I Haven't Had This Much Fun Playing Arena in Years | MTGGoldfish Podcast

[@NotoriouslyADD]

I love fishmail, but Richards' Jund Corner is my favorite segment for the goldfish podcast. Strangleroot Geist RIP we are in the Dreadknight meta now😂.

[@end-er_1023]

Richard needs a monthly video to talk.

[@christina.morris]

I'm so glad Richard pointed out why the Shocks look wrong. I couldn't figure out why they felt off because my brain was just filling in the mana ability on the card, lol

[@DarthChocolate15]

It's always printed as reminder text since the land types give them that ability inherently; but I agree they do look wrong without it somewhere on the card.

[@vinnythewebsurfer]

Honestly I’m kinda surprised that in Wotc’s efforts to prey on nostalgia, they just can’t bring themselves to go REALLY old school with dual lands. Give the shocks and fetchlands not just in old border but also that original 1994 colored rings in the text box.

[@Blacklodge_Willy]

​@@vinnythewebsurfer Strange isn't, considering they put the little graveyard symbol on a card like life from the loam but can't put a tap symbol on these shocks.

[@JimPea]

Not sure what was stopping WotC reprinting high value cards from non-Ravnica sets with Ravnica art. An Orzhov-art Anointed Procession would've been very flavourful. There are also high value Ravnica cards that were left out too. Such as Finale of Devastation. The options were there. I think this is an attempt to use nostalgia and Ravnica fandom to push a high price/low value set, rather than a miscalculation of how restrictive a Ravnica reprint set would be.

[@heraldofv3379]

Note that finales are from WAR, which they didn't count, and would've given great opportunities for valuable reprints

[@jiggityjoshua]

​@@heraldofv3379both karntgc, and mayhem devil are being reprinted and they're from WAR. They most likely didn't reprint the finales here since they just reprinted FoD in CMM.

[@andrewgolubiewski3463]

The discussion about the Hasbro layoffs really needs to change. Everyone is talking about it as if Hasbro had a bad year and that's just plain nonsense. Even with all of their unprofitable companies they ended the year with an enormous amount of profit. They're doing layoffs this year not because they didn't do extremely well, they're laying people off this year because they didn't do better than last year. These sort of corporate expectations are cancerous. Unlimited growth should never be the goal, it's unobtainable and damaging to the lives of your employees and to the world as a whole.

[@Tristyn_Waterman]

Okay I need Richard's list so bad I loved abzan midrange back in khans standard

[@thedude5able]

It'd be nice if Chris Cocks could just take a modest pay cut of a few million dollars rather than laying off over 100 people.

[@mindhackz]

Not in my infinite growth capitalist society, you swine

[@zztzgza]

It's easier to pull the "layoffs lever" than to give up millions of dollars in bonuses.

[@thedude5able]

@@zztzgza Sure, but that doesn't justify doing so. And also, giving up millions of dollars in bonuses would, mechanically, be easier than having to process the final pay of all of those now ex-employees.

[@thesamuraiman]

1,100 👀

[@thesamuraiman]

​@@brackish2386RIP Iwata-san.

[@midnalight6419]

We need a richard league with him playing dreadknight on the channel

[@jacobhawkins6612]

Why did we not get a link to Richard's modern Abzan in the description. This sounds like so much fun to try out!

[@DarthTUK]

I need Richard to make gameplay video of his Dredknight deck.

[@BertockLeg]

We also need an against the odds where Seth tries the same deck

[@zemineriver8043]

Richard is 100% right about the old border shocks looking like fetch lands, I play on cockatrice so I've been playing with those arts and it has been a bit confusing

[@somedude5353]

I wish I could play this format - unfortunately it’s going to take a year to save up enough wildcards to make a deck.

[@Martini_1911]

You can make a pretty competitive budget mono red burn deck for timeless (if you like playing that sort of deck)

[@nickhaze2491]

@@Martini_1911 no offense, but this is the same exact thing magic players have been saying about legacy and modern for years and years. "Format too expensive to play all the colors of magic? Mono red burn is here for you. The most linear, boring (sorry burn players) deck you can possibly play that will win you games." Just exhausting to hear.

