The Worst Magic: The Gathering Format. Ever.

[@TolarianCommunityCollege]

I always try very hard to offer criticism that does no fall into a territory of blind, emotional complaining. I try to support my claims with evidence, so that even if you disagree you can still see where I am coming from. I also hate more than anything the idea of "yucking someone's yum" and try only to make videos like this when they are on an extremely important issue, and not just some personal distaste of mine. I hope very much I succeeded in those goals here.

[@The_E_Paladin]

Tolarian Community College It shows that the video is unavailable. Did you take it down to change it? I really like your take on MTG.

[@jakobirobi2359]

I've tried coming back to watch the video eight times now, waiting a few minutes each time, and it keeps saying the video is unavailable....

[@The_E_Paladin]

It’s working now.

[@3n3rgy90]

@@The_E_Paladin It is a youtube bug, have it on some videos and some not.

[@Vanessarbp]

omg duo stand was sad.....only ozorius and rdw...boring has hell...

[@davidfields5375]

There are many ways to play magic the gathering, but there is only one way to say "Many Magic the Gathering players"

[@Bibbedibabbedibu]

Many Magic the Gathering players read this phrase and hear it in the same way in their heads ^^

[@bilbobbagginsback2604]

Many Magic: the gathering players ask the question, "Why is it that the Professor's voice helps me sleep at night?"

[@TheSpectralFX]

Many magic: the gathering players asks: why do I say "many magic: the gathering players asks" this way?

[@sebastianortega1938]

Many Magic the Gathering players play Magic the Gathering in many ways.

[@TheSpectralFX]

@@sebastianortega1938 we need an abreviation "MMTGP" that simply refers to how The professor says "Many Magic... Players"

[@RiseInAfterlife]

"Your life total is a resource, use it as such" Monored: Yes, use it.

[@edschramm6757]

USE IT AND I GET TO BURN WHAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND!

[@alecazam6755]

Dimir player who might be holding a force of will in hand: *necropotence down to 1 life* Mono red: uwu *gut shot*

[@edschramm6757]

i feel like unless you are in a situation where you either find a specific card or die, you would not put yourself below 4 against any red deck, let alone mono-red.

[@edschramm6757]

@@alecazam6755 it occured to me : why would a deck that runs normal red Mana run gut shot over Shock or Lightning Bolt? It saw use is non-red decks because phyrexian Mana OP

[@edschramm6757]

2 life is cheaper than one mana, sure, but is a 1 damage non-permanent worth the card slot over Shock or Lightning bolt in the 1 mana cost. the burn deck i have as it stands has 12 burn cards in the 1/2 mana range that can go face (i don't run shock in that deck), i think i would be better served having that slot be a Browbeat or Risk factor, which either lets me reload or chunk my opponents health total. though maybe im missing an archetype that would actually be well served by gut shot

[@ArmadilloAl]

In my experience, the best format is, always has been, and always will be "whatever format your friends are playing".

[@futureboy314]

"But only if they're playing EDH. Otherwise, find new friends."

[@dracodominus2800]

@@futureboy314 I'm sure all your past non EDH playing friends were *soooo* sad to see you go... ;-)

[@KingBobXVI]

Best format to me was "The Stack" - big ol' stack of singleton junk rares in the middle with a shared draw and graveyard. Play any card in your hand face down as a "land", and there you go. The rares are bad, but tend to have a lot of effects, which makes games interesting really quick.

[@futureboy314]

@@dracodominus2800 I was only kidding. I don't have any friends.

[@ianbyrne465]

@@KingBobXVI that sounds ridiculous and awful, and I love everything about it

[@jenjenhocho3188]

Well Prof, it has been said that “Magic the Gathering is the best game made by the worst company”

[@DaDunge]

You've never had to deal wit games workshop I see.

[@Imperium3945]

@@DaDunge Don't say this name again or you'll summon a devil. (also, Ea exists soooooooo)

[@SoloFan87]

Ill one plus this, I bet none of you never had to work or deal with Konami???

[@dragonarcher89]

Psilord87 was gonna say Konami myself XD

[@deinpapi4764]

What about Komoney

[@conniebarnett5089]

When they first announced that the format was gonna be duo standard someone (I think SaffronOlive) on Twitter described it as "A solution to a problem that was already solved". Reflecting on that post invitational that rings very true lmao

[@thisguydan]

Very true. In fact, Hearthstone is going through growing pains in solving this very problem for themselves. And their solutions are awkward because they're trying to avoid just copying the one that's proven to work the best, the one MTG already discovered decades ago.

[@savnana3605]

How to play duo standard. 1) Buy the same deck twice 2) Buy the same deck twice 3) ???? 4) Wizards profits.

[@jaffetchacon5797]

but doesn't arena not have a limitation on the cards you own in your collection ?

[@cammuz53]

@@jaffetchacon5797 You can own at most 4 copies of each card. But you can put 4 copies of the same card in every single deck you make

[@jaffetchacon5797]

@@cammuz53 so then you can duplicate the deck and run it twice? It does feel like a more doable format with arena and sb doesnt make a lot of sense either. Id say wish cards can let you grab cards from your second deck.

[@cammuz53]

@@jaffetchacon5797 theoretically yes, but I think that the rules for Duo Standard say the decks must be different. You could still run two very similar decks, with the second one being the same as the first one but with a few different cards

[@Kumagoro42]

@@cammuz53 Nope, the two decks can just be the same one twice. Quoting from Marshall Sutcliffe: " They can submit the same exact lists" magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/competitive-gaming/duo-standard-and-mythic-invitational-2019-03-26

[@Kalmight]

Galaxy Brain: wizards purposefully chose an unbalanced luck-based format so that the streamers could compete with the pros.

[@northernlad4486]

Well the "pros" can't cheat so they're already at a disadvantage on arena.

[@goreobsessed2308]

@@northernlad4486 your not wrong

[@thepants1450]

@@northernlad4486could you elaborate? Honest question, how do they cheat?

[@imoveforward007]

​@@thepants1450 they will shuffle your cards and watch which card is going on top. They will shuffle their own cards and assess land distribution, put certain cards on top. Sleight of hand to put cards on top. Draw extra cards, timing fudges, sneaking extra land into play, not manage their life total honestly. Arrange their cards in a specific order, then pile shuffle in a way that ensures an exact and predetermined draw order. And countless other ways of cheating.

