u/MiningToSaveTheWorld

The world is mostly as it should be, and any attempt to make it better would just make it worse

Every time I try to untangle any policy or social issue that people tend to discuss on these forums, I always encounter an unsolveable gordian knot where pulling one lever hurts something else or has some cascading effect that results in a net negative. Two examples to follow, but in summary when you actually look into the things people want to happen, realizing those wants would have net negative results for most people involved.

Take the popular opinion about residential property taxes. I was debating with some leftists about this and they said it's stupid to pay property tax on something you already paid for. I explained that property taxes are the primary tax base for the municipality and that pays for your schools, policing, some of the services like water, sewage, with an insane variance depending on State/ Province (generalizing between USA and Canada as I am familiar with both). That money would have to come from somewhere if we cancelled the property tax, so people I debated with said it could come from sales tax. I explain that sales taxes disproportionately harm lower income families and individuals because they spend a higher proportion of their total income on basic costs of living that have sales taxes on them. Like someone making $2k a month spending $500 on food per month, 10% sales tax on the $500 is like 2.5% of their income versus someone making 10k per month with same food bill and taxes, it's 0.5% of their income. Just to be conclusive yes I understand that most of the food bill doesn't have sales tax if it's like raw vegetables but just as a very general example. Like obviously the $10k income probably buying MORE but RELATIVELY speaking, on a percentage basis, the sales tax is impacting the $2k income person more.

After discussing that, they pivot to increasing commercial property tax. I say OK great, now brick and mortar businesses that can already barely pay their lease, their lease goes up by exactly that same amount of the new tax increment, and they have to either increase the costs of what they sell to their customers, or go out of business. Most brick and mortar businesspeople I know are barely making ends meet, like the leases are $4k and they only selling $10k of product per month, after cost of goods they paying themselves a basic living salary. Commercial taxes are already 2-4x the rate of residential as it is. And besides, you'd have to charge an absolutely insane amount to make up the difference for the loss of residential property taxes as those are the bulk of the property tax portfolio.

Then let's look at other cases. Typical anti capitalist 'eat the rich' arguments you see that are absurdly popular on Reddit. Most of the ideas involve some sort of bitterness or hatred of wealthy individuals. You can just feel the seething bitterness dripping off the words of some of these users when they venomously express their ideals. You know what that's led to every time? Something like the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, holocaust in Germany, bednyak collaborating with the Bolsheviks to murder and re-appropriate holdings of kulaks in USSR. We realize every time in hindsight that the way things were, were with reason. The kulaks were the conscientious and industrious of the society that made the land productive. Their farms rotted away once the lazy bednyaks had killed them and taken their lands for themselves. Millions starved. This happens literally every time in history when we've had a true uprising of the lower class. You get a bunch of morons that failed at everything else previously in life who achieved power with violence who can't run society worth shit.

All of the preceding paragraphs are a very long example of just two areas where misinformed people think they could do it better. Any time I try to dig into ideas people have to make the world a better place, it's the same shit. No, you would not make the world a better place if your stupid ideas were put into practice. You'd fuck it up 10x worse than it already is. In a best case scenario, you make things worse for a little bit and we revert back to the way things were before the changes. Worst case scenario, you trigger something far worse and we're back to square one in 10 years after a lot of people have died.

We're safer supporting the status quo than any reforms or changes in policy. Especially when you look at the people that have these ideas, they are where they are in life for a reason. They are looking for reforms and changes to the system because they are in a bad place in the system. And most of the time, that is with reason. If we give any of the holders of these beliefs real power we realize very quick they were ill-equipped to deliver any positive change to the world. We're better off with the tyrants we have, the meritocratic ones that at least maintain a somewhat livable system for the most of us.

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u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 2 days ago

With Raynor P1 Backwater Marshall, do you just stop making Medics because their healing capacity isn't buffed in line with the double health pool? Feels like the medics can't keep up with the demand with P1. Also, do you find bio Raynor lacklustre against some AI compositions?

I really love bio Terran most of my master seasons were as bio Terran so kinda like doing it in coop. Have been messing around with Backwater Marshall prestige on Raynor and curious if you had any ideas about how to use the toolset for Brutal, Brutal+X.

