Indeed. Your help in making these, to say nothing of what you've done for the forum have really been a solid support for us all. We'll miss seeing you in the mod cave.
I'm glad your last mod piece made it to publication though, and that you got to talk about Ephara.
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Member for 12 years, 11 months, and 15 days
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Jan 11, 2015bobthefunny posted a message on Word of Command #4 - Engines of CommandPosted in: Articles
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Dec 3, 2014bobthefunny posted a message on Word of Command #3 - Welcoming New CommandersYour method of letting players tumble out into their own camps can be a good one when you have enough room to do it. People will naturally gravitate into the games that fit their decks' schedules.Posted in: Articles
In smaller environments where you may only have one or two pods going though, it can be a bit more difficult. Also, you then get problematic players like me who like to play across the entire spectrum.
I also believe that casual environments can provide excellent learning areas, but you have to be careful of it as well. One trap that my own group has been running into now is being too lenient on take-backs. Originally implemented to allow the newer players some freedom of thought and to help them work through what courses of actions to take. It can start to be abused into not fully thinking through a situation. An example being that one player cast Council's Judgment to remove my Commander. The second player voted for another permanent in order to set up a double exile option for player C, and player C then mistakenly selected a third permanent for more exily goodness, at which point I selected one of the other targets for my vote in order to save my Commander. Player C hadn't really thought things through (and I'd also quickly jumped the gun on my own vote, I'll admit), but we ended up rewinding that play so he could properly select his vote.
I find it helps best to properly (and as honestly as possible) represent the board state for newer players. For example, with cards with the Will of The Council, such as Council's Judgment, I find that it helps to explain to newer players what the consequence of their vote will do to the options the next player in line will be able to make. After a while, you can scale back the aid you give to after the play or game is over, that way they can learn from their own choices, but still have the benefit of a different viewpoint.
In one game, my brother should have had lethal on me since he had a pro-black creature, and he was paranoid about a Duplicant in my Chainer deck's graveyard... except that he misplayed having forgotten that Chainer would reanimate it as a black creature and opted to spread his equipments out instead. Since my brother should have known better, that was an observation I made at the end of the game (a few turns later). He has never forgotten it again.
These kinds of interactions though can really help all players improve their own levels of play. -
Nov 8, 2014bobthefunny posted a message on Word of Command #3 - Welcoming New CommandersAbsolutely! The greatest way to truly learn anything is to teach it. It really makes you get an in-depth understanding of the subject.Posted in: Articles
I'm glad you enjoyed the article. -
Sep 28, 2014bobthefunny posted a message on Word of Command #2 - KHAAAAANS!Should have been Corpsejack Menace, I guess.Posted in: Articles
Indeed, much thanks to the entire editorial staff, this wouldn't be possible without them. -
Mar 29, 2012bobthefunny posted a message on Tibor & LumiaSol Grail, while getting points for being oldschool, has never impressed me in EDH. Here are a few alternatives (some less budget than others):Posted in: Deck Compilation
Coalition Relic - the most expensive of them, but far more useful.
Phyrexian Lens - a bit painful, but may be worth the added color utility
Star Compass - the best budget alternate. Taps for either color we have; CiPT, but costs 1 less, so same net mana gain when played.
Also, do not overlook Fire diamond and Sky diamond
Also, for storm count, do you have a Frantic Search? -
Aug 22, 2011bobthefunny posted a message on Being a substitute teacher is no substitute to teachingTeachers have been cut, this means there are less teachers that are teaching to get sick; this also means there are more teachers now looking for work, and thereby more substitutes looking for work.Posted in: Stoogeslap Blog
A full time teacher's resume will look better when a school is looking for a sub, so they'll be called in first. - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hi FlossedBeaver,
Thanks for your question! First off, I would like to apologize for the delay in responding to you. I have been out of town, so my personal thread here has been unmonitored during my absence.
Political threads continue to be a difficult topic to approach, and even trickier to handle properly. Ideally, we wish to distance ourselves from politics as much as possible - as this is not a political site, and not intended for political debate. It is of course difficult because nothing is ever so easily divided, especially as several recent decisions by Wizards have reached into political spheres. We of course wish to allow discussion of Wizards' decisions and their impact. This makes monitoring that line of where discussion is Magic appropriate to be a difficult case, and needing evaluation on a shifting basis as new topics and decisions are introduced. We hope to maintain the standard to discussion that remains Magic related and oriented however, and not open the site to political rallies.
