Author Topic: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!  (Read 269525 times)

Offline phaedrusxy

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 10717
  • The iconic spambot
    • View Profile
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #660 on: February 25, 2015, 07:21:59 PM »
You can "dumb" down MtG by using simpler cards.

I'd suggest building five decks to teach the color pool. Use maybe 90% basic lands and 4 uniques, that way he can learn different lands and feel rewarded when one comes up. For the rest of the deck, use mostly non-ability creatures with a couple with easy theme fitting traits (red/haste, green/trample, etc). A couple also theme-fitting spell effects like discard, destroy, direct damage, etc and one or two Enchantment/Aura/Artifact per. Just work on basics, more balanced you can make the decks to each other the more fun you'll have too.
I might try something like this if I can scrape up the time... but that's a pretty big problem. I play maybe once per week with him, and even finding time for that is hard. I was never that into Magic, anyway. So I only own maybe 150 cards total. So what I did was split up my cards by color. He uses black/blue, and I use white/green (I don't have many reds, as I used to trade with a guy who loved them). Our decks are a bit oversized, but my son typically wins, as his deck seems to be stronger, and we get to explore the rules as they come up. So it seems to be working out well enough so far. ;)
I don't pee messages into the snow often , but when I do , it's in Cyrillic with Fake Viagra.  Stay frosty my friends.

Offline brujon

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2554
  • Insufferable Fool
    • View Profile
    • My Blog (in PT-BR)
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #661 on: February 25, 2015, 07:28:38 PM »
I've started playing some MtG with my 7 year old son. I might check this out, if the rules seem simple enough (MtG is almost too complicated for us, as it is... I hope this is simpler. It sounds like it might be.)

Whenever i try to teach MtG for someone who doesn't yet know the game, i start out by limiting the possible cards to the standard sets - 8th edition, 9th edition, etc... They have fewer mechanics, and are generally a lot simpler to teach to new players.

I will create "themed" decks to demonstrate all the "standard" strategies for all the single colors, and expand on that to explain how the color pie system works.

I'll usually start with Green, because i feel like that is the easiest strategy for new players to grasp - get a lot of mana, cast big creature spells, hit hard, win the game. It also serves the benefit of helping players understand how the game works in regards to creatures: the two main phases where you can cast creature spells, the attack phase where you can attack with the creatures, summoning sickness & haste, tapping to block & defender/vigilance, assigning combat damage, the combat damage stack & trample, creatures going to the graveyard, etc.

You can then change up to a White Weenie deck, to show that you don't necessarily need big creatures in order to win the game. White is also a cool deck to introduce enchantments - you have the various circle of protections plus a lot of interesting other enchantments, the prevent damage mechanic, the gain life mechanic & lifelink. White also has a lot of removes that target permanents: a good opportunity to introduce those kind of removals, especially how Exile works as opposed to Destroy, as well as how "Destroy all creatures" type effects go around Hexproof, which is something some players can't get their head around.

Now, you can show the power of direct damage spells. Get a Red Burn deck, and show how you don't need any creatures to win the game. Get some land destruction going on to show how effective the strategy of denying your opponents tempo really is. Red is brutal and fast, and usually appeals to new players much more than the slower control & combo decks. You should emphasize the difference between Sorceries and Instants - the different times that they can be cast, the stack, and how you can't cast a sorcery "in response" like you can do with an instant.

Black is a good way to introduce a more control-y deck without going to the headache that is Blue. Blue is too hard for new players, and should be the last deck you introduce them. You have previously shown them how destroying land can destroy your opponents tempo, now is a good time to introduce the concept of disrupting an opponents hand & card advantage. You should play at least one Indestructible creature to show how you can counter Indestructible by using -X/-X cards to reduce an Indestructible creature's toughness to 0 and send it to the graveyard as a state-based effect. You should emphasize how black is focused around destroying the opponent, controlling the board and dealing with the graveyard. Black is the opposite of White, and this is a good opportunity to show just why that is.

