Magic the Gathering Appreciation Station

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Sickening: Jul 16, 2007; Black summer was the best summer.

Entropic posted:

Don't worry I'm sure they'll put up $12 phantom drafts at some point

They are already in.

# ? Mar 22, 2017 22:09

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# ? Jun 8, 2024 01:05

ThePeavstenator: Dec 18, 2012; Establish the Buns

Cactrot posted:

But they've already set the precedent of having cards be legal in their respective formats when they're released.

But I suppose they've also set the precedent of not fixing mistakes, so it's kind of a tossup.

Software Development post, sorry if you are one, I don't keep track of who does what in here:

Most (agile) modern development cycles are going to involve set periods of work. The team will rate pieces of work on how long they should take and then it's up to management to prioritize it. Then at the end of that period of work, the tasks are re-prioritized, finished tasks are reviewed, etc. It protects the dev team from being overloaded with work and helps managers prioritize work as well as understand how much they can do with their current resources.

If you start violating the agreed upon volume of work a team can do, you basically defeat the purpose of doing agile. I'm not saying that customers shouldn't expect cards to be working when the set comes out.

e:

As for the not fixing mistakes thing that would have more to do with new cards being always prioritized over everything else. I don't think the devs actually writing MODO are the problem.

ThePeavstenator fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Mar 22, 2017

# ? Mar 22, 2017 22:18

Entropic: Feb 21, 2007; patriarchy sucks

I want so badly to see the Katamari Damacy of spaghetti code that must comprise MTGO's rules engine with all the hacks and bodges to keep up to date over the last decade and a half.

# ? Mar 22, 2017 22:22

Hellsau: Jan 14, 2010; NEVER FUCKING TAKE A NIGHT OFF CLAN WARS.

Entropic posted:

I want so badly to see the Katamari Damacy of spaghetti code that must comprise MTGO's rules engine with all the hacks and bodges to keep up to date over the last decade and a half.

it turns out Kaladesh is actually the home plane of the MTGO source code, that's why there's so many gremlins

# ? Mar 22, 2017 22:27

Kalli: Jun 2, 2001

Entropic posted:

I want so badly to see the Katamari Damacy of spaghetti code that must comprise MTGO's rules engine with all the hacks and bodges to keep up to date over the last decade and a half.

I was catching up on this thread awhile ago and someone mentioned that colorless cards that cost 11 were showing up as black in the sort which was pretty funny.

My suspicion is that somewhere a variable is setup that is storing that cost as in memory to hex, where numbers would be (depending on many things):

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F

Then whatever they have doing the sort parsing is seeing a B and treating it as black.

It could also be anything else, but it'd be funny as hell if that's the cause.

# ? Mar 22, 2017 22:29

Entropic: Feb 21, 2007; patriarchy sucks

Kalli posted:

I was catching up on this thread awhile ago and someone mentioned that colorless cards that cost 11 were showing up as black in the sort which was pretty funny.

My suspicion is that somewhere a variable is setup that is storing that cost as in memory to hex, where numbers would be:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F

Then whatever they have doing the sort parsing is seeing a B and treating it as black.

It could also be anything else, but it'd be funny as hell if that's the cause.

There was a bug recently where the card Cowardice would cause endless dice-rolling at the start of the game if it was in your deck, forcing a draw. People were theorizing it could be because there's a function somewhere called dice() or rdice() and the name of the card is somehow being parsed as code.

Which, if true, holy hell. :psyduck:

# ? Mar 22, 2017 22:33

Cactrot: Jan 11, 2001; Go Go Cactus Galactus

ThePeavstenator posted:

DEV STUFF

Once again, anyone casually imagining how MTGO development could work has given it more thought than the people actually doing it.

# ? Mar 22, 2017 22:36

Orange Fluffy Sheep: Jul 26, 2008; Bad EXP received

Kalli posted:

I was catching up on this thread awhile ago and someone mentioned that colorless cards that cost 11 were showing up as black in the sort which was pretty funny.

My suspicion is that somewhere a variable is setup that is storing that cost as in memory to hex, where numbers would be (depending on many things):

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F

Then whatever they have doing the sort parsing is seeing a B and treating it as black.

It could also be anything else, but it'd be funny as hell if that's the cause.

That doesn't even make sense because there's a 0.

# ? Mar 22, 2017 22:38

Kalli: Jun 2, 2001

Entropic posted:

There was a bug recently where the card Cowardice would cause endless dice-rolling at the start of the game if it was in your deck, forcing a draw. People were theorizing it could be because there's a function somewhere called dice() or rdice() and the name of the card is somehow being parsed as code.

Which, if true, holy hell.

Is slice and dice online? I presume Invoke prejudice isn't.

Cactrot posted:

Once again, anyone casually imagining how MTGO development could work has given it more thought than the people actually doing it.

Oh no, no, I'm sure their devs have put a ton of thought into it. It's just a project that is suffering from like 15 year old design decisions and an endless parade of new mechanics and new devs trying to shoehorn them in without being able to change aspects of that core design or whatever kludges previous devs made to get their problem of the day working.

