I was wrong about something. Strengths do matter to the color of Pie, not just values. E.g. Blue actually is characteristically intelligent, Black actually is characteristically shameless, etc.
But to account for how it can be about both strengths and values, I'd have to describe an additional element that's not represented in the game/philosophy. Since, after all, strengths are entirely distinct from values as far as any simple definition of the latter goes.
I was wrong about something. Strengths do matter to the color of Pie, not just values. E.g. Blue actually is characteristically intelligent, Black actually is characteristically shameless, etc.
But to account for how it can be about both strengths and values, I'd have to describe an additional element that's not represented in the game/philosophy. Since, after all, strengths are entirely distinct from values as far as any simple definition of the latter goes.
Nit pick - I wouldn't call black shameless as much as unimpeded or ambituous. I think at a fundamental level, black would be shamed by certain actions, but not shamed by things that our morality would imply it should be ashamed of.
What do you mean by an addtional element? Trying to understand what argument you are presenting. (apologies if i am missing out on some greater conversation)
Unimpediment is not a virtue or a strength, it's just a coincidence. Ambition is only a virtue, not a capacity.
It is shamelessness which Black transforms into the proper ascent to power. The reason is simply this: If power is good, then grab it. And take every opportunity for it, no matter how you look or what the scandal. Present your weakness and pain for All to judge, and absorb whatever excess or waste lays about from the carelessness of others. *You* know that the energy matters to live properly. If the world opens up before you with the potential for strength, then it is incontrovertibly precious to endow that potential with the highest value, and use it.
That is, "Use it or lose it." Tomorrow is not given.
edit: I didn't present an argument before. I gave an abstract for an argument I did not produce.
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I (7 hours later) feel I should write something like this for the other four, just to keep things equal.
Hmm. But it was your question which helped me frame my knowledge.
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The more things change the more the stay the same. I enjoy reading these posts and have even been checking the forums more lately. I think we should get this clan back in order.
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Formerly Mindslavor Visit Rivenor for all of the Academy's awesome artwork.
So... with the spoilers so far for Zendikar, WotC has my attention again...
Really? I've seen nothing that I care about so far. The only cards that are "cool" are pure cosmetic upgrades, and they'll likely be far too expensive to justify buying. Granted, we haven't seen much, but I'm unimpressed.
Really? I've seen nothing that I care about so far. The only cards that are "cool" are pure cosmetic upgrades, and they'll likely be far too expensive to justify buying. Granted, we haven't seen much, but I'm unimpressed.
sadly, i am with polski on this one so far. full art duals/fetches are cool, but i already own the originals, and wouldnt want to throw the money at the new ones...which will be staggeringly expensive.
I am holding my breath for commander 2015, which should start getting spoiled soon.
Friends are an interesting thing. Not to vent too much but I've kind of reached the point where what I love (science and public health) has become so divorced from the common-persons interests it is a bit hard to relate to the point I get introduced as the "really smart friend" and it is almost alienating.
It's hard to imagine either of those things not being in people's interest.
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Awesome avatar provided by Krashbot @ [Epic Graphics].
Friends are an interesting thing. Not to vent too much but I've kind of reached the point where what I love (science and public health) has become so divorced from the common-persons interests it is a bit hard to relate to the point I get introduced as the "really smart friend" and it is almost alienating.
It's hard to imagine either of those things not being in people's interest.
It's partially coming off an a know-it-all and it's also because I'm very up-to-date with most of the big publications (PNAS, Nature, Cell, Science) and some of the lesser (ASCB, ASBC, ASMS)so yeah.. strange times.
With Zendikar I'm really interested in this whole devoid thing, making color identity matter more which I hope they do, and any time you add legacy staples you get more people to play legacy by reducing the barrier of entry.
Although I will say the space usage on the full arts is just not pleasing to me and I greatly do not like any of the new full arts because of the template.
I don't necessarily think these fetches will lower the barrier to legacy. They're going to be too rare and expensive, and will largely be picked up by people already in the format as another means of "pimping" their deck. Unless we've been lied to about how rare these things will be. They're going to be slightly more common than foil mythics, and those average about one per case (not box.) then you have to actually get a fetch instead of the other cards available.
