Brainburst

[EricBess]

I was checking out the judge's website and I ran across an article about answering questions on line. Out of curiosity, I looked to see what it was talking about and it was referring to rules forums being a good place for novice judges to flex their rules knowledges and gain experience.

There was, of course, a link to the CPA rules forum. Out of curiosity, I clicked on the Brainburst link and did some poking around.

What I discovered was that there were a lot of people on line. There were a ton of rules questions and a lot of them were for some very simple things.

I contrast this with the CPA.
-Most posts, I have noticed, here at the CPA (with the exception of the ongoing games forum) happen at night.
-Most rules questions here are fairly substantial. We get our share of easy questions, but on the whole, the percentages are lower.
-They have a rules "quiz". The answer is fairly simple, but there are a lot of people dancing around the problem trying to figure it out.

Okay, what's my point? I'm just sort of curious as to whether the average age of the inhabitants of the CPA is higher than that of a site like Brainburst.

Anyone have any opinion or information about this?

 

[Spiderman]

Actually, I think most posts happen during the day EST. When I log in the morning, there might be 5 or six forums that have new posts but the actual threads are only one or two.

Brainburst just might be getting more traffic. And maybe people who play Magic more often.

 

[BigBlue]

I don't think it is age related. If you were to do an analysis, I'm pretty sure you'd find that most players here have played longer than those who visit a **popular** site like Brainburst. I'm not trying to say the CPA is unpopular, just that if you ran one of those surveys like they do on Family Fued asking 100 players to name a Magic Website, the CPA might not even get a mention. Likely Brainburst would. . . and depending on who you asked the Dojo might even get a prop from the older crowd.

 

[EricBess]

I was sort of thinking along those lines, BB. I think one of the reasons we have an older crowd is because we are not as "hip" as the newer websites. How many people come here to get top-tier decks?

But, we're more refined. I feel far more at home here. Just trying to keep up with a single forum at Brainburst for one day has been a challenge.

 

[BigBlue]

See, I'm just not sure it's chronological age. I feel old here at 33, but I know there are others here around my age. I feel home here as well, and that likely has something to do with the scarcity of posters, since you are familiar with most of the regular posters, it brings it closer to home. On sites with 100's or 1000's of regulars, it is impossible to feel that way. It could be with cliques, but it wouldn't be the same.

The dumbest question I ever got was at a state championship where a player was basically challenging me. He was playing dumb with how Trample worked. He **claimed** he didn't know he'd still take damage if he blocked a Ball Lightning with his elf. This guy was a real winner, he'd finished top 8 the year before and was the leader of a team from another city who were notoriously oinkholes. But he actually played the fool, like he didn't understand trample. Now if was about the changes in the rules, where multiple blockers have to absorb as much damage as possible now (before the attacker could assign it all through the weakest blocker, but that changed in like 5th or 6th for the young crowd) then I might have understood, even from a good player. But I saw it as a direct challenge. He wanted to know if I knew what I was doing, or would rule against him. He was an imposing fellow as well, like 6-2 275 or so with a bad attitude.

 

[Spiderman]

Holy moly! You guys are about the same age! And I'm not far behind!

Well, this is the "casual" site. You're certainly not going to get the tourney crowd here looking for the latest net deck.

But I would think there are some more players out there who play "casually" and like to experiment with their decks. Maybe they're just following Alongi or something... <shrug>

 

[train]

I'm only 24 and I spend more time on this site than any other... It is more like home here for a bunch of reasons. The greatest is the fact that when a card from Dark or mirage is mentioned you all know what it is...

I guess we're Magic-Lifers...

 

[Purple_jester]

I still get stares whenever I pull out my Discard deck in the local store. Some players don't even know what Hymn to Tourach does. One even did a double-take on Dark Ritual.

 

[train]

2-mana discard 3 - that's awesome...
Also try to show them an original unholy strength...
If you have some, show them what 2-mana land destruct can do... yeahhhh sinkholes!!!...

Maybe you pull the old Channel-Fireball over on them!!!

 

[theorgg]

I met one kid who was pretty good.. so good I forgot he had only played four months...

I used a Dark Ritual, and his face looked as though he had relesed an amount of excretion into his pants.

He couldn't believe it...

 

[NorrYtt]

I get lots of oooo's and ahhhhhhhh's when I play my Properity + Eureka combo in multiplayer. People don't believe cards like that even exist.

This place is really great. Everyone is very smart and there's very little spam.

The worst are Wizards' message boards. Timmys everywhere. One guy goes "Wow! Grinning Demon is an 8/8 flying house!" I found it amusing so I played like Grinning Demon was a '7/7 trampling beast' and Laquatas's Champion is a '5/5 swampwalker that sits on a throne of bone...'

 

[Spiderman]

...there's very little spam

We try to cut down on that as much as possible (and thank goodness I can do something about it here I hate it also)

 

[BigBlue]

Originally posted by train
2-mana discard 3 - that's awesome...

What card is that? Hymn is 2 for 2, stupor is 3 for 2, Mindstab thrull is 3 for 3 if it get's through unblocked . . .

Where can I get 3 cards for 2 mana?


I'm here to tell you one of the most feared plays of old school is usually shocked now . . . Ritual Hippie Specter which is a real downer.

 

[train]

Sorry, I was a little mixed up...

But a Nicol Bolas - Shallow Grave-d could discard 6/7 for 2 mana...

 

[Spiderman]

I'm here to tell you one of the most feared plays of old school is usually shocked now . . . Ritual Hippie Specter which is a real downer

It was usually or should have been Bolted or Sworded back then too...

 

[BigBlue]

yes, it was, but when there were only bolts and swords as the quick fix, you could generally hit once or twice before it went away, now that red has 87 1 or 2 cc answers it is just not worth it. . . In fact, I pretty much stopped playing rits, I'd rather not give up the card advantage to watch things get insta-deathed.

Hell, even black has answers now (which is sick and wrong) in edict and terminate (with red). Black shouldn't have been as enabled to deal with black, which I read an RnD guy say too.

 

[Spiderman]

I thought we were talking just 1cc solutions.

Black always had Drain Life, though it have to be cast on turn 2 with a Ritual (assuming no Moxes or Lotus). I think Black should deal with black but at a higher cost; Terminate is just good (though it IS another color) and Edict technically can be gotten around, you just need another creature But I think Edict was more for dealing with Green's untargetables (and one of black's enemies...)

 

[theorgg]

I actually learned that about Hippy a few months ago. I was playing "Nero," my Necro/Tower deck with the normal complement of hippies, et al, and the first turn I ritual/hippied aganst a guy who only had played a couple of weeks, but wasn't too bad.

Me: This was one of the most frightning plays in the early days of Magic, and this is probably the best flying creature EVER.
Him, reading the card: Really? wow.
Me: Yea. He's pretty amazing, isn't he?
Him: Not really... He's too fragile against a lot of things nowdays. Against most stuff, he dont do too much. It's kind of a (sly grin, tapping a mountain)Shock that he was so good.
Me: Sheeep sheyit!



What would happen if the Hippy was reprinted today? Would he still be the beast that he once was with Ritual?

 

[train]

It may not be 1cc - but Mutilate is bad enough for black to have... Don't even get me started on Ritual of the Machine...

 

[Spiderman]

What would happen if the Hippy was reprinted today? Would he still be the beast that he once was with Ritual?

I assume you mean in Standard since he's always around in older sets or formats....

I don't know what kind of removal there is now in Standard, honestly. Without Ritual, he takes too long to get out. With Ritual... it'd be nice, but with threshold running around, Hippie might actually help your opponent. So I guess I doubt he'd be the feared beast he once was...