One of the difficulties with the deck is that it already devotes so many slots to "ramp." I tried a version with the Amulets a while back instead of the Green bodies, but the deck was more vulnerable in the first few turns. But maybe I was Doing It Wrong - how would you fit them in?
As it stands now the backup plan to Arch is to hardcast the dragons. With 4 ways in the deck to make 5 colors (Chromatic Lantern, Crystal Quarry) - and most of the cards only requiring one of any color, that tends to work OK.
Atarka, World Render is under a buck, and a total bad boy in a deck like this. Treva is crap - he'd be my cut.
I'd also try and find room for Bladewing the Risen, who is another legendary golden dragon funhouse.
Oh, I like Atarka! One of the drawbacks of the deck is that a 6/6 flyer is very fair in a MP setting. But a 6/6 double striking flyer ... that's entirely different. That could actually win a game in a reasonable time frame. I might try Bladewing over Malfegor - I like the idea of having that effect available, but I've never once 1) had it in my hand, 2) been willing to dump my hand into my graveyard, all while 3) opponents had something I wanted them to sacrifice.
I'll definitely jam in a Vault. I used to run the Spinerock Knolls, back when this was essentially monoRed w/ Destructive Force, Dragon Arch & Quicksilver Amulet. I would love to get a copy or two back, but I'm not sure what to cut. The most obvious option is the Flamekin Village, but I think Haste might be more useful?
I tried the Destructive Force version with a bunch of mana rocks, but no one had fun. Plus, destroying all lands with one or two 6/6 dragons in play is a pretty easy way to lose. (Lack of draw in that deck may have been the culprit).
Kaalia wasn't better than the Arch (at least for me: Arch was removed less frequently and can do the Aether Vial thing to flash a blocker into play) - I dropped them the last version for more card draw.
So I decided to go "fun" instead.
Looking at the list in one place, feels like it could use some Karoo lands and the 4th Captain Sisay. Also, since the deck doesn't do much until it lands a (single) 6/6 flyer, it tends to run low on life early and could use some life gain.
For me, cards exist in this alternate economy where they are worth some multiple of anything else.
For example, I might feel generous enough one night to pick up a tab for the buddies, but giving away a NM Damnation ...well, I'm not sure I could do that. I'd loan it. And I still haven't completely forgiven one of my friends for drowning a Thrun (beer was involved).
I'm not sure what the exact conversion factor is, but I'd rather have $50 in cards than $100 in any other goods.
[This is partly due to the economics in my household. My wife needs to approve each purchase of Magic cards, but we have broader agreements on other expenditures.]
A work-around for this flaw would be to explicitly attempt to measure sexist attitudes or discriminatory practices. If these measures explained a high % of Y, then there would be positive proof for discrimination. However, as is, most evidence is negative evidence, which is inherently a weaker argument.
I might be missing your point, but I thought we had studies that showed direct gender bias. Like this? Or lawsuits?
Edit: Stepping back, I like this article (both writers). It suggests comparable wage gap is perhaps 2-6% (i.e., non-zero, but also probably not 10%). [This was also based on data that's 15 years old, so if the gap really has been narrowing, maybe it's less today.] Anyway, what I liked about the article was that it spends a bit more time talking about women's ability to invest in their human capital in a relatively succinct way.
[W]hat do we make of the gender wage gap? Perhaps it is best used to indicate the underlying expectations and social norms that drive our career and workforce decisions, which themselves may be affected by other types of gender discrimination.
...
The issue of occupational segregation is a significant component of the wage gap because studies have shown that the more women are represented in a particular occupation, the less money it is likely to be paid.
...
The issues of experience and training are also significant. If women have less workplace experience than men do, it is typically because they have taken time out for family care-giving. In today's economy, women are still expected to bear the brunt of this responsibility. Furthermore, given their lower earnings, women are usually the parent in dual-income families who takes time off to raise small children. In this sense, the wage gap can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
...
Career preparation and training are also affected by gender norms. Women are encouraged to pursue certain types of work and discouraged from pursuing others. These gender role expectations can be very subtle, such as when the mass media stereotypes what is considered appropriate behavior for women, or they can be profound, such as when women enter traditionally male-dominated fields and encounter hostile work environments. Recent legal settlements indicate that women at Home Depot were discouraged from floor sales positions and steered toward cashier jobs, while male technicians at CBS were more likely to be offered lucrative overtime assignments than women.
