Limited Resources - Questions for Q&A Episode 502

Hey Guys, i hope you had a great time at the MC. My Question: recently i saw quite some comments on different social media like Twitter, Reddit, etc. that made me think that poeple are kinda tired to deal/play with planeswalkers. Do you think WotC might cut the idea of planeswalkers somewhere in the future? Or do you think there are ways to get them into a direction where they "feel better"/"less frustrating" to play against?

René Schnelle

2019-07-29 20:51:16 +0000 UTC

I have a LGS that plays sealed for FNM, but you pick your 6 packs from any combination of anything that is standard legal.... which combination of packs would you recommend from a strictly competitive standpoint?

Brandon Plemmons

2019-07-29 11:28:59 +0000 UTC

Hi, Marshal and Luis I have a question for each of you. For Luis, I would like to hear your thoughts on current organized play in magic? with the conclusion of MC4, I have heard from a lot of pros that this is likely their last Pro magic event for the foreseeable future and I have also been seeing that GP attendance has been dropping as well, what are your thoughts on all this? and for Marshal, I would just like to know, What's up bud? Are things good? Thanks for the great content guys keep it up!

Zackery Trapp

2019-07-29 08:21:06 +0000 UTC

How does the Arena best of 1 format affect what you pick and play in draft and sealed? What would it take for you to main deck traditional sideboard cards?

Kyle T Buck

2019-07-29 00:08:16 +0000 UTC

Hey Luis, Did you know that you wanted to be a game designer before you started playing Magic professionally? What was the first game you ever made?

Kyle T Buck

2019-07-29 00:04:10 +0000 UTC

Have you ever been in a situation, where you've noticed that you've started pulling ahead of your friend or playgroup enough to make it less fun for them, cause they have started consistently losing? (and Luis is welcome for the easy Cheon layup :)) If you have, how did you handle that or what advice would you give to someone in that situation? Just a brief note on the situation, I reconnected with an old acquaintance after a couple of years and I've won essentially all games we've played since we started up again. We used to be pretty even and the 50/50 games were fun, but he seems to have a lot manaissues these days and he doesn't really pay attention to his curve or overall plan. I got him to add enough lands to his decks saying 17 is a norm for limited, but I hesitate to start criticizing his choices or decks, cause I'm not really any kind of authority on the matter nor do I want to try impose myself as one. I am just worried that if this keeps going, the games are going to stop being fun for him and thus fun for me as well. I don't want to lose on purpose and it feels wrong to make sub-optimal decks as Johnny-spirited as they may be, so I don't really know what to do. My current plan is just hoping he gets better, but I don't think he has that much time or energy to invest in magic. On a brighter note, I suppose this means that you've thought me too well for my own good : ) Thank you for awesome show. Yours, Juha

Juha Tuisku

2019-07-28 23:25:27 +0000 UTC

This is probably more relevant for casual MTG, but here we go: When you notice that your opponent is tilted, what can you do so that they still enjoy the game?

Jörn Bethune

2019-07-27 06:02:20 +0000 UTC

With white looking weak again in M20, I first-first picked a Sephara and went, ultimately, mono white. Should we look for such trends to exploit, given the chance?

Ed Stackler

2019-07-27 01:27:39 +0000 UTC

Also! I recently played Rochester draft with my playgroup and it was a tonne of fun and surprisingly strategic. Do you have any advice on approaching Rochester draft?

Jiaqi Cai

2019-07-27 00:43:33 +0000 UTC

Hi Marshal and Luis. 4 or 6 person drafting is suboptimal, however is there any adjustments such as number of packs or burning cards to improve the drafting experience.

Jiaqi Cai

2019-07-27 00:35:47 +0000 UTC

Have you guys played any Autochess games (Teamfight Tactics, Underlords, etc)? If so, do you guys enjoy the genre?

Sebastian Brown

2019-07-26 22:25:09 +0000 UTC

Favorite non-US City to attend a Pro Tour or Mythic Championship?

