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by Dechs Kaison
Mon Nov 16, 2015 4:39 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

[Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT

Cardboardcrack is to Magic humour what TWoo was to deckbuilding.
I can't figure out which end of this sentence is supposed to be the insult.
by Dechs Kaison
Mon Jul 27, 2015 1:05 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

[Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT

Hey redthirst.

How does a reaver clean its spear?

Runs it through the Wash.
by Dechs Kaison
Mon Mar 23, 2015 5:41 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Hey you guys remember that Attack on Titan thing? That was pretty awesome.

When's the next season come out?
by Dechs Kaison
Mon Mar 23, 2015 5:02 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

We will check out Darker Than Black and report back later.
This is what you should have said.
by Dechs Kaison
Mon Mar 23, 2015 4:53 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Start rattling off anime people. I need something to watch.
Darker Than Black. One of my all time favs, but just the first season.

G Gundam. It's so awful it's good.
by Dechs Kaison
Tue Mar 17, 2015 5:02 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Thank you Dechs, LD and Purp. Your support at this time means a lot.
You may be an asshole.

But you're our asshole.
by Dechs Kaison
Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:29 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

I'm really not good at this.

The point I want to drive is that everyone else is going to be hard enough on him. We don't need to be. He got his lesson and there's more on the way. What he needs right now is some friends he can talk to.

James, if you do come through here reading this stuff, I'm here for you. PM or email me if you'd like.

It's going to be alright.
by Dechs Kaison
Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:23 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

As much as I'm usually the first person to get on James' case, I'm not going to do that here. CFB, WotC, and the rest of the world are going to be hard enough on him as it is.

He's human. He made a poor decision. Whether you're a professional card player or an engineer, cheating is a temptation we all face. He mentioned he caved to the pressure of having to put up results. I've seen the kind of pressure that can come from the need to produce results and I have seen engineers and managers cheat the rules to get a project done. I've not had to face that pressure yet, so I can't begin to judge James for the decision he made.

I can tell you, though, if I ever play a game of Magic with him, I'm going to ask him to play standing up and with short sleeves.

James is going to be an example of why cheating is never worth the risk. He hasn't even begun to learn how much this will affect his career. The consequences must be harsh, else there is no deterrent to others. If he ever does get into the competitive scene again, he will be playing under a microscope. Will CFB ever consider hiring him again? We don't know, but it'll be a long road to it if they do. James is going to have to prove himself all over again because his previous wins will be chalked up to cheating that wasn't caught and every future win will be analyzed to be sure it was legit.
by Dechs Kaison
Fri Mar 13, 2015 7:36 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Scenario: You're team drafting. Pack 1, Pick 1, your options are Dromaka, Mistfire adept, or Scalegaurd Elite. Which do you take and why?
Clarification question: Is there a foil Mountain in the pack?
by Dechs Kaison
Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:51 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Alright, what about MTGO? That takes shuffling out of the equation.
This assumes that MTGO employs a proper RNG and shuffling algorithm.
by Dechs Kaison
Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:18 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Further, I haven't said variance isn't part of the game.

I'm saying it's not why you lost.
by Dechs Kaison
Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:18 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

If variance wasn't part of the game, then you'd always see the same pros in the top 8 of every open tournament, instead of seeing them frequently lose to no name local players.

You can't look at #1 as winning, #2 - #8 as "doing okay," and #9 - #500 as " scrubbing out."
In a game that is constantly evolving, adding new cards and strategies and constantly upsetting the meta, no one can be that consistent. There's always room for a local with some innovative talent surprise a pro.
by Dechs Kaison
Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:10 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Hell, even poker has variance. All card games do. That's what makes it so different than something like chess, a game based entirely on skill and no luck.

Variance let's you gamble. :D
Poker's my favorite card game and yeah, while it has plenty of variance, you can still see the difference between good players and bad ones. I've seen people win tables with a two seven off suit.

None of us here on this site are so good that we're losing because of variance. It's because we make mistakes.
by Dechs Kaison
Tue Feb 24, 2015 2:05 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Dechs, just to play devil's advocate ( :evillol: ), what about true variance losses such as drawing numerous lands in a row or multiple mulligans due to no land?
Addressed that already. Most commonly that's failure to shuffle properly.

