To tie the MtG discussion back to Hearthstone, I think having played some Hearthstone has given me some perspective on various MtG mechanics, and how they fit into the grand scheme of things.

Perenially, people have complained about some of the mechanics in MtG like countermagic, discard, and land destruction as being un-fun mechanics. Countermagic especially has borne the brunt of many a casual player's criticism. But quite honestly, as a game mechanic, it provides an important check for more powerful cards, and opens up a LOT of design space for MtG.

Look at Mind Control, for example. By MtG standards, a spell like Mind Control is pretty tame and quite slow. 8 mana control win-cons are far more absurd in MtG than that, and you get cards that can flip control of the board on its head like that at 4 or 5 mana. The reason is that the game provides far more mechanics for you to *stop* things like that from happening. A card like what might be stylistically my favorite control win-con of all time, Cruel Ultimatum, would not be possible in Hearthstone because without countermeasures against it, you couldn't put a card that's basically a guaranteed 8-for-1 in the game. The card is balanced around all those "un-fun mechancs" keeping its power in check.

If anything, this also draws a parallel back to LoL's design, and an important lesson that Riot could pay heed to--you cannot remove an "un-fun" mechanic and expect it to simply make the game more fun. Typically these mechanics interact in complex ways to keep other things in check, and removing them will have wider than expected repercussions. If you remove countermagic, suddenly it becomes much harder for you to balance a spell like Mind Control without a class of cards that keep such a strong mechanic in check.

Cixah

United States11285 Posts

November 11 2013 08:29 GMT

#11209

I ultimately agree with you Yango. The format is very much about creatures mashing into creatures, while the "combo hunter" can really just kill someone because you have no way of beating their combo other than just racing them.

I wish discard and ways to interact were in the game, but ultimately the game feels fun the way it is. From a hyper competitive place, counters (not like counter magic but things like Rest in Peace vs Graveyard decks) need to be implemented into the game otherwise you will end up with the holy trinity like right now.

Mid range Shells (Things like artosis' paladin deck from the invitational) Beat things like my paladin deck, but lose the the control deck, which lose to the mid range shells.

Sideboards need to be a thing too, but i think we'll get there eventually.

Edit: I accidentally words. I seem to do this a lot.

wei2coolman

United States60033 Posts

November 11 2013 08:31 GMT

#11210

I feel deck expansion is going to happen sooner or later imo, 30 seems too small.

cascades

Singapore6122 Posts

November 11 2013 09:05 GMT

#11211

Now that I has HS, I feel brave enough to post in this thread. Please do add me: cascades #1595. I am interested in the deck building aspect being discussed earlier, hit me up.

I promise to post more if a kind soul gives me 3DS for pokemon.

JonGalt

Pootie too good!4331 Posts

November 11 2013 11:22 GMT

#11212

I'm done teaching for the year!!! next two weeks is just exams, so all I gotta do is give tests. hooray!!

marking sucks though but whatever! I will have November 22 - January 13 off

jcarlsoniv

United States27922 Posts

November 11 2013 14:07 GMT

#11213

first day back to work after the wedding

QQQQQQQQQ

Duvon

Sweden2360 Posts

November 11 2013 14:18 GMT

#11214

On November 11 2013 23:07 jcarlsoniv wrote:
first day back to work after the wedding

QQQQQQQQQ

So did you prank it?

jcarlsoniv

United States27922 Posts

November 11 2013 14:27 GMT

#11215

Didn't end up doing anything significant. I forgot my blue morph suit in my apartment, and couldn't find another one on short notice. But I ordered a ducky tie from Amazon that I changed into halfway through. It's from HIMYM, which is really big between my sister, my brother, and I, so she got a kick out of that.

But it was a really great ceremony/party.

AsmodeusXI

United States15536 Posts

November 11 2013 14:42 GMT

#11216

On November 11 2013 23:27 jcarlsoniv wrote:
Didn't end up doing anything significant. I forgot my blue morph suit in my apartment, and couldn't find another one on short notice. But I ordered a ducky tie from Amazon that I changed into halfway through. It's from HIMYM, which is really big between my sister, my brother, and I, so she got a kick out of that.

But it was a really great ceremony/party.

Nice! Sounds like fun.

I just beat the Elite Four. CAKE.

phyvo

United States5635 Posts

November 11 2013 15:15 GMT

#11217

You know, I'd think I was an awesome arena player given my results except that I purposely only play only on weekday off hours because I'm afraid of meeting good players and I need to winning dose hueg digital rewards.

Scumbag min-maxing.

JonGalt

Pootie too good!4331 Posts

November 11 2013 15:41 GMT

#11218

I feel like such a noob. I'm stuck in the first dungeon in golden sun.

"he who honors the goddess of rainbows shall be guided to the heavens on fluid grace."

I feel like I need to get another statue and put it on the other side of the rainbow, but I don't really see where I can get one.

I don't want to read a walkthrough, can someone give me a hint?

Roffles

Pitcairn19291 Posts

November 11 2013 15:43 GMT

#11219

Ahh, shitposting. How I've missed you so much.

Carnivorous Sheep

Baa?21248 Posts

November 11 2013 15:54 GMT

#11220

On November 12 2013 00:43 Roffles wrote:
Ahh, shitposting. How I've missed you so much.

Either "How've I missed you" or "I've missed you so much" would've sufficed to convey the intensity of your yearning desire for "shitposting." "How I've missed you so much" is redundant.

tldr fuck you roffles