Its the nightly server rush for preview cards, the server has been too busy to handle requests this time of night all week, just wait a while and it will be back up.
I didn't think the test was all that hard, a couple of the questions kind of threw me, but they just took a little thinking to figure out.
I thought a lot of the questions had subtle tricks to knowing where to go, IMHO 8-10 were really tough. Made some split hair decisions, but overall I'm feeling pretty good about my choices. Took me less then an hours time, only because I had to refrence a few things to double check answers. Like a good R+D member, I took the time and did so.
Almost all of the questions where total no-brainers, so long as you knew basic things.
Honestly the ease of it is unsettling.
I only recently began to pay attention to the design aspects of Magic. My 3 year anniversary is close but I've only been doing tournaments for a year and a half. I have yet to win one but I get T4 pretty often. Playing Standard makes you really analyze your options.
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
I did it last night, wrote my answers down and closed the window. This morning I did it again and compared my answers. Made a couple changes, etc. I don't know how long it took me, but there were maybe 5 or 6 questions that I felt needed some real thought and I changed my answers on a couple of them.
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I did it last night, wrote my answers down and closed the window. This morning I did it again and compared my answers. Made a couple changes, etc. I don't know how long it took me, but there were maybe 5 or 6 questions that I felt needed some real thought and I changed my answers on a couple of them.
Same here... I am in the process of going over my answers a third time just to be sure. I have gone through, slept, gone through, did some errands, and am now going through again. I will probably spend the afternoon working and check them over once more at about 7:30 when I get off and then go from there.
lol, like many problems in life, this was solved with a simple string of google searches.
I wonder though, will this test really cut down the playing field that much? Or is it just a filter task to weed out the rest of the idiots who scraped past the essay portion?
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Underling Ethu's 263rd report read simply "Yes, my lord.Overwhelmingly, my lord." This marked the end of the Mirran-Phyrexian War.
lol, like many problems in life, this was solved with a simple string of google searches.
I wonder though, will this test really cut down the playing field that much? Or is it just a filter task to weed out the rest of the idiots who scraped past the essay portion?
When do you guys think we will get a reply back? I am thinking sometime in the next 24 hours through mostly automated grading, or like a week, if more thought is put in to it.
Your guesses?
lol, like many problems in life, this was solved with a simple string of google searches.
I wonder though, will this test really cut down the playing field that much? Or is it just a filter task to weed out the rest of the idiots who scraped past the essay portion?
I was wondering that too; it seemed too easy compared to the essays and didn't seem like it would cull that much of the remaining herd.
Then again, out of the 1061, maybe for each of us sitting here going "Gee...that seemed almost too easy..." there is another person going "man this is really hard..."
Also, there's the essay vs multiple choice (some people are presumably good at one or the other but not both) as well as the short window of opportunity (only 24 hours) as other ways to cut down on the remaining entrants.
When do you guys think we will get a reply back? I am thinking sometime in the next 24 hours through mostly automated grading, or like a week, if more thought is put in to it.
Your guesses?
Since they should be able to run the tests through some kind of script or otherwise automated system, I would think we might hear something as soon as Saturday.
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GDS1 & GDS2 entrant. Former Rules Advisor & casual-level TO. Semi-lapsed player in general.
lol, like many problems in life, this was solved with a simple string of google searches.
I wonder though, will this test really cut down the playing field that much? Or is it just a filter task to weed out the rest of the idiots who scraped past the essay portion?
The public rules state that there might be another exam during this round, so the first exam might not weed out everyone. Either way, approximately 1011 people will be cut during this round, so no one should feel bad about being cut, because that's a lot of people.
I think this round really depends on how they decided to grade the test. I do not know if the test was easy or hard, but a mostly easy test might be worse than a mostly hard test.
If they choose to grade the test with a cutoff point, then an easy test is good for us. For example, if the cutoff point is 4 questions, then everyone who misses 4 questions or less gets to take the next exam, which can be any amount of people.