I'm not enough of a gambler to even try my hand at blackjack, so I'll be taking a pass on this whole thing.
I don't necessarily think these fetches will lower the barrier to legacy. They're going to be too rare and expensive, and will largely be picked up by people already in the format as another means of "pimping" their deck. Unless we've been lied to about how rare these things will be. They're going to be slightly more common than foil mythics, and those average about one per case (not box.) then you have to actually get a fetch instead of the other cards available.
I'm not enough of a gambler to even try my hand at blackjack, so I'll be taking a pass on this whole thing.
Prices have risen to a ridicolous price because of all this. I will do what I usually do: buy a box (not case) and be done with it. If I open one, I'll be happy. Hopefully my LGS won't rise the price on the boxes too much, becauee if he does, I will opt out and buy the super cheap singles that will result out of this mess.
I mean, look at Siege Rhino.
I anyways just completed my full sets of fetchlands with some extras, so I am happy with my fetchland needs. It would be terrible for me, btw, to open either one of the super rare Onslaught fetchlands or the "Slow-lands", because I would not need 'em. Imagine, there would still be a 15/25th chance to open something meh for me, since I don't do much of MTG finance, I just want to play.
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Currently playing:
Standard:
Tired of changing it every x months, so whatever list caught my attention...
To be fair, Siege Rhino partially tanked in price because he was put into an event deck.
I am seeing a trend of price hikes with this set's sealed product already. I won't be doing that to my customers (we are still preordering them at $99.99/box and release date price will be $114.99/box like usual), unless our distributors decide to get unfortunately balsy and noticeably up our cost on the sealed product (which happened with both Modern Masters sets, more understandably so).
That being said, demand could very well outweigh supply, and a week after the set releases, when everyone is out of stock of sealed booster boxes and waiting another week for WOTC to ship out restocks to distributors and clients, there could be a definite shortage price spike.
Finally got my PS4 back, so I decided to celebrate by picking up Guilty Gear. Installing updates now, haven't even had a chance to play yet. Probably going to try to pick up either Elphelt or Millia. Not really sure yet. Just know I won't be playing Faust.
It's been almost 10 days since the last post. Where'd everybody go? Even the ubiquitous Rewind is missing. It's almost scary.
sorry, i have been busy. My siblings have been living with me and are just now moved out. we have spent the last few weeks moving furniture and people; and between keeping up my own deck discussion threads and work; havent really been paying much attention to the old academy. In other news, i actually have my house to myself again, which is pretty neat - all my siblings and all their possessions are officially cleared out!
I write usually when there's something to tell. Been out of money the last two weeks, so no much playing atm. I have managed to find someone to trade for my extra rare Ugin though, giving me a chance to aquire some cards for my Affinity deck, once the trade happens, which I am pretty stoked about. With this I'd be at roughly 80% of completion. Yay!
Then I saw that upgrading my modern Affinity deck into Legacy will cost me roughly 50$ more, so I think I will enter legacy again after so many years. I just can't find much on the deck online, so if anyone has resources on this (or opinions) I'll gladly take 'em.
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Currently playing:
Standard:
Tired of changing it every x months, so whatever list caught my attention...
sorry, i have been busy. My siblings have been living with me and are just now moved out. we have spent the last few weeks moving furniture and people; and between keeping up my own deck discussion threads and work; havent really been paying much attention to the old academy. In other news, i actually have my house to myself again, which is pretty neat - all my siblings and all their possessions are officially cleared out!
Maybe it's just me, but that definitely sounds like cause for celebration. I'd hate to have my space crowded like that. Especially by relatives.
@qwerqsar: It's been a long time since I've looked into legacy affinity, so I can't really help much on that front, but what I can say is that if memory serves, affinity has a notably better position in modern than it does in legacy. Not to discourage you from playing legacy, I think everyone should play it, just throwing it out there.
I've been around, wasn't exact;y sure what to say, since I've been away and not a part of conversations for so long
in other news i'm doing a clean install of everything I want to keep on my pc, its actually not taken me days to collect the things I want off it, I'm actually surprised by that
Maybe it's just me, but that definitely sounds like cause for celebration. I'd hate to have my space crowded like that. Especially by relatives.
oh yeah, big time man. especially since its really awkward to be intimate with your spouse when you have 3 adult family members in their own rooms nearby...it was one of those 'prisoners in my own home' kinda feels. But everyone was pretty respectful of each other, and we were able to get them all moved out while we still can stand each other. I am really excited to have them all nearby, especially since we get along well.
