You know, that could be the theme of some articles of mine here on PureMTGO. I would like to try to write something here, but I was always struggling finding a good subject not already covered. Could the pshycographics and what they like best be an interesting subject enough?
My rant below about 100% Spikes pushes me in that direction too. :)
I'm going to find the time to submit something.
To briefly anwwer your question here: what about introducing him to Tribal? Lot of creatures of the same type and linear deckbuilding are very Timmy-friendly concepts. And there's enough room for Johnny too. But I'm thinking MTGO and you're probably thinking MTG, and I don't know if a Tribal experience can really work within an environment where two players meet once in a while with the same decks.
Since when being a Spike should be the ultimate goal of any MTG player? No way! Turning Timmys into 100% Spikes is like taking all the fun out of their game experience. Because it's true, 100% Spikes just have less fun. It works like that: all pro players obviously need to be Spikes (although not necessarily 100% Spikes, Jon Finkel wasn't, and a deck like Brian Selden's immortal Recurring/Survival had some of every psychographics in it, even Timmy). However, not all Spikes can become pro players. Still, they play like they should be. And they just can't. Enter frustration. Also, their deckbuilding experience is like that: "Hey, I'm trying this new killer deck that... Oh, wait, that version I'm reading here is way better and more successful. I will try that instead". So they end up playing the same decks at the same time. That's the reason I don't like pauper very much: it's a poor man Spike format. There's no so much room to be a Johnny or Timmy in pauper (Storm has been interesting for Johnny just for 5 minutes, and not in the way they play it in pauper). It's all about sheer efficiency and brutality. And it's also a solved format, like Paul Leicht once said so well. So, no room for invention = no Johnny. No room for awe = no Timmy. The result = Spikes everywhere.
When a new set comes out, players who got either a Johnny or Timmy part (or both) look at that new card like a painter seeking a new color for his canvas. Spike look at it like a hitman seeking a new type of bullet. I'm not implying this is bad, just in my opinion the Spike way is much less fun and creative, because all the dead players look the same in the end.
But it can be important (mileage varies) to develop a Spike part in any player, since it's the part that helps you making the best choices in deckbuilding and the right calls during play. It's the part that aim at winning, and like Lord Erman's story proves, losing is frustrating for Timmy (much less for Johnny, but he's there for winning some games too), just like not always winning is frustrating for 100% Spike. So, a good Spike approach can be healthy for everyone. But turning players into 100% Spikes... God, no! Please!
Hmmm, not a bad idea. Even though all he cares is making his already big creatures even more bigger (via Giant Growth, Overrun etc..), I might offer him a few new things as well.
The problem is that I have no knowledge what Timmy/Johnnies would like. Any suggestions? It should also be either Green or colorless. It would even be perfect if the card(s) would be between the Mirage - Invasion era. I don't own many cards printed later than Invasion.
Actually I never was a 100% Timmy. I was and am a Johnny/Timmy. I would despise the Llanowar Elves into Grizzly Bear into Force of Nature approach. BTW, I think your friend got a Johnny vibe too. For one, Multani is not a true Timmy card. Child of Gaea is. His sheer power is printed on the card. Timmy's heart is easily excited by that. Multani, on the other hand, can be a very poor card in the Grizzly Bear deck above (unlike Molimo, btw). It betrays the idea for a deck doing crazy things through designed interactions. It's a Johnny/Timmy card.
Maybe you should push your friend towards this realm of play too. So, like me, at each new set he will get excited over Johnny/Timmy cards like Kuldotha Forgemaster. :)
I mained 2 Shatter and left 1 one sideboard i felt 3 remove artifacts were enough. I didn't really look at the spoilers prior to the sealed event, so everything was super new and I just made a deck on how i felt. I do agree I overlooked Tumble Magnet, to be honest I dont remember why I had Ichorclaw Myr.
Things have been ok on the homefront actually. My wife is able to take a lot of time off with the combo of state/federal/work allowances and compensation. She's been pretty tired and the C-section tissue disruption is certianly nothing to be taken lightly but it hasn't been that bad.
The baby is pretty mellow and my wife is a pediatric nurse! heh so were in this with at least a little edge on most first time parents.
Of course if you're going to come to one of the Heirloom classic events this weekend is the one not to miss with the 2x prizes heh, should be some stiff competition.
That reminds me, since we're playing Classic tribal wars does that mean we use the Classic restricted list? Like, can we play single copies of Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, etc?
I have wondered at the absence of merfolk decks myself, there was one that did pretty well with a 3-1 finish I believe but that's all I've seen of the fish folk despite how potent their options are in the format.
Congrats on the your daughter!!!! Those first few months are going to be difficult with the night feedings but after that it gets much easier. My son was a smallish baby and I was nervous handling him for the first few weeks but after he started gaining some weight, I felt comfortable. Being a father is certainly a joy but will also prove to be a challenge.
Glad to see everything coming together well in this format and as I stated before, looking forward to the league. I'm going to try to make it to the event this weekend, I don't think the wife has any plans (for once :)
I'll see about getting that for you after this weekend when the first major revision will occur. So the list probably won't be ready for a couple of days after that (since it takes a lot of work to look at all the prices for 7400+ cards lol).
