Matt Sperling: Solving Complex Problems through Teamwork

This guest blog comes to us today courtesy of Matt Sperling. Send him your appreciation @mtg_law_etc. If you’re interested in contributing, email me at bmoreno54@gmail.com. Now, enjoy the rest of the post.

I first need to thank Billy for letting me post here. I find Billy’s posts to be very insightful and helpful, and I’ve offered to contribute in the hopes that my thoughts appear useful by association.

As my own playtest group has been going through somewhat of an identity crisis of late, with people leaving the group or attempting to restructure how we spend our time, I’ve been reflecting on how to optimize the experience. Playtesting is basically an attempt to solve, through teamwork, a very complex problem: what deck to play. The task nearly always proves more difficult than I had expected.

Taking a step back for a second to talk about life in general rather than specifically Magic: The Gathering, I have found that among people who have truly brilliant minds for math, science, gaming, or anything, social skills and intelligence (which is of course difficult/impossible to quantify but I use to mean my own gut impression of how smart someone is) seem to be inversely proportional. I suspect the source of this trend is largely a feedback loop between social development and high-level intellectual development. People naturally inclined to spend time learning have less time to spend socializing, and then once you find yourself behind the curve socially and ahead of the curve intellectually, the incentives for how you spend your time skew towards learning and away from socializing. I aspire to surround myself with those who are smart, but not too smart to not be able to function socially.

The Deep End of the Pool – The Reality of an Eldrazi Endgame

Tonight I spent some time testing the UW control list from the previous post and learned the following:

The slowest, longest long-game axis of the Standard format will not be defined by manlands crashing through on empty boards after control has been established, but by this 6-8 card package: 4 Eldrazi Temple, 1 Eye of Ugin, 1 Ulamog/Kozilek/Emrakul. It’s possible that an extra Eye become necessary as the format adopts the package. It’s possible that you want 2 of the Eldrazi overlords. It’s also probable that the 15-drop becomes the finisher of choice as Path to Exile returns to vogue as the best answer for this Eye powered onslaught.

For Brian Kibler: Testing ‘All is Dust’ Tonight

Rough Draft:

UW Eldrazi Control

3 All is Dust
4 Wall of Omens
4 Everflowing Chalice
3 Treasure Hunt
3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
2 Sphinx of Lost Truths
2 Into the Roil
1 Day of Judgment
2 Wall of Denial
1 Martial Coup
1 Kiss of Amesha
1 Hindering Light
2 Negate
1 Mind Control
3 Flash Freeze
1 Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
2 Path to Exile
4 Eldrazi Temple
1 Eye of Ugin
4 Celestial Colonnade
3 Halimar Depths
2 Sejiri Refuge
2 Marsh Flats
3 Plains
5 Island