[@TheMadirishgunner]

@@nickhaze2491 the only real complaint i can agree is stuff like brainstorm and bolt being rares, otherwise if you like the game so much then invest in it otherwise keep to your budget friendly formats

[@bigbuffguy9589]

This is exactly why I've been saving my wildcards since beta. I had ~300 rare and ~150 mythic wild cards, and I'm free to play. I knew that a format like this would get added eventually, and I prefer to play the highest power format that I can.

[@peedrill]

​@@TheMadirishgunneryou are such a bootlicker

[@Kopekemaster]

Hell yeah, Mosswood Dreadknight is cracked. I've been playing 4x of it basically since WOE came out lol. I've had control decks just scoop to it lol

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

A 3/2 for 2 mana is pretty great. 4 mana if you want to recur it, but it also costs 1 life and draws a card. It's decent, but why on earth would anybody scoop to it?

[@cooljoe500]

because control player are salty children when they cant pretend to be smart.@@dontmisunderstand6041

[@joshuacapps2273]

Plz plz plz plz plz Richard make a jund them out series. At least join Seth on a against the odds Richard edition

[@timothykrzywonski]

Having a permanent mana base in fetches is so nice in timeless

[@MichelPlanteBrand]

There was a couple people saying Ravnica Remastered isn't worth a premium price... They were mass fired last week.

[@flitterbyes]

Richard's unhinged BG Rock glee makes my heart sing

[@mcmtg26]

Would love to see Richard’s Abzan list!

[@calvinbarboza]

Richard is 100% right about the old border shocks looking wrong.

[@Xoulrath_]

I'll gladly take playsets of them to go with my old border Fetches.

[@JacobBos1988]

I agree with Richard. Mostly. I can handle the shocks without tap symbols. Since the land types are clear on the typeline. I would've loved to see them go full ABU dual land style of text on them.

[@FunnyGorillaHaha]

I am genuinely convinced some of the anime cards are made with AI. That, or wizards did a terrible job of communicating the design documents to the artists. ...or both.

[@rel1ik347]

Crim, have you tried playing Weiss Schwarz? Its my favorite of all the CCGs, in regards to both gameplay and collecting. And each of their sets is based on a different anime:D

[@KebbieG]

I love how they are constantly printing Old Border treatments today with the horrible card quality issues. It is really sad. They need to get back to printing the cards to the old card quality.

[@ethanglaeser9239]

Can we get Richard on his fascinating gameplay in some videos? I need to see him play Modern Leagues.

[@baltosstrupelos302]

As a Tempo lover; yup! I want the idea that I could fight anything. I'm also fine if I DO have to FIGHT through everything, instead of the free matches.

[@MagicalHackerMTG]

At first, I thought that Richard's "Abzan 'Em Out" list would be so hilarious to see on Against the Odds,but then I thought of something even better... Meme or Dream!

[@holstenmason]

Yeah they shouldnt have made a ravnica remastered set until after karlov manor went through circulation so we could get more of those mythics. Like this set is a year or two too early.

[@adamthebatmanwest]

Cant wait for the against the odds mosswood dreadknight jund

[@RPGFanboy14]

I need Richard to post some modern footage of his Dreadknight Jund deck lol

[@christopherclark4393]

Best part of this video is the serious discussion about the horrible nature of corporate profiteering.

[@McArRuIzO]

Timeless has been really fun. The last time I made Mythic rank was when the Shaman historic deck was new. I'm Mythic again with Dimir Dredge, absolutely eating up the Rakdos and Izzet decks.

[@CerbearusBane]

Yeah, it is super fun playing against 4 Orcish Bowmasters, 4 Ragavans, 4 Lightning Bolts, 4 Mishra's Baubles, and 4 DRCs every single game.

[@jamescampbell2353]

Yes. It is ❤

[@t.z2359]

Don’t ferret the fetch landed! You know how duel lands are a big investment of wild cards but can be used in multiple decks across multiple formats? How about lands that can only be used in 2 formats, 1 of whom is singleton. Also, the only way you can use them efficiently is by getting other rare dual lambs. They also support domain decks because why not.

