I'd ask Bateleur to give you a shake down, but... you know. The whole British thing.
That and being a pacifist. Let's face it, I'd offer him a cup of tea and if he'd been really naughty I might limit him to a digestive biscuit instead of a chocolate one.
Actually, on that subject, what do people listen to while they draft?
Whatever my current Spotify playlist is. Usually ridiculously eclectic. Current queue contains ZZ Top, Apocalyptica, Gorillaz, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Little Boots and Dar Williams, amongst others. The mix changes often, though, since I get bored really easily.
I advice you to watch the replays if you can. Round 2 game 3 and round 3 game 3 (against Owen Turtenwald) were the sickest games. Event number: 889256
Hurrah! Pros losing to bad decks are always funny!
Edit: OMG! R3/G3 is just ridiculous. That Sylvan Bounty play... I was just looking at the board thinking "Nope, he's dead. How is he not dead?!". And he even resolved a Filigree Angel. And his deck was absolutely sick! Well played lucksacked, sir!
--
(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
5CB PotM - June 2005, November 2005, February 2006, April 2008, May 2008, Feb 2009
MTGSalvation Articles: 1-20, plus guest appearance on MTGCast #86!
<Limited Clan>
Does anyone else hate (I mean, HATE) trips m10 draft? It's just so...boring.
I would lie if I said I hated any draft format, really. I have a fun time no matter what limited format I play, but some are better than others, that's for sure. I find the simle nature of M10 to be a relief sometimes, actually. Though not too often.
Quote from alfindeol »
I'm going to play sealed this weekend for the WWK prerealese... gonna be weird since I'm in Korea and I'm not sure the English speaking is going to be top notch. Whatever, it'll be fun and I get a promo Comet Storm out of it.
You should be grateful they don't print cards in Korean anymore
Quote from Bateleur »
Hurrah! Pros losing to bad decks are always funny!
Edit: OMG! R3/G3 is just ridiculous. That Sylvan Bounty play... I was just looking at the board thinking "Nope, he's dead. How is he not dead?!". And he even resolved a Filigree Angel. And his deck was absolutely sick! Well played lucksacked, sir!
Yeah, not going to complain about bad luck for a while now Not that I'm usually a whiner, but this outweights a lot of mulligans, screws and floods!
The turn after that Bounty, it was Sledge off the top or nothing (or Bloodbraid into Sledge). Got there. And still it was far from clear that I was going to win... Match 2 game 3 was somewhat similar, but it became close mostly because I didn't draw a sixth mana for several turns in a row, where if I had drawn it, I could have gone Sledge, equip, and been in good shape. As it turned out, I got there thanks to multiple-fog-man Knight Captain of Eos and Sylvan Bounty (!). The bounty allowed me to attack, since otherwise I would just have died to Meglonoth's ability as I only had 6 life. And I only had 4 cards left in my library, so if I had cycled the bounty early on, I would have lost the game and the match.
Game 2 of round 1 was another exceptional one. My deck had no spot removal at all, no way to interact with spells other than Resounding Silence. So when my opponent cast Pestilent Kathari and Lich Lord of Unx, I thought it was time to move on to the next game... But somehow, I managed to build up a board, alpha strike and make a bunch of terrible trades (and let Kathari and a pro: white-Goblin eat guys for free), and rebuild for a couple of turns, and alpha again for exact. My first alpha was done mostly to give him the opportunity to throw the game away, and he did a few bad blocks, so I realized I had a shot after all...
Quote from Neon-Chan »
Today at 19:30(central european time), I will start my "7 events in 6 days"-journey Paperevents if course, on MTGO this is easy
26th 19:30 Draft
27th 18:30 Draft
28th 19:00 FNM Draft (netherlands^^ don't know why they play TNM rather than FNM)
29th 18:00 FNM Standard
29th 23:59 Midnight prerelease
30th 14:00 prerelease
30th HUGE Party^^ yes not magic
31st 11:00 prerelease
yay ^^
That sounds like a ton of fun
There is difference between a draft on MODO and a draft in paper Magic, that's for sure. Paper tournaments are often more enjoyable because of the company and physical cards, but I find that I actually prefer MODO where I live right now, because I don't like the local guys very much, and they smell... you know what I mean
But this weekend, I'm actually moving. I'm moving from a county named Telemark (three hours drive west of Oslo) to Trondheim (9 hours north of Oslo, about where the country starts to get narrow) to study. I have lots of good friends there, and I'm sure I'm going to enjoy real life Magic more from now on. Not sure if I get to play in the prerelease, though...