Jonathan Montgomery

2019-07-26 21:44:46 +0000 UTC

WHOA

Tyler Haddow

2019-07-26 18:32:14 +0000 UTC

It's real. If you curve Scorch Spitter into Embercat into uncommon Chandra into Scampering Scorcher, you can attack for 17 on turn 4.

Jonah Comstock

2019-07-26 18:23:43 +0000 UTC

Do you guys have any opinion on these Heart-Piercer Bow meme decks that are going around? If you haven't seen, the idea is to draft as many bows and weaponsmiths as you can and equip them all to one creature, so whenever it attacks it can kill an n-toughness creature, where n is the number of bows. Apparently it works and is hard to play around!

Jonah Comstock

2019-07-26 18:18:29 +0000 UTC

Hey guys, long time listener first time subscriber. When doing the set review it's hard to evaluate some cards in the context of the set (eg Season of Growth). Assuming there was more time to prepare before the set review, what could be done to get a better idea? Is doing Draftsim or playing on xmage a good idea, or not worth the effort?

Alan Goldman

2019-07-26 18:15:57 +0000 UTC

Do you have any tips for the Khans Cube on MTGO? Probably going to get into some of that this weekend, cube is my favorite

DOUGLAS R GREER

2019-07-26 18:02:14 +0000 UTC

Thanks for the great content! Besides live drafts, what upgrade to Arena do you want most?

Mark Conkle

2019-07-26 17:40:43 +0000 UTC

Hey y’all! I was wondering if you guys had any hobbies other than magic(not counting poker or photography). Thanks for the great show!

The Pabster

2019-07-26 17:08:27 +0000 UTC

Hi Marshall and Luis, hope you're enjoying Spain! There's been some buzz about a mono red deck in m20 draft. I heard about it on the Lords of Limited pod. Those guys say that the commons at the core of the deck are (in order of importance) Goblin Smuggler, Lavakin Brawler, Chandra's Embercat, and Scorch Spitter. The combo between Scorch Spitter and Chandra's Spitfire looks really powerful. I haven't had a chance to play with the deck yet? Have you? If so, what are your impressions?

Tyler Haddow

2019-07-26 17:01:03 +0000 UTC

Yo Marshall and Luis, you are both Legacy Cube aficionados and I was wondering - as the cube list has changed over the years, are there any particular cards or archetypes no longer featured in the cube that you miss drafting?

Misha Colbourne

2019-07-26 16:19:39 +0000 UTC

Hi Marshall and Luis. So we've heard in a sign off Luis's Top 5 Favorite Limited (5. Mirrodin-Mirrodin-Darksteel, 4. Dominaria, 3. Rise of the Eldrazi, 2. Khans of Tarkir, 1. Innistrad) But, I don't think we have heard your favorite limited formats Marshall. What would you pick for your top 5? and how does it differ from LSV's list. Also, what are your bottom 5 least favorite limited sets?

Carter S.

2019-07-26 15:52:37 +0000 UTC

Hi fam! At the last GP I played in, one of my opponents, was playing the modern deck Affinity, which I’ve played against countless times. However, this time was slightly different. He had purposely used all foreign cards, and alternate art versions of the cards. Now, I know it legal to do this, and let’s be honest some of those cards looked pretty sweet. But my question is this... is it genius or grifter? I was undoubtably thrown off by it. I had to ask him numerous times which cards were which, setting up blockers was slightly more difficult...you get the picture.

John Barley

2019-07-26 15:40:08 +0000 UTC

Hi LR Team! I hope the mythic championship is going well. The other day I was playing a critical game for a draft on arena and I managed to dramatically punt away an easy victory as I was distracted talking to my roommate. As streamers and content creators do you ever have difficulty avoiding punts and poor play because you are focused on your audience?