Living that that is definitely hard, any additional person is just some else to pick up after.
From living with my ex plus two cats to living by myself with the same two cats the amount of ***** I clean is nothing compared to what I used to have to go through.
Anyway I got approved to mentor with the Global STEM Alliance, a part of the NY Academy of Science, for their GLobal H2O challenge where I'll help some high schoolers win a contest, should be fun. http://globalstemalliance.org/imagining-tomorrow-h2o/
IMAGINING TOMORROW: H2O MENTORING REQUIREMENTS
Imagining Tomorrow: H2O mentoring will take place virtually over a 60-day challenge period from September 16, 2015 - November 15, 2015. During the challenge period, mentors will be working with 3-5 teams (each made up of two students) and guiding them as they design their solutions. Specific responsibilities include:
- A willingness to post about your current research and relevant information about the challenge area. Post a minimum of 2 times during the 60-days.
- A willingness to interact with the students by fielding questions as they are working on their solutions. Mentors should expect to be available at least twice a week for approximately 1-2 hours.
- Reviewing two deliverables (1-2 page outlines). Mentors will have approximately 1 week to respond to groups with feedback after a deliverable is due. Feedback can be brief, but should be constructive.
In addition to the time commitment during the 60 days, mentors will be expected to complete a 45-minute virtual training before they challenge begins.
Mentors should have experience in in water, sustainability, environmental science, technology, and/or innovation.
Applications for the 2015-16 school year are accepted on a rolling basis until October 30, 2015.
What is an ACS Science Coach?
ACS Science Coaches are chemistry professionals who share their expertise and enthusiasm for science with an elementary, middle, or high school teacher over the course of one school year. They enhance science education, and secure a $500 donation for the school where they volunteer.
Chemistry graduate students, professionals and retirees volunteer to assist one teacher at least six times during one school year to improve the science education experiences of students.
I've been on both sides of the house sharing bit multiple times, and it definitely does feel like being a prisoner at times. That loss of personal space is a real killer, and it really messes me up, personally. Having people stay in my house for more than a day or two is basically the worst thing. The one time when it was actually pretty reasonable was when the person living with us was not a family member. A friend moved in for a few months to finish school before moving to Texas, and that whole process was pretty enjoyable. Probably had something to do with the fact that we shared a lot of hobbies, but still.
@Luminous: congratulations on the mentoring position, and good luck with getting approved for the next opportunity. Spreading scientific understanding seems right up your alley. Hail science!
Went 3-1-1 in modern last night with martyr proc. Not great, but it was reasonable. Report below, I suppose.
Round 1: 2-1 against mono red goblins.
Game 1 I get stuck on 2 lands the entire game, never seeing a martyr or anything else relevant. Die to goblin horde.
Game 2 I stick two ghostly prisons pretty early to lock out attacks, but get knocked to 4 by double goblin grenade, then to 1 by a bolt. Several turns pass with neither of us drawing anything relevant, but finally I get a martyr. I slowly beat down with spirits and the martyr, waiting until my opponent tries to fire off a burn spell, gain 12 in response, and he scoops, having completely run out of gas.
Game 3 I gain 30+ life in the first few turns, wrath the board when my opponent tries to apply pressure, and stick a pair of serra ascendants to seal the game.
Round 2: 2-0 against suicide zoo(?)
Interesting build. Naya zoo skeleton, but with a black splash for death's shadow, plus a bunch of life draining cards and pump spells to enable it very early.
Game 1 was a bit of an attrition war. I deployed squadron hawks and lingering souls to slow down the aggro early on, gaining lots of life along the way. I take a hit for 8 from a death's shadow, putting me at 35, when I stick a serra ascendant. My opponent had worked himself ddown to 5 life through his lands and various spells, so I only needed a turn. He attempted to go for a huge burst of damage by pumping death's shadow with mutagenic growth, become immense, and temur battle rage, but I have to rain on his party with a path. I imagine he thought this was a safe line of play because I only had a swamp and a ghost quarter open, not seeing the play of ghost quartering myself to fetch a plains. Wasn't the last time I used ghost quarter shenanigans that night.
