Mana problems are part of the game. Build your deck right and you can cut down on the odds of it happening significantly. That's about all you can do. Fundamentally changing the way the game is played never works. You just have to deal with it and move one. Remember, it's a game of skill and chance, not just skill.
The power nine aren't what they are simply for being powerful (that is certainly a big part of it). It's mainly because they are iconic rare cards that never got reprinted past ABU. When they didn't get reprinted in Revised like a lot of other cards they gained the mythic status and title of "power nine" because they suddenly became so much harder to get than other cards. Balance is arguably more powerful than Timetwister but it got reprinted in later sets so it doesn't get to be power. Similar arguments could also be made for other early cards such as Wheel of Fortune, Demonic Tutor, dual lands, and Sol Ring, just to name a few. But those cards got reprinted and thus cannot be considered in part of the elite and coveted "power" category. Given this fact, I personally don't feel that things like Sol Ring and Tinker deserve to be considered "power", despite their impact on game play. Keep in mind, in a good game, top decking a mox or a lotus mid game isn't going to do much for you or have anywhere near the impact a tinker could have, but that doesn't mean we don't consider the moxen power.
TL;DR: being considered "power" isn't all about the card's impact on game play, it's more about rarity and price tag.
Speaking of tomorrow's Rousey fight...this fight will be a first in the UFC for both men and women. It will be the first time in UFC history that two Olympic medal winners will be fighting for the title. That's pretty cool.
The UFC is one place where women competitors are getting as much respect as their male counterparts. Events consistently have both male and female fights now for the last year or so that women have begun having their own weight class. This week in fact will be one of the bigger events. All of this is due in part to how awesome Ronda Rousey is. It simply took a lot of marketing and an impressive athlete to grab hold of fans.
They are certainly making strides in the UFC but to say women are getting as much respect as the men is quite a stretch. The entire women's division exists because of one woman and one woman alone. If something were to happen to Rousey today and she were to never fight again it's not much of stretch to speculate that the women would be out of the UFC within a year. Or that they'd be relegated entirely to the preliminary card with the exception of title fights which likely wouldn't be the headlining fight. With out the marketing juggernaut that is Rousey there's not a lot there to prop up the women's division. And at the end of the day Dana White cares about one thing and one thing only: $$$
And while she is the headliner of this weekends PPV I can guarantee you this PPV won't see anywhere near the kinds of viewership numbers the men can pull in. Rousey is a gifted fighter for sure, and at 135 lbs there's probably not a woman alive who could beat her. But I highly doubt she could beat anyone in the top 10 of the men's 135 lb division. And that's not a knock on Rousey or women's MMA, that's just the way it is at the moment.(for the record, I enjoy women's MMA, I personally think good technique is good technique regardless of size or gender).
I never stop laughing at anyone who uses "rings" in any argument for, or against any specific player in any sport that requires a team to play.
Impressed with Seattle's defense, I've been an avid defense lover since I was a kid, so to see a defense suffocate a great offense like that was beautiful. It wasn't even necessarily Denver playing poorly, it's just that Seattle was playing THAT good.
Agreed. And I don't think the loss takes anything away from Manning's legacy. He didn't choke at all, the hawks just shut him and his team down. I think #1 defense will always beat #1 offense.
I was actually pretty happy with it. One of the local auto parts stores in my city said last week that if Seattle wins they'd discount everything for a week by however many points the Hawks score. 43% off baby!
I decided ahead of time to choose green and splash white for heroic, and by chance, my seeded booster had a Karametra, God of Harvests so that cemented my decision. I only went 2-2 (mana screwed like crazy in round 3) but I had a decent time anyway.
Terrible idea. You should never decide what you're going to play in sealed until you see your card pool. Let the cards dictate what you play, not your personal preference.
Picked the red promo. Played RU and splashed green for Xenagos. Went 4-0-1. Tied for 2nd and 3rd with my best friend. We got paired up in round 5 with one other player at 4-0. We considered playing it out but when we mentioned possibly taking the draw (and getting 1st and 2nd if the other 4-0 guy lost) a lot of people emplored us to take the draw so there wouldn't be a round six. Since we had things to do and the tournament started late we were happy to oblige. Still had to wait for the other guy to play out his match to see if we'd get 1st and 2nd or 2nd and 3rd but that was ok, still no round six. The place I go to really needs to start them earlier, on time, and not give an hour for deck building.
My deck was really strong and pretty much ran everyone over, only lost one game to getting stuck on two mana till turn 7. Had good control with blue and good beats with red. I'd take a bit of a beating early game and then take control and smash. My favorite was this: I was at 1, he was at 3 with some tapped ground dudes and 5/5 Flame-Wreathed Phoenix untapped. I was on the go and had only Spellheart Chimera out at 1 power. Played a Xenagos, God of Revels, played a Titan's Strength targeting my Chimera (putting it's power 5). Went to combat, targeted my Chimera with Xenagos, swung in for 10 trample in the air and the win.
Xenagos was really strong. Many times I'd play him and have no creatures out and they'd tap out attacking into me and then I'd play a dude and swing at them for a lot. On one I played that 5/2 guy, then titan's strength on him and swung for 16. It was good.
