- Noah Elderberry
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Member for 5 years, 9 months, and 2 days
Last active Wed, Dec, 29 2021 18:11:40
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Araujo posted a message on Upcoming Norse-Inspired SetWELL HERE WE ARE NOW I GUESSPosted in: The Rumor Mill -
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DementedKirby posted a message on New planeswalker named DavrielI'm also hoping he's in Sultai colors.Posted in: The Rumor Mill -
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FlyingDelver posted a message on JundPosted in: MidrangeQuote from Galerion »Thanks for the response.
It's unfortunate to hear but that honesty is valuable. Hype can often be a negative thing.
I thought of Fatal Push as a tool for Jund but I didn't think about that it is also pretty good against Jund. Jund certainly often enables Revolt for the opponent.
Can you also clarify what you mean with how BBE destroyed the standard for a good Jund build? You mean in the sense of upping the mana curve?
Before Probe was unbanned, we had a pretty good set of rules everybody followed and understood. We always ran 24 lands, maximum 3 manlands, and 1-2 four drops to go with it as topenders. And this rules ensured a consistant positive performance for the deck.
With BBE being unbanned, obviously people started to jam the card as a 4 of. And rightfully so, this would mean adding another land is a nobrainer. Coming from 1-2 max four drops, you actually need a 25 land if you now have suddenly 4 four drops in your deck. In order to prevent flooding, that 25th land naturally was a 4th manland. All up to this point makese sense. However, people are naturally very greedy in deckbuilding (according to my epxerience) and people really like to skimp on lands since people always hate flooding more than screwing. So people decided to cut a land again here and there, and the problem was, they did not cut the 4th manland which was added, and just kept the 4 manlands. They just cut something else, because manlands are great right? Now, bad performance should now punish you, but the problem is, many people did this, and due to variance even with a greedy manabase you can of course win tournaments and perform well. This is simple statistics. And when those greedy lists started to pop up, people felt confirmed in their deckbuilding of course. Results say everything as we know (sarcasm). And when many people do similar things, it slowly starts to become the norm. In the past, it was never even possible to post a list with 4 four drops and only 24 lands to this forum and not get criticized about the manabase. Now its just normal. The interesting part about this is, modern as a format was way less punishing in the past. Nowadays though decks are more linear, more consistant and more punishing overall. But people still have more greedy manabases. So I guess you get the point, its completely twisted.
So up to this point, we need more definition about greedyness. Therefore I am spending a lot of time on this topic, and my goal is to bring people back on track. Thats why I write articles, address problems with manabases and the mana curve mainly. Its just the funamental part of each deck and when other decks are so consistant, we need to keep with that in order to perform well. Thats my opinion on that. -
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benjameenbear posted a message on Tasigur, Razaketh Flash Hulk ComboThe Primer is mostly complete at this point. It just needs some additional writing in the Card Choices section in order to be complete in its entirety, and I'm tired of writing today.Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists -
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benjameenbear posted a message on Tasigur, Razaketh Flash Hulk ComboI've begun work on the Primer for Tasigur Hulk Flash. I'll keep adding to it over the next few days until it looks the way I want it to.Posted in: Multiplayer Commander Decklists -
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KarnTerrier posted a message on Identities of ShardsI decided to start off the thread with an analysis of my favorite color triad, Blue/Black/Red.Posted in: Magic Storyline
UBR combines Blue's drive for self-improvement and Black's naked ambition with Red's desire for freedom and appetite for self-indulgence, resulting in a color triad that seeks power and wealth because they'll allow it to become whatever it wants to be and to do whatever it wants to do. It's about gaining and using and abusing power, or at least taking advantage of the perks that success has to offer. It's about working hard and playing hard - doing whatever it takes to get to the top and indulging your whims once you're there. It's about doing what you want and taking what you want, whenever and wherever you can get away with it - and putting yourself in a position where you can get away with it more often.
It's also the most narcissistic color triad, combining Blue/Black's manipulative tendencies with Blue/Red's desire to express its creativity and Black/Red's desire to express its identity. Blue/Black/Green is the most selfish color triad, but Blue/Black/Red is the most self-absorbed color triad. It's almost obsessively focused on the way it sees itself, constructing and refining an internal image of itself based on what it thinks it is and what it wants to be - and then trying its best to actually become that idealized version of itself. It's about gaining freedom through power, taking power through self-actualization, and finding self-actualization through freedom.
Its primary tools are opportunism, risk management, persuasion, charisma, and social/situational awareness. Blue/Black/Red has a keen understanding of power dynamics. It's well aware that power is highly circumstantial, and it's savvy enough to know exactly what it can get away with at any given time, in any given place. Like Blue/Black/Green, it understands that there's a time to stay back, study the situation, and wait to see how things turn out, and also a time to strike now, strike hard, and strike fast, without a second thought. It understands that there's a time to stay in the shadows and work from behind the scenes without drawing attention to yourself, and also a time to present yourself to the world as openly and brazenly as possible.