Game 2 was pretty similar. I stalled a lot, my opponent eventually worked himself down to 2 life before I even touched him. I stuck two ghostly prisons to prevent any pump spell shenanigans, and then I dropped a few hawks to push through the last few points of damage.
Round 3: 0-2 against grixis twin
Game 1 was very grindy, I never got close to setting up my kill. The recursive nature of the deck via kolaghan's command and snapcaster mage just provided too much value, and I died to burn and snapcaster beats.
Game 2 I slowly whittled my opponent down to 3, sticking a few ghostly prisons to prevent combo and exiling creatures at any opportunity, but finally my opponent got on his feet, used engineered explosives to wipe out my prisons, and assembled the combo.
Round 4: 1-1-1 against grixis.. control? Midrange?
Game 1 I won pretty easily. My opponent drew a lot of lands, I hit 64 life, and reanimated serra ascendants enough to wear through all of his removal.
Game 2 I was in position to just stall out to time, but my opponent landed a surgical extraction on my martyr while I didn't have a means of stopping him. I also sideboarded poorly, opting to remove my wraths because I assumed my opponent was on a reactive plan, but then I was beat to death by gurmag anglers and tasigur.
Game 3 We go to time in the first few turns. I wrathed a single angler away just to confirm the draw, and my opponent was not pleased. He couldn't have won with the number of turns he had left anyway, but I guess removing all hope was a bit too much.
Round 5: 2-0 merfolk
This one was basically decided before the game started.
Game 1, my opponent almost fights through 3 martyrs, knocking me from 60+ down to 31 with a massive board. I get one swing in with a serra ascendant, then wrath. My opponent tries to fight back with master of waves and a lord, but I ghost quarter my hallowed fountain to remove islandwalk, find a swamp to orzhov charm back my ascendant, block the master, and my opponent scoops.
My opponent asks if he should even bother with sideboarding, I show him what I'm bringing in (the fourth copies of wrath and path, plus four ghostly prisons) and he sighs heavily, thinking about it, but we decide to just play it out anyway. In this time it was basically decided that I would win, and we wasted a lot of time having a rule argument with the LGS owner about frogmite and black lotus.
Game 2, he draws four aether vials, and very little action. I reveal 8 cards for martyr, one of which is an ascendant, and he decides to scoop.
The grixis matchup, or more realistically, kolaghan's command, is proving to be a problem. Need to find a way to get around it. Still, I'm relatively pleased with how this deck performs, and it suits my playstyle better than most decks in modern.
In short, you can't. Not with any frequency, anyway. Even with the countermagic and land disruption from spreading seas, merfolk is still just a deck that wants to win by swinging with dudes, and that's the kind of deck that martyr was built to stomp. Your best possible hope is to play surgical extraction and resolve it on martyr at the correct time. Don't ever attempt it while the martyr player has WB open, because they'll just fizzle it with orzhov charm. This should basically change your situation from "don't bother" to "slim hope." If you're playing the black splash that people sometimes go for, play extirpate instead. It works much better. No matter what, though, it will always be a bad matchup, and there's not much you can do about that without making your deck significantly worse against the rest of the meta.
In short, you can't. Not with any frequency, anyway. Even with the countermagic and land disruption from spreading seas, merfolk is still just a deck that wants to win by swinging with dudes, and that's the kind of deck that martyr was built to stomp. Your best possible hope is to play surgical extraction and resolve it on martyr at the correct time. Don't ever attempt it while the martyr player has WB open, because they'll just fizzle it with orzhov charm. This should basically change your situation from "don't bother" to "slim hope." If you're playing the black splash that people sometimes go for, play extirpate instead. It works much better. No matter what, though, it will always be a bad matchup, and there's not much you can do about that without making your deck significantly worse against the rest of the meta.
yeah, i tried piecing together a modern 'dead fish' deck, but i just didnt see the value without cards like perish being available in modern, so i went mono blue. Are people playing blue white fish at all? that might be something to consider; though not sure what value that brings against martyr proc; seems like a pretty awful match up, which i guess is to be expected.
honestly, without team america as a legit deck option, i struggle with the desire to play modern.