Here's the thing: You can mulligan. Even with proper shuffling, it is possible to mulligan multiple times and not draw land. That's true, but it's still not the reason you lost because the chance of it happening for two out of your three games is negligible.
by Dechs Kaison
Tue Feb 24, 2015 1:42 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

I really don't understand why people keep saying that variance doesn't exist in magic. It's not true that all losses are your fault and you could always have done better decisions. Sometimes you lose because your deck just implodes .
The real challenge is accepting variance and understanding that you can't do anything about it because you are playing a card game. Of course, a lot of people always whine because they got unlucky, but in fact most of the times (not ALWAYS), you made some mistakes and you need to focus on them rather than on your mulliganing to four if you want to improve as a player.
Variance exists, but it's not the reason you lost.

You're the reason you lost.

You didn't draft the right cards. You didn't build the right deck. You didn't sideboard the right cards. You didn't even have the right cards in your sideboard. You didn't shuffle adequately, and that's why your lands ended up in a clump. You didn't chose to keep the right hand. You didn't remember your upkeep trigger. You didn't account for what the opponent could have in his hand. You didn't lots of things. That's ok. None of us are perfect and shouldn't expect to be. Noticing these things is what will make you get better.

If you blame your loss on variance, you failed to see your own mistakes. This will only result in you getting worse.
by Dechs Kaison
Tue Feb 24, 2015 1:38 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Hey Dechs, played any Tiny Leaders yet?
I don't even remember the last time I played MtG.
by Dechs Kaison
Tue Feb 24, 2015 6:49 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

This isn't about changing my luck. It's about finding strategies for coping with bad luck, accepting it and moving on. I don't know how to play tight and not be emotionally invested / angry when I just lose to bad luck. I'm looking for advice on that. I remember Zem telling me "glory is fleeting, focus on improving over time" and I've tried to take that to heart. However, I feel I have plateaued and my bad luck / inability to accept it and not tilt are holding me back.
Taking a break after a rage inducing loss is one of the best things you can do. Go outside and get some fresh air and try to forget the last game. Don't talk to your friends about how shitty your luck is, because that will only make you tilt harder. You can't play your best if you're stressed out and angry, and you have to remind yourself that when you feel the tilt starting to creep in. You're going to end up on the wrong side of variance from time to time, and it happens to everyone. You have to come to terms with it or you'll never stop tilting.
Or your could realize that it's not at all due to variance. Your losses are precisely that: yours. They are nothing but a result of your failure to make the best choices. Accept each loss as the lesson it's supposed to be and move on.

Blaming your failures on luck or variance gives you an invisible boogeyman to be angry at because "variance fucked me and there's nothing I could do about it." Of course you're going to tilt with an attitude like that. That's not helpful at all and it's not even true. Putting the blame in the right place (your choices) makes it impossible to tilt because it puts the control back in your hands. Choose a better archetype. Build a tighter deck. Metagame better. Shuffle more thoroughly. Mulligan correctly. Then all the play decisions that come after that. Then sideboard better.

There's always something you could have done better. Each loss is a lesson in what you can be doing better. Find that thing and correct it. Then the loss becomes an achievement. The loss is a good thing. The loss makes you stronger.

And tilting goes away.

Unless the lesson was "don't fucking tilt you neckbeard fuck."
by Dechs Kaison
Sun Jan 18, 2015 6:51 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Lucky Star is perfectly fine when done safely.
by Dechs Kaison
Sun Jan 04, 2015 12:51 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

So, as one of a very few native English speakers around here, I occasionally get asked to explain English phrases. Well, today a Korean came over to me with a piece of paper and this written on it: "I was so drunk that when I got home I blew chunks."

"It means vomit." No problem, right?

Well, that wasn't good enough, so he later comes over with the context for the phrase. Turns out it's from a joke and the punchline is "You don't understand, my dog's name is Chunks."

I lost it.

"What mean blew chunks? What mean he blew dog?"
by Dechs Kaison
Wed Dec 24, 2014 4:01 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

I sure as hell don't, but seeing her behavior, that's what I'd guess.
by Dechs Kaison
Wed Dec 24, 2014 3:22 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Yeah, she's totally on ignore. For a while he kept coming off my foes list magically, and I'd just put him back on.
by Dechs Kaison
Tue Dec 23, 2014 7:54 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Kait you could turn this into a Serial-styled podcast where you argue that DK isn't in Korea.
I'm not in Korea. I'm in the UAE. I just work with Koreans.

I VPN through Cranberry, PA when I'm on my work computer and I use Google's DNS when I'm not.
by Dechs Kaison
Tue Dec 23, 2014 12:02 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

I usually drink single malt whiskeys that are 46% and I'll have anywhere between three and six in a night.

