Paper Gamer

weasel

Paper-Gamer.com presents:

Talking Crap!
A magical podcast
Episode 2

Talking crap is a podcast starring Levi "Thinks-he-owns-the-place" Hinz, and Cameron "Controversial" Veigel, bringing you opinions and insights you can happily ignore, or pass on to your children's children.

Disclaimer: Please note that we had some major techical difficulties, which almost resulted in losing this episode completely. Rather than throw it away, Cameron has worked tirelessly to bring you something you can listen to. It's not terrible, however, the sound quality is poor in many places due to the way in which we had to salvage it. Please be gentle.

(This file might shed some light on the source of our problems)

We will have a much better quality podcast next week.

(Right click, Save As.)

In this episode:

* Format of the Week - Cube Draft
* Olivier Ruel's Hall of Fame Entry
* Wizard's Prerelease Changes
* Trading
* Dodgy Plays and the Role of the Spectator
* Shards Previews
* PG Site news and Shout-Outs

Credits:
Starring: Levi Hinz and Cameron Veigel
Recording Date: Monday 15th September, 2008
Recorded in a Russian basement during a dark winter.
Running time: Approx 36 mins.
File size: 6.2 MB
Unofficial Rating: PG. Mild coarse language.
_________________
Support Paper-Gamer.com
Tell all your friends!
You make the community.
Check out Talking Crap - The Podcast!

"Thieves are stupid, that's why they're thieves." -Ari

mindfire · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 9:25 pm Post subject:

First!

What? What?? You expected something intelligent???
_________________
EDH General: Child of Alara

Im two sttopid to play magik - mabee ah shud stop whill arm ahid

weasel · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 9:43 pm Post subject:

With a forehead like that, nope

_________________
Support Paper-Gamer.com
Tell all your friends!
You make the community.
Check out Talking Crap - The Podcast!

"Thieves are stupid, that's why they're thieves." -Ari

mindfire · Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 10:06 pm Post subject:

Hey - don't knock the sky slope, Frichjaskya.

Sounds like Cam stole the microphone and wouldn't let Levi have a turn.
_________________
EDH General: Child of Alara

Im two sttopid to play magik - mabee ah shud stop whill arm ahid

badlittlemonkey · Lily Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 2301

MulliAgain · Joined: 01 May 2007 Posts: 208

Sound quality aside, that was much more enjoyable than last weeks PodCast.

weasel · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 9:24 am Post subject:

badlittlemonkey · Lily Joined: 22 Jan 2007 Posts: 2301

3rd Name Drop! Yes

So true about the excitement…no pre release, no draft party and no shop for regular type 2. Means it’s really hard to get excited about cards. There are a few where I think hmmm I will want those for Zoo in extended but he rest just have this “will I ever play these much” specter over them.

The shard rule does suck. Sometimes you do get a bad pool and just throw all your powerful cards in and hope to get lucky. Maybe they are trying to make Limited more “new player” friendly. This set you pick a shard and go, last set you pick what is basically a guild and go and the set before pick a tribe and go.

I don’t think I have ever lost as many games to new players as I did in Lorwyn block, Heinz even drafted well.

Haha I also haven’t bothered visiting Wizards site due to Dion

This weeks was heaps more direct, clearly more confident.

71dion · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:02 am Post subject:

Thanks for the name drops and "shout out" guys....

It definitely was much better thistime, due to the organized way you did this one ( + being a bit shorter ), the whole sound issue wasn't too bad really, I just turn up the volume a bit..... I am glad Olivier made it in this year ( rather than say next year or so on ), as I think it would have been a real slap in the face to someone who clearly loves the game ( there's no way you would travel the world and have the outlays he has had - even with the friends / places to see - if he didn't really just enjoy playing ). Granted he has a cloud over his head with what has happened, but he isn't Mike Long..... I am also really disappointed about the whole PR thing ( or should we just call it the bigger sneak-peek weekend ??? ), I really liked coming to Mike's big events and seeing everyone there + seeing lots of wacky fun cards.... The shard rule just seems so stupid, I was thinking of Cameron's exact "demonfire" issue and I'd want to play the 4th "splash" colour if I had the card and fixing to enable it....

Cheers to everyone who has enjoyed looking here rather than wizards for the preview cards ( and salvation for rumours )... I did it cause I like reading / being involved in the discussions amongst our viewers, and what better way than put up the cards up here for us to talk about...

I will see if something pops up that I think is worth discussing... but great work guys and keep it going ! ( and you too Andrew ... )
_________________
And my custom title has come true

..... far too soon..... after my nine year old finished higher in the standings than me at the Austin PTQ.... Wink

.....

archelon · Maybe this is the joke... Joined: 22 Feb 2007 Posts: 1438

71dion · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:54 am Post subject:

Gfish · The 'G' is for Draco Joined: 26 Feb 2007 Posts: 665

I must add my thumbs up for the second podcast. While technical issues are not that big a deal, the volume disparity did force me to crank it up to the point where Levi became audible and Cameron was … louder.

I for one would never have voted for Olivier Ruel. While I've never played him and I'm sure he's a lovely bloke (most people are once you make the effort to get to know them) I could never say with any certainty how much of his success was due to the same behaviour that got him into trouble so many times. There's no doubt he has a lot of play skill, but every fractional advantage counts and I wouldn't want to encourage a mentality that any dodgy dealings can be rewarded/overlooked if you're able to post a good enough record.

As for the Shard thing, I can kinda see why they did it, "flavour" aside. The format does seem to be laden with a higher average casting cost than usual and the mana requirements on a lot of the rares are quite steep. When everyone is opening ridiculous bombs that cost 6 of different colours, the temptation is to attempt to play as many as possible, which I can see leading to a situation where everybody is attempting to play 5 colour and the success of any card pool is hugely dependent on the quantity and quality of mana fixers to back up your powerful cards. Rather than have a situation where people (especially greener players) try and fail to balance not only curve and creature/spell ratio issues but also the heavy decision making required to tune a 5 colour monstrosity run consistently, I think they've gone for a simpler route. Now the decisions become less about "how can I cram all this good stuff in?" and more about "does my bomby rare in Shard X outweigh the consistency in Shard Y" which is a process that most Sealed players are more accustomed to. I can appreciate the frustration that comes from not being able to splash for Demonfire, but I think the 5 colour special imposes a barrier to entry that could well impact on the ability of newer players to enjoy the Sealed experience. And Wizards is all about the newer players.

I will say that I think that forcing drafters to stick to a single Shard raises far more unpleasant scenarios to my mind than a sealed pool. Any idea on what the situation there is?

weasel · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 11:26 am Post subject:

silensis · Comes into play tapped Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 656

Fact or fiction is still one of the best cards in cube!

Jiite is no. 1 though...

Peers · Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 11:29 am Post subject:

for the win
_________________