Yes. Prime Time is still amazing. If you don't include any utility lands, or any cards that cost more than 6 mana than it loses some of it's value as an archetype support card/role player. But it's still far and away the best green 6-drop even if you're only playing it at face value.
This guy is starting a site where you can upload your cube and then do a rotisserie draft with your friends or bots. It is still early in development but it looks really neat. Something to keep an eye on for sure.
Thanks cuttups for posting about mtgroto, and thanks NathanZimmerer and majikian for checking it out! I'm going to start a separate thread to introduce the site to this community, and hopefully spark some more discussion about features/refinements to get it up to speed.
I'll definitely be interested in your feedback, and feel free to direct message me anytime.
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I'd like to pose this question to the cube community here. How do you guys feel when your opponent loses game one, then completely changes their deck post sideboard? We have a friend who cubes with us semi regularly, and has done this a couple of times now. As someone who was on the opposite side of this action, I can tell it gave me a giant feel bad.
To provide a little perspective, here's the scenario. I'm UW Control Moat. I have flyers, counters, draw, Shackles, Moat -- It's a really solid deck. I'm 2-0 and sit down across from him who is playing a hyper aggressive Rakdos aggro deck. He gets me below ten in game one, then I take over, drop Moat and win. In game two he drops the black, adds in white instead and proceeds to win both games two and three. His white additions changing him from a hyper aggro deck to a more aggressive midrange deck with several answers to artifacts and enchantments coming in with the white cards.
Rule #1 at our cube drafts is don't be a dick. If you can't be civil and have fun, then we don't want you at our table. Rule #2 is free mulligans. If you're thinking about abusing rule #2, see rule #1. We have a very casual, lightly competitive atmosphere. This guy's sideboard changes and other actions (like shuffling opponent's decks instead of just a friendly cut) kind of go against that atmosphere. There's nothing wrong with being competitive and playing to win, but not at the cost of causing someone else to not have fun in the process. We considered implementing Rule #3 - No sideboards, build your deck right the first time, but I don't want him to feel targeted with that rule. Most of the time our sideboards aren't used anyway, but occasionally someone might throw in an extra removal or Disenchant effect.
Anyway, I just wanted to hear some thoughts on this and how you guys feel about this type of sideboarding and cube sideboarding in general.
Use pseudo-constructed sideboards, where players build a main deck and a 10-card board. It largely prevents transformational sideboarding as an intentional tactic, and more closely mirrors the mesh between limited and constructed that the cube brings. It's the same maindeck/sideboard ratio you get in constructed. You can also force players to put additional free basics into their sideboard if you want too (making them no longer "free" once the deckbuilding process is done), which largely prevents full color changes. We do some drafts with fill limited-style boarding, some events with no boarding, and other events with the pseudo-constructed 10-card boards, and I happen to really like the 10-card board solution. It makes boarding decisions faster, and also keeps things tighter and more "secure" because players don't have to haul around a ton of unused cards, and keep track of a bunch of your extra cube cards.
@calibretto: Let me be the devil's advocate here. So you say you don't have fun, because your opponent refuses to be utterly crushed by your UW Moat Control deck that he knows he can't beat with his Rakdos aggro deck? Instead of changing his deck, using the cards he drafted, in order to maximize his chance of winning, you would have him play the same Rakdos aggro deck with maybe 1-3 cards changed? Maybe he does not have fun playing a deck that is a huge underdog if instead he could play a more evenly matched one.
Personally, I play Cube as a limited format as far as sideboarding is concerned. All cards that did not make your main deck are your sideboard, you get access to as many basic lands as you want. Making big changes between games is a legitimate limited strategy which involves some fun mind games. As long as players take a reasonable time sideboarding, I don't have a problem with that.
I have to say I also like the idea of 10-card pseudo-constructed sideboards.
What I don't like at all is no sideboard. Because there is such a variety of decks, there are cards that are dead in certain match-ups and crucial in others. It's OK to have a few of the former and lack a few of the latter game one, but for games two and three I really like the option to make a few tweaks.