The American political spectrum today is very divisive, and the post quoted does make the valid point that not all stances are inherently respectful or equal. This is one of many reasons we wish to not engage or encourage these discussions on this site. This is a family friendly site, and disrespectful and dismissive views can not, and should not be tolerated here. As such, those posts need to be deleted in order to maintain a family appropriate content.
This however also touches on one of the difficulties of moderation - visible moderation leaves a record and example of content that gets infracted - but leaves also unacceptable content on the site where minors or other vulnerable demographics can see the content. Deleting or otherwise removing the content allows the discussion to continue without the objectionable deviations, however there is then no visible action shown and people may assume no moderation is taking place. Removing content can also give the impression of implicit censorship, or silencing of a specific viewpoint. This is especially difficult in a political sphere, where as the user stated, not all sides are inherently equal or respectful. It is always a struggle as to how to best handle each and any given situation. Building and fostering a community is always a difficult task, for all those involved. From the moderators who volunteer time and have to take action, but also to the very members of the community who shape the community and discussion in the messages they choose to post and spread, as well as reporting what they feel objectionable and detrimental to the community.
As far as the view that the site is leaning in one direction or another - there have always been allegations of various viewpoints that the site leans in a direction opposite of where the user feels they personally stand. This is often the case when trying to hold a centrist or non-partisan position. We have been accused of being anywhere and everywhere on the political spectrum, from allegations of far-right, to allegations for far-left extreme liberalism. The hope is that the balance of these allegations shows that we do hold that central line. Historically speaking, I believe that the majority of the staff has tended to lean slightly to fairly liberal, all things considered, however the staff has had representation from the full spectrum of political beliefs. We have never had any sort of "official" survey on the matter, however our off topic chats, as well as various discussions on how to handle certain tickets (especially political) has shown that we are a fairly diverse group in terms of beliefs.
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I hope this answers your questions as to our general views, and why we take the stances we do on political discussions.
I do know there was a combo piece that allowed for infinite blue as well... I'll have to see if I can remember what it is...
I slotted Commit // Memory into a deck as I wanted a catch-all removal spell akin to Beast Within or Chaos Warp. Usually I prefer those catch-all cards to cost 3, but I figured I'd let Commit // Memory slide since it would also serve as backup card draw and hand replenishment.
What I found was far more favorable however. Since Commit pseudo tucks, it handles indestructible targets, which Beast Within or Generous Gift would not. Since it can also target spells, its counterspell capabilities have been quite clutch in preventing powerful effects. The hand replenishment has been quite useful, and since the deck I put it in has a propensity to excessively draw, the Memory half has saved me from decking out by re-shuffling my graveyard at key moments.
In similar vein Beanstalk Giant // Fertile Footsteps has been a solid addition to several decks. While 3 mana is a bit slow for a Rampant Growth effect, the ability to not be a dead card is valuable in the later game. I worried that the lack of any keywords at all would make him drastically pale in comparison to something like Ulvenwald Hydra, but granting Trample is practically second nature in green, and the Giant ends up being a prime target for Vivien, Champion of the Wilds or a mutate target for Gemrazer. The split aspect of the adventure allows me to increase both the ramp and threat density in a deck, as well as keeping an available 'free play' on the side should I ever need it.
I also have to give a strong approval to Once and Future. Initially I simply considered it as a Regrowth stapled to a Reclaim (with maybe an upgrade to a double Regrowth), but it ended up being so much more. Having twice the effect on a single card is quite large. Instead of simply replacing itself with another card, keeping your hand even, Once and Future actually gives you card advantage, not just quality. Even more important, the regrowth effect is now at instant speed. Whether it's getting back an important piece in response to grave hate, or being able to set up a play at the EOT and saving some mana from your main turn, or even getting back chief responses when needed, Once and Future has been more flexible than I initially anticipated.
Finally Kogla, the Titan Ape has been a nice package of value when played. Aside from just being a large fatty, the removal on entering means that he trades at least card for card, and the ability to break things on attack is fantastic. I've gotten good mileage out of him even without having humans to protect him. Haste obviously makes him that much better as well, should you run Surrak, the Hunt Caller, or splash into red for Rhythm of the Wild.
