The problem with logic in the context of argument and debate, is that it requires the other party to be intelligent and open minded.
It doesn't matter if all your premises are correct and your logic is sound if the person you're talking to is too stupid to understand or too narrow minded to even listen.
Generally speaking, most people are more easily swayed by emotional manipulation than logical persuasion.
The trick is to know who you're talking to. When to be logical and appeal to the mind, and when to be irrational and appeal to the heart.
Personally, I'm against abortion, in most cases. There's the standard exceptions like if the pregnancy was the result of rape, or if the pregnancy is threatening the life of the mother, etc. But I'm morally opposed to abortions of convenience. Let's be real about this - when you have an abortion, you're killing a baby. Whether you'd call it "murder", is where it gets murky.
One thing that bugs me is how some people will say abortion isn't murder, but if a pregnant woman was murdered, no one says it's a forced or unwanted abortion, they say the baby was murdered along with the mother. In one situation, it's aborting a fetus, in another they say it's murdering a baby. Those people need to make up their minds.
Legally speaking though, I'm pro choice. I have no desire to force my personal beliefs onto someone else.
My first Planeswalker was Garruk, Primal Hunter that I pulled out of a bunch of boosters I bought when I first started playing the game. I was ridiculously excited about it.
I've always thought Magic was nerdy, but never something I needed to hide. My parents know I play a card game. They've seen me sorting through my cards. To them it's just something I do in my spare time, and spend a good chunk of my expendable income on.
I got one of my sisters into the game and we play casually now too. They're the only family members that know I play, but that's only because they've seen it or specifically asked about it. I've never hid the fact that I am obsessed with MTG.
Fortunately it's not a problem. As long as it doesn't interfere with my responsibilities, they don't care much about it either way.
Fortunately I've never had this problem at my LGS. I have a couple shops that I frequent and they almost never run out of stock. I've only gone in once when they were out of a product, and they had it restocked in less than a week.
If I don't have to I usually don't cut my opponent's deck. If I do anything I just do one simple cut in the middle and that's it.
As for my deck I don't much care what people do. If you're gonna riffle shuffle though, do it the right way, with the two halves forming an obtuse angle, not end-to-end, and just get enough bend on the corners to get them to fall in. Do it right and you'll never split sleeves or bend cards.
But I always riffle shuffle my decks so I've gotten pretty good at it.
This brings back some memories. One of the first decks I ever made was a B/R Vampire deck.
Definitely agree with running full sets of the Stromkirk Captain and Lightning Bolt. Urge to Feed is awesome, also as a 3, maybe 4-of. Man, cast that at the end of their turn, then untap all your vamps with new counters on them at the beginning of your turn? Good times.
I'm not crazy about Feast of Blood though. Having two vamps out isn't going to be difficult for your deck, and lifegain is a nice bonus, but I'd rather go with something a little less conditional. Go for the Throat is a prime candidate, especially since you'll be gaining some life off of Vampire Nighthawk anyway. On top of that, it's an Instant as opposed to a Sorcery, which gives a lot more options when it comes to removal.
Terminate is also amazing B/R removal worth looking into. Instant speed, no creature conditions and stops regeneration. I would seriously consider finding a place for at least a couple of these. Unless of course your friends have lots of Planeswalkers, then I'd probably run Dreadbore instead.
As for the higher end of the mana curve, Olivia Voldaren could be considered. 4 cmc creature with a 5 cmc ability is about as high as you want to go in an aggro deck, so maybe not a 4 of, but she can definitely help round things out in the mid-late game if things stall out for whatever reason. A 3/3 flyer that can ping, pump itself and remove their creatures while adding to your side of the field is tough to beat.
With the way the deck's looking so far, you could get away with running 23 instead of 25 lands, and fit in a couple extra cheap creatures or removal spells.
Also, depending on how many creatures your opponent's are playing, Blood Seeker could find a place in your deck, or sideboard maybe. It doesn't look like much, but that ability can be really annoying to deal with. Drop that turn two, followed by Stromkirk Captain on turn three, and you've got a 2/2 first striking Vamp that can hurt them in two ways. If nothing else it's fun to play with. The interesting thing about it is it can put your opponent in a bit of a dilemma when it comes to removal. Using a removal on Blood Seeker seems like a waste of spell, and more often than not they'll pay the life to establish their board presence, but those 1 life points add up.
-When Jon Finkel plays a shock land, you pay 2 life.
-Jon Finkel's devotion to U is always greater than 5. Always.
-Jon Finkel can trigger battalion while blocking.
-Jon Finkel decides when state based actions are checked.
-If Jon Finkel plays a spell, then you play a spell, Jon Finkel's spell resolves first.
Say my opponent has a Vorapede attacking, I have a Boros Reckoner I can block with. My opponent has 5 life and I have 2 life. Since all the combat damage is dealt simultaneously, and triggered abilities go on the stack, am I right in assuming that the 2 trample damage would kill me before Boros Reckoner's ability resolved?