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

@@t.z2359 My first target for wild cards was every mana rock. Literally all of them. Even the bad ones, just in case. Even the ones that aren't *really* mana rocks but are mana rock adjacent. It actually really helped. Turns out mana rocks are annoyingly good for upping your winrate. I tried to focus lands after that, but I also curated a fake "deck" I titled Wish List where I shove cards I don't have but want. Cool things like the sword of x and y that are of dubious value.

[@whatdothlife4660]

It's a crime against humanity that Koth of the Hammer isn't on Arena for Timeless Big Red.

[@collinbeal]

Ooh that sounds really fun. Bring in Valakut as well! They should honestly give each color an iconic land in a Timeless Anthology or something. Hall of Heliod's Generosity; Oboro, Palace in the Clouds; Cabal Coffers; Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle; Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth; City of Brass; the Tron lands; the Mirrodin artifact lands; and the rest of the fetches. There are obviously lands that you would be crazy to print onto Arena, and also iconic lands that are in Pioneer, but I don't think these ones would break anything. Blue was extremely hard to pick a non-egregious land for 😂

[@lucasbreton4143]

Love your Podcast

[@idealkids4550]

As someone who was laid off by a company posting “record breaking” numbers on earnings calls (Adobe), it’s part of the business and not unique to being nested within a larger corporate structure like WotC. And by part of the business, I of course mean disgusting.

[@kobyogan8811]

What do i have to do to see Richard's Abzan Jund list?

[@redshirtnumber3494]

Richard is not lying about Mosswood Dreadknight, that guy does not die, he sometimes doesn't even eat removal cause the opponent knows its coming back too, all the while you are hitting with 3 trample damage each turn.

[@redshirtnumber3494]

Alright so I have tried out Richard’s Abzan idea at my local modern tournament for two weeks and siege rhino is REAL. I changed my golgari rock list and turned it into abzan, we cut the bow masters added in 4 siege rhinos and added in vindicates and prismatic endings. The moss wood dreadknights go sooo ham, and rhino just hits different and people have to respect it. I have top 4’d in both tournaments and I’m still new to this style of midrange and I’m only going to improve, deck goes hard guys try it out.

[@vampirica11]

From what I know about people getting fired, it's probably that they predict next year (2024) WotC will make less money than this year. So people have to go...

[@jacobbrj]

Richard hinted at a podcast about mosswood dreadknight in modern. When can we expect that?

[@NaldoNidoking]

I gotta see this Abzan list. If I can cast some Siege Rhinos in 2024, I'll be a happy camper.

[@Xoulrath_]

You can cast the rhinos anytime that you have 1WBG to spare though. You don't need to wait until 2024.

[@NaldoNidoking]

@Xoulrath_ you got me there lmao But if I can cast them AND not get laughed at, it'll be that much better

[@Xoulrath_]

​@@NaldoNidokingrun them with Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose; Children of Korlis; Blex, Vexing Pest; Elspeth, Sun's Nemesis; and Zuran Orb. It's fun and effective. I'm not sure if all of those cards are on Arena yet, but if they are, it hits hard and fast, and completely catches peoppe off guard.

[@JEDWOLFF]

Seth would love to see a budget magic but for timeless!

[@derpyderperson2912]

Yoooo let's see the decklist richard! Don't hold out on us!

[@jamescooley5241]

I absolutely need a Richard jund video

[@mattgeffery8577]

they need to add a timeless anthology with just the fetches, so people can get them just from playing and using the coins. rather than having to waste like 24 wildcards just to have a mana base in a format that is almost unplayable without it

[@forloveofthepage2361]

The economy isn't bad, cooperate greed is out of control. The people making the choices get record bonuses while people who did a good job get fired. The lack of accountability is what makes it feel so bad. We all want WotC to succeed, but at what cost?

[@firstandlast.1254]

"people who did a good job get fired" lol

[@epicblue26]

I’d pay to see Richard play abzan or jund series

[@guillermoiglesias3709]

We need to see Richard's abzan!!

[@piotrmaodobry5671]

Crim's dog in background is so cute. ^^ Also Ravnica Remastered is a non-set for me, skipping it completely. Neither nostalgia nor art is there for me, and price is simply ridonculous.