I'm skipping the prerelease for a game design competition. 48 hours to make a game, good luck me!
Oh, cool.
I really wanted to do GGJ this weekend, I'm jealous. I guess I'll have to settle for the Worldwake prerelease...
I did the Rosetta Stone Game Jam with some friends of mine earlier this month, and that's the main reason I'm not doing GGJ. They're burnt out and working on pet projects.
It was a great experience, though. And we won, which was nice. :3
If you're anywhere near Virginia, I definitely recommend doing the Rosetta Stone Game Jam next year. It's only 36 hours, which is nice, and it's super fun.
If you want some tips for GGJ, I strongly recommend getting a full night's sleep the Friday night. Or both nights. Too many teams just sleep the second night, and end up sleeping for like twelve hours. I know that in all the excitement, you won't feel tired... but trust me on this. It's better to crash towards the end of the game jam than in the middle.
I would advise this schedule-
Friday 5pm - Write asset list on the wall, divide tasks. Start working.
Friday Midnight - Bed
Saturday 7am - Wake up and go back to work.
Saturday Midnight - Bed
Sunday 7am - Wake up and go back to work.
Sunday 5pm - Crush everyone in the name of [Limited]
That gives you 34 working hours, where you won't get distracted, groggy, or fall asleep. The rest of your competition will look and feel like zombies, and the fact that they have a few hours of work on you won't compare at all to your group's focus.
I also highly recommend designating someone on your team as a producer. Having programmers and artists are nice, but figure out who is the most organized guy and designate him as producer of the game. Have him budget all your time on Friday night, asset per asset, system per system.
Don't do too complicated of a game, and don't focus too hard on the tech. Make sure the game is pretty to look at and fun to play.
Feel free to PM me if you want to talk more about prepping for GGJ, or have any questions.
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I'll be sad if people don't start calling The Chain Veil "Fleetwood Mac."
I'd love to join. Limited is pretty much the only way I play anymore. Myself and my friends love to get together and play all sorts of odd Limited concoctions from 4 way sealed games to alcoholic games and drafts. I generally get two boxes for each set's release and end up playing my roommate and other friends with the contents.
I'd love to join. Limited is pretty much the only way I play anymore. Myself and my friends love to get together and play all sorts of odd Limited concoctions from 4 way sealed games to alcoholic games and drafts. I generally get two boxes for each set's release and end up playing my roommate and other friends with the contents.
But yeah, Limited is where it's at.
Added!
Yeah, I ordered a box of WWK. I am tempted to have some folks over to draft it, but I'm not sure how they'll feel about drafting cards that they can't keep...
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I'll be sad if people don't start calling The Chain Veil "Fleetwood Mac."
I have a humanities essay due on monday as well as an econ midterm that same day. I can't do them now because I am sitting here writing my stupid programming assignments.
I guess if I go balls to the walls aggro on my school stuff I might be able to make it.
My local gaming club just got clearance recently to start running prereleases. It'll be nice to walk out my door to a (discounted) sealed prerelease, rather than going downtown and paying 30 bucks to play in a dirty shop.
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I'll be sad if people don't start calling The Chain Veil "Fleetwood Mac."
Nice, promatim! I envy you. Near where I am is a store that sells MTG cards, but refuses to draft or hold FNMs. :/
There is a really small shop about 20 minutes from us without the square footage to do a prerelease. They were very, very excited when our local gaming club's T.O. asked them if they'd be our supplier for a prerelease.
We're super lucky that they are eager to compete with the two shops to north and south of us, and don't have a lot of in store room.
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I'll be sad if people don't start calling The Chain Veil "Fleetwood Mac."
Yeah, I ordered a box of WWK. I am tempted to have some folks over to draft it, but I'm not sure how they'll feel about drafting cards that they can't keep...