To play devil's advocate back, I think there's value in rewarding players for building a final-40 that doesn't fold to a single card rather than relying on transformational sideboarding to correct your deckbuilding mistakes. A good Rakdos aggro deck will have a better chance at beating a Moat control deck than transforming your build into a less-focussed pile that has some extra outs. The only thing worse than trying to beat Moat with a good aggro deck is trying to beat it with a bad midrange deck, lol.
That being said, I think a 10-card sideboard is a good compromise between the two, I think.
I think it is perfectly fine to use all the cards you drafted. Its a learning experience to realize, OK this deck isn't cutting it and maybe I can swap out some cards to make something different. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean you are right. It sounds like you are targeting him for wanting to play with a better deck using the cards he drafted. I am not a fan of not allowing people to use all 45 cards they drafted. Each personal selected each of those cards for a reason and it would be pretty terrible to then say "you can't use half of these now" just because you want some one to stick with the first deck idea they came up with from that pool.
Also, shuffling a person's deck and not cutting it doesn't make them more competitive than you. It is just a way to randomize a pile of cards. It sounds like you are getting really strict for the sake of being "casual".
I see both sides of the spectrum, honestly. There's nothing wrong with utilizing all 45 cards that you draft. I prefer tailored sideboarding methods just for time/security reasons, not because I want to remove deckbuilding tools for players. But we also play a lot of Sealed Deck, where transformational sideboaring with a 90-card pool can be really time-consuming, given the nature of that format and the 90-card pools.
I also don't think there's a problem with the competitive nature of the player. If they want to write down cards that get exposed by Duress, and shuffle/cut their opponent's deck before handing it back, there's nothing wrong with that. I wound't want to criticize players for trying to play the best Magic they can, even if the event is "casual". It's just good practice.
The important thing is that the rules are known when you start drafting. Building a 40 card deck that folds to a single card is only a mistake if you are not allowed to change the deck to adapt to said card, and even then it may be worth the gamble depending on the lieklihood of facing said card at all (in order to play against said card, you have to be paired against the player who drafted it and he has to actually draw it).
I can see circumstances where playing with no sideboards at all is the most practical thing to do. I prefer playing with sideboards, though. I like the idea of 10-cards sideboards because it feels more like constructed. You draft your deck and choose the tools against various problematic decks or cards you might encounter along the way. In draft, you can still include most picks that did not make the main deck (because you also draft non-basic lands, chances are that 20 cards or less don't make your main deck; some of those are late picks that just happened to end up in your pile). In sealed, it significantly reduces the options post-board, which is a good thing.
I like precise game rules because the rules help avoid that things get personal. Take your free mulligan rule, for example. I would hate to make a mulligan decision based on that rule, because rather than making a purely mathematical decision (is it more likely to win with this 7 card starting hand or a random 6 card starting hand) I would have to weigh my chances of winning with a given starting hand vs. my chances of being seen as a dick for abusing the free mulligan. I'd also feel somewhat cheated because I don't get rewarded for building a consistent deck if my opponents can just mulligan away the lack of consistency their deck has.
The important thing is that the rules are known when you start drafting.
Quote from Konfusius »
I can see circumstances where playing with no sideboards at all is the most practical thing to do. I prefer playing with sideboards, though. I like the idea of 10-cards sideboards because it feels more like constructed.
@calibretto: Let me be the devil's advocate here. So you say you don't have fun, because your opponent refuses to be utterly crushed by your UW Moat Control deck that he knows he can't beat with his Rakdos aggro deck? Instead of changing his deck, using the cards he drafted, in order to maximize his chance of winning, you would have him play the same Rakdos aggro deck with maybe 1-3 cards changed? Maybe he does not have fun playing a deck that is a huge underdog if instead he could play a more evenly matched one.
Every deck will be an underdog to some other deck. That's the nature of the game. To answer the question, yes, I would have him play the same Rakdos deck with only a few cards changed. If he had wanted to play Boros aggro and be able to answer a powerful card like Moat, he should have drafted and built that deck instead. To be quite honest, without Moat, our decks were of a fairly equal power level. If I hadn't played it on game one, I likely would have lost.
