"stupid" (to my eyes) things about EDH and casual players in general.
It is what it is. Making comments like that is as bad as whining or griefing. Honestly, the joy of edh is that it brings all the different personality types together in one place.
If you are an excellent Magic player with an unlimited amount of time, then I will have nothing interesting for you next week. <--this is what I was replying to. :)
Well, if the mediocre player with unlimited time is a Spike, then by all means should he use that time to perfect his game. If he's a Timmy or Johnny, he should enjoy his big spells and fun combos as much as he can.
Considering the amount of cards available, I don't think playing for fun can get boring. I mean, there's always the next fun idea to test.
which is why I was careful to say "close to 1.0".
In any case, it seems more of a pedantic point to bring up than a meaningful argument. Feel free to explain otherwise.
Holy epic awkward silences! =/ Is it just me or are there gaps in the recording? Some moments, like at about 10 minutes in, I can't hear AJ at all. Perhaps some technical errors.
AFAIK Ali from Cairo was feared mainly in Grand Melee where it allowed for insane infinite combo engines involving things like Lifeforce/Deathgrip, Sleight of Mind and a zillion other cards.
There are quite a lot of ways to make commander an odious experience. My experience so far is that 90% of the players online do not care. You named some of the most popular cards in the format. I agree about Hokori. I quit a game after trying repeatedly to get rid of him (9x or so) and having no luck. My other opponents also quit when I did. I hope the guy running him got the message I believe he did not since he didn't seem to understand when I cited the "Social Contract" to him. I think he was quite put off that we ditched him but imho that was the kindest thing done at that table.
IMHO disk is a necessary evil. So is Oblivion Stone. Academy Ruins + Mindslaver is evil But so is eternal witness + naya charm + mindslaver + volrath's stronghold. There are lots of ways of making Mindslaver ruin a game for everyone.
Rites of Replication + certain allies, Reaper King etc are also ways to make the game feel like a waste of time. It seems to me that online there is only one solution to games like this. Do not participate. If you do you are obliged to take whatever your opponents can throw at you and that means them wasting your time if they feel like it.
EDH/Commander is a sophisticated application of the game with very particular rules and specifications. Those who dabble in it are dilettantes playing with fire. To enjoy it you need a group of like minded people and that usually means more work than people want to put into an online game. Particularly magic, reknown among games for being relatively quick and not too hard on the brain cells at the lowest common denominator. That isn't to say other formats aren't sophisticated but outside of grand melee I have seldom seen more complex games than a commander game in full swing with no one having a clear advantage.
This means you are GOING to run into spoiler decks and haters. People who play to grief or simply stop everything they can. Combos that instawin are going to be common and people will be rude about them on both sides.
It is a shame this is so, because I really want to love this format. It is a lot of fun to build for and new ideas are always coming to my attention in it. I see lots of different strategies shown uncommon respect (because they often are seen as bad in normal magic, like stream of life type spells for 100x.)
I still look forward to that one game that is so memorable and fun that no future game can mar or match it. I wait and keep building, being more optimistic than I can rationally justify.
a person guessing at the answer has just as good of a chance of getting the question right as the person who knows the information. Using the previous example, I could easily circle 15 because I know it, but in a testing pool of 500 people, someone else is bound to also pick 15 out of random chance.
^^ I have no idea what you're saying here. Of course someone with knowledge has an advantage over guessers. Even though they have a 20% of getting the question right, if you are familiar with the knowledge/material, then you will have a much higher than 20% of getting the answer right.
I think there are some good examples of bad questions, but in my mind, 1-3 are not linking questions. Regardless of color, a 3/1 with lifelink, haste is way too boring to be Rare (regardless color), and a bit too overpowered to be Common. Now, if you know the creature is supposed to be Black, then the answer is a little easier, because Black doesn't get nearly anything that good at Common.
And you failed at explaining why you got the question wrong. You got it wrong because you didn't realize that putting haste in White and lifelink in Red are just simple no-nos and thus both options should have been eliminated immediately.