I know how you feel. I myself ordered a box too, and I really wanna open it, but I also kinda want to draft it with my brother (I have no other friends that play MTG )...But I also really wanna open it
I'll be attending a release party cause I'm too lame to do both and will be at my LGS on release day anyway...:P
So, may I ask why so many people love Prereleases more than Release Parties? It just seems that everyone talks about preres as if they're the best thing, while nobody ever talks about releases lol.
@trekdrop: That sounds really rough, but like a lot of fun Good luck!
Promatim offered an alliance with us (the [Cube] clan.)
Hi.
(Not sure if anyone will remember me from my limited forum days.)
With regards to the "what do you listen to when you draft" question, it mainly depends on what time of day it is. If it's 9am ish, some kind of metal (Shizophrenia - Arise era Sepultura, Lightning to the Nations by Diamond Head or Gwydion.) If it's later, whatever I'm in the mood for, usually some random video game soundtrack.
I really wanted to do GGJ this weekend, I'm jealous. I guess I'll have to settle for the Worldwake prerelease...
I did the Rosetta Stone Game Jam with some friends of mine earlier this month, and that's the main reason I'm not doing GGJ. They're burnt out and working on pet projects.
It was a great experience, though. And we won, which was nice. :3
If you're anywhere near Virginia, I definitely recommend doing the Rosetta Stone Game Jam next year. It's only 36 hours, which is nice, and it's super fun.
If you want some tips for GGJ, I strongly recommend getting a full night's sleep the Friday night. Or both nights. Too many teams just sleep the second night, and end up sleeping for like twelve hours. I know that in all the excitement, you won't feel tired... but trust me on this. It's better to crash towards the end of the game jam than in the middle.
I would advise this schedule-
Friday 5pm - Write asset list on the wall, divide tasks. Start working.
Friday Midnight - Bed
Saturday 7am - Wake up and go back to work.
Saturday Midnight - Bed
Sunday 7am - Wake up and go back to work.
Sunday 5pm - Crush everyone in the name of [Limited]
That gives you 34 working hours, where you won't get distracted, groggy, or fall asleep. The rest of your competition will look and feel like zombies, and the fact that they have a few hours of work on you won't compare at all to your group's focus.
I also highly recommend designating someone on your team as a producer. Having programmers and artists are nice, but figure out who is the most organized guy and designate him as producer of the game. Have him budget all your time on Friday night, asset per asset, system per system.
Don't do too complicated of a game, and don't focus too hard on the tech. Make sure the game is pretty to look at and fun to play.
Feel free to PM me if you want to talk more about prepping for GGJ, or have any questions.
Noted!
Yeah, I'm doing the GGJ in Atlanta, and to be honest I am actually not that great of a programmer. I think all the time about design though, and my main focus with my education right now (pursuing a Masters) is becoming a good game designer, and knowing just enough about programming and game engines to understand the constraints and abilities of what I'll be working with. I actually had a semester long game-making project last semester, and I came in, pedal to the metal first meeting with a bunch of markers, poster board, and brainstorming exercises. We ended up making an flash game about the life of a woman, told in a series of platforming levels: depending on the outcome of each level, the events in her life change for better or worse. I'm fairly confident I can producer the awesome out of any team, and also create the basis of a good game. I'm going in with the attitude of "Simple mechanic, explored deeply and thoroughly". That's what Braid does, that's what Half Life 2 does, that's what Portal does, it's debatable if Magic does it but I guess magic is still a fun game
Which segues nicely into my attitude on Limited. I like designing things, and changing already established rules, modifying games, and exploring them. So I guess it makes sense I'm becoming more and more obsessed with cubes, ever since one of my best friends shared his type 4 stack with me. I've always been a bit of a Timmy/Johnny (Jimmy?) with my limited approaches. I've played in several Leagues (Shards of Alara (set), Time Spiral (set), and Ravnica (block)), which fit in a weird area between Limited and Constructed. I've also just finished my own U/C cube and am in the process of testing it and potentially trimming it. Outside of cubes and type four and leagues and all that nonsense, I came into magic doing game store drafts and I enjoy getting eight people, sitting around a table, and making split choice decisions. More than anything I enjoy making decks, and although I like weird or fun decks, I want all my decks to be good. Limited more than anything is the ultimate deck building exercise, and can get pretty creative given the right format or environment.