Feels like nomatter how many Medics I get, they always depleted with the higher health pools. Based on this I was mulling around with the idea of not building medics at all or just a small amount to replace stim damage and replacing the armies to leverage their double health.

Also noticed that even with double health, some AI comps still provide so much AoE that even with double health, the Bio can get decimated. Mostly Siege Tank and Storm compositions seem to make bio Raynor struggle. Do you think it's still a good composition?

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u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 3 days ago
▲ 5 r/EDH

What should I build for my first cEDH deck?

Not allowed to proxy at most of my LGS so looking to build something that I own most of the expensive staples for already. I own most gamechangers, main combo staple I'm missing is LED and I don't really want to pick that up as I wouldn't use it anywhere else and just don't really like the card in general. After light Googling I think I have a decent base to build Kinnan, or Rograkh/Thrasius (just need Thrasius himself lol) which is probably better anyways. Curious if there's another direction to look into. My favourite decks in lower brackets is Chulane Elf Ball. I assume I want something with Rog in it so I can get turn 1 interaction unlocked with the free commander spells. Rograkh/ Silas looks nice but assume it really likes having LED in it though I own most of the other cards I'd probably want for it.

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u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 4 days ago
▲ 51 r/EDH

Heard some advice about not using Vanilla/French Vanilla creatures. After Googling what a French Vanilla creature is, seems like kinda good advice. But do we all agree?

So my noob eyes see something like Porcelain Legionnaire or Vampire Nighthawk and am like damn that's too good to pass up and I throw that into quite a bit of my decks. Or 1 cmc 2/2s with no downside or tolerable downside. But in a format where we got synergistic 1 drops that fuel infinite combos or value engines feels like grabbing something like a Nighthawk is a waste? What say you?

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u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 5 days ago
▲ 958 r/EDH

Technically you should bring all your decks for game night because you will age slower due to Gravitational Time Dilation

I hear people discuss about only bringing a few decks out for game night and having issues deciding which decks to bring out.

The scientifically correct answer is that you should bring all your decks. You will increase your mass and therefore increase your gravitational field and stretch space time, slowing the passage of time for you and therefore making you live longer. Furthermore, you are actively harming your playgroup by not bringing your decks by reducing the local mass. You're literally killing your friends by not bringing all your stuff.

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u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 5 days ago

Price seems all over the place like some that I assumed would be higher are the lowest and Witherbloom seems more on par with something like a Miirym in terms of demand but it's seeking $15 right now. Do you think these drop in a few months when hype subsides or it's going straight up?

These are only seeing play in EDH right?

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u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 9 days ago
▲ 12 r/EDH

Hopefully it's ok I ask here as felt like it was mostly EDH players grabbing this product for the cards, which was the case for me. I got my two Allosaurus Shepherds and haven't touched the rest since. I sleeved them in small deck sleeves so they could be played as Jumpstart but haven't actually cracked it out on a game night over EDH. I understand it's a completely different format but yeah curious if anyone has any experience with it, suggestions for bringing it out for game night etc

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u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 9 days ago

Noticing a trend with Dragons, they seem to have a higher floor and ceiling than ubiquitous staples. Are there more collectors of Dragons or they have a premium because they are cool? I invested heavily in Baldurs Gate dragons and all of the good ones are $40+ and were always in the $15+ range even when they first came out. When I compare any of that cycle of Dragons to something like Boseiju Who Endures which can go in any green deck I would assume Boseiju would be much more expensive.

Anecdotally I can assume Dragons are one of the most popular tribes in the game plus people like them for collections just curious if there's more to it.

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u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 10 days ago
▲ 246 r/EDH

Have been playing Elves since I was 12 years old. Every time I try to do anything different in creature based decks that have Green I always just feel like Elves would do it better. The play loop of the Elves feels so epic and satisfying every time. It's hard to want to play anything else. I've tried playing big stompy creature decks but they feel lame and clunky when I can just make Elves into big stompy creatures as a win con. The tokens, the mana dorks, the pumping, it all feels awesome.

Curious if you think it's lame to always play one tribe or normal behaviour. What are other tribes in Green that might get me off of Elves for a deck or two. Finally, do you find it fun playing against Elves or too strong/supported for your taste?

