You know, all I said was that the hate bears that need to be printed need to not be so binary in their function and they become more interesting to play against for me.

Resistors are examples of interesting hate because there are multiple ways to deal with it. I like playing against resistors as it promotes interesting gameplay. It taxes and slows you down, but is usually symmetrical and you are still able to play your cards and attempt to execute your gameplan, albeit slower. I enjoyed playing against workshops very much, even when it taxes my deck to defeat. Similarly, Thalia is just as interesting to play against, in my opinion.

On the flipside, cards that say "your opponent cannot do X" is on the other end of the spectrum and extremely boring to play against. If such a card is effective, it usually shuts down a deck from functioning till you can remove it. Worse, sometimes there cards aren't even symmetrical effects.

Once again this is simply my opinion. I dont understand how this went to talking about social classes and all that when I simply expressed my preferences and what I enjoy when playing magic. This has nothing to do with wanting change or not wanting change. I'm happy to see more Vintage relevant cards being printed, but I wish they were less binary in their function. Of course this card has already been printed and I'll have to deal with it one way or the other, but it doesn't mean I'm going to enjoy it.

@chubbyrain said in Single Card Discussion - Lavinia, Azorious Renegade:

@hrishi Sounds like they need to print more and better Hatebears. Then they'll see more play and you can play your Lightning Bolts and your Swords and "not feel bad".

No, the hatebears that need to be printed need to not be so binary in their function. I don't really consider bolting a hatebear whose only function is turning specific vintage cards off to be the epitome of interesting gameplay. More binary hatebears simply mean there'll be more such non-interesting decision making in games.

But perhaps this is simply my opinion.

I hate this constant printing of humans whose names I can't remember that say "you cannot do X" where X is something I like to do in Vintage. So much fun!

The deck I hate playing against the most is hatebears because there is next to no decision making for me. Do I have the removal? Yes? Awesome, I will most likely win. Do I not have the removal? No? Cool, I'll lose while I get beaten down by shitty 2/2s that prevent Vintage decks from working, that being their only function.

You know, it wouldn't be so bad if Hatebears took up a larger metagame percentage because then I wouldn't feel bad for including a full-blown SB plan to deal with them. As it stands, it's irresponsible to include too many SB cards specific to Hatebears considering the tiny metagame percentage it usually occupies, which really makes it a coinflip as to whether I can draw removal or not.

If it's a situation where I would have conceded in RL Magic, I will concede in MTGO as well. While it may be "incorrect"to do so, I'm not interested in using the clock as a resource and don't feel any satisfaction from getting wins through the chess clock.

@juice-mane said in Cards/Decks/Strategies against White Eldrazi:

@hrishi Porphyry Nodes has great potential. Have you tried them yourself? If so, how useful have they been?

I've tried them before, but not in a Xerox-style deck. They worked fine for that type of deck, but I'm not sure how well it would translate over. That's why I'm not entirely sure how well it would work for you!

@juice-mane Not sure if it suits your configuration, but if you're running white maybe give Porphory Nodes a try? Obviously it won't be so good if you're also flooding the board with creatures, but if you can win with a more creature-less approach, that might help some.

@13nova said in November 26 Banned & Restricted Announcement:

@thecravenone One is 6 mana and ends the game when it chains into another one. One is 4.

I mean I'm not denying what you're saying but one is countered by a simple Pyroblast and one is virtually uncounterable (besides Flusterstorm/MBK). I don't think you're making a fair comparison at all.

If people think the format is stale, I'm happy to see an unrestriction or two. There are plenty of cards that can be unrestricted.

With regards to restrictions, the top 8 at champs was one of the most diverse top 8s of the past few years. We've finally pulled away from the duopoly of Shops vs Xerox, and had SIX distinct archetypes in the top 8. That was amazing. The last time we had a comparable amount of diversity in the top 8 was 2013 (with 7 different archetypes in the top 8). I don't think any EW lately has had such diversity in the top 8, but feel free to correct me, I only looked briefly.

Complaints apparently always start up if a combo deck takes up a significant amount of the metagame. Seemingly, people don't like playing against combo decks. Yes, Shops vs PO is uninteractive, but so is Shops vs DPS, and Shops vs most combo decks, for that matter.

@iamactuallylvl1 said in Ain't No Rest for the Paradoxical - 11th Place Tournament Report - Vintage Champs 2018:

Pretty sure there are better cards that can do that affect. Karn is at its best when its ticking down.

Not as many cards that can do both. Karn might be at its best when ticking down but the ability to tick up and turn into a CA engine gives flexibility that shouldn't be underestimated.

@nower1990
Hey, thanks a lot! For a creature heavy metagame, I actually think Drop of Honey (or the colour-shifted Porphory Nodes) might be your best bet post-board? The Abyss is one of my favourite cards of all time, and I've tried to use it in a post-board situation as you described, but it's a bit too reliant on landing that Mana Drain, which isn't always possible.

I don't actually think it makes the manabase any weaker than the decklist I posted, considering I splashed red. You could simply splash green or white instead, and include those cards in it's place. A green splash might allow a couple copies of Sylvan Library in the main deck too, as you mentioned which would certainly be helpful!

Also, I'd like to say that relying on Tinker isn't as much a gamble as one might think? True, it goes against the idea of controlling till you win, but at the same time one of Tinker's strengths is to take wins off games that are impossible to do so otherwise. You can also reasonably plan to get Tinker out with the critical mass of tutors that you would be able to play between Demonic Tutor, Mystical Tutor, Vampiric Tutor and to a lesser extent, Merchant Scroll.