Question of the Week Thread Refresh!
Added 2020-12-16 08:45:54 +0000 UTCHey All,
Post your questions for the Question of the Week and we'll pick one for the show every week!
THANK YOU!
- Marshall
Comments
When I was listening to BK talk about how he used to pride himself on finding a deck in the meta that he personally liked, and how that's shifted over to him accepting the wisdom of other deckbuilders, it stirred something up a little for me. I have a kind of personal hangup where regardless of the game, Magic or otherwise, I typically get pretty frustrated playing mirror matches. I can play any style of deck, but I just never want to play the most popular choice, and kind of resent playing the 'best' card in a format. Typically this drives me to try to find a 'counterpick' for the #1 deck in the meta, but the last time I did that I ended up playing rakdos sac vs temur recsplosion and suffered for it. So in this last Historic Arena Open I gave up on my ego, played Manfield's Sultai list because I couldn't fathom anything beating Uro, and I did well pretty well! But I got to the last round of day 1, ended up playing in a mirror match, lost the coin flip, and felt like I was just a half step behind the whole set, losing game 3. Emotionally taxing, to say the least. Sorry for the long setup, but what I'm curious about is as professional players how do you approach whether or not to play the best deck in the meta? Do you just bite the bullet and accept that the best chances of winning are the best chances of winning, or are you more intent on gaming the system? How do you avoid getting tilted when someone is playing what may be an almost identical list to you when they get the coin flip or the better pulls? When given the choice, do you personally prefer to play the best cards in the game, or the cards that beat the best cards in the game? And for a given tournament, how much are your deck picking decisions driven by your testing group data vs personal preference/style? Thanks for your time, and thanks for making such a great podcast <3 -Tyler
Tyrowo
2021-01-07 14:59:33 +0000 UTCIt has been a few weeks since the initial call out for QotW, but I thought of another one after revisiting episode 335: Heuristics. In Luis' sign-off for the episode he mentioned his relative "belief" in simulation theory. It has been nearly five years, culminating with the dumpster fire of 2020, how has his view of the simulation evolved? Wildfires, pandemic, riots... even murder hornets. Lots of curveballs from 'ye olde programmer in the sky' this year. Thanks for the weekly dose of limited to brighten the tough year. Hope your (our) 2021 is much improved! Cheers, Randall PS: FWIW, I've always been intrigued by simulation theory. As noted on several science channel shows, pixels / digital bits have great analogs with atomic / quantum nature of particles & reality. (not totally innocent use of "analog", given ep 335)
RJ Urbance
2021-01-03 01:25:46 +0000 UTCHey guys, I'd welcome a heuristic or two about the difference between being on the draw or on the play. I play a lot of Bo1, so it's easy not to think about the difference when I don't play Game-2s or sideboard on a regular basis. I have a general sense that draw/play affects sideboarding but no idea of a general rule of thumb or way of looking at it. Thank you, Ed
Ed Stackler
2020-12-19 00:03:19 +0000 UTCHi Marshall and Luis, Thanks for making LR and being a 2020 / lock-down sanity preserver! The lessons you teach on variance, draft strategy and the rising skill of players as the season progresses have been really valuable as I try to inch my win rate up into the 50%s. I notice that I tend to really struggle in draft (and constructed, as well) playing against aggro decks, and red decks in general. Any advice on how to better draft, prepare a deck and play against others that hit the ground quickly? BTW, I know that my draft tendencies make me more susceptible: e.g. BO1, cheap bot drafts, trying to build around available rares, etc... which lead to higher variance outcomes... still are there blind spots that are common in those that fall regularly to aggro? Thanks for all you do! Cheers, Randall
RJ Urbance
2020-12-18 14:48:00 +0000 UTCHey Marshall and Luis! I know how Marshall likes the deep prompts, so here's one for both of you: What has your experience with Magic (playing, commetating, content creating) taught you about yourself? What has it taught you about each other?
Ben Fischer
2020-12-17 16:58:40 +0000 UTCHi guys. I had a question for LSV. I'm pretty sure I saw somewhere that you were a Dune fan. I was wondering if you had any hand in designing/play-testing Dire Wolf's new game "Dune: Imperium". If you did or if you've at least had a chance to play it I'd love to hear your thoughts. Also what are your initial thoughts on the upcoming Dune Movie?