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u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 12 days ago
▲ 2 r/EDH

https://moxfield.com/decks/org404b3wkqQyTh-FgTFqA

Curious which direction to take this deck. I was ramping every turn from turn 2 onwards and had 15 lands at turn 7. But I had a buncha overpriced spells in the deck, like 8 mana 5/6 that taps 3 creatures. Only 'good' expensive drop in the deck that I saw is Avenger of Zendikar and Scourge of Fleets.

Once Aesi was cast turn 4 I was playing 2-4 lands a turn and drawing 3-6 cards. I was discarding a ton of cards but luckily had Excavator to let me play lands from graveyard. Even at 15 mana I could only play 1-2 big drops but I was drawing into 3 or 4 every turn. And, the 6-8 drop spells were feeling VERY low impact. Feels like even with this much mana I need to pull back the curve a ton.

I'd like to keep the 15 land by turn 7 DNA but have more in the 2-5 cost range to play so I can keep up with the card draw in terms of actually casting things.

I'm used to 8 mana spells being game winners. Looking to upgrade this deck a bit so it feels a bit less clunky and I'm not discarding 2 cards every turn.

Decklist:

1 Acidic Slime (CM2) 132

1 Arcane Denial (SOC) 187

1 Avenger of Zendikar (M3C) 221

1 Beast Within (SOC) 263

1 Blighted Woodland (C17) 235

1 Coiling Oracle (PLST) MM3-157

1 Command Tower (DRC) 60

1 Compulsive Research (MM3) 33

1 Coral Atoll (CMR) 480

1 Counterspell (SUM) 54

1 Cultivate (SOC) 265

1 Elder Deep-Fiend (INR) 4

1 Eternal Witness (M3C) 227

1 Evolving Wilds (DRC) 153

1 Explore (MM3) 125

1 Fact or Fiction (PLST) MH1-50

1 Fathom Mage (NCC) 339

18 Forest (AKH) 267

1 Growth Spiral (CMR) 446

1 Harmonize (LTC) 248

1 Into the Roil (C18) 92

18 Island (SUM) 297

1 Jungle Basin (C14) 302

1 Khalni Heart Expedition (ZNC) 72

1 Kodama's Reach (ECC) 113

1 Meloku the Clouded Mirror (CMR) 399

1 Meteor Golem (J22) 786

1 Molimo, Maro-Sorcerer (CMR) 430

1 Mulldrifter (DD2) 12

1 Murkfiend Liege (C13) 231

1 Nezahal, Primal Tide (CMR) 401

1 Peel from Reality (M15) 74

1 Rampaging Baloths (FDN) 645

1 Rampant Growth (DSC) 193

1 Ramunap Excavator (CMR) 433

1 Reclamation Sage (SCD) 205

1 Reliquary Tower (SOC) 398

1 Retreat to Kazandu (J25) 707

1 Scourge of Fleets (JOU) 51

1 Search for Tomorrow (DMC) 137

1 Seer's Sundial (DDP) 29

1 Sharktocrab (RVR) 222

1 Shipbreaker Kraken (THS) 63

1 Simic Charm (CMR) 451

1 Simic Growth Chamber (MM2) 249

1 Simic Signet (C13) 258

1 Simic Sky Swallower (IMA) 208

1 Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep (CMR) 405

1 Sol Ring (SOC) 128

1 Sphinx of Uthuun (M12) 76

1 Spitting Image (CMR) 453

1 Sporemound (PLST) M14-196

1 Stormtide Leviathan (M15) 80

1 Stumpsquall Hydra (CMR) 367

1 Swiftfoot Boots (FDN) 355

1 Tatyova, Benthic Druid (M3C) 273

1 Terastodon (C14) 218

1 Terramorphic Expanse (C16) 332

1 Trench Behemoth (CMR) 366

1 Tromokratis (CMM) 129

1 Urban Evolution (MM3) 198

1 Verdant Sun's Avatar (XLN) 213

1 Whelming Wave (CMR) 409

1 Wickerbough Elder (PLST) EVE-80

1 Yavimaya Elder (M3C) 254

u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 13 days ago
▲ 11 r/EDH

Own one set and running Shock, Fetch, and Bond Land proxies in all my decks. Looking to de proxy my decks and read another thread about this that advocated using Pain Lands. Given I currently have two dual lands and fetches for one of them what's a good second set to run.

