Due to some scheduling issues, TSG and I will be broadcasting LIVE today at about 3:30 PDT instead of at 10. So, in a little over two hours, you can join us live at the above link for this week's episode. Our topics this week will include sample packs, including looking at what to take later in a draft than pick 1, and the artifact section of cube. We hope to see you there!
Today TSG and I will be talking about the MOCS cube drafts as well as showing off a starter cube list, designed for balance and (relative)affordability. If you've wanted to start a cube but didn't have a list to work off of, try this one! Or, you can just join us live to chat with us and join in the discussion! If you can't make it live, we upload the audio to eckamon.blogspot.com as well as iTunes(under the name "The Magic Box") and MTGCast (same name). We hope to see you live!
Regarding the earlier/later requests: We would like to do it earlier for the west coast (sorry UK!) but we record when our weekly cube league finishes up. This happens to be around 10 PM on Wednesdays. Between jobs and school for TSG and my work, this is about the only time we can feasibly do it. I know it sucks since its so late, but you can always watch the videos or listen to the recording after thee fact, and if you shoot me or TSG a line on twitter (@youngmecca and @tristangregson, respectively), we will respond and hopefully include it in the show.
Tomorrow night (Wednesday the 20th) we will be recording our new episode of "The Magic Box" LIVE on twitchTV! By hopping in and watching the stream at 10 PM PDT, you can ask questions and make your voice heard as we talk about the following topics:
-Nathan Holiday, Grand Prix San Diego winner, joins the team to talk about his recent success and his cube draft preferences
-We discuss a sample pack, choosing the right place to start your draft
-We analyze the new MTGO cube list, and talk about cube as a format in MTGO champs
-Discussing the Land vs. Enchantment runoff in YTTC4, and the cube ramifications of each card type
So be sure to join us LIVE tomorrow to chime in! We usually start around 10 PM PDT (west coast time) and run for 2 hours at most. While there, you can also see our previous episodes, or head to eckamon.blogspot.com and listen to our previous episodes as audio files. Hope to see you all tomorrow!
I've known TSG for over a decade. We went to the same high school, and became friends when we ended up at FNM together. We were housemates for about 5 years during/after college, and I was a groomsmen in his wedding. As far as the CFB situation, he's made public what happened and I have no reason to doubt his story. It's a screwy situation top to bottom, but he's one of my best friends and I have no reason to doubt his version of events.
Every week, TSG and I are hosting a LIVE podcast recording, talking about sample packs, construction theory, deck building and anything else cube related. We have 5 episodes so far and record around 10 PM west coat time on Wednesdays. Listen/Watch our old episodes, or come join us live to ask questions/suggest topics for us to discuss!
Hello everyone, my name is Kyle Eck and I’m a PTQ-level magic player. On MTGO, my handle is eckamon. Recently, my friends and I became very excited for the online PTQ season that got announced. We all realized how large of an opportunity this was, taking the number of available PTQs for San Diego from 3 to 19 in our area. On Thursday, I entered the first online PTQ and managed to make the top 8. However, this is when problems started occurring, and why I am writing this now.
In game one of my top 8 match, my opponent began to time out on his upkeep, with his priority. While this was happening I could see him losing his connection and rejoining the game in the match window. Not convinced it was on his end, I ran the standard connection tests for MTGO. I was able to chat privately and in public channels, as well as see other people chat in the Premier Events room as well as see drafts fill and fire. After another minute or so, I was still worried so I closed MTGO, reopened it and logged back in. The same situation was present- chatting worked, but the game was hung on my opponent’s priority. I logged out and in again, with no change. Finally, my game chat began to get spammed with warnings that I was going to lose due to inactivity, and I needed to take a game action to avoid this. However, it being my opponent’s priority, I could not do anything. In a panic, I logged out and in again. When I was back in the client a pop-up message informed me that I had forfeited. I got packs for 8th place and that was that. The Wizards representatives in the room had nothing to say other than to fill out a compensation request form, so I did. It was summarily denied, claiming that the packs I received was all I was entitled to.
I am writing this up now to inform players interested in playing in these events of the risks involved. While MTGO strives to emulate paper magic, this is one area which it falls short. Not only are you competing against other players, but against the server’s ability to handle your connection as well. In this particular instance, the fault was in no way on my side; I did everything I could to reconnect to the service, and it simply did not work. The problem with this now is that these PTQs seem less legitimate to me. Think of it this way- which of these outcomes feels better to you and looks better to other players: winning a PTQ legitimately, or winning because your opponent had to move his car and lost due to being late? On MTGO, the former example can happen in every single event. It really makes the online events unappealing to me and many of the players I know.
All MTGO players have been on both sides of the disconnect issue. Anyone who has played on MTGO for a decent amount of time has both won and lost games and matches due to server instability. Yet in the past, these events were self-contained: virtual cards and currency for virtual prizes. Now, with real world cash and PT invites on the line, the stakes are significantly higher. If Wizards cannot guarantee some level of server quality they should not be running events of this magnitude online. Personally, I feel the fact that server stability and connection problems are even an issue that can factor into who makes the Pro Tour undermines the validity of any of those invites.