Blue is last. At this point, it's assumed that the person you're teaching has familiarized himself sufficient with the stack, the different phases, etc. You're now showing a much more complicated color, one that revolves around manipulating the library, your hand, and what is in the board. Draws, bounces, counters, and the dangers of overdrawing and milling yourself, as well as how milling your opponent can be a viable strategy with Blue.

Throughout the entire time, you should strive to put artifacts that mesh well with the colors you're showing in order to get the point across that artifacts are "jack of all trades" and can be made to fit in every deck. As you go, slowly introduce non-basic lands and try to vary up the mechanics available for the new player.

After this, you can fool around with multicolor decks. Show him how good UB is at controlling, how fast WG can be, etc... And, break out the big guns! Now it's time to introduce all the different sets and their specific mechanics. Netdeck and show what's really possible when you put your mind to it!

EDIT:

Made a huge post and got Ninja'd by Soro, but we had the same overall idea.
"All the pride and pleasure of the world, mirrored in the dull consciousness of a fool, are poor indeed compared with the imagination of Cervantes writing his Don Quixote in a miserable prison" - Schopenhauer, Aphorisms: The Wisdom of Life

Offline Nanshork

  • Homebrew Reviewer
  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 13401
    • View Profile
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #662 on: February 26, 2015, 01:55:56 AM »
I have a love/hate relationship with MtG.

Hearthstone makes me happy though, I think it's winning in the battle for my affection.  MtG is just way too bloated...

Offline phaedrusxy

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 10717
  • The iconic spambot
    • View Profile
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #663 on: February 26, 2015, 02:37:53 PM »
I have a love/hate relationship with MtG.

Hearthstone makes me happy though, I think it's winning in the battle for my affection.  MtG is just way too bloated...
Like I said, I never really got into it that heavily, and that was ages ago. My cards are like 20 yrs old.


And now to move on to another topic, check out this awesome story of a D&D game that went unexectedly wrong but turned out oh so right.
I don't pee messages into the snow often , but when I do , it's in Cyrillic with Fake Viagra.  Stay frosty my friends.

Offline Jackinthegreen

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 6176
  • I like green.
    • View Profile
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #664 on: February 26, 2015, 11:52:25 PM »
The good news:  I can now mod Torchlight 2.  And Adobe CS2 stuff is working on this Vista machine so now I can get back to using Illustrator for some math projects.

The bad news:  A mod I tried to use for TL2 deleted over two hundred items I was saving in the hugely expanded stash from one of the other mods.  Time to figure out how to get the sorting stuff to work for the expanded stash.  It appears the built in inventory sorters only work for the regular 4x8 grid, so I'll need to see if there are any changes I can make in the mod to account for any stash size.  Ideally I'd like to be able to combine the 3 character inventories into 1 for the purpose of sorting but that won't be a huge deal.  If I get this working then I'll let the Synergies people know about it and hopefully it'll get added in.  Organizing inventory is a mess.

Offline FireInTheSky

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3870
  • "Insight is the sudden cessation of stupidity."
    • View Profile
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #665 on: March 01, 2015, 11:13:04 AM »
Re: MtG - I started playing when I was probably 8 or 9, and Revised/3rd Ed was the current set. Stopped collecting newer sets when they changed the look of the cards (Mirrodin, or somewhere around there? Or 9th edition?). By that point, I kinda felt like I was wasting money, and would rather spend it on other stuff. Also, I was getting tired of the power creep.

Last year, I sold almost my entire collection (for any decks I had built, I kept the cards that would have been "bulk", and proxied the rest onto basic lands, so that I could still play with family occasionally) for something like $4500. So that was nice. :D

Offline brujon

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2554
  • Insufferable Fool
    • View Profile
    • My Blog (in PT-BR)
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #666 on: March 01, 2015, 12:14:00 PM »
Re: MtG - I started playing when I was probably 8 or 9, and Revised/3rd Ed was the current set. Stopped collecting newer sets when they changed the look of the cards (Mirrodin, or somewhere around there? Or 9th edition?). By that point, I kinda felt like I was wasting money, and would rather spend it on other stuff. Also, I was getting tired of the power creep.