Failing any advice I think bounce lands are good as it's a form of card advantage too?

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u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 14 days ago

Curious on improving my thinking when new cards hit the game. I had caught these immediately when they were released and bought a playset for sub $5 each, and knew they were insane for EDH.

I think at that time the price ceiling for staples like this was a lot lower and $5 actually felt kinda high, like most shocks were only $10ish too. Despite that, feel like I shoulda known to grab more of these even just for my own decks so I don't have to proxy or swap the same set every time I want to play different decks.

Now we see a lot of the Shocklands are cheaper than the Bond Lands. I would have never envisioned Shocklands being less valued than Bond Lands as the Bonds aren't fetchable, but I think Shocklands have been reprinted a ton more. That aspect of them feels surprising and probably unknowable at the time.

I think at this point, we have good data to show that Wizards often won't reprint something like this right away, and let it become a chase card for a future set.

I know someone will come here to comment nobody knows the future or mention putting the same $5 into BTC or something but yeah it's just a general question for others.

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u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 15 days ago

  1. I noticed weights started to trend towards 1.6-1.65g range instead of 1.7-1.8g range.

  2. Light test is kinda inconsistent now. Like some cards seem to not let light pass through as much, to the point I would have thought they were counterfeit in the past.

  3. Combination of 1 and 2 had me thinking some cards were counterfeit until I got to point 4 and decided they probably legit.

  4. Only thing that seems to still be unchanged is looking at the green dot with a jewellers loupe.

Curious if anyone else had any observations or experience with changes to the cards.

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u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 16 days ago

This is one of the better systems I've seen. Curious if it's special in some way or was part of an event for example. Seems to have some better visual effects on it too.

Are there better systems than this in the game? I don't think I've seen any other than the ones with Dark Matter/ Zro being cool if you need those.

Tangential question, if I'm looking to improve my Exotic Gas income, if I build a habitat over the Exotic Gas deposit, will I have an improved gas income from that habitat? It destroys the deposit and lets me get some sort of gas producing district or buildings right?

u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 16 days ago

Curious if people have explored trying to ascend planets as they expand to keep Empire Size under control. I have about 8 dedicated unity worlds and do get enough to ascend a planet every now and then. But I'm conquering another 5-10 planets every decade anyways so feels like it's not worth even getting unity at this point. I'm in the point of ~10 repeatables deep so diminishing returns there. Based on all that, feels like I should just yolo and let my Empire Size get absolutely diabolical?

Interested in your thoughts on Empire Size. Do you ignore it and just grow as big as possible? Do you reach a middle ground where you expand, but slower and ascend your planets as you go? Do you actively avoid expansion to keep yourself more efficient (then maybe expand a lot once you're deeper into the repeatables?)

u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 16 days ago

In a lot of Canadian threads on FB I often see people selling at XX% of F2F games. Every time I try to do peer to peer cash deals with Canadians on FB it's the same shit with F2F pricing.

Just connected with a seller looking to offload his collection. He said he wants 85% of F2F games. At first glance, I think to myself, 'OK, 85% of market is about the max I'd go for a peer to peer transaction given I'm literally SOL if there's counterfeits etc (like obviously I'm going to check but they are getting REALLY good these days), but it's close enough maybe can get close to that.' This was before I look at F2F Games pricing for this particular package.

I look at F2F pricing and the prices are like a 50% markup on market (average of TCG and Card Kingdom). So he's asking a 25% markup for a private cash deal where he isn't paying 5-15% platform fees and then he demands I drive 5 hours to him this week to secure the deal, with the way he frames it as him giving me a sick deal and I gotta jump to do it ASAP.

Psychologically it sounds like the seller is giving you a deal at 85%. But it's 85% of a price that's inflated like 50%. So you're paying 85% of 1.5x, a 27% markup on market.

I flag that with him that I'm ok with 85% but F2F is inflated 50% so its actually 20% above market and he makes some asshat remark about me being unable to actually buy the cards at those prices, acts like I'm lowballing etc.

Based on how these sellers are acting, are there actually people paying those prices? Can someone explain the Canadian market to me? Is that dude actually going to get his price with how things are in Canadian market?

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u/MiningToSaveTheWorld — 17 days ago