Question of the Week Thread Refresh for LCI Block!
Added 2023-12-14 20:39:34 +0000 UTCHey All!
Here is the refresh for the submissions for Patreon Questions of the Week on the show :) Feel free to add them in the comments below, and if we didn't get to yours from a prior PQotW thread, you can definitely put them here again :)
THANK YOU!
Comments
Hallo Marshall & Luis. Huge fan of the show from Germany speaking (especially the Set Reviews are some of the best entertainment there is for me). Because there aren't enough MtG players amongst my friends we're often doing in-person drafts with 6 (or sometimes even 4) players - I know that's not how you're supposed draft, but what can you do π My question is, do you have any particular tips for drafting in such small pods? Thank you so much and Liebe GrΓΌΓe, Flo π
Florian Hohl
2024-03-06 12:54:02 +0000 UTCHello Marshall and Luis! I've been jamming the arena cube this week and been having a blast and (I feel) I have been doing quite well, and I think you both are to thank for that. My issue, and my question, relates to majority white decks: I can't seem to make them work very well. I was wondering if you both had tips for drafting and playing white as your primary colour in the arena cube. Peace, Dan from Canada
Daniel Allardyce
2024-01-30 02:38:40 +0000 UTCTwo parter for Luis. 1) Is it fair to say that you/Gavin have settled on Seasoned Dungeoneer over White Plume Adventurer for the "white initiative creature" slot? 2) If so, is that a power level thing, wanting initiative to be at 4 instead of 3 MV, or something else?
Todd Johnson
2024-01-29 21:05:30 +0000 UTCHey guys! More of a request than a question here: LSV, during the upcoming set reviews, would you mind making mention of any cards that you are excited about adding to your cube? No need to go super deep or spend too much time on it, but Iβm sure the fellow cube owners/designers in your listener base (myself included!) would appreciate the takes. Cheers!
Sam Pape
2024-01-26 22:12:42 +0000 UTCHey guys! I recently listened to LR#313 about cube level-ups, and I was somewhat surprised to hear that both of you would pick a non-powered cube to draft 100 times rather than a powered one, if forced to make that choice (the argument being, roughly, that power makes for uninteresting draft picks and, to some extent, gameplay). I think Marshall reiterated that point recently, but we know the vintage cube has changed a lot, which got me wondering: would you still make that choice nowadays? Another, more specific point made in that episode was that LSV seemed pretty happy to early pick a Pestermite or Deceiver Exarch, for the potential upside of finding Twin or Kiki later on. Now, I've watched every single one of LSV's vintage cube videos and that doesn't seem to be the case anymore? (let alone the fact that the combo is not even in the current version of the cube on MTGO). I was wondering why do you think this classic combo is not worth going after anymore? Love the show, love LSV's cube videos and Marshall's watch videos :)
Michele Herbstritt
2024-01-15 16:18:52 +0000 UTCA question for Luis, you post videos of drafts where you both win some and lose some, with the premise of the latter being to help explain the lessons of what you learned did not work. Sometimes that's just Magic. Even in the videos you post where you end up not doing so well, during the draft you always seem enthusiastic about your picks. Given all the Vintage Cube videos you have been posting, and as new cards have recently permeated the Vintage Cube experience, what are the key lessons you have learned about "modern" Cube from those losses? E.g. Have archetypes shifted in power level? Have older cards been pushed out?
Rob Straughan
2023-12-31 13:22:52 +0000 UTCHey Luis! I have loved the team drafts that you have been posting. I have a question around team draft strategy. There have been places where you have opened 2 comparable pieces of power (2 moxen etc) as well as key card for your deck (such as Reanimate in reanimator). Would you consider passing both and taking the card specifically for your deck knowing your teammate will get a piece of power if you felt like it didn't particularly boost your strategy?
Judah Devadoss
2023-12-19 17:45:49 +0000 UTCTriple KTK has felt amazing for me to revisit after years of being let down by retail limited. Were KTK designed today, do you think there'd be a way to make it just as fun (morphs as 2/3s?), or would "modern sensibilities" / design philosophies / power expectations make that too challenging without ruining what made it magical? Is it part of a bygone era of Magic?
Ian Keyworth
2023-12-18 19:03:43 +0000 UTCLuis, in a recent episode you were talking about how cube has changed over time. Do you think there is an βoptimalβ cube at any given moment in time, or should it change even if no new cards were released? Also, how do you feel about themed cubes?
Andrew
2023-12-16 22:55:06 +0000 UTCHi there you lovely hosts! I wanted to ask you what your thoughts are on cube design, for us cube-builders out here. To me it's the greatest format that's ever been. Cheers!