[@bobby45825]

@@thepants1450 you can look up paper magic tournaments and, at the highest levels, there's almost always somebody getting caught cheating. They cheat in a variety of ways by intentionally missing triggers, misrepresenting the board state, putting cards back into their hand that should never be there, etc. Etc.

[@kisekinecro]

word of advise Wizard: If "gaming" history has taught us anything, do not try to mimic Blizzard. So many company tries to mimic WOW and they all fail. What you need to do is to be your own beast and stay true to yourself. Only that will give you a fight chance.

[@AgusSkywalker]

This advice aged like fine wine... don't ever try to mimic Blizzard.

[@pawels.5669]

@@AgusSkywalker ... And this is what they exactly do in 2023.

[@JervisGermane]

I wouldn't normally respond to a comment this old, but how do you feel about the "be your own beast and stay true to yourself" part now that they've a) done the exact opposite, and b) raked in record profits from doing so? I'm now officially an ex-player because I hate what they did to my game, and it'll never be fun to play again. What about you?

[@selkiestorm3232]

Mtg is already prohibitively expensive for most formats, the idea of needing two decks is ridiculous.

[@resdraon]

So is having about 3432438 mono-red decks.

[@gregtheveggieburger9543]

@@resdraon Every arena player ever

[@edschramm6757]

Yes and no. Paper magic very much so. I think they were hoping that the wild cards being able to turn into any needed card would be enough to allow any desired cards to come in, underestimating the strain that can put on players who don't put that much money into the game. It depends on the deck you use. A standard pauper player probably wouldn't be very inhibited by cost, but a deck that runs 12 shock lands plus 20 other rares and 8 mythics is going to be a pain to make, especially if you have two different lists that do that

[@Ianthe22]

It's not cheap, but it wont financially ruin you will it?

[@spooplegeist]

@@Ianthe22 It would probably cost a couple hundred dollars. Seems a bit excessive for a bunch of .png files, especially for a tournament that you were personally invited to participate in.

[@MerchantTV]

Competing in the Mythic Invitational was one of the highlights of my life really, the atmosphere was incredible and there was a real sense of Magic being propelled to the forefront, we had the strongest presence at PAX & the two worlds of pro & community colliding and hanging out was such a joy. I think the format is terrible, and it's unlikely we'll see it again in my opinion, but I think WOTC didn't help themselves with the choices of feature matches at times. There were unique decks there, but often the feature match would be yet another Esper/Red v Esper/Red mirror. A prime example of this is I believe Sjow v Savjz was featured over myself & Reid Duke, so viewers got another Esper mirror instead of Grixis Midrange v Golgari Explore. I think Duo Standard could probably put forth an entertaining tournament to watch, but no action was taken to not feature the same problematic matchups coverage wise again and again. Or you know tournaments could just use bo3 with sideboards haha.

[@bossman983]

Caught your game at PAX, but I couldn't agree more. Once I saw a couple of the games I figured I pretty much saw them all.

[@bohrdom7556]

Hopefully we'll be able to see your matches one day! Hope they give you the footage like you discussed in your Invitational vlog.

[@clawtooth35]

also - didn't you say in your video that the decks were chosen for you for the first match? The Prof says you get to choose but I seem to remember you saying otherwise.

[@jamesbygames5336]

You should've used priest of the forgotten gods in your golgari, smh

[@ghostbreath7791]

@@jamesbygames5336 she's my waifu

[@merfall2224]

You nailed it with the whole “being ashamed of magic” thing. The game has always been great and they should show confidence in it

[@gregtheveggieburger9543]

The game is good, would be great if they designed a new way to implement mana because the whole, "ahh... Well that could have been a fun game, if I'd drawn a damn land!", situation really does drag the game down. There's a difference between not performing so well due to luck, and physically not being able to play the bloody game because you weren't lucky enough to draw the very thing that makes the game function.

[@aidan4530]

Greg The Veggieburger land flood/screw is really the only major luck based element of the game. That, and obviously drawing from a set of 60 different cards (but deck building comes into play there to minimize the luck of top decking) But tbh, compared to hearthstone (the most popular tcg game) magic is so much less luck based it’s not even funny. It’s impossible to create a card game wholly based on skill; but magic is the closest it gets. And really , from my experience running good decks, mana screw/flood comes into account like maybe 1/8 games. It’s not that huge of a deal

[@Zarbon000]

@@gregtheveggieburger9543 thats part of the beauty of Magic. The game doesnt care about you. It doesnt hold your hand. Put too few lands in the deck and you will get mana screwed more. Its hard to see from an individual perspective, but sometimes you get mana screwed or mana flooded and it sucks. But, this Also happens to your opponent as well. So it balances out. Its another chance to show your play skill by switching up your style as necessary. Ie if you are light on mana, maybe you change to playing defensively and hold out until your mana comes.

[@notthatthenamematters6163]

@@gregtheveggieburger9543 yup, mana screw/flood is the only objectively bad thing in magic

[@SuperbFairy]

@@gregtheveggieburger9543 statistically mana screw and flooding is extremely unlikely if the deck is correctly built, it absolutely contains a chance that you have a rough game but the biggest issue with mana is people being greedy and not learning how to pick the right number of mana for their deck costs

[@T4silly]

I thought the worst Format was Banding... *Whisper, Whisper.* Wait, Banding wasn't a Format? It was a Mechanic? How does Banding work again...?

[@Nerdynomicon]

Oh come on. Its simple! Banding is.... Well its...it works like........ Judge?!?!?!?

[@ThatWildcard]

Wasnt banding this weird spinoff they tried to shove down our throats disguised as a magic set?

[@ThatWildcard]

Ah yes, reverse menace

[@Nerdynomicon]

No no no. That was horsemanship. Banding was.............. Um............ I........ Yes you're right.

[@mrchuckmorris]

Wait, wasn't banding like a text-based RPG video game they made back in the 90's?

[@amecarethqc6652]

1:00 "The best format in Magic is the one you enjoy the most" Woah....

[@nicholasfarrell5981]

Amecareth Qc he ain't wrong.

[@mrchuckmorris]

Introducing Duo Baseball! Each MLB team must now sign on TWO complete rosters of multimillion-dollar-contract players and coaches. In the first three innings you field one roster, in the second three you field the second, and if you make it to the last three innings you get to choose which roster to play!