But unlike Blue/Black/Green, it also doesn't mind taking risks, as long as they're calculated risks that are likely to pay off. It's very skilled at anaylzing and assessing risks, using Black's pragmatism to balance Blue's caution with Red's impulsiveness. Blue/Black/Green prefers not to get involved in a fight unless it's certain it will win, and it prefers not to invest in a venture unless it's reasonably sure it'll profit. Blue/Black/Red, on the other hand, likes to play the odds so long as the odds are in its favor - and it always knows when the odds are in its favor.
Blue/Black/Red is also the most manipulative color triad, even more so than Blue/Black/Green. Blue is known for misdirection, propaganda, and strategic social/political maneuvering; Black is known for intrigue, deception, and coercion; Red is known for physical intimidation, trickery, seduction, and charm. Together, they form a color triad that has a thorough intellectual and intuitive understanding of how other people will think and act. Blue/Black/Red is a master of psychological warfare, highly capable of finding people's mental/emotional weaknesses and all too willing to exploit them.
It's also well aware of the importance of public image. It tends to be colorfully narcissistic, utilizing the social aptitude of Blue/Black and the creativity of Blue/Red and the radical individualism of Black/Red to forge a strikingly distinct, unique, attention-grabbing, and often controversial identity for itself. It's talented at maintaining this persona even when it's acting on impulse - in fact, being impulsive and unpredictable is often a key part of its public image - and it revels in grandiose theatrical displays.
Its opposed to White/Green, the color pairing most associated with community, conformity, and collectivism. White/Green views individuals as nothing more than parts of a larger whole: White values people based on what they contribute to society, while Green sees everyone and everything in holistic terms, seeing all living things as mere threads in the tapestry that is the world. They both agree that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and that the collective good is more important than the good of any one individual's concerns. They also both agree that adhering to a natural or traditional way of life is more important than pursuing one's fickle and selfish desires. This mentality disgusts Blue/Black/Red; there's nothing more antithetical to its mindset than the idea that people need to sacrifice their own individual happiness for the sake of the common good or the natural/traditional order.
Blue/Black/Red is the least prescriptive of all the color combinations: It doesn't believe there's any particular way that the world should be, or that anyone deserves anything other than what they can take or make for themselves. It even rejects the Social Darwinism associated with Green's darker side; in Blue/Black/Red's eyes, the idea that "the strong are meant to prey on the weak" is just another arbitrary rule that tells people how they're supposed to act and what they're supposed to be. The Social Darwinist presumes that strength and weakness are inherent and immutable traits, whereas Blue/Black/Red sees them as situational conditions that are relative to circumstance and subject to change over time.
At most, Blue/Black/Red can be prescriptive about opposing prescriptive attitudes, as it wholly rejects the idea that people should be forced to act in accordance with nature or tradition or conventional morality. It has no respect for the cowards and sheep who force themselves to conform to society's standards, and it despises the self-serving hypocrisy of tyrants who seek to control others “for their own good.”
Despite lacking morals and ethics in the conventional sense, Blue/Black/Red can nonetheless have a deeply held sense of honor, and it can even be willing to die for the sake of its honor. It simply acknowledges that its honor is purely an internal construct and has no delusions about serving any kind of higher ideal or greater cause. Blue/Black/Red honor is about always staying true to one's own personal ideals, even while knowing that those ideals are completely arbitrary. It's about acting the way it likes to think it would act, even in the most extreme circumstances and desperate situations, even when everything is on the line. It's about living up to its own self-image, even when doing so is neither altruistic nor self-serving, even when doing so will only cause harm to itself and others.
While Blue/Black/Red isn't capable of universal altruism, it can feel genuine empathy and concern for the people it cares about, and it can feel genuine sympathy and fondness for the people it relates to. Unlike Blue/Black/Green, it can have deep and meaningful connections with other people that are neither exploitative nor shallow. It can even be willing to make sacrifices for other people and put itself at risk for their benefit, if it cares about them enough. However, it often sees its interpersonal relationships through a narcissitic lens, viewing others in terms of how they fit into its own narrative, and this can sometimes lead to possessive and abusive behavior.
Blue/Black/Red also doesn't care about fitting in, preferring to either stand out or not be seen at all; it's equally comfortable in the shadows and the spotlight, but hates being stuck in the crowd. It's not concerned with other people's opinions and moral judgments, so it doesn't really care what others think of it, but it greatly cares how others perceive it - partially so it can get what it wants from them, partially just because it wants to be seen by others the same way it sees itself.
At its best, Blue/Black/Red is driven, passionate, charismatic, savvy, and proudly independent. Even when it's breaking rules and violating social norms, there's something perversely admirable about its willingness to do the things we all secretly fantasize about doing. It can also be necessary, since there are times when loud, proud, individualistic rebels are exactly what's needed to shake a stagnant society out of its stupor.
At its worst, Blue/Black/Red is shameless, shallow, self-centered, spiteful, and sadistic. It can be tyrannical, caring only for its own freedom without a thought for the freedom of others. Whenever it's in any position of power, it's almost certain to abuse that power, engaging in blatant and unrepentant acts of corruption. It can also be extremely vindictive, seeking out vengenance against others for real or perceived slights, no matter how petty or trivial.
