Wait a minute, I can talk about Magic Cards here!

Maybe other things sometimes too! But certainly magic cards!

[mtlmrk]

I play Magic the Gathering Arena daily. I usually like or at least gravitate towards standard Best of 1.

Lately I am having an issue with finding a deck I like and also playing against many decks simultaneously adoring the wide swath of decks I am seeing but hating recurring things like, playing nothing but removal or annoying spells and hoping I’ll quit instead of advancing your own board state. I just played a mono black deck that had almost nothing but hand spells and hand hate but they played tepidly and in between them being occasionally unable to kill enough of my things to damage were also dying to their own phyrexian arena. Or people just playing their removal deck and then dropping out because all they did was kill my stuff, put out no stuff of their own and I stabilized. Occasionally they do do the other part of control and put in some card draw… but honestly not enough of them do.

Another fun thing is playing enough games to see all the unpleasant games you can have. Like being stuck on land in a low cost mono color deck running 24 of the damned things while these over abundant greedy 3-4 color decks hit their curve running circles around you. But you also occasionally do things like top deck your own game ending 8 mana spell that can push fast the one they just cast so you have to take the good with the bad.

[existennialmemes]

When I say I want more cartoons for adults, I don't mean "adult animation" like Archer or Rick & Morty

I mean I want shows like The Owl House and SPOP exactly as they are, except sometimes the characters get to say "fuck"

[mtlmrk]

My issue with this is I find sudden onset “fuck” in a previous non “fuck” IP to be a little jarring. Picard, Designated Survivor, Titans and the Final Fantasy 16 demo really drove that home to me.

But if it was an IP in the spirit of She-ra Princesses or Power or Owl House made by those creators with the same kinds of vibes and access to “fuck” I think that would be fine.

On a similar note, most 80s toy centric properties updates could easily have an episode where Skeletor, or Megatron or what have you unseals the ability to swear would be a great plot point and a way to ‘ease it in.(Note: I do believe the GI Joe and Transformers movie had a ‘shot’ or ‘damn’ or two in there.)

[mtlmrk]

The take away from the reactions to initial main lore story of March of the Machines is interesting.

1)Some people seem to have very rose coloured nostalgia glasses from the original Phyrexian invasion story line. “There were so many deaths though.” Sure, most of them were needless, many of them were fridging. “But at least the ending wasn’t some eleventh hour ass pull!” … You sure about that?

2)”This was no stakes and set up in a year.” Mirrodin was 2003-2004, Scars block 2010-2011, parts of this have been set up and hinted at for 13-20 years, Every mention of New Phyrexia in a updated card art or small story blurb was a lump in the throat of people worried that at any moment they were going to fridge and body horror favorite characters. The first part of this final act was in Kaldheim and that was 2 years ago now and had 4 sets in between that barely touched upon them extending the tension.

3)’Why did other planes not roll over’- A few things here… one, Phyrexia was born out of and intimately tied with and entwined with dominaria for millennia. Phyrexia learned to Phyrexia based on how Dominaria reacted to it and even Mirrodin was created by somebody who had primarily dominarian roots so their knowledge of the multiverse is limited to Dominaria more or less. So they are really really good at fighting dominaria. And that can get you some distance with other planes but only so far.

A major take away from the story of All will be One is how home field advantage and people there knowing you are coming can really mess up your plans of insurgency. Norn then proceeded to ignore that lesson and stage a simultaneous multi planar incursion of multiple territories most of New Phyrexia has a passing knowledge of at best.

Because for how powerful the praetors are, all of them are dogmatic fanatics with no real infamous tactician among them. And because fanaticism is built into New Phyrexians I don’t know if they could ever get one sober enough to account for any weakness they might have. So that explains why they might have easier times with places like Theros because of their predisposition to believe but a harder time in a place like Ikoria or Innistrad.

