Yesterday, I was at GP Baltimore, and I had scrubbed out pretty early. I spent a large portion of the day trading, and I was looking for some hard-to-find cards. There was one card that I was looking for that I probably talked to well over a hundred people trying to find, and I had ended up asking a few pros along the way. There were two in particular who were pretty rude to me, as far as I was concerned.
I'm not going to name names, because I don't want this to accidentally snowball into some sort of stink. But I was just wondering if anyone else had any experiences with pros who were kind of nasty.
In one encounter, when I walked up to him, while he was clearly just shooting the breeze with someone else, not actually talking about anything that sounded important, he didn't even move his head when I spoke up. He obviously saw me, because he turned his eyes around to me, looked for a couple of seconds, and then turned his eyes back, almost as if he was trying to ignore me. When I spoke up again, he did exactly the same thing again, and it was obvious that he knew I was there, but was trying to ignore me.
In the other encounter, when I walked up to another pro asking for trades, again, while he was just chatting with his buddies, he turned to me, looked for a couple of seconds, sneered at me, and turned back around to talk to his friends.
I was pretty disenchanted by this experience. I had always heard that the pros tend to be more laid back, because they're already at the top and have nothing to prove. This was kind of depressing though. Seriously, just because someone is good at a card game doesn't give him or her the right to be a complete jerk.
I really don't like this set because it has virtually no support for slower control decks. For another four months, if you're not playing fast aggro or slightly less fast, but still fast tempo, you might as well not even show up to any major Standard event. For someone who loves playing control over aggro, this is miserable.
I could see Helavault being kind of ridiculous with Sneak Attack or other cards that cheat creatures out for only one turn (if there are any) in EDH. Keeping an Ulamog, Blightsteel, or other big nasty in wait after it has outlived its usefulness seems possibly good.
Child of Alara (kind of...) Violent Ultimatum (It only destroys three permanents, but nine times out of ten, if the board is so scary that three permanents destroyed doesn't even things up, I doubt a Wrath would help you much more.) Conflux (Not exactly a Wrath, itself, but being able to tutor for a Wrath or Damnation, plus four other goodies may be worth it.) Lavalanche (Again, kind of...) Phyrexian Purge (Once again, kind of...) Savage Twister (And again, kind of...) Soulquake (Uh, I guess if you're desperate...)
If you're forced to keep that kind of hand, then you kind of have to use the Top, or else you're going to get curbstomped. You could risk it and represent a Spell Pierce for a turn, but if you don't have something else good in your hand (like a Brainstorm), you're fighting a losing battle. You'll be just so far behind.
If my hand is something like: Sensei's Divining Top, Sakura-Tribe Elder, Sylvan Scrying, Cultivate, a green-producing land, and two other spells, and my opponents are relatively soft, I might take a huge risk and keep the hand. Otherwise, that's a pretty easy ship.
EDIT: Mind you, I'd only do the risky business in EDH, too. If it were any other format, I'd mulligan that hand really, really fast.
I like it for getting back combo pieces that don't resolve or get destroyed. It has a space in my Azami deck. I'm not sure if I'd use it to get back just anything, considering it requires you to discard as many cards and costs a fair bit of mana, but it's good when what you're getting back will directly win you the game.
I took the liberty of checking through the Wallpaper of the Week archive on the mothership, and I found a wallpaper of Elspeth.
Unfortunately its largest size is 1280x1024.
Oh, I saw that a long time ago. Yeah, the problem is exactly that. The wallpaper was made before Wizards started making wallpapers with higher resolutions.
Animar never struck me as a combo general, and this guy also seems to win every time we play which is rather strange considering the size of the game. Last time he won via - Splinter Twin + Deceiver Exarch. I think I just might try to thwart him with a little more removal because he killed us around turn 5-6.