[@SilverAlex92]

I think Richard hit it on how some of those anime arts arent up to quality. The Auriela art really looks like "generic anime angel" and not at as "the fierce divine warmachine that commands the boros legion". Cyc rift anime art is dope tho. I still stand by anime smothering tithe. When you look at the card as the blonde girl laughing being the one casting smothering tithe, and not the art depicting the effect of a smothering tithe, it really makes sense :) Edit: Im super super super agreeing with Richard about the shocklands looking weird without the tap to add mana ability.

[@SomeOne-mw8zl]

Anime editions would raise my interest a lot more!

[@999Lucas]

I think the remastered sets will start to see a price correction as something that ends up between a masters set and a premier set, its just a tough sell for the distros and retailers to do that right now. I think its largely a retail consumer assumption t hat any set that isnt standard costs more, or that anything that is supplemental costs double, and the shops are tailoring to that expectation and letting the customers crack all the packs. I think a lot of card values sank, because it just became a no brainer for a lot of places to let the cards sit on the shelves until they needed some kind of inventory. Shocks dont bother me being cheaper. Painlands used to be expensive too. A lot of cards like the shocks, fetches, and others fuel the formats, so hopefully they are intelligent about getting the shocks out there. We got some great cycles in MOM and One to round out pioneer mana bases, and they made standard a little easier to play by slowing down rotation. I hope the next 3 years or so see a lot more play, because we definitely have the cards in the ecosystem now.

[@SilverAlex92]

Sorry for the multiple comments, but can be PLEAAAAAASE get a much abrew with either Seth or Richard playing his jund abzan deck and crushing people in moderm with Mooswood Dreadknight and Siege Rhino and Vindicate?

[@Metroid23456]

Richard has inspired me to try mosswood dread knight in timeless jund midrange.

[@ericlizama8552]

Timeless is fun until you reach the high ranks and it's all Ragavan piles. I definitely think Ragavan is warping Timeless around it, requiring every deck to run *at least* a full playset of 1 CMC removal, or Bowmasters if you're in Black. Lurrus is also problem in that it gives aggro and tempo decks the reach of a midrange deck. I wouldn't mind it if only Ragavan was hit to restricted and Lurrus was left alone just to see if she can be answered. As for Dragon's Rage Channeler, I think it's fine, not a problem.

[@BigHit9922]

Timeless is a great thing for future of magic

[@jacobhholt]

What I imagine of an anime art style treatment that would work for magic can't look like a screen shot from a show but more editorial like movie poster art or cinematic conceptual art.

[@ReyaadawnMTG]

I think Jarsyl is an absolute house in Timeless and is being severely underplayed. Free Thoughtseize/Brainstorm followed by a free Demonic Tutor is hard to pass up.

[@nvvv_]

Yeah Crim I'm with ya, anime Smothering Tithe is great.

[@HwNwBrwnCow]

Hi Goldfish crew! I've always wanted to send in a Fishmail question, but I don't have a Twitter / X account, and frankly don't want one. Are there any other ways you can send in Fishmail? Thanks!

[@ShredRedDUBC]

I understand the point of view of cutting the CEO and CFOs pay I am all for reducing the salaries of the 1%, it’s a ridiculous imbalance between how much they get paid compared to their employees, but if you look at the raw numbers, if 1100 employees were making 60000 a year(they’re likely making more then that) you’re looking at 66,000,000 dollars cut off in just salaries, not counting insurance or cost of keeping those employees around, compared to the close to around 9 million dollar and 6 million dollar bonuses that the CEO and CFO were receiving respectively. I still think that the cuts should be being made at the top rather then the bottom, frankly they should be streamlining things like realizing they don’t need multiple, multiple, multiple releases per QUARTER and look into reducing production to sets like LOTR or Commander decks that cost them the same amount to make as sets like Ravnica Remastered, but will make much more money then Ravnica remastered. You can allow for bonuses but you can’t allow for this ridiculous level of production they’re trying to keep up with, and unfortunately it seems like they’re looking to invest in their printing presses rather then their employees. Unfortunately, this is probably going to result in more sets like Ravnica Remastered, more sets that just sit on the shelves of game stores, at the expense of their player base and at the expense of local game stores.

