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pnumoman posted:Generic Magic question: is ONE a good set of cards? Arena is the only magic I play nowadays and I'm not too up on the modern scene. I'm still salty Dominara Remastered isn't in Arena, and I only know how good Remastered was because I'm old, so I'd like some advice on how good ONE is because that $50 preorder pack bundle is mighty tempting Also it's going to be hard to answer since even pros struggle with evaluating cards before release. The best metric to use is probably "do i want to play with these cards/do the cards look fun to me?"
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Feb 2, 2023 14:50
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Captain Invictus posted:lmao the midweek artisan poo poo is hilarious that's the cruel reality of the format
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Feb 2, 2023 15:10
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Retcon posted:You need to be a bit more specific than that. Good in what sense? Like, good for standard play? Explorer/Historic? If you're talking about Modern the format, that one isn't on Arena. Sorry, meant Standard.
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Feb 2, 2023 15:13
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If you're going to spend money on packs, the 50 pack pre-order is as cheap as you're going to get. (it's the same price per pack as buying the $100 gem pack). Then, if you want to play standard and don't have a big stockpile of wildcards, there are worse ways to get caught up to the current meta.
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Feb 2, 2023 15:17
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pnumoman posted:Sorry, meant Standard. Basically every Standard set has utility in the Standard it's released in, it's very rare that a set releases that does nothing whatsoever. ONE looks likely to be no exception, there are a bunch of very good cards that seem likely to stay standard relevant for some time, particularly things like Phyrexian Obliterator. Whether the commons and uncommons are going to be useful is... pretty much impossible to tell at the moment, but I've not seen anything obvious that looks outstanding, unless it turns out that Poison is A Deck again. If you just want to get your collection up, the best set is any set from the current rotation (i.e. DMU, BRO, ONE) as they'll be in Standard for the longest time, because the thing that makes your collection relevant in standard is wildcards, not packs per se unless you're buying enough packs to buy the entire set outright.
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Feb 2, 2023 15:58
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Booo, boring responses. I wanted more of a hot take like bEsT sEt EvEr or something. In all honesty though, thanks for the replies, I'll probably just get the preorder since I'm not too keen on dropping $100 for the same level of discount
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Feb 2, 2023 16:08
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Which set in current standard is the best is an interesting question to be honest. Probably a tie between BRO and DMU, because those two together make up the majority of the Soldiers archetype at the moment - most other notable decks use a range of cards from multiple sets throughout the rotation. This isn't a standard like a few years ago where you could make an entire top tier competitive deck out of basically only cards from a single set (ELD).
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Feb 2, 2023 16:14
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Hammer Bro. posted:In my case it's because the standalone installer gives me great grief on the Steam Deck, and man would it be nice to play Magic on the Steam Deck. I got it working on the Deck - make sure you download ProtonUp-Qt, and use that to download Proton 7.04 and then run the launcher with that version set in compatibility mode. The UI will be kind of unreadable and white, but you can just click through everything and it'll work. Using that version of Proton was what made it work for me. With another version the launcher just stalled.
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Feb 2, 2023 16:34
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Captain Invictus posted:lmao the midweek artisan poo poo is hilarious Eh I didn't run into any of that, I whipped up mono-white lifegain and went 3-0, then gave the deck to my bf and he went 3-0: Deck 4 Lunarch Veteran (MID) 27 19 Plains (HBG) 292 2 Soulmender (M20) 37 4 Hallowed Priest (ANB) 9 4 Impassioned Orator (RNA) 12 4 Celestial Unicorn (AFR) 5 4 Inspiring Overseer (SNC) 18 2 Priest of Ancient Lore (HBG) 99 4 Lay Down Arms (BRO) 11 3 Dawnbringer Cleric (AFR) 9 4 Traveling Minister (VOW) 39 4 Tocasia's Dig Site (BRO) 266 2 Loran's Escape (BRO) 14 A nice piece of tech I got to use once was to Lay Down Arms one of my own chumps to pump the payoff cards to lethal.
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Feb 2, 2023 18:13
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thespaceinvader posted:Which set in current standard is the best is an interesting question to be honest. Well, there was the cycling deck from Ikoria that was both a draft archetype and somehow a reliable way to get to mythic
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Feb 2, 2023 18:22
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Captain Invictus posted:lmao the midweek artisan poo poo is hilarious where are you seeing this? All I see is some draft options
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Feb 2, 2023 18:32
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Khanstant posted:where are you seeing this? All I see is some draft options Midweek Magic runs from (I think) 8am PST Tuesday to Thursday, so the event is gone now
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Feb 2, 2023 18:41
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Lone Goat posted:Midweek Magic runs from (I think) 8am PST Tuesday to Thursday, so the event is gone now It's going for another 40 minutes for me.