Most URx decks that are focused on playing to win are going to have the Splinter Twin/Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Deceiver Exarch/Pestermite combo. Unfortunately, there isn't tons mono-green can do about those combos. Naturalize effects will deal with Splinter Twin, but you'll probably have to use artifact-based removal to get rid of the creatures, such as Brittle Effigy or Oblivion Stone. Unfortunately, cards of the latter one's flavor will be pretty harmful to you, too, considering you probably rely on a swarm of creatures to win the game. Cards like Cloudthresher and Arashi, the Sky Asunder will deal with large numbers of Pestermites, but you're going to have a hard time with Deceiver Exarchs. Your best bets will be to try to use spot removal on Splinter Twin and Kiki-Jiki.
After nearly an hour of Google-fu, I can't seem to find exactly what I'm looking for. Maybe you all can help me. I'm trying to find wallpapers of Stoneforge Mystic, the Shards of Alara version of Elspeth, Knight Errant, and the Conflux version of Knight of the Reliquary. Here's the kicker that makes this a considerably more challenging task than you may think: I want the wallpapers in 1920 x 1080 (or higher).
In EDH, I like countering things that can quickly make the game turn sour, such as Genesis Wave and Grim Monolith, because of the sigh of relief I hear from the rest of the table. In other formats, well, I wouldn't say I have a particularly interesting reply there: anything strong.
To the OP, I think that way of teaching someone Magic is excellent if your student is highly motivated to learn how to play. When the person you're trying to teach is just kind of interested at first though, I don't think you can use nearly as much structure, because he or she will be considerably less predictable. In those cases, I'd prefer to use the simplest deck that I already own that I use routinely, which will still have some complicated things in it. Having a little bit of complexity will keep someone who is less motivated interested more than keeping things too simple (i.e. "How do you find this fun?").
That being said, I think a huge benefit in teaching someone how to play would be to play with your own hand revealed. Your student can see exactly what you have in hand, and you can explain thoroughly why you're making decisions. If you use decks that you know really well, your opponent's hand can stay hidden, and you can still teach fairly well.
I always offer a handshake and try to say something genuinely nice after a game, because it's social convention. I usually say "good game," because that is what is considered to be the general code phrase to put in there. I don't always do so though, because I know there are a lot of Magic players who do have some issues when they win or lose.
Usually after a loss, but occasionally after a win (close ones, not blowouts), I try to get my opponent to critique my play, and that tells me volumes about the person.
It really seems like you're in such a bad position that you're going to have to propose at least some separation of card pools. Your significant other is probably going to get upset, but she seems to be getting angry, anyway, when you provide the logic that your card pool is getting diluted. If she doesn't have any regard for the value of your collective assets, you're going to have to make a decision.
In regard to the previous comparison about money, here's a more valid comparison that makes more sense, but would still support your point:
I'm sure you have a flat-screen TV somewhere in your house or apartment. You're not going to sell that TV, more than likely, at least not anytime soon. Let's say someone proposes trading your TV for a meal at McDonald's, and it's getting close to dinnertime. True, you're hungry, and you definitely could stand to eat. But you could put a lot less strain on your resources by just buying your Big Mac and fries or whatever than trading off your TV that is worth hundreds of dollars. True, you had not intended to sell the TV, but you're now without a TV. You may decide to buy another TV later, but you would have been in a considerably better position had you not traded off the TV for some Mickey D's in the first place.
The example sounds absurd, but it is very applicable to what she's doing. She wants the Sturmgeist right now, but what if she wants a Snapcaster Mage later? If she had the Stromkirk Noble from before, she would have had that leverage in a future trade. As such, she is punishing herself later for considerably lesser return right now. Of course, I'm not saying anything that isn't terribly obvious to most of us, but I hope I at least put it in a more eloquent manner.
I'm not going to name names, because I don't want this to accidentally snowball into some sort of stink. But I was just wondering if anyone else had any experiences with pros who were kind of nasty.
In one encounter, when I walked up to him, while he was clearly just shooting the breeze with someone else, not actually talking about anything that sounded important, he didn't even move his head when I spoke up. He obviously saw me, because he turned his eyes around to me, looked for a couple of seconds, and then turned his eyes back, almost as if he was trying to ignore me. When I spoke up again, he did exactly the same thing again, and it was obvious that he knew I was there, but was trying to ignore me.