...
One might argue that the fact that mothers are expected to bear a greater share of child care duties is itself a form of societal gender discrimination. While this is probably true, it is also probably true that other factors are important. For example, single-parent families are disproportionately ones in which the mother is present and the father is absent, meaning that the mother has no option but to assume the main role in child care and to bear the resulting labor market consequences. Similarly, because many babies are breast-fed, there are simple biological reasons for the mother to be more heavily relied upon. Finally, because husbands tend to be older than their wives, they will also tend to have more labor market experience and, therefore, higher wages. So, even if a husband and wife are in the same occupation and the wife faces no wage discrimination, the wife would have the lower wage and, because of this, might end up bearing more of the child care duties.
1) Yes, I am aware that the report was authored by a woman. I've read a few of the studies and it looked like explained factors decreased the gap, but didn't fully close the gap. Also, some of the reasons cited as explained factors (i.e., women negotiate less - but are also more likely to be punished by negotiating; number of hours spent working at home; choice of career) may in turn be linked to gender discrimination. Please let me know if you believe any of the sources referenced in Wikipedia are reliable.
The extent to which discrimination plays a role in explaining gender wage disparities is somewhat difficult to quantify, due to a number of potentially confounding variables. A 2010 research review by the majority staff of the United States Congress Joint Economic Committee reported that studies have consistently found unexplained pay differences even after controlling for measurable factors that are assumed to influence earnings. They attributed this to gender discrimination.[3] Other studies have found direct evidence of discrimination – for example, more jobs went to women when the applicants sex was unknown during the hiring process.[3]
2) Thanks for sharing your story. My dad played guitar on the street corner for money when I was an infant. My older sister would sing along - passerbys apparently loved that.
I used to have a Bant Ghostway deck that ran all the Rishadan Pirates like Rishadan Cutpurse and Rishadan Footpad and called it Ghost Pirates. If you can stone rain your opponents once due to them tapping out, the deck was unforgiving from that point. Eventually retired it after a couple very successful runs
Wicked.
@CloudKick3r -
One of the things I like about Eternal Witness is that it allows for near-infinite Ghostways.
The manabase seems to work ok in practice, but I'll keep playing with it. (Modern decks use 22 lands - including a Township). I'm not thrilled with the Gavony Township that I ported over - keeps losing counters.
The golem tokens off Blade Splicer (or perhaps Precursor Golem, with or without Elesh) and Luminarch Ascension are there to make sure that I can finish out games. i.e., I don't want folks having to watch me durdle for a dozen turns once it's clear that they can't win. What do you run to close out a game? I don't want to use the infinite Kiki-Angel combo that is customary.
Again, non-sequitur. Just because they exist does not mean that is why people are making decisions in line with it. It may be that there are indeed valid reasons for this; you don't know unless you can prove it.
I am aware that correlation does not prove causation.
I think we're looping on this central disagreement - you see unequal social expectations and similarly unequal social outcomes, but conclude that the one has nothing to do with the other. I see that same fact pattern and conclude that one is likely impacting the other.
We might need to agree to disagree.
Compensation. Mothers who earn less for equal work. I probably need to learn more, but I find it POTENTIALLY problematic when women select careers that pay less - or careers that pay less since they are predominately female.
If you or anyone else ever knows of a case where a woman is being paid less for the exact same work in the exact same job as a man, then don't waste your time posting about it on social media; immediately report it to the authorities. It is extremely illegal to pay someone less because of their sex, race, etc.
Despite the legality, studies like this one are published. I don't know if this study is more valid than any of the others, but looking at wages out of college - before family obligations intervene - seems to provide a useful perspective.
Other? Maybe mothers are better parents than fathers? Aliens?
When we've crossed off everything but biology, then I'll be happy.
I think you'll have a hard time crossing off Other if you don't really know what reasons it encompasses.
Fair
I really do believe that we've reached a point where we don't really have that many civil rights issues left (at least here in the west), and that a lot of people seem to be slow to accept the idea that they can just live/be however they want.