However, if they choose to grade the test with a sliding cutoff point, then an easy test is bad for most of us. In this example, they will only take the 50 highest scoring test-takers. If 50 people miss 0 or 1 questions, even if you only miss 2, you get cut. If the test was very easy for the most part with 3-4 hard questions, those 3-4 hardest questions may well be the deciding factor for who gets in and who gets cut. With such a low amount of hard questions, guessing becomes more important, which is generally bad.
A harder test, while increasing the overall amount of guessing, would reduce the effect of each individual guess. Those with a higher skill would be more rewarded than those who make good guesses, which is generally good.
I hear some people worrying about Gleemax, how foolish.
We all know the story of how MaRo challenged Gleemax to honorable combat.
Mark was enraged at what Gleemax's meddling had done to Mirrodin. And then, when that wicked Jitte spread new horror, he had had enough.
Mark was finnaly ready, he had long been preparing for this day. He practiced and armed himself with enough tricky red and blue spells he could muster. He even brought a few Myr as backup.
The battle was slow at first, a Shock here, a Last Word there..... Gleemax's mastery of control spells was more than a match for MaRo's wild genius.
But Mark planned ahead, his choices of summoning where superb. And he prepared for his master plan, he called up a tidal visionary when Gleemax wasn't watching.
Things stayed even, but then Gleemax turned everything around.
The whole arena shook wildly as Gleemax rose out of the ground, his braincase riding the top of a giant cybernetic kraken! The many steel tendrills of the beast where larger than Mark's whole body, but he wasn't scared. He was prepared.
He nodded to one of his Myr, and then put the plan he had been tinkering with into action.
A portal to the aether sucked the little mechanoid inside, a few seconds later somthing else emerged. A shining Sword of Fire and Ice.
Mark grabbed the sword and charged, Gleemax laughed at this feeble attempt. Untill a blast from a little merfolk in the corner gave the engine of doom a new paintjob.
Blue.
Mark deftly avoided the flailing tentacles, going straight to the dome. As he brought the blade down on Gleemax, the brain shrieked in pain. He brought the sword up again, it shone brightly as a red flare shook the braincase again.
Gleemax was hurt, but not dead yet. And worse still, angry.
Mark dove away, still avoiding the steel monster. He knew he had to finish things now. But he was out of plans.
So he did what any true Blue/Red mage would do.
He improvised.
Mark's hand glew bright red, and he flung the sword, sending it straight at Gleemax. It exploded in a firey blast of shrapnel.
As the smoke cleared, there was one last cry from the tyrant in a jar, and then silence.
The kraken slummped over, the glass case shattered, the evil brain was dead.
Then there errupted a cry of such joy. The Wizards of the Coast where free, free from that gooey bastard. They looked to the conquering hero, Mark Rosewater for guidance.
Mark turned to them and spoke "My friends, these dark days are over. I shall guide you to a new, glorious future. Magic will be balanced and fair. It will be fun again, with no degenerate decks or overpowered cards. And this Golden Age shall be known as......Ravnica."
I think it's possible that the multiple choice is actually the first method of cuts but they asked for the essays first becuase they require more effort. If all you had to do was a multiple choice test for the first round, they may have gotten a heck of a lot more "what the hell, I'll give it a try" responses. This way, only the people who cared enough to spend time on essay questions made it in; they can start with the essays of the people who scored the best on the multiple choice, rather than read a thousand essays.
That's just a guess, of course, but it makes sense.
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I think it's possible that the multiple choice is actually the first method of cuts but they asked for the essays first becuase they require more effort. If all you had to do was a multiple choice test for the first round, they may have gotten a heck of a lot more "what the hell, I'll give it a try" responses. This way, only the people who cared enough to spend time on essay questions made it in; they can start with the essays of the people who scored the best on the multiple choice, rather than read a thousand essays.
Makes sense to me. I think that's probably why they put that clause in the rules that lets them use any round's information during any other round. It seemed kind of obvious that they could do that, but since they spelled it out, I beleive that could have been their plan all along.
I sure wish we could talk about these questions. There are a few that I'm just itching to ask about. Plus it would give us something to discuss other than purple reprints. But, alas, I take the "NDA" very seriously.
Makes sense to me. I think that's probably why they put that clause in the rules that lets them use any round's information during any other round. It seemed kind of obvious that they could do that, but since they spelled it out, I beleive that could have been their plan all along.