Also, it was so close. Like razor’s edge, and the outcome was pyrrhic.. like it was not a decisive victory… the Phyrexians had hubris and it blew up in their faces but only after we were shown time and again then reasons they had such hubris in the first place.

I liked it. I think it was better executed with less corporate meddling than war of the Spark. I think the stories allowed more of the Planeswalkers to have actual arcs and things to do. I do not like how reliant it was on body horroring and fridging of most of my favorite planeswalkers for the sake of emotional investment and how the strength of the Phyrexians as an enemy is that ‘they win until they lose’. Which upsets the other contingent of people really hoping for the phyrexians to win for good or more decisively for the opposite reasons.

We should probably see more of it play out on the cards and we’ll see how Aftermath figures into it. There are quite a few lose ends with implications I don’t like but hopefully we can have different types of stakes for a bit this was emotionally exhausting for me.

[beaft]

i hate job hunting more than anything else in the world

[beaft]

me: i'd like a job, please

the person who gives out the jobs (actually an oversized march hare sitting behind a desk, dictating to a crow that taps out the letters with its beak):

“If Employmente ye do seek, Attend this interview next week;

Four tasks you must perform for me, And once that's done, a further three.

Pass the test, and twelve days hence, You may receive your recompense.

But heed my warning: if you fail, We'll send you naught but a stock email.”

[beaft]

if you think about it, much of the advice for job interviews is very similar to the advice for dealing with the Fair Folk:

come prepared. remember that the normal code of conduct does not apply here. the power is largely in their hands, so you must play by their rules or suffer the consequences

be very careful about how much eye contact you make

they will try to trick you

choose your words wisely, lest they be turned against you. don't lie - but also don't be completely honest. similarly, trust nothing that is said to you; it might be true in letter, but not in spirit, and is doubtless intended to manipulate

never apologise. an apology implies wrongdoing.

wearing specific clothing might improve your chances

reveal as little information about yourself as possible

if you please them, you may receive a Boon (employment)

[mtlmrk]

I think I’ll try and find an innocuous looking iron trinket once I really dig into the job hunt.

[markrosewater]

(In reference to an earlier ask from someone else about Hybrid cards in Commander.)

When did Hybrid cost cards come out, and when did Commander's rules get codified? You can certainly design cards with an intention, but if your original intention is not being upheld thats hardly the same thing as making rares when pauper exists.

The Commander format predates hybrid mana coming out.

Hybrid works the same in every format but Commander (and by extension Brawl). All of those formats added together are the majority of Magic play.

Also, the entire point of hybrid mana is it’s “or” not “and”, so if we want to design “and” we use traditional multicolor.

[mtlmrk]

Making this work as hybrid mana being hybrid would open up a lot of interesting deck building space in the 99 , it might be trickier as a commander or with some of the multicolour hybrid… but I feel you should be able to use something like manamorphose in a bant deck etc. etc.

[mtlmrk]

So I am playing Triangle strategy right now and I m enjoying it but - and spoilers ahead- I got a game over because I didn’t uncover the dialogue trees enough to get all the options at one place… but like what I did up until that point… I felt it was sort of a dumb reason for a game over….

Like I infiltrated and escaped the ambushed capital city… turned back the vanguard of the scariest nation’s army with the scariest nation’s general by SETTING HER ON FIRE and trapping her in a blaze and if she wasn’t plot essential she would have died there… all because I did not want to give up my friend… my forces then beat the shit out of an infamous mercenary hired by a schemey lord who also wanted me to give up my friend. My friend then faked his death.. but I think the invading nation knew that but since I sent their infamously formidable general ON FIRE they rolled with it and worked on another part of their plan. So then people in the other nation tried to coerce me into their illicit trading scheme… my team killed the orchestrator’s right hand man in a canyon fight and then the unnamed captain of his house while securing evidence. And this guy is an important state’s official… He get’s found out and executed. Because I, who prior to ths have fought off a mercenary of some renown and set one of the most fearsome military generals ON FUCKING FIRE, basically exposed him. They offer me his old job, but only if I hand over refugees from their persecute religious class to perform hard labor… a group to whom my wife to be belongs to… and I saw first hand how short they are treated there. So that is a no… and I beat back the previous mercenary again and Also actually kill the scheming lord this time..l gave him the benefit of a doubt last time.