I think my favorite thing though was that I had one of those rare days when I got to play every card in my deck at least once. I hate it when I have some great cards that I never see throughout the day.
Man, I wish I could play sealed more often, there really isn't enough support for it in my area.
WOW!:o Go Seattle defense! I thought for sure if Seattle won it would be a close game and if there was a blow out it would be all Manning. I certainly did not expect this.
Seattle did it all too. Got the 2 from a safety, had a passing TD, a rushing TD, a kick off run back, and a pick six. Pretty much a perfect game from Seattle.
As a native of Washington state I'm glad Seattle won (mostly because everyone around me is really pumped about it), but more than anything, I really wish I was in downtown Seattle tonight. That's a city that has been itching for a major sport championship for a loooooooong time.
Damn the latest episode was such a great episode. I wished they expanded on this instead of making it a single episode.
Agreed. I think a big part of the reason it was so much better than the rest of this season is because it didn't have much of the regular cast dialing in their terrible performances. Man they've been bad this season.
I feel like Time Spiral was the last supper of sorts for all the old school players like me who'd been around since the very beginning. It had the return of some of artists from the beginning, had references to the old stuff, was set on dominaria, had a wide variety of artistic styles and had balanced play that was loads of fun. It was awesome.
Then came planeswalkers, and mythic rarity, and ridiculous levels of power creep (especially the creatures), and the ever increasing homogenization of the art, and the constant stream of "premium" sets to get us to buy more crap...and so on...
What do you guys think of a possible Super Bowl Saturday or Monday? Personally I think it's ridiculous. Moving the game to a different day because of bad weather is just dumb, this is football for crying out loud! Especially with these two teams. It's not like Seattle and Denver are always sunny and warm.
Storm Crow is better than Sea Eagle?! Surely ye jest...
TL;DR: being considered "power" isn't all about the card's impact on game play, it's more about rarity and price tag.
With that said, here is my list of six:
Time Vault (probably didn't make the original power list because of the lack of things like Voltaic Key that are abundant now)
Library of Alexandria
Bazaar of Baghdad
Mishra's Workshop
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
Moat
Did he say that? No, you're making assumptions. OP asked if women's sports would ever be as popular, he said no.
They are certainly making strides in the UFC but to say women are getting as much respect as the men is quite a stretch. The entire women's division exists because of one woman and one woman alone. If something were to happen to Rousey today and she were to never fight again it's not much of stretch to speculate that the women would be out of the UFC within a year. Or that they'd be relegated entirely to the preliminary card with the exception of title fights which likely wouldn't be the headlining fight. With out the marketing juggernaut that is Rousey there's not a lot there to prop up the women's division. And at the end of the day Dana White cares about one thing and one thing only: $$$
And while she is the headliner of this weekends PPV I can guarantee you this PPV won't see anywhere near the kinds of viewership numbers the men can pull in. Rousey is a gifted fighter for sure, and at 135 lbs there's probably not a woman alive who could beat her. But I highly doubt she could beat anyone in the top 10 of the men's 135 lb division. And that's not a knock on Rousey or women's MMA, that's just the way it is at the moment.(for the record, I enjoy women's MMA, I personally think good technique is good technique regardless of size or gender).
Agreed. And I don't think the loss takes anything away from Manning's legacy. He didn't choke at all, the hawks just shut him and his team down. I think #1 defense will always beat #1 offense.
Terrible idea. You should never decide what you're going to play in sealed until you see your card pool. Let the cards dictate what you play, not your personal preference.
My deck was really strong and pretty much ran everyone over, only lost one game to getting stuck on two mana till turn 7. Had good control with blue and good beats with red. I'd take a bit of a beating early game and then take control and smash. My favorite was this: I was at 1, he was at 3 with some tapped ground dudes and 5/5 Flame-Wreathed Phoenix untapped. I was on the go and had only Spellheart Chimera out at 1 power. Played a Xenagos, God of Revels, played a Titan's Strength targeting my Chimera (putting it's power 5). Went to combat, targeted my Chimera with Xenagos, swung in for 10 trample in the air and the win.
Xenagos was really strong. Many times I'd play him and have no creatures out and they'd tap out attacking into me and then I'd play a dude and swing at them for a lot. On one I played that 5/2 guy, then titan's strength on him and swung for 16. It was good.
I think my favorite thing though was that I had one of those rare days when I got to play every card in my deck at least once. I hate it when I have some great cards that I never see throughout the day.
Man, I wish I could play sealed more often, there really isn't enough support for it in my area.
Seattle did it all too. Got the 2 from a safety, had a passing TD, a rushing TD, a kick off run back, and a pick six. Pretty much a perfect game from Seattle.
As a native of Washington state I'm glad Seattle won (mostly because everyone around me is really pumped about it), but more than anything, I really wish I was in downtown Seattle tonight. That's a city that has been itching for a major sport championship for a loooooooong time.
Agreed. I think a big part of the reason it was so much better than the rest of this season is because it didn't have much of the regular cast dialing in their terrible performances. Man they've been bad this season.
Then came planeswalkers, and mythic rarity, and ridiculous levels of power creep (especially the creatures), and the ever increasing homogenization of the art, and the constant stream of "premium" sets to get us to buy more crap...and so on...