• State of the Program - March 26th 2009   15 years 13 weeks ago
    Hi! It's really not too bad at all, but I haven't had much time for programming/DBA work in the past couple of months. I've actually started working on rebuilding those queries for my new DB structure and should have them back next week (if things go even remotely well). Also, I should have a side by side chart with Standard, Extended, Classic and Legacy as well. :)
  • Basics of Drafting - Cutting Colors   15 years 13 weeks ago

    The most glaring part about the draft was how 3-5 players seemed to be fighting over Green. Considering how often there is only 1 or 2 players at the table drafting Green and they end up getting stomped on, it really reveals a lot about the skill-level of the draft.

    While it is true that cutting Black hard in the first pack may have helped in getting all those Disfigures passed to you in the second pack, it is clear that no one was playing Black because of the plethora of first-pickable Black cards being shipped to you in the first and third packs.

    Moreover, it looked like from the match summaries, that no one was playing Black at all. Yet a lot of people were splashing Green . . .

    I'm sure any experienced player would rather splash for 2-3 Disfigures over CC Green cards. Think about the players in the second pack. Okay you see a Marauder and decide not to take it, but man, when you see a Disfigure, I think most players would decide to gamble that Black may be open (considering that his or her current splash color can't be any good at this point). And then when you see a 2nd Disfigure passed to you, you know Black is open. So for this player to ignore Black isn't a good sign of his or her skill-level.

    And of course someone grabbed the Fetchland, which I guess you could argue that it supports some Green landfall strategies, is most likely a Rare Draft, since they can't use it for the 2nd color.

    Pete, you write good articles, and I'm a fan. But what did you expect with a write-up like this? Triple Marauder, Triple Disfigure, and a host of aggressive 1-drops: maybe you could pull this off on Release Day on MTGO, but seriously, after about a week later, people wised up, and the Mono-Red and Mono-Black decks were a thing of the past.

    What do you think would have happened if you decided to "CUT RED" and stick to it till the death? Probably a crash and burn =/

  • State of the Program - March 26th 2009   15 years 13 weeks ago
    I'll ask the same question that I did last week... what could I add that would provide value to you? What is it that you're expecting from this article that you're not getting? What do you expect from this article series in general? I can't help if I don't know what's wrong. :/
  • State of the Program - March 26th 2009   15 years 13 weeks ago

    Roflmao

  • Deck Divination 9: A Blight of Red Amongst a Field of Black   15 years 13 weeks ago

    Context of course is everything :) As I said super efficient and or with other benefits/modes. Wildfire is crazy efficient as a sweeper and ld rolled into one and Strip Mine is free, and can tap for mana. Bounce for tempo setbacks isn't quite the same thing but yeah that is also multiuse. Sinkhole was super efficient. It helps to read the whole sentence. :D

  • 1020 in 2010, part 3 (#30-46): The Ones That Even WotC Thinks Are Pretty Good   15 years 13 weeks ago

    if you are lagging on mtgo at this point sadly it may be time to purchase a new computer

  • Deck Divination 9: A Blight of Red Amongst a Field of Black   15 years 13 weeks ago

    lol, sadly the quotes of anonymous simply will be attributed some sad sad fattie in his mom's basement who does not have the balls or motivation to actually post under a real name...

  • Deck Divination 9: A Blight of Red Amongst a Field of Black   15 years 13 weeks ago

    tardfenix strikes again. you need to get hit by a car immediately. (see tardfenix re: hoarding)

  • 1020 in 2010, part 3 (#30-46): The Ones That Even WotC Thinks Are Pretty Good   15 years 13 weeks ago

    Id settle for T: Reduce lag by 50%. This effect does not end at EOT.

  • 1020 in 2010, part 3 (#30-46): The Ones That Even WotC Thinks Are Pretty Good   15 years 13 weeks ago

    tsunami....of ignorance perhaps.

  • State of the Program - March 26th 2009   15 years 13 weeks ago

    Hi Hamtastic

    I realise you're busy, but one thing I really used to value in your articles was the comparison of the value of draft sets (eg EV of M10M10M10 compared to ALA/CON/ARB etc etc).