This giant wall of text is to serve mainly as a warning and a wake-up call to players as interested as I was in these events. Unlike real life PTQs, you are not solely responsible for the outcome of your matches. You have to defeat your opponents in a game of skill, and survive the random chance that you will be forcibly disconnected from your game with no ability to return. This fact alone scares me out of playing for such a significant prize (and for such a significant time investment- our event ran 13+ hours) until the issues present in MTGO can be addressed, and I know many, many people who feel the same as I do.
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Due to some scheduling issues, TSG and I will be broadcasting LIVE today at about 3:30 PDT instead of at 10. So, in a little over two hours, you can join us live at the above link for this week's episode. Our topics this week will include sample packs, including looking at what to take later in a draft than pick 1, and the artifact section of cube. We hope to see you there!
Today TSG and I will be talking about the MOCS cube drafts as well as showing off a starter cube list, designed for balance and (relative)affordability. If you've wanted to start a cube but didn't have a list to work off of, try this one! Or, you can just join us live to chat with us and join in the discussion! If you can't make it live, we upload the audio to eckamon.blogspot.com as well as iTunes(under the name "The Magic Box") and MTGCast (same name). We hope to see you live!
Tomorrow night (Wednesday the 20th) we will be recording our new episode of "The Magic Box" LIVE on twitchTV! By hopping in and watching the stream at 10 PM PDT, you can ask questions and make your voice heard as we talk about the following topics:
-Nathan Holiday, Grand Prix San Diego winner, joins the team to talk about his recent success and his cube draft preferences
-We discuss a sample pack, choosing the right place to start your draft
-We analyze the new MTGO cube list, and talk about cube as a format in MTGO champs
-Discussing the Land vs. Enchantment runoff in YTTC4, and the cube ramifications of each card type
So be sure to join us LIVE tomorrow to chime in! We usually start around 10 PM PDT (west coast time) and run for 2 hours at most. While there, you can also see our previous episodes, or head to eckamon.blogspot.com and listen to our previous episodes as audio files. Hope to see you all tomorrow!
twitch.tv/eckamon
youtube.com/user/eckamon
http://www.mtgcast.com/topics/mtgcast-podcast-shows/active-podcast-shows/the-magic-box
Every week, TSG and I are hosting a LIVE podcast recording, talking about sample packs, construction theory, deck building and anything else cube related. We have 5 episodes so far and record around 10 PM west coat time on Wednesdays. Listen/Watch our old episodes, or come join us live to ask questions/suggest topics for us to discuss!
In game one of my top 8 match, my opponent began to time out on his upkeep, with his priority. While this was happening I could see him losing his connection and rejoining the game in the match window. Not convinced it was on his end, I ran the standard connection tests for MTGO. I was able to chat privately and in public channels, as well as see other people chat in the Premier Events room as well as see drafts fill and fire. After another minute or so, I was still worried so I closed MTGO, reopened it and logged back in. The same situation was present- chatting worked, but the game was hung on my opponent’s priority. I logged out and in again, with no change. Finally, my game chat began to get spammed with warnings that I was going to lose due to inactivity, and I needed to take a game action to avoid this. However, it being my opponent’s priority, I could not do anything. In a panic, I logged out and in again. When I was back in the client a pop-up message informed me that I had forfeited. I got packs for 8th place and that was that. The Wizards representatives in the room had nothing to say other than to fill out a compensation request form, so I did. It was summarily denied, claiming that the packs I received was all I was entitled to.
I am writing this up now to inform players interested in playing in these events of the risks involved. While MTGO strives to emulate paper magic, this is one area which it falls short. Not only are you competing against other players, but against the server’s ability to handle your connection as well. In this particular instance, the fault was in no way on my side; I did everything I could to reconnect to the service, and it simply did not work. The problem with this now is that these PTQs seem less legitimate to me. Think of it this way- which of these outcomes feels better to you and looks better to other players: winning a PTQ legitimately, or winning because your opponent had to move his car and lost due to being late? On MTGO, the former example can happen in every single event. It really makes the online events unappealing to me and many of the players I know.
All MTGO players have been on both sides of the disconnect issue. Anyone who has played on MTGO for a decent amount of time has both won and lost games and matches due to server instability. Yet in the past, these events were self-contained: virtual cards and currency for virtual prizes. Now, with real world cash and PT invites on the line, the stakes are significantly higher. If Wizards cannot guarantee some level of server quality they should not be running events of this magnitude online. Personally, I feel the fact that server stability and connection problems are even an issue that can factor into who makes the Pro Tour undermines the validity of any of those invites.
This giant wall of text is to serve mainly as a warning and a wake-up call to players as interested as I was in these events. Unlike real life PTQs, you are not solely responsible for the outcome of your matches. You have to defeat your opponents in a game of skill, and survive the random chance that you will be forcibly disconnected from your game with no ability to return. This fact alone scares me out of playing for such a significant prize (and for such a significant time investment- our event ran 13+ hours) until the issues present in MTGO can be addressed, and I know many, many people who feel the same as I do.