Obviously, Devastating Summons is NOT a Johnny card, which is why it is the correct answer. The cards is about as Spikey as you can make a card: aggressive casting-cost, makes you do something that would make you probably want to jump of a cliff instead if you're a Timmy, and the card is only useful for winning the game in an all-in fashion.
And whether you like it or not, Rosewater has written many times about Clone being a Johnny card. If Body Double is a Johnny/Spike card, then clone can easily fill a Johnny role.
obviously you have no idea what a short answer is. its not fill in the blank. how is a computer supposed to figure out sentences and such
and then grade them on content?
Another five-star entry. One thing I'd like to point out is that even though this match was a replay of a game from before the Alara rotation, all the cards present are still Standard legal. So while I initially thought this would be "old news," it's still entirely relevant. Keep up the good work!
he's sitting large at the top of a successful company and I guarantee you even the shit he does sit in on is by committee and not a dictatorship. you can't believe for a second that he personally wrote the program that grades these
Good stuff. Some of these guys are powerful, but not game breaking powerful. All of them are playable though, and would probably be included in just about any deck that plays those colors. Which probably means they are too good, but I don't care: I want them anyway.
How long do you think it would take him to write a computer program to grade the short answer questions then? I'm pretty sure that's what he used for the multiple choice test.
I never have any trouble finding casual games, but then I have a pretty prolific friends list for the format atm, let me know if you're inclined and I'll send you an updated friends list.
Hopefully more people will start using the heirloom room but you can't rely on that unfortunately yet.
Hey guys, thanks for the kind comments. Yep took a lot of time but I am happy how it turned out aside from a few minor things.
To be more specific to those who want to dabble with the html in their articles:
to center something in html you can use something called positioning. This is done with css. (You can also use the simpler but wrong/and may not work in all browsers method of <center> item </center>
The way css works is it gives an instruction to the browser to format anything with a given style attribute or class attribute. So
either within <style> tags or in the tag of the element you want such as <div style=""> you put your css information as follows:
for classes: (inside the style tag)
.myStyle {position:relative; top: 5px; left:25px;}
then in the container element you put class='myStyle'
so <div class='myStyle'> Some Stuff here <div>
renders a box with stuff (like a list etc) in it at a point 5px below the item above it and 25px to the left of the left margin of the page. It gets quickly more complicated than that but this is the simplest I can explain this. To do it inline just replace class='' with style='position:relative;top:5px;left:25px' inside the div tag and it will be in the same place.
I can't really commment on the GDS issues, as I haven't followed it all, but as a special educator, diagnostician, and specialist in school psychology, I do want to comment on this:
This is exactly why, as special education teachers, we have stopped using IQ tests.
Other than California, every state I have worked in or received reports from uses IQ tests as part of a diagnostic battery for determining special education eligibility. Someone claiming to be a special education teacher not knowing that saddens me, as it would indicate you either ignore or never read their eligibility reports (assuming of course that you don't live in CA or another state that operates similarly).
IQ tests have been shown to be subjective and dependent on relationships between the examinee and the tester, which makes them, inherently, invalid.
Simply untrue of modern IQ tests.
Lastly, as a special education teacher I will NEVER support IQ tests due to their history of being used to discriminate, segregate, and abuse minorities and those with disabilities.
So, because a tool was abused by PEOPLE to discriminate, segregate, and abuse people (which did happen. I am not disputing that IQ testing results were horribly misused for decades to maintain the status quo and oppress minorities), you would ignore it's potential to offer insight to help to understand how a student thinks/learns?
Thx for your nice words & the advice. :)
See you in the battlefield. I think we haven't played each other this season yet.
Greetings. Fliebana
"stupid" (to my eyes) things about EDH and casual players in general.
It is what it is. Making comments like that is as bad as whining or griefing. Honestly, the joy of edh is that it brings all the different personality types together in one place.
If you are an excellent Magic player with an unlimited amount of time, then I will have nothing interesting for you next week. <--this is what I was replying to. :)
..came back for doing some research!
