1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,240 Hello and welcome back to Illumination, the Disney Lorcania podcast. 2 00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:14,240 My name's Max. 3 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:15,240 And I'm Sam. 4 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:18,800 And we are back at you with a brand new episode, Warning. 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:23,980 This might be the most controversial topic and this is definitely a topic that people 6 00:00:23,980 --> 00:00:32,920 are passionate about that we have covered during our now 18 episodes of this podcast. 7 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:34,720 Pretty impressive stuff. 8 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:39,400 Every other week, Sam and I are at you with a brand new episode. 9 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:40,960 So that's pretty exciting stuff. 10 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:46,760 This topic, the controversial topic that I alluded to, is that of net decking. 11 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:51,640 It is a term that is often used with a negative connotation. 12 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:56,840 This term has really been around since card games were popularized on the internet in 13 00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:00,160 chat forums and discussion groups. 14 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:06,760 People started to be able to ideate over concepts, ideas, and deck lists in a large think tank 15 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:13,620 style capacity, more so than in the small little area or local clusters that they used 16 00:01:13,620 --> 00:01:19,240 to do it in previous because they weren't connected the way the internet connected all 17 00:01:19,240 --> 00:01:20,240 of us. 18 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:24,840 Have you heard this term thrown around a whole lot in your shorter lifespan of playing card 19 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:25,840 games? 20 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:26,840 Yes, mostly through you. 21 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:30,520 You haven't heard it thrown around in the tournament scene too, too much for Lurkana? 22 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,040 No, thankfully I haven't had to deal with that. 23 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:34,040 I think that's fair. 24 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:39,760 So net decking, the idea is that you're taking a deck list directly from the internet and 25 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:42,880 you are just using that list. 26 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:47,600 Usually it is one of the quote best decks at the particular time in the meta. 27 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:53,560 So it typically can be frowned upon and the reason it gets frowned upon is because the 28 00:01:53,560 --> 00:02:00,640 perceived idea is you're unoriginal and that you just kind of used an idea that other people 29 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:01,720 came up with. 30 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:07,520 I want to dive into that concept and I'm going to try to do it in the most constructive manner 31 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:13,720 that I can because I do think there are benefits to being original in the TCG space with concern 32 00:02:13,720 --> 00:02:18,800 to deck building and I think there are benefits to following in the footsteps of what other 33 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:19,800 people have done. 34 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:24,360 I think blazing new trails or following an established path both have their merits and 35 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:25,920 both have their drawbacks. 36 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:31,140 My goal here is to just kind of drop maybe some hard truths and start to kind of clear 37 00:02:31,140 --> 00:02:35,960 the air a little bit and share what I think is at least my perspective and I imagine probably 38 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:40,400 pretty close to your perspective as well over our discussions over time talking about net 39 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:41,400 decking. 40 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:42,400 Yes, I would agree. 41 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:46,800 I mean to be honest with me being a newer player that's kind of all I've really known was I 42 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:51,040 take an internet-based deck and I make it and then if I want to make a couple tweaks 43 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:52,040 I do. 44 00:02:52,040 --> 00:02:55,400 The first outing you had with Constructed Lurkana there was no net decks. 45 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:56,400 That's true. 46 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,240 When we were playing in the first chapter we were both just building stuff. 47 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:00,760 I was playing purple steel. 48 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:02,440 You were playing blue red. 49 00:03:02,440 --> 00:03:04,760 So it was definitely different times. 50 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:07,340 Not that both of those decks aren't decks now. 51 00:03:07,340 --> 00:03:11,880 The amethyst steel decks have become pretty popular now known as the repeat decks in the 52 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:12,880 current meta. 53 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:17,520 Of course the popsicle style ruby sapphire decks have just been dominant since Rise of 54 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:18,520 the Floodborne. 55 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:22,480 I think that it's fair to say that there is no right or wrong and the longer the game 56 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:24,600 evolves the less right and wrong there is. 57 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:28,600 We're starting to see color pairs come out of the woodwork that have never had the chance 58 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:31,200 to see the light of a game table. 