In the other encounter, when I walked up to another pro asking for trades, again, while he was just chatting with his buddies, he turned to me, looked for a couple of seconds, sneered at me, and turned back around to talk to his friends.
I was pretty disenchanted by this experience. I had always heard that the pros tend to be more laid back, because they're already at the top and have nothing to prove. This was kind of depressing though. Seriously, just because someone is good at a card game doesn't give him or her the right to be a complete jerk.
Violent Ultimatum (It only destroys three permanents, but nine times out of ten, if the board is so scary that three permanents destroyed doesn't even things up, I doubt a Wrath would help you much more.)
Conflux (Not exactly a Wrath, itself, but being able to tutor for a Wrath or Damnation, plus four other goodies may be worth it.)
Lavalanche (Again, kind of...)
Phyrexian Purge (Once again, kind of...)
Savage Twister (And again, kind of...)
Soulquake (Uh, I guess if you're desperate...)
EDIT: Mind you, I'd only do the risky business in EDH, too. If it were any other format, I'd mulligan that hand really, really fast.
Oh, I saw that a long time ago. Yeah, the problem is exactly that. The wallpaper was made before Wizards started making wallpapers with higher resolutions.
Most URx decks that are focused on playing to win are going to have the Splinter Twin/Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Deceiver Exarch/Pestermite combo. Unfortunately, there isn't tons mono-green can do about those combos. Naturalize effects will deal with Splinter Twin, but you'll probably have to use artifact-based removal to get rid of the creatures, such as Brittle Effigy or Oblivion Stone. Unfortunately, cards of the latter one's flavor will be pretty harmful to you, too, considering you probably rely on a swarm of creatures to win the game. Cards like Cloudthresher and Arashi, the Sky Asunder will deal with large numbers of Pestermites, but you're going to have a hard time with Deceiver Exarchs. Your best bets will be to try to use spot removal on Splinter Twin and Kiki-Jiki.
Does anyone know where to find these?
Savannah Lions
Steppe Lynx
Preeminent Captain (if you have a lot of soldiers)
True Believer
Signal Pest
Daru Warchief (again, if you have a lot of soldiers)
Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant
Masako the Humorless
Creatures more than three, but would be kind of ridiculous in your deck:
Sun Titan
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Non-creature cards that would be obviously nasty:
Elspeth, Knight-Errant
Honor of the Pure
That being said, I think a huge benefit in teaching someone how to play would be to play with your own hand revealed. Your student can see exactly what you have in hand, and you can explain thoroughly why you're making decisions. If you use decks that you know really well, your opponent's hand can stay hidden, and you can still teach fairly well.
Usually after a loss, but occasionally after a win (close ones, not blowouts), I try to get my opponent to critique my play, and that tells me volumes about the person.
In regard to the previous comparison about money, here's a more valid comparison that makes more sense, but would still support your point:
I'm sure you have a flat-screen TV somewhere in your house or apartment. You're not going to sell that TV, more than likely, at least not anytime soon. Let's say someone proposes trading your TV for a meal at McDonald's, and it's getting close to dinnertime. True, you're hungry, and you definitely could stand to eat. But you could put a lot less strain on your resources by just buying your Big Mac and fries or whatever than trading off your TV that is worth hundreds of dollars. True, you had not intended to sell the TV, but you're now without a TV. You may decide to buy another TV later, but you would have been in a considerably better position had you not traded off the TV for some Mickey D's in the first place.
The example sounds absurd, but it is very applicable to what she's doing. She wants the Sturmgeist right now, but what if she wants a Snapcaster Mage later? If she had the Stromkirk Noble from before, she would have had that leverage in a future trade. As such, she is punishing herself later for considerably lesser return right now. Of course, I'm not saying anything that isn't terribly obvious to most of us, but I hope I at least put it in a more eloquent manner.