Next time I draft I'm going to put on some headphones and listen to some of Japanese Indie music that you've never heard of
Yeah, I'm doing the GGJ in Atlanta, and to be honest I am actually not that great of a programmer. I think all the time about design though, and my main focus with my education right now (pursuing a Masters) is becoming a good game designer, and knowing just enough about programming and game engines to understand the constraints and abilities of what I'll be working with. I actually had a semester long game-making project last semester, and I came in, pedal to the metal first meeting with a bunch of markers, poster board, and brainstorming exercises. We ended up making an flash game about the life of a woman, told in a series of platforming levels: depending on the outcome of each level, the events in her life change for better or worse. I'm fairly confident I can producer the awesome out of any team, and also create the basis of a good game. I'm going in with the attitude of "Simple mechanic, explored deeply and thoroughly". That's what Braid does, that's what Half Life 2 does, that's what Portal does, it's debatable if Magic does it but I guess magic is still a fun game
Which segues nicely into my attitude on Limited. I like designing things, and changing already established rules, modifying games, and exploring them. So I guess it makes sense I'm becoming more and more obsessed with cubes, ever since one of my best friends shared his type 4 stack with me. I've always been a bit of a Timmy/Johnny (Jimmy?) with my limited approaches. I've played in several Leagues (Shards of Alara (set), Time Spiral (set), and Ravnica (block)), which fit in a weird area between Limited and Constructed. I've also just finished my own U/C cube and am in the process of testing it and potentially trimming it. Outside of cubes and type four and leagues and all that nonsense, I came into magic doing game store drafts and I enjoy getting eight people, sitting around a table, and making split choice decisions. More than anything I enjoy making decks, and although I like weird or fun decks, I want all my decks to be good. Limited more than anything is the ultimate deck building exercise, and can get pretty creative given the right format or environment.
Next time I draft I'm going to put on some headphones and listen to some of Japanese Indie music that you've never heard of
I'm going in with the attitude of "Simple mechanic, explored deeply and thoroughly". That's what Braid does, that's what Half Life 2 does, that's what Portal does
Portal I'll give you, but not the other two!
Braid is a complete mess. It looks to me like Mr Blow was unable to find a mechanic deep enough to make a good game, so he made a sequence of short prototypes and bolted them together. If you want to namecheck a well known indie title for this kind of design, World of Goo would be a better option. Although even then, there was a lot of messing with the basic formula. Personally I'd go with Closure as the best example.
Half Life 2? Is that the story they bolted on to Garry's Mod?
Good luck with the game, though... I dunno about exploring anything deeply, but if you can make something playable in 48 hours you're doing well!
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--
(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
5CB PotM - June 2005, November 2005, February 2006, April 2008, May 2008, Feb 2009
MTGSalvation Articles: 1-20, plus guest appearance on MTGCast #86!
<Limited Clan>
what's a MODO league? I don't think I've come upon the term before.
MODO = MTGO. The original .exe was modo.exe and it stood for something or other which I don't remember.
Back in the early days of magic online, they had sealed-esque groups called "leagues." You received sealed product, had a week to play all your games, and every... month or so? ...a new pack would be infused into the league to shake things up.
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I'll be sad if people don't start calling The Chain Veil "Fleetwood Mac."
MODO = MTGO. The original .exe was modo.exe and it stood for something or other which I don't remember.
Magic Online with Digital Objects.
Back in the early days of magic online, they had sealed-esque groups called "leagues."
And they're coming back! Due out two years agolast yearthis year sometime... Erm, make that maybe due back if... erm... no comment.
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(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
5CB PotM - June 2005, November 2005, February 2006, April 2008, May 2008, Feb 2009
MTGSalvation Articles: 1-20, plus guest appearance on MTGCast #86!
<Limited Clan>
It's too much bang for your buck, when MTGO can drain 15 dollars of product from you in an hour through drafts.
It isn't really, though.
Thing is, Leagues were a very flawed format, which is something people forget. Prize structure was very topheavy, so you needed to be 5-0 most weeks and 4-1 the rest of the time to get a decent payout. However, a lot of the time tiebreaks were necessary and you could play as many as you liked. What this meant in practice was that after the first half day or so of each week there was a good chance that you'd get paired against some incredible deck playing its tiebreakers and just get utterly crushed.