I sure wish we could talk about these questions. There are a few that I'm just itching to ask about. Plus it would give us something to discuss other than purple reprints. But, alas, I take the "NDA" very seriously.
@Jack_Cain: ??? That was random.
People where joking about Gleemax on the offical boards, so I got randomly inspired and whipped that story up.
I sure wish we could talk about these questions. There are a few that I'm just itching to ask about. Plus it would give us something to discuss other than purple reprints. But, alas, I take the "NDA" very seriously.
Ditto.
I'm also curious about Jedit's comment just a few posts earlier in this thread about "there's at least one question which you'll answer wrong if all you do is plug in searches and read off the result." I'd be curious to know which one he means, but we can't really discuss that either I suppose...
Just got my email from Wizards. Huzzah!!!
Congratulations! You have made it to the third and Semifinal Round of the interview process for The Great Designer Search, the card design round. Here’s what’s going to happen. On the evening of Thursday, September 14, you will be receiving an email with the instructions for the next step.
That was nice and quick. I hope we get an update on Monday from MaRo about how many people made it.
I didn't think the test was all that hard, a couple of the questions kind of threw me, but they just took a little thinking to figure out.
http://mkipps.blogspot.com/
I'm going to assume that it was my massive play experience (IA forward) that made it hard. We'll go with that......
Modern: Dominium Eminens
Legacy: UB Tezz (Check out My Primer at TheSource)
Vinitage: Oath
I used to judge alot.
Few were the questions though that truly had more than one answer.
I only recently began to pay attention to the design aspects of Magic. My 3 year anniversary is close but I've only been doing tournaments for a year and a half. I have yet to win one but I get T4 pretty often. Playing Standard makes you really analyze your options.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.
About 35 minutes for me.
Current New Favorite Person™: Mallory Archer
She knows why.
Same here... I am in the process of going over my answers a third time just to be sure. I have gone through, slept, gone through, did some errands, and am now going through again. I will probably spend the afternoon working and check them over once more at about 7:30 when I get off and then go from there.
Sets completed in the "Vale" Block
Vale: The Shadowlands
More sets to come
My Have/Want List
I've noticed the answers to some of the more thought-intensive ones seem to have been at least partially answered in various past MaRo columns...
Sig banner by Xyre.
My MTG Blog (inactive)
GDS1 & GDS2 entrant. Former Rules Advisor & casual-level TO. Semi-lapsed player in general.
And the final round! That would be awesome :-D
Sets completed in the "Vale" Block
Vale: The Shadowlands
More sets to come
My Have/Want List
I wonder though, will this test really cut down the playing field that much? Or is it just a filter task to weed out the rest of the idiots who scraped past the essay portion?
How did that work, anyway?
It wasn't like trivia or anything.
Your guesses?
I was wondering that too; it seemed too easy compared to the essays and didn't seem like it would cull that much of the remaining herd.
Then again, out of the 1061, maybe for each of us sitting here going "Gee...that seemed almost too easy..." there is another person going "man this is really hard..."
Also, there's the essay vs multiple choice (some people are presumably good at one or the other but not both) as well as the short window of opportunity (only 24 hours) as other ways to cut down on the remaining entrants.
Since they should be able to run the tests through some kind of script or otherwise automated system, I would think we might hear something as soon as Saturday.
Sig banner by Xyre.
My MTG Blog (inactive)
GDS1 & GDS2 entrant. Former Rules Advisor & casual-level TO. Semi-lapsed player in general.
The public rules state that there might be another exam during this round, so the first exam might not weed out everyone. Either way, approximately 1011 people will be cut during this round, so no one should feel bad about being cut, because that's a lot of people.
I think this round really depends on how they decided to grade the test. I do not know if the test was easy or hard, but a mostly easy test might be worse than a mostly hard test.
If they choose to grade the test with a cutoff point, then an easy test is good for us. For example, if the cutoff point is 4 questions, then everyone who misses 4 questions or less gets to take the next exam, which can be any amount of people.