My mistake the last time we went out was thinking "It's just soju, that stuff's only 18%, so I won't have any problems."

Never underestimate the quantity over quality approach to things.
by Dechs Kaison
Tue Dec 23, 2014 11:04 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

It's the Korean traditions that makes it so bad. You never pour your own drink, you never let someone else's glass go empty and you always return a drink poured for you. What this creates is a table of ten dudes looking for empty glasses as an excuse to fill it and get the return glass. Also they just love to pour drinks for other people. It is a show of respect and friendship.
by Dechs Kaison
Tue Dec 23, 2014 10:51 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

That's exactly the problem.
by Dechs Kaison
Mon Dec 22, 2014 7:39 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Just hang out with a few Koreans. I've had more alcohol tonight than I do in any normal month.

Fucking Koreans keep pouring me soju.
by Dechs Kaison
Thu Dec 18, 2014 8:19 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

There's no privilege like White privilege in the UAE.

I get treated like I'm second to the sheikh around here.
Until you get stabbed to death in a mall restroom.

Too soon?
Nope. The requisite moment of silence has passed.

Seriously, though, that's been one violent crime in Abu Dhabi since... I dunno. Long fucking time. In the time it takes me to write this post, 3 murders will occur in my home city and ten times that in Detroit. You know why this stabbing was such a big story? Because that shit never happens here. I have never felt as safe in the States as I do here.
by Dechs Kaison
Thu Dec 18, 2014 3:21 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

There's no privilege like White privilege in the UAE.

I get treated like I'm second to the sheikh around here.
by Dechs Kaison
Tue Dec 16, 2014 5:25 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Control deck in my edh playgroup now plays Overburden and Aether Flash to shut down animar.... not fun
That sounds awesome and like Animar was too much trouble on the table to begin with.

Time to adapt.
by Dechs Kaison
Tue Dec 16, 2014 4:54 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Perhaps it's objectively measurable (neuroscience and all), but it's subjective in that everyone's fun is different.
by Dechs Kaison
Mon Dec 15, 2014 12:24 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

I don't like the word scrub for that. "Scrub" is almost a derogatory word. What you guys are describing is someone who knows exactly what he's doing: playing a bad deck the best he can. That's just someone who's not being competitive, but he knows it and acknowledges it. He plays as well as he can without expecting to take the top prize or even top 8. He's just having fun and seeing how far he can get. That's ok. That's even encouraged.

When I hear the word "scrub," I think of someone who pilots a bad deck because he thinks his brew is extra special and can compete with the tier one decks. Someone who wishes he was competitive, but doesn't understand what he's doing wrong. Someone who always blames his losses on bad draws or bad shuffles or something other than his bad deck and his bad play.

I play Jank Ass Clerics in Legacy events. I'm not expecting to win anything. I don't have the delusion that I'm competitive. I'm there to see how far I my deck can get and to learn how to make it better within the constraints I have. I do get a special thrill when I see good, expensive decks fall on their faces to me because the pilot doesn't know how to handle something out of the ordinary. I'm not a scrub because I'm not trying to be a pro player. I don't need my "Magic Career" to pay off. It's a hobby.
by Dechs Kaison
Wed Dec 10, 2014 6:22 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Where I'm at, we don't get four inches of rain per year.
by Dechs Kaison
Mon Dec 08, 2014 1:02 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Mining and bad football, respectively.
:fixed:
Nope; Steelers suck.
You cannot say that the Steelers, as the only franchise with six superbowl wins, suck. Historically, they're better than every other team out there.
by Dechs Kaison
Mon Dec 08, 2014 7:26 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Mining and bad football, respectively.
:fixed:
by Dechs Kaison
Mon Dec 08, 2014 5:12 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

There never seemed to be much near Pittsburgh where I used to live.
by Dechs Kaison
Sun Dec 07, 2014 8:51 pm
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Norin the Wary. I don't know how you can argue against this.
by Dechs Kaison
Sun Dec 07, 2014 9:50 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

ITT: Madding doesn't understand
Could have stopped here.
by Dechs Kaison
Sun Dec 07, 2014 4:40 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Norin strongest there is.
by Dechs Kaison
Sun Dec 07, 2014 4:14 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Don't knock it till you've played it.
by Dechs Kaison
Sun Dec 07, 2014 4:08 am
Forum: Fires of Salvation
Topic: [Fedoras of Salvation] - White Knights ITT
Replies: 59962
Views: 8361513

Red has Norin the Wary.

Nothing else matters.

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