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Feb 2, 2023 19:19
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MrL_JaKiri posted:Well, there was the cycling deck from Ikoria that was both a draft archetype and somehow a reliable way to get to mythic Mm, true, Zenith Flare was hilariously broken.
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Feb 2, 2023 19:54
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ONE looks fun, blocking seems like it's INSANELY important because of how easy it is to get 10 poison counters. Just go wide with small dudes, game can be over before anyone plays a 5-drop. Games are going to be VERY short
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Feb 2, 2023 20:21
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I had a lot of fun with a poison deck back in kaldheim, so looking forward to that
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Feb 2, 2023 20:27
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Lone Goat posted:Midweek Magic runs from (I think) 8am PST Tuesday to Thursday, so the event is gone now oh weird, played last night and didn't see it, but I guess Ii must've hopped right into kamigawa draft. whoopsie, i like the weirdo formats they do.
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Feb 2, 2023 20:56
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I just did the same thing I do for every event, netdeck from mtgazone. Played Selesnya Life, Red Aggro/Burn, and Izset Spells and had fun with then all. Artisan is a fun format in my experience
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Feb 2, 2023 22:36
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blue flyers with a side of "when you draw your second card" stomped to 3-0 pretty quick, and then I just kept at it to finish out the daily quest.
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Feb 2, 2023 22:40
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I wanted to get my 15 weekly wins done while I had time this week to finish out the mastery pass and that monored deck I made worked like a charm. Went 15-2 in an hour, losing to flood against a lifegain deck and a monoblue deck. I wish non-alchemy artisan was a staple rather than a sometimes format.
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Feb 2, 2023 22:45
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Captain Invictus posted:I wanted to get my 15 weekly wins done while I had time this week to finish out the mastery pass and that monored deck I made worked like a charm. Went 15-2 in an hour, losing to flood against a lifegain deck and a monoblue deck. My experience is that alchemy is a surprisingly fun format when you get rid of the pushed cards that break the format. Standard brawl would probably be more fun with alchemy cards in it because that's a format where the dumb stuff works well. Unfortunately, alchemy is a half-assed cash grab that only sees updates begrudgingly instead of regularly as was originally pitched.
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Feb 2, 2023 23:39
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haven't they kept to the exact alchemy release cadence they announced they were doing at the start? one release per set, a month or so after the standard set goes live edit: plus baldur's gate as an entire extra alchemy set
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Feb 3, 2023 00:08
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im mad at the joke in the thread title. not for any of the good/sensible reasons, but because the UI only shows what card you're hovering when you have priority
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Feb 3, 2023 00:35
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I've been playing my second batch of Jump In. I got a Transcience-Minions deck that's a lot of fun. At first it felt kind of routine, like I wasn't thinking as much or doing as much as the first deck. But then I had some tight games that I could easily have lost had I not played the deck the right way. It's turning out to be a lot of fun. If there's a standard deck that's like this one—not that I know what this one is doing, specifically—it'd be cool to know. In my last match I was down to something like five or six life and my opponent was on 16. He had two creatures out and I was on one, after his attack where I lost blockers and sacrificed a bigger creature blocking his big-but-still-smaller creature that he'd put deathtouch on for one turn. Then my "create tokens when you lose creatures" spell kicked in. I had a roughly-even board state. I played a few smaller creatures, killed his creature and did some damage. He got a few creatures out on his turn, and I had put out more of mine, but sacrificed life to get a bigger guy out. I basically had to kill him on my return turn or I'd be dead on his. I swung and took him out and it was very fun going from him seemingly way ahead on 16 life with a creature advantage and his deathtouch attack killing my big guy with my 6 life where I decided to sacrifice half my board knowing I could get one more chance. A nervy and enjoyable win for me. ... I'll say about Jump In, in the two decks I've played with it over two nights I've learned far more about how magic is "supposed" to be played, I feel, than I did in two or three weeks playing with beginner decks. There's something very organic about not having a generally simplistic pre-made big deck for standard that you figure out quickly and then just hope for an easy match-up in ranked. With Jump In there's a real process of learning how the deck works, then using it that way, then seeing some of the more powerful interactions, then thinking, "Maybe this is how X or Y archetype actually works." It feels like it's introducing you to some of the key concepts of how all the different elements of Magic work together. Apart from showing you how the cards and abilities interact, it doesn't seem like the beginners decks and the very bottom of the rankings really teach you the importance of some of the basic momentum things. In just two nights I'm really seeing the importance of things like scrying, ensuring you have ways to keep options in your hand in the later game, and having abilities on cards that let you use mana later in the game. It's such a better teaching and learning experience than what was there even a few years ago. All in all, it kicks sweet rear end.
