Question of the Week Thread Refresh!
Added 2024-04-19 20:37:52 +0000 UTCHey All,
Here's the place where you can put your questions for the Patreon Question of the Week. If we didn't get to your question from the last one, definitely post it again here, we only get through so many as it's at most once per week :)
THANK YOU!
Comments
Hi Marshal and Luis (and of course Producer Jeff)! I often find that when I lose a game due to a difficult decision that I made, it can sometimes be hard to balance trying to learn from my mistakes while preventing falling into results-oriented thinking. Do you two have any particular techniques that you like to follow to find that balance and ensure you learn the right lessons?
Radnor
2024-08-12 16:41:22 +0000 UTCHi Marshal and Luis! My friends and I have recently started getting together for flashback drafts and are really trying to do some of the best of the best. We recently completed an Innistrad draft and are targeting MH1 and IPA for our next ones. I know you guys have spoke highly of Khans of Tarkir on the podcast, are there some other "All Timers" that you would recommend? Thanks for the podcast I have been enjoying it for years now as a loyal patron and will continue to do so.
Cory Chase
2024-08-07 20:31:36 +0000 UTCStrategy question for early game bombs. How do you decide whether to play an early bomb or sandbag it against removal? For example, my Bloomburrow opening hand has “Gev, Scaled Torch,” “Agate-Blade Assassin,” and “Cindering Cutthroat.” Playing Gev first into Cutthroat is the most powerful thing I can do, but it’s also giving the opponent a much more obvious removal target. There are lots of snowball rares these days, where you really want to play it early but you lose a lot of your hand’s power if it dies immediately. When do you just go for it, and when do you sandbag?
Nate W
2024-08-02 15:21:38 +0000 UTCWhat would be a best way to introduce my friends to drafting in MtG? Hi Guys! I usually play drafts: either on Arena or with my friends in my hometown (shout out to Wild Snakes!), but it’s around 3-4h to get there so I am not always able to visit them and play. In the city where I live, I have friends who have recently become interested in learning Magic, but I don't think drafting is the best idea for our first game. I've recommended that they start tutorials at Arena, but some of them prefer to meet in person first. I'm thinking about borrowing Guild Kits or Duel Decks and just playing in pairs. What strategy would you recommend? Thank you for the great work you do! Best regards Aleks
Aleksander Cudny
2024-06-29 08:03:00 +0000 UTCHi Marshall and Luis, first of all thank you very much for your content and all your work around MTG. I would watch much less PTs without Marshall commentating and LSV participating. I hope you both will stay with the community for a long time. Now to my question: When you play an Arena bo1 draft you often play the first match against a very similiar deck than you self are playing. (I think the AI chooses an opponent with a similar good deck, this often means you are playing a kind of a mirror match.) I wonder if you can take advantage of this, for example you are playing an Outlaw strategy deck in OTJ and you have picked one or two Shoot the Sheriff. This card isn't good against a deck full of Outlaws, so you would probably replace them for the first match. Do you think this is worth it? Thank you for discussing this. Best regards Marcus
Marcus Gollor
2024-06-11 08:02:51 +0000 UTCYour namesake card Limited Resources is a weird and abusable white land policing effect that has been banned in casual formats. Any chance that it could be interesting in Vintage Cube? And more broadly, what do you think about other classic prison cards like Ensnaring Bridge, Trinisphere, etc.?
Nate W
2024-06-10 13:19:47 +0000 UTCAs a long-time Magic player and almost exclusively a limited player these days, I feel like bonus sheets are sometimes fun but are kind of kludgy approximations of what makes cube draft so good -- interesting build-arounds, format depth and replayability, etc. Do you think that we'll ever see cube become a core offering from WOTC (rather than a seasonal or "sometimes thing"), or do you expect it will remain niche? Maybe I'm in a small minority, but I'd probably spend 300% more money on Arena if it were just a cube client.
Grayson
2024-05-11 01:59:53 +0000 UTCCould you explain how a two similar cards can have a very different impact in different formats? We were thinking about Cloudkin Seer Vs Inspiring Overseer or Naga Oracle Vs Organ Horder. Very similar cards can go from mediocre to format defining. Also, just one for the "I have to win or quit magic" limmie. Sadly my brother and I will no longer be able to partake in this game after losing to our opponent playing arid archway on turn one. Thanks for all your hard work!