[@oimatewhereareyou]

You just invented Blernsball kzbin.info/www/bejne/faG3gaBnh5mSd68

[@doms.6701]

I get it now. It's not about putting two decks together, it's about the pay to win factor. It's hard to put two together because everyone wants the expensive cards. Glad I understand now.

[@Derael]

You overestimate the cost of decks in arena. With optimal distribution of resources and regular play you can literally get all the competitive decks with less than 200$. Considering how much they paid for simple participation, participants should be able to afford it without any problem.

[@Da5kone001]

Andrey Protas care to site sources or state where you found these facts? I don’t mind spending money on arena to be fair I’ve spent somewhere north of $400 and have most competitive decks but friends and streamers asked about $ also seem to say that they have spent well over $200

[@Derael]

@@Da5kone001 Well, it's based on my personal experience. I'm F2P player, and I have 95+% of cards from both RNA and GRN and most crucial rares from older sets. If I spent 50$ on each of the older sets, I would likely get enough WCs to get all the rares from them I'm missing. And I didn't even play optimally, e.g. I skipped days and even weeks of gameplay when I wasn't in the mood to play. Basically, if you play every day, you will get most cards from the set by the time new set comes out.

[@Improbabilities]

Prof, 'smörgåsborg' directly translates to 'sandwich fortress'. I was about to critique you on your Swedish, but I think you just felt that a sandwich table (smörgåsbord) was too small to fit all formats. I applaud your inventive use of the Swedish language!

[@quietusq489]

I don't think anyone in native English speaking countries can pronounce it properly. I know my pronunciation for it is all over the place.

[@Improbabilities]

It's not the simplest of words, and it has our strange extra letters. We also pronounce most vowels differently (also, Y is a vowel, dammit), and our j's don't start with a d. I'm not surprised people have a hard time with singular Swedish words, completely removed from the rest of the language. In fact, I'd say it's more of an English word than a Swedish word these days. I haven't heard anyone use the word smörgåsbord in Sweden for years, and I haven't seen an actual smörgåsbord in more than a decade. But I thought it was pretty funny that the thing he actually said was still a word in Swedish.

[@seancpp]

In the US, and probably other English speaking countries, we just use smorgasbord to mean a large selection in front of you. like a food buffet or a large selection of cards that you can pick from Holiday dinner with family and a lot of food to select from can be called a smorgasbord

[@vincentlance]

To be fair, the only reason I know Borg means fortress is because the TRPG Mörk Borg.

[@marcoottina654]

I laughed so hard by imaging a snow-covered fortress on top of a snowy and steep mountain but built up with sandwiches rather than stones XD

[@cpaoi88]

My questions for Wizards is this. Were the bizarre interactions with sideboards brought on by use the use of Mastermind's Acquisition, for example grabbing Clear the Mind to prevent decking in the Esper Mirror, really less convoluted and difficult to explain than sideboarding? The coverage team had to discuss these weird adaptations and interactions many, many times. They also had to explain the intricacies of how matchups worked in duo standard...etc. This is not even taking into account the insane consistency with which Esper, Red aggro and White aggro appeared on-screen. This was a missed opportunity for what marketing professionals refer to as "training your customer". Customers may not see the value proposition of your product because they do not understand it, not because it is inferior to another offering. If the coverage team had been able to use the time and energy they expended to explain the weird corner cases of this untested format to explain sideboarding, the huge audience they were essentially guaranteed by the event hype could have been shown why sideboarding is great and made the concept less daunting to new players. Imagine setting up a between-game look at each player sideboarding. Rather than the simultaneous sideboarding we get in standard arena, we could have set it up so that each player sideboards individually on camera. Great magic minds like Paul Cheon could then explain to the audience why the player currently sideboarding is taking out what they are taking out and why they are bringing in what they are bringing in. Best of 3 standard occasionally has convoluted transformational sideboard plans, but for the most part it boils down to easy-to-understand stuff like "Shock is coming out against this control opponent because they don't have creatures to kill. The player is bringing in Duress because it is more effective against decks that don't play creatures." Boom. It's really that simple. Rather than defaulting to best of 1 because it's easier to understand, take these opportunities to introduce players to the sideboarding concept. I came back to Magic after a long absence after Arena came out, and I was never more than a kitchen table player before that. I started out jamming mono red in Bo1 because sideboarding scared me. When I finally dipped my toes in, copying the mono black t2 zombie list that was running around at the time, I used a sideboard guide for training wheels. I was delighted to find that post-board I could actually put up a fight against Grixis Midrange, a fairly hopeless game 1 matchup. I never looked back, and I suspect that many Arena players who haven't yet taken the plunge yet wouldn't look back either. Prof said it best. Don't dilute your product, take advantage of possible teaching moments to demonstrate why its great. People are migrating to magic from other games for a reason, let's stay true to that reason, at least in professional, tournament level magic.

[@JustDalyn]

I think this format was purely born out of them not having the challenge feature not at 100% so they came up with duo standard as a way for them to still play best of three without there being room for cheating while they had their whole collection open while editing decks for side boarding. A X player cheated scandal is much more harmful to the community than a watered down format.

[@peterhone9763]

Honestly, I have to agree completely. Something about Arena has always bugged me and it really feels like WOTC is shying away from the things that make Magic Magic. Which at the end of the day isn't a problem with the Arena platform itself, but how they're trying to "fix" things that don't need to be fixed. I'd love to see WOTC go back to being proud of the ways in which it's different from other things and lean into the parts of Magic that have kept it going for the last 25 years.

[@6MillionPesoMan]

What sideboard guide did you use?

[@danielduncan8461]

There is a difference between offering a good product and something fun to watch. Duo Standard was (at least for me) way more fun to watch, and held my attention all weekend.

[@JacobBiaggi]

There are constantly people playing BO1 complaining that X deck is unfair, they just concede as soon as they see it's that deck, etc. Sideboarding solves that issue for the most part. You lose your game 1 and then you sideboard to have a chance against that deck that you can't deal with in your initial 60. And if something truly busted comes along and represents 80% of the decks played even in a Bo3 format with sideboards? You can safely bet that something in that deck will be banned. Unless you're playing Hollow One in Modern, then you know you're safe because no matter how busted Faithless Looting is they'll never ban it when they could keep that spot on the banlist reserved for Stoneforge Mystic. Remember to keep Stoneforge Mystic banned in Modern and also WOW. FUCK. TRON.

[@BrainlessEd]

I would still love to see that "best magic format" video going over the uniqueness and appeal of every format.

