Are you looking for a Commander/strategy that can consistently dominate 3 other players throughout the entire game, or are you looking to build a deck that is explosive and can win against 3 players in one or two turns? If it's the former, you will probably have the best chances with some strategy like stax (as others have mentioned) which might not make for the most interactive of games. If it's the latter, it is not so much about the commander but rather about how you pilot the deck. For instance, both my Riku of Two Reflections and my Shattergang Brothers decks (lists in my sig) usually win by controlling the game for a while without making themselves a huge target and slowly assembling the pieces for a win until they have one or two explosive turns where I e.g. (with the Riku deck) Genesis Wave into Worldspine Wurm, a couple of Clones and Urabrask the Hidden to overrun everybody, or (with Shattergang) play Living Death to get Kokusho, the Evening Star, Mikaeus the Unhallowed, Avenger of Zendikar, Viscera Seer and Blood Artist to kill the table.
I am not sure if this is what some people would consider combo (it's not infinite and it's conditional on my opponents' boardstates). But similar strategies are possible with lots of commanders and I have found them to be amongst the most powerful gameplans outside of lockdown/combo decks.
Wizards should also consider periodically reprinting an entire past Standard set for the purposes of paper flashback Limited.
Not sure about this from a business perspective, but man would I love this. There are so many past sets I would love to draft and get my hands on some rares. Particularly Shadowmoor/ Eventide.
People who are not me have no right to voice concerns about MtG community issues. I am the only one who knows how things should be and everybody else needs to adapt to my vision or gtfo
Read your post again, but replace all instances of women/female with jew/jewish (or african-american, or christian, or asian, or male). See if you notice anything.
I am getting really tired of arguing with you. It's becoming clear that you are unwilling to have any kind of productive conversation, that you are unable to see that there are other people besides socially awkward nerdy white guys who want to be able to enjoy this game and go to a game store and feel welcome there. Your argument boils down to "well, we just don't like XYZ people, so they shouldn't come to our gamestore. There is nothing we can change." You are expecting others to put up with you and adapt and compromise, but you are unwilling to make any changes at all to compromise with other people. You seem to think you own MtG and have a natural right to determine how the community should be.
I am sorry to tell you that you have no such right. MtG does not belong to you. Game stores do not belong to you. Life does not revolve around you. You are not the center of the universe. Welcome to the real world.
I don't know how many more ways I can say it: Making changes to accomodate newcomers does not equal banning established patrons. Nobody is trying to "get you" and make you miserable. People only want to be able to play MtG at their local game store without being uncomfortable. SAME. AS. YOU.
You are not the only person who wants to relax and have fun at a game store. You are not the only person who lives in society. There are also other people. Asking for a mutual respect and politeness is a basic element of human society and you will encounter these demands in all areas of life. If you are unwilling or unable to learn basic human values that underlie any social interaction, that is tough for you and I am sorry. However, that does not mean others need to put up with you or accept being treated badly by you. A game store is a public place. If you want to have a safe-haven without people who you might disagree with, just stay home.
The tone and quantity of articles recently just comes off as if it's all our fault rather than a cultural issue around what games little girls play or a biological issue with women being attracted to different hobbies.
The biggest tragedy for me is when you get female bloggers saying that FNM is uncomfortable for them because they have to deal with smelly/autistic/socially awkward people, MTG has been a refuge for people like that! Guess what? I've had to deal with uncomfortable players too! It's sad that there can't be a place for the socially awkward to learn some social skills because everything has to be perfect for the women.
The irony is that making MTG more diverse is making MTG be less inclusive. I guess this is subjective though, you have to have seen the articles/threads/blogs I've seen.
I guess it is very much subjective, yes. I have seen a lot of articles, but not a single one claimed "it is all the fault of every male Magic player". Again: People are calling out bad behavior. Bad behavior exists. Of course there may be other (e.g. cultural, idk) reasons why fewer women play the game. That does not excuse *****ty behavior.
And no, it is not only women who experience bad behavior. For instance, I am a 27-year old heterosexual white dude. When I first started going to the local game store as a kid, I made a number of bad experiences. I got bullied into trades I didn't want to make and ripped off, I had opponents who reacted super rude and angrily when they lost to me, and so on. That was intimidating and uncomfortable. I know from personal experience that there are plenty of people who feel entitled to behave like dicks just because they believe themselves to be more skilled at the game. I am sure a lot of other people will have made similar experiences. This behavior is not being socially awkward or an oddball, it's being a dick. Plain and simple.