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Feb 3, 2023 01:09
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flatluigi posted:haven't they kept to the exact alchemy release cadence they announced they were doing at the start? one release per set, a month or so after the standard set goes live The pitch was that alchemy could get "balance patches" at a similar frequency to other digital card games. I don't know if the alchemy meta has ever been in a degenerate enough spot where some other game would have done a balance patch though.
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Feb 3, 2023 01:23
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i think they're limited a bit by having to ship updates to mobile platforms, but i think most of the alchemy drops have also had a buff to underperforming standard archetypes i haven't looked at hearthstone or w/e in ages to see how often they drop balance patches, but i don't really know if i want alchemy to go any faster than it does currently. i would've appreciated something over the holiday season, maybe, but i think the next extra mtga set is slated to be shadows over innistrad remastered
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Feb 3, 2023 01:38
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The buffs are generally tribal buffs, which while enjoyable aren't meant to shake up the format. There's definitely a point during NEO, SNC, and Baldur's Gate where the meta was dominated by one or two decks that were using obviously pushed cards. This was more obnoxious than it sounds because the theme for alchemy cards was "a midrange value card with extra value attached" and board states would degenerate into an impossible to follow mess during the mirror match. I stopped playing alchemy for a while after but I've come back lately and I've had fun because at least it's better than Standard. However, there still aren't that many meta decks and the pushed cards are still problematic. Fortunately, the current format has a decent RDW so that's something you can at least bank on to end games before everything goes to poo poo.
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Feb 3, 2023 01:55
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Sounds like they're dropping the ball on curating the alchemy format and it's just a cash grab then.
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Feb 3, 2023 02:20
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It's so annoying that you can't make an aggro brawl deck. Everything else is too strong. If you're playing a 1-drop, you lose because you can't aggro hard enough fast enough against 25 life and a guaranteed commander. and you need to pack so much removal because guess what, your opponent DOES have it, because it starts out in the command zone. They always have it. Their commander is going to do its thing and wreck you, because you don't have enough removal or counterspells because you wasted those slots on creatures that cost less than 3. This format is hosed, it needs 2 more players to balance it out also, while trying to test urza, prince of kroog, I've been matched up against 5 ruskos A Moose fucked around with this message at 03:21 on Feb 3, 2023 |
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Feb 3, 2023 03:15
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Is there a list of commanders most likely to get you dumped into hellqueue? I only know a few off the top of my head: Baral, Niv Mizzet, Nichol Bolas, Kinnan, etc.
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Feb 3, 2023 04:06
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Horace Kinch posted:Is there a list of commanders most likely to get you dumped into hellqueue? I only know a few off the top of my head: Baral, Niv Mizzet, Nichol Bolas, Kinnan, etc. Esika, Golos, most Dimir ones
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Feb 3, 2023 04:14
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Helios for some reason gets me paired against a bunch of assholes. I've also faced off against them with Muxus and Krenko? Jodah and Sythis are almost definitely hellqueue gold members.
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Feb 3, 2023 04:26
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I made a kaito deck, and i'm only getting matched against golos and esika and baral
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Feb 3, 2023 04:35
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I'm not too sure about this Magic Arena business any more (only semi-serious with this.) It's giving me weird hyper-ness in the old noggin. It is extremely well tuned for One-More-Go, get new cards, make new deck, try new thing, maybe even spend money? I know part of this is I've been playing games like Farm Sim and Football Manager (FM is a game I could play semi-comatose I know it so well) for months, and Arena is big and brash, with flashing colours and big sounds, big wins and big losses. I've fallen into a sleepy game routine, where I play games that allow me to zone out for hours on end. Arena is the opposite of that, and fair play to them on designing such a thing. I'm at the point where I'm tired enough I couldn't really focus on my last match. I was just going through the simplistic motions of playing, but forty-five minutes later I'm still somewhat hyped where I'm thinking of a fast action game of it, and flashiness and booms and etc. I imagine this is how 15 year olds get turned into little shits online, especially given they were probably halfway there already. Magic Arena, not a game for before bed.
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Feb 3, 2023 07:00
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Maybe a dumb question, but would Sheoldred be playable without deathtouch? I'm not that educated on what a magic card SHOULD cost, but I'm always surprised that effect and stat line warrants death touch as well. Am I just out of touch?
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Feb 3, 2023 08:02
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Carillon posted:Maybe a dumb question, but would Sheoldred be playable without deathtouch? I'm not that educated on what a magic card SHOULD cost, but I'm always surprised that effect and stat line warrants death touch as well. Am I just out of touch? Absolutely. Deathtouch is just a bonus for being a mythic, the gain/drain is the main reason to play her.
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Feb 3, 2023 08:10
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It definitely doesn't need it power-level wise. Mostly because it's such a negligible thing once you're already at a sizeable power value - you wouldn't be taking very much away by removing it. A lot of the time mechanics come from the flavour parts of the card, rather than being solely about power level.