[@JamJestKesh]

Hearthstone is making format with sideboards. while MTG is trying to make one without? MFW copying goes all the way to swapping properties.

[@bobby45825]

Hearthstone with SB's would be pretty cool

[@Ensivion]

Woah, where did blizzard say this?

[@JamJestKesh]

@@Ensivion The new tournament format, where you bring a few version of one deck is functionally side board

[@Kmc2777]

The new competitive format for hearthstone is called specialist. You bring a main deck and secondary and tertiary deck. You can change up to 5 cards from the main deck.

[@nosrin1988]

This reminds me of a concept I came up with at my last gaming night. Where say you have four players, and each one of them brings anywhere between 2-5 decks with them, depending on how long you want this to go. Basically as soon as you go down to zero and are out, you pull out your next deck and when your turn comes around again you play that instead of just being out. I think it would be an interesting mix up of the game. Obviously you'd have to have mostly different decks. And if you don't want the game to go on forever you'd keep it to 2-3 decks per person, but it could be fun.

[@beckettakins6198]

Neverending commander night

[@veizour]

"The one you enjoy the most" Thank you, professor

[@progste]

One of the reasons of heartstone's long term decline is the amount of rng. I can't believe they would want to imitate that especially now woth the success of arena.

[@ericandruszko7563]

Yeah... this format would work fine for some other card games, but for MTG, where decks are often built hyper specific, this becomes kind of chaotic... I feel sorry for players in this tourney.

[@TheBloodswordsman]

I am a die hard commander player. I play nothing else. To anyone who plays a different format: Your format is amazing! It is as cool as you are!

[@YitzharVered]

Dude, no need to insult draft so much.

[@jacobcain9008]

I'd play commander if I could, but I only have a few hundred cards. Only 3 of those are legendary, so I don't have many options

[@kevinsplinter1954]

@@jacobcain9008 If you are interested in starting, I'd recommend going on tappedout.com and using their filtered deck search function. You can find a deck that is super cheap (20-30 bucks) that is still good and playtest it for free to get the hang of it. Either that, or you can find decks built around the Legenedarys you have an be inspired to fill out your own version. You can get a hold of all the cards you dont have through cardkingdom.com for a good price. And dont be concerned about the large price tags that show up on decks. While the decks can get pricey quick (100 card singleton does that, lol), it's easy to cut costs by using basic lands and simple duals. Any deck you find online can probably be cut down to 50 bucks and still keep the theme and style intact. Whether or not you expand to commander, keep having fun playing magic, my friend.

[@grxberserker6135]

@@jacobcain9008 if you are interested in commander please reach out to your friends who also play commander. Many of us would gladly help you build a starting budget deck by donating you cards that would be relevant to one of your legendary creature's gameplan. Else, there are literally thousands of lists where a solid commander deck can be purchased for as low as $17 and is still very fun to play. Lastly, the precon decks are always a solid option for those looking to enter the format, and with a little tuning they can prove to be very powerful out of the box.

[@jacobcain9008]

@@grxberserker6135 Hahah, thanks! Sadly though I have a single friend who will play MTG, and he prefers Yu-Gi-Oh. I'll stick to watching commander content for now.

[@KingRarecrazy]

Teferi and red agro and white agro decks took down the video

[@txag007]

Teferi put it 3rd from the top of videos he was uploading to KZbin.

[@bagofsunshine3916]

What about Boros agro with a focus on Mentor? :P

[@TheSpectralFX]

I am here to blame simic nexus of fate decks, they are just not passing the turn to The professor.

[@MRlebellion]

You are quite engaging, feels like you are in the same room. Subscribed.

[@thomashearne4670]

Prof, i got to hand it to you for putting my thoughts and feelings so eloquently into words. While I enjoyed the invitational, I kept getting the feeling I was watching 'magic lite'. I don't want magic lite, I want magic

[@jumanjiman86]

“Do you hope we get another invitational next year?” Such an innocent question at the time but hearing that at the end kinda stung

[@schrottinator]

The best format in Magic is opening booster packs.

[@IAm.Rushin]

@@vegas_party_animal7737 in my LGS if u pulled a foil tree in you box you would get a refund

[@TheSpectralFX]

Maaaa! I found the shady salesman, don't answer the door next time the bell ring okaaay?

[@moonwitch5466]

To be honest, I'm bad at this game as is, my co worker beats me constantly. Duo Standard wouldn't help me "get good" lol

[@hermandarmawan4610]

WotC, if you ever force your players to play dual standard in magic the gathering paper tournament, a lot of your players will quit this game.

[@Derael]

There is no point in dual standard on paper. It was only chosen because it resembles MTGA BO1 format. Most MTGA players don't really care about paper magic.

[@nickst.pierre5598]

Duo could be an interesting draft format, draft 5 packs and build 2 decks

[@RmDIrSudoSu]

With no sideboard? :/ I doubt it would be interesting. It's like trying to build a 60 cards deck in draft.. In draft the sideboard is really important, and even with 45 cards (3 packs) you can do a new deck using only your sideboard between two games.

[@theofftaskforce6546]

Draft by itself isn't an interesting format

[@spooplegeist]

@@theofftaskforce6546 Except to all the people who think draft is an interesting format.

[@theofftaskforce6546]

@@spooplegeist Yeah. But even that's kinda fading out.

[@spooplegeist]

@@theofftaskforce6546 is it though? I have no idea what coverage is like anymore, or what people like watching. I stopped being able to follow coverage around the time they disbanded the pro tour in like 2018. I know most of my friends and I enjoy watching draft more than standard, but that could also be due to the fact that standard has sucked for the past couple years.

[@dylanaird4437]

Also getting a “video is unavailable” error

[@EtherwroughtPaige]

I'm getting this here and on GLHF's new video today. I'm in Canada. Maybe there is some new youtube 'feature' blocking international?

[@justinbowman1342]

I just now got to watch this video.

[@HK556]

Back for me too

[@OsirisLocke]

I like the idea of invitational tournaments having weird one off formats, especially if the invitees are not there based on pure competitive merit. My only issue with it was putting such a huge money prize on the line for pure spectacle. Save that for true competitive events in the traditional tournament formats, so we can believe the winners earned the prize (mostly) by skill and dedication.

