If you have multiple damage sources in play...
If they can all connect this turn...
If you have damage on the stack that is > than 1/2 of their life total, but less than their life total...
If you have situations where Lightning Bolt or Berserk or Flame Rift wouldn't be straight better...
If you wouldn't have won the next turn anyways with those same damage sources...
If you can afford the mana to cast this (with prior spell-based damage, vs. Wasteland, vs. Shops, etc.)...
If this doesn't get countered for value....
If your opponent can't remove your damage sources in response...
If your opponent doesn't already have relevant lifegain...
If you don't draw this at inopportune times when any of the above are false statements...
If you haven't already lost to your opponent's strategy....
Then this card could be good.

Vintage cards are rarely good with 3+ such if statements....I've lost track of the number of conditions that would have to work for this card to be even the tiniest bit good.

@Topical_Island You want to reward people for doing a time-consuming 4th-rate clerical skill? (If not clear, I'm limiting my comments to MTGO.)

@Topical_Island It's a chore with no direct game experience. It (probably unfairly) favors those with large networks and more free time. As a father and attorney, I'd rather use my downtime to catch up with the news, feed my kids, spend time with my kids, get work done, etc. Why waste it on scouting when in theory people could hide this information anyway with multiple accounts? Magic should be about the game, not about who can do fast searches at a third-party web site.

@Islandswamp If you were playing with Mentors over Dack, keeping Thirst makes more sense as the only outlet besides Brainstorm to discard Blightsteel.

@thecravenone

I still don't understand your objections...

1. Wouldn't it make more sense to just challenge your friend then instead of using the queues?
2. The asshole will soon be reported and therefore will soon cease to be an asshole (plus use the blocking feature helps).
3. We're talking about should they implement this (at least you argued against it), and you resort to their hypothetical incompetence in execution as a reason why not. If it's a matter of incompetence, then won't they just not roll it out? I don't see how an incompetence argument affects the "should" question.
4. There are lots of problems in cardboard Magic that MTGO fixes. Shuffling, rules enforcement, cheating - why should scouting not be among these? What depth of enjoyment do you get out of scouting a player beforehand that would be turned off if no one were able to do so? Why should we emphasize non-aspects of the game to the disadvantage of beginners, computer-illerates, and people who need their time for other aspects like parenting or food? Other than hoping to maximize an edge which is largely negated if your opponent is doing the same thing, why force the rest of us to stoop to such low methods (yes, I do it too, even though I'm against it)?

@thecravenone said in Magic the pulse:

@BazaarOfBaghdad said in Magic the pulse:

I kind of wish they'd keep player names anonymous during events (especially 2-man queues) for the scouting reason. I can't see what play or learning experience it offers, and it saves the pressure of everyone having to do this chore and/or going out of the way to avoid it with multiple accounts.

It allows me to "select" someone I'm trying to play against or avoid someone I don't want to play against. It's also necessary for reporting bad users.

Scouting isn't much harder in real life events. I've seen many matches won due to someone recognizing a name on the pairings sheet and letting their friend know what their opponent will be on.

I don't understand your points. Why should people have the power to "select" their opponents (assuming you mean 2-man queues)? Why would you think a name is essential to reporting? Is there something wrong with event numbers, game numbers, or user names like USER1234 (or whatever random moniker they could give you for the event)? How does the viability of real life scouting affect the question of whether or not they should turn it on or off on MTGO? Are you arguing that MTGO scouting would improve your cardboard play skills? If so, how?

I kind of wish they'd keep player names anonymous during events (especially 2-man queues) for the scouting reason. I can't see what play or learning experience it offers, and it saves the pressure of everyone having to do this chore and/or going out of the way to avoid it with multiple accounts.

@desolutionist I also went 4-2 with Vault/Key. :)

After faithful attendance to weekly sessions of VSL, I decided to bite the hype of watching the Team Draft Super League. Randy's preview video was good, but that was about it. I was only able to watch it on youtube where they didn't (couldn't?) record the draft, which was probably the most intriguing part. Then the commentary - oh boy, each session felt significantly worse than ANY VSL team pair. I tried to get into the Amonkhet cards also, but I guess they don't stack up favorably compared to Vintage. With combat tricks, the pace of play is so noticeably slower too - painfully so. I felt like I wasted a couple hours of my life. Different reactions anyone?

@diophan said in TPG - Vintage Event - Bloomsburg, PA - 05/06/17:

Update: We played the finals on MTGO where Brian crushed me. Congrats Brian. Also my deck is just boring Jeskai Mentor, not Paradoxical Mentor.

Thanks for hosting Shawn!

Just curious: played just for fun, or for stakes?