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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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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) To name just one would be impossible I believe, too many good games and decks w/ great memories all unique. When I first started playing the game Rock Hydra, a card that I have about 2.5" from my fingers in the F9-F12 section of the keyboard, was the card! Then as game play was better understood it turned to Dark Ritual, then Song of blood, then Tradewind rider, to now where I think Venser can be very strong. Think one of the more unique cards, even at today's standards, would be Vesuvan Doppleganger, think that's spelled right! Remember when that card and clone w/ a bunch of Nightmares and swamps was everything for my one buddy, until Armageddon! Good question, don't think I could lock that down to one though.
2) Another difficult one, gonna go w/ black. Had black deck w/ hymm's, sinkholes, rits, petals, 2 casting cost guys, and a lot of wins to back it up. Not necessarilly my favorite deck, but the color w/ my longest running deck.
3) Had a few, black aggro as mentioned above, mill w/ couters and a few pieces of power (deck really came together when I really began to accumulate my collection), tradewinds (all five colors w/ flunkies, man o' wars, wall of blossoms, and other trickery), Song of blood (this is one that I'd rather not talk too much about the componentry but was basically a bunch of evasion creatures that were cheap and hit beats w/ the song; no pun intended), crazy train (green w/ all kinds of cards to get land on the board fast, then drop Child of Gaea w/ a few blanchwood armors). Sure I'm forgetting a few, but these were the first to come to mind.
4) Remember Vanguard? I used Squee w/ a varchild's war riders deck; it got dingus staff, aether flash, and the riders out, waited a few turns and won. Those three w/ a bunch of counters and burn plus 10 card opening hand and get to see your opponents hand, it has some memories to it. That would be another deck that I had a lot of fun w/, remember my buddy playing mono green that season w/ Natural orders and Verdant forces w/ Tarngauth (forget exact name and spelling). It was a lot of fun playing in those days, kinda takes you back a bit when you think about it. When we first started playing we had no idea what we were doing, and hence came a version of the game known as fast, in a nutshell:
- You could play as many lands as you wanted per turn
- You drew up to 8 cards during your draw step

W/ that little insight it's easy to see why Nightmare would be so powerful!

5) Not sure if this is a change or how you would classify it, but look on the back of a Magic card and what does it say "Magic The Gathering", and what is my point, have large pre-release events and drop the store pre-releases. Sure if you live far away from the major event, it can be a pain to get to, but it makes it worth the effort to go and see some people that you haven't seen in a few months or longer and just have a conversation w/ them. Remember in Pittsburgh we'd get roughly 300 people at some of the pre-releases (Urza's Destiny and Ravnica) and it was fun just to go and trade cards and hang out. Think that's something that has been lost in the site of Wizard's or Hasbro, whatever.

Not sure how to put it in words and just erased part of what I would say on this regard, but the reprinting of cards and push for the modern is something I have mixed feelings about. It's as if they have the ability to print their own currency by printing the more powerful cards and selling them individually in box sets at Wal-Mart. Being able to print your own currency isn't that bad I hear, just don't print too much! Don't have the right words at the moment and I'm kinda tired now so I'll leave it there.

.02,
Jesse

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?

Bonus question:
Who's gonna win the Cup this year?

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Originally posted by Kyosukee:
You ever play Tactics Ogre?

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Never heard of that, but heard of Ogre Tactics. Never played that though either.

quote:

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Originally posted by stab107:
Are you happy with your 11th round selection of Matt Moulson?
Who do you think will win this years MOTL Hockey League? Who will be runner up? Who will finish last?

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He was a player that I was gunning for on my roster from the beginning, think the Islanders will have a strong season and could potentially get into the playoffs. Just a note, I was going to take Jagr and then take Moulson w/ my next pick but wanted to get him rather than take a gamble at this point. Wonder if I could have come away w/ both I guess?