59 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:32,560 Yeah, I was just talking about that. 60 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:36,560 It's really nice to be able to see these new color combos popping up. 61 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:37,560 Absolutely. 62 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:39,780 I've been playing a lot of blurple lately. 63 00:03:39,780 --> 00:03:42,600 If you haven't checked it out on stream, check us out on our stream. 64 00:03:42,600 --> 00:03:44,240 We don't often plug it on the podcast. 65 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:48,680 Somebody's twitch.tv slash supraliminalfilms. 66 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:50,080 That's all one word. 67 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:51,640 Supraliminalfilms. 68 00:03:51,640 --> 00:03:53,640 If you can spell it, you can find us. 69 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:55,200 That of course is part of the group. 70 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,440 We are a supraliminal entertainment group. 71 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,760 Sam and I in the illumination podcast are a part of that. 72 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:04,360 I've been with the group for a long, long time. 73 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:05,480 Let's not talk about it. 74 00:04:05,480 --> 00:04:10,720 And Sam has been contributing for quite some time despite not wanting to do that when we 75 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:12,080 first started dating. 76 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:13,080 That's a lot for me. 77 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:14,080 That is quite a bit for you. 78 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:19,480 So back onto topic here, we're also seeing the surf and turf decks, the blue green decks, 79 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:22,600 as they're known if they're playing the Tamatoas and the Clarabelles. 80 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:24,280 We're seeing those come into light. 81 00:04:24,280 --> 00:04:27,520 We're just seeing a lot of cool stuff get popularized. 82 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:33,000 And that is through people who are brewing, cooking as they're calling it these days. 83 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:34,000 They're cooking. 84 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:35,000 Okay. 85 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:36,000 They're cooking over there. 86 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,360 But I don't love that term because people have applied cooking to somebody who's taking 87 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:42,880 a long turn and maybe like call their way back into a game like, oh, they're cooking 88 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:44,280 or like comboing off. 89 00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:45,280 They're cooking off. 90 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:50,240 But also if somebody's playing a deck that is new or like something no one's seen before, 91 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:52,920 they're cooking like, oh, they're over there cooking up something. 92 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:54,400 I haven't heard that one. 93 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:55,400 It's pretty new. 94 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:56,400 Okay. 95 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:57,400 Yeah. 96 00:04:57,400 --> 00:04:59,880 The new turn of phrase brewing is the old standby for it. 97 00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:01,320 You're brewing up a new deck. 98 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:05,880 Go into why there is a bad rap in terms of pointing in that deck. 99 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:07,440 I think a lot of this is false. 100 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:12,440 The bad rap is given to people who play an established deck for a lot of bad reasons. 101 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:16,440 Sam just pointed out a great reason why somebody might use internet-based deck lists as a resource 102 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:19,160 because they're a new player and they want to try to level their game up. 103 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:20,480 That is extremely common. 104 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:24,560 It could also be that the person doesn't have access to all of the cards yet. 105 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:26,320 So they're trying to build on a budget. 106 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:30,000 However, they're using their hobby to help fuel the cost of their hobby. 107 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:33,940 So being able to go to a local game store for a set championship or even a more competitive 108 00:05:33,940 --> 00:05:38,400 locals with maybe a better prize payout is a fantastic way to take store credit, turn 109 00:05:38,400 --> 00:05:43,920 it into yet more store credit, and then on top of that store credit, build up a bigger 110 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:46,280 pool so that you can buy your product. 111 00:05:46,280 --> 00:05:51,520 So something like a Ruby Amethyst deck or something that is on the lower end of cost 112 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:56,600 is very, very attractive to some players who simply can't afford to go out and buy all 113 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:01,120 of the cards they need to play every or any deck they so choose. 