Keldan Campbell

2019-07-26 15:22:55 +0000 UTC

Hey Marshall and Luis! First I wanted to say that my wife and I have made the street corn recipe you mentioned in a sign-off probably 10 times since that episode aired. We’re addicted. Now, my question is this: What’s your strategy for not turning on autopilot during the course of a draft? I’ve found it’s especially easy when drafting on Arena for me to slip into an autopilot mode where I overvalue my first few picks. How do you avoid that in your every day drafting life?

Alec Lancaster

2019-07-26 15:08:20 +0000 UTC

Hey fellas, posted this on the discord and people seemed interested in what ya'll would have to say about it. Have ya'll ever bought one of the Theme Boosters (theme boosters contains 1 rare, and 34 common and uncommon cards of a single color or color pair) and made a 40 card sealed deck out of them? Seems like a fun mix of sealed and pack wars/mini masters.

Neely 4x4

2019-07-26 14:50:22 +0000 UTC

I’ve been playing MTG since Kaladesh and when I started I used to have a huge problem understanding when and why to splash. The worst was when I was playing a GU deck and splashed a BB card! As I have become much better at MTG, I have almost gone the other direction as now I basically always play 2-color. I think I may be selling my decks short these days and could ease up and splash a little more liberally, but I don’t when I should and shouldn’t. Any advice?

Zach Marshello

2019-07-26 14:30:44 +0000 UTC

Hey guys really love the content! I’ve gotten into debates lately about why magic is the best game ever made and I run into the argument that it has too much variance relative to pure strategy games like chess and go. As the strategists that y’all are, why do you prefer a game with randomness? Hasn’t the initial appeal of beating a better player that games with variance offer worn off? Thanks and keep up the great work.

Jordan Selesnick

2019-07-26 14:06:57 +0000 UTC

Hi all. This question is for the Vice President of Marketing for Channelfireball.com. Have you calculated the Return on Advertising for Channelfireball's sponsorship of the Limited Resources Podcast? If so, how does it stack up?

Ryan Glinski

2019-07-26 14:04:51 +0000 UTC

Hey Fellas, When will LSV and TBS be doing the Arabian Nights and/or Legends set review? I really enjoyed the Alpha set review, and there was talk back then about doing it again. Thanks for everything! -Taylor in Arizona

Taylor Courser

2019-07-26 14:02:14 +0000 UTC

I'll echo and upvote @Ryan Jones' question above - interested to get your take on why somewhat obvious power imbalances in limited environments occur, whether it's coincidence that it often seems to be the same colors that suffer (looking at white and to a smaller extent green in recent sets), and whether Arena drafts are significantly magnifying the imbalances. Thanks!

JP Tucker

2019-07-26 13:56:05 +0000 UTC

It seems like convolute is better in M20 than it has been in previous formats, especially in the flyers decks. Even when I am pretty sure they have it, I feel like the flying pressure means I have to play out my spider/removal spell anyway because waiting for 4 more mana or trying to race on the ground are not winning lines. Is this ROTtiness from a couple of painful losses on my part? Or have you found the same thing?

Atticus D Graven

2019-07-26 13:55:02 +0000 UTC

Hey Marshall and Luis! When drafting a two color deck how closely do you pay attention to cards with double and triple pips in the mana cost? Especially with M20 there are cycles at mythic rare and rare that require three of one color. Would you prefer to have the more color dense mana costs in one of the two colors? When do you start paying attention that you have an ember hauler and thrashing brontodon in the same deck, for example?

Brandon Housman

2019-07-26 13:53:01 +0000 UTC

Ok, now you've got me curious — who /is/ the J.R. Smith of Magic? The JaVale McGee? The Ron Artest?

Steve Stormoen

2019-07-26 13:46:23 +0000 UTC

Are you going to have any time to do some sightseeing in Barcelona? Las Ramblas? La Sagrada Familia? Have any favorites?