[@InsanoRider777]

"When looking at different formats, we're trying to balance several levers." Because clearly they don't already have a format that does that. Nope, none at all, they needed a new one. Regular old Magic in *no way* fills that criteria. /sarc

[@Derael]

To be completely honest, it doesn't. It's far from perfect in many ways, that's why they are constantly trying to improve it, introducing new mulligan rule, for example. They should also find a way to address going first vs going 2nd problem, since going first in game one generates quite significant unfair advantage. Duo Standard obviously didn't solve any of those problems, but at least it tried to solve some of them (at least opening hand algorithm eliminated situations where you have to mulligan to 4, because you got 0 lands 3 times in a row).

[@InsanoRider777]

@@Derael imo if you mulligan more than once, chances are you've already lost.

[@Derael]

@@InsanoRider777 Well, that's exactly the problem with BO3 I mentioned. It almost never happens to me in BO1. I still need to deal with manaflood, but at least I can cast my 1 and 2 drops 99% of the time. Also I still won quite a few games where I mulliganed to 4 cards, but that's more of an exception than the rule. There are a bunch of other minor problems, Nexus of Fate existence is one of them. You don't want to show new players games involving this card, believe me.

[@Evilfetus15]

this guy is such a nerd for magic lol, i love it. You can hear the enthusiasm in his voice. Subbed.

[@christopheranderson9430]

Why make such a ridiculous format!? The traditional standard has always been a strong and fun format as well as being the backbone of the game.

[@Zspear234]

Duo Standard should just be called best-of-one with two decks.

[@Vessarian]

@grim triX Yep and this will mean a drop in deck variety because now people will have to build decks that have an answer to everything at once. Welcome cheese and cookie cutter decks :)

[@Zspear234]

I just enjoy sideboarding. Call me old fashioned. I don't enjoy the deck restrictions best-of-one puts in place. Oh, you didn't build your deck to have this answer to this one deck? Guess your out of luck. But it's for like every deck in the format

[@Derael]

@@Zspear234 Well, it literally is, also the name is slightly misleading. Since BO1 is standard arena format, so BO1 with 2 decks is Duo Standard. Someone just has a horrible naming sense, that's not the same Standard we know.

[@Derael]

@@Vessarian I disagree. I play Jeskai control in BO1, and I had 67% winrate in CEs with that deck, which is roughly on par with all T1 decks. You can build ton of good decks in BO1 that don't see much play in BO3 because Nexus exists. People just missed their opportunity, since everyone decided to be boring and just go with monored, instead of thinking about a good deck themselves.

[@GamePodify]

Stopped playing Heartstone years ago because it's bad development. Recently started playing Magic and love the complexity and the ability to play in real life. The only thing which could make me stop playing Magic now I think is to turn in to Heartstone

[@Nitrodino7875]

Bad development how?

[@Nitrodino7875]

The new expansions got you into a rut?

[@Agarwaen00]

We need some kind of lifegain stax deck to abuse this time out rule. So instead of reducing the life of your opponent to 0, you focus on gaining life and prolonging the game.

[@nicholashewitt9781]

MonoWhite Prison ft. Ajani's Pridemate and the Gang

[@a.velderrain8849]

Nah just do Bant Turbo Fog with life gain. Drag the game out until you win.

[@onnilattu9138]

iKonic Flow Pridemate is such a bullshit card.

[@DynamicUnoTea]

This is kinda my thing: "Don't kill, don't die." Blue players can end up milling themselves to death with draw spells. Watch for tilting.

[@quint3ssent1a]

Hyper Cancer 3 😁😁😁😁

[@David-gj9qr]

0:08 I'd still want that video to be made

[@thatguysoko]

Here here, Prof! Edit: As a Commander player primarily, this was a great event! But. It totally threw me off when they switched decks mid game. For them to not have a sideboard I think further cements unintentionally the idea that one specific deck is the only way to win. Side boarding shows new players that even when I had a disadvantage, there is a way to come back with the deck that you were already playing and even come back to win. Now I think some people will just look at these decks and think that there is only one deck to build to win

[@rodrigodomingues4537]

That's something strange and paradoxical. While the professor is burning down the Wizards for what he thinks is their mistakes all I can see is how this man loves Magic and cares for it!

[@simplymtg6160]

I can't watch this because it's "Video Unavailable" but I can imagine it's great and talks about my outstanding Rock, Paper, Scissors performance at the mythic invitational and how it was at least best of three 🤔 I'll shut up, Just Take My Like!

[@Oracle_]

I had read about this on reddit and my boyfriend, who played MTG in the past, tried to explain to me (new player) why this was such a problem, but I couldn't understand very well, having never played in a tournament. But you explained it very well, thank you, Professor!

[@Snazzeo]

Pauper pro tour (I’m not calling it a mythic championship, that’s dumb) please

[@goreobsessed2308]

That would be cool

[@user-pp5oh9ee1k]

It would be double dumb if it was pauper, because you wouldn’t be able to play any mythics.

[@matthewbeattie]

Snazzeo The only problem with Pauper becoming popular is that the card prices will then go up, so sssshhhhh

[@blue1111111100]

I didn’t know in the US the life total rule wasn’t used. Here in Costa Rica life total to determine a winner after time, turns had run out is the standard way for both casual and competitive play

[@JonaxII]

Sure, the rulebook always included that, but How do you manage to get in such situations? The tournament rules usually suggest you play Swiss where you can just draw, or Top 8 KO, where you don't run out of time.

[@luisbecerra4525]

trashing on hearthstone midrole ad for new hearthstone set

[@the_names_rob]

Everytime he says, "many Magic the Gathering Players," it sounds prerecorded

[@c001357]

I'd like to note that the problem wasn't using an all new format; the Magic Invitationals were similarly centered around experimental formats. Duo Standard, however was not thought through so well. Asking for two separate standard decks was too much.

[@ty_sylicus]

Did they even test it? I think not!

[@nartin9]

Cube is one of my favorite formats. I love it that I can play my favorite cards that are not played anywhere else. Also I am able to play draft matter cards that I own and love. Another cool thing is I can had custom cards to my cube.. I also sometimes add planechase making it more chaotic than a normal draft but at a lower power level

[@ctrosejr]

I disagree with you, professor! The viewership numbers WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN THE EXACT SAME if they played a more traditional best of three standard format. The numbers WOULD HAVE BEEN HIGHER. I tuned out the moment LSV was eliminated by a series of "coin flips". I realized "what's the point?" of watching if the tournament was not going to showcase the best Magic had to offer and, therefore, decided not to watch. I am sure other people did the same.

[@gh0rochi363]

You’re a hardcore fan though. Most fans of anything are casual.