Now, imagine this possibility: Could it be that women have to deal with this kind of behavior more often? I absolutely think so. I think it is plausible that there are MtG players who assume any woman they see will be less experienced at the game and who feel entitled to patronize her, and be rude if it turns out she is not complete ***** at the game. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence for this behavior. Could it be that this is part of the reason why you don't see many women at game stores? Again, I absolutely think so. Is it the only reason? Probably not. But antisocial behavior is a thing. Just because women are not the only ones affected doesn't mean they are not affected, or not affected to a higher degree.
Now, could there also be sexist behavior in the MtG community? I absolutely think so. There is a lot of sexism in this world, even to this day in relatively modern western nations. Just talk to your female friends or your mother, they will have plenty of stories to tell. I see no reason why the MtG community and local game stores should be exempt from sexism. It is an illusion to think the community is a haven of non-sexist behavior. So: if women are talking about what they experienced as sexist behavior, there is good reason to listen to them with an open mind.
Nobody is saying that socially awkward guys are not allowed to play MtG and be themselves. There is nothing wrong with being socially awkward. There is nothing wrong with being a guy. The issue is when people behave like dicks to others in some way.
Now, are there also players who are not sexists or idiots, but still could do with learning better social skills? Probably yes, as you are saying yourself. Will these players learn if nobody ever tells them what they could do better? Probably not. Is telling them what they could do better equal to attacking them as human beings and telling them they are not allowed to play MtG? Absolutely not.
If new people are entering the community and point out not all is well, we can react by rejecting them and wanting to keep everything as it is. Or we can take it as a learning opportunity, and maybe the community will be better off because of it. And, maybe, we will learn things that also help us outside of MtG.
Chandra flamecaller? Doubles as enrage trigger in addition to personal wheel.
Thanks a ton, these are actually some really nice suggestions! I did not include Momentous Fall et al. because I don't want to be dependent on having high power creatures on the board, and I usually want to keep my dudes around and not sac them.
Keen Sense and Snake Umbra are actually really cool. I knew about them but dismissed them because I though they only triggered on combat damage. Just now I noticed it's actually any damage, which makes them really nice with Boros Reckoner and Stuffy Doll etc. I might also try Chandra Flamecaller. As you said, she nicely doubles as enrage trigger.
Not sure if it has been mentioned before, but I think the tainted land (Tainted Isle, Tainted Field) cycle is a nice alround budget option for any deck that runs black.
I'm confused why having female characters or different ethnicities in the story/art is a problem for anyone. I don't think it is, it's just an easy but bad example to point to when unhappy about other issues. It's an international game so it must reflect the world it's played in, westerners are the minority!
The problem for me is that wizards is starting to follow far left twitter outrage culture where "mean" people in the out group (usually centre left) are labelled harassers and banned (they won't go to the police though), while the same sort of "meanness" from the in group (far left) is applauded. It's happening in comics and has progressed to the writers/artists attacking the fans so they are now haemorraging readers.
My other problem is the assumption that because men and women are identical (unless you are trans, then the differences are super important), 50% of magic players must be women, therefore that 50% of players are NOT women must be a sign that the men are hideous and harassing them. I don't really like being blamed for MTG being majority male when the girls at high school though we were nerds for playing and stayed away (but were happy going drinking with us) and every women I've talked to about the game despises playing it. Get young girls playing the game still in school, it's too late to try to get a market from 20-30 year old women who already developed hobbies.
I honestly don't know what gives you the idea that anyone is blaming you personally for MtG being majority male. No one does that.
People are calling out bad behavior if and when it occurs. This is not equal to blaming *all* guys who play the game. I just for the life of me cannot understand why you would feel personally attacked if someone is pointing out that not all is well in the world.
The watermark looks cool though. I always liked the Scourge set symbol. Would be even cooler on a red card. (And yes, I know this is little consolation when you open this)
I am not sure if this is what some people would consider combo (it's not infinite and it's conditional on my opponents' boardstates). But similar strategies are possible with lots of commanders and I have found them to be amongst the most powerful gameplans outside of lockdown/combo decks.