114 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:06,640 So I think it's a little bit ableist, a little bit kind of look downy for less reasons than 115 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:08,600 it should, that being one of them. 116 00:06:08,600 --> 00:06:13,840 Another thing to think about is don't use the idea of pointing at somebody and saying, 117 00:06:13,840 --> 00:06:17,640 oh, well, I just lost to somebody who has no originality or has no ability to build 118 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:20,880 a deck and if they just weren't net decking, I might've won. 119 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:24,480 Might be true, might be false, but really in that instance, all you're really doing 120 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:25,700 is shifting blame. 121 00:06:25,700 --> 00:06:29,320 You're not owning up to the fact that you lost because maybe you didn't put in the same 122 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:30,320 amount of work. 123 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:35,080 And that's another thing to call out on the opposite side of the people who are playing 124 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:36,600 these established deck archetypes. 125 00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:41,060 You're just, you yourself are never going to be able to put in the work time that all 126 00:06:41,060 --> 00:06:46,840 of these people on the internet have playing the same decks, talking on Discord, practicing 127 00:06:46,840 --> 00:06:51,800 over webcam, practicing in person, playing at their local scene. 128 00:06:51,800 --> 00:06:55,560 Hundreds of hours, thousands of hours, millions of games collectively. 129 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:58,680 Think about all the games of Ruby Amethyst that have been played since the first chapter 130 00:06:58,680 --> 00:06:59,840 came out, right? 131 00:06:59,840 --> 00:07:04,600 There's tons of data at any given moment for these established decks. 132 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:09,760 There's not for the cool new brew, for the new spice you're trying to bring in to a 133 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:10,760 format. 134 00:07:10,760 --> 00:07:11,760 And that's okay. 135 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:13,000 There's benefit and drawback to both. 136 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:17,440 What I hear a lot when it comes to net decking, and I've sadly seen this in person in Lurkana 137 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:21,200 already, is people kind of being talked downy and saying, well, you know, you didn't have 138 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:22,200 to net deck. 139 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:26,120 You didn't have to counter your point with, you also didn't have to brew. 140 00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:30,080 You do not get extra points if you're playing the two game format. 141 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:32,000 You do not get an extra free win. 142 00:07:32,000 --> 00:07:35,080 You don't get extra prize support for winning with a brew. 143 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:39,380 You get the same prize I do if I walk in with a very established deck list. 144 00:07:39,380 --> 00:07:42,200 It does not matter which one of us wins. 145 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:43,440 We're getting the same thing. 146 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:46,000 We have to overcome the same exact hurdles. 147 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,680 And that's every person who sits down across from us round after round. 148 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:53,640 And I feel like, especially in store champs, for example, that's more of a competitive 149 00:07:53,640 --> 00:07:54,640 atmosphere. 150 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:57,680 So, of course, you want to bring the best deck to that atmosphere. 151 00:07:57,680 --> 00:07:58,680 Right. 152 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:00,000 You want to maximize your chances of winning. 153 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,960 I think a lot of people who tend to brew, it gives you a reason to go, oh, well, I mean, 154 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:06,800 I could have done better if I had played the best deck right now. 155 00:08:06,800 --> 00:08:10,240 Would you say that those people are typically more casual players? 156 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:12,100 I don't think that's fair to say. 157 00:08:12,100 --> 00:08:16,560 I think more casual players tend to go and play in more casual formats at this point. 158 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:20,840 And I know that Ravensburger is doing a very close job of making sure that there is support 159 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:25,560 for the casual player as well as the competitive grinder, because set champs, we have seen 160 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:29,860 a very disparate crowd start to appear where there are people who want to collect the cards, 161 00:08:29,860 --> 00:08:31,120 but they're in a competitive atmosphere. 162 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:32,920 So it's really hard for them to compete. 163 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:37,600 I think that the people who do it are the people who maybe want to be better and don't 164 00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:40,920 have the time to necessarily put in to level up. 165 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:42,240 So they're going, you know what? 166 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:45,280 I could show up with the best deck in the format right now. 167 00:08:45,280 --> 00:08:48,920 They probably still wouldn't do as good because they just don't have the time to spend. 168 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:49,920 And that's okay. 169 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:50,920 And it's not their fault. 170 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:51,920 It's not anyone's fault. 