This latter point is absolutely true.
Well, if the mediocre player with unlimited time is a Spike, then by all means should he use that time to perfect his game. If he's a Timmy or Johnny, he should enjoy his big spells and fun combos as much as he can.
Considering the amount of cards available, I don't think playing for fun can get boring. I mean, there's always the next fun idea to test.
LE
which is why I was careful to say "close to 1.0".
In any case, it seems more of a pedantic point to bring up than a meaningful argument. Feel free to explain otherwise.
Holy epic awkward silences! =/ Is it just me or are there gaps in the recording? Some moments, like at about 10 minutes in, I can't hear AJ at all. Perhaps some technical errors.
Fun looking decks, grats on another win. :)
RE: Next--> what if you're a mediocre player with unlimited time?
AFAIK Ali from Cairo was feared mainly in Grand Melee where it allowed for insane infinite combo engines involving things like Lifeforce/Deathgrip, Sleight of Mind and a zillion other cards.
There are quite a lot of ways to make commander an odious experience. My experience so far is that 90% of the players online do not care. You named some of the most popular cards in the format. I agree about Hokori. I quit a game after trying repeatedly to get rid of him (9x or so) and having no luck. My other opponents also quit when I did. I hope the guy running him got the message I believe he did not since he didn't seem to understand when I cited the "Social Contract" to him. I think he was quite put off that we ditched him but imho that was the kindest thing done at that table.
IMHO disk is a necessary evil. So is Oblivion Stone. Academy Ruins + Mindslaver is evil But so is eternal witness + naya charm + mindslaver + volrath's stronghold. There are lots of ways of making Mindslaver ruin a game for everyone.
Rites of Replication + certain allies, Reaper King etc are also ways to make the game feel like a waste of time. It seems to me that online there is only one solution to games like this. Do not participate. If you do you are obliged to take whatever your opponents can throw at you and that means them wasting your time if they feel like it.
EDH/Commander is a sophisticated application of the game with very particular rules and specifications. Those who dabble in it are dilettantes playing with fire. To enjoy it you need a group of like minded people and that usually means more work than people want to put into an online game. Particularly magic, reknown among games for being relatively quick and not too hard on the brain cells at the lowest common denominator. That isn't to say other formats aren't sophisticated but outside of grand melee I have seldom seen more complex games than a commander game in full swing with no one having a clear advantage.
This means you are GOING to run into spoiler decks and haters. People who play to grief or simply stop everything they can. Combos that instawin are going to be common and people will be rude about them on both sides.
It is a shame this is so, because I really want to love this format. It is a lot of fun to build for and new ideas are always coming to my attention in it. I see lots of different strategies shown uncommon respect (because they often are seen as bad in normal magic, like stream of life type spells for 100x.)
I still look forward to that one game that is so memorable and fun that no future game can mar or match it. I wait and keep building, being more optimistic than I can rationally justify.
a person guessing at the answer has just as good of a chance of getting the question right as the person who knows the information. Using the previous example, I could easily circle 15 because I know it, but in a testing pool of 500 people, someone else is bound to also pick 15 out of random chance.
^^ I have no idea what you're saying here. Of course someone with knowledge has an advantage over guessers. Even though they have a 20% of getting the question right, if you are familiar with the knowledge/material, then you will have a much higher than 20% of getting the answer right.
I think there are some good examples of bad questions, but in my mind, 1-3 are not linking questions. Regardless of color, a 3/1 with lifelink, haste is way too boring to be Rare (regardless color), and a bit too overpowered to be Common. Now, if you know the creature is supposed to be Black, then the answer is a little easier, because Black doesn't get nearly anything that good at Common.
And you failed at explaining why you got the question wrong. You got it wrong because you didn't realize that putting haste in White and lifelink in Red are just simple no-nos and thus both options should have been eliminated immediately.