Swap with Sword of the Paruns for all colors!Reading the cards can be important folks!Swap lab man with Thassa's Oracle for a straight up win with just locust + sage of the falls on board, as they'll find thassa's during the draw.
Since the sage of fables is a may, you can loot until you hit thassa's oracle, and then choose to stop. Since the Oracle is non-human, casting it starts the chain again, even if your devotion isn't high enough. You could also stop to cast lab man, but since he's a human he won't re-start the chain, and you'd need to start it with something else.
You could also pause to cast Purphoros, God of the forge or Impact Tremors, and if you have an eldrazi titan in deck, you go infinite.
Hi Xcric,
I apologize that we did not see this earlier, and that it has taken so long to answer these questions you've raised. I do not have alerts raised on this forum, so this post was only brought to my attention recently. If you seek immediate answers, the staff inbox is always a great way to get our attention, as many of us have alerts set there.
I will try to answer your questions as best I can.
As you have surmised, both a large number of users, as well as a large number of moderators have had turnover. This has compounding effects. The lower number of moderators is most evident - this is a large site, and each of us has the parts that we frequent most often, while trying to check through the other forums to the best of our ability. The second is a bit less obvious - with fewer users, there are fewer new posts/threads, which increases the visible density of the adbot posts. This also means there are fewer users reporting the adbot posts to us.
The rumor mill in particular was hit hardest. The Rumor Mull is one of the forums that tends to be highly active, and has historically had a large number of moderators, however all original moderators of the Rumor Mill have left. This leaves only our reduced number of admins to browse and answer any reports that arise in that forum. In fact, even before the forum split, we've had active application requests on that forum non-stop for several years. Today we are looking for moderators in several open forums, and Rumor Mill is one of the major ones we'd like to fill. If you happen to know some level-headed rumor mill regulars who you would like to nominate - we are all ears.
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One issue with adding a delay to new users is that we get a lot of people who come here for rulings questions - they need to be able to ask questions immediately, and get eyes on their question and answered as quickly as possible. This is true in other forums as well, such as the Rumor Mill, where sometimes someone needs to post from an alternate account to not associate some of their information with their main name.
A threshold also doesn't really deter the bots, but rather moves their posts into the threads as well, where they can be harder to catch. On the user side, the threshold simply encourages new users to spam "I agree" style posts to reach the threshold as quickly as possible.
Captcha's have limited success as well, as sophisticated bot farms are actually able to outsource captcha solving to actual human captcha farms. I've raised the question with our techs again though, as we do seem to currently have an increase in activity.
That thread should be an announcement in every forum. Attached for example is how I see it in the Rumor Mill forum. If this is not the case for you, please let me know so I can forward that to the techs.
Political discussions have been a difficult line to judge at present. You are absolutely correct that Wizards has made some political decisions, and these decisions, and their impact on the game, should absolutely be grounds for discussion on this site - it is Magic related.
Our line is when the discussion strays from that - when the discussion is no longer about the game, the decision itself, or the effect of the decision overall, but rather when the conversation turns to whether that political stance is valid, or into a diatribe about certain topics, or even a soapbox platform of trying to convert people to a specific political stance. This site isn't intended to be that type of platform, and we are not equipped to handle those topics adequately.
A while back, we had a political discussion forum. It did not particularly address the needs well, and was a horrendous upkeep on a moderation staff that was considerably larger than today. Even then, the forum often devolved into straight arguments and insults. By the end, some topics seem to have been created solely for the purpose of argument, or potentially trolling. Users treated it as a 4chan lite, and we have no need or desire to be a 4chan lite.
To return to the point - we are fine with the discussion as long as it remains centered on Magic, the decisions that Wizards in particular has made, or how it affects Magic or the Magic community. When it devolves into attacking or arguing the merits of a political stance, questioning the validity thereof, or into a soapbox recruitment platform - the conversation has ended.
Well, Sun Titan has again been reprinted, and that brought back up that old discussion in my mind. Since a number of my LGS players tend to be on a stricter budget, I decided to notify my Facebook group of recent reprints and good new cards that were good budget considerations.
I figured I would share those findings with you. Even if it's not something that applies to you directly, you can also pass along the information to other new players who might not be as easily connected. Or, maybe you have a few favorites that I've missed.