This may sound like a minor detail, but it was a huge problem. Instead of a more casual kind of competition, doing well in Leagues felt more like a job since you had to carefully plan to have time free for five matches at exactly the right moment every week. And then, of course, it was Sealed so you cardpool might just screw you anyway.
In summary: I don't believe Leagues are cheaper than Draft if you're a decent drafter and the money WotC would lose from bad drafters giving up and playing Leagues is nothing like as much as they'd make from all the people who would like to play Leagues but wouldn't even consider Draft.
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(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
5CB PotM - June 2005, November 2005, February 2006, April 2008, May 2008, Feb 2009
MTGSalvation Articles: 1-20, plus guest appearance on MTGCast #86!
<Limited Clan>
Braid is a complete mess. It looks to me like Mr Blow was unable to find a mechanic deep enough to make a good game, so he made a sequence of short prototypes and bolted them together. If you want to namecheck a well known indie title for this kind of design, World of Goo would be a better option. Although even then, there was a lot of messing with the basic formula. Personally I'd go with Closure as the best example.
Half Life 2? Is that the story they bolted on to Garry's Mod?
Good luck with the game, though... I dunno about exploring anything deeply, but if you can make something playable in 48 hours you're doing well!
I sir, propose a duel! I came up with these examples off the top of my head, and now that I slowed down, had a coffee, and given this some thought maybe Iji or Katamari Damacy would have been better examples
But...
I don't see Braid as a whole mess of mechanics, but rather a nice demonstration of this:
good level design serves a bunch of functions: it teaches the player the rules of the game, it explores the implications of those rules, and it develops motifs as the player’s understanding of those rules and their implications grows (usually for the purpose of making the game more difficult). but level design isn’t just functional: it has form too. - Auntie Pixelant
The first level introduces the rules very elegantly: jumping on an enemy gives you a lift, you can reverse time, etc. The level after that introduces the green time-immune items. These two building blocks build upon the rest of the design, and use things such as the increased bounce after jumping on enemies in creative ways. The game becomes more effective in the use of repeating various level designs in different situations (Hunt in world 2 vs Hunt in world 4), where the familiar expectation is broken (something that I value highly, both in Magic and other games). And yes, the game is horribly pretentious, but it is also quite skillfully intelligent, and there's a lot of layers of meaning that are build on top of the mechanics of the game, rather than some external narrative or story. The whole act of reversing time is the act of living out this fantasy where past mistakes and problems can be reversed and fixed, and the protagonist's desire to live in the past. The Ring in world 6 captures the protagonist's desire to want to stay within the eternal moment of time the wedding ring represents. Stuff like this makes me really respect the game.
I guess I'll ask you to elaborate on the Half Life 2 comment? I know about Gary's Mod, and I like it, but Half Life 2 is just Story+Gravity Gun to me, but the whole entire process of level design, learning, increased challenge, tempo, rhythm, and things just coming together very very well held together by some simple gameplay elements.
I guess while we're on this topic, I'll list my five favorite non-Magic games. What about the rest of you, Limited?
Fattycakes Zombie of Clan Limited
That and being a pacifist. Let's face it, I'd offer him a cup of tea and if he'd been really naughty I might limit him to a digestive biscuit instead of a chocolate one.
Whatever my current Spotify playlist is. Usually ridiculously eclectic. Current queue contains ZZ Top, Apocalyptica, Gorillaz, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Little Boots and Dar Williams, amongst others. The mix changes often, though, since I get bored really easily.
Hurrah! Pros losing to bad decks are always funny!
Edit: OMG! R3/G3 is just ridiculous. That Sylvan Bounty play... I was just looking at the board thinking "Nope, he's dead. How is he not dead?!". And he even resolved a Filigree Angel. And his deck was absolutely sick! Well
playedlucksacked, sir!Yay! Game design!
Pootergames? Is this something I'll have heard of, or a local event?
(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
5CB PotM - June 2005, November 2005, February 2006, April 2008, May 2008, Feb 2009
MTGSalvation Articles: 1-20, plus guest appearance on MTGCast #86!
