi in inglese XDDDDD)
(Translation: It's weird to write between us in english XDDDDD)
Whiffy...looking forward to videos this week. Watching you play classic every week is helping me convince my wife that playing magic is awesome. We compromise on what to watch night to night, and one night a week I get to catch up on all the draft and gameplay vids that I love so much (which means I have to watch Biggest Loser, Real Housewives of X, and any other reality show available) . She says you and LSV are her favorite players because you guys make it interesting...
Just a little back-slap for you from a nonplayer!!!
Nice article. I'm new, or well newly back, into MTG, and MTGO. Is there a good time to get on MTGO and play a commander game? I've never played, but really want to give it a try.
World War Z put me in the zombiepocalypse mind frame.
I actually don't mind the gatherling links as their decklist formatter is so much better.
Anyway I don't know if you know that Top8 players are actually required to submit their decklists after the tournament and that gets coupled with the matchups list you see on the right. That's a huge amount of information that gets automatically done.
That would require a big amount of time to replicate on here and, as Dave said, would just replicate informations without (I add) being nearly as useful as it's on the gatherling (due to the amount of the interlinked infos).
Yeah, I got pretty lucky to get those two cards, I like to think I was able to cut infect hard enough ;)
As for the black, as I said, I went for the "Flying Infecters" plan and black was a big part in it.
Overall I still agree on his analysys on black, anyway.
I usually tend not to run double colored cost cards off a splash color, even if they are good cards (unless they are insane but then usually if I have to splash for insane cards there was a problem during the draft...), that's why I left the rats out.
As for M1G1 I may not have been very clear on that passage but I had 3 forests and he played a 4th creature that turn (2x skimmer, sunchaser and trainee) without swinging so it wasn't enough: he would have blocked the hydra with the 4th creature I couldn't lure and my angler would have been dead.
By playing the corrupter and luring the skimmer I made so he lost a blocker, had to block the hydra anyway and the rest of the creatures would have not been enough to kill the angler, so I could take out the second skimmer and still be able to open a passage for the corrupter the following turn unless he played 2 creatures to replace the ones he lost and I didn't rip a forest.
Well, as for the trainwreck waiting to happen, normally I would agree with you but oddly enough one thing I learnt during this past year (since I returned to MODO) is how to better deal with splash colors and the RGD nixpax week confirmed it.
As long as they are not win conditions you have to rely on and they require only one colored mana you can run them out of 3-4 lands.
It will, of course, mess a bit with your mana base but as long as you don't have to run double colored cost early it's not going to matter much (see for reference my problems with the corrupter); in fact I was 90% able to cast a card of any color almost at any given time.
Anyway I agree that this draft was particular due to the fact the 2 black flying infecters were my best creatures...
I also kinda agree with the analysys you made on black, still I liked the idea of having a lot of infect points on flyers and playing without the stinger and the imp was a big hit, also adding the cobra, the souleater and the courier meant having less infecters and I lost too many times already because I needed an infecter and I kept getting normal dudes.
As for my mana curve I believed I went 7 forests 6 plains and 4 swamps because I overall needed double white later than double green.
MD should have Ichor Rats and Defiance over Scudder and probably Scourge Servant.
Also, M1G1, isn't just targetting his whole team with Angler then attacking with both guys enough even without the corrupter? Or am I missing something?
Don't worry Mmogg, i got 10 terrible cards that "could" see classic play for next article. what would a new set be without my awful possible classic cards :)
show notes, i happened to be off on wednesday, and had a chance to listen to and put in show notes for the edited cast. I dont have off every wednesday though.
Make sure when you submit that this is what you want published. Josh occasionally catches grammaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar and the too-off-color joke, but he doesn't have to edit my articles (I don't think?) very much. Try to make sure that something you submit is up to the standards that you would want readers to read (and rate).
On the plus side, the comments are as delicious this time as last time! Pretty stoked about that.
interesting, so those were the only changes you made? I feel like trygon and birds are not as good in modern as they are in classic, since there is no shop deck in modern. How was dark confidant, shock lands, and your life total?
Did I set you up? You sent me an article. It was submitted. When I get an article in the submitted box, I am under the assumption that it is to be published. I published something that I thought was final. If you do not want it to be published do not submit it.