171 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:54,040 Certainly not the person who's playing the best deck. 172 00:08:54,040 --> 00:08:55,560 Win or lose, you know what I mean? 173 00:08:55,560 --> 00:08:59,080 You can't really kind of point your finger at somebody and say, you shouldn't be doing 174 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:03,500 that when it's the best, quote unquote, best thing to be doing in terms of the data. 175 00:09:03,500 --> 00:09:07,240 So it's not really fair to point that finger and say that that's the case, because you 176 00:09:07,240 --> 00:09:10,440 don't have to build the deck from scratch and play it. 177 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:14,880 You don't have to build a half-baked deck or an under-tested deck and bring it to something 178 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:19,400 like a set championships or a more competitive local 1K, whatever it may be. 179 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:21,720 You don't have to do that, but you're choosing to do it. 180 00:09:21,720 --> 00:09:24,680 The same reason they are choosing to do it, because as you said, Sam, you're trying to 181 00:09:24,680 --> 00:09:26,960 maximize your chances to get that prize. 182 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:29,480 And there's nothing wrong with either school of thought. 183 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:31,760 And that's kind of what I want to make a point of. 184 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:36,920 And I want to call out if you boil away all of the rest of the fluff around what I'm saying, 185 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:40,920 there's no right or wrong way to do this. 186 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:42,840 There's no right or wrong way to approach the game. 187 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:49,320 I would say make sure you have realistic expectations no matter which side of the coin you are on. 188 00:09:49,320 --> 00:09:52,120 You are not going to do better than a bunch of people who are testing. 189 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:53,620 Baseline, you're just not. 190 00:09:53,620 --> 00:09:55,080 There's too much data. 191 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:57,320 There's too many small refinements, tweaks. 192 00:09:57,320 --> 00:10:01,040 They're changing one card when you're changing out, you know, potentially large percentages 193 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:03,560 of your deck, making sure you're overhauling them. 194 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:07,680 Oh, I could put this package into my deck of eight cards or 10 cards or whatever it may 195 00:10:07,680 --> 00:10:08,680 be. 196 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:13,040 But it's huge versus them changing out two cards to make sure they are ready for some 197 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:15,280 of the more recent developments to the meta. 198 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:19,520 There also wouldn't be a meta game if people weren't practicing the same decks over and 199 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:20,520 over again. 200 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:21,520 Right. 201 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:25,440 Like that's literally the network and the foundation that a meta game is built on. 202 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:31,840 But that can be one of the advantages to brewing is we get used to playing these meta or net 203 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:32,840 decks. 204 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:33,840 Absolutely. 205 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:34,840 And then one can throw us off guard. 206 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:35,840 You nailed it. 207 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:37,120 Is it a good option to brew a deck? 208 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:38,880 Yes, it is a good option to brew. 209 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:42,560 And I don't want anybody to think I'm talking down on people who brew. 210 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:46,160 I'm talking down on the people who talk down on the people who don't. 211 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:47,480 And I think that's the main thing. 212 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:48,840 And it'd be the same in reverse. 213 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:52,600 I don't think it's reasonable to dismiss somebody who has an idea. 214 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:55,920 And you go, well, the idea when the deck worked, it worked really well. 215 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:59,300 Or you might get miffed and go, oh, I dropped a game to this terrible deck because their 216 00:10:59,300 --> 00:11:00,300 deck did the thing. 217 00:11:00,300 --> 00:11:01,640 Maybe it's not a terrible deck. 218 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:02,640 Maybe it's actually pretty good. 219 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:04,760 And they just they found 20 of the 60 cards. 220 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:08,760 They found 30 of the 60 cards and they just need to keep building and refining. 221 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:16,000 I can say to that end, I was playing the Lemon Lime Sing Together decks way before Zach Bivens 222 00:11:16,000 --> 00:11:19,460 took it to the Challenger event and had a pretty deep run with it. 223 00:11:19,460 --> 00:11:21,420 I was playing it a little bit differently. 224 00:11:21,420 --> 00:11:25,900 So I was trying to play it with a lot of the same cards, but using Flynn Rider and Murfolk 225 00:11:25,900 --> 00:11:30,000 in the early game to help me get ahead on lore and then maintain the lore advantage 226 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:34,720 through with the discard package where Bivens was taking the concept of these very mid-ranged 227 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:40,240 cards like Diablos and putting them in the deck, increasing the number of the Muses, 228 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:46,000 really taking advantage of cards like that in order to make sure that the deck could 229 00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:49,880 not only get to the point where it can eke out an advantage with this card, but it could 230 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:52,520 maintain it through insane card advantage. 231 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:55,900 So just because I had some of the deck right didn't mean I had all the deck right. 