Obviously, Devastating Summons is NOT a Johnny card, which is why it is the correct answer. The cards is about as Spikey as you can make a card: aggressive casting-cost, makes you do something that would make you probably want to jump of a cliff instead if you're a Timmy, and the card is only useful for winning the game in an all-in fashion.
And whether you like it or not, Rosewater has written many times about Clone being a Johnny card. If Body Double is a Johnny/Spike card, then clone can easily fill a Johnny role.
obviously you have no idea what a short answer is. its not fill in the blank. how is a computer supposed to figure out sentences and such
and then grade them on content?
Another five-star entry. One thing I'd like to point out is that even though this match was a replay of a game from before the Alara rotation, all the cards present are still Standard legal. So while I initially thought this would be "old news," it's still entirely relevant. Keep up the good work!
he's sitting large at the top of a successful company and I guarantee you even the shit he does sit in on is by committee and not a dictatorship. you can't believe for a second that he personally wrote the program that grades these
Good stuff. Some of these guys are powerful, but not game breaking powerful. All of them are playable though, and would probably be included in just about any deck that plays those colors. Which probably means they are too good, but I don't care: I want them anyway.
I agree that one of the funny things about this article is that many of the critiques of the questions display a lack of Magic design knowledge.
How long do you think it would take him to write a computer program to grade the short answer questions then? I'm pretty sure that's what he used for the multiple choice test.
I never have any trouble finding casual games, but then I have a pretty prolific friends list for the format atm, let me know if you're inclined and I'll send you an updated friends list.
Hopefully more people will start using the heirloom room but you can't rely on that unfortunately yet.
X-
omg.. Devastating Summons is a Johnny card? lol.. right... Rosewater is a retard...
Hey guys, thanks for the kind comments. Yep took a lot of time but I am happy how it turned out aside from a few minor things.
To be more specific to those who want to dabble with the html in their articles:
to center something in html you can use something called positioning. This is done with css. (You can also use the simpler but wrong/and may not work in all browsers method of <center> item </center>
The way css works is it gives an instruction to the browser to format anything with a given style attribute or class attribute. So
either within <style> tags or in the tag of the element you want such as <div style=""> you put your css information as follows:
for classes: (inside the style tag)
.myStyle {position:relative; top: 5px; left:25px;}
then in the container element you put class='myStyle'
so <div class='myStyle'> Some Stuff here <div>
renders a box with stuff (like a list etc) in it at a point 5px below the item above it and 25px to the left of the left margin of the page. It gets quickly more complicated than that but this is the simplest I can explain this. To do it inline just replace class='' with style='position:relative;top:5px;left:25px' inside the div tag and it will be in the same place.
Hope that helps without being too confusing.
I would suggest joining the Heirloom League, which just started today if you're looking to play, well in a league with a low cost of entry.
I cannot imagine the time invested in this. Great work Paul. Makes me very interested to try and dip my toes into the format.
Same amount of time it takes him to grade the multiple choice ones because I guarantee he doesn't do it himself lol
I can't really commment on the GDS issues, as I haven't followed it all, but as a special educator, diagnostician, and specialist in school psychology, I do want to comment on this:
This is exactly why, as special education teachers, we have stopped using IQ tests.
Other than California, every state I have worked in or received reports from uses IQ tests as part of a diagnostic battery for determining special education eligibility. Someone claiming to be a special education teacher not knowing that saddens me, as it would indicate you either ignore or never read their eligibility reports (assuming of course that you don't live in CA or another state that operates similarly).
IQ tests have been shown to be subjective and dependent on relationships between the examinee and the tester, which makes them, inherently, invalid.
Simply untrue of modern IQ tests.
Lastly, as a special education teacher I will NEVER support IQ tests due to their history of being used to discriminate, segregate, and abuse minorities and those with disabilities.
So, because a tool was abused by PEOPLE to discriminate, segregate, and abuse people (which did happen. I am not disputing that IQ testing results were horribly misused for decades to maintain the status quo and oppress minorities), you would ignore it's potential to offer insight to help to understand how a student thinks/learns?