Last year, I sold almost my entire collection (for any decks I had built, I kept the cards that would have been "bulk", and proxied the rest onto basic lands, so that I could still play with family occasionally) for something like $4500. So that was nice. :D

MTG has been getting better about power creep recently, fewer truly broken cards per set, and they're getting quicker/smarter about banning/restricting format warping cards. It'll never get rid off entirely, but part of the fun in MtG is trying to figure out the minmaxing as fast as possible when a new set comes out, so you can hopefully get those key cards before they go up in value too much and/or get banned/restricted, either so you can resell and make a profit, or so you can faceroll people. It's all part of the game!  :lol
"All the pride and pleasure of the world, mirrored in the dull consciousness of a fool, are poor indeed compared with the imagination of Cervantes writing his Don Quixote in a miserable prison" - Schopenhauer, Aphorisms: The Wisdom of Life

Offline phaedrusxy

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 10717
  • The iconic spambot
    • View Profile
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #667 on: March 02, 2015, 10:03:51 AM »
And... this is exactly why I never got into it much! Way too much of an obvious money drain!
I don't pee messages into the snow often , but when I do , it's in Cyrillic with Fake Viagra.  Stay frosty my friends.

Offline Frogman55

  • Hero Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 806
  • I'm not very new!
    • View Profile
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #668 on: March 02, 2015, 10:52:48 AM »
And... this is exactly why I never got into it much! Way too much of an obvious money drain!
Games where the winners tend to be the ones who invest the most bother me. I do enjoy the occasional draft match.

Offline sirpercival

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 10855
  • you can't escape the miles
    • View Profile
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #669 on: March 02, 2015, 11:05:58 AM »
I am the assassin of productivity

(member in good standing of the troll-feeders guild)

It's begun — my things have overgrown the previous sig.

Offline phaedrusxy

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 10717
  • The iconic spambot
    • View Profile
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #670 on: March 02, 2015, 11:37:07 AM »
 :lol OK, I'm now a fan! Will continue to play with my 7 yo until he is thoroughly hooked.  :P
I don't pee messages into the snow often , but when I do , it's in Cyrillic with Fake Viagra.  Stay frosty my friends.

Offline brujon

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2554
  • Insufferable Fool
    • View Profile
    • My Blog (in PT-BR)
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #671 on: March 02, 2015, 01:32:02 PM »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7g8YMW2nYY

Time to share some classy as f Brazilian tunes. Brazilian Drum n' Bass (sometimes called Drum n' Bossa), i absolutely love this music.

Yes, people, there's good stuff here, it's not all about Funk Proibidão!

PhaedrusXY: There's a reason it's called [link=http://cardboard-crack.com]Cardboard Crack[/link], you know...
« Last Edit: March 02, 2015, 01:34:55 PM by brujon »
"All the pride and pleasure of the world, mirrored in the dull consciousness of a fool, are poor indeed compared with the imagination of Cervantes writing his Don Quixote in a miserable prison" - Schopenhauer, Aphorisms: The Wisdom of Life

Offline linklord231

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3352
  • The dice are trying to kill me
    • View Profile
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #672 on: March 03, 2015, 02:45:22 AM »
I walked in to the Verizon store today to get a new phone.  I was due for an upgrade and my old phone has recently started not working so great, so why not.

Turns out, one of my top picks for a new phone was currently on sale - $50 off, and it comes with a free tablet, and I don't even have to pay the usual $10/month "tablet fee" for whatever reason.  But wait, there's more - Verizon is promoting their "Edge" deal, where you finance your new phone over the course of your contract instead of paying for it all at once.  As part of this promotion, they're giving participants a $25/month credit to their bill for the entire 2 years of the contract.  The monthly payments for the phone I picked were only $23/month. 