Up until this point most of my play through has been me setting people on fire and kicking the shit out of people whom did not like that I would not give up my friends or be a lackey. Like I have a trail of bodies that includes generals, and powerful leaders and for some reason…I t this one scenario if I don’t find all the options… I get a quick game over and killed off screen. It did a number in my suspension of disbelief.

[jace-beleren]

VORTHOS TUMBLR HOW WE FEELIN?!?

[mtlmrk]

Not a fan. Hated when they did it to characters in the Weatherlight saga, hated when they did it to characters from Mirrodin, hate it now because Tamiyo is a favourite character. We’ll see where it goes since we don’t know if it’s reversible but right now not a fan,

[mtlmrk]

This is why am I mad about Odric. Like this is what we should be talking about. from its preview, the Rick card just looked like a reskinned Odric Design. It plays well with the two first Odric. So I thought they were just going to show something super close to the Rick card and everybody would be happy and move on and maybe the secret lord w.king died would been seen as being as devisive in hind sight. Instead we get another weird creative character move that isn’t quite as bad as some of the phyrexiaized mirrodin characters or the sheer amount of fridging the weatherlight saga had… and nobody seems to be talking like this but it looks like he got sacrificed for the walking dead card.

At the same time though this Odric has potential as a commander… angels like all the Akroma stuff have a bunch of key words, things that care about a lot of artifacts which lorehold and other Boris commanders try to do , because he can potentially make a bunch and then be flickered out to make some more. He seems like he might be fun to build around.

[bace-jeleren]

If this took place on any other plane, this wouldn't worry me, but since we're on Innistrad, two legendary creatures combining to make one legendary creature card tends to wind up looking something like this...

Place your bets everyone!

[mtlmrk]

I thought it would be Hal and Alena , it ended being Hal and Alena. Like I know Brisela is a thing… but eldrich Moon also had Gisa and Geralf and that is hat informed by sumptuous of Hal and Alena. And when you take into count this new card in Hal and Alena are those three cards technically a cycle?

[luimnigh]

...I'm seeing a lot of people saying that only Voice Actors should do Voice Acting and that is absolutely missing the point entirely.

Like aside from the fact that Voice Acting is acting, it's not about putting on voices, it's about performance; that sort of typecasting does nothing to help voice actors. Most voice actors do also take on live-action roles too.

Voice acting has unique challenges that a lot of film actors underestimate, but the same is true of the differences between stage acting and film acting. The challenges can be overcome, and many actors easily switch between the different styles.

The problem with the casting we're seeing with Mario is twofold.

The first is that the original/current voice actors have been pushed put the roles they've spent years in, that they're iconic in, in favour of new actors in this high-profile adaptation. And while the games will go back to Charles Martinet and Jennifer Hale (yes, Commander Shepard is Princess Peach), this takes the opportunity away from them of playing their characters on a much bigger stage.

The second is more general to theatrical animation: it's stunt casting, plain and simple. They're not casting who's best for the role, they're casting actors specifically to make headlines and draw attention.

Now, you can do stunt casting well, I don't think anyone begrudges Robin Williams for Aladdin, but the problem is when you have your entire cast be stunt casting, the end product can end up lesser for it and it pushes out smaller-name actors and voice actors who could have done the role just as well.

[mtlmrk]

This encapsulates some of my issues with people using the Chris Pratt as Mario news as a way to call out voice actors being put out of a job (but then going and using like people like Charles Martinet, Rob Paulsen and Maurice Lamarche as examples who are all still millionaires.)

