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2) Interests besides M:tG?

3) What (if any) goals have you set for yourself?

4) If you could add one rule for listing cards in the Card Exchange what would they be?

5) I've noticed that things change from generation to generation whether it be parenting, schooling, technology, desensitization, or just some government conspiracy to under educate the masses. If you could change one thing what would change or enact to make mandatory in the education curriculum for all US citizens.

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Collecting signed cards. PM me...

Total signed cards: >27'000

2. What failure in your life have you experienced that you feel is important to have lived through to help you grow?

3. What would you like to do right now that is just outside of your reach because of one thing (money, people, other resources)?

4. Aside from server/forum/site changes, what is one thing that you would like to see changed about MOTL?

5. What is something that you feel that you are better than most other people at doing?

2) what are your top three favorite films, and why?

3) what are your top three favorite books, and why?

4) what are your top three favorite television shows, and why?

5) What's with the username? What's wrong with the EastWyckes, or the SouthWyckes?

Ten favorite movies?

When did you get into Magic cards and who/how did you get involved?

Are we (America) going into a depression?

Where do you see the future of America's economy and general state heading and what could be done, in your opinion, to better it?

Only the best,
Jesse

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Originally posted by farsk8dutch:
1) How old are you, are you married/single, any children?
2) Interests besides M:tG?

3) What (if any) goals have you set for yourself?

4) If you could add one rule for listing cards in the Card Exchange what would they be?

5) I've noticed that things change from generation to generation whether it be parenting, schooling, technology, desensitization, or just some government conspiracy to under educate the masses. If you could change one thing what would change or enact to make mandatory in the education curriculum for all US citizens.

Thanks for taking the time.

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2. My primary hobby is gaming, of which Magic is a large part. I also play Dawn Patrol (a WWI air combat board game) when I can find some friends. Marcy and I play a lot of Lunar Rails, and I have several computer games I enjoy. I'm not into the WoW/Halo type games, as I am more into the puzzle/strategy aspect of games. I also read a fair amount of science fiction and fantasy.

3. I haven't set any esoteric goals, like getting to a certain salary/position, traveling to certain places, or accomplishing certain feats. My only real goal in life is to enjoy it. Between a job that I enjoy and a wife that I love very much, I'm doing pretty good on that goal.
My only other goal can be seen in my signature.

4. No extraneous comments or headings. We're using the list function on the Exchange to make the nice bulleted lists, and headings like "artifacts" or "rares" or "EDH wants" usually end up getting dropped to avoid them looking like listed wants.

5. I don't have a really good answer for this one. I've been away from school for over thirty years myself, and with no kids of my own I'm kind of out of touch on any specifics. The closest I can come to this would be to require a "critical thinking" course in every high school curriculum. Teaching children to question/examine everything would hopefully reduce the number of people who doggedly defend positions that seem to fly in the face of reality.

And you're welcome.

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Originally posted by Markers:
- What formats of Magic do you play?
- What is your favorite Mtg format?
- When did you start playing mtg?

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I currently play mostly casual multiplayer, as that is the primary interest of my Wednesday night group. We have a tournament on the third Wednesday of the month, so that gets me a chance to satisfy my desire for duels. And I attend every Prerelease event, so I get my fix of organized play that way. But I don't have the time or desire to be really competitive, so I don't play any of the established formats (Legacy, Standard, etc.).

My favorite thing when playing Magic is playing with a new deck, and my least favorite thing is playing the same deck over and over... and over... and over. This is partly why I play casual instead of organized, so I can whip out a different deck every game. If I had to name a format it would be draft, as that results in a new deck that you play for several matches and then set it aside for another new deck for the next draft. I have convinced my friends to try some of the casual formats. I have all the Planechase and Archenemy decks, and I have 5 homebuilt EDH/Commander decks. But no one else in my playgroup is interested, so they sit on the shelf.

I started playing Magic in the spring of 1995. I was a regular at a Monday night D&D group. We had been using our DM's parent's walk-out basement to meet, as it was bigger than our DM's apartment. One day he announced he had bought a house, and there would be no game next week. Instead, he wanted everyone to come help move our D&D stuff from the basement to his new house. Only three of us showed up, and it only took about an hour. So with too few people to go adventuring with the rest of the time, he brought out his birthday present; a couple of Magic 4th edition gift boxes. Each contained 2 60 card starters, so everyone unwrapped one and we shuffled up and played.
I was hooked instantly and went looking for my own cards the next day.

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Originally posted by yakusoku:
1. What one piece of advice would you like to share with others to help them be more successful or be happier?
2. What failure in your life have you experienced that you feel is important to have lived through to help you grow?

3. What would you like to do right now that is just outside of your reach because of one thing (money, people, other resources)?