At that point I'll have separate lists for each rarity and hopefully that will help make the excel list building easier. Though to be honest I'm pretty excel illiterate, not that I haven't been known to figure these things out when push comes to shove.
I'm using Openoffice for the excel editing.
But ya all in all that sounds great, I'll look for you online to touch base a little more.
The problem was the format. Requiring 20 of the cards to be dragons made the rest of the deck entirely too tight. I tried it with Gamble, black tutors, etc, but it only worked when I could get a very lucky hand.
It's the same problem I'm running into trying to build Kobold Tendrils for next week XD
As always, had a lot of fun in tournament, thanks for hosting and thanks to MtgoTraders. The /join tribal is a good idea to have open, maybe some of us can get in some deck testing or even just fun games.
My first thought when reading Dragons was Dragonstorm but like Westane, I couldn't get it to work. The tribal requirement of 20 maindeck dragons was just too much to get it to work properly. I didn't try it with low cost changelings and a few dragons, perhaps that could work. Do you think players would be upset running against such a combo deck if we could get it to work?
I can help you here if you are using the entire Heirloom Pool. Contact me in game we should be both on at the same times Saturday as our events overlap.
All I need is a list of every card in excel with the card name in one column and the rarity in the next and I'll add my Coalition formula that generates the packs and send it back to you.
You only need to press F9 and it will generate a pack for you, easy as that.
I don't actually, right now I have a very rudimentary but reliable and random way of doing so, but it is time consuming unfortunately.
basically you put the entire list through a list randomizer and take the first rare/mythic the first 3 uncommons and the first 10 commons then rerandomize for the next pack. You do have to be able to tell which cards are considered which rarity under Heirloom rules (highest rarity in a legal set) http://alphabetizer.flap.tv/index.php that's the randomizer I've been using.
Congrats on the new child. I love the name. I really would like to try this format out. I will have to wait till after high school football season (Im an official). But the merfolk are calling me.
You know, that could be the theme of some articles of mine here on PureMTGO. I would like to try to write something here, but I was always struggling finding a good subject not already covered. Could the pshycographics and what they like best be an interesting subject enough?
My rant below about 100% Spikes pushes me in that direction too. :)
I'm going to find the time to submit something.
To briefly anwwer your question here: what about introducing him to Tribal? Lot of creatures of the same type and linear deckbuilding are very Timmy-friendly concepts. And there's enough room for Johnny too. But I'm thinking MTGO and you're probably thinking MTG, and I don't know if a Tribal experience can really work within an environment where two players meet once in a while with the same decks.
Since when being a Spike should be the ultimate goal of any MTG player? No way! Turning Timmys into 100% Spikes is like taking all the fun out of their game experience. Because it's true, 100% Spikes just have less fun. It works like that: all pro players obviously need to be Spikes (although not necessarily 100% Spikes, Jon Finkel wasn't, and a deck like Brian Selden's immortal Recurring/Survival had some of every psychographics in it, even Timmy). However, not all Spikes can become pro players. Still, they play like they should be. And they just can't. Enter frustration. Also, their deckbuilding experience is like that: "Hey, I'm trying this new killer deck that... Oh, wait, that version I'm reading here is way better and more successful. I will try that instead". So they end up playing the same decks at the same time. That's the reason I don't like pauper very much: it's a poor man Spike format. There's no so much room to be a Johnny or Timmy in pauper (Storm has been interesting for Johnny just for 5 minutes, and not in the way they play it in pauper). It's all about sheer efficiency and brutality. And it's also a solved format, like Paul Leicht once said so well. So, no room for invention = no Johnny. No room for awe = no Timmy. The result = Spikes everywhere.
When a new set comes out, players who got either a Johnny or Timmy part (or both) look at that new card like a painter seeking a new color for his canvas. Spike look at it like a hitman seeking a new type of bullet. I'm not implying this is bad, just in my opinion the Spike way is much less fun and creative, because all the dead players look the same in the end.
But it can be important (mileage varies) to develop a Spike part in any player, since it's the part that helps you making the best choices in deckbuilding and the right calls during play. It's the part that aim at winning, and like Lord Erman's story proves, losing is frustrating for Timmy (much less for Johnny, but he's there for winning some games too), just like not always winning is frustrating for 100% Spike. So, a good Spike approach can be healthy for everyone. But turning players into 100% Spikes... God, no! Please!
Hmmm, not a bad idea. Even though all he cares is making his already big creatures even more bigger (via Giant Growth, Overrun etc..), I might offer him a few new things as well.
The problem is that I have no knowledge what Timmy/Johnnies would like. Any suggestions? It should also be either Green or colorless. It would even be perfect if the card(s) would be between the Mirage - Invasion era. I don't own many cards printed later than Invasion.
Thanks in advance!
LE
I forgot to rate the article. :) I was an excellent read.