Josh Feathers

2019-07-26 13:39:49 +0000 UTC

With sets like M20, and to an even greater extreme Battle for Zendikar, we find that in limited there is one color that it just far enough below the rest in power level that most often it is correct to avoid or not play that color. As a game designer, how does an imbalance like this happen? Pro gamers seemed to pick up on this very quickly with M20 so I am surprised Wizards Play Design didn’t notice the same. Thanks Luis and Marshall!

Ryan Jones

2019-07-26 13:36:19 +0000 UTC

Hey Marshall and Luis! Could you explain how “Elmer” and “Shelly” came to be? I started listening around Dragons of Tarkir so I’ve heard them referenced a ton over the years, but I’ve always been curious about them! Other than knowing that Elmer is an Elk and Shelly is a Crab and that they came from Theros I know basically nothing. Thanks again for all that you guys do. I’m so glad you’ve chosen to share your wonderful selves with us each and every week, and I feel like I have become a better, kinder, more optimistic person thanks to your constant mentoring. The show has not only been a way for me to learn and improve at Magic, but it has been a way for me to learn and improve as a human being, and I cannot thank you enough for that invaluable gift! P.S. I still want to see a video of you dunking a Basketball Marshall!

NicolaiBolas

2019-07-26 13:18:34 +0000 UTC

Hey Marshall and Luis! I consider myself pretty decent at drafting but I keep getting run over in M2020 draft on Arena. I seem to mostly getting stomped by decks with mediocre creatures but lots of combat tricks. If I feel like I'm stabilizing against an aggressive start, they have the tricks to punish any blocks, and if I don't block against an obviously bad attack, I get pinged to death. Any tips for battling this kind of archetype, beyond just playing a deck with lots of Murders? Thanks for any advice.

Dave

2019-07-26 12:55:43 +0000 UTC

Hey, this is Erik from Germany. Long time listener and Patreon for about a month now. Love the great content you guys provide. I got two questions: 1.) When I know a card in the hand of my opponent I often play around it too much. For example if they revel a spell pierce type effect, I tend to always play cheaper spells so they never get value out of it, but I find that it sometimes hurts me, because I develop my board way too slowly. Is it correct to sometimes just run something into a counterspell in order to use up all your mana? 2.) My second question is for LSV in light of his performance at GP Denver, switching his deck last minute, borrowing cards over twitter, barely making top 8 and then winning the whole thing. Sir, how do you keep getting away with this?

Erik R

2019-07-26 12:55:12 +0000 UTC

If you could choose 1 food to suddenly be 0 calories, what would it be?

Chris Deptula

2019-07-26 12:54:33 +0000 UTC

Which limited set/block/format do you think you learned the most from? That is, is there a format that after that one, you were able to say “I think I get limited more now”?

Nicholas Frega

2019-07-26 12:47:12 +0000 UTC

I love drafting on arena, and can't wait to be able to draft against actual humans on there. Once that happens, what kind of non traditional draft formats do you think they could add? I know we'll probably never get vintage cube, but is there something you think they could do that's a little spicier than what we have? Hoping to see a repeat of Denver in Barcelona for Luis, thanks for everything to both of you guys!

This is my Patreon username. Many are like it, but this one is mine.

2019-07-26 12:43:39 +0000 UTC

Hey Marshall and Luis do you think that modern was helped by modern horizons or do you think it was poorly handled. Does the current state of modern show that it completely deterrs brewers. Sorry it's not a limited question

Andy Shadow Patron of the Arts and Lover of all things depressing Bentley

2019-07-26 12:40:37 +0000 UTC

How much smaller and how different do you think organized play would be if WotC stopped funding/organizing it (or in the more extreme case, if they stopped making new magic cards)? I play a kind of niche sport (it’s curling) that, if we're to believe WotC's numbers, is about 10x smaller than magic in terms of total number of people playing in the world, and I find it interesting to compare the tournaments of the two games. For example, while there are major international competitions in curling, most tournaments and leagues don't interface with that system. In magic, outside a few exceptions, WotC has an instrumental role at all levels of organized play, and people seem to expect this is the way it should be.

vrulg

2019-07-26 12:40:13 +0000 UTC

Hey Marshall and LSV. With GP Vegas being Modern Horizons Limited. some of us are still interested in your insights about the format. Is there any tips or lessons learned that you can share from MC prep about MH1?