Also, shuffling a person's deck and not cutting it doesn't make them more competitive than you. It is just a way to randomize a pile of cards. It sounds like you are getting really strict for the sake of being "casual".
I think the shuffle is a bit much. There's nothing at stake and we're sitting at a kitchen table. Presenting after shuffling up is a courtesy that I feel is mostly done out of habit. No one is trying to cheat and stack their deck. I point out that he does this only because it's definitely odd among our group. Most players will simply cut it at the middle and pass it back. Some will just tap the top and not even bother cutting. It's not a big deal how he cuts or doesn't cut after the decks are presented. His choice to shuffle is just different from our normal.
I also don't think there's a problem with the competitive nature of the player. If they want to write down cards that get exposed by Duress, and shuffle/cut their opponent's deck before handing it back, there's nothing wrong with that. I wound't want to criticize players for trying to play the best Magic they can, even if the event is "casual". It's just good practice.
You're probably right. I guess I just don't understand that mindset when playing for fun in a buddy's basement. If I build a solid deck and win the cube draft, awesome. If my draft goes off course somewhere and I end up with a pile that goes 0-3, awesome. Hand me another beer and lets draft again.
To bring up another example using this same guy, when he changed his deck up this weekend, he said that he needed some lands. Another friend, sitting near the pile of basics, said, "Sure, what d'ya need?" And the guy goes, "I can't say out loud." To which the land guy said, "Uhm.... ok...." and handed him a pile of lands. The guy's opponent replied, "C'mon, dude, we're playing for fun. This isn't a Grand Prix."
The important thing is that the rules are known when you start drafting. Building a 40 card deck that folds to a single card is only a mistake if you are not allowed to change the deck to adapt to said card, and even then it may be worth the gamble depending on the lieklihood of facing said card at all (in order to play against said card, you have to be paired against the player who drafted it and he has to actually draw it).
I agree with some of this, but not all of it. Building a 40 card deck that folds to a single card is not necessarily a mistake. We all know that Moat is a card that is in the cube. We all know that black and red have problems with enchantments. If you choose to draft Rakdos aggro, you can be rewarded with really quick turn four wins. You can also be punished by facing a card like Moat or even Opposition that can shut your deck down. It's a risk that I like existing. Your 2-0 Rakdos deck got shut down by Moat a turn or two before you would have dealt lethal. Shuffle up and try again. Maybe you'll have a faster draw this time or maybe your opponent won't see Moat. I can see sideboarding out some ground pounders for more burn. That's an acceptable sideboard plan to me. Changing the entire deck is something else entirely to me.
Take your free mulligan rule, for example. I would hate to make a mulligan decision based on that rule, because rather than making a purely mathematical decision (is it more likely to win with this 7 card starting hand or a random 6 card starting hand) I would have to weigh my chances of winning with a given starting hand vs. my chances of being seen as a dick for abusing the free mulligan. I'd also feel somewhat cheated because I don't get rewarded for building a consistent deck if my opponents can just mulligan away the lack of consistency their deck has.
Sometimes I have to mull three times to find an acceptable hand. That usually involves a crappy hand, followed by a no lander, followed by a pile shuffle, and finally something that's anywhere from acceptable to amazing. That's not being dick. That's just luck. If you mulligan until you find your Moat, Sol Ring, Library, etc, that's being a dick.
I don't really like bringing up our free mull rule because I feel like folks here picture our games all starting off with everyone taking five mulligans until they find the perfect hand when that's just not the case. Draw your initial seven and it's got a couple lands, a few early plays and a couple 4-5 drops? Good to go. Draw your hand and it's got two lands and five late game spells? Ship it back and try again. I don't want my win to be because you were just unlucky. I can't do anything about mana flood or mana screw, so free mulligans are the only way that I can stick it to the luck man.
The bottom line, I think, is that this guy is the only guy who ups the competitive to 11 when he plays with us. Everyone else is happy with the free mulligan rule while he's asking, "What's the rule, you get one?" when his opponent has to mull more than once. Everyone else is happy just cutting their opponent's deck while he feels the need to pick it up and shuffle it. No one else is changing their entire decks during sideboarding and most won't even touch their sideboard after the games have started. Maybe I'm overreacting at how annoying I find these things, but I'm just not a competitive player.