[@KPX01]

at that point you are also killing the game, no player no profit. CEO and investor nowadays only care for short term profit even if it mean killing long term profits

[@1Shayz1]

I'm just excited to keep upgrading to anime styles of some of my favorite cards on Arena, but I agree it sucks that they are charging this much for a reprint product

[@M3rett0]

41:50 They already did that Richard, twice...

[@WikiED]

I'll never understand why Crim is not hard on Richard's side about anime cards. Richard's point is to make the art less generic, more distinct, more on theme which would def make them look even better. Crim is just fine with mediocrity instead of striving for perfection.

[@frankomancer]

Crim is the type of consumer WotC loves catering towards, and I mean that in the worst way possible

[@Shimatzu95]

Crim just is the kind of person that rates "insert generic anime" as a 10/10.

[@JacobBos1988]

​@@Shimatzu95 ah yes, Mighty Crom. He who sits in his misty mountain. Passing judgement on the souls of the dead who can't answer the riddle of steel.

[@Shimatzu95]

@@JacobBos1988 I realy gotta check for misstyping more XD.

[@lesternomo6578]

i definitely think he should be more self aware about the actual quality of the anime cards. I love anime and if the cards were in a style that i thought was actually eye popping and evoked the image of animes that i do love it would be an awesome product. Instead all mtg anime art looks like absolute slop from the worst of the current anime season, like the type of anime that comes out with a bunch of fanservice, gets a 6 on MAL and no one ever remembers or looks back fondly upon that being said i can get why a massive anime fan would see their favorite card game make an effort to combine it with their other favorite form of media and just gobble that shit up, but i think you should strive to have higher standards, maybe especially now that they've been doing it for a while and most of the anime art is still incredibly uninspired

[@noise.s]

I only buy from my local seller, fortunately big seller in europe, orders of 20ish cards at a time at least, when I saw smothering anime 10 sec and I'd bought it on its own... Crim was correct indeed

[@anaboko_]

What do you think about the potential gameplay for Ravnica Remastered? As someone who never played Ravnica do you think this set will be a worthwhile draft experience?

[@chrisschweitzer5558]

it's going to be way less complicated then OG Ravnica. All 3 packs being the same set should be much easier.

[@anaboko_]

@@chrisschweitzer5558 I was hoping the #mtggoldfish crew would had a view on whether the actual gameplay experience was worth the premium price. I totally understand the reprint equity dimension but it didn’t seem that the boys addressed the most important question : do they think this set will be fun to play…

[@scottcampbell9515]

The reason the anti-UB crowd isn't against the anime cards is because these anime cards are not being forced into a non-rotating format, and are not mechanically unique cards. These can be simply ignored for the normal version of the card.

[@egon4564]

Need a historic version of that Modern Jund deck.

[@bwahl85]

reprints only bring down the value if people are cracking packs, if there is no value to be had, the only packs that will be cracked is the first couple days when theres a few cards that could pay off, once prices settle, no one will crack outside of playing a draft. unless box prices plummet

[@fremyfrem6583]

Crim's opinions on anything magic resonates deep in my soul. Absolute banger take after banger take

[@Unknown360DD]

I really want to see that Abzan list

[@mralumina3566]

My headcanon reason why Seth say Its #463 and not #464 is because he wasnt here last week.

[@cloudmane4159]

Its actually insane that if you unban Everything….the format is somehow balanced. Its like…any one of these cards by themselves would warp a format to the breaking point. But together, they keep each other in check. Its like putting a piranha in a regular fish tank vs putting a piranha in a tank full of piranhas. It’s bizarre but it actually fucking works.

[@ironpage]

We need that Juund decklist Richard

[@ironpage]

Ooooh it's Abzan???

[@SilverAlex92]

About the layoff... Its really sad. But there is an explanation. Hasbro is trying to imitate the big tech companies. Im a web developer, so I can give a bit of info in that. The big tech companies work in cycles, they have big growing cycles where they overhire, show that growth to investors and then do layoff to go back to a lower floor. Then they start overhiring againg, show huge growth to investors and repeat. The layoffs are just to cut budget, so they can then hire people again and "show the company is growing". As Crim said, this is a VERY BAD thing that is getting normalized, and honestly those companies should be regulated more, and not treated as a model to follow.