It's the color triad of social climbers and con artists, high-risk enterpeneurs and venture capitalists. It's the color triad of inventors who are smart enough to come up with practical and profitable applications for their devices, and artists who are talented enough to appeal to their audiences without compromising their creative integrity. It's the color triad of Randian Objectivism and the Nietzschean Ubermensch, of Byronic Heroes and Magnificent Bastards. Fundamentally, it's the color triad of individualism. -
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KarnTerrier posted a message on Identities of ShardsBlue/Black/Red characters tend to be outright villains, or at least anti-heroes, though there are exceptions. A good example of a mostly heroic Blue/Black/Red character is Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones, a cunning outcast who uses his quick wits and his outside-the-box thinking to outmaneuver his enemies. While basically good-hearted, he's firmly Red/Black rather than White: He's a self-indulgent hedonist with an abrasive personality, he enjoys relentlessly mocking everyone and everything, he's primarily motivated by a desire for power and revenge, and he's utterly ruthless in the pursuit of his goals. Further cementing his lack of White and Green traits is the fact that he doesn't have any real loyalty to his family or to his noble house as an institution, unlike most nobles in Westeros (although he does have very good reasons for this).Posted in: Magic Storyline
Other heroic Blue/Black/Red characters include Shawn Spencer from Psych, Patrick Jane from the Mentalist, and John Constantine from Hellblazer. All three characters take the classic Blue/Black private detective archetype and combine it with an outrageous in-your-face personality, a flagrant disregard for social conventions, a highly unorthodox approach to detective work and human interaction, and a strong impulsive streak. Edward Morra, the main character of Limitless, is another Blue/Black/Red protagonist - a creative and hedonistic genius who pursues entirely selfish and materialistic goals, yet also manages to avoid doing anything seriously unethical or hurting anyone who didn't try to hurt him first. While far from heroic, Andrew Ryan from the Bioshock series is an example of a genuinely well-intentioned Blue/Black/Red antagonist, an anti-government entrepeneur who sought to create a society where each individual could be free to pursue their own interests without interference from the state.
Blue/Black/Red villains tend to be manipulative masterminds who are equally capable of enacting complex long-term schemes and making plans on their feet in the heat of the moment. They also tend to have a cool, calm, and collected demeanor, while at the same time being driven by a white-hot emotional core of anger, hatred, jealousy, and resentment, hidden under their cold and rational facade like the molten heart of the Earth, buried in the depths of their soul under high pressure, just waiting to burst out in a volcanic eruption of pure rage. Examples include Hannibal Lector from Silence of the Lambs, Petyr Baelish/Littlefinger from Game of Thrones, Emperor Sheev Palpatine/Darth Sidious from Star Wars, and the Marvel version of Loki.
Blue/Black/Red is also the color triad of egotistical mad scientists who seek to use their discoveries and inventions to make a fortune, take over the world, or get revenge on their rivals (as opposed to Blue/Red/Green mad scientists, who are driven purely by curiosity and excitement). Dr. Robotnik from the Sonic series, Dr. Wily from the Mega-Man series, Dexter and Mandarkk from Dexter's Laboratory, Dr. Horrible from the web series of the same name, and Rick Sanchez from Rick and Morty are all examples of this archetype. Similarly, Blue/Black/Red is the color triad of rogue A.I. who are motivated by emotion - usually raw hatred for the humans who created them - rather than by a drive to fulfill any particular programming directive. The movie version of Ultron is a good example, as is GLaDOS from the Portal series and AM from I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.
But the quintessential example of a Blue/Black/Red hero and a Blue/Black/Red villain is Walter White from Breaking Bad, who displays the best and worst aspects of all three colors: He has Blue's methodical genius and drive to improve, Black's determination and drive to succeed, and Red's creativity and spur-of-the-moment resourcefulness, all of which enable him to become a criminal mastermind and make a fortune for himself and his family. However, he also has Blue's perfectionism, Black's vanity, and Red's short-sighted impulsiveness, all of which cause him to make terrible and self-destructive decisions and ultimately cause his criminal empire to come crashing down. -
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illakunsaa posted a message on The Return of the Dream EDH Ban List PollBasic forest. So many degenerate plays are enabled by this card. Green decks pretend that they are fair edh battlecruiser decks but they are secretly fast combo decks that just ruin the format.Posted in: Commander (EDH) - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
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How would this hypothetically interact with dredge cards since the affect on Golgari Supply Line isn't optional?
Also, this is the card that my jank necrotic ooze combo deck yearns for.
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Anything that exiles The Scorpion God from the graveyard will stop it's ability.
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Originally there were three, Rakkig Gardagig and Dargig, but Dargig was killed by Krenko.
Dargig was the bomb expert in the trio, so maybe if the bros get a new card with just two Rakkig and Gardagig, it will have two abilities instead of the three on the original card.
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With Arcbound Ravager you can sac it to its own ability at instant speed to put the counters on another creature in response to the target.