I hope to go into Single Target removal and Ramp soon enough in the future, to really round out what can be good additions for new players to help improve their decks.
Recent Reprints!
With Commander 20 and M21, a number of high profile Commander cards have been reprinted and have dropped to decent prices:
Recent Card Draw Additions!
Budget pickups: Mass Removal Edition
I looked up some of my favorite wraths in each color, as well as a few alternates to find what's in 'budget' range. It's quite surprising.
White
https://mtgcommander.net/index.php/2020/06/29/july-2020-update/
Thank you for your concern, and your questions.
No online discourse area is ever a perfect island - but we can try to keep things focused, if possible. Let's take a different subject - if someone were to suddenly hijack a thread to talk about gardening, that too is off topic. There are real life issues that affect us all, and there are even some off-topic areas to discuss issues that are affecting people. However, the expectation is that people be able to discuss things calmly and rationally, and pertinent to the topic at hand. Some recent topics have certainly blurred, or included the lines of political discussion to an extent - but even then those lines need to be respected. This site is not a political soap box, nor a person's personal platform to yell at and attack others. When this occurs, the topic is closed, or other appropriate actions are taken. We expect all members to be able to maintain composure and speak rationally, and without racism or prejudicial remarks. Those that are unable to do that, will be asked to no longer participate.
Every conversation I have had with the owners suggests that they are aware and do support black lives, and are against the atrocities being committed. We have gone through several drafts of our statement before releasing the current one which you read - our goal was to clearly state the sites non-tolerance of racism, bigotry, and prejudice, while also attempting to cool down the situation. As this is not a political site, we did not want to initiate a political rally.
I believe that Black Lives Matter. The systematic racism that plagues America is very real, and has persisted for a ridiculously long time. It amazes me that you can turn on a comedian from the 1970's and hear the very same political discourse and fear of cops and chokeholds that are being talked about today.
The great part about volunteering for MTG Salvation is getting to know the community and help foster and give back to the community I care about. Quite simply, if I did not believe in or care for this community, there is no way that I could continue to volunteer to help it. I do believe that the ownership knows this, respects it, and even values that type of commitment. We are granted a good amount of leeway, input, and support in managing the site - within reason. If the ownership were to ever ask something contrary to this, then this would not be a place I would be comfortable volunteering my time for, and I would indeed have to step down.
Mono black would be the easiest to build, as black is proficient in card advantage and removal. The only issue is you may find some issues with artifacts and enchantments. You can fill in with some of the colorless removal, but it can get a bit pricey on the mana cost. Black has the advantage of having good recursion as well, which lets you reuse some powerful creature-based wrath effects like Massacre Girl or Kagemaro, First to Suffer (who could even be the Commander).
Mono White has the most wraths, and can easily deal with all permanent types, both single and mass removal. I'm a huge fan of Tragic Arrogance and Rout. As others have noted, Avacyn, Angel of Hope is a synergistic option, although Zetalpa, Primal Dawn can fit that theme as well. White doesn't recur spells quite so easily though, and doesn't have as many mass-wrath creatures as black - but does have a good host of reanimation. You could instead run something like False Prophet or Magus of the Disk and recur them fairly readily with cards like Angelic Renewal, Angel of Serenity, Emeria, the Sky Ruin, and Emeria Shepherd. White is also great at recurring artifacts, so you could also make use of the artifact wraths as well.
Mono Red actually has a good amount of damage based wraths, such as Arcbond, Blasphemous Act, and Chain Reaction, among others. On top of that, red is great at recurring artifacts, so you could again make good use of the artifact package.
Green doesn't have much in the way of built in wraths. Green is pretty much limited to Ezuri's Predation, Apex Predator, Thorn Mammoth, and Wave of Vitriol. Mostly if you want to use green, you're hoping to utilize Green's ramp and card advantage to get solidly ahead for the wraths you do have, and you can use some of green's limited recursion to bring it back. Kamahl, Fist of Krosa would be a standout commander if you really wanted to up the 'jerk' quotient, as you can then pop off opposing lands with some of your wrath effects.
Blue again doesn't have much outside of mass bounce, but does have a few X/Strive spells such as Curse of the Swine and Hour of need - not great, and quite pricey mana-wise. Again, you'd be hoping to bank on blue's artifact recursion, which while weaker then red, is at least made up for with blue's raw card-draw.