This was a hard lesson for me to learn. I am a perfectionist. They say "practice makes perfect". BS. Nobody is perfect, so we should all stop practicing (j/k).
I am sorry to hear about all of the tumult in your life right now.
Mistakes are only mistakes if you don't learn from them. Otherwise, I call them "learning opportunities". Never stop learning. It helps to acknowledge your shortcomings in a given situation.
If you need to vent or someone to talk to, feel free to email me so we don't have to air out all our dirty laundry on a MTGO thread...
This article isn't really up my alley, since I don't bother with much speculation, but I did read it. I found the explanations of cards lacking. Yes, I agree Liliana and Snapcaster Mage are gong to be extremely powerful, but you don't explain WHY they are powerful. If I were a potential speculator that was going to buy these cards based on your advice, I would want to know the reasons behind it.
They have also never banned an invitational card, and reprinted at least one of them (Meddling Mage) so I find it virtually impossible that Snapcaster would get banned.
Well you are right, but I was hearing two different things from Josh and Heath and don't know which one is telling me the truth.
This article wasn't supposed to be published.
Josh, I am sorry about your kid, there is nothing to be said there.
All I wanted was the editor to show me how to make the article more "polished" or "professional". But after hearing what is going on with you, I could understand why you would be so busy. I am currently dealing with my mom needing eye surgery because she is going blind and my dad almost died twice in the past year.
I also received recent fusion surgery on my deck. I couldn't imagine having a kid.
But I didn't mean to submit this article. I wanted to put this article on the site for the editor to look at and critique. I said that in the notes, but I pressed submit thinking that the editor doesn't look at an article if it is in it's draft phase.
I wanted my articles to be critiqued because I want them to be more for this site because this site is completely different than others since people want less text and more pictures/video. But I don't know how to do much, like how to get a decklist on here, or how to get videos online. The input here is very, um.. Microsoft based, and I work only on Mac's.
I know the article is terrible. That's the point. I wanted to just get the whole text-to-media ratio correct, and I wanted to know where to put a decklist. If it should be in the front, middle, or end.
Being seen as foolish is one thing. Being seen as unpleasant and mean is another. It is worse than being defensive. Alternate you go out of your way to alienate people. Stop that.
So you got the constructive criticism about the article. I'll leave that alone.
I actually just want to address the way you respond to feedback. In my opinion, it is not a healthy way to engage anyone, let alone the editor and your readership. Your tone is constantly defensive and should not be. People (myself included) are genuinely trying to help you with the goal of making the content of this site readable and relevant.
So, my constructive feedback for you this week is to be conscious of your tone. You are doing speculation articles. This takes balls because predictions are hard to make and there are many variables that can come to pass that make any speculation completely off base. With this in mind, you have to be willing to be wrong and to hear it from people. Otherwise you are going to respond to every single comment like a cat that is feverishly trying to scratch its way out of being cornered by dogs.
I have never tried to be anything but constructive with everyone here. The only time I was flamed on this site for anything I said, it was from you. Reflect on this a little and consider toning down your defensiveness. That is all.
I am trying to help. Not that you asked for it, but I think you have potential once you lose the defensiveness and hubris.
I do wish you well, sir. Consider this quote from Mark Twain (since you like quotes): "It is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt"
ha ha thats awesome. kudos to yer wifey.
Thank you very much for the comment :)
You know, in high school I was referred to as "synthesis" and rarely my written pieces were longer than two pages XD
I was also referred to as "dictionary" because I knew english while 90% of my classmates didn't, but that's another matter...
(P.s.: Mi fa strano scrivere tra di noi in inglese XDDDDD)
(Translation: It's weird to write between us in english XDDDDD)
Great Job, guys.
Whiffy...looking forward to videos this week. Watching you play classic every week is helping me convince my wife that playing magic is awesome. We compromise on what to watch night to night, and one night a week I get to catch up on all the draft and gameplay vids that I love so much (which means I have to watch Biggest Loser, Real Housewives of X, and any other reality show available) . She says you and LSV are her favorite players because you guys make it interesting...
Just a little back-slap for you from a nonplayer!!!
Keep it up.
Or drunk.
Kidding.
But yea, the editor fixes your articles up a little, but he's not performing major surgery most of the time.