Actually I never was a 100% Timmy. I was and am a Johnny/Timmy. I would despise the Llanowar Elves into Grizzly Bear into Force of Nature approach. BTW, I think your friend got a Johnny vibe too. For one, Multani is not a true Timmy card. Child of Gaea is. His sheer power is printed on the card. Timmy's heart is easily excited by that. Multani, on the other hand, can be a very poor card in the Grizzly Bear deck above (unlike Molimo, btw). It betrays the idea for a deck doing crazy things through designed interactions. It's a Johnny/Timmy card.
Maybe you should push your friend towards this realm of play too. So, like me, at each new set he will get excited over Johnny/Timmy cards like Kuldotha Forgemaster. :)
I mained 2 Shatter and left 1 one sideboard i felt 3 remove artifacts were enough. I didn't really look at the spoilers prior to the sealed event, so everything was super new and I just made a deck on how i felt. I do agree I overlooked Tumble Magnet, to be honest I dont remember why I had Ichorclaw Myr.
I thought as much, just wanted confirmation. *sigh*, duly noted.
Know how to turn a Timmy into a Spike? Sideboards. 2/3 matches. It works every time.
sadly restricted cards are autobanned.
Thanks Dr,
Things have been ok on the homefront actually. My wife is able to take a lot of time off with the combo of state/federal/work allowances and compensation. She's been pretty tired and the C-section tissue disruption is certianly nothing to be taken lightly but it hasn't been that bad.
The baby is pretty mellow and my wife is a pediatric nurse! heh so were in this with at least a little edge on most first time parents.
Of course if you're going to come to one of the Heirloom classic events this weekend is the one not to miss with the 2x prizes heh, should be some stiff competition.
Mike-
That reminds me, since we're playing Classic tribal wars does that mean we use the Classic restricted list? Like, can we play single copies of Sol Ring, Mana Crypt, etc?
Hey gimlicolby,
Thanks a lot.
Be great to have you when your schedule opens up.
I have wondered at the absence of merfolk decks myself, there was one that did pretty well with a 3-1 finish I believe but that's all I've seen of the fish folk despite how potent their options are in the format.
X-
Yeah I would have been impressed if you got it to work.
Congrats on the your daughter!!!! Those first few months are going to be difficult with the night feedings but after that it gets much easier. My son was a smallish baby and I was nervous handling him for the first few weeks but after he started gaining some weight, I felt comfortable. Being a father is certainly a joy but will also prove to be a challenge.
Glad to see everything coming together well in this format and as I stated before, looking forward to the league. I'm going to try to make it to the event this weekend, I don't think the wife has any plans (for once :)
Lol I done Kobold Tendrils but that was when Necropotence was still legal as a one off.
Yeah that sounds good, let me know when you have the data.
Hey Flippers,
I'll see about getting that for you after this weekend when the first major revision will occur. So the list probably won't be ready for a couple of days after that (since it takes a lot of work to look at all the prices for 7400+ cards lol).
At that point I'll have separate lists for each rarity and hopefully that will help make the excel list building easier. Though to be honest I'm pretty excel illiterate, not that I haven't been known to figure these things out when push comes to shove.
I'm using Openoffice for the excel editing.
But ya all in all that sounds great, I'll look for you online to touch base a little more.
X-
No, because if we "did" get it to work we'd have gotten the luckiest draw of all time!
The problem was the format. Requiring 20 of the cards to be dragons made the rest of the deck entirely too tight. I tried it with Gamble, black tutors, etc, but it only worked when I could get a very lucky hand.
It's the same problem I'm running into trying to build Kobold Tendrils for next week XD
As always, had a lot of fun in tournament, thanks for hosting and thanks to MtgoTraders. The /join tribal is a good idea to have open, maybe some of us can get in some deck testing or even just fun games.
My first thought when reading Dragons was Dragonstorm but like Westane, I couldn't get it to work. The tribal requirement of 20 maindeck dragons was just too much to get it to work properly. I didn't try it with low cost changelings and a few dragons, perhaps that could work. Do you think players would be upset running against such a combo deck if we could get it to work?
Xaos
I can help you here if you are using the entire Heirloom Pool. Contact me in game we should be both on at the same times Saturday as our events overlap.
All I need is a list of every card in excel with the card name in one column and the rarity in the next and I'll add my Coalition formula that generates the packs and send it back to you.
You only need to press F9 and it will generate a pack for you, easy as that.
I never even thought of trying Dragonstorm
I don't actually, right now I have a very rudimentary but reliable and random way of doing so, but it is time consuming unfortunately.
basically you put the entire list through a list randomizer and take the first rare/mythic the first 3 uncommons and the first 10 commons then rerandomize for the next pack. You do have to be able to tell which cards are considered which rarity under Heirloom rules (highest rarity in a legal set) http://alphabetizer.flap.tv/index.php that's the randomizer I've been using.
X-
Do you have a tool that is generating the League pools? Is it something you could share with us?
Congrats on the new child. I love the name. I really would like to try this format out. I will have to wait till after high school football season (Im an official). But the merfolk are calling me.
Thanks
Steve