232 00:11:55,900 --> 00:11:59,780 And I didn't blame anybody who beat me that they were just net decking. 233 00:11:59,780 --> 00:12:00,780 So my deck didn't do well. 234 00:12:00,780 --> 00:12:04,380 It's on me to make sure I put in the time and the effort to go, what cards should I 235 00:12:04,380 --> 00:12:05,600 be changing? 236 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:11,880 What card should I be tweaking in order to make the deck the best possible choice in 237 00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:13,220 the metagame at any moment? 238 00:12:13,220 --> 00:12:16,840 And again, just me alone, it's a lot different than thousands of people. 239 00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:20,640 And I mean, it was lots and lots more than that even when Pixelborn was around. 240 00:12:20,640 --> 00:12:24,240 So with Pixelborn slowing things down, it's definitely giving Brewers a chance to take 241 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:25,320 a step up. 242 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:29,380 We're coming up at time of recording on the Challenger event for Las Vegas. 243 00:12:29,380 --> 00:12:32,640 It's the Wild West right now to be perfectly candid with everybody out there. 244 00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:36,280 Yeah, we have a couple tournaments that we've seen, the Charlize Collectibles. 245 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:37,280 Yeah. 246 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:38,280 Is that really it? 247 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:41,280 For the most part, inside events at Toronto. 248 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:44,160 And that's been the majority of the data we're pulling. 249 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:49,440 But again, we're seeing red green decks, we're seeing blue green decks, we are seeing blue 250 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:57,160 purple decks, just an absolute swath of decks that never were even considered or would have 251 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:00,080 been left out of the tournament before now. 252 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:03,540 It would have been dismissed and I again, like Sam pointed out, the reason these Brews 253 00:13:03,540 --> 00:13:05,960 have an advantage is because you do not know what's coming. 254 00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:09,960 If I put down a Robin Hood sharpshooter and you go, what in the world is happening here? 255 00:13:09,960 --> 00:13:13,920 And I proceed to quest with it and then win the game with a pirate's life, you're going 256 00:13:13,920 --> 00:13:15,860 to be like, wait, what? 257 00:13:15,860 --> 00:13:16,860 What just happened? 258 00:13:16,860 --> 00:13:17,860 Yeah. 259 00:13:17,860 --> 00:13:20,560 When you have your opening hand and you see something completely new, you're like, what 260 00:13:20,560 --> 00:13:21,560 do I do? 261 00:13:21,560 --> 00:13:22,560 Right. 262 00:13:22,560 --> 00:13:25,420 You have no idea how to approach that particular deck. 263 00:13:25,420 --> 00:13:29,700 I had the same, a similar event happen where I didn't know how best to leverage my cards 264 00:13:29,700 --> 00:13:34,920 with Ruby Amethyst and ended up dropping a game that rightfully I shouldn't and you know, 265 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:39,280 wasn't a problem moving forward, but I definitely misused or mis-evaluated the strength of a 266 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:43,420 card in the matchup because I didn't understand exactly what my opponent was up to, the power 267 00:13:43,420 --> 00:13:44,420 of brewing. 268 00:13:44,420 --> 00:13:49,360 So it's really a good idea to think about brewing and to take the time to have fun with 269 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:50,360 the game. 270 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:54,560 And part of the fun of the game is to come up with a cool idea and see it come to fruition. 271 00:13:54,560 --> 00:13:58,700 But for other people, they don't have the time to sit at home with piles of cards or 272 00:13:58,700 --> 00:14:02,960 with Dreamborn up and they're just digging through cards that do one specific effect 273 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:05,600 to see if their deck has enough synergies to make it work. 274 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:10,080 They just want to go, I want to get good at the game baseline with whatever the best deck 275 00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:11,480 is right now. 276 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:14,880 And again, generalists, if you go back to our other episode about the way you like to 277 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:16,800 play, Zansai is a great example. 278 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:21,360 Zansai is very good at learning and honing his skills with whatever he feels is the best 279 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:23,360 deck in the format at the time. 280 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:28,360 He wants to have the best chance with his very strong abilities as a deck pilot, not 281 00:14:28,360 --> 00:14:29,920 necessarily a deck builder. 282 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:34,200 And he wants to take those archetypes, maybe refine them slightly, but largely play the 283 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:39,400 best version of the deck, which has largely been established already with his skill at 284 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:40,400 the helm. 285 00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:41,400 That's the difference, right? 286 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:44,840 So again, we don't want to look down on somebody whose enjoyment of the game comes from upping 287 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:50,480 their play skills specifically, not necessarily upping their cred in the deck building space. 288 00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:55,600 So remember, everybody's going to draw enjoyment for different reasons from this game, right? 