Great job and congratulations for your win! I really like the style of your reports, you clearly have good synthesis skills. Keep them coming! :-)
Maybe we should dress him like caylee anthony for halloween
Nice article. I'm new, or well newly back, into MTG, and MTGO. Is there a good time to get on MTGO and play a commander game? I've never played, but really want to give it a try.
World War Z put me in the zombiepocalypse mind frame.
(sarcastic voice) yup because that's josh's true intention to set up and screw writers over because he is evil that way
Well done, very informative as usual.
I actually don't mind the gatherling links as their decklist formatter is so much better.
Anyway I don't know if you know that Top8 players are actually required to submit their decklists after the tournament and that gets coupled with the matchups list you see on the right. That's a huge amount of information that gets automatically done.
That would require a big amount of time to replicate on here and, as Dave said, would just replicate informations without (I add) being nearly as useful as it's on the gatherling (due to the amount of the interlinked infos).
Thank you very much :)
Yeah, I got pretty lucky to get those two cards, I like to think I was able to cut infect hard enough ;)
As for the black, as I said, I went for the "Flying Infecters" plan and black was a big part in it.
Overall I still agree on his analysys on black, anyway.
I usually tend not to run double colored cost cards off a splash color, even if they are good cards (unless they are insane but then usually if I have to splash for insane cards there was a problem during the draft...), that's why I left the rats out.
As for M1G1 I may not have been very clear on that passage but I had 3 forests and he played a 4th creature that turn (2x skimmer, sunchaser and trainee) without swinging so it wasn't enough: he would have blocked the hydra with the 4th creature I couldn't lure and my angler would have been dead.
By playing the corrupter and luring the skimmer I made so he lost a blocker, had to block the hydra anyway and the rest of the creatures would have not been enough to kill the angler, so I could take out the second skimmer and still be able to open a passage for the corrupter the following turn unless he played 2 creatures to replace the ones he lost and I didn't rip a forest.
Well, as for the trainwreck waiting to happen, normally I would agree with you but oddly enough one thing I learnt during this past year (since I returned to MODO) is how to better deal with splash colors and the RGD nixpax week confirmed it.
As long as they are not win conditions you have to rely on and they require only one colored mana you can run them out of 3-4 lands.
It will, of course, mess a bit with your mana base but as long as you don't have to run double colored cost early it's not going to matter much (see for reference my problems with the corrupter); in fact I was 90% able to cast a card of any color almost at any given time.
Anyway I agree that this draft was particular due to the fact the 2 black flying infecters were my best creatures...
I also kinda agree with the analysys you made on black, still I liked the idea of having a lot of infect points on flyers and playing without the stinger and the imp was a big hit, also adding the cobra, the souleater and the courier meant having less infecters and I lost too many times already because I needed an infecter and I kept getting normal dudes.
As for my mana curve I believed I went 7 forests 6 plains and 4 swamps because I overall needed double white later than double green.
This is my first constructive drafting/deck building comment ever (only cause I feel comfortable here)
I agree with Odindusk... you could have totally went white and had better mana...
You got a Swarmlord AND a Hydra?
Whaddasac!!!
Good Work, Michele
MD should have Ichor Rats and Defiance over Scudder and probably Scourge Servant.
Also, M1G1, isn't just targetting his whole team with Angler then attacking with both guys enough even without the corrupter? Or am I missing something?
Don't worry Mmogg, i got 10 terrible cards that "could" see classic play for next article. what would a new set be without my awful possible classic cards :)
show notes, i happened to be off on wednesday, and had a chance to listen to and put in show notes for the edited cast. I dont have off every wednesday though.
I also catch a majority of spelling errors and grammar errors when I am not tending to a 4 year old that is out of surgery. :)
Make sure when you submit that this is what you want published. Josh occasionally catches grammaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar and the too-off-color joke, but he doesn't have to edit my articles (I don't think?) very much. Try to make sure that something you submit is up to the standards that you would want readers to read (and rate).
On the plus side, the comments are as delicious this time as last time! Pretty stoked about that.
interesting, so those were the only changes you made? I feel like trygon and birds are not as good in modern as they are in classic, since there is no shop deck in modern. How was dark confidant, shock lands, and your life total?
Did I set you up? You sent me an article. It was submitted. When I get an article in the submitted box, I am under the assumption that it is to be published. I published something that I thought was final. If you do not want it to be published do not submit it.