I would prefer not to go down the rabbit hole on this one - but let me see if I can sneak in a comment anyway.
That's why I just don't understand why everyone is so hellbent on obsessing over what is considered "the social norm". It's a much wiser decision to spend that time and energy just living how you want to live.
The people that do care about social norms can get together and do the research so we can discuss and decide if we want to do anything differently. They offer a product that can be consumed (as we have) or ignored (if we instead wanted to live an unexamined life).
Looping back to career choice / female engagement in STEM for a moment, check out how much research has been done on the topic of identifying what might be driving the difference in outcomes, as well as which techniques might be most effective for changing those outcomes! With her parents armed with this type of information, maybe my (4 year old) daughter will make it through the High School gauntlet! Or maybe she'll decide she still wants to be a princess, like Elsa.
Sounds good - have you considered cutting red and dropping the singleton Vent Sentinel for something else, say, another Tree of Redemption? It might make the mana more consistent, no reason to play like one red card and the rage pits.
I don't think the Vent Sentinel is necessary - I just like to have at least one alternative if someone turns off combat.
Some way to give a 13/13 trample might be nice, but it doesn't have to be Skarrg.
You could also try a more typical Assault Formation + Hold the Gates list (it might be more consistent). Also, this EDH deck has some ideas that are probably at least worth considering.
Government does not exist to push social agendas; it exists to protect your human rights and that's it. Tell me what exactly you think you can do that would actually make any sort of difference without restricting people's basic liberties.
Government invests today in social programs - for example, parental leave. I don't think governments ALONE can drive change (nor did I say that) - i.e., there is a role for NGOs and individuals (perhaps even the feminists referenced in the OP) to advocate for more equality as well.
As an aside, the purpose of governments is open to debate (and not a topic I care to get pulled into). Also, I've never said that I know the solution for gender equality.
I would hope you are not implying that advocating for people to make responsible, intelligent decisions for themselves is somehow demonstrative of antisocial behavior.
No - I said that it is rational for individuals to consider the wishes of others.
Can you please address the apparent inconsistency of acknowledging that social expectations form a cost, but asserting that it's irrational to consider that cost?
You can choose to factor in the feelings of other people, but quite frankly when it comes to something as important as deciding the future of your family, the only other person's input that should be relevant whatsoever is your spouses.
This is a should statement - i.e., it appears to say how you might like the world to work. It doesn't appear to support that this IS how the world works.
I would certainly like to see the impact of social norms on these types of personal decisions to continue to diminish over time in our broader quest for equality.
In this case, though the cause is so self-evident that no one has bothered doing the research to confirm it.
Uh, no. It is not "self-evident"; you do not get to just blatantly assert that without evidence and then say that it's so obvious it doesn't need evidence.
I was asserting that one reason we are predominately following traditional gender roles ... is the tradition of gender roles.
I'm not sure that it's possible to attribute relative weightings, but here are some possible causes for this inequity -
Compensation. Mothers who earn less for equal work. I probably need to learn more, but I find it POTENTIALLY problematic when women select careers that pay less - or careers that pay less since they are predominately female.
Other? Maybe mothers are better parents than fathers? Aliens?
When we've crossed off everything but biology, then I'll be happy.
As an additional aside, I think it's an interesting question at where we draw the line in equality of social norms. When do you think our society will seriously question differences in attire (dresses vs. suits), for example? It took a while to get to voting rights, then ability to work outside the home, then compensation, then athletics (Title IX), and we're just starting to shift our perspectives on child rearing...
You already know this, but for anyone else reading - cards that are blinked (i.e., by Ghostway) return to the battlefield face up. So the WE puts a permanent directly into play just about every turn (90% of the time, since the 6 instants/sorceries remain exiled via Ghostway).
As to the card, I like having the Wrath protection. I also like that I can typically gain ~5 life off Mastery of the Unseen by paying the 1W to flip over a Wall of Omens, for example.
I'll dial up the BoPs and Coiling Oracles. The 4th BoP will help with getting the UG to cast Coiling Oracle, so that's good synergy.
