Ryan Spain Returns (got questions for him?)
Added 2017-03-29 19:50:45 +0000 UTCHey All,
This week on the show we are having the OG LR co-host Ryan Spain on the show as a special guest.
Ryan was the originator of many of the core strategies and tools used on LR. Things like the Vanilla Test, ROTTY, Decisions Not Results, and many others began with Ryan.
Do you have any questions for Ryan? They can be historical LR/Limited questions, questions about him, about how he approaches the game, or about game design in general.
He works at Wizards now, but won't be able to talk about what he's working on in the office :)
- Marshall
Comments
Ryan, has working on Magic and MTGO taken away from your love of the game? How do you satisfy your Magic fix? I know you can't tell us details about working at Wizards, but how much limited do you get to play internally at Wizards and externally on MTGO or at the LGS?
Ken Barker
2017-03-30 12:42:14 +0000 UTCRyan, how does it feel to have moved onward and upward into a world of greatness, leaving your once-time friend Marshall to languish behind you in your wake?
Phillip Bradbury
2017-03-30 12:17:16 +0000 UTCWait, no LSV this week? Ryan, I mean you're cool and all... Siggy said something that has stuck with me - he said, ...."don't put creatures in your deck with no text..." aka, flavor text only is not a card to put in your limited pile. When it comes to Limited Magic, power and toughness (as MS would say, keyword, "big," seems good); how do you approach card evaluation in limited these days? Cheapest card? Most generically powerful? Consistently cast? Mana curve? What are Ryan Spain's priorities when a Ryan Spain evaluates a limited draft pack? (Bombs, Removal, Evasion, then...) PS - we in the community hope you all understand how much we appreciate your contributions, and hope your wives understand the gravitas of what you do :)
Zach Relli
2017-03-30 05:22:19 +0000 UTCHi Ryan, new to the podcast so I don't know: What are your top five favorite draft formats? Have they changed much?
Nicholas Weber
2017-03-30 03:58:55 +0000 UTCHi Ryan, Metaknightmare here, still listening after all these years. Two questions - First, how's rocket? Second, do you think you've improved as a player since joining WOTC, or are you now focused on other things since the game is your job?
vel levine
2017-03-30 02:26:47 +0000 UTCHi Ryan, I started listening to LR just before LSV joined as co-host. I was wondering if you listen to the podcast at all. If so, what do you like/dislike about the current set up of the show? If you were to do Let's Stump Spain, what packs do you think would be your strongest and which your weakest?
Simon Payne
2017-03-30 01:49:29 +0000 UTCHello Ryan. As a relatively new listener, excited to have an opportunity to get the take of the original cohost. Three questions, in order of seriousness: 1. It's been a number of years since you left LR for WotC. Is there anything, that, in retrospect, you think you had wrong, or which your opinion has evolved on with regards to limited Magic? Is there any advice you used to give that you now think was actually wrong, or are there aspects of limited play that you once overlooked, but now think are important for players to consider? 2. As a Magic player, where do you think you've changed the most since leaving LR? Has working at WotC changed how your approach limited play in any way? Do you play less for fun now that making Magic is your job? Do you think you've continued to improve as a limited player? 3. Do you have any embarrassing Marshall stories? That you can share?
Matthew Taylor
2017-03-30 01:05:53 +0000 UTCYou are one of the few people I know who succeeded in getting his "dream job." What advice (and/or warnings) do you have for others who aspire to attain their dream job?
Matt Schneeweiss
2017-03-30 00:43:06 +0000 UTCRocket Report!
Glieken
2017-03-29 22:47:14 +0000 UTCHi Ryan - are you still unrivaled in the beards and basketball department? Thanks! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eOupFpsUHA&t=23" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eOupFpsUHA&t=23</a>
PJ Mizzle
2017-03-29 22:08:28 +0000 UTCRyan how did you get your job at wizards, as Im sure most of us here would dream to work there, LSV being one of them, and did you have anything to do with the Wily Bandar?
Jesse Kalavoda
2017-03-29 21:53:58 +0000 UTCHi Ryan. Do you regret the curse that this podcast has become? You host the show and have never since played competitive Magic. Jon co-hosts the show and now calls himself a "Washed-up C-list Magic celebrity." Brian co-hosted and now just plays Hearthstone. LSV currently co-hosts and hasn't Top 8ed a PT in months. Are you comfortable with Marshall leaving the tattered ruins of so many livelihoods in his wake?
Jason Lee
2017-03-29 21:49:17 +0000 UTCHi Ryan! Besides the ability to play whenever you have the free time, what had been your favorite contribution of leagues to MTGO?
David Lorenz Valdez
2017-03-29 21:44:39 +0000 UTCHi Ryan! As a relatively new player I've found tools like the vanilla test to be super helpful for evaluating new cards that I encounter. I know you developed this tool some time ago, however, and I'd be curious to hear whether your approach for evaluating new cards has shifted over time. If it has, what has precipitated these changes? Have you noticed the design of the game to shifted in any ways that we should take into account as we evaluate new cards/sets?