Matt Carr
2024-05-10 20:01:49 +0000 UTCLuis is known for often using his intuition to make quick decisions and being a fast player in general. However, many pros don't play quickly and some, in fact, play rather slowly. My questions are is it worth trying to speed up your play or rely on your intuition more and if so, how would you go about doing so?
Russell Komor
2024-05-06 23:04:07 +0000 UTCAfter hearing you talk about Winston drafts on the last signoff, I was wondering if you would be interested in taking a look at the Cube Drafting Process for 2-4 players that me & my friend developed? It's based on economy deckbuilding games like Star Realms or Dominion, and in our testing has resulted in Cube decks as you would expect them from regular draft. After many balance tweaks, we are now happy enough with the format that we created a online playable version on playingcards io and a digital instruction manual with images (for all you visual learners out there).
Leon Fuchs
2024-05-05 14:14:16 +0000 UTCI was playing constructed on Arena (the horror) and was paired against someone named Marshall Butcliff; was that your constructed playing alter ego, Marshall?
Andrew Hawkins
2024-05-03 19:58:22 +0000 UTCIn Vintage Cube, most of the normal draft heuristics go out the window — CABS, creature count, etc. Cards that would be unbeatable bombs in normal draft sets can be just average. I recognize that a big part of success is just knowing the cards and the archetypes. But for cubes and high-powered / flat-powered draft environments in general, do you have any useful heuristics that you would follow if you are coming into it fresh, without knowing the cards and the archetypes?
Nate W
2024-04-22 13:07:12 +0000 UTCI've started going to RCQs and am often in the finals/top8. However, I'm at a point now where I know that the PT players are much better than I am, but I don't know what exactly they're thinking about that I'm not. How do I learn what I need to know for the next step when I don't know what I don't know?
Aardvark
2024-04-21 20:36:55 +0000 UTCHey guys! Any chance for a meet and greet next weekend in Seattle? I know the tour isn’t open to the public but would be cool to do a meetup if it works out!
Scott J. Krieder
2024-04-21 02:07:03 +0000 UTCHello! This may be more of a sign off than a pateron QOTW, but here goes:You guys have Marshall-est (man-o-war) Luis-est (Divination) cards that are archetypes that show up consistently in sets. Given the broad base of friends that you have who play magic, what are some of their Archetypal cards? Some classics - Mike Turian and Giant Growth, Dave Price and Bolt, Mike Long and Cheatyface
frank Shaskus
2024-04-20 17:39:00 +0000 UTCHi Marshall and Luis, I'm feeling very confused atm because I'm seeing a lot of complaints about how fast and bomb heavy the format supposedly is, but I'm not experiencing that at all. So far it has been very grindy for me and games have been eventually determined by tight play (sometimes mine; sometimes opponents punishing me for being too sloppy). At what point must I accede to others' experiences, or may I hold on to my view of a format for as long as it continues to play out the way it has been for me so far?
Bodkin van Horn
2024-04-20 01:22:38 +0000 UTCLSV, you've been clear that Vintage Cube is your favorite way to play Magic, and other cubes haven't enticed you as much. Yet, you also clearly draft plenty of the retail sets and enjoy that as well. Are there distinct aspects you enjoy about drafting traditional packs vs. cube that scratches an itch the other can't? Or would you always opt for Cube if you didn't have this podcast to record? :)
Ian Keyworth
2024-04-19 22:21:28 +0000 UTCHi Luis and Marshall, thanks for taking our questions! I'm wondering about your thoughts on the "design skeleton" that Mark Rosewater detailed in his March 4th column. You've hypothesized for a long time that R&D has some sort of template that they use for sets, and you were right! It's interesting to see Mark Rosewater give so much detailed information, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it now that you've been proved right (I wonder if there's even enough material there to base a show on?). Thanks so much, LR is awesome and I look forward to the show each week!
Marco Barreno
2024-04-19 22:09:40 +0000 UTCHello Limited Resources, Curious to hear your thoughts on this question with how well rounded you guys are in the other formats. If you were tasked with the opportunity to design a single card that you could choose which format(s) it went into, what kind of card are you designing?
Blaise Bonomo
2024-04-19 21:35:43 +0000 UTCWizards of the Coast’s marketing team contacts you. They want to designate a “Power 10 through 18” as part of a marketing campaign, and want your input. They would like it to include at least one card each from Black, Red, Green, and White, but if you don’t think a color has something on par with Timetwister that isn’t necessary. What cards are you nominating?