[@cyril957]

I'm most intrigued by the concept of the pros and cons of having 2 different decks. I used to play the Star Wars CCG when I was a kid, in which you ALWAYS had two decks, dark side and light side, and each game would pit two decks of opposing sides against each other. This isn't an exact 1:1 correlation, obviously, since that game was designed with this 'format' baked into the game design itself instead of tacked on a quarter-century in, but I'd be interested in seeing what a sort of 'fixed' duo standard might look like.

[@benrose99]

All i want to watch is a faithful recreation of paper magic on arena. Bo3 sideboarding it all goes together to make the game great. Chess clocks would work too! If time constraints are and issue i would be willing to sacrifice earlier rounds to bo1 if it meant when we got to the later matches it became a true display of the understanding of mtg. Maybe that would cause deckbuilding issues but im certain its better than duo standard.

[@RatkingNyxu]

Would a Warmachine style two list format work? Bring two decks. You and your opponent can read each others lists, and choose the deck you want to play in secret.

[@ashadeofnight]

All this is due to the fact WOTC took the decision not to get sideboarding programmed into Arena early in it's inception.

[@papernes]

Tom Padget Best of 3 with sideboarding was available on Arena prior to this event. It was already programmed in and worked properly.

[@ashadeofnight]

@@papernes Yeah after posting this comment my friend told me that. Why didn't they use it for esports then? Because they want it to resemble Best of 1 as that is how most people play Arena??

[@movezig5]

@@ashadeofnight Because they want it to resemble Hearthstone. The corporate overlords don't want to make a great game, nor do they understand how to. They are only concerned with making money, and when they see another game is profitable, their only thought is "why isn't our game more like that?" And this, capitalism crushes creativity and individuality in its endless, short-sighted lust for personal gain. That or everyone at WotC is literally retarded.

[@Waldestroy]

Agreed. Also, Wizards please show Pauper more love . I really like the idea of Wizards producing a pauper deck like you said in other video

[@iamhatefield]

I couldn't get through the second's day broadcast. It only made my dislike for esper control grow more.

[@scotdempsey3897]

And it encouraged everyone in Arena to play esper control this week. Made me switch to draft after I finished my dailies. It's a good deck but not when everyone is playing it.

[@pipsdontlie3031]

Esper control is way more healthy than mono red. Control actually takes brains to play.

[@maileesaeya3614]

@@pipsdontlie3031 I'm speaking as a Control player here where I say that is incredibly immature and not remotely accurate. I've played with and tested mono-red aggro and burn decks, various flavors of midrange, combo decks, and I'll say that they all take brains to play. An aggressive red deck looks simpler because it has a proactive game plan, but that doesn't mean it requires less thought than Control, just that the lines of play are OFTEN clearer. Don't believe me? Try watching the coverage of PT Fate Reforged, where Lee Shi Tian and Seth Manfield made Top 8 with burn lists, and had to carefully manage their resources (a standout being Tian facing off against an Abzan player with Kitchen Finks in his deck to really disrupt the burn plan).

[@pipsdontlie3031]

@@maileesaeya3614 I've played much aggro, and the closest thing that aggro get's to big thonk plays is having to play against a control deck. Otherwise you jsut slam down everything you can. If lines of play are clearer, it is simpler to play. I'm not insulting the archetype, but any format without control to counter aggro is not the format I want to be in, because aggro mirror matches are basically just a coin flip and take no thought. This isn't entirely true for every aggro deck of course, but especially for mono red, that's just what the deck is. Then again, I'm a control player generally so of course I'm a bit biased, and obviously I don't disregard players who play aggro decks or even think that control always requires the most amount of thought, but it is pretty naive or disingenuous to imply that the amount of thought that goes into holding back some attackers because they might have settle in hand, vs having to evaluate if you should counter the threat or wait for a sweeper to get rid of it because you need removal for their bigger threats and so on. Add that to considerations of cards that WotC has been printing like hot cakes for anti control, because people don't like watching interactive long matches but rather short or slightly less short "flashy" aggro matches. Carnage Tyrant etc. I'm just not sympathetic that Esper Control is able to beat aggro decks, because I like control and personally feel that most people who don't, don't really want to play magic, they just wanna play a coin flipping simulator with a little extra though into it.

[@freezerburnhead3861]

@@pipsdontlie3031 I don't like control or aggro, they are the most unfriendly and not fun decks to play against, I want to be able to actually play my deck when playing magic not die after putting out 2 cards or sit there for 40 minutes watching All my cards go directly into the graveyard.

[@BladewingX]

As a Judge on the topic of timed single/double elimination matches: It's not as uncommon as you might think, I've had to enforce this rule during 2018 and 2017. The Nationals Last Chance Qualifier and Trials were being held in this mode (although one of them changed for 2018, iirc). We announced the "Sudden Death" rule, as we called it, during each flight, and players always had some funny reactions to it.

[@TitusX17]

I recommend commander for the next mythic championship personally... although it would be the longest event ever.

[@NormsRespecter]

What if, instead of two decks per player, there was only one deck? This would alleviate the need to purchase multiple decks. And rather than randomly selecting the first deck to be played, they just played the single deck? It's much more straightforward. And it would still be a best of 3 match, but they could alter their deck's contents between games to better adapt to their opponent's strategy? I think this is what really elevates my suggestion; rather than decks simply playing out their strategy, players use their meta knowledge and understanding of their opponent's play to change their deck. This would enable an incredibly high skill ceiling for competitive Magic, even if each deck only had access to 15 or so additional cards. A shame no such format exists, though.

[@tarekt8427]

love your comment. it will probably fly right over the heads of the idiots duo format was meant to court though :)

[@iTiago98]

I just want the MTGO's timer implemented in Arena. I understand that MTGO's timer isn't as dynamic as the current one, and the game would be harder to get into, having a slow opponent may bore you out of it. But at least I would like it to be the timer in Traditional (best of three), so that the noobies can get hooked into the game, but the current paper and mtgo players can have a format where you can take your time in a convoluted and difficult decision. The one we have at the moment just makes it so I can't think straight while it is ticking down. Also I think that Swiss with top8 Best-of-three with mtgo's timer (and with sideboard, of course) would be the right format to have an event on Arena, so that we can watch high skill and thoughtful gameplay.