    Is this really difficult to produce, as I always used to use this to decide which draft to jump into. I only play Drafts and Momir, so the expected resale value of rares I draft are the main thing I look at when deciding which format to draft! :-)

    Other than that, thanks for another good article.

  • State of the Program - March 26th 2009   15 years 13 weeks ago

    Last article I was disappointed, this time I am smiling. It takes a real man to apologize for something intentionally or unintentionally. Kudos to you for doing the right thing and not coming back with some type of screw you article.

    The community as always thanks you for your contributions to this site and the game.

  • State of the Program - March 26th 2009   15 years 13 weeks ago

    provided little value, and the community jumped up and said they liked them. So I admit that I may be the minority here.

  • State of the Program - March 26th 2009   15 years 13 weeks ago

    Same here, all the lifetime points on my accounts are halved.

  • State of the Program - March 26th 2009   15 years 13 weeks ago

    Here's the non-cutoff version of the infobot chart: http://www.mtgo.biz/usage.php5?&bot=infotbot&y=8&x=month

    I find the yearly chart even more interesting: http://www.mtgo.biz/usage.php5?&bot=infotbot&y=8&x=year
    The yearly chart clearly shows an overall pattern of play spiking at new set releases then slowly decaying until the next release. Then there is a clearly weekly pattern on top of that. Classic set releases seem to have little impact. We now look to have as many players at the bottom of the curve (just before a new set) as we had during the release less than a year ago.

  • State of the Program - March 26th 2009   15 years 13 weeks ago

    you're saying everyone playing in the casual room or the multi room are failed magic players?

  • State of the Program - March 26th 2009   15 years 13 weeks ago

    ok, so i got my summary in email today and my lifetime points were shaved in half! did anyone else see something like this? obv an error, and i have contact wotc, but geeezzz, how about that for a wake up!

  • State of the Program - March 26th 2009   15 years 13 weeks ago

    It's going to be rough going for classic for a while - but that's ok. Esecially for the first little while before the excitement of finally haveing Legacy online wears off (that's not sayingLegacy will have any problems, just the OMG! LEGACY! feeling won't stick around forever)

    There is one other thing going for classic...The Classic Challenge PE format, at 24 man with a 6 tix entry has incredible value. It's almost exactly the same payout as before, execpt with a lower threshold and a lower cost, and the payout is down to the 16th man

  • Fun with Vanguard #27: Quest for Ula's Temple   15 years 13 weeks ago

    haha true

    In my experience, the deck comes together and wins about half the time, and either misfires or is disrupted the other half the time. To me, that's exactly what a casual deck should look like.

  • State of the Program - March 26th 2009   15 years 13 weeks ago

    Most of the cas cas room along with the multi room, as MELKOR would say, are failed magic players..
    They arent stuck in habit, but do not even know what legacy is...... more than half the players in casual are playing LEGACY decks in CLASSIC..

  • State of the Program - March 26th 2009   15 years 13 weeks ago

    I don't want to keep going on about the will Classic die thing, but just noticing in casual room theres very few legacy games.. I think, for awhile any ways, people will keep playing classic in casual just out of the habbit of startin a game and changing format to classic.. the tourny scene maybe much different, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see

  • Deck Divination 9: A Blight of Red Amongst a Field of Black   15 years 13 weeks ago

    I've seen LSV play the weekend challenge, and I'd be willing to bet a bunch of other pros have as well. Pros like prizes and the weekend challenges have some of the best MTGO has to offer.

  • Deck Divination 9: A Blight of Red Amongst a Field of Black   15 years 13 weeks ago

    Just Sin thanks

  • Deck Divination 9: A Blight of Red Amongst a Field of Black   15 years 13 weeks ago

    ok palin may have been a stretch, but stretching an argument to its most abstract point to make an argument is not a good idea...and i dont know about Izzo...but then i also dont know if the players get to watch the ESPN Halftime report which was where the comments were made

  • Deck Divination 9: A Blight of Red Amongst a Field of Black   15 years 13 weeks ago

    Shard... that's a bit harsh. Seriously ...Palin?! And Izzo might be playing Jackson-esque mind games to make his team respond.