"Broken" in a casual metagame

[Terentius]

I have BW discard deck. It has four Hymn to Tourachs in it. My friend complains every time I play the card, especially in conjunction with Dark Ritual.
In turn, I complain about his decks, how he simply uses Flood, Fog Bank, and Meekstone in his Mill deck.

What do y'all think?

 

[Oversoul]

I think you both need to stop whining. But that's just me...

 

[Nightstalkers]

Competetive:
Quite frankly if a person whines about me playing something like that I'd tell'em to either deal with it or stop playing magic. Because if you whine about someone playing a card all the time you're just going to get red flagged by the judges for disruptive behavior.

Casual:
Why not make a deck without those cards? If the games are more laid back and "casual" in your area, you might try putting together something that's just outright goofy:

//NAME: Words
4 Farsight Mask
4 Heightened Awareness
4 Mind's Eye
4 Howling Mine
4 Words of Worship
4 Words of Wind
4 Words of Wilding
4 Words of Waste
4 Words of War
4 Mana Prism
4 Mana Cylix
4 Cloudpost
4 Urza's Tower
4 Urza's Power Plant
4 Urza's Mine
2 No Mercy

 

[Ransac]

If they complain about the overpower of a card, then tell them to just deal with it. It's not in good spirit to demand that a card be changed because it's too good (errata?). What's the point in having good cards if you can't play them to their full potential.

Tell your friend to lay off of Hymn to Tourach. Fallen Empires doesn't have many good cards, so let this one be.


Ransac, cpa trash man

 

[Spiderman]

On one hand, if this is all you have to play with, then you have to make some concessions.

On the other, it's too bad you have to "nerf" a card just because he doesn't like it.

Tough call.

 

[Gizmo]

Hymn To Tourach is quite an unpleasant card. I would consider it a little unfair for 'casual' play and would object to it being played against me in that context. There are other cards you can play that generate a similar effect and would provoke less hatred (Stupor or Distress spring most obviously to mind).

For the other cards you mention they are very common sorts of strategies in casual magic and it seems that perhaps the solution is for you both to play slightly more cards that would destroy your opponent's cards - Flood and Meekstone both die to Disenchant for instance, or Creeping Mold would solve all the cards your opponent objects to. Perhaps you should both look at the decks you are playing and question quite why they cannot handle the cards your opponent is playing. You seem to be blindly playing right into each other without actually trying to adapt and avoid traps.

 

[Mooseman]

Granted, there are some cards that are a pain in certain formats (Congregate in multi-plyer chaos is one). but, whining is for kids.
In our group there was a player who made a token/opposition deck that was ruling the roost, until myself and another player made decks just to beat that one, (E. plague, disenchants, erases, balance, WOG) and he finally made some different decks. (The games were starting to stagnate into the same old decks everytime)
If a deck or a few cards dominate in your home casual game, it's no fun to play against them in every game.... might be fun for a while to dominate the other players, but doesn't that get boring after a while.

We even tried a format, where you had to play someone else's deck..... that was loads of fun, because you were not allowed to look through the deck before you played it......

 

[Oversoul]

We even tried a format, where you had to play someone else's deck..... that was loads of fun, because you were not allowed to look through the deck before you played it......

Seven lands?
"Mulligan."
Six lands?
"Mulligan."
Five lands?
"Hey! Is everything in here an Island, Mountain, or Forest?"
"No, there's one Swamp. It's the 61st card. Your win condition is to deck me."

 

[Mooseman]

Our game group players want to have fun, not be d&*%s.
Well, ther is KJ.......

 

[Ransac]

Seven lands?
"Mulligan."
Six lands?
"Mulligan."
Five lands?
"Hey! Is everything in here an Island, Mountain, or Forest?"
"No, there's one Swamp. It's the 61st card. Your win condition is to deck me."

roflmaoweab!!!!!!!!!


Ransac, cpa trash man

 

[DarthFerret]

Just a quick question....if he has Flood and the others in his deck, and is complaining that you are playing HTT...why dont you give him a present .... lets say 4 counterspells and a Library of Leng or something similar. That way he would hush up.

I have had similar problems, because one of my favorite methods of winning is to draw the game out, stall a bit, then lockdown until my win condition comes up... (see my article on ManaBarbs for an example). I have had a lot of people complain about me playing this deck (a couple of them even refused to play against it). My solution, well..I built about 10 other decks so that I would only hear them complain about that one every 10 games or so...

 

[Terentius]

I just got done playing again, now he says Soltari Visionary is stupid because of Shadow, Megrim and Windfall is the noobiest thing ever, and Protean Hulk is broken. What I think he means is anything he can't stop is broken.

And I didn't mean that those things in his mill deck were broken, I meant they are too powerful because it takes no time to set up an incredible defense.

EDIT: Actually, he has 4 Counterspells and 4 Boomerangs in that mill deck

 

[Ransac]

Shadow is not broken. Protean Hulk is not broken. Megrim is not broken. Windfall is...... well, it may be. It is restricted in Vintage. But, who cares. If he can't beat you, then he needs another deck.


Ransac, cpa trash man

 

[Mooseman]

Truthfully, if he can't deal with it, find other players...... that's what I do.....
Dang, why do I still play magic with KJ?????????
Oh, yeah, he's a PITA to everyone else, but me.........

 

[Homestar]

Dude..... Tsi, you gotta find some new people to play with.....If he's gonna whine about every card that has hand in your victories, he doesn't need to be playing Magic.

Hey I got an idea, maybe go pick up a Pre-Con and don't open it until you see him. Then right when you guys are about to play, open it up, show him your not even gonna touch it, and beat him with that =P See what he says after that.

 

[Gizmo]

Shadow is quite nasty these days because it's effective unblockability. As we've discussed in other threads it might be better to consider them to have flying. But yes it does sound like he's just a sore loser.

 

[orgg]

If he has Flood, that's a foil to shadow.

If he's complaining about a creature that is targettable, and doesn't avoid removal... That's rediculous.

Complaining about Windfall... that's understandable. The version of Windfall that isn't broken is called "Balance of Power," costs 3UU, and is a sorcery. Try using THAT one instead.

 

[Killerbob]

If you only have few decks, and you play casual, you will face problems. Some decks will beat other decks each and every time. If you dont play other players, your deckbuilding might degenerate to hate-builds. But a solution to your problem might be to build more decks. Choose different strategies. If his defense cards are meekstone, flood and fog bank, make a deck which doesnt rely much on attacking. Or remove his fog bank and attack with small flyers. These defense cards are very restricted in their use, and you can easily get around them.
I understand that playing too many tournamentworthy cards like HTT in casual is a problem. But its only the deck deck as a whole that is a problem. If your decks suck, a few hymns might make it a little playable. Thats good! In casual you should try not to beat the crap out of each other, but to find decks which plays well against eachother instead.