So, I walked out of the store with a new phone, a new tablet, and my monthly bills are going down by $2/month. 
I'm not arguing, I'm explaining why I'm right.

Offline brujon

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 2554
  • Insufferable Fool
    • View Profile
    • My Blog (in PT-BR)
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #673 on: March 03, 2015, 12:12:25 PM »
http://www.tagthesponsor.com

This site is hilarious. Exposing the instagram "models" for what they really are. Hummus Bukkake  :lmao :lmao


EDIT: Relatively NSFW.

"All the pride and pleasure of the world, mirrored in the dull consciousness of a fool, are poor indeed compared with the imagination of Cervantes writing his Don Quixote in a miserable prison" - Schopenhauer, Aphorisms: The Wisdom of Life

Offline dman11235

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 2571
  • Disclaimer: not at full capacity yet
    • View Profile
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #674 on: March 05, 2015, 10:16:12 PM »
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRPsU8xhbHFwdqBMbm4mjOQCWZKnhrZjf&feature=iv&src_vid=oxDwjJ94vk4&annotation_id=annotation_2383125423

The first two parts are "huh this is interesting.  I like the animation style, it's pretty cool".  The third part is "HOLY BALLS THIS IS AWESOME I WANT MORE."
My Sig's Handy Haversack  Need help?  Want to see what I've done?  Want to see what others have done well?  Check it out.

Avatar d20

Offline awaken_D_M_golem

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 7639
  • classique style , invisible tail
    • View Profile
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #675 on: March 06, 2015, 04:52:42 PM »
Super cold last night.  Moon full.  Total snow cover, including roofs and trees.  No clouds ... but you couldn't see the stars from the Ice in the atmosphere.  Net effect looked like this at 3 AM ... (yes it was beautiful).

http://astrobob.areavoices.com/files/2014/03/Full-Moon-Lake-Superior-Ice-B_S.jpg
Your codpiece is a mimic.

Offline phaedrusxy

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 10717
  • The iconic spambot
    • View Profile
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #676 on: March 12, 2015, 11:14:34 AM »
Dadachum? Deedachee? Scientists turn up 480 million year old fossil of Steven King's "Lobstrocities". :D
I don't pee messages into the snow often , but when I do , it's in Cyrillic with Fake Viagra.  Stay frosty my friends.

Offline Nanshork

  • Homebrew Reviewer
  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 13401
    • View Profile
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #677 on: March 12, 2015, 11:32:32 AM »
Dadachum? Deedachee? Scientists turn up 480 million year old fossil of Steven King's "Lobstrocities". :D

Okay, that's pretty cool.

Offline Jackinthegreen

  • DnD Handbook Writer
  • ****
  • Posts: 6176
  • I like green.
    • View Profile
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #678 on: March 18, 2015, 07:27:05 PM »
Went to the dentist for the first time in six or seven years.  No cavities!  Which I'm surprised at because I'd only remember to brush and floss maybe once a month for a few years.  :sweat:

But I might need partial braces to fix a bottom tooth that has come forward and is causing issues for a top tooth.

Offline SolEiji

  • Epic Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 3045
  • I am 120% Eiji.
    • View Profile
    • D&D Wiki.org, not .com
Re: Awesome Stuff You Have To Share, Part 3: You Can't Handle The Awesome!
« Reply #679 on: March 18, 2015, 08:51:08 PM »
I am fidgety.

I've been rewatching G Gundam, because hell yeah G Gundam.  But now I can't help but keep playing the Shining/Burning Gundam themes and I want to break out into an epic speech everywhere.  Even at work.  How can I focus when I want to break out like this?

THIS HAND OF MINE GLOWS WITH AN AWESOME POWER!
ITS ROAR TELLS ME TO TYPE RAPIDLY!

TAKE THIS!  MY KNOWLEDGE!  MY SKILL!  AND ALL OF MY EXPERTISE!

TROUBLE... SHOOTING.... FINGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!

*Hits Enter*

And now.... TICKET END!!!!
Mudada.