I am getting really tired of arguing with you. It's becoming clear that you are unwilling to have any kind of productive conversation, that you are unable to see that there are other people besides socially awkward nerdy white guys who want to be able to enjoy this game and go to a game store and feel welcome there. Your argument boils down to "well, we just don't like XYZ people, so they shouldn't come to our gamestore. There is nothing we can change." You are expecting others to put up with you and adapt and compromise, but you are unwilling to make any changes at all to compromise with other people. You seem to think you own MtG and have a natural right to determine how the community should be.
I am sorry to tell you that you have no such right. MtG does not belong to you. Game stores do not belong to you. Life does not revolve around you. You are not the center of the universe. Welcome to the real world.
I don't know how many more ways I can say it: Making changes to accomodate newcomers does not equal banning established patrons. Nobody is trying to "get you" and make you miserable. People only want to be able to play MtG at their local game store without being uncomfortable. SAME. AS. YOU.
You are not the only person who wants to relax and have fun at a game store. You are not the only person who lives in society. There are also other people. Asking for a mutual respect and politeness is a basic element of human society and you will encounter these demands in all areas of life. If you are unwilling or unable to learn basic human values that underlie any social interaction, that is tough for you and I am sorry. However, that does not mean others need to put up with you or accept being treated badly by you. A game store is a public place. If you want to have a safe-haven without people who you might disagree with, just stay home.
And no, it is not only women who experience bad behavior. For instance, I am a 27-year old heterosexual white dude. When I first started going to the local game store as a kid, I made a number of bad experiences. I got bullied into trades I didn't want to make and ripped off, I had opponents who reacted super rude and angrily when they lost to me, and so on. That was intimidating and uncomfortable. I know from personal experience that there are plenty of people who feel entitled to behave like dicks just because they believe themselves to be more skilled at the game. I am sure a lot of other people will have made similar experiences. This behavior is not being socially awkward or an oddball, it's being a dick. Plain and simple.
Now, imagine this possibility: Could it be that women have to deal with this kind of behavior more often? I absolutely think so. I think it is plausible that there are MtG players who assume any woman they see will be less experienced at the game and who feel entitled to patronize her, and be rude if it turns out she is not complete ***** at the game. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence for this behavior. Could it be that this is part of the reason why you don't see many women at game stores? Again, I absolutely think so. Is it the only reason? Probably not. But antisocial behavior is a thing. Just because women are not the only ones affected doesn't mean they are not affected, or not affected to a higher degree.
Now, could there also be sexist behavior in the MtG community? I absolutely think so. There is a lot of sexism in this world, even to this day in relatively modern western nations. Just talk to your female friends or your mother, they will have plenty of stories to tell. I see no reason why the MtG community and local game stores should be exempt from sexism. It is an illusion to think the community is a haven of non-sexist behavior. So: if women are talking about what they experienced as sexist behavior, there is good reason to listen to them with an open mind.
Nobody is saying that socially awkward guys are not allowed to play MtG and be themselves. There is nothing wrong with being socially awkward. There is nothing wrong with being a guy. The issue is when people behave like dicks to others in some way.
Now, are there also players who are not sexists or idiots, but still could do with learning better social skills? Probably yes, as you are saying yourself. Will these players learn if nobody ever tells them what they could do better? Probably not. Is telling them what they could do better equal to attacking them as human beings and telling them they are not allowed to play MtG? Absolutely not.
If new people are entering the community and point out not all is well, we can react by rejecting them and wanting to keep everything as it is. Or we can take it as a learning opportunity, and maybe the community will be better off because of it. And, maybe, we will learn things that also help us outside of MtG.
Keen Sense and Snake Umbra are actually really cool. I knew about them but dismissed them because I though they only triggered on combat damage. Just now I noticed it's actually any damage, which makes them really nice with Boros Reckoner and Stuffy Doll etc. I might also try Chandra Flamecaller. As you said, she nicely doubles as enrage trigger.
For now, I did this:
In:
- Sylvan Library
Out:
- Mouth // Feed
People are calling out bad behavior if and when it occurs. This is not equal to blaming *all* guys who play the game. I just for the life of me cannot understand why you would feel personally attacked if someone is pointing out that not all is well in the world.