William Barley
2017-03-29 21:28:00 +0000 UTCOn the personal end, how is his family? Is the puppy still doing well? Does he still do 2HG tournaments with his son? On the Magic end, if he did Modern Masters drafts, what was his way to draft it ( I assume value, value, value...)
Tony Levesque
2017-03-29 21:27:12 +0000 UTCHi Ryan! Fate Reforged was known for its high level of bomby-ness. Being on the development team, is there any insight you can provide as whether or not this had to do with the fact that it was a "pivot set" for the block? Or was it just how the cards landed?
Anthony Martinez
2017-03-29 21:18:17 +0000 UTCRyan, as someone who works in the data center industry, I'm interested in the impact that "Digital Next" will have on the WotC footprint. I haven't heard much in the way of planning for growth/expansion nor have I seen open positions within the company that would suggest so. Are you leveraging Colo space or more of a private / public Cloud platform?
Eric Wendorf
2017-03-29 21:16:54 +0000 UTCRyan, this might seem like a softball question, but it's important to me. Do you believe that limited is the purest form of Magic? Not necessarily inherently superior to other formats, but is it the way of playing the game that most eliminates factors other than cards and the ability to identify and execute the best line of play?
Michael Moore
2017-03-29 21:13:57 +0000 UTCHi Ryan! I started after you left, but have gone back and listened to several of the episodes you did. I appreciate what you have done to help define what LR is. My question for you is how you would recommend improving someones ability to understand the format and relative values of cards for someone who only has the time or money to draft a few times a month. I find myself drafting a set for the 6th or 7th time and facing people with 30+ trophies in the league. Thank you!
Kari Malsom
2017-03-29 21:09:05 +0000 UTCHi Ryan! I'm curious about your thoughts on this topic, as a game designer: Games like Chess and Go have been around for many hundreds of years, remain incredibly popular, and the theory behind those games is still under active development, in spite of literally hundreds of books being published on them every year. And yet people think a new Magic format is "solved" in 6 months. Do you think Magic as a game has fundamentally less depth than these, or is something else happening? If we actually had Marshall's theoretical "time-travelling supercomputer", do you think it would tell us that most of what we think we know about Magic theory is actually correct, or not? Thanks!
Adrian Petrescu
2017-03-29 20:52:36 +0000 UTCHi Ryan! I'm a huge fan of yours, as well as LR's. It was your discussions with Marshall that really helped get me into magic, and ignited a real love of limited in me. As far as a question is concerned, if you had to design planeswalker cards inspired by you and Marshall, what colors would they be, and what would their abilities be like?
Jonah Lipton
2017-03-29 20:30:00 +0000 UTCHi Ryan! What's your opinion on the evolution of limited gameplay -from your first days as a LR cohost to the present sets? And as a designer, what kind of ideas did you bring -or wanted to bring- to limited magic design?
Rh4d4
2017-03-29 20:14:25 +0000 UTCRyan - I'm curious about your thoughts on the use of randomness in game design; when it works well, when it does not work well, how you try to incorporate it and/or minimize its impact in Magic design, and so forth. Thanks!
J W
2017-03-29 20:13:50 +0000 UTCWhat is it like seeing the concepts and terms you developed on LR become the lexicon of competitive Limited players around the world?
Brendan McNamara
2017-03-29 20:13:43 +0000 UTCThank Ryan for helping you start the show, it's been in my podcast lineup for years now. For all of you, what is the most Louisest/Marshaleist/Ryanist card you have reviewed in your tenure of LR? Most importantly for Ryan, Team Shelly, Team Herald, or Team Elmer? (Elmer ftw)
Mark Churchwell
2017-03-29 20:12:16 +0000 UTCRyan, weird question, but I think you said your old screen name was Waiting for Godot and you were interested in amateur Magic card design back in the day. I remember a user on the old, old Brainburst (now TCGPlayer) fantasy card forums named Godot who was a good amateur card designer. Was that you? If so, congrats on making it so far at Wizards!
Ira Humphrey
2017-03-29 20:07:54 +0000 UTCI know it may not be his area, but ask him what the heck they were thinking with the visual design of the new masterpieces. Who looked at them and said, "Yes, overwhelming borders and illegible text ftw"?
James Jones
2017-03-29 19:59:08 +0000 UTCHave any of the views from your time as a player impacted the way you design and in what way and also, has anything about designing changes the views you've held about playing and Limited in general?
Stewart Wyatt
2017-03-29 19:58:43 +0000 UTCquestion for Ryan: Hey, Ryan. So I hear there are players out there that have a difficult time with variance. They've drafted and built the best deck for their seat but sometimes the shuffler won't cooperate. Rather than accepting that variance occurs, they go on full blown monkey tilt. Any recommendations for a player who occasionally - or not so occasionally - lapses into a fury of tilt? Thanks. :)
Adam Sherr
2017-03-29 19:57:38 +0000 UTC