4. Aside from server/forum/site changes, what is one thing that you would like to see changed about MOTL?

5. What is something that you feel that you are better than most other people at doing?

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1. Learn to listen to advice when offered sincerely. There were a number of times earlier in my life when someone asked "Would you like some advice?" and I said "No". I was sure of what I was doing and felt sure that I didn't need any help. And it would turn out that if I had said "Yes" I would have discovered that I had missed some crucial detail or misunderstood something vital. So don't be afraid to listen to advice. There's no dictum that say's that listening to advice means you have to take the advice. But you just might discover something you need to know. Given that listening to sincere advice is a win-or-break-even proposition, how can you possibly lose?

2. See answer #1. Seriously, when I was a senior in high school, I applied to and was accepted to the University of Minnesota, a 20 minute bike ride from my house. I had been programming in summer school for the last three years and wanted nothing more than to get a degree in computer programming. Understand that this was three years before the debut of the original Apple computer, when only businesses, universities, and governments had computers. So when my counselor asked if I wanted any advice about picking a major, I declined, since I already knew what I wanted to major in. I entered college as a Computer Science Major and spent nearly two years there before I finally realized that it was a computer SCIENCE major, not a COMPUTER science major. I dropped out for a year to reassess where I was going. Before I could get started again, I managed to land a computer operations trainee position with Dayton's (parent to Target) and ended up with a top tech support position through OJT. While it turned out alright in the end, I could have saved myself a lot of time, effort, and frustration if I had only said yes to my counselor.

3. Retire a bit earlier. I've done reasonably well for myself monetarily so I'm able to indulge most of my day-to-day desires, but I'm not quite able to retire yet. I'm looking at probably 5 more years (or a really lucky lottery ticket).

4. I'd like to see a bit more effort into keeping up with the release of new sets for the price guide/trade matcher/search engine. The number one reason I came to MOTL in the first place was it was such a good place to trade cards. All the other social interaction followed after. But with the long delays from set introduction until addition to price guide/trade matcher/search engine, I am finding myself more and more frustrated. I've had my Magic 2012 cards for over 5 weeks now, and I still can't search H/W lists for them. I'd hate to have to abandon my refs here after 11 years and start over, but if you can't easily find trading partners here and you can somewhere else...

5. I can improvise with the best of them (except maybe MacGyver). I recently had to patch a few chipped concrete blocks in our house's foundation. A dead tree branch and my circular saw provided a good stir stick (paint stir sticks aren't strong enough for concrete patching compound). The bottom half of a plastic milk jug made a good mixing bowl, and an empty Jello pudding cup made a disposable measuring cup (4 parts patch mix, 1 part water). And I already owned a trowel. One hour later I was done. I washed the trowel and tossed everything else away.

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Originally posted by CubFan81:
1) Favorite Magic card?
2) Favorite Magic color?
3) Favorite Magic deck?
4) Favorite Magic format?
5) If you could make or unmake any one change to Magic what would it be? Why?

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1. Tough, as I really have three of them. I collect Shadow of Doubt (215 I believe) as I like the art and the effect. It's not overwhelming, but it's fun and almost always unexpected. My other favorites are Sneak Attack and Mirrorweave, both for the same reasons. There are SO MANY fun things you can do with them! One true story for each(trust me, I have lots more).

Sneak Attack. I had just cleared the board on my opponents turn by Sneaking out a False Prophet. On my turn I used Sneak Attack to put lethal on the field and attacked. My opponent played Fog. I responded by using Sneak Attack to bring out a Daring Apprentice and counter the Fog! Nobody expects a hard counter from a red/white deck.

Mirrorweave. In a multiplayer FFA game, one of the players got out Defense of the Heart. On his turn it triggered, and he went and got 2 Darksteel Colossus. Everyone knew we were in trouble. But on my turn I cast a Spark Elemental, then cast Mirrorweave targetting Sparky. Bye, bye, Colossi.

2. My favorite color in Magic is Gold, in that I like the unusual things that they often do with gold cards a lot. But to answer the question you truly asked, it's probably Red. I can take White and Blue's controlling facet for a little while, but it becomes boring. Black has power, but so much of it comes with a downside that it becomes more an exercise in min/maxing than game playing. And Green has no reach. (like the old AT&T jingle- "Just reach out, reach out and kill someone"- or something like that)

3. No such thing. I currently have 38 boxes, each with 6 decks in them. And I like them all. If I had to say a favorite type of deck, it would be a nowhere deck. One where you are playing along and from out of nowhere comes something totally unexpected. Most recent example: in a 5 player game, I got out a Planar Guide. On the last player's end step before my turn, I activated it so everything vanished. On my turn, I played Gather Specimens. They conceded. And the scary thing is that is the small combo in that deck. The big combo? Enchanted Evening + Aura Thief + sac outlets.

4. Casual. I love to compete, but I'm more interested in having fun while doing so. I build strong, but not uber-strong decks, because that's kind of what everyone else brings to the table. I keep 30 of those 38 boxes where members of our Wednesday night group can borrow one for the evening, and usually one or two of them do.