But to account for how it can be about both strengths and values, I'd have to describe an additional element that's not represented in the game/philosophy. Since, after all, strengths are entirely distinct from values as far as any simple definition of the latter goes.
Yes you do.
Awesome avatar provided by Krashbot @ [Epic Graphics].
Nit pick - I wouldn't call black shameless as much as unimpeded or ambituous. I think at a fundamental level, black would be shamed by certain actions, but not shamed by things that our morality would imply it should be ashamed of.
What do you mean by an addtional element? Trying to understand what argument you are presenting. (apologies if i am missing out on some greater conversation)
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
It is shamelessness which Black transforms into the proper ascent to power. The reason is simply this: If power is good, then grab it. And take every opportunity for it, no matter how you look or what the scandal. Present your weakness and pain for All to judge, and absorb whatever excess or waste lays about from the carelessness of others. *You* know that the energy matters to live properly. If the world opens up before you with the potential for strength, then it is incontrovertibly precious to endow that potential with the highest value, and use it.
That is,
"Use it or lose it." Tomorrow is not given.
edit: I didn't present an argument before. I gave an abstract for an argument I did not produce.
Awesome avatar provided by Krashbot @ [Epic Graphics].
Hmm. But it was your question which helped me frame my knowledge.
Awesome avatar provided by Krashbot @ [Epic Graphics].
Formerly Mindslavor
Visit Rivenor for all of the Academy's awesome artwork.
So... with the spoilers so far for Zendikar, WotC has my attention again...
"It was probably a lousy spell in the first place."
—Ertai, wizard adept
Legacy: UW Miracle, U MUC, UW StoneBlade, U Merfolk, R Burn, & UB Reanimator
EDH: U Azami, Lady of Scrolls & URG Riku of Two Reflections
Casual: UR Dragonstorm, UB Dralnu-Teachings, U NinjaFae, & UR Izzet EDH
Really? I've seen nothing that I care about so far. The only cards that are "cool" are pure cosmetic upgrades, and they'll likely be far too expensive to justify buying. Granted, we haven't seen much, but I'm unimpressed.
Legacy
WW Death and Taxes WW
Modern
WBMartyr-Proc BW
sadly, i am with polski on this one so far. full art duals/fetches are cool, but i already own the originals, and wouldnt want to throw the money at the new ones...which will be staggeringly expensive.
I am holding my breath for commander 2015, which should start getting spoiled soon.
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
It's hard to imagine either of those things not being in people's interest.
Awesome avatar provided by Krashbot @ [Epic Graphics].
It's partially coming off an a know-it-all and it's also because I'm very up-to-date with most of the big publications (PNAS, Nature, Cell, Science) and some of the lesser (ASCB, ASBC, ASMS)so yeah.. strange times.
With Zendikar I'm really interested in this whole devoid thing, making color identity matter more which I hope they do, and any time you add legacy staples you get more people to play legacy by reducing the barrier of entry.
Although I will say the space usage on the full arts is just not pleasing to me and I greatly do not like any of the new full arts because of the template.
"It was probably a lousy spell in the first place."
—Ertai, wizard adept
Legacy: UW Miracle, U MUC, UW StoneBlade, U Merfolk, R Burn, & UB Reanimator
EDH: U Azami, Lady of Scrolls & URG Riku of Two Reflections
Casual: UR Dragonstorm, UB Dralnu-Teachings, U NinjaFae, & UR Izzet EDH
I'm not enough of a gambler to even try my hand at blackjack, so I'll be taking a pass on this whole thing.
Legacy
WW Death and Taxes WW
Modern
WBMartyr-Proc BW
Prices have risen to a ridicolous price because of all this. I will do what I usually do: buy a box (not case) and be done with it. If I open one, I'll be happy. Hopefully my LGS won't rise the price on the boxes too much, becauee if he does, I will opt out and buy the super cheap singles that will result out of this mess.
I mean, look at Siege Rhino.