But I still take issues… like Robin Williams as Genie gets way too much a misinterpretation . Bob Newhart me Eva Gabor we’re big delals when they were in the rescuers in the 70s and Kurt Russell, Sandy Duncan and Corey Feldman were in the Fox and the hound. Prior to Aladdin Robin Williams was in Ferngully and he was in animated film afterwards like Robots and Happy Feet. What made Genie work is that just fucking rolled with it. I remember when I started noticing more actors doing voice work it was like Bebe Neuqirth in the Aladdin animated series. A bunch of Star Trek people in Gargoyles and the cameo laden Disney’s Hercules animated series.

Also you have cross overs like Mark Hammil , Hank Azaria, Keith David and Phil Lamar.And then some of the GOATs of voice acting like Mel Blanc and June Foray both got their start in Radio when it was a medium.

And THEN there was like the opposite of what happened with the Mario movie when Square Enix showed their pretty high pedigree voice actor cast for their avengers game and the actors got fucking ridiculed because ‘who re these guys’. Like I think sometimes it is really is HD both ways.

I also think it’s the combination of the space Chris Pratt takes in pop culture versus the space Mario takes up in pop culture has something to do with it. Like if you swap him with any other of the male leads like if he was donkey Kong and Seth Rogen we Mario there wouldn’t be as much reaction.

But the other issue with it is just how predictable itseems… like aside from Chris Pratt doing goofy every man, if they have a Yoshi in the game there is limits certainly going to be a Jurassic world scene where he channels Owen., Luigi is going to do a manic trek out. Bowser is going to sing, tod is going to freak out in a manic falsetto voice, Black Nerd Comedy on YouTube basically previewed how Seth Rogen’s lines sound most likely.

You could also probably take any celeb heavy animated movie and it would change little, like Sing or Shrek or Lego Batman movie, whichever one would be seen as a serviceable cast for the endeavour.

[rintezukas]

well i hope that cruel angel got into grad school

[mtlmrk]

That is a good joke.

[twistedsea]

trickster

[mtlmrk]

This reminds me. Did anybody else get at least mild Jester vibes from Yelena in Black Widow or was that just me?

[brainstatic]

Jurassic World did the Avatar thing where it made a gajillion dollars and left no cultural footprint whatsoever. Name your favorite Jurassic World character. What was your favorite line. It evaporated despite everyone seeing it.

[emptyjunior]

WRONG fav character was the extra that ran away from the pterodactyls with two margheritas in hand

[ssskeletonsoffun]

[thatsoneforamerica]

Gotta do everything myself around here

[otterology]

So, I went into this guy’s Wikipedia page, because he looked familiar. And there’s this big “Controversies” section, so I was preparing myself to read that even the margaritas/pterodactyls guy has sexually assaulted someone. But it turns out that he hasn’t. However, he:

- Has been sued for copyright infringement for a ‘blasphemous’ musical rendition of a monologue from the 1950s

- He was on a plane with U2′s Bono and his family, and the plane was shot by the Jamaican police, who believed they were smuggling marijuana. He wrote a song about the incident.

- He’s actually a singer, and his better known song in called MARGARITAVILLE. He also owns the Margaritaville Cafe restaurant chain. And has licensed Margaritaville Tequila, Margaritaville Footwear, and a Margaritaville Foods. He owns the Margaritaville Casino, has released a “Margaritaville Online” game, and he wrote and starred in a musical called “Escape to Margaritaville”

- He also wrote a song called “Math Suks”, which was condemned by the US National Council of Teachers of Mathematics for its alleged negative effect on children’s education. 

- He was thrown out of a basketball game he was watching for using blasphemous language in front of kids.

- And he was detained by French customs for allegedly carrying over 100 pills of ecstasy. Although he was released after paying a fine, and, according to him, the pills were a B-vitamin supplement.

So, yeah, that was refreshing controversies section-wise, but now I don’t know what to do with all that information.