Love the Aura Shards recommendation and agree that I will generally have the strongest board (barring a token strategy), so *** can go as well. Modern decks devote 3 slots to spot removal, but I should be able to control the board with the other removal/bounce cards already in the deck.
Pri3 - I know you already know all this, but in case anyone else needs the background:
I REALLY wanted to build around Brago (like this deck), but unlike EDH, I can't be assured of having access to a copy throughout the game. The thing that Brago can do (obviously) is bounce noncreature permanents - i.e., planeswalkers (2 activations/turn!), Grim Monolith.
I tried to go deeper into those interactions, which is one of the reasons I have Venser instead of Roon. I'm not sure that Roon needs a slot (no haste for the 2nd interaction) - it seems like Venser, Shaper Savant, Restoration Angel, Brago, and Venser, the Soujourner are better in the deck?
I don't remember why Parallax Wave was cut along the way. Probably failure of imagination or general idiocy. Even if it doesn't do anything more than the Ghostway mode, that's still great - and, to your point, it can be abused further with Brago.
[The mana removal strategy of Parallax Tide wouldn't fit into this meta.]
No one is under any obligation to do anything they don't want to as long as it's legal; what more could you possibly want than that? That is literally the best that we will ever be able to do as a society while not infringing upon anyone's basic human rights.
I don't think we'll ever agree on this. Our government does more than just pass laws. And NGOs believe they can have an impact. And individuals believe that they can have an impact. All are part of our society.
You may find that other people choose not to associate with you because you smell bad, but that's just a predictable consequence to your choice.
...
Bottom line is, if you're letting your friends / family / neighbors decide whether you or your spouse should be the primary breadwinner for your family, then YOU are the one with the problem, because that is not rational behavior.
This appears to acknowledge that other people may impose a cost on me if I don't follow their expectations, but then suggests that taking into account those social costs is irrational. That appears inconsistent.
Just because you claim to not follow the expectations of anyone else (despite all evidence to the contrary - including our current interaction of polite discourse, which follows social norms), it would not follow that no one else does.
I'm sure a mental health expert will correct me, but look at the bolded portion of the definition for antisocial personality disorder (i.e., "sociopathy") - "People with antisocial personality disorder typically have no regard for right and wrong and often disregard the rights, wishes and feelings of others." (Emphasis mine.)
It is rational, healthy, and very human to consider the wishes and feelings of other people!
And I am telling you that as long as there exist legitimate possible reasons for the disparity, you cannot just say "There's a difference, thus it must be a problem". That a disparity exists, by itself, is NOT indicative of anything...
I agree. Differences may exist, which would then suggest further research. In this case, though the cause is so self-evident that no one has bothered doing the research to confirm it.
We've had a long tradition as a country of "traditional" gender roles. We only added legal protection for sex in 1964 (and that protection MAY have been inserted to prevent the entire bill from passing). And we are moving, slowly, toward more gender equality on a number of dimensions. And despite they way that you might wish for individuals to live, people take into account society's expectations (if they are even conscious that bias exists - the theory of unconscious bias is getting a lot of attention these days).
Women commit less crime. A larger % of women go to college (71% vs. 61%!). Women live longer. Women are less likely to die in an accident. Men don't get to spend as much time with their children (even though they enjoy it as much).
These are all differences that I believe are worthy of research and seeing if/how society can help the men out.
No, understood that you were advocating for 9 or 10 of the ramping walls - I'll probably cut a land and a cantrip for the 2 roots. I was just walking through the journey I took to land at the 8 that were in the OP.
On AF, I knew 2 was definitely wrong. But the point you raised suggests that 4 is more right than the 3 in the OP. I'll try that.
In hindsight with 4x Mastery maybe 4x Formation isn't needed. As long as one of your Enchantments sticks that's probably good enough and with 7 that's likely enough. I think I actually like 3 more than 4 now that I've had more time to think about it. *** still seems very bad though and I would try and make room for at least 2x Wall of Roots. Maybe cut one of your 3 drop cantrip Walls? 7 of those seems excessive. Do you also need the full 4 Ghostways? Shaving 1 of those might help.
The one "competitive" deck I found ran 2 copies of Assault Formation. On Ghostway, the few Modern decks run 3 copies. I went up one copy on both of those (because eventually someone will be doing something unfair in a MP setting). When goldfishing (only), it felt OK. I will see how it plays out live.