I'm pretty particular about my condiments, it just depends on what I'm eating I guess.
If I could only use one condiment for the rest of my life, I'd pick ketchup. Goes with a lot of things. Ketchup and mayo to make some secret sauce/marie rose sauce/etc. is also awesome.
Also, a little malt vinegar can go a long way on the right dish.
I don't have a huge collection, so I just order everything by color and then alphabetically. Lands, rares/mythics and artifacts are separated. That's about it.
It doesn't matter if all your premises are correct and your logic is sound if the person you're talking to is too stupid to understand or too narrow minded to even listen.
Generally speaking, most people are more easily swayed by emotional manipulation than logical persuasion.
The trick is to know who you're talking to. When to be logical and appeal to the mind, and when to be irrational and appeal to the heart.
One thing that bugs me is how some people will say abortion isn't murder, but if a pregnant woman was murdered, no one says it's a forced or unwanted abortion, they say the baby was murdered along with the mother. In one situation, it's aborting a fetus, in another they say it's murdering a baby. Those people need to make up their minds.
Legally speaking though, I'm pro choice. I have no desire to force my personal beliefs onto someone else.
The second Planeswalker I ever pulled? Another Garruk, Primal Hunter.
First one: OMG A PLANESWALKER!!! AKSDJFGHAIOBKJHUIP LOOK AT IT!!!
Second one: Oh hey, another Garruk.
I got one of my sisters into the game and we play casually now too. They're the only family members that know I play, but that's only because they've seen it or specifically asked about it. I've never hid the fact that I am obsessed with MTG.
Fortunately it's not a problem. As long as it doesn't interfere with my responsibilities, they don't care much about it either way.
As for my deck I don't much care what people do. If you're gonna riffle shuffle though, do it the right way, with the two halves forming an obtuse angle, not end-to-end, and just get enough bend on the corners to get them to fall in. Do it right and you'll never split sleeves or bend cards.
But I always riffle shuffle my decks so I've gotten pretty good at it.
No, but that would be nice though wouldn't it? Haha
Casual B/W Exalted Lifelink deck. Vampire Nighthawk, enchanted with Angelic Destiny, plus Sublime Archangel and a few Ajani's Pridemates and a couple other exalted creatures.
Definitely agree with running full sets of the Stromkirk Captain and Lightning Bolt. Urge to Feed is awesome, also as a 3, maybe 4-of. Man, cast that at the end of their turn, then untap all your vamps with new counters on them at the beginning of your turn? Good times.
I'm not crazy about Feast of Blood though. Having two vamps out isn't going to be difficult for your deck, and lifegain is a nice bonus, but I'd rather go with something a little less conditional. Go for the Throat is a prime candidate, especially since you'll be gaining some life off of Vampire Nighthawk anyway. On top of that, it's an Instant as opposed to a Sorcery, which gives a lot more options when it comes to removal.
Terminate is also amazing B/R removal worth looking into. Instant speed, no creature conditions and stops regeneration. I would seriously consider finding a place for at least a couple of these. Unless of course your friends have lots of Planeswalkers, then I'd probably run Dreadbore instead.
As for the higher end of the mana curve, Olivia Voldaren could be considered. 4 cmc creature with a 5 cmc ability is about as high as you want to go in an aggro deck, so maybe not a 4 of, but she can definitely help round things out in the mid-late game if things stall out for whatever reason. A 3/3 flyer that can ping, pump itself and remove their creatures while adding to your side of the field is tough to beat.
With the way the deck's looking so far, you could get away with running 23 instead of 25 lands, and fit in a couple extra cheap creatures or removal spells.
Also, depending on how many creatures your opponent's are playing, Blood Seeker could find a place in your deck, or sideboard maybe. It doesn't look like much, but that ability can be really annoying to deal with. Drop that turn two, followed by Stromkirk Captain on turn three, and you've got a 2/2 first striking Vamp that can hurt them in two ways. If nothing else it's fun to play with. The interesting thing about it is it can put your opponent in a bit of a dilemma when it comes to removal. Using a removal on Blood Seeker seems like a waste of spell, and more often than not they'll pay the life to establish their board presence, but those 1 life points add up.
-When Jon Finkel plays a shock land, you pay 2 life.
-Jon Finkel's devotion to U is always greater than 5. Always.
-Jon Finkel can trigger battalion while blocking.
-Jon Finkel decides when state based actions are checked.
-If Jon Finkel plays a spell, then you play a spell, Jon Finkel's spell resolves first.
If I could only use one condiment for the rest of my life, I'd pick ketchup. Goes with a lot of things. Ketchup and mayo to make some secret sauce/marie rose sauce/etc. is also awesome.
Also, a little malt vinegar can go a long way on the right dish.