I anyways just completed my full sets of fetchlands with some extras, so I am happy with my fetchland needs. It would be terrible for me, btw, to open either one of the super rare Onslaught fetchlands or the "Slow-lands", because I would not need 'em. Imagine, there would still be a 15/25th chance to open something meh for me, since I don't do much of MTG finance, I just want to play.
Standard:
Tired of changing it every x months, so whatever list caught my attention...
Modern:
xAffinityx
Commander:
WUG Enchantress GUW
+Building+
Modern Slivers
Modern/Legacy Dredge
I am seeing a trend of price hikes with this set's sealed product already. I won't be doing that to my customers (we are still preordering them at $99.99/box and release date price will be $114.99/box like usual), unless our distributors decide to get unfortunately balsy and noticeably up our cost on the sealed product (which happened with both Modern Masters sets, more understandably so).
That being said, demand could very well outweigh supply, and a week after the set releases, when everyone is out of stock of sealed booster boxes and waiting another week for WOTC to ship out restocks to distributors and clients, there could be a definite shortage price spike.
Legacy
WW Death and Taxes WW
Modern
WBMartyr-Proc BW
Legacy
WW Death and Taxes WW
Modern
WBMartyr-Proc BW
sorry, i have been busy. My siblings have been living with me and are just now moved out. we have spent the last few weeks moving furniture and people; and between keeping up my own deck discussion threads and work; havent really been paying much attention to the old academy. In other news, i actually have my house to myself again, which is pretty neat - all my siblings and all their possessions are officially cleared out!
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
Then I saw that upgrading my modern Affinity deck into Legacy will cost me roughly 50$ more, so I think I will enter legacy again after so many years. I just can't find much on the deck online, so if anyone has resources on this (or opinions) I'll gladly take 'em.
Standard:
Tired of changing it every x months, so whatever list caught my attention...
Modern:
xAffinityx
Commander:
WUG Enchantress GUW
+Building+
Modern Slivers
Modern/Legacy Dredge
Maybe it's just me, but that definitely sounds like cause for celebration. I'd hate to have my space crowded like that. Especially by relatives.
@qwerqsar: It's been a long time since I've looked into legacy affinity, so I can't really help much on that front, but what I can say is that if memory serves, affinity has a notably better position in modern than it does in legacy. Not to discourage you from playing legacy, I think everyone should play it, just throwing it out there.
Legacy
WW Death and Taxes WW
Modern
WBMartyr-Proc BW
in other news i'm doing a clean install of everything I want to keep on my pc, its actually not taken me days to collect the things I want off it, I'm actually surprised by that
1x Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Artifact (40)
1x Chromatic Lantern
1x Coalition Relic
1x Commander's Sphere
1x Crawlspace
1x Crucible of Worlds
1x Darksteel Forge
1x Darksteel Ingot
1x Dimir Signet
1x Ensnaring Bridge
1x Gilded Lotus
1x Izzet Signet
1x Lightning Greaves
1x Mana Vault
1x Mind Stone
1x Mycosynth Lattice
1x Nim Deathmantle
1x Possessed Portal
1x Rakdos Signet
1x Reito Lantern
1x Sculpting Steel
1x Sensei's Divining Top
1x Skullclamp
1x Smokestack
1x Sol Ring
1x Sphere of Resistance
1x Static Orb
1x Sword of Body and Mind
1x Sword of Feast and Famine
1x Sword of Fire and Ice
1x Sword of Light and Shadow
1x Sword of War and Peace
1x Talisman of Dominance
1x Talisman of Indulgence
1x Tangle Wire
1x Thorn of Amethyst
1x Thran Dynamo
1x Torpor Orb
1x Trading Post
1x Trinisphere
1x Winter Orb
1x Academy Ruins
1x Ancient Tomb
1x Blasted Landscape
1x Blood Crypt
1x Cascade Bluffs
1x Command Tower
1x Crumbling Necropolis
1x Dakmor Salvage
1x Darksteel Citadel
1x Dust Bowl
1x Forgotten Cave
1x Graven Cairns
1x Great Furnace
1x Polluted Mire
1x Remote Isle
1x Rishadan Port
1x Seat of the Synod
1x Snow-Covered Island
1x Snow-Covered Mountain
1x Snow-Covered Swamp