Most players will simply cut it at the middle and pass it back. Some will just tap the top and not even bother cutting.
Yup I tap most of the time, but when someone wants me to cut I'll cut. You can be damned sure I'm tracking your cards after I Duress you though lol! Depending who I'm sitting across, I'll be more lenient at times, often letting opponents 'take back' moves especially the guys that don't get to cube/play mtg all that much. But I like to win and draft/play to win. Friendly but competitive.
This is us, but maybe a little heavier on the friendly side than the competitive side. We draft/play to win, of course, but first and foremost we're just getting together with friends once a month to have a fun night and hang out with each other.
To play devil's advocate back, I think there's value in rewarding players for building a final-40 that doesn't fold to a single card rather than relying on transformational sideboarding to correct your deckbuilding mistakes.
I would rather reward adaptability. Being able to correctly identify you and your opponent's strengths/weaknesses and finding the right answer is still a skill you need in Magic, no matter how casual you get. While shuffling/cutting and trying to protect hidden information to preserve an advantage might be awkward in some circles, I don't mind rebuilding my deck to try something different if game 1 goes badly. I'm honestly surprised Calibretto has never experienced this in years of drafting, because it happens frequently in regular Limited drafts/sealed, casual or otherwise
To force me to scoop to you because of a unbeatable matchup seems kind of unfair. There's nothing RB can do against moat except play flyers and doubtless your white control deck had enough kill spells to deal with his few flyers. It's not really a deckbuilding mistake if you have a terrible matchup, that's just how things go, like playing midrange against a deck full of counterspells.
Let the guy board into a different deck if he wants. What's the problem?
Let the guy board into a different deck if he wants. What's the problem?
The problem is that he was in a bad matchup, which as you said, happens. He then boarded into something completely different and proceeded to win the next two games. That's the problem. Not that he got me 2-1, but that he got me 2-0 with a deck that he didn't intentionally draft. I don't know. I had a giant case of the feel bads afterward. It felt like a load of crap to me for him to completely change his deck. Maybe that's just one of those things in Magic rules that I don't care for and need to just accept (I also think "fail to find" on purpose for strategy reasons is BS and dirty, but whatever...), but I don't like it. That's for sure.
I would just be wary of being so casual that you are overly strict about it. This guy is following the official rules of the game and because you feel bad you think he is in the wrong. How much would it "feel bad" to know that you realized you have a more optimal version of your deck drafted but you cannot play it because of some house rule. I don't think you should have to live with a mistake in a casual game of magic and I don't think wanting to shuffle a deck should be taken personally.
To force me to scoop to you because of a unbeatable matchup seems kind of unfair.
Nobody's forcing anyone to scoop. Sometimes you get bad matchups, but no deck needs to auto-scoop to another deck unless you drafted/built a total pile. You can win games against decks that have an advantageous matchup against you, it's just more difficult. There's never a need to change more than a couple of cards unless you're building a completely different deck, so the 10-card pseudo-constructed board option is just fine. I certainly see the appeal of limiting the number of cards in the sideboard.
Quote from Volcanon »
There's nothing RB can do against moat except play flyers and doubtless your white control deck had enough kill spells to deal with his few flyers.
This simply isn't true. Red has reach, black has disruption, and both colors have flying threats. No deck should have "nothing it can do", unless things went very wrong at the drafting/deckbuilding level.
I don't think you should have to live with a mistake in a casual game of magic and I don't think wanting to shuffle a deck should be taken personally.
I don't think anyone is taking anything personally. Honestly, he's probably just shuffling his opponent's deck out of habit because he's always been predominantly a tournament player. I only pointed it out to show how competitive the guy is.
Red has reach, black has disruption, and both colors have flying threats. No deck should have "nothing it can do", unless things went very wrong at the drafting/deckbuilding level.
Agreed. Rakdos agree will certainly have problems to a resolved Moat, but it's not always an auto loss or at least it shouldn't be.
