I think I will try to write something on the blog about my complicated relationship with The Deck

It takes me into weird territories on the spike/fun scale

It’s not even a scale really, it’s a map of a roadless country, with weird places to disappear into

(I played it at the Scandinavian Championships in Arvika a week ago, trying to win that Giant Shark, finishing in 10th place, at 5-2. And not having the best of times really)

Is the deck fun to play? Do I have fun while playing it? Do I care enough or too much? Do I want to drink? These questions are so hard now.

They used to be easy.

I basically want to maximize my fun in any tournament. That’s the great goal. But so many different things are fun, and some are conflicting

If I feel like I have to win, and I don’t win, I’m not having fun. But winning is fun, so it’s not fun to lose. Etc.

The answer might be that I should continue to play The Deck a bit more, and lower my expectations a bit, so I can be totally satisfied by going 5-2.

I mean, there were several great players playing The Deck at 4-3 at n00bcon.

(I’m never fully satisfied when I miss top 8 in any tournament, but still. A bit more than I was.)

Just that those things happen

I think the problem is my attitude to the deck. If I think it’s tier 0 and I ought to win the whole thing when I play it, I’m setting up for disappointment

So maybe I should not just save it for the tournaments I really want to spike, but just randomly play it sometimes. If I win, cool. If I don’t, I’m not more of a failure than usual

Sure, it’s better than Lich, but not that much better than Powerball or Atog

Almost all of this is just about my attitudes, I believe

If I take The Deck a little bit less serious, and play it and drink a bit and see what happens, I might be happier

Might not be that I should play the deck less, at all

Heh. Might skip writing that blog post altogether. I might have solved it here, instead

Just ranting is good sometimes

Solving it by caring less. I like the sound of that

Also maybe that The Deck is a bit worse than we thought as of late

Lots of things can go wrong. Especially the mana base isn’t so good. Playing the epic 9-game set against ErhnamGeddon at the post-Arvika lobby games and going 4-5 proved that a lot. The Ice Storms did a lot of work

(Also his Library)

But I felt that during the tournament as well. It’s easy to miss UU, or WW, or something like UUR postboard

Somebody raised the point: that The Deck might not just be quite as good as we make it out to be

It has the results, sure. Even here. But in general.

I’m not so sure it’s the consistency. Lots of hands don’t do anything as you draw the wrong reactive cards against the wrong threat, or too much or too little mana. It’s the combination of all the power and all the acceleration and an almost unbeatable late game.

There’s a midgame point around turn 3-5 where The Deck isn’t very consistent at all, I’d argue

before the books are really online, and after the first answer has dealt with the first threat

A deck like UR or Arabian Aggro is more consistent

maybe not Atog, as it’s so dependent on vises and power for the good starts. but those other Rx aggro decks

hmm

maybe I should just copy this conversation, remove the names and some lines by other people, and post it as a blog post on The Deck

edit into a true monologue

might even be fun, if just a little bit demented