1x Steam Vents
1x Strip Mine
1x Sunken Ruins
1x Tectonic Edge
1x Vault of Whispers
1x Vesuva
1x Wasteland
1x Watery Grave
Instant (2)
1x Blue Sun's Zenith
1x Cyclonic Rift
Sorcery (2)
1x Black Sun's Zenith
1x Scrap Mastery
Planeswalker (1)
1x Daretti, Scrap Savant
1x Arcbound Reclaimer
1x Braids, Cabal Minion
1x Goblin Welder
1x Junk Diver
1x Karn, Silver Golem
1x Kuldotha Forgemaster
1x Lodestone Golem
1x Master Transmuter
1x Mikaeus, the Unhallowed
1x Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
1x Myr Battlesphere
1x Myr Retriever
1x Nezumi Graverobber
1x Pentavus
1x Scarecrone
1x Sheoldred, Whispering One
1x Thopter Assembly
1x Wurmcoil Engine
1x Bitterblossom
1x Blood Funnel
1x Blood Moon
1x Contamination
1x Necropotence
1x Planar Chaos
1x Possibility Storm
1x Price of Glory
Avacyn, Angel of Hope
Edrick, Spymaster of Trest
Venser, Shaper Savant
oh yeah, big time man. especially since its really awkward to be intimate with your spouse when you have 3 adult family members in their own rooms nearby...it was one of those 'prisoners in my own home' kinda feels. But everyone was pretty respectful of each other, and we were able to get them all moved out while we still can stand each other. I am really excited to have them all nearby, especially since we get along well.
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
From living with my ex plus two cats to living by myself with the same two cats the amount of ***** I clean is nothing compared to what I used to have to go through.
Anyway I got approved to mentor with the Global STEM Alliance, a part of the NY Academy of Science, for their GLobal H2O challenge where I'll help some high schoolers win a contest, should be fun. http://globalstemalliance.org/imagining-tomorrow-h2o/
Imagining Tomorrow: H2O mentoring will take place virtually over a 60-day challenge period from September 16, 2015 - November 15, 2015. During the challenge period, mentors will be working with 3-5 teams (each made up of two students) and guiding them as they design their solutions. Specific responsibilities include:
- A willingness to post about your current research and relevant information about the challenge area. Post a minimum of 2 times during the 60-days.
- A willingness to interact with the students by fielding questions as they are working on their solutions. Mentors should expect to be available at least twice a week for approximately 1-2 hours.
- Reviewing two deliverables (1-2 page outlines). Mentors will have approximately 1 week to respond to groups with feedback after a deliverable is due. Feedback can be brief, but should be constructive.
In addition to the time commitment during the 60 days, mentors will be expected to complete a 45-minute virtual training before they challenge begins.
Mentors should have experience in in water, sustainability, environmental science, technology, and/or innovation.
What is an ACS Science Coach?
ACS Science Coaches are chemistry professionals who share their expertise and enthusiasm for science with an elementary, middle, or high school teacher over the course of one school year. They enhance science education, and secure a $500 donation for the school where they volunteer.
Chemistry graduate students, professionals and retirees volunteer to assist one teacher at least six times during one school year to improve the science education experiences of students.
Scienceeeeeee. https://www.riptapparel.com/graveyard/hyrulean-science/ best shirt I've bought in a while.
"It was probably a lousy spell in the first place."
—Ertai, wizard adept
Legacy: UW Miracle, U MUC, UW StoneBlade, U Merfolk, R Burn, & UB Reanimator
EDH: U Azami, Lady of Scrolls & URG Riku of Two Reflections
Casual: UR Dragonstorm, UB Dralnu-Teachings, U NinjaFae, & UR Izzet EDH
@Luminous: congratulations on the mentoring position, and good luck with getting approved for the next opportunity. Spreading scientific understanding seems right up your alley. Hail science!
Went 3-1-1 in modern last night with martyr proc. Not great, but it was reasonable. Report below, I suppose.
Game 1 I get stuck on 2 lands the entire game, never seeing a martyr or anything else relevant. Die to goblin horde.