289 00:14:55,600 --> 00:14:59,000 When I sit down across from somebody, they may be enjoying it, they may have gotten drugged 290 00:14:59,000 --> 00:15:00,200 to the event, they may not. 291 00:15:00,200 --> 00:15:05,000 You don't know anybody's particular situation, so you should never look down on anybody for 292 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:07,360 any reason why they approach the game. 293 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:10,680 Whether it's somebody who this is their first event, it just happens to be a store champs. 294 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:15,640 If they paid the $40 entry fee or $20 entry fee, they have just as much reason to be there. 295 00:15:15,640 --> 00:15:17,120 They have a legal 60 card deck. 296 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:20,040 They have just as much right to sit across from the table as you do. 297 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:21,040 That's it. 298 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:22,040 Plain and simple. 299 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:26,280 I think that the more we play the game, the more we should start to embrace what other 300 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:27,280 people are doing. 301 00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:30,160 There's nothing wrong with when a game gets done asking somebody questions about their 302 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:31,160 cool, interesting deck. 303 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:32,160 What gave you that idea? 304 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:34,320 Or where did you start with the concept? 305 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:35,680 What sparked your inspiration? 306 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:36,680 Or vice versa. 307 00:15:36,680 --> 00:15:41,120 Hey, are you playing this new card that got added to this very established deck? 308 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:45,040 Or I didn't see any of this card that's usually a very popular choice in your deck. 309 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:46,440 What were you playing instead of that? 310 00:15:46,440 --> 00:15:47,440 Yeah. 311 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:50,360 I'll ask people that kind of stuff all the time or I'll ask them how many they're playing. 312 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:53,680 Just to see how people's take on the game is different. 313 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:54,680 Yeah. 314 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:55,680 And that's how you learn and get better. 315 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:59,800 Whether you're brewing or whether you're just trying to up your personal play skill as a 316 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:02,280 pilot, both are totally valid takes. 317 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:06,760 Whether you're playing an established archetype, whether you're playing a total brew, it doesn't 318 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:10,360 matter whether you're playing a fun casual deck that maybe does a little bit too well 319 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:14,280 at the casual scene and you want to see if it has any kind of merit in a competitive 320 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:15,280 atmosphere. 321 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:17,560 There's no reason to talk down to anybody. 322 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:21,600 Right now this game is still in its infancy, just a little over a year in, and it's very 323 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:24,520 important that we embrace everybody's enjoyment of the game. 324 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:29,000 Ravensburger's making a very solid effort to make sure everybody can ingest and enjoy 325 00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:30,840 this game the way they want to. 326 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:34,520 And I think we should follow suit with that because the only way this game is going to 327 00:16:34,520 --> 00:16:41,040 continue to grow and continue to draw in players is if we as a community do our best to champion 328 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:45,720 everybody who wants to come to the game for whatever reason they may want to come to the 329 00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:46,720 game. 330 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:49,160 There's some people who have started to play the game who have gone, you know what, it 331 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:53,360 backed away because the community felt a little bit too toxic or entitled or whatever the 332 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:54,360 case may be. 333 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:57,400 And I just don't want to see that no matter what the reason for somebody coming to the 334 00:16:57,400 --> 00:16:58,400 table is. 335 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:03,000 So my bottom line, I guess when you strip everything out of it, the too long didn't read here at 336 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:07,220 the very end of the podcast is be original, play something if you want. 337 00:17:07,220 --> 00:17:11,320 Just keep in mind that your expectations should be that you may not do as well because you 338 00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:16,100 are making the situation a little bit tougher on yourself coming with a complete and total 339 00:17:16,100 --> 00:17:19,120 brew versus somebody who's coming with an established deck. 340 00:17:19,120 --> 00:17:23,320 So I would never try to look down on somebody for doing either one of those things because 341 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:25,200 they both have a lot of merit. 342 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:27,640 Both are very valid ways to approach a tournament. 343 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,320 No matter if you're building an original deck, no matter if you're coming with a very established 344 00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:33,740 deck, there is one thing that they have in common. 345 00:17:33,740 --> 00:17:46,320 You have to keep questing.