[@alexlyon4536]

My first competitive rel event the life total tiebreaker rule actually came up. It was a tournament grinder the night before GP Ottawa, single elimination khans sealed. Last round they ran out of time and were closing the venue. I remember watching one table in the process of sideboarding for game 3. A player sided into as many duo lands as possible, and mulled to 3 cards before playing a dismal backwater, gaining one life, and winning the series.

[@zwc76]

First time I ever heard the word "Smorgasborg". Is that an all-you-can-eat Startrek Borg restaurant?

[@hugoeriksson6524]

It’s a Swedish meal (Smörgås = sandwich)

[@zwc76]

@@hugoeriksson6524 I know. I'm Swedish. My reaction was that it was pronounced SmorgasborG and not SmorgasborD. :D

[@zwc76]

And it's not really a meal. Smörgåsbord refers to plenty of options, it could be a buffet, but it could also be a lot of in-game options.

[@swebartender4697]

sort off, smorgasbord (or smörgåsbord, how it's spelled in sweden) means sandwich table. It's more off a appetizer table. you usually see them on big family event (holidays like easter) or on big other events like churchs etc. there is no rule on what you can have on the table. but it's to have fruits, small sandwiches, ham and chess. and something called smörgåstårta (means sandwich cake) which is a shrimp cake. Edit: just for fun, smörgås is based on the word smör (butter) and gås (which is goose). so sandwich in swedish if you translate it 100% means butter goose

[@davedussault7251]

Subsistence is futile.

[@BlazingSerenade]

how the hell do they still not have a spectator mode

[@phillipmele8533]

“No sideboarding” Y I K E S

[@SFTortoise]

I think it would be fun and amazing if they did a Commander invitational Pro tour-

[@jamesstell7200]

What do you mean KBPTL isn't the best format in Magic?

[@nerdstrong]

Hello Prof., I was an old magic grinder back in the day and I just found your channel a couple months ago when you put up an analysis video about Legends of Runeterra. Runeterra is my go-to game atm but if I were ever to come back to magic fulltime I would hope that the major tournaments are best of 3 Swiss with sideboard. I personally think they came up with this format to present familiarity with how Hearthstone does tournaments which is fine for a game that relies on RNG and has limited player interaction. It just doesn't translate well to a game as nuanced as MtG.

[@ultimateo621]

0:35 He did it! He said the thing!

[@VaSoapman]

That life rule is so bad, and very exploitable. You can play a turn 1 lifegain or burn card, then just never pass priority. Time runs out and then you win the game. If you ever have the life lead there is no reason to ever end the turn. I don't know if there are any anti-stalling rules though.

[@AngelicDirt]

How bout... Standard. Bo3. Like Mister Garfield intended. Yeesh... had to go play PTCGO for a week it was so bad. :v ... 10/10, would watch and gripe along with again. Cathartic af. Thanks. :3

[@cakemeister6485]

Doctor Garfield, be respectful. :p

[@Silverpicker]

To me it actually sounds like a really fun casual format. I'd love to play this on my kitchen table. However, there is too much luck in this format for it to be reasonable for a competitive main event

[@FraterPooP]

its like EA designed the format... burn it with fire. right now.

[@phoenistrasza2176]

If EA created this, it would have an entry fee and a special Sidebouard DLC for only 99,99$

[@BigDiff7]

Hey, I'm in this video at 3:00 in the camera behind Cedric on the far-right :D . Live show was amazing. Definitely the highlight of PAX for me. Edit: Also, as for Duo Standard, I think the point they were going for was to maximize the amount of time viewers are watching games getting played. Sideboarding can be interesting to new players so long as it's quick and explained in simple terms, as is usually the case.

[@USERNAME12345678961]

For those having issues seeing this, use a vpn. It worked for me

[@dreadswizzard9142]

We used to play what we called unlimited in school where there was no ban list, decks between 60-100 cards, limit of 3 copies unless legendary/planeswalkers where you can have one copy. Fairly similar rules to standard/limited otherwise.

[@Lexender]

I think it was the same problem as Brawl, 2 teams working without comunication. The mythic invitational was announced before the patch with Bo3 ranked ladder and Bo3 direct matches was released. What does this mean? That e-sport/marketing team came up with the format thinking the the Bo3 modes weren't going to be online and created a format that used Bo1. Why? Something important to note is that the mythic invitational was market as "everyone can be a pro on Arena" with the top 8 of the ladder being invited (wich is also quite bad but is what they have to use since they don't have tournament modes like MTGO). This meant that whatever format they used HAD to be already implemented on Arena already. Of course this could have been prevented if the e-sport team simply comunicated with the dev team asked if they were going to have Bo3 ready by that time.

[@848harris]

just discovered this channel. Great content, congrats. Subscribed

[@harrisonj.3615]

A great review of a shitty format. Thanks prof!

[@sirshadowstep9984]

Nice pfp

[@fgebus.4582]

When I first learned how to play magic, my brothers and I used a format they called "Lunchroom Rules" 40 card deck, no sideboard, and on your first turn you play all the lands in your hand, but you only get 1 land drop after your first turn. Games were really fast, and I got to learn how to play fairly quickly while having a lot of fun. We haven't played like that in years, but I think a fast format similar to that would be a fun experiment.

[@danacoleman4007]

That would probably result in a lot of first turn kills.

[@fgebus.4582]

@@danacoleman4007 We played around Unlimited to Ice Age decks at the time, casting costs were a lot higher back then so it kind of evened out actually. Plus none of us played Red either so nobody had haste.

[@jonado7524]

totally agree prof. the tour was a pure coinflip

[@MrTyrogyro]

I didn't like the time rule, but I felt like duo standard was a good format for this particular event. You had a groups of streamers and Arena players clashing with pros and hall-of-fame players. The format evened the playing field. I feel like a traditional best-of-three with sideboarding would have been a slaughter. I assumed this pursuit of parity was the point of the format choice.

[@tarekt8427]

so you are for a format that makes your greatest players of all time look like chumps that can lose to bums that have never played the game. i dont believe that is how you promote one of the greatest strategic games the world has ever seen on the level of chess. makes no sense.

[@MrTyrogyro]

I view it in the same light as the NBA Celebrity All-Star game. It's not the Pro-tour, it's not Worlds, it's a promotional event. You have to have special rules to give the "Celebrity" players a chance, and I DO think it's a smart way to promote the game. I think it's smarter than making all of the new Magic players out there watch the streamers and Arena players get completely butchered by the pros. It's an event that a new player can aspire to and expect to have a puncher's chance of winning. You can watch some traditional competitive programming almost any other weekend. For this event, though, I think the format fit fine. (Again, I didn't dig the time rule, but other than that, I was into it.)