[The cantrips are 2 drops.] One (or more) of the Axebane Guardians or Overgrown Battlements are necessary to make the Mastery of the Unseens sing. I tried with a 2-2 split of WoR and Overgrown Battlements and that was definitely wrong - WoR can be used immediately, but it's relatively tame 1 mana/turn. I can jam one more one for sure, and will try out a second copy.
(Prid3 uses "trivial" a non-trivial amount of the time.)
Thanks for the additional suggestions. I do like me some Avenger of Zendikar. One more question - have you ever tried Prime Speaker Zegana?
As it stands now the backup plan to Arch is to hardcast the dragons. With 4 ways in the deck to make 5 colors (Chromatic Lantern, Crystal Quarry) - and most of the cards only requiring one of any color, that tends to work OK.
Oh, I like Atarka! One of the drawbacks of the deck is that a 6/6 flyer is very fair in a MP setting. But a 6/6 double striking flyer ... that's entirely different. That could actually win a game in a reasonable time frame. I might try Bladewing over Malfegor - I like the idea of having that effect available, but I've never once 1) had it in my hand, 2) been willing to dump my hand into my graveyard, all while 3) opponents had something I wanted them to sacrifice.
I'll definitely jam in a Vault. I used to run the Spinerock Knolls, back when this was essentially monoRed w/ Destructive Force, Dragon Arch & Quicksilver Amulet. I would love to get a copy or two back, but I'm not sure what to cut. The most obvious option is the Flamekin Village, but I think Haste might be more useful?
2 Crystal Quarry
1 Flamekin Village
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
1 Kessig Wolf Run
1 Minamo, School at Water's Edge
2 Haven of the Spirit Dragon
1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse
1 Vault of the Archangel
1 Mountain
1 Island
1 Plains
2 Swamp
9 Forest
2 Chromatic Lantern
4 Dragon Arch
Spells
1 Demonic Tutor (forgot this was in there - I've never seen it)
2 Crux of Fate
4 Syphon Mind
Creatures - Ramp/Chump Blockers
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Noble Hierarch
2 Sakura-Tribe Elder
Creatures - Draw
3 Captain Sisay
Creatures - Dragons
1 Crosis, the Purger
1 Dragonlord Kolaghan
1 Dromar, the Banisher
1 Hellkite Overlord
1 Intet, the Dreamer
1 Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
1 Malfegor
1 Numot, the Devastator
1 Rith, the Awakener
1 Teneb, the Harvester
1 Treva, the Renewer
1 Utvara Hellkite
1 Vorosh, the Hunter
I tried the Destructive Force version with a bunch of mana rocks, but no one had fun. Plus, destroying all lands with one or two 6/6 dragons in play is a pretty easy way to lose. (Lack of draw in that deck may have been the culprit).
Kaalia wasn't better than the Arch (at least for me: Arch was removed less frequently and can do the Aether Vial thing to flash a blocker into play) - I dropped them the last version for more card draw.
So I decided to go "fun" instead.
Looking at the list in one place, feels like it could use some Karoo lands and the 4th Captain Sisay. Also, since the deck doesn't do much until it lands a (single) 6/6 flyer, it tends to run low on life early and could use some life gain.
For example, I might feel generous enough one night to pick up a tab for the buddies, but giving away a NM Damnation ...well, I'm not sure I could do that. I'd loan it. And I still haven't completely forgiven one of my friends for drowning a Thrun (beer was involved).
I'm not sure what the exact conversion factor is, but I'd rather have $50 in cards than $100 in any other goods.
[This is partly due to the economics in my household. My wife needs to approve each purchase of Magic cards, but we have broader agreements on other expenditures.]
Edit: Stepping back, I like this article (both writers). It suggests comparable wage gap is perhaps 2-6% (i.e., non-zero, but also probably not 10%). [This was also based on data that's 15 years old, so if the gap really has been narrowing, maybe it's less today.] Anyway, what I liked about the article was that it spends a bit more time talking about women's ability to invest in their human capital in a relatively succinct way.