<Limited Clan>
I would lie if I said I hated any draft format, really. I have a fun time no matter what limited format I play, but some are better than others, that's for sure. I find the simle nature of M10 to be a relief sometimes, actually. Though not too often.
You should be grateful they don't print cards in Korean anymore
Yeah, not going to complain about bad luck for a while now Not that I'm usually a whiner, but this outweights a lot of mulligans, screws and floods!
The turn after that Bounty, it was Sledge off the top or nothing (or Bloodbraid into Sledge). Got there. And still it was far from clear that I was going to win... Match 2 game 3 was somewhat similar, but it became close mostly because I didn't draw a sixth mana for several turns in a row, where if I had drawn it, I could have gone Sledge, equip, and been in good shape. As it turned out, I got there thanks to multiple-fog-man Knight Captain of Eos and Sylvan Bounty (!). The bounty allowed me to attack, since otherwise I would just have died to Meglonoth's ability as I only had 6 life. And I only had 4 cards left in my library, so if I had cycled the bounty early on, I would have lost the game and the match.
Game 2 of round 1 was another exceptional one. My deck had no spot removal at all, no way to interact with spells other than Resounding Silence. So when my opponent cast Pestilent Kathari and Lich Lord of Unx, I thought it was time to move on to the next game... But somehow, I managed to build up a board, alpha strike and make a bunch of terrible trades (and let Kathari and a pro: white-Goblin eat guys for free), and rebuild for a couple of turns, and alpha again for exact. My first alpha was done mostly to give him the opportunity to throw the game away, and he did a few bad blocks, so I realized I had a shot after all...
That sounds like a ton of fun
There is difference between a draft on MODO and a draft in paper Magic, that's for sure. Paper tournaments are often more enjoyable because of the company and physical cards, but I find that I actually prefer MODO where I live right now, because I don't like the local guys very much, and they smell... you know what I mean
But this weekend, I'm actually moving. I'm moving from a county named Telemark (three hours drive west of Oslo) to Trondheim (9 hours north of Oslo, about where the country starts to get narrow) to study. I have lots of good friends there, and I'm sure I'm going to enjoy real life Magic more from now on. Not sure if I get to play in the prerelease, though...
Oh, cool.
I really wanted to do GGJ this weekend, I'm jealous. I guess I'll have to settle for the Worldwake prerelease...
I did the Rosetta Stone Game Jam with some friends of mine earlier this month, and that's the main reason I'm not doing GGJ. They're burnt out and working on pet projects.
It was a great experience, though. And we won, which was nice. :3
If you're anywhere near Virginia, I definitely recommend doing the Rosetta Stone Game Jam next year. It's only 36 hours, which is nice, and it's super fun.
If you want some tips for GGJ, I strongly recommend getting a full night's sleep the Friday night. Or both nights. Too many teams just sleep the second night, and end up sleeping for like twelve hours. I know that in all the excitement, you won't feel tired... but trust me on this. It's better to crash towards the end of the game jam than in the middle.
I would advise this schedule-
Friday 5pm - Write asset list on the wall, divide tasks. Start working.
Friday Midnight - Bed
Saturday 7am - Wake up and go back to work.
Saturday Midnight - Bed
Sunday 7am - Wake up and go back to work.
Sunday 5pm - Crush everyone in the name of [Limited]
That gives you 34 working hours, where you won't get distracted, groggy, or fall asleep. The rest of your competition will look and feel like zombies, and the fact that they have a few hours of work on you won't compare at all to your group's focus.
I also highly recommend designating someone on your team as a producer. Having programmers and artists are nice, but figure out who is the most organized guy and designate him as producer of the game. Have him budget all your time on Friday night, asset per asset, system per system.
Don't do too complicated of a game, and don't focus too hard on the tech. Make sure the game is pretty to look at and fun to play.
Feel free to PM me if you want to talk more about prepping for GGJ, or have any questions.
But yeah, Limited is where it's at.
Added!
Yeah, I ordered a box of WWK. I am tempted to have some folks over to draft it, but I'm not sure how they'll feel about drafting cards that they can't keep...