We will say this simply and up front: Racism, Sexism, Misogyny, and any other forms of prejudice or predatory behavior is not welcome here. We extend our hand to the community: help us spread these values in the positive messages we post, and report any posts that violate these policies and ideals. If you have any doubts about whether a post violates our rules, or there is something that makes you uncomfortable on the site — please talk to us in the Staff Inbox, or message a moderator or admin directly to let us know of your concerns.
In general, we try to keep MTG Salvation free of in-depth political discussion. These discussions often have little bearing on Magic: The Gathering topics, and this is not the place to debate contentious issues or convince others of your viewpoint. However, sometimes the reality is that the two can get caught up together. When this occurs, the moderator team tries to keep the topic focused on the impact to the game first and foremost as much as possible — while closing threads that get too heated or go too far afield. While we know that these are passionate topics, we ask you to please help us in keeping the discussion level headed and on the topics of how these topics influence the game.
It has been two weeks since Wizards of the Coast has removed racist depictions from their site by removing the art of several problematic cards. It has been brought to our attention that our own databases still maintained the old art. As racism has no place on this site, we are following Wizards' example, and are likewise removing the art of the following problematic cards:
MTG Salvation is a gaming forum, and we want to foster a community that welcomes a wide variety of views. Posts and comments that hinder this goal are not welcome here.
How often do you cast your commander?
I think this is a different answer based on a few things:
How many board wipes are played in a game?
So the way this is worded makes it sound like people shouldn't play around board wipes as much, but I take this result to mean that people need to play more board wipes overall.
I tend to run 3 boardwipes per deck, if able - it can shift a bit depending on the deck, and go anywhere from 2 to 5, but 3 is my starting point. I also like to draw cards, and occasionally run some narrow tutors. Often I look for boardwipes with synergy, and that I might be able to recur.
If I see a third of my deck in a game (which, given starting 7 cards, and say... 10 turns, and that I should be trying to draw at least one extra card per turn (in order to play both a land + card per turn) - seeing a third of my deck is not unreasonable. Given those assumptions - I should, on average, see a board clear in my hand.
Now, each of the other three players should be doing the same - which means in theory - each of them should see a board clear. In theory, there should be roughly 4 available board clears in any given game.
I'll be the first to say that that theory doesn't match up with what I see played. Partially, because I know that some of my opponents aren't running 3 board clears. Some of them aren't drawing enough cards. If they die to not having a boardwipe - they should probably look into that.
How many turns does a game last?
This is highly dependent on the meta. In fact, all of the other question's answers are HEAVILY influenced by this question alone. If you're playing a turn 5 tuned meta with combo - everything changes compared to a turn 10-15 battlecruiser slugfest. More turns = more mana, and more opportunities to do ANYTHING.
Also, this is the most useless question there is. There is no reason to average a battlecruiser turn count with a tuned combo meta turn count, and that's not even getting into cEDH. I've played games that have gone over 25 turns. I've played some that ended at turn 5. They were very different metas, and very different ideas of fun, and they belong nowhere near to influencing each others metrics in this category.
How many attacks are made in a game? How many by a single player?
I feel this answer changes if you're in a combo meta or not.
How man my spells which cost 6+ are cast by a player or in the while game?
I... question this one. Frost Titan is a 6+ cost spell. Ulvenwald Hydra is a 6+ cost spell. Are they specifically talking about instant/sorcery haymakers? I might get behind it if it was only non-creature spells, but even then a good number of upper end wraths can fit in the 6+ range, and those aren't game enders.
Thank you!
Hi MikeyG,
Thanks for your concern and input. I agree that this is an important discussion to have - but I am not entirely convinced that THIS is the place to have it - which is the viewpoint currently shared by the owners. This is first and foremost a Gaming discussion site - for mtg. While a conversation about how racism currently is in the playerbase might be valuable and supported - currently none of these discussions has managed to contain itself to that topic, and instead becomes a person's personal platform. That does not help anybody.
However, we would love to have your take on it. I will share your current words with the owners, as a different viewpoint. If you have additional feedback you'd like to share, please respond and I will pass it along as well.
I would also like to add that the site did at one point have a political/news discussion area available - it had to be shut down due to the high amount of moderation resources it required - that would be even more true today.
If you could:
This is NOT the place to hold your political rally.
This thread is locked.