Finally, I thought it was interesting that Among parents with children younger than 18, mothers (56%) are less likely than fathers (69%) to say it is better for children to have a parent at home.
2) Thanks for sharing your story. My dad played guitar on the street corner for money when I was an infant. My older sister would sing along - passerbys apparently loved that.
@CloudKick3r -
One of the things I like about Eternal Witness is that it allows for near-infinite Ghostways.
The manabase seems to work ok in practice, but I'll keep playing with it. (Modern decks use 22 lands - including a Township). I'm not thrilled with the Gavony Township that I ported over - keeps losing counters.
The golem tokens off Blade Splicer (or perhaps Precursor Golem, with or without Elesh) and Luminarch Ascension are there to make sure that I can finish out games. i.e., I don't want folks having to watch me durdle for a dozen turns once it's clear that they can't win. What do you run to close out a game? I don't want to use the infinite Kiki-Angel combo that is customary.
I appreciate the advice to run more 5+ drops - Mulldrifter, Bane of Progress, Sunblast Angel, Duplicant. Sylvan Primordial would probably cause someone to flip a table. That's probably linked with the number of lands I end up running.
I think we're looping on this central disagreement - you see unequal social expectations and similarly unequal social outcomes, but conclude that the one has nothing to do with the other. I see that same fact pattern and conclude that one is likely impacting the other.
We might need to agree to disagree.
Despite the legality, studies like this one are published. I don't know if this study is more valid than any of the others, but looking at wages out of college - before family obligations intervene - seems to provide a useful perspective.
Fair
By way of analogy, let's just say that we had comparable income for everyone today - it would be generations before we had comparable wealth. The wealth of white households was 13 times the median wealth of black households in 2013, compared with eight times the wealth in 2010. And it's not clear that we have equal income yet.
The people that do care about social norms can get together and do the research so we can discuss and decide if we want to do anything differently. They offer a product that can be consumed (as we have) or ignored (if we instead wanted to live an unexamined life).
Looping back to career choice / female engagement in STEM for a moment, check out how much research has been done on the topic of identifying what might be driving the difference in outcomes, as well as which techniques might be most effective for changing those outcomes! With her parents armed with this type of information, maybe my (4 year old) daughter will make it through the High School gauntlet! Or maybe she'll decide she still wants to be a princess, like Elsa.
Some way to give a 13/13 trample might be nice, but it doesn't have to be Skarrg.
This is my 4th try at a Defender deck. The first was an extremely janky walls + Glyph of Destruction + Fling that I netdecked. Then something with Vent Sentinel and Lobber Crew. Then Dragonshift.
You could also try a more typical Assault Formation + Hold the Gates list (it might be more consistent). Also, this EDH deck has some ideas that are probably at least worth considering.
As an aside, the purpose of governments is open to debate (and not a topic I care to get pulled into). Also, I've never said that I know the solution for gender equality.
No - I said that it is rational for individuals to consider the wishes of others.
Can you please address the apparent inconsistency of acknowledging that social expectations form a cost, but asserting that it's irrational to consider that cost?
This is a should statement - i.e., it appears to say how you might like the world to work. It doesn't appear to support that this IS how the world works.
I would certainly like to see the impact of social norms on these types of personal decisions to continue to diminish over time in our broader quest for equality.I was asserting that one reason we are predominately following traditional gender roles ... is the tradition of gender roles.
Here is some evidence of the existence of those roles - About half (51%) of survey respondents say that children are better off if a mother is home and doesn’t hold a job, while just 8% say the same about a father.
I'm not sure that it's possible to attribute relative weightings, but here are some possible causes for this inequity -
- Compensation. Mothers who earn less for equal work. I probably need to learn more, but I find it POTENTIALLY problematic when women select careers that pay less - or careers that pay less since they are predominately female.
- Parental leave. If we care enough about providing both men and women equal opportunity, we might look to one of the countries that provides equal parental leave to either parent. Sweden is the typical example - 480 days that can be taken by either parent.
- Enjoyment. This wouldn't appear to be a strong driver if both mothers and fathers engaged in child caregiving enjoy their time spent in child caregiving; fathers as much, or even more so, than mothers...
- Social norms. I think this exists (above) and is problematic (you may disagree).