[@neutralggesports]

Thank god, I thought you were going to say Brawl.

[@JohnSmith-ty9cr]

Me too XD far too many people talking shit about it for no reason was one of the reasons it failed I believe, really don't need more of those

[@toskagamingz]

Same 😂

[@thomasbelcher6921]

Although this is a terrible standard format, it could be very fun in a format similar to limited. You use about ten packs and make two decks. Then you play duo standard with those. This is fun because it allows has you make more decks and if you have a preferred color or colors it forces you to get out of your comfort zone.

[@wren7818]

The fact that I can play league of legends without my computer overheating and not MTGA is repugnant. A card game should not take more resources than a MOBA.

[@bobby45825]

Especially a moba with, usually, 10 people simultaneously interacting with each other in real time, whereas mtga is just... you and me.

[@ziongray7880]

League doesn’t take much to run tbh tho.

[@wren7818]

@@ziongray7880 My point is that a card game shouldn't be overheating my computer. where a real time game doesn't. There can be steps taken so that the game can be accessible.

[@danacoleman4007]

Code much?

[@AlaskaDog907]

Duo standard sounds awesome! It would be great to break out another deck at FNM but because it's a "tournament" I gotta sit and play the same one for four hours. My decks are usually budget price range but it would be really unfair to players with less money though. When I sit down across a 16 year old kid I always think about how cool it would be if wizards gave out high powered promos to kids that get good grades. The video store where I grew up would give you a free rental for every A on your report card, Was nice.

[@elijahwindle3579]

I really thought this was gonna be about brawl

[@brentgould958]

Me too and I like brawl

[@johnhanifin1993]

In stead of random deck 1 or 2. Just name 1 deck 1 and 1 deck 2. play deck 1 first. Then play deck 2. If its 2-0. It's over, if it's 1-1 players pick and write down which of those decks they are going to play. Then when both have chose a deck, reveal it and play game 3. Take out the random.

[@davidpeabody3429]

This is great critisism why does a video orchestrated by a correct person need to be disliked

[@Skybilz]

Loved this video! As someone who played this format for high stakes at the Mythic Invitational, the criticisms are fair. Not only did I have to mentally prepare myself to run up against MPL players, but I had to navigate through the new format at the same time. I am happy that you were able to wrap up all of these feelings into a single video. Thanks for all you do, and thank you for the shoutout. I look forward to more videos in the future!

[@tarekt8427]

Hey Skybilz. good job. at first i was against random streamers although i understand the marketing aspect. i felt that for the biggest purse in history people, that have not made this their life and job did not deserve to sniff it. but watching you and others i really enjoyed your participation. although lets be honest. and really nothing against you. but the fact they basically tailored the format to even the odds between people that made a lot of mechanical mistakes and pro's to make it even was hyper frustrating to watch. I felt if anything the format was a disservice both to the pro's by making them not look as amazing as they are and to you guys for putting you in a no win situation where it was doubly obvious you did not belong. I feel if they kept the format bo3 and still invited you guys even if it gave you less of a chance to pull out upsets would still have served everyone better. I do hope people have not given you a hard time and given you love though. good luck with your careers as it seems you are a multi faceted individual. you were awesome.

[@PartisanGamer]

In all honesty - not the best format ... but I feel it could have been a lot better if players were allowed to CHOOSE their first game deck instead randomly getting one. That decision is just baffling to me, cause it literally turned all those matches into games of chance .... either you get lucky in your first game or you don`t - and then you are also screwed in game 2 in some match-ups as your first deck might have been paired against a deck it was at an disadvantage and then you`re FORCED to use the other deck that might now be at an equal disadvantage against whatever your OP brings into the second game. It was way too much of a roll of the dice. Should have been: Game 1: choose your deck; Game 2: forced to use the second deck; Game 3: choose again. Would`ve made a world of difference imho.

[@cakemeister6485]

You picking doesn't really change anything though. If you pick the wrong deck for what they picked, you're still at a double disadvantage.

[@kingkasper4950]

I would like to know weather or not the 1st pick was random as well. From what i saw it was but prof said it wasn't. Who miscommunicated?

[@PartisanGamer]

@@cakemeister6485 it changes in so far that now two people have to make a choice and keep in mind that their opponent does so as well. Now a real decision making process takes place that has to take into account what your opponent might do. It's definitely different from pure chance.

[@cakemeister6485]

@@PartisanGamer I don't have the best handle on what I was thinking two years ago, but I assume that my comment was based on not knowing your opponent's decklists.

[@samuelhigh7831]

I feel like Duos standard would work, very well actually as a sealed or draft event with 40 card decks.

[@ThePidude314]

You spent the first 8 minutes of the video just saying that the mythic invitational had pro players and streamers, repeatedly in slightly different ways.

[@asomelord]

I've been rewatching your old videos recently (mainly your podcasts while playing EDH on Moto) and youtube recommended this one. I assumed it was about Alchemy before looking at the release date

[@TheHeavyScout]

those "cry of the carnarium" draws in esper mirrors. i had to stop watching for a short while but didnt miss out anything - they were staring at each other with 4 creature removal spells doing NOTHING

[@QvsTheWorld]

A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.

[@shmerelize]

Overflowing insight your opponent ftw.

[@yonisavransky3731]

awesome video! i have been waiting for you or command zone to make this! fyi you have a typo in the description. "what does magic doe better than hearthstone"

[@Lapeepee]

Duo Standard brings out my worst thoughts about Magic which is the removal of choice. Yeah you can play whatever you want and the players could have chosen different decks, but we saw almost every set of decks being a combo of WW, Mono-Red, and Esper Control. The format and the randomness of what deck you get to play in game 1 was incredibly annoying to watch. Duo Standard forces players to play only certain types of decks and that was extremely disappointing.

[@Thestar17x]

As a yugioh player new to magic I found your channel and have been enjoying it,and the new time rule sounds like what yugioh implemented half a year ago where higher life wins at time.

[@toxictonic12888]

"Video unavailable"

[@ContagiousRepublic]

The format was planned to make people fully duplicate their deck including the super expensive cards --- then to throw away any sense of grand strategy for a dice roll vibe when people failed to do that since by that point, picking the wrong deck is why 90% of these games are won or lost.