5. I'm actually pretty fond of all the changes I've seen since I began playing Magic. The only one I might undo, and I'm still not sure about it yet, would be Mythic rarity. It makes it a lot more difficult for playset collectors like me, but that's something that can be dealt with. What I dislike most about mythic rarity is that they are supposed to be even more special, more flashy, than regular rares. And that makes them push the envelope a bit too much a few times too often. Remember the initial craze for the "walletslayer" angel, followed by JTMS, Vengevines, and the initial release of the Titans in M11. They sell more cards, so Wizards has more money and incentive to keep producing new sets, but they can be frustrating to obtain and deal with.
__________________
"If you're right 90% of the time, why quibble about the other 3% ?"

quote:

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Originally posted by Bugger:
1) what are your top three favorite bands/artists/musicians, and why?
2) what are your top three favorite films, and why?
3) what are your top three favorite books, and why?
4) what are your top three favorite television shows, and why?
5) What's with the username? What's wrong with the EastWyckes, or the SouthWyckes?

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1) I'm going to have to pass on this one, as I don't really listen to music at all.

2) #3 - Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I enjoyed the books, but following all the characters became difficult and I found it a bit frustrating. Being able to put faces with names made the whole story immensely more enjoyable. And they dropped my least favorite part of the book - Tom Bombadil.
#2 - Star Wars. It's a classic, but it's even better because I'm old enough to have seen it in it's original theatical release. There was no need to compare it to the other 5 films because it was the only one; you could just sit back and enjoy it.
#1 - Paint Your Wagon. It's a western/comedy/musical with Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood. And Clint sings!! If you haven't ever seen it and could use a good laugh, give it a try.

3) #3 Master of the Five Magics, by Lyndon Hardy (also Secret of the Sixth Magic and Riddle of the Seven Realms).
#2 Oath of Swords, by David Weber (also War-God's Own and Windriders Oath).
#1 Tuf Voyaging, by George R.R. Martin
I can't really explain why I like these books, other than they all have a main character that is enjoyable to watch as they struggle to succeed. And they're good reads.

4) #1 Hell's Kitchen. One day several years ago. My wife watched some TV, then went into her quilting room and forgot to turn off the TV. I wandered past the TV just as a new show was starting, and I stopped for a moment to see what it was. The next thing I knew an hour had passed. And I had just watched the season opener for season 4 of Hell's Kitchen and become totally hooked. Just like that.

There is no #2 or number #3 on this list, as I don't watch television other than Hell's Kitchen. I'd rather be playing on my computer or working on my Magic cards/decks.

5) This dates back to the late 1990's when AOL was sending out sign-up CD's 2-3 times a week (or so it seemed). I decided to get online and I used one of the CD's. It asked what I wanted for my username, and I gave it a name. And it came back with my name and a number attached. I didn't want a number, just a name. And so I tried something else. And something else. And something else. I can be persistent (my wife calls it stubborn). After about 50 unsuccessful attempts to beat the system, I was looking for inspiration. And I saw my copy of Iron Dragon on the table next to me. It's a board game of railroading in a fantasy environment, with a bunch of fictional city names. I looked at the map and saw one of the cities - West Wyckk. That looked interesting, but a bit odd and harsh with the double k at the end. So I replaced the last k with a silent e and made it into a single word. I decided it looked like the name of some upper-class British aristocrat, and I plugged it into AOL. Lo and behold, it came back with no number attached. I had beaten the machine! I've switched internet providers 6 times since then, and I have signed up for numerous bulletin boards and forums, and I have never encountered a naming conflict.

I know of no Southwyckes. As for the Eastwyckes, they can't spell and they're all a bunch of (rhymes with ditches)

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Originally posted by ogre:
Favorite food?
Ten favorite movies?

When did you get into Magic cards and who/how did you get involved?

Are we (America) going into a depression?

Where do you see the future of America's economy and general state heading and what could be done, in your opinion, to better it?

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1) Pizza (although anything chocolate runs a close second.

2) I'm not a big movie goer, and three was my limit.

3) I'm afraid Markers beat you to the punch on that one.

4) No. But the 1990's probably aren't coming back either.

5) It's going to get better, but it's not going to be fast enough to please everybody. I generally take the long view, and I think we'll be OK.

To make it better, we need to let our representatives know "Here are our priorities; do the best you can". Not "here are our priorities. Get everything, surrender nothing, or else!"

__________________
"If you're right 90% of the time, why quibble about the other 3% ?"

__________________
There's no need to fear, UNDERDOG is here!

All your Gruul Nodorogs are belong to me. Trade them to me, please!

Report rules violations.

quote:

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Originally posted by JoshSherman:
I get TV, because a lot of people are like that, but no music? I can count on one hand the number of people I know that don't listen to music. Is there a specific reason you don't? Did you ever listen to music?

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Also, I discovered during the first few years after I moved away from my parents into my own apartment that I tend to focus on one thing at a time. If I turned on the radio for music and then tried to do something else like read a book or do stuff with my computer, I would find I was either completely tuning out the radio or getting frustrated with the radio for distracting me from what I was doing. So I got used to not listening to music in the background because it proved to be more of a distraction than an enhancement for me.

__________________
"If you're right 90% of the time, why quibble about the other 3% ?"