[backyardbob01]

Maybe its my age, but i’m a little concerned that the fact he is a singer and wrote Margaritaville wasn’t prior knowledge and is considered a controversy

[mtlmrk]

My favourite line requires some explanation…

When the trailers were first being shown and incomings Rex was being teased, it was very evident that they were borrowing ALOT from Aliens. The meddling of science with dangerous predators.. scary female creatures etc. To the point where I was wondering if somebody was going to say ‘Get away from her, you bitch!’ In the movie. In the clip below it happens round the 1:10 mark.

In one of the climatic moments of the final showdown with Indominus Rex… everything appears to be lost… she is wiping the floor with T. rex… But then, you hear some bellowing off screen and then velociraptor blue comes in and jumps on indominus rex and the tide begins to turn. And it might be my head cannon alone, it might be a reach but seeing it in the theatre and to this day I feel that not only is ‘Get away from her, you bitch!’ In Jurassic World but it is said BY a dinosaur TO another dinosaur IN dinosaur! It’s around the 6:20 mark in the clip below.

[markrosewater]

Would a "Gangster World" be stepping on the toes of Ravnica or Kaladesh too much?

Do you feel either Ravnica or Kaladesh is a Gangster World?

[mtlmrk]

I think you would have to figure out the mechanics of gangster world first and then what you mean by gangster world. Like a lot of gangster adjacent things like intimidation’s, protection rackets and various types of organized crimes have been in black or red most sets since day one most location themed places, Mercadia mercenaries were involved in a lot of gangster type activities, Phyrexia old and new has parallels, Orzhov mechanics were developed with the Mafia in mind, Dominaria has the cabal and Tarkir old and new has like at least 5 factions very much organized like gangs.

If you mean ‘urban noir’, I believe the third Ravnica pre war sets were supposed to capture that feel. It also worth considering is how much gangster world could wade into stereotypes and what would have to be done to be considerate.

[markrosewater]

So Richard ended up making a cycle in Alpha the strongest being Ancestral Recall. I was wondering hypothetically if your bosses lost their minds and demanded you had to match the other four cards power level to Recall’s what might that look like in an alternate universe? How much life gain/direct damage/ritual mana/ creature pump even approaches drawing three cards for one mana was the thought that got me to the hypothetical.

That sounds like a fun group project. Take the Alpha Boons and change the numbers, but keep the effects, to match Ancestral Recall’s power level.

[mtlmrk]

Poison is a thing so, like so maybe 7 or 8 tops for green

Other people are suggesting 4 for ritual and there’s enough hyper efficient black beaters for 4 mana or silly 2 card things you can do…

Red is trickier because bolt can hit anything but in a vacuum like 5 would be what it has to be… I’d like to try 6 or 7…

White has a critical mass of if you have this much more life than your starting total stuff…I’d wanna try 10 life before 15. A neat thing is that I think healing salve also prevents damage, so it could shut off a poison one shot with the boosted giant growth.

[neil-gaiman]

Hey Neil, due to a certain British author saying some stupid things again... Could you please quickly say something supportive for trans people? Would be really comforting right now

I’ve missed this (I’ve been taking a Twitter holiday for the last month, for my own mental health), but I can imagine. I’m sorry. 

Trans women are women. Trans men are men.  Trans rights are human rights. I’m sorry that some people have such a hard time getting their heads around that. But the world is changing, and history is with you.

[neil-gaiman]

This, from 13 months ago, has just been noticed by transphobes, who have been screenshotting it, announcing that I'm jumping onto a bandwagon and they won't read my books any more. So I thought I'd reblog it, because there may be some trans men or trans women out there who need reassurance, and this might help. (Thank you to all the people who turned up on my Twitter feed hoping for a fight for reminding me to reblog it, even if that wasn't what you thought you were doing.)

[venser]

shoutout to marrissa @local-vamp for letting me pester her about planeswalkers

[venser]

and the rest

[mtlmrk]

All of this is spot on yes. I think that speaks to good art direction, maybe?