Shawn Doherty

2019-07-26 12:17:51 +0000 UTC

Hi, Marshall and Luis! I hope you're enjoying your tapas in Barcelona. The recently listened to both of your episodes in Humans of Magic, and with all the different projects you're involved, I was just wondering what a typical day was like for both of our favorite LR hosts. Thank you for the podcast always.

Antonio Valdez

2019-07-26 12:12:42 +0000 UTC

Hello. I have an incredibly pressing question. What's up with Pack Mastiff? I was surprised by the low scores on both the podcast and written set reviews. While this format is nowhere near Ixalan fast, have our priors changed so much that a card you anticipated being an above average playable back then (and then overperformed) was evaluated in this format as playable, but something you'd look to cut? And to clarify, I'm really more interested in why initial impressions were so radically different, as opposed to how the card actually has played out. Many thanks.

Matthew Taylor

2019-07-26 12:10:01 +0000 UTC

I’m trying to get my 8 year old into draft. He loves watching videos, and has listened to some of the M20 set review. Do you have any suggestions for teaching Mr. Jude?

James Shearer

2019-07-26 11:58:34 +0000 UTC

Hey guys, first of all, congrats to Luis for the big GP/magic fest win. In regards to that win I was wondering what sort of preparation you fo before attending a high level event like a magic fest? I intend to be going to my first one later on this year and I am really excited but also nervous. Thanks and good luck at the MC!!! You got this Luis!!!!!

Josh McFarlane

2019-07-26 11:56:51 +0000 UTC

Where does the vanilla scale lie these days? It used to be that a 2/2 for 2 was fine, but I don't think that's really true anymore, with cards like Pack Mastiff, a 2/2 with upside, being kinda fringe playable.

BLB

2019-07-26 11:54:17 +0000 UTC

How does it feel getting to 500 Episodes? That's a long time for anything to be around.

crushcastles23

2019-07-26 11:46:40 +0000 UTC

This came up in the discord the other day: Have you or do you know anyone who's tried using the new theme boosters as a mini-sealed pool? It seems like with 35 cards in one color it would be straightforward to put a deck together, especially for people newer to limited and intimidated by deckbuilding.

doingnothinganymore

2019-07-26 11:33:26 +0000 UTC

Luis has mentioned several times that certain mechanics in Magic are there to prevent it from being "solved." However, isn't Magic constantly in a state of being solved--why else would tier lists exist for each format? Furthermore, isn't the point of this very podcast to help us solve each "limited" format?

Spencer St. James

2019-07-26 11:26:42 +0000 UTC

Hi! I'm currently constructing a peasant cube (Common+Uncommon) with a strong archetype theme connected to each 2-color combination - Azorius Blink, Simic Counters, Rakdos Madness/Hellbent etc. I wondered what some of your favorite build around archetypes are and which guild you would assign them to. I'm having some trouble deciding what to do with Gruul so tips would be appreciated. Also, Luis do you have any quick tips about Eternal Drafting? Love the show and thanks for all the hard work!

Jens Aldén

2019-07-26 10:57:59 +0000 UTC

Hey folks, and congratulations on the GP win lsv! I wanted to ask about playing around or into combat tricks. As an intermediate player, I often find myself playing around instants to the point that I make suboptimal plays, even when they have the instants. How do you know when to play around something versus playing into it? Thanks again for all the great content

Luis Goicouria (manowarelves)

2019-07-26 10:53:07 +0000 UTC

What are your favourite and least favourite tournament locations? What's a city or country you'd like to see a tournament organised in?