Game 2 I stick two ghostly prisons pretty early to lock out attacks, but get knocked to 4 by double goblin grenade, then to 1 by a bolt. Several turns pass with neither of us drawing anything relevant, but finally I get a martyr. I slowly beat down with spirits and the martyr, waiting until my opponent tries to fire off a burn spell, gain 12 in response, and he scoops, having completely run out of gas.
Game 3 I gain 30+ life in the first few turns, wrath the board when my opponent tries to apply pressure, and stick a pair of serra ascendants to seal the game.
Round 2: 2-0 against suicide zoo(?)
Interesting build. Naya zoo skeleton, but with a black splash for death's shadow, plus a bunch of life draining cards and pump spells to enable it very early.
Game 1 was a bit of an attrition war. I deployed squadron hawks and lingering souls to slow down the aggro early on, gaining lots of life along the way. I take a hit for 8 from a death's shadow, putting me at 35, when I stick a serra ascendant. My opponent had worked himself ddown to 5 life through his lands and various spells, so I only needed a turn. He attempted to go for a huge burst of damage by pumping death's shadow with mutagenic growth, become immense, and temur battle rage, but I have to rain on his party with a path. I imagine he thought this was a safe line of play because I only had a swamp and a ghost quarter open, not seeing the play of ghost quartering myself to fetch a plains. Wasn't the last time I used ghost quarter shenanigans that night.
Game 2 was pretty similar. I stalled a lot, my opponent eventually worked himself down to 2 life before I even touched him. I stuck two ghostly prisons to prevent any pump spell shenanigans, and then I dropped a few hawks to push through the last few points of damage.
Round 3: 0-2 against grixis twin
Game 1 was very grindy, I never got close to setting up my kill. The recursive nature of the deck via kolaghan's command and snapcaster mage just provided too much value, and I died to burn and snapcaster beats.
Game 2 I slowly whittled my opponent down to 3, sticking a few ghostly prisons to prevent combo and exiling creatures at any opportunity, but finally my opponent got on his feet, used engineered explosives to wipe out my prisons, and assembled the combo.
Round 4: 1-1-1 against grixis.. control? Midrange?
Game 1 I won pretty easily. My opponent drew a lot of lands, I hit 64 life, and reanimated serra ascendants enough to wear through all of his removal.
Game 2 I was in position to just stall out to time, but my opponent landed a surgical extraction on my martyr while I didn't have a means of stopping him. I also sideboarded poorly, opting to remove my wraths because I assumed my opponent was on a reactive plan, but then I was beat to death by gurmag anglers and tasigur.
Game 3 We go to time in the first few turns. I wrathed a single angler away just to confirm the draw, and my opponent was not pleased. He couldn't have won with the number of turns he had left anyway, but I guess removing all hope was a bit too much.
Round 5: 2-0 merfolk
This one was basically decided before the game started.
Game 1, my opponent almost fights through 3 martyrs, knocking me from 60+ down to 31 with a massive board. I get one swing in with a serra ascendant, then wrath. My opponent tries to fight back with master of waves and a lord, but I ghost quarter my hallowed fountain to remove islandwalk, find a swamp to orzhov charm back my ascendant, block the master, and my opponent scoops.
My opponent asks if he should even bother with sideboarding, I show him what I'm bringing in (the fourth copies of wrath and path, plus four ghostly prisons) and he sighs heavily, thinking about it, but we decide to just play it out anyway. In this time it was basically decided that I would win, and we wasted a lot of time having a rule argument with the LGS owner about frogmite and black lotus.
Game 2, he draws four aether vials, and very little action. I reveal 8 cards for martyr, one of which is an ascendant, and he decides to scoop.
The grixis matchup, or more realistically, kolaghan's command, is proving to be a problem. Need to find a way to get around it. Still, I'm relatively pleased with how this deck performs, and it suits my playstyle better than most decks in modern.
Legacy
WW Death and Taxes WW
Modern
WBMartyr-Proc BW
great write up as always Polski!
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage
Legacy
WW Death and Taxes WW
Modern
WBMartyr-Proc BW
honestly, without team america as a legit deck option, i struggle with the desire to play modern.
Primer - Mishra, Artificer Prodigy
Thor, Ragnar Röks!
Hela, and the Enemies of Asgard
Teferi, Temporal Archmage