However, if they choose to grade the test with a sliding cutoff point, then an easy test is bad for most of us. In this example, they will only take the 50 highest scoring test-takers. If 50 people miss 0 or 1 questions, even if you only miss 2, you get cut. If the test was very easy for the most part with 3-4 hard questions, those 3-4 hardest questions may well be the deciding factor for who gets in and who gets cut. With such a low amount of hard questions, guessing becomes more important, which is generally bad.
A harder test, while increasing the overall amount of guessing, would reduce the effect of each individual guess. Those with a higher skill would be more rewarded than those who make good guesses, which is generally good.
We all know the story of how MaRo challenged Gleemax to honorable combat.
Mark was enraged at what Gleemax's meddling had done to Mirrodin. And then, when that wicked Jitte spread new horror, he had had enough.
Mark was finnaly ready, he had long been preparing for this day. He practiced and armed himself with enough tricky red and blue spells he could muster. He even brought a few Myr as backup.
The battle was slow at first, a Shock here, a Last Word there..... Gleemax's mastery of control spells was more than a match for MaRo's wild genius.
But Mark planned ahead, his choices of summoning where superb. And he prepared for his master plan, he called up a tidal visionary when Gleemax wasn't watching.
Things stayed even, but then Gleemax turned everything around.
The whole arena shook wildly as Gleemax rose out of the ground, his braincase riding the top of a giant cybernetic kraken! The many steel tendrills of the beast where larger than Mark's whole body, but he wasn't scared. He was prepared.
He nodded to one of his Myr, and then put the plan he had been tinkering with into action.
A portal to the aether sucked the little mechanoid inside, a few seconds later somthing else emerged. A shining Sword of Fire and Ice.
Mark grabbed the sword and charged, Gleemax laughed at this feeble attempt. Untill a blast from a little merfolk in the corner gave the engine of doom a new paintjob.
Blue.
Mark deftly avoided the flailing tentacles, going straight to the dome. As he brought the blade down on Gleemax, the brain shrieked in pain. He brought the sword up again, it shone brightly as a red flare shook the braincase again.
Gleemax was hurt, but not dead yet. And worse still, angry.
Mark dove away, still avoiding the steel monster. He knew he had to finish things now. But he was out of plans.
So he did what any true Blue/Red mage would do.
He improvised.
Mark's hand glew bright red, and he flung the sword, sending it straight at Gleemax. It exploded in a firey blast of shrapnel.
As the smoke cleared, there was one last cry from the tyrant in a jar, and then silence.
The kraken slummped over, the glass case shattered, the evil brain was dead.
Then there errupted a cry of such joy. The Wizards of the Coast where free, free from that gooey bastard. They looked to the conquering hero, Mark Rosewater for guidance.
Mark turned to them and spoke "My friends, these dark days are over. I shall guide you to a new, glorious future. Magic will be balanced and fair. It will be fun again, with no degenerate decks or overpowered cards. And this Golden Age shall be known as......Ravnica."
That's just a guess, of course, but it makes sense.
Current New Favorite Person™: Mallory Archer
She knows why.
Makes sense to me. I think that's probably why they put that clause in the rules that lets them use any round's information during any other round. It seemed kind of obvious that they could do that, but since they spelled it out, I beleive that could have been their plan all along.
I sure wish we could talk about these questions. There are a few that I'm just itching to ask about. Plus it would give us something to discuss other than purple reprints. But, alas, I take the "NDA" very seriously.
@Jack_Cain: ??? That was random.
People where joking about Gleemax on the offical boards, so I got randomly inspired and whipped that story up.
It took me just a few minutes.
Ditto.
I'm also curious about Jedit's comment just a few posts earlier in this thread about "there's at least one question which you'll answer wrong if all you do is plug in searches and read off the result." I'd be curious to know which one he means, but we can't really discuss that either I suppose...
Just got my email from Wizards. Huzzah!!!
That was nice and quick. I hope we get an update on Monday from MaRo about how many people made it.
Please don't double-post. Merged.
Sig banner by Xyre.
My MTG Blog (inactive)
GDS1 & GDS2 entrant. Former Rules Advisor & casual-level TO. Semi-lapsed player in general.
Visit the MTGSalvation art forum for all your Magic art/artist questions, and participate in the monthly art contest!!!
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