Whilst it can be helpful to discuss these things on the boards, it doesn't really matter what the rest of us her would do. The only thing that matters is how your group chooses to play. Having someone who is the odd one out is always tricky, whether it's a noob in a group of seasoned pros, or an ultra-competitive player in a group who just want to play casually, or whatever. I suggest checking in with other members of your group to see whether a player's behaviour bothers them. If it does, have a quiet word with the player in question, but take ownership of the problem. Unless the guy is doing anything objectively bad, explain that you and the others prefer to play a certain way, and request that he tone his behaviour down a bit to improve the mood. Most reasonable people respond well to this.
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
If everyone knows the rules walking into a draft and what's available, there's generally no feel-bads. In our group, we don't even lay our decks out to figure out our curves or our mana bases because some of us would scope everyone else out and know what to expect from other decks. We don't allow take-backs, we won't remind you to remember your triggers, it's just generally by the book. And no one complains. It's not even like we're all the most competitive people on earth either, but we all understand what our drafting and playing experience will be like and we feel it mimics the power level and complexity of cube perfectly.
These are rules that would understandably rub other groups the wrong way; for example, playing with my brother's friends I'm a bit more lenient since they are more casual than we are, and that's cool because it's what is expected in that play group. And when my bro plays with us, he knows that we're less casual and doesn't ask for take backs if the situation arises because none of us do either. And no one gets sore or bent out of shape because our respective groups are used to playing certain ways and it's great.
If everyone else is on the same page as your play group, it might be worth establishing some rule. You say we all know this and that about what colors can do in another post, calibretto, so why not establish what else everyone should know about your drafting meta? If everyone but that one guy is aboard with sticking to your final 40 + x amount of other cards, type out a rule sheet everyone needs to read before the draft starts. Doesn't have to be a manifesto, but there is no confusion and soreness when what is acceptable is established. And if there is confusion or soreness, then perhaps that person is better off not playing with you guys and chest la vie. Also I'm keeping chest la vie in here because that's what c'est was autocorrected into and I'm for it.
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This guy is starting a site where you can upload your cube and then do a rotisserie draft with your friends or bots. It is still early in development but it looks really neat. Something to keep an eye on for sure.
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To provide a little perspective, here's the scenario. I'm UW Control Moat. I have flyers, counters, draw, Shackles, Moat -- It's a really solid deck. I'm 2-0 and sit down across from him who is playing a hyper aggressive Rakdos aggro deck. He gets me below ten in game one, then I take over, drop Moat and win. In game two he drops the black, adds in white instead and proceeds to win both games two and three. His white additions changing him from a hyper aggro deck to a more aggressive midrange deck with several answers to artifacts and enchantments coming in with the white cards.
Rule #1 at our cube drafts is don't be a dick. If you can't be civil and have fun, then we don't want you at our table. Rule #2 is free mulligans. If you're thinking about abusing rule #2, see rule #1. We have a very casual, lightly competitive atmosphere. This guy's sideboard changes and other actions (like shuffling opponent's decks instead of just a friendly cut) kind of go against that atmosphere. There's nothing wrong with being competitive and playing to win, but not at the cost of causing someone else to not have fun in the process. We considered implementing Rule #3 - No sideboards, build your deck right the first time, but I don't want him to feel targeted with that rule. Most of the time our sideboards aren't used anyway, but occasionally someone might throw in an extra removal or Disenchant effect.
Anyway, I just wanted to hear some thoughts on this and how you guys feel about this type of sideboarding and cube sideboarding in general.
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Personally, I play Cube as a limited format as far as sideboarding is concerned. All cards that did not make your main deck are your sideboard, you get access to as many basic lands as you want. Making big changes between games is a legitimate limited strategy which involves some fun mind games. As long as players take a reasonable time sideboarding, I don't have a problem with that.
I have to say I also like the idea of 10-card pseudo-constructed sideboards.
What I don't like at all is no sideboard. Because there is such a variety of decks, there are cards that are dead in certain match-ups and crucial in others. It's OK to have a few of the former and lack a few of the latter game one, but for games two and three I really like the option to make a few tweaks.
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
That being said, I think a 10-card sideboard is a good compromise between the two, I think.