Carter S.
2020-12-16 21:50:32 +0000 UTCHey guys! Do you ever partake in the quirky formats on arena, limited or constructed? For example “every spell has cascade” or omniscience draft. Thanks for everything!
The Lorne
2020-12-16 21:27:04 +0000 UTCHey Marshall and Luis! Time-sensitive question (because I hope I never have to ask it again). What do you think of the Vintage Cube Supreme Draft? Personally, I think it's the most unfun Cube on MTGO to date, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Matt Schneeweiss
2020-12-16 21:09:19 +0000 UTCMarshall and Luis, what are you looking forward to the most at your first post-Covid, return to the shop draft? For me it will be teasing friends I haven't seen in months and saying "who passed (x), are you kidding me?" at least once in the draft.
Matt Rusher
2020-12-16 19:42:49 +0000 UTCHey guys, I'm curious for your take - In terms of overall power level, where would the average vintage cube draft deck fit into the constructed format hierarchy? Hypothetically, could a cube deck take down a Historic tournament?
Jaeger
2020-12-16 19:41:33 +0000 UTCHey guys, love the show and thanks for sharing all of your "limited" wisdom with the common folk! This might be more of a question for Constructed Resources, but I've been mostly a limited player that hasn't wanted to dive into standard, especially before the series of bans and last rotation (I believe LSV referred to it as "unhealthy"). Now that the format seems to have reset and the deck lists are more varied, I've become interested in exploring more standard. LSV's recent description of the Dimir Rogues deck indicated the deck requires "expert" timing, which got me thinking: as a limited player without much standard experience, which deck(s) would you recommend to someone currently jumping into the format? Thanks for everything!
Mark Farewell
2020-12-16 18:09:16 +0000 UTCI'm just getting into cube and there's one thing I keep wondering. Are there ever cards added to cubes specifically to be a trap/red herring or does everything have a specific archetype in which it would be a good card. In a more general limited-design version of this question, would you ever intentionally design cards in a limited format to be less than good, or 'unplayable,' to deceive players into drafting it? Thanks guys, love the show!
Dr Unks
2020-12-16 17:59:31 +0000 UTCHi Marshall and Luis, One of the reason I love this show so much is that its main two topics (Magic ang cooking) are very important to me. We have heard so much about Luis' love of burritos. Don't get me wrong, they are delicious, but Latinx food has so much more to offer, including my personal favorite meat delivery device: Tacos. Al-pastor, carnitas, lengua, you name it..., nothing beats a simple fresh corn tortillas, perfectly cooked meat, topped with cilantro and onions. What are some of your other central- and south-american dishes that you enjoy? You may answer this question in the form of a top 5 if you like.
Jordan Texier
2020-12-16 17:48:08 +0000 UTCAlright, so here I am doing a daily walk and listening to LR. Suddenly my phone flashes a notification that either LSV or Marshall are starting to stream a draft! I mean, come on!!?? What do you do here? Both can be consumed later on, but it feels like a crisis to me.
Cory Enriquez
2020-12-16 15:33:58 +0000 UTCHello Luis and Marshall! I was hoping that you could take a quick moment to talk about the Arena Cube. Which decks have you seen that are the best and what do they look like? If that one is too much, I'd like to ask Marshall what his favorite burrito ingredients are, as LSV seems to get all the burrito questions. Thanks again!
Luis Goicouria (manowarelves)
2020-12-16 15:33:44 +0000 UTCWhat other parts of life has drafting made you better at? I'm self employed and a few years ago I had the idea to sit down and analyze my business/situation/plans through the lens of a limited player analyzing a limited deck/boardstate/gameplan. I had a ton of ah ha! moments there where I realized I had plenty of holes to shore up in my business game that I would not have become aware of if I hadn't spent so much time shoring up those holes in my limited game. Surely you two must have some similar experiences?
Duncan Engel
2020-12-16 14:17:08 +0000 UTCI asked this question a couple of weeks ago and thus want to add my voice to the topic. Whenever you do set reviews or later reevaluate cards this is never mentioned. Obviously when a card like duress whiffs it is bad. But you didn't get nothing for it. You saw their hand. Is this of so little value as to be not worth mentioning? I know it isn't worth a card, and I would say not even 1/2 a card, but I feel a lot more comfortable playing when I know what my opponent has.