Daryl Weir

2019-07-26 10:35:25 +0000 UTC

I put a donation box at my LGS for draft chaff, prerelease boxes, etc to use for the kids' leagues and free sealed events throughout the school year and it works reasonably well, both for collection and as a reminder to players who then donate larger boxes of bulk commons directly to us. How do you think a charity bin would go over at a MF? I envision a small shipping container full of bulk cards and playmats that CFB could turn into a charitable program like Weirdcards (I hope you've heard of them). Keep up the amazing content and congrats on the hometown win, LSV!

Halvar's Bridge

2019-07-26 10:32:01 +0000 UTC

What can I do to bring both of you to GP Bangkok!? Just kidding, and btw congrats on the GP win! Homefield advantage is a thing! Back to the question, which do you think is worse? Green in Bfz or White in M20?

Shanin

2019-07-26 10:22:35 +0000 UTC

A vanilla 1,1 for 1 isn't playable, and I have to assume a 10,10 for 10 wouldn't be either, but things in the middle of that range, like a 5,5 for 5, is fine. What's the sweet spot for playability of these vanilla test creatures, and how much does it vary from set to set?

Robert Hanton

2019-07-26 10:17:45 +0000 UTC

I feel like “drafting the hard way” is mandatory on mtgo but is this still viable for arena.? It seems to me that’s it’s way easier to hedge into a strong archetype in arena and actually beneficial to do so. What’s the nuts and bolts spikes approach to arena draft? Thanks guys and congrats on the gp win Luis

Ross Kolp

2019-07-26 10:15:45 +0000 UTC

Spike mentality aside, which of the other psychographics(?) do you mostly identify with? Vorthos, Melvin, Johnny or Timmy? What about the previous co-hosts (best guess)

Thomas Bang

2019-07-26 10:06:11 +0000 UTC

White has been atrocious in most of the last several sets. What needs to change to make white great again?

Atipong Pathanasethpong

2019-07-26 09:48:14 +0000 UTC

Thank you both for the show. Your advice such as set reviews and power rankings has really helped me get better at individual formats. The next step for me is looking to understand how I can start deriving that info for myself. When you play test with a new card in an unfamiliar format, what do you look for? How do you understand (for example) whether that creature is actively good vs being a replaceable body that helps you press your advantage; or how good Cancel is?

David Simons

2019-07-26 09:42:27 +0000 UTC

Due to a relatively small customer base the drafts in my local stores/groups often attract awkward numbers of participants where the choices are to either play with larger communal pods of say 10/11 people, where you will only see most packs once, or multiple smaller pods of 5/6, where the total number of packs lowers the power level of decks slightly. In these circumstances do you have any advice for how I could alter and improve my draft results based on this information? Does trying to take fixing early lend any benefit when there are fewer resources for example? Thanks for the content and congratulations on 500 shows and LSV's GP win!

Thomas McManus

2019-07-26 09:38:20 +0000 UTC

I have a question about mana-intensity in decks, in particular two-coloured decks. I wondered how and at what point one should determine how many of each land should be in the deck, and how/when does it influence the draft picks? I.e. when should I deviate from the 9-8 split, and when should I pick a worse card due to the number of coloured pips? Love the show, congratulations on the 500th episode, and to LSV for the GP. Hope the momentum carries into the Mythic Championship!

Joel Hultin

2019-07-26 09:31:31 +0000 UTC

So last time I found out you don't play any musical instruments... but do you sing in the shower? It's a pretty high EV play in my experience ;)

Anthony Morgan

2019-07-26 09:22:47 +0000 UTC

So I think everybody agrees that white is the worst color in M20. But what do you do when it’s clearly the open lane in a draft? At what point are you willing to move into white? (And optional follow up: and once you have, what type of deck are you hoping to build?)

Max Kanat-Alexander

2019-07-26 09:20:26 +0000 UTC

Questions for Q&A Episode 502

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