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Also, shuffling a person's deck and not cutting it doesn't make them more competitive than you. It is just a way to randomize a pile of cards. It sounds like you are getting really strict for the sake of being "casual".
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I also don't think there's a problem with the competitive nature of the player. If they want to write down cards that get exposed by Duress, and shuffle/cut their opponent's deck before handing it back, there's nothing wrong with that. I wound't want to criticize players for trying to play the best Magic they can, even if the event is "casual". It's just good practice.
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I can see circumstances where playing with no sideboards at all is the most practical thing to do. I prefer playing with sideboards, though. I like the idea of 10-cards sideboards because it feels more like constructed. You draft your deck and choose the tools against various problematic decks or cards you might encounter along the way. In draft, you can still include most picks that did not make the main deck (because you also draft non-basic lands, chances are that 20 cards or less don't make your main deck; some of those are late picks that just happened to end up in your pile). In sealed, it significantly reduces the options post-board, which is a good thing.
I like precise game rules because the rules help avoid that things get personal. Take your free mulligan rule, for example. I would hate to make a mulligan decision based on that rule, because rather than making a purely mathematical decision (is it more likely to win with this 7 card starting hand or a random 6 card starting hand) I would have to weigh my chances of winning with a given starting hand vs. my chances of being seen as a dick for abusing the free mulligan. I'd also feel somewhat cheated because I don't get rewarded for building a consistent deck if my opponents can just mulligan away the lack of consistency their deck has.
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Every deck will be an underdog to some other deck. That's the nature of the game. To answer the question, yes, I would have him play the same Rakdos deck with only a few cards changed. If he had wanted to play Boros aggro and be able to answer a powerful card like Moat, he should have drafted and built that deck instead. To be quite honest, without Moat, our decks were of a fairly equal power level. If I hadn't played it on game one, I likely would have lost.
I think the shuffle is a bit much. There's nothing at stake and we're sitting at a kitchen table. Presenting after shuffling up is a courtesy that I feel is mostly done out of habit. No one is trying to cheat and stack their deck. I point out that he does this only because it's definitely odd among our group. Most players will simply cut it at the middle and pass it back. Some will just tap the top and not even bother cutting. It's not a big deal how he cuts or doesn't cut after the decks are presented. His choice to shuffle is just different from our normal.
You're probably right. I guess I just don't understand that mindset when playing for fun in a buddy's basement. If I build a solid deck and win the cube draft, awesome. If my draft goes off course somewhere and I end up with a pile that goes 0-3, awesome. Hand me another beer and lets draft again.
To bring up another example using this same guy, when he changed his deck up this weekend, he said that he needed some lands. Another friend, sitting near the pile of basics, said, "Sure, what d'ya need?" And the guy goes, "I can't say out loud." To which the land guy said, "Uhm.... ok...." and handed him a pile of lands. The guy's opponent replied, "C'mon, dude, we're playing for fun. This isn't a Grand Prix."
I agree with some of this, but not all of it. Building a 40 card deck that folds to a single card is not necessarily a mistake. We all know that Moat is a card that is in the cube. We all know that black and red have problems with enchantments. If you choose to draft Rakdos aggro, you can be rewarded with really quick turn four wins. You can also be punished by facing a card like Moat or even Opposition that can shut your deck down. It's a risk that I like existing. Your 2-0 Rakdos deck got shut down by Moat a turn or two before you would have dealt lethal. Shuffle up and try again. Maybe you'll have a faster draw this time or maybe your opponent won't see Moat. I can see sideboarding out some ground pounders for more burn. That's an acceptable sideboard plan to me. Changing the entire deck is something else entirely to me.
Sometimes I have to mull three times to find an acceptable hand. That usually involves a crappy hand, followed by a no lander, followed by a pile shuffle, and finally something that's anywhere from acceptable to amazing. That's not being dick. That's just luck. If you mulligan until you find your Moat, Sol Ring, Library, etc, that's being a dick.
I don't really like bringing up our free mull rule because I feel like folks here picture our games all starting off with everyone taking five mulligans until they find the perfect hand when that's just not the case. Draw your initial seven and it's got a couple lands, a few early plays and a couple 4-5 drops? Good to go. Draw your hand and it's got two lands and five late game spells? Ship it back and try again. I don't want my win to be because you were just unlucky. I can't do anything about mana flood or mana screw, so free mulligans are the only way that I can stick it to the luck man.