Lars
2023-12-16 12:31:45 +0000 UTCI moved to Kyoto, Japan, about two years ago and I have slowly been returning to paper magic after playing nothing but Arena since the move. Despite having built up sufficient language skills to play fully in Japanese, I find that I am making many more play mistakes--missing triggers, forgetting known information, missing out on activations, etc--than I do on Arena (in English). Do you have any recommendations for 1) getting used to playing in a foreign language environment, and/or 2) reaclimating to paper play after getting used to Arena's visual interface and its copious reminders and help tools.
Alexander Sogo
2023-12-15 06:33:01 +0000 UTCMarshall- what did it feel like when you finally quit your office job to do LR full time? Similarily for Luis- what did it feel like when you had your first breakthrough at the Pro Tour level and you realized you could commit full time to Magic? p.s. Luis I'll be playing in RC Denver in a couple months. Hope to see (or play against) you there π
David Shank
2023-12-15 03:39:54 +0000 UTCI am a limited player first on Arena and a constructed player second and my format of choice is Premier Drafts. I buy gems in blocks of 20,000 which usually lasts me around two months. I have collected all of the rare cards from the recent sets that I have been drafting. I have a repertoire of 240 rare wildcards and 130 mythic wildcards that I will never be able to use up. Do you have any advice regarding how I can come to accept and rationalize the fact that my resources in the Arena economy will never line up with my preference for limited play? I am content with the cost of each draft but my wildcards are just going to waste. I have made constructed decks in Standard that I enjoy playing but I still have this surplus. Thank you for your consistent insight and entertaining podcast.
Jonathan Kirzner
2023-12-15 02:54:37 +0000 UTCGentlemen, we're about to get solid data for Khans. What are your thoughts on getting data for an older set? Will this serve as a baseline to help you think about data in future sets? Is there a card you evaluated differently than the community back in the day that you're curious about? Thanks for your continued awesomeness.
Francesco Ortenzo
2023-12-14 23:34:34 +0000 UTCI've only been actively playing magic since covid but have dabbled with friends since the mid 2000's and I love looking at the graphic design of older sets and how nostalgic they look and sometimes like certain older sets designs better that the modern standard typing and borders etc. Besides the special bordered (or borderless) card designs, what sets did you like the graphic design for the best and/or have the most nostalgia for looking back? also what sets do you think was the WORST/WIERDEST graphic design wise?
ian thiry
2023-12-14 23:06:03 +0000 UTCIt's been awhile so β time for another basketball question, since I know you're both fans. Much like draft formats, basketball teams have their own aesthetic style of play. Which are some of your favorite basketball teams to watch throughout history, and what classic draft formats would you compare their style to? For example, the Steve Nash Suns might be Brothers' War limited β extremely fast, but with tons of interesting complexity.
Steve Stormoen
2023-12-14 22:57:33 +0000 UTCAs a game designer I would love to have Luis add a section of to the sunset show. Change one card in the set to make the format better. This can be adding a card, removing a card or changing a card.
Tamalan
2023-12-14 22:30:36 +0000 UTCWould current limited be better if the games were slowed down? The rise of the one drop has led to formats that are on average much faster than what we saw 5 to 10 years ago.
Tamalan
2023-12-14 22:27:50 +0000 UTCHi Marshall and Luis! I'm a relatively new magic player (started about 2 years ago). I've been playing Khans on arena and think it's awesome that they brought back this older format for newer players like myself. I've been enjoying it so much that I bought a booster box off ebay to do paper drafts with some friends! My question is, besides the beloved Khans, what other old school formats would you like to see on arena or would you suggest to try drafting if the chance would arise? Love the show, thanks guys.
Thierry Sterckeman
2023-12-14 22:16:18 +0000 UTCThe last few sets have seen the rise of one drops and games starting and finishing much earlier than is tradition. The conventional wisdom is this resulted from pushing the power level of one and two mana spells. An alternate or perhaps complimentary explanation is the playerbase has shifted its strategy towards low mana cards and early tempo. Could the re-release of KTK on Arena provide a test case? The format is fondly remembered for just needing to get your morph on 3 and navigate from there. While early 17 lands data shows Mardu Hateblade as a top 5 or so common. Was it always that good or are people maybe making different choices? Hope that makes sense, thanks!
Ryan Glinski
2023-12-14 22:04:00 +0000 UTCIf you were in R&D, would you be happy with the current state of design for draft sets these days? Any major change you would make?
Atipong Pathanasethpong
2023-12-14 21:51:37 +0000 UTCLoving the LSV Vintage Cube videos, and I think they have really helped me get better at Cube. I feel like Luis knows his archetype pretty quickly most drafts. How do you guys feel about the concept of βstaying openβ when it comes to Cube? Is it more important to lock in on a strategy because the first few picks are generally so powerful, in comparison with a Standard draft format? (I ask this as someone who often ends up in multicolor βgoodstuffβ decks rather than focused decks.)