[@coool20]

As someone who plays genshin and used to watch a lot of anime. Richard is based

[@person3176]

we gotta see the abzan list for a meme or dream episode

[@adambryant6854]

Can we get a series called test the tank (fish pun) where saffron olive or crim go full sweaty mode

[@ToadManJon11]

Can we please get an against the odds of Seth playing Richard's jund deck 😆

[@ToadManJon11]

Or better yet could we get Richard doing a gameplay video. I would watch that in a heart beat haha

[@sloanlorsung4004]

To play costs more than modern paper

[@keithkulacz5730]

WOTC needs to find a way to axe the reserve list. The IP there is a potential gold mine.

[@Vince968]

please, please, PLEASE all I want is to see Richard play some boomer archetype in a league and stream it, please :D

[@JJEMTT]

I would play Timeless but Arena is truly horrendous. Back to renting cards on MTGO.

[@yarrrthekraken]

Also the economy doesn’t suck, Richard. It’s in a really strong place-unemployment and wage growth are very strong and inflation has cratered.

[@firstandlast.1254]

LOL sure

[@akosimikeee]

Yeah rares is the only reason I'm not playing timeless but it looks fun

[@MentalCrusader]

How expensive is it to play arena at least semi competitively?

[@jamespun5756]

Depends on what you want to be competitive in, and if you’re good at draft for example, depends on how good you are at draft

[@DoctorJango]

If you put in WAY too much time it's possible to play the best decks for free, it just depends on if you want the deck now or in a month and a half

[@alexhains6306]

It really depends on how many decks you want. I have 3 competitive decks and havent spent any money but it took a couple of years to get the cards.

[@thewinkersshow575]

Like a month or two of playing should get you a competitive deck without spending money

[@dontmisunderstand6041]

Free if you're doing constructed formats.

[@RPGFanboy14]

Also DnD makes money through the books, minis through a partnership through wizkids, all sorts of dice and DND memorabilia. It certainly doesn't make the same money as MTG but does contribute a fair amount to profits especially after the acquisition of DnDBeyond which is far and away the best way to build characters on the site. Which makes it all the more baffling that any part of WOTC was hit. The CEO is a trash person. All these heads could have lived off a simple million dollars to help out the people on the ground level.

[@alexisawful]

Around 23 minutes, Crim asked why they didn't cut Chris Cocks' salary to hold onto the employees that were laid off. He was reportedly "compensated" (meaning cash and stock) 9.4 million dollars in 2022, which if that was all cash split evenly between everyone that was laid off this year would be about 8500 dollars per person. The Nintendo CEO taking that 1 dollar salary that year was more a punishment for the CEO than a cost saving measure for the employees.

[@bwahl85]

im gonna go totaly buy 10 boxes of sealed monopoly and not open them so i can resell them in the future for 5x my money

[@15thnobody]

Give us the Richard Jund video!

[@Regalas788]

Magic players when magic cards are expensive : booooo Magic players when the cards in a set aren't expensive : booooo

[@Xoulrath_]

That's a really good way to completely ignore the actual problem.

[@Xcapitano]

Hasbro sold Eone for 500 millions after buying it for 4 billions BUT they kept all of the valuable IPs and studios making them like Peppa pig and PJ masks

[@redstonepro5412]

i want to see a much abrew video for richard abzan now

[@Kryptnyt]

Is there a Timeless Brawl format?

[@radicalratx7790]

Pretty sure historic brawl is just that.

[@Kryptnyt]

@@radicalratx7790 I take it they made fetches legal in historic brawl then, that's nice

[@johnf9710]

I wonder what the value of that retro deathrite would yave been if they unbanned it in modern.

[@vaentkhing579]

as i listen to this, i am playing mosswood dreadknight abzan

[@nacster16]

Seth needs to take Richards jund deck and do a meme or dream episode.

[@CadaverLordSupreme]

I believe Magic has plenty of staying power, it's just an early cut to the expenses when liquidity dries up. Bought up some shares these past couple months. Not so sure their dividend is safe though.

[@ericsutter4054]

Begging Richard to post the list

[@regail7143]

I want watch richard play abzan jund

[@nathanhills5032]

Where's my retro frame Doubling Season!? T_T