I have a humanities essay due on monday as well as an econ midterm that same day. I can't do them now because I am sitting here writing my stupid programming assignments.
I guess if I go balls to the walls aggro on my school stuff I might be able to make it.
There is a really small shop about 20 minutes from us without the square footage to do a prerelease. They were very, very excited when our local gaming club's T.O. asked them if they'd be our supplier for a prerelease.
We're super lucky that they are eager to compete with the two shops to north and south of us, and don't have a lot of in store room.
I know how you feel. I myself ordered a box too, and I really wanna open it, but I also kinda want to draft it with my brother (I have no other friends that play MTG )...But I also really wanna open it
I'll be attending a release party cause I'm too lame to do both and will be at my LGS on release day anyway...:P
So, may I ask why so many people love Prereleases more than Release Parties? It just seems that everyone talks about preres as if they're the best thing, while nobody ever talks about releases lol.
@trekdrop: That sounds really rough, but like a lot of fun Good luck!
Quotes in blog.
Hi.
(Not sure if anyone will remember me from my limited forum days.)
With regards to the "what do you listen to when you draft" question, it mainly depends on what time of day it is. If it's 9am ish, some kind of metal (Shizophrenia - Arise era Sepultura, Lightning to the Nations by Diamond Head or Gwydion.) If it's later, whatever I'm in the mood for, usually some random video game soundtrack.
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)
Noted!
Yeah, I'm doing the GGJ in Atlanta, and to be honest I am actually not that great of a programmer. I think all the time about design though, and my main focus with my education right now (pursuing a Masters) is becoming a good game designer, and knowing just enough about programming and game engines to understand the constraints and abilities of what I'll be working with. I actually had a semester long game-making project last semester, and I came in, pedal to the metal first meeting with a bunch of markers, poster board, and brainstorming exercises. We ended up making an flash game about the life of a woman, told in a series of platforming levels: depending on the outcome of each level, the events in her life change for better or worse. I'm fairly confident I can producer the awesome out of any team, and also create the basis of a good game. I'm going in with the attitude of "Simple mechanic, explored deeply and thoroughly". That's what Braid does, that's what Half Life 2 does, that's what Portal does, it's debatable if Magic does it but I guess magic is still a fun game
Which segues nicely into my attitude on Limited. I like designing things, and changing already established rules, modifying games, and exploring them. So I guess it makes sense I'm becoming more and more obsessed with cubes, ever since one of my best friends shared his type 4 stack with me. I've always been a bit of a Timmy/Johnny (Jimmy?) with my limited approaches. I've played in several Leagues (Shards of Alara (set), Time Spiral (set), and Ravnica (block)), which fit in a weird area between Limited and Constructed. I've also just finished my own U/C cube and am in the process of testing it and potentially trimming it. Outside of cubes and type four and leagues and all that nonsense, I came into magic doing game store drafts and I enjoy getting eight people, sitting around a table, and making split choice decisions. More than anything I enjoy making decks, and although I like weird or fun decks, I want all my decks to be good. Limited more than anything is the ultimate deck building exercise, and can get pretty creative given the right format or environment.
Next time I draft I'm going to put on some headphones and listen to some of Japanese Indie music that you've never heard of
Shugo Tokumaru
Tenniscoats+The Pastels
Asobi Seksu (ok technically these guys are from New York)
Urbangarde Video not for the faint of sanity
Fattycakes Zombie of Clan Limited
Cool! We'll expect a full GGJ Atlanta report Monday!
I wish MTGO would add leagues back. I want to try them.
Portal I'll give you, but not the other two!
Braid is a complete mess. It looks to me like Mr Blow was unable to find a mechanic deep enough to make a good game, so he made a sequence of short prototypes and bolted them together. If you want to namecheck a well known indie title for this kind of design, World of Goo would be a better option. Although even then, there was a lot of messing with the basic formula. Personally I'd go with Closure as the best example.
Half Life 2? Is that the story they bolted on to Garry's Mod?
Good luck with the game, though... I dunno about exploring anything deeply, but if you can make something playable in 48 hours you're doing well!
(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
5CB PotM - June 2005, November 2005, February 2006, April 2008, May 2008, Feb 2009
MTGSalvation Articles: 1-20, plus guest appearance on MTGCast #86!