As for who will win, I have no clue but think I've put together a pretty strong team thus far and hopefully strong enough to go far. Haven't really been watching the other teams construction as of late so can't really predict. Would be willing to say that even though philly has good players what leads people to believe the will do so well after losing two of there corner stones? They will be interesting to watch, but the whole Atlantic division is gonna be brutal, for that matter the Pens better get it together and that goes for their key personnel. W/o them it will be a long year.

Yakusoku I'm gonna get to your q's later, starting to get tired here.

__________________
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 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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Dude, I just want to say before typing anymore, I was in the process of typing a long detailed answer to your 2nd question, then I hit a button on the keyboard and the whole screen closed. Was one of the ones across from the spacebar; I have never done that before and hopefully never will. W/ that said, I'm going to give short answers to your q's as I have just worn my mind a bit!

1) Stay humble, stay honest, you'll be fine.
Will add this thought too, two quotes actually:
- He is richest who is content w/ least. Socrates
- When you're at your least you're at your best. My oldest friend Ryan

Think about it and take it for what it's worth.

2) Getting fired from a job that I thought I couldn't lose. Remember, stay humble.

3) I have been working on a video for about a year and a half now, and it is very research intensive. The resources that I need would be info on the U.S. economy and England's economy from the years 1783-1789 and beyond that for England specifically "where subsidies offered to English manufacturers during this period and if so what were they?" W/ info on that and original sources to back it up I would be able to move along a bit better on the project, otherwise I have to keep reading!

4) There are a few things:
- It would be nice if there was a forum for tournaments. Think salvation has one, I used there site for it once I believe, and think it would be appropriate for this site to have one. Sorry if this goes against your stipulations and that goes for my next comments too.
- Think this would actually be something very useful, was gonna mention it on the suggestions forum, basically everytime I get a new ref I like to check out what the last ref had to say about the deal so if there was a way that when you looked at your refs it may have your latest one highlighted or perhaps near the top of the page so you could see the comment and not have to search for it in the rest that you have. Not sure if I'm explaining this right, but basically and easier way to see your latest ref I believe would be a good option. I'm always forgetting what the email or username of the refs of people I'm submitting is so any way of making it easier would be good.
- Would like to see people take it easy on this site and not go off on people as much. Getting tired so won't elaborate on this, but think you get my point.

5) I can work in a very organized fashion and work faster than others when I get a system in place. A lot more I could add to this, but I'm getting tired.

Hey, if you feel you need more better answers to this drop me a PM sometime. I'm getting tired and I have to go out for a bit now. Note, I enjoy reading the answers to the questions you post, you do good work.

Only the best,
Jesse

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Originally posted by AlmostGrown or me?:
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?

Bonus question:
Who's gonna win the Cup this year?

Peace,
Brett

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1) I exist on a gluten free diet, if you don't know what that means it is that I cannot consume barley, oats, wheat or rye. That being said, my diet is limited! I enjoy sushi and drink lots of O.J., love fresh fruit. Would say my favorite meal might be chicken romano w/ garlic mashed potatoes or these orange glazed chicken wings that are braised in a savory sauce for hours and fall off the bone meat! They're good.

2) Here goes in no particular order
- LoTR, all of them: Great story
- Star Wars, all of them: Another great story
- Tombstone: Great acting and supporting characters; "en vino veritas" scene is great
- Stand by me: Story about growing up and a lot of scenarios and thought lines that you could relate to. Would recommend if you've never seen it before.
- Happy Gilmore: "Go to your happy place", some classic lines in that movie.
- As good as it gets: A movie designed for Jack Nicholson. Amazing lines in that movie from one scene where he is asked how do you write women so well? and he replies "I think of a man and I take away reason and accountability" to "... you people..."! Watch it if you've never seen it.
- The Shawshank Redemption: A movie which reminds you that anything can be overcome.
- The Dark Knight: If Batman, in general, was intended to be a dark story overall, then this movie nailed it. Probably one of the best opening scenes, in my opinion, for a movie. Well done.
* Listed LoTR and Star Wars as one even though they are more than that, but these eight were influential. Could list more, Bruce Lee and Schwarznegger (terminator,Conan), Sylvester Stallone (Rocky, Cobra, Rambo) and keep going, but these ones mentioned would qualify as ones that you get drawn into and don't want to turn off. Tremors and night of the living dead too...