Nate W
2023-12-14 21:38:21 +0000 UTCReposting from below to reiterate: With Khans coming to Arena, went back to listen to episode 266 the Khans Sunset Show. This was well before I got into LR and Limited. Was excited to see that this was Luis' first episode as full time co-host. Like great comfort food, I was very pleased that the episode felt so familiar and deeply satisfying. My question(s), take one or few of these: do you ever go back and listen to old episodes for nostalgia? What is the same / different than back when Luis joined LR (magic, life, LR, etc)? What could MtG design today learn from limited back in Khans?
RJ Urbance
2023-12-14 21:23:24 +0000 UTCQuestion for Luis in his capacity as a game designer. Magic's land-based resource system is often heralded as its defining and best feature, but some of the most bemoaned scenarios in limited Magic are drawing too few or too many lands. Other games such as Hearthstone and Lorcana have attempted to "fix" this by providing a guaranteed resource every turn, or allowing many different types of cards to be played as resources. My question is, is this an actual problem that needs to be fixed? Or is the number of "non-games" caused by mana issues in Magic already close to optimal, or at least outweighed by other negatives of alternative resource systems? Thanks!
Brian Sullivan
2023-12-14 21:18:00 +0000 UTCLuis, if/when you win Worlds, would you design your card to be a standout in the current block for Standard play or would you focus on making it a Vintage Cube all-star? Thanks for all the content you've both provided for all the years!
Phil Poppe
2023-12-14 21:06:29 +0000 UTCFor the sunset shows, can you add a βborn to flyβ award for the card you always try to wheel but donβt?
Andrew
2023-12-14 21:06:20 +0000 UTCMarshall, can we get a wrist check?
Todd Johnson
2023-12-14 21:02:14 +0000 UTCWith Khans out, I've noticed players who only know limited from the last few years, generally, have to adapt and struggle with the style of play present in Khans. I find it kind of interesting because as someone who "leveled up" my drafting skills during the Khans era, I tend to struggle in formats like LCI and ONE that don't emphasize card advantage and other aspects like Khans and other sets of the time do. Are there any general pieces of advice you can give to newer players adapting to lower powered sets and older players adapting to higher powered sets?
Rolands Lauzums
2023-12-14 21:01:52 +0000 UTCHi guys, I'm curious about your thinking on when to mulligan to avoid color screw. Would you keep or mulligan in the following situations (assume you're playing red/blue)? (1) three mountains and 4 blue spells (2) three mountains, a red 1-drop, and 3 blue spells (3) three mountains, a red 1-drop, a red 4-drop, and 2 blue spells
Christopher Brown
2023-12-14 21:01:33 +0000 UTCHi again! Thanks so much for answering my question about fun a few weeks back. I think you both nailed what I was getting at with fun vs satisfying (and it has been very helpful for me, thanks!). One other aspect of fun that you both mention a lot is certain cards / play patterns / designs that are fun or not. You seem to be able to make these judgements about fun often without playing with the cards. (For example, alchemy). Is this intuition about what will be fun something you developed over years of playing, or more as a game designer?Bonus question: Are you good at engineering fun for yourself or friends/family with non-magic activities? P.S. Not Nathan Steuer :)
Nathan S
2023-12-14 20:52:02 +0000 UTCAs someone who never got to play Khans of Tarkir back in the day, i've really been enjoying the the MTGA rerelease! My question is: When drafting an older set like KTK, what aspects of the set design stand out to you as noticeably better or worse than current-day Limited set design? What are the things about Tarkir that make you say "aw man, I missed this" βΒ and what are the things you miss from 2023-era Limited when drafting Tarkir?
Nick Robinson
2023-12-14 20:47:09 +0000 UTCHi guys, I've been watching a ton of LSV's cube streams (which continue to be awesome) and notice that he often talks about the strength of Pest Infestation. I find this fascinating at the surface level but the more I see the card be played, the more I appreciate it (utility in hitting multiple permanents, creating a board presence, and so on). Are there any other cube cards that have gone up your power rankings in the past few iterations and why is that the case?
Alexander Ullman
2023-12-14 20:46:12 +0000 UTCBack in the day when I would draft it was off in the case like 80% of the time that the first card I drafted would not make it to my final deck. Then you had to make sure that you were drafting what was open at the table in order to have any chance to have deck with enough playables. These days that's not the case. You can always build the deck with that color if you want because the colors are so deep. back then for me when I was drafting I would not often play the first pick. Now it seems like the first pick is very important because you always play the first pick. Do you agree that this is a fundamental difference between the past and the current draft environment? Or should people pay more attention to what's open and not always be using the first pick to guide exactly what they do for the rest of the draft?
Hogan Long
2023-12-14 20:45:24 +0000 UTC