John Johanson
2020-12-16 14:06:44 +0000 UTCDo you ever get tired of playing magic? If so, do you do anything to keep it interesting, just grind through it, or take a break from playing? Also for Marshall I LOVE wristwatch revival and am happy it is doing well. If you could own any watch what would it be?
Alan McLucas
2020-12-16 13:23:43 +0000 UTCHave you tried the Arena Cube, if so any thoughts? I’ve drafted a few times and so far it just seems to be missing something I can’t articulate. I’ve done ok in my runs, but am not finding the decks I build or face compelling.
Ryan
2020-12-16 12:36:36 +0000 UTCHey guys, I'd like to tap into your food knowledge if I may? I love cooking and do most of it at home for my family. I try to incorporate recipes from around the world because good food is just good food, no matter where it comes from. I'm wondering if there's any off the beaten track style of cuisines you really enjoy that I could explore? You've already mentioned things such as Korean BBQ and Ethiopian and would be interested in any other new directions you could point me in! Thanks for all the hard work and great content!
Phil Poppe
2020-12-16 11:54:05 +0000 UTCThis is probably two separate questions, but they're closely tangled in my head. Whenever I play, it always seems like I'm following all the tips and advice you guys have offered over the years, but I still lose far more than I win (untapped.gg says I have about a 40% win rate). I stay as open as I can until I think I have clear signals, I try to use all my mana every turn, and I also absorb plenty of limited articles on CFB. The problem is that I think back on my games and rarely think of anything I could have done differently, or better. I had a reason for everything I did at the time and it was all based on professional advice, because I'm demonstrably kind of dumb. It's gotten to the point that the prouder I am of a deck, the more certain I am something's going to go wrong (and the bad decks are just bad). I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. How do you self-improve when, as far as you know, you're already doing everything right?
Spencer St. James
2020-12-16 10:25:14 +0000 UTCI’m interested in building a cube this spring & summer when I can play in-person. I’ve been loving playing cube on Arena (haven’t tried vintage yet), but am wondering if you have any suggestions for a more budget-friendly cube? What paper cubes (if any) do you two maintain?
Danny Bates
2020-12-16 10:05:49 +0000 UTCIn Among Us, what are the best tips for staying alive as crewmate, besides sticking together with other people?
Søren Lahn Sloth
2020-12-16 09:35:25 +0000 UTCHow much do you value seeing the opponent's hand, when casting a discard spell? Third of a card? Half a card? Whould you agree that it is less value for players of your calibre (who kind of have a good guess anyway) compared to a beginner?
Peter Sievert
2020-12-16 09:33:00 +0000 UTCWhen a color or archetype in a format is deep, especially at common, I struggle to tell if it is open. For example, in a recent draft, I went roil eruption into grotag night-runner into another roil eruption into rockslide sorcerer into spikefield hazard. I thought “cool, red is open and I’m solidified into red now.” Those were the last good red cards I picked and I ended up with a D level Wizards deck. Are these sort of trainwrecks inevitable or do you have any advice?
Jonathan Montgomery
2020-12-16 09:01:22 +0000 UTCI hear often that you get 50+ drafts on sets. While I understand that it is part of your jobs, I still find it amazing that you guys do it so much. Do you have any schedule/routine you do to grind out drafts? Do you do anything else while drafting/playing? How often do you cash out? Ty LR, love the show
Christian Madrigal
2020-12-16 08:58:27 +0000 UTCHow do you guys feel about power level in relation to how they print more versatile cards in the last couple sets? Zendikar's flip lands/spells, ravnica split cards, the adventure creatures? Is this the optimal way to make standard interesting while fighting the notion that sets "have" to get progressively more powerful to keep people buying product?
Jacob Gross
2020-12-16 08:55:27 +0000 UTCNow that we are wrapping up this crazy year, if you could give your past self (and maybe your future self) some advice, what would it be and why? I ask bc since it’s the end of the year, I think it’s an especially good time for some reflection on all the thing this wild ride has taught us. Thanks for being an amazing piece of comfort for me all year. Hanging out with you guys through all the various forms of social media this year has meant more to me and my mental well being than you could ever imagine! You guys are amazing and keep up the good work.
Zach Marshello
2020-12-16 08:50:43 +0000 UTC