- Biology. Can't do anything about much of this. Though this study suggests that brain (amygdala) function changes so fathers who are primary caregivers are similar to mothers who are primary caregivers. Interesting, if true.
- Single moms. Probably needs a different thread.
- Other? Maybe mothers are better parents than fathers? Aliens?
When we've crossed off everything but biology, then I'll be happy.As an additional aside, I think it's an interesting question at where we draw the line in equality of social norms. When do you think our society will seriously question differences in attire (dresses vs. suits), for example? It took a while to get to voting rights, then ability to work outside the home, then compensation, then athletics (Title IX), and we're just starting to shift our perspectives on child rearing...
Here is one additional data point for why we might have a problem - Some 46% of fathers say they are not spending enough time with their children, compared with 23% of mothers. Poor dads!
Golly we are far afield from Princess Leia...
As to the card, I like having the Wrath protection. I also like that I can typically gain ~5 life off Mastery of the Unseen by paying the 1W to flip over a Wall of Omens, for example.
I'll dial up the BoPs and Coiling Oracles. The 4th BoP will help with getting the UG to cast Coiling Oracle, so that's good synergy.
Love the Aura Shards recommendation and agree that I will generally have the strongest board (barring a token strategy), so *** can go as well. Modern decks devote 3 slots to spot removal, but I should be able to control the board with the other removal/bounce cards already in the deck.
Pri3 - I know you already know all this, but in case anyone else needs the background:
I REALLY wanted to build around Brago (like this deck), but unlike EDH, I can't be assured of having access to a copy throughout the game. The thing that Brago can do (obviously) is bounce noncreature permanents - i.e., planeswalkers (2 activations/turn!), Grim Monolith.
I tried to go deeper into those interactions, which is one of the reasons I have Venser instead of Roon. I'm not sure that Roon needs a slot (no haste for the 2nd interaction) - it seems like Venser, Shaper Savant, Restoration Angel, Brago, and Venser, the Soujourner are better in the deck?
I don't remember why Parallax Wave was cut along the way. Probably failure of imagination or general idiocy. Even if it doesn't do anything more than the Ghostway mode, that's still great - and, to your point, it can be abused further with Brago.
[The mana removal strategy of Parallax Tide wouldn't fit into this meta.]
This appears to acknowledge that other people may impose a cost on me if I don't follow their expectations, but then suggests that taking into account those social costs is irrational. That appears inconsistent.
Just because you claim to not follow the expectations of anyone else (despite all evidence to the contrary - including our current interaction of polite discourse, which follows social norms), it would not follow that no one else does.
I'm sure a mental health expert will correct me, but look at the bolded portion of the definition for antisocial personality disorder (i.e., "sociopathy") - "People with antisocial personality disorder typically have no regard for right and wrong and often disregard the rights, wishes and feelings of others." (Emphasis mine.)
It is rational, healthy, and very human to consider the wishes and feelings of other people!I agree. Differences may exist, which would then suggest further research. In this case, though the cause is so self-evident that no one has bothered doing the research to confirm it.
We've had a long tradition as a country of "traditional" gender roles. We only added legal protection for sex in 1964 (and that protection MAY have been inserted to prevent the entire bill from passing). And we are moving, slowly, toward more gender equality on a number of dimensions. And despite they way that you might wish for individuals to live, people take into account society's expectations (if they are even conscious that bias exists - the theory of unconscious bias is getting a lot of attention these days).
Women commit less crime. A larger % of women go to college (71% vs. 61%!). Women live longer. Women are less likely to die in an accident. Men don't get to spend as much time with their children (even though they enjoy it as much).
These are all differences that I believe are worthy of research and seeing if/how society can help the men out.
On AF, I knew 2 was definitely wrong. But the point you raised suggests that 4 is more right than the 3 in the OP. I'll try that.
[The cantrips are 2 drops.] One (or more) of the Axebane Guardians or Overgrown Battlements are necessary to make the Mastery of the Unseens sing. I tried with a 2-2 split of WoR and Overgrown Battlements and that was definitely wrong - WoR can be used immediately, but it's relatively tame 1 mana/turn. I can jam one more one for sure, and will try out a second copy.