The bottom line, I think, is that this guy is the only guy who ups the competitive to 11 when he plays with us. Everyone else is happy with the free mulligan rule while he's asking, "What's the rule, you get one?" when his opponent has to mull more than once. Everyone else is happy just cutting their opponent's deck while he feels the need to pick it up and shuffle it. No one else is changing their entire decks during sideboarding and most won't even touch their sideboard after the games have started. Maybe I'm overreacting at how annoying I find these things, but I'm just not a competitive player.
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Yup I tap most of the time, but when someone wants me to cut I'll cut. You can be damned sure I'm tracking your cards after I Duress you though lol! Depending who I'm sitting across, I'll be more lenient at times, often letting opponents 'take back' moves especially the guys that don't get to cube/play mtg all that much. But I like to win and draft/play to win. Friendly but competitive.
This is us, but maybe a little heavier on the friendly side than the competitive side. We draft/play to win, of course, but first and foremost we're just getting together with friends once a month to have a fun night and hang out with each other.
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I would rather reward adaptability. Being able to correctly identify you and your opponent's strengths/weaknesses and finding the right answer is still a skill you need in Magic, no matter how casual you get. While shuffling/cutting and trying to protect hidden information to preserve an advantage might be awkward in some circles, I don't mind rebuilding my deck to try something different if game 1 goes badly. I'm honestly surprised Calibretto has never experienced this in years of drafting, because it happens frequently in regular Limited drafts/sealed, casual or otherwise
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Let the guy board into a different deck if he wants. What's the problem?
The problem is that he was in a bad matchup, which as you said, happens. He then boarded into something completely different and proceeded to win the next two games. That's the problem. Not that he got me 2-1, but that he got me 2-0 with a deck that he didn't intentionally draft. I don't know. I had a giant case of the feel bads afterward. It felt like a load of crap to me for him to completely change his deck. Maybe that's just one of those things in Magic rules that I don't care for and need to just accept (I also think "fail to find" on purpose for strategy reasons is BS and dirty, but whatever...), but I don't like it. That's for sure.
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Nobody's forcing anyone to scoop. Sometimes you get bad matchups, but no deck needs to auto-scoop to another deck unless you drafted/built a total pile. You can win games against decks that have an advantageous matchup against you, it's just more difficult. There's never a need to change more than a couple of cards unless you're building a completely different deck, so the 10-card pseudo-constructed board option is just fine. I certainly see the appeal of limiting the number of cards in the sideboard.
This simply isn't true. Red has reach, black has disruption, and both colors have flying threats. No deck should have "nothing it can do", unless things went very wrong at the drafting/deckbuilding level.
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I don't think anyone is taking anything personally. Honestly, he's probably just shuffling his opponent's deck out of habit because he's always been predominantly a tournament player. I only pointed it out to show how competitive the guy is.
Agreed. Rakdos agree will certainly have problems to a resolved Moat, but it's not always an auto loss or at least it shouldn't be.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
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"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less." -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass
These are rules that would understandably rub other groups the wrong way; for example, playing with my brother's friends I'm a bit more lenient since they are more casual than we are, and that's cool because it's what is expected in that play group. And when my bro plays with us, he knows that we're less casual and doesn't ask for take backs if the situation arises because none of us do either. And no one gets sore or bent out of shape because our respective groups are used to playing certain ways and it's great.
If everyone else is on the same page as your play group, it might be worth establishing some rule. You say we all know this and that about what colors can do in another post, calibretto, so why not establish what else everyone should know about your drafting meta? If everyone but that one guy is aboard with sticking to your final 40 + x amount of other cards, type out a rule sheet everyone needs to read before the draft starts. Doesn't have to be a manifesto, but there is no confusion and soreness when what is acceptable is established. And if there is confusion or soreness, then perhaps that person is better off not playing with you guys and chest la vie. Also I'm keeping chest la vie in here because that's what c'est was autocorrected into and I'm for it.
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