3) Got into Magic cards in the summer of 94 when my buddy Andrew moved in a couple of doors down. Think the first thing he said to me was "you want to play magic cards?" with a yes that was it from there. Went out and bought a starter of Revised and pulled a Bayou I'm pretty sure, that or a Volcanic Island, just rember it looked weird and was drawn to it. Next thing you know I was picking up cards when I could. First dual I ever bought was a Beta Badlands for $12, but still remember going to the sports cards store that had everything and passing on $28 Beta Undergrounds for a $50 Diamond Valley! Not bad I guess, glad I didn't get the $40 Arcades Sabboth, but did get the $28 Paladia-Mors off of my buddies friend later on. Stories...

4) I would say we've been in one. I do a lot of traveling, see a lot of the country and what is affecting it the most is the loss of manufacturing jobs. You cannot lose a sector of the economy and say that you will make up for it else where because when the pie gets smaller you're going to have more people fighting for the same resources. This is a topic that is close to me as I guess you could say I partially own/operate a small spring and wire forming business and know what has had the most effect on us, China. There are so many variables that I could mention as to how they operate their business's/economy/labor/money that it would make your head spin, but to sum it up it is not in the long run advantageous to America.

5) The general state as of now is in a state of crisis, and in the future it will only get worse if nothing is altered. The focus that needs addressed is trade, the relations we have now are destroying the country from one aspect to the next. As mentioned above, you cannot lose a sector of the economy and make up for it else where and that is what's happening to our manufacturing sector, it is literally being extirpated from the landscape.

Simply put, incentivize production in America and decentivize production outside then importing those products back into the states. You have a trade policy now that allows:

- capital to be used anywhere
- technology to be transferred anywhere
- and a product to be made anywhere and then sold anywhere

What is the difference? Cost of labor

Everything that America built up over generations from the monetary wealth to the wealth of knowledge and technical know how not to mention the life style has been transferred to the third world and is continuing to make it's exodus from this country, and for what? For cheap products, a twist of irony in a nation that's motto was "if you work hard you can make in America", now almost nothing is made in America. With that said, there is hope, but nothing good comes easy or free.

So you or I asked "what could be done, in your opinion, to better it?" We as a nation must look at the trade agreements that we have now and think what are they worth to us. To borrow a line from Patrick Henry "I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past." Consider that thought and look a bit deeper into the past from the years 1783-89, focus on the economy from that time period, it speaks volumes when comparing it to today.

With that said I would add more, but have to go to work now. I am however working on something and when it is finished I will post it so you can see, bit of a history lesson and more thoughts on these last two questions.

Oh yeah, Pens win handily if Crosby and Malkin are healthy come the playoffs. Though I haven't paid as much attention as I used to, that is my prediction, but watch out for Toronto, they are pretty good.

Peace,
Jesse

quote:

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Originally posted by Volcanon:
1) Would a fly without wings be called a walk?
2) If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation?
3) If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?
4) Why is it called a "Driver Through" if you have to stop?
5) Can blind people see their dreams?
6) How come you press harder on a remote when you know the battery is dead?
7) If the #2 pencil is the most popular, why is it still #2?
8) Where is the lead in a lead pencil?
9) If an ambulance is on its way to save someone, and it runs someone over, does it stop to help them?
10) Do the minutes on the movie boxes include the previews, credits, and special features, or just the movie itself?

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1) A drop
2) No, just confusion of one personality of a different political party disagreeing w/ another
3) Because Bobby, who has multiple personalities, wrote it after he was Jimmy
4) You always have to stop, but you still drive through
5) That's a good question???
6) Read "Black Knight's" flavor text and apply that theory
7) #1 got no respect, ask Rodney Danerfield
8) On paper
9) I'd certainly hope so!
10) I think it's just the movie itself but I'd be the wrong person to ask that question.

,
Jesse