<Limited Clan>
what's a MODO league? I don't think I've come upon the term before.
MODO = MTGO. The original .exe was modo.exe and it stood for something or other which I don't remember.
Back in the early days of magic online, they had sealed-esque groups called "leagues." You received sealed product, had a week to play all your games, and every... month or so? ...a new pack would be infused into the league to shake things up.
Magic Online with Digital Objects.
And they're coming back! Due out
two years agolast yearthis yearsometime... Erm, make that maybe due back if... erm... no comment.(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
5CB PotM - June 2005, November 2005, February 2006, April 2008, May 2008, Feb 2009
MTGSalvation Articles: 1-20, plus guest appearance on MTGCast #86!
<Limited Clan>
2011 according to various sources.
I honestly wouldn't expect them back. It's too much bang for your buck, when MTGO can drain 15 dollars of product from you in an hour through drafts.
It isn't really, though.
Thing is, Leagues were a very flawed format, which is something people forget. Prize structure was very topheavy, so you needed to be 5-0 most weeks and 4-1 the rest of the time to get a decent payout. However, a lot of the time tiebreaks were necessary and you could play as many as you liked. What this meant in practice was that after the first half day or so of each week there was a good chance that you'd get paired against some incredible deck playing its tiebreakers and just get utterly crushed.
This may sound like a minor detail, but it was a huge problem. Instead of a more casual kind of competition, doing well in Leagues felt more like a job since you had to carefully plan to have time free for five matches at exactly the right moment every week. And then, of course, it was Sealed so you cardpool might just screw you anyway.
In summary: I don't believe Leagues are cheaper than Draft if you're a decent drafter and the money WotC would lose from bad drafters giving up and playing Leagues is nothing like as much as they'd make from all the people who would like to play Leagues but wouldn't even consider Draft.
(I'm on on this site much anymore. If you want to get in touch it's probably best to email me: dom@heffalumps.org)
Forum Awards: Best Writer 2005, Best Limited Strategist 2005-2012
5CB PotM - June 2005, November 2005, February 2006, April 2008, May 2008, Feb 2009
MTGSalvation Articles: 1-20, plus guest appearance on MTGCast #86!
<Limited Clan>
I sir, propose a duel! I came up with these examples off the top of my head, and now that I slowed down, had a coffee, and given this some thought maybe Iji or Katamari Damacy would have been better examples
But...
I don't see Braid as a whole mess of mechanics, but rather a nice demonstration of this:
The first level introduces the rules very elegantly: jumping on an enemy gives you a lift, you can reverse time, etc. The level after that introduces the green time-immune items. These two building blocks build upon the rest of the design, and use things such as the increased bounce after jumping on enemies in creative ways. The game becomes more effective in the use of repeating various level designs in different situations (Hunt in world 2 vs Hunt in world 4), where the familiar expectation is broken (something that I value highly, both in Magic and other games). And yes, the game is horribly pretentious, but it is also quite skillfully intelligent, and there's a lot of layers of meaning that are build on top of the mechanics of the game, rather than some external narrative or story. The whole act of reversing time is the act of living out this fantasy where past mistakes and problems can be reversed and fixed, and the protagonist's desire to live in the past. The Ring in world 6 captures the protagonist's desire to want to stay within the eternal moment of time the wedding ring represents. Stuff like this makes me really respect the game.
I guess I'll ask you to elaborate on the Half Life 2 comment? I know about Gary's Mod, and I like it, but Half Life 2 is just Story+Gravity Gun to me, but the whole entire process of level design, learning, increased challenge, tempo, rhythm, and things just coming together very very well held together by some simple gameplay elements.
I guess while we're on this topic, I'll list my five favorite non-Magic games. What about the rest of you, Limited?
-The Void
-Katamari Damacy
-Fallout 2 / Planescape: Torment / Vampire: Bloodlines (Ok sorry this is three games but I like them all for the same reason, which is much less about game mechanic and much more about storytelling)
-Dominion
-Iji (Get it! It's free!)
Fattycakes Zombie of Clan Limited
It's been so long since I used MTGO (I used to just use it for cube proxies) that I didn't even know leagues were no longer there.
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)