Once you slip on that development, either by improper design, understaffing or brain drain it becomes an impossible to fix problem unless you give up and re-write it which I'm sure they've been crying about since forever.

# ? Mar 22, 2017 22:41

Entropic: Feb 21, 2007; patriarchy sucks

Kalli posted:

Is slice and dice online? I presume Invoke prejudice isn't.

Slice and Dice didn't trigger it.

Kalli posted:

Oh no, no, I'm sure their devs have put a ton of thought into it. It's just a project that is suffering from like 15 year old design decisions and an endless parade of new mechanics and new devs trying to shoehorn them in without being able to change aspects of that core design or whatever kludges previous devs made to get their problem of the day working.

Once you slip on that development, either by improper design, understaffing or brain drain it becomes an impossible to fix problem unless you give up and re-write it which I'm sure they've been crying about since forever.

It really seems like they've had to hack so many things in because of unanticipated requirements that they've ended up with a system where certain things somehow have to be manually bodged in on a card-by-card basis without the ability to make a global rule that handles a certain kind of ability on all cards.

The thing that blows my mind is when they have bugs where one printing of a card is broken but another isn't. That just raises so many terrible questions.

# ? Mar 22, 2017 22:47

Fuzzy Mammal: Aug 15, 2001; Lipstick Apathy

They don't have devs they have random c# contractors and qa they get from trolling lgs's and craigslit.

# ? Mar 22, 2017 22:48

Entropic: Feb 21, 2007; patriarchy sucks

It's impossible to pin mtgo's woes on any one thing, it's a combination of bad management, understaffing, 15 years of duct tape code, and the fact that they're located right next to Microsoft, Amazon, etc. but don't offer competitive programmer salaries.

# ? Mar 22, 2017 23:00

KillarySwank: Jun 24, 2013; Lemon Flavoured

Entropic posted:

It's impossible to pin mtgo's woes on any one thing, it's a combination of bad management, understaffing, 15 years of duct tape code, and the fact that they're located right next to Microsoft, Amazon, etc. but don't offer competitive programmer salaries.

I don't think they really have a reason to, right? They're still generating a ton of profit off of something they're putting minimal effort into.

# ? Mar 22, 2017 23:02

Kalli: Jun 2, 2001

The MTGO staff are probably standard game devs, ranging from excellent to terrible, so desperate to work on games that they eat lovely salaries and situations because vidya games.

It sucks that companies abuse the hell out of those people, but there's no shock the salaries suck. You can get an infinite number of applicants for any game dev job, because nobody wants to write medical systems software, they just want to be paid a lot of money and work not-ridiculous hours.

KillarySwank posted:

I don't think they really have a reason to, right? They're still generating a ton of profit off of something they're putting minimal effort into.

I think there's something to Wizards not wanting it be too in the forefront due to them worried about cutting into the physical market, but man is MTGO a buggy pile.

Kalli fucked around with this message at 23:07 on Mar 22, 2017

# ? Mar 22, 2017 23:03

gwrtheyrn: Oct 21, 2010; AYYYE DEEEEE DUBBALYOO DA-NYAAAAAH!

Kalli posted:

The MTGO staff are probably standard game devs, ranging from excellent to terrible, so desperate to work on games that they eat lovely salaries and situations because vidya games.

Not to mention bungie, valve, and arenanet are all in the area

# ? Mar 22, 2017 23:10

Lottery of Babylon: Apr 25, 2012; STRAIGHT TROPIN'

Kalli posted:

I think there's something to Wizards not wanting it be too in the forefront due to them worried about cutting into the physical market, but man is MTGO a buggy pile.

Wizards continues to be the only company in the world to view "If we offer a product people want, people might actually buy it" as a problem to be avoided.

# ? Mar 22, 2017 23:14

Minority Deport: Mar 28, 2010

Entropic posted:

The thing that blows my mind is when they have bugs where one printing of a card is broken but another isn't. That just raises so many terrible questions.

IIRC, the reason for that is that each given version of each given card is, itself, its own object. There's nothing that says "this is Naturalize, pull down the text from Naturalize;" they have to manually copy/paste it in each time a new version of a card comes out. We already know that there isn't anything that says "this creature has flying," they just insert the bit of code that says "flying" on each card; that's why the Archetypes from Theros were a nightmare and a half to put in. They had to manually pull up every single card that has or can grant flying and insert a "not if Archetype of Imagination is on the field" line in there.

So the reason why one version of a card was broken while the other isn't is simple. Whoever was setting up the broken version messed up the copy/paste.

