Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

[Taskmage]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

That's not a reasonable model for what's happening because in Starcraft and M:tG, all players are putatively playing from the same baseline of access to resources. A Starcraft player has their choice of which of the three factions to play, and is unrestricted in which technologies they choose to research and deploy. An M:tG player is assumed to have access to all available cards in sufficient quantities for purposes of competitive play.

Extending the gaming metaphor further with M:tG, there's a reason why cards occasionally get banned and/or restricted, or the rules themselves changed, because certain strategies become completely dominant without any metagame element that can curtail them (see: M:tG's Necropotence).

What we have is closer to what a free-to-play MMORPG has; basic rules everyone tends to follow, but some of which can be bent by players with more starting resources, plus the people who abuse glitches and exploits in the rules in hopes of either flying under the radar so no one notices, or directly bribing the developers to change the rules for their own gain.


Icemage

Who assumes that all Mt:G players have limitless resources and can afford to have several mythic rares in all their decks? I don't. But the fact that I can't show up to a Grand Prix with an intro pack and a handful of boosters and expect to beat pros doesn't mean the game is broken. I only expect to be treated fairly and equally. The point is that there is no mechanism whereby a player can ensure that I can never challenge him. The adaptive properties of the system ensure that no deck is completely dominant, and there's no way for them to prevent me from accessing the cards necessary to do so with enough time, money and/or luck. The ideal system envisioned by libertarians is just such: a fair system that treats everyone equally, with no opportunity for the powerful to use government as a tool to monopolize resources from the weak because the government has no such power.

I don't see what your point is about bans and restrictions. I already acknowledged that systems can have flaws and said that in more elegant systems they're easier to identify and fix.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

Who assumes that all Mt:G players have limitless resources and can afford to have several mythic rares in all their decks?

Anyone and everyone who plays competitively.

Alternatively: kitchen table players who allow for the use of proxies, though admittedly they are the rarer breed.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

The point is that there is no mechanism whereby a player can ensure that I can never challenge him. The adaptive properties of the system ensure that no deck is completely dominant.

You never built or played against a decent Sliver Deck, did you? Because good lord...

[cidbahamut]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

You never built or played against a decent Sliver Deck, did you? Because good lord...

One of many possible solutions.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)



For when you hate Slivers, but don't feel like splashing a particular color: turnabout is fair play.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

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One of many possible solutions.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

Because it's a 1/1, it is a markedly more effective card against Hivestone than against Plague . . .

I mean, of course, there are "All Slivers get +1/+1" types, but at that point you're using two cards to answer one card.

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

x2 in the Side Deck:

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

Six mana? If you want to play a Sliver Control deck, I guess . . .

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

That's why I only play with 2 in the sidedeck. no sense cluttering my opening hand with a useless card more often than needed. Its nice to have in there, but by no means something to count on.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

I mean, speaking as a White player, Austere Command is an awesomely versatile card, but it seems iffy as sideboard material. If you just want Artifact/Enchantment removal in your board, GW has an effective metric ton of cards that can be played faster; something that might quickly become a personal favorite of mine (and yours, if you're using Sliver tokens) is Sundering Growth from the upcoming Return to Ravnica set. Of course, nothing says "shut up" quite like a well-placed Krosan Grip . . .

If you want to wipe their board, you can Dauntless Escort into a Day, or perhaps just use Martial Coup. This is all assuming you're only playing GW Slivers, which as silly as it sounds, still affords you a ridiculous number of options.

By the way, might I mention how much I love how a discussion on politics became how to best counter counters against an absurdly powerful strategy in MTG?

[Icemage]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

Sliver decks are weaksauce. Ya'll have never seen the Blightsteel Colossus:



Note: This creature is Trample, Infect, 11/11. That means if unblocked it gives you 11 poison counters, causing you to immediately lose the game. Even if it's blocked, if the blocking creature is only 1 toughness... you still lose. And the poison counters are permanent, so even blocking it just means you die the next turn. It's basically immune to damage, and outright destruction only makes it go back to your deck temporarily.


Icemage

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

I just said I'm a White player. What is this "damage" you speak of, all I have are a bunch of things that say "exile" in my hand . . .

[Yygdrasil]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

Sliver decks are weaksauce. Ya'll have never seen the Blightsteel Colossus:



Note: This creature is Trample, Infect, 11/11. That means if unblocked it gives you 11 poison counters, causing you to immediately lose the game. Even if it's blocked, if the blocking creature is only 1 toughness... you still lose. And the poison counters are permanent, so even blocking it just means you die the next turn. It's basically immune to damage, and outright destruction only makes it go back to your deck temporarily.


Icemage

assuming you live long enough to afford the mana to put it out. Against a sliver deck that means 4... 5 turns max.

[Icemage]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

assuming you live long enough to afford the mana to put it out. Against a sliver deck that means 4... 5 turns max.

In some formats he shows up on turn 1, from anywhere in the deck.



Icemage