Marshall Chaney
2024-04-19 21:33:50 +0000 UTCHey Marshall and Luis! Reigning “LR Listener Draft Champion” from PAX in… 20-freaking-15 here, haha. When can we get another live show?! I’d love to defend my title I’ve had for almost a decade now!
Michael Massaro
2024-04-19 21:32:50 +0000 UTCHey guys, cheers to my favorite parasocial relationship! One aspect of MTG that's always interested me is how the community commonly talks about gameplay choices with the assumption that there is a single objectively correct line of play. In contrast, one of my other favorite hobbies is Fighting Games (ex. Street Fighter), in which relying too heavily on "correct" gameplay patterns can cause you to become too predictable and lose. As a result, while I recognize that both require learning basic skills and heuristics, at a competitive level I end up approaching the two genres very differently when attempting to analyze my gameplay. My question is, does there come a point in learning MTG where the mindset of a singular correct line of play becomes flawed? Big thanks to you both, always appreciate the content!
Ryan Inwards
2024-04-19 21:02:21 +0000 UTCI have mixed feelings on all of the bonus sheet content that sets always have these days. I like the variety, but I also feel like I no longer have clear idea what my opponent might play. Do you think the bonus sheets are overall good or just more showy nonsense that gets in the way of proper 40 card Magic?
James Ammeson
2024-04-19 20:54:40 +0000 UTCHi Marshall and Luis, I love the podcast, it's the best magic content on YouTube hands down. I'm running this question back from last Q&A I started playing magic a little bit before Arena went into beta and so my model of the game is shaped mostly by Arena. I'm personally an advocate for Alchemy; I think it can be used to really enhance otherwise mediocre sets. A-SNC is one of my favorite draft formats both because of how much the small buffs brought the color balance in order and how much it made previously bad archetypes noticeably more fun to play. But I've also been burned by some of the alchemy stuff in recent times, MKM alchemy is a mess of a format with insane cards at every rarity in my opinion. I remember Marshall expressed a sentiment at one point floating the idea of a full-fledged alchemy set designed specifically for limited. Where do you guys stand on Alchemy in Limited? Is an "Alchemy Limited Horizons" style set still something you guys would be open to?
Xeronax
2024-04-19 20:52:05 +0000 UTCHow do you improve a skill (for instance, Magic) when you feel like you have hit a natural plateau? I have played Magic for a lot of my life now, have qualified for a few RPTQs (lol) and RC's, but I haven't continued improving just playing normally as I have. I feel stuck in that "Top 8's consistently but never wins" part of the trench. I have heard that it can be extremely helpful for people to watch and give feedback on your gameplay, and I have considered coaching for this. In short: How do you learn to improve?
Conor M
2024-04-19 20:44:34 +0000 UTCHi LR, hope all is well with you both. In the past you have done episodes on Limited Heuristics. Those episodes were incredibly helpful to me, and I assume, others. Recently, Luis talked about questions he asked himself during games that help inform his decision making. Questions like, "How do I win this game? or How do I lose this game?" My question is, what are some other questions you ask yourself during a game that helps inform decisions you make around sequencing, combat, adding to the board vs. using removal, etc. Thank you for all that you do. This is my favorite Podcast to listen to on my drive to work!
Miles Greene
2024-04-19 20:43:58 +0000 UTCHi Marshall, Luis and Producer Jeff, thanks for continuing to produce great content and being a pillar of the Magic limited community! I generally only play Arena (no MTGO) and only BO1 at that, which is primarily for convenience. It's a lot easier to find time to play a couple BO1 matches and, as a parent, also less of a feel-bad when I need to drop a match for something that comes up with the kiddo. However, you guys have mentioned that BO3 can sometimes be quite different than BO1, and I've heard other limited content creators also express the sentiment that playing BO3 "refreshes" a format for them after BO1 gets stale. Using MKM for example, I've heard others say you are far less likely to repeatedly face busted Boros decks in BO3. I understand that Arena B03 isn't the same as paper pod drafting where you actually play against the people you drafted with, and I also realize BO1 has the hand smoother, but would you be able to explain why people think the BO3 queues and games are meaningfully different than BO1, why you're more likely to see lower power decks, and anything else you think significantly contributes to this difference?
Mark Farewell
2024-04-19 20:42:13 +0000 UTCHi guys. What is your first thoughts of the new format speed wise? Did they listen or is it too early to tell. And what are your opinions of a format w so many must answer threats? Seems like this one is loaded w them. Thanks as always
David Bruno
2024-04-19 20:40:37 +0000 UTC