# ? Mar 22, 2017 23:44

GoutPatrol: Oct 17, 2009; *Stupid Babby*

C-Euro posted:

I built a RG Splendid Reclamation deck that runs Seismic Assault but I'm scared to take it to FNM because it falls over to any GY hate. That said I have seen a couple Swans decks over the years, I'd be tempted to build SO's "non-budget" version but all the cards that I need are the expensive ones so RIP

I won a GPT at my store with it. It depends on what hate you see. If people are playing Cage, it doesn't stop you. I also had Primeval Titan to shift into a regular Valakut ramp deck if they went after my graveyard.

# ? Mar 23, 2017 00:15

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

I don't know anything about developing software or games, so here's my hot take:

I don't really have one because my background is in visual art and rhetoric so I don't know what to comment on. But, uh, MODO is something I use only because I have to, not because I want to.

# ? Mar 23, 2017 00:23

Angry Grimace: Jul 29, 2010; ACTUALLY IT IS VERY GOOD THAT THE SHOW IS BAD AND ANYONE WHO DOESN'T REALIZE WHY THAT'S GOOD IS AN IDIOT. JUST ENJOY THE BAD SHOW INSTEAD OF THINKING.

Fun fact: MODO drafts are up for MM3, but the value is a lot weirder than in paper: Scalding Tarn is the only fetch worth more than 10 tix; Verdant is second at 8 tix. Griselbrand is the third most expensive card because ???

# ? Mar 23, 2017 00:33

bigperm: Jul 10, 2001; some obscure reference

Land chat - I found a dropbox folder with tons of alt/proxy cards ranging from disgusting anime stuff to really gorgeous full art versions of cards. Some of the basic lands were incredible. I wish I could get them as real cards.

bigperm fucked around with this message at 00:40 on Mar 23, 2017

# ? Mar 23, 2017 00:37

Toshimo: Aug 23, 2012; He's outta line...

But he's right!

Now post the anime.

# ? Mar 23, 2017 00:40

bigperm: Jul 10, 2001; some obscure reference

# ? Mar 23, 2017 00:48

Jabor: Jul 16, 2010; #1 Loser at SpaceChem

Hmm. Seems about on par with the masterpiece art.

# ? Mar 23, 2017 00:57

KillarySwank: Jun 24, 2013; Lemon Flavoured

bigperm posted:

Take it back.

# ? Mar 23, 2017 00:59

AlternateNu: May 5, 2005; ドーナツダメ！

# ? Mar 23, 2017 01:13

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

You can now hide your white border shame.

https://twitter.com/potomacdist/status/844698031903649793

AlternateNu posted:

It's missing text that makes Bitterblossom a tribal enchantment.

Star Man fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Mar 23, 2017

# ? Mar 23, 2017 01:14

TheDemon: Dec 11, 2006; _{...on the plus side I'm feeling much more angry now than I expected so this totally helps me get in character.}

Boxman posted:

I just got a MODO account because I want to draft while sitting around unshowered on a Sunday morning. But sometimes maybe I want to play a bit of constructed.

Can someone post that UR zombies list that gets referenced around here as a fun budget deck? Also, a quick recommendation for a good bot chain? Cardhoarders fine?

Yes, Cardhoarder is fine. You can probably find cheaper if you scrounge around, but they have the widest selection and there's value to having credit in only one place.

# ? Mar 23, 2017 01:15

TwistedNails: Dec 1, 2008

Star Man posted:

You can now hide your white border shame.

https://twitter.com/potomacdist/status/844698031903649793

It's missing text that makes Bitterblossom a tribal enchantment.

I got some people very angry in twitch chat when I asked if they made those in white.

# ? Mar 23, 2017 01:17

Cernunnos: Sep 2, 2011; ppbbbbttttthhhhh~

Star Man posted:

You can now hide your white border shame.

https://twitter.com/potomacdist/status/844698031903649793

Do they come in White?

# ? Mar 23, 2017 01:18

AlternateNu: May 5, 2005; ドーナツダメ！

Star Man posted:

It's missing text that makes Bitterblossom a tribal enchantment.

You are correct.

I don't care.

# ? Mar 23, 2017 01:20

Star Man: Jun 1, 2008; There's a star maaaaaan
Over the rainbow

AlternateNu posted:

You are correct.

I don't care.

My Spellstutter Sprites and Mistbind Cliques do you cretin.

# ? Mar 23, 2017 01:39

Elyv: Jun 14, 2013

AlternateNu posted:

There's a Jace the Mind Sculptor shop like this too.

E:

Elyv fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Mar 23, 2017

# ? Mar 23, 2017 01:59

Boxman: Sep 27, 2004; Big fan of

"Hey I wonder what the worst Jace proxy looks like?"

I think I'd prefer "JTMS" sharpied on the back of a island, and I like Doctor Who.

Also, thanks for the Zombie and MODO help.

# ? Mar 23, 2017 02:11

Entropic: Feb 21, 2007; patriarchy sucks

Boxman posted:

"Hey I wonder what the worst Jace proxy looks like?"

I think I'd prefer "JTMS" sharpied on the back of a island, and I like Doctor Who.

Also, thanks for the Zombie and MODO help.

I'm so sorry

# ? Mar 23, 2017 02:14