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Feb 3, 2023 08:14
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Mrenda posted:I'm not too sure about this Magic Arena business any more (only semi-serious with this.) It's giving me weird hyper-ness in the old noggin. It is extremely well tuned for One-More-Go, get new cards, make new deck, try new thing, maybe even spend money? I did have a kind of similar thing when starting out, however; not because of flashiness and effects, but because I rarely play competitive games (just not my thing), but you have to in Magic, so every time I was doing fairly well in a draft or after a tense match, I'd be kind of shaky with adrenalin, my brain going "oh man don't gently caress it up!! You gotta do this man" in a way I'm simply not used to. I don't like this feeling, that's why I don't do competition in the first place. I'm happy that after a few months of regularly drafting, my brain has accepted that this is now normal and I stay as calm as I want to. Maybe this is also a factor for you - not like you're playing Farm Sim against other players who take it way too seriously. Or do you?
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Feb 3, 2023 10:03
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Shelly very much doesn't NEED deathtouch but it's not negligible either, it's the thing that turns Shelly into a massive green hoser, fight spells on big creatures is the only real way green has to get rid of her but whoop now even that is a two for one.
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Feb 3, 2023 10:17
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Simply Simon posted:That's an interesting observation, because for a free to play online game, I feel like Arena is almost sedate. When you log in, there's no big flashing BUY THIS NOW!!! LAST CHANCE or SPECIAL OFFER: OUR NEW CARD SKIN!!!!!!!!! banners. Almost to the detriment of it, where some ongoing events are not even shown because they only reserve three slots for it on the starting page. Overall, I enjoy that of course and wouldn't want them to change it - you have to deliberately click to the shop to buy something! That's great! And of course, no "you can't play more today unless you pay" poo poo. Even "btw this will cost you wild cards to craft" pop-ups are not also going "YOU COULD BUY SOME YOU KNOW". You're right about the monetization. It's definitely all from the game aspect of it rather than from the SHOPPING EXPERIENCE - BUY BUY BUY! But I don't really get (big) adrenaline rushes playing the game, it feels slightly different to that. It's a kind of tension and awareness at a constant higher level rather than a rush. In Football Manager if I was holding out for a tight win I'd get a "rush." I also watch a bit of horse racing and if a significant bet had a chance of coming in (significant for me would be going €50 up) I'd get a rush. Magic isn't rushy, more it's a switched on state, a constant level of excitement. It causes an acuity of awareness that I'm sure is adrenaline it's just not quite a sudden rush of it. I think what I was mostly trying to get across is that they've actually done a really good job with the presentation of it. Playing Magic in real life, the odd few times I do it, there's still excitement over wins, but in Arena there's the graphics and the audio. There's little touches like when the creatures do damage or when you counter a spell. It's a whooshing sound, or the crunch of an attack. It's quite visceral without being gory or graphic. Even choosing which cards you're using to block has an impressive level of nigh on tactile feedback to it. It's an extremely engaging experience. And it makes you want to engage with the entire aspect of the game more. Whether that's playing a match, opening a pack, getting gold and XP, building a deck (the worst part of the client) or spending money on something. On the money side of it I don't feel like Arena is structured in a way where it's pushing you towards spending in a Pay-To-Win way, or in keeping elements of the game gated behind paywalls. It's not even particularly pushy about the ways you can spend money. It's not predatory in those ways. It is very good at making an enjoyable and enthralling experience where you want to give them money to experience more and do better. It's exciting and engrossing, and quite slick in a lot of ways. Whether the ways they've done all this are predatory—predatory in a more subtle way compared to a lot of freemium games—I think would take a psychologist who specialises in gaming, casino gaming, retail and addiction to figure out.* It's just this type of excitement/win/loss gaming is not something I've experienced much in my more sedentary play style, and it's something I've noticed because of that. *I would guess if there's a predatory element to it it's not based on auld wans like me. Rather it's based on competitive people, especially younger people, who want to be the best magic player, and have the best deck, and need to win, and want to be at the higher tier of play. Just looking around at reddit, forums, youtube comments, etc. it's amazing how often I've seen people (whose writing reads like that of an idiot or young person) who are trying to calculate the most efficient way of doing everything. The game sort of encourages you to build the best deck (but not really) but they also want the most efficient way of getting the cards, and the most efficient way of climbing the ratings, and the most efficient way to spend money even if it only amounts to pennies in savings. None of them are talking about enjoying a play mode, or having fun with a deck. It's all about the best (most efficient, winningest) way to do something. I think combine that with an easy way to spend money in an always available 24/7 environment can cause problems, but it's nothing necessitated, or may even really encouraged, by the game. Mrenda fucked around with this message at 